Pearl Millet Mapping Population Parents: Performance and Selection Under Salt Stress Across Environments Varying in Evaporative Demand

It is vital to screen the germplasm of crop plants for salt stress tolerance so as to utilize them in breeding programs. Accordingly, in the present study, twenty diverse inbred lines, parents of mapping populations of pearl millet were chosen to determine the phenotypic contrasts for seed yield, which can open the way for developing salt tolerance QTLs. Parents were grown in two summer seasons (late and early) with VPD ≥ 2 kPa, and one rainy season with VPD < 2 kPa, during flowering and grain filling under saline (150 and 200 mM) and non-saline (0 mM) conditions. Salinity delayed flowering time by a fortnight in the summer seasons but only 5–6 days in the low VPD rainy season. Salinity decreased grain yield by 86% in late-summer and 80% in early-summer, but less than 70% in rainy season. GY penalty was higher than vegetative biomass under saline conditions especially in summer season when the evaporative demand was very high. It appears that reproduction and grain filling are sensitive to high temperature that can compound the effect of salinity and high VPD. GY of inbreds under salinity was not better in comparison with non-saline conditions. DOF and grain density (thousand grain weight) were found as important correlated traits under salinity. Also, GY was affected significantly if VPD increased during flowering time.

     

Cutaneous allergy to insulin: Could statins and ACE inhibitors play a role? A case report

Insulin allergy is rare. Both statins and angiotensin converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitors may cause local urticarial skin reactions and have been implicated to precipitate local reactions to insulin. We describe a case of a localised urticarial allergic reaction related to insulin use in a patient co-prescribed an ACE inhibitor and statin.     

Fractionation of equine antivenom using caprylic acid precipitation in combination with cationic ion-exchange chromatography

A combined process of caprylic acid (CA) precipitation and ion-exchange chromatography on SP-Sepharose was studied as a means to fractionate pepsin-digested horse antivenom F(ab')(2) antibody. In the CA precipitation, the optimal concentration for fractionation of F(ab')(2) from pepsin-digested horse plasma was 2%, in which 89.61% of F(ab')(2) antibody activity was recovered in the supernatant with 1.5-fold purification. A significant amount of pepsin was not precipitated and remained active under these conditions. An analytical cation exchanger Protein-Pak SP 8HR HPLC column was tested to establish optimal conditions for the effective separation of IgG, albumin, pepsin and CA from the F(ab')(2) product. From these results, the supernatant from CA precipitation of pepsin-digested plasma was subjected to a SP-Sepharose column chromatography using a linear salt gradient. With stepwise elution, a peak containing F(ab')(2) antibody could be obtained by elution with 0.25 M NaCl. The total recovery of antibody was 65.56% with 2.91-fold purification, which was higher than that achieved by ammonium sulfate precipitation. This process simultaneously and effectively removed residual pepsin, high molecular weight aggregates and CA in the final F(ab')(2) product, and should be suitable for large-scale fractionation of therapeutic equine antivenoms.     

Temporal sequence of clinical manifestation in schizophrenia with co-morbid OCD: review and meta-analysis

Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is often a comorbidity in schizophrenia (SCZ), but little is known about whether OCD emerges before or after a diagnosis of SCZ in the absence of atypical antipsychotic medications. The authors analyzed data from clinical studies reporting the temporal sequence of OCD and SCZ in comorbid patients to determine if there was a significant statistical difference between the mean ages of onset in both disorders and the percentage of patients diagnosed with OCD before SCZ. A MEDLINE search was conducted using the keywords "OCD" and "Schizophrenia." Studies were assessed for the presence of data regarding the ages of onset of patients comorbid with both disorders as well as the number of patients in each study diagnosed with OCD first, SCZ first, or both disorders concurrently. A meta-analysis was performed to test the a priori hypothesis that OCD is diagnosed before SCZ in patients who are comorbid with both disorders. There was no statistically significant difference in the unstandardized difference in the mean age of onset of OCD and SCZ. A strong trend in the data exists suggesting that the onset of OCD precedes SCZ. Future prospective studies with larger sample sizes are warranted.     

Asymbiotic In vitro Seed Germination and Seedling Development of Eulophia nuda Lindl., An Endangered Medicinal Orchid

An optimized method was devised for asymbiotic seed germination, seedling development and field establishment of Eulophia nuda Lindl., an endangered orchid with tremendous therapeutic potentialities. Seeds of different ages were germinated on half and full strength MS (Murashige and Skoog), KC (Knudson) and BM1 (Van Waes and Debergh) media. Amongst various supplements,15 % coconut water (CW) and 500 mg/L casein hydrolysate proved beneficial for seed germination. BM1 fortified with CW (BM1 + CW) showed the highest germination (80.5 ± 2.1 %) after 60 days of inoculation, which was further improved to 91.3 ± 1.9 % upon incorporation of 1 mg/L each of α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) and 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP) and eventually 50.5 ± 2.1 % cultures developed into seedlings. BM1 + CW nourished with 2.5 mg/L BAP and 1.5 mg/L Kin (kinetin) proved best for multiple shoot induction from seedlings. Shoot numbers further increased with each successive transfer onto the same medium. Sixty shoots per shoot clump were achieved after four cycles of 30 days each. Microshoots were rooted (81.3 ± 2.4 %) on MS containing 2.0 mg/L indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and 200 mg/L activated charcoal. Rooted plantlets were gradually acclimatized to greenhouse (70 % survival) and they exhibited normal morphology and growth characteristics. Flow-cytometry based DNA content analysis revealed that the ploidy levels were maintained in in-vitropropagated plants.     

A passive hemagglutination test for antibody to Naja naja siamensis toxin 3

A passive hemagglutination test for the semiquantitative determination of antibody to Naja naja siamensis toxin 3 was developed. The assay involved a one-step coupling of the toxin to sheep erythrocyte. The toxin-coupled erythrocyte was stable for at least 4 months at 4°C and upon incubations with various elapid venoms there was no detectable hemolysis. The hemagglutination of the coupled sheep erythrocyte was specific, as shown by inhibition tests with various snake venoms. An application of the hemagglutination test in monitoring antibody production by rabbits during a course of immunization was studied.