ISSR markers based on GA and AG repeats reveal genetic relationship among rice varieties tolerant to drought, flood, or salinity

Drought,flood,salinity,or a combination of these limits rice production.Several rice varieties are well known for their tolerance to specific abiotic stresses.We determined genetic relationship among 12 rice varieties including 9 tolerant to drought,flood,or salinity using inter-simple sequence repeat (ISSR) markers.Based on all markers,the nine tolerant varieties formed one cluster distinct from the cluster of three control varieties.The salt-tolerant varieties were closest to two flood-tolerant varieties,and together they were distinct from the drought-tolerant varieties.(GA)8 YG was the most informative primer,showing the highest polymorphic information content (PIC) and resolving power (Rp).The drought-,flood-,and salt-tolerant varieties grouped in three distinct clusters within the group of tolerant varieties,when (GA)8 YG was used.Sabita was the only exception.The two aus varieties,Nagina22 and FR13A,were separated and grouped with the drought-and flood-tolerant varieties,respectively,but they were together in dendrograms based on other primers.The results show that ISSR markers associated with (GA)8 YG delineated the three groups of stress-tolerant varieties from each other and can be used to identify genes/new alleles associated with the three abiotic stresses in rice germplasm.     

A heuristic hierarchical scheme for academic search and retrieval

We present PubSearch, a hybrid heuristic scheme for re-ranking academic papers retrieved from standard digital libraries such as the ACM Portal. The scheme is based on the hierarchical combination of a custom implementation of the term frequency heuristic, a time-depreciated citation score and a graph-theoretic computed score that relates the paper’s index terms with each other. We designed and developed a meta-search engine that submits user queries to standard digital repositories of academic publications and re-ranks the repository results using the hierarchical heuristic scheme. We evaluate our proposed re-ranking scheme via user feedback against the results of ACM Portal on a total of 58 different user queries specified from 15 different users. The results show that our proposed scheme significantly outperforms ACM Portal in terms of retrieval precision as measured by most common metrics in Information Retrieval including Normalized Discounted Cumulative Gain (NDCG), Expected Reciprocal Rank (ERR) as well as a newly introduced lexicographic rule (LEX) of ranking search results. In particular, PubSearch outperforms ACM Portal by more than 77% in terms of ERR, by more than 11% in terms of NDCG, and by more than 907.5% in terms of LEX. We also re-rank the top-10 results of a subset of the original 58 user queries produced by Google Scholar, Microsoft Academic Search, and ArnetMiner; the results show that PubSearch compares very well against these search engines as well. The proposed scheme can be easily plugged in any existing search engine for retrieval of academic publications.     

Drug metabolism

Drug metabolism involves the enzymatic conversion of therapeutically important chemical species to a new molecule inside the human body. The process may result in pharmacologically active, inactive, or toxic metabolite. Drug metabolic process involves two phases, the occurrence of which may vary from compound to compound. In this article, we discuss the basics of drug metabolism, the process, metabolising organs and enzymes (especially CYP450) involved, chemistry behind metabolic reactions, importance, and consequences with several interesting and significant examples to epitomize the same. We also cover the factors influencing the process of drug metabolism, structure-toxicity relationship, enzyme induction and inhibition.     

Relationship between free iron and glycated hemoglobin in uncontrolled type 2 diabetes patients associated with complications

Free iron in serum has been found in several disease conditions including diabetes. In the present work, we studied the relationship between free iron, fasting blood glucose (FBG) and glycated haemoglobin (HbA_1c). Study was carried out on 50 type 2 diabetes cases under poor glycemic control associated with complications, 53 type 2 diabetes cases under good glycemic control and 40 healthy controls. We estimated free iron, both ferrous (Fe⁺²) and ferric (Fe⁺³) form, protein thiols, lipid hydroperoxides, FBG, HbA1c and serum ferritin levels in serum. There was a significant increase in free iron in Fe⁺³ state (p <0.01), HbA_1c (p<0.01), serum ferritin (p<0.01), lipid hydroperoxides (p<0.01) and significant decrease in protein thiols (<0.01) in diabetes cases under poor glycemic control compared to diabetes cases under good glycemic control and healthy controls. Free iron correlated positively with HbA_1c (p<0.01). Poor glycemic control and increase in glycation of haemoglobin is contributing to the increase in free iron pool which is known to increase oxidant generation.     

