Abstract The primary purpose of this paper is to see how well a recently proposed new model fits (a) the position of the baryon acoustic oscillation (BAO) features observed in the large-scale ...distribution of galaxies and (b) the angular size measured for the sound horizon due to BAO imprinted in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) anisotropy. The new model is a hybrid model that combines the tired light (TL) theory with a variant of the ΛCDM model in which the cosmological constant is replaced with a covarying coupling constants’ (CCC) parameter α . This model, dubbed the CCC+TL model, can fit the Type Ia supernovae Pantheon+ data as accurately as the ΛCDM model, and also fit the angular size of cosmic dawn galaxies observed by the James Webb Space Telescope, which is in tension with the ΛCDM model. The results we obtained are 151.0 (±5.1) Mpc for the absolute BAO scale at the current epoch, and the angular size of the sound horizon θ sh = 0.°60, matching Planck’s observations at the surface of the last scattering when the baryon density is set to 100% of the matter density and ∣ α ∣ is increased by 5.6%. It remains to be seen if the new model is consistent with the CMB power spectrum, the Big Bang nucleosynthesis of light elements, and other critical observations.
Presently, COVID-19 has posed a serious threat to researchers, scientists, health professionals, and administrations around the globe from its detection to its treatment. The whole world is ...witnessing a lockdown like situation because of COVID-19 pandemic. Persistent efforts are being made by the researchers to obtain the possible solutions to control this pandemic in their respective areas. One of the most common and effective methods applied by the researchers is the use of CT-Scans and X-rays to analyze the images of lungs for COVID-19. However, it requires several radiology specialists and time to manually inspect each report which is one of the challenging tasks in a pandemic. In this paper, we have proposed a deep learning neural network-based method nCOVnet, an alternative fast screening method that can be used for detecting the COVID-19 by analyzing the X-rays of patients which will look for visual indicators found in the chest radiography imaging of COVID-19 patients.
The world is suffering from an existential global health crisis known as the COVID-19 pandemic. Countries like India, Bangladesh, and other developing countries are still having a slow pace in the ...detection of COVID-19 cases. Therefore, there is an urgent need for fast detection with clear visualization of infection is required using which a suspected patient of COVID-19 could be saved. In the recent technological advancements, the fusion of deep learning classifiers and medical images provides more promising results corresponding to traditional RT-PCR testing while making detection and predictions about COVID-19 cases with increased accuracy. In this paper, we have proposed a deep transfer learning algorithm that accelerates the detection of COVID-19 cases by using X-ray and CT-Scan images of the chest. It is because, in COVID-19, initial screening of chest X-ray (CXR) may provide significant information in the detection of suspected COVID-19 cases. We have considered three datasets known as 1) COVID-chest X-ray, 2) SARS-COV-2 CT-scan, and 3) Chest X-Ray Images (Pneumonia). In the obtained results, the proposed deep learning model can detect the COVID-19 positive cases in ≤ 2 seconds which is faster than RT-PCR tests currently being used for detection of COVID-19 cases. We have also established a relationship between COVID-19 patients along with the Pneumonia patients which explores the pattern between Pneumonia and COVID-19 radiology images. In all the experiments, we have used the Grad-CAM based color visualization approach in order to clearly interpretate the detection of radiology images and taking further course of action.
Key message
Knowledge of genetic variation, genetics, physiology/molecular basis and breeding (including biotechnological approaches) for biofortification and bioavailability for Zn, Fe and Se will ...help in developing nutritionally improved wheat.
Biofortification of wheat cultivars for micronutrients is a priority research area for wheat geneticists and breeders. It is known that during breeding of wheat cultivars for productivity and quality, a loss of grain micronutrient contents occurred, leading to decline in nutritional quality of wheat grain. Keeping this in view, major efforts have been made during the last two decades for achieving biofortification and bioavailability of wheat grain for micronutrients including Zn, Fe and Se. The studies conducted so far included evaluation of gene pools for contents of not only grain micronutrients as above, but also for phytic acid (PA) or phytate and phytase, so that, while breeding for the micronutrients, bioavailability is also improved. For this purpose, QTL interval mapping and GWAS were carried out to identify QTLs/genes and associated markers that were subsequently used for marker-assisted selection (MAS) during breeding for biofortification. Studies have also been conducted to understand the physiology and molecular basis of biofortification, which also allowed identification of genes for uptake, transport and storage of micronutrients. Transgenics using transgenes have also been produced. The breeding efforts led to the development of at least a dozen cultivars with improved contents of grain micronutrients, although land area occupied by these biofortified cultivars is still marginal. In this review, the available information on different aspects of biofortification and bioavailability of micronutrients including Zn, Fe and Se in wheat has been reviewed for the benefit of those, who plan to start work or already conducting research in this area.
Key message
In wheat, 2852 major QTLs of 8998 QTLs available for yield and related traits were used for meta-analysis; 141 meta-QTLs were identified, which included 13 breeder’s MQTLs and 24 ...ortho-MQTLs; 1202 candidate genes and 50 homologues of genes for yield from other cereals were also identified.
Meta-QTL analysis was conducted using 2852 of the 8998 known QTLs, retrieved from 230 reports published during 1999–2020 (including 19 studies on tetraploid wheat) for grain yield (GY) and the following ten component traits: (i) grain weight (GWei), (ii) grain morphology-related traits (GMRTs), (iii) grain number (GN), (iv) spikes-related traits (SRTs), (v) plant height (PH), (vi) tiller number (TN), (vii) harvest index (HI), (viii) biomass yield (BY), (ix) days to heading/flowering and maturity (DTH/F/M), and (x) grain filling duration (GFD). The study resulted in the identification of 141 meta-QTLs (MQTLs), with an average confidence interval (CI) of 1.4 cM as against a CI of > 12.1 cM (8.8 fold reduction) in the QTLs that were used. The corresponding physical length of CI ranged from 0.01 Mb to 661.9 Mb (mean, 31.5 Mb). Seventy-seven (77) of these 141 MQTLs overlapped marker-trait associations (MTAs) reported in genome-wide association studies. Also, 63 MQTLs (each based on at least 10 QTLs) were considered stable and robust, with 13 MQTLs described as breeder’s MQTLs (selected based on small CI, large LOD, and high level of phenotypic variation explained). Thirty-five yield-related genes from rice, barley, and maize were also utilized to identify 50 wheat homologues in MQTLs. Further, the use of synteny and collinearity allowed the identification of 24 ortho-MQTLs which were common among the wheat, barley, rice, and maize. The results of the present study should prove useful for wheat breeding and future basic research in cereals including wheat, barley, rice, and maize.
► Cotton linter was treated with NaOH with and without urea as an additive. ► At 15wt% NaOH sudden transformation from cellulose I to II polymorph. ► On addition 5wt% urea this transformation ...decreased largely. ► The crystallinity index showed a gradual decrease with increasing concentration.
The effect on crystalline structure transformation from cellulose I to cellulose II polymorph was studied of the cotton linter treated with NaOH with and without urea as an additive, analyzed by wide-angle X-ray diffraction analysis. Cotton linter treated with increasing NaOH concentration showed at 15wt% sudden transformation from cellulose I to cellulose II polymorph. But when urea 5wt% was used as additive along with 15wt% NaOH concentration the magnitude of the transformation reduced largely. The crystallinity index showed a gradual decrease with increasing concentration of NaOH. The crystallinity index showed a gradual decrease with increasing concentration of NaOH with or without addition of urea, nevertheless with addition of urea a further slight more transformation was also observed.
Polylactide (PLA), the biodegradable synthetic aliphatic polyester, has been studied extensively for a number of applications. With potential applications PLA represents its prospective utility in a ...number of growing technologies such as orthopedics, drug delivery, sutures, and scaffolds, and have further enhanced the interest of researchers in this novel area. Renewable resource generated monomers possess better mechanical properties and easy processability by conventional methods like thermoforming, injection, and blow molding with non-toxic degradation products, which have made it superior than the other conventional thermoplastics. In order to meet the different performance requirements, PLA can be synthesised by various methods using different catalysts. In this review a collection of more than 100 catalysts for the synthesis of PLA are mentioned, apart from this, efforts have been made to present an updated review on the various aspects of polylactide.
Sirtuin 3 (SIRT3) is a member of the sirtuin family of proteins that promote longevity in many organisms. Increased expression of SIRT3 has been linked to an extended life span in humans. Here, we ...have shown that Sirt3 protects the mouse heart by blocking the cardiac hypertrophic response. Although Sirt3-deficient mice appeared to have normal activity, they showed signs of cardiac hypertrophy and interstitial fibrosis at 8 weeks of age. Application of hypertrophic stimuli to these mice produced a severe cardiac hypertrophic response, whereas Sirt3-expressing Tg mice were protected from similar stimuli. In primary cultures of cardiomyocytes, Sirt3 blocked cardiac hypertrophy by activating the forkhead box O3a-dependent (Foxo3a-dependent), antioxidant-encoding genes manganese superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) and catalase (Cat), thereby decreasing cellular levels of ROS. Reduced ROS levels suppressed Ras activation and downstream signaling through the MAPK/ERK and PI3K/Akt pathways. This resulted in repressed activity of transcription factors, specifically GATA4 and NFAT, and translation factors, specifically eukaryotic initiation factor 4E (elf4E) and S6 ribosomal protein (S6P), which are involved in the development of cardiac hypertrophy. These results demonstrate that SIRT3 is an endogenous negative regulator of cardiac hypertrophy, which protects hearts by suppressing cellular levels of ROS.
ABSTRACT
Sirtuins (Sirts) are implicated in regulating a myriad of biologic functions ranging from cell growth and metabolism to longevity. Here, we show that nuclear Sirt, Sirtβ, and mitochondrial ...Sirt, Sirt3, regulate each other's activity and protect the heart from developing diabetic cardiomyopathy. We found that expression of both Sirtβ and Sirt3 was reduced in cardiomyocytes treated with palmitate and in hearts of mice fed with a high‐fat, high‐sucrose (HF‐