Effect of pH on spectral characteristics of P5C-ninhydrin derivative: Application in the assay of ornithine amino transferase activity from tissue lysate

Currently available method(s) for assaying pyrroline-5-carboxylate (P5C), an important intermediate metabolite of ornithine, proline and glutamate metabolic pathways, are cumbersome or not sensitive enough for microanalysis. The present study involving the synthesis of P5C followed by purity check, molecular mass (amu =113.1) determination by mass spectrometry and spectral characterization of P5C-ninhydrin derivative (λ max: 510 nm) confirmed the authenticity of the preparation. Studies on the effect of pH on spectral characteristics of P5C ninhydrin derivative demonstrated a significant change with respect to λ max (620 nm) and several ∼ 12 fold increase in molar extinction coefficient (ε: 1.96 × 10⁵) in alkaline conditions (pH:7.0–8.0) as compared to the reported Molar ε of 1.65 × 10⁴ at max λ 510 nm in ethanolic solution. The modified method, with the improved sensitivity, is adopted for the assay of ornithine amino transferase activity in WBC’s/platelets lysate(s) from human blood.     

Parental cognitive impairment and child maltreatment in Canada

Objectives

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of parental cognitive impairment in cases opened for child maltreatment investigation in Canada, and to examine the relationship between parental cognitive impairment and maltreatment investigation outcomes including substantiation, case disposition and court application.

Methods

The method was secondary analysis of the Canadian Incidence Study of Child Abuse and Neglect (CIS-2003) core-data, which is derived from a multi-stage stratified cluster sample of 11,562 child maltreatment investigations.

Results

Parental cognitive impairment was noted in 10.1% of sampled cases that were opened for child maltreatment investigation in 2003, and in 27.3% of sampled cases that resulted in child welfare court application. Neglect was the most common cause of concern. With child and case characteristics held constant, parental cognitive impairment predicted investigation outcomes. The data further suggest that the relationship between parental cognitive impairment and investigation outcomes was partially mediated by perceived parent non-cooperation, mental health issues and low social support.

Conclusions

The number of children who are living with a parent with cognitive impairment and who are referred for protective services is thought to be increasing. Building systems capacity to support parents with cognitive impairment and promote child wellbeing is therefore essential to containing the human and economic costs of maltreatment and out-of-home care.

Practice implications

A broad-spectrum approach is needed to support parents with cognitive impairment and their children. Equipping services with the knowledge, skills, and mandate they need to deliver evidence-based parent training is vital. However, strategies are also needed to tackle discrimination, alleviate family poverty, strengthen the social ties of parents with cognitive impairment and in turn, improve the life chances of their children.     

Time domain model order reduction using Hankel matrix approach

Two modified minimal realization methods are suggested in this paper for getting reduced order models in time domain with the help of modified Hankel matrices. The methods are computationally simple, efficient and also applicable to Multiple-Input–Multiple-Output (MIMO) systems as well. The proposed methods are validated with the help of a few examples from literature.     

Maple syrup urine disease: An uncommon cause for neonatal metabolic distress

Maple Syrup Urine Disease is an autosomal recessive disorder caused by a deficiency in the activity of the branched-chain α-ketoacid dehydrogenase complex. This rare disorder represents one of the causes of acute neonatal illness which results in devastating disturbances of neurological development. On investigation of 1750 infants with neurological impairment for inborn errors of amino acid metabolism, 4 neonates with classical maple syrup urine disease were detected. These otherwise normal neonates presented in the first week after birth with seizures, lethargy and refusal of feeds, hypoglycemia and metabolic acidosis. The plasma and urine concentrations of the branched-chain amino acids were increased and there was ketoaciduria. Two of these neonates expired before specific treatment could be instituted. Routine biochemical screening of neonates with acute illness could unearth many cases of this rare inherited metabolic disease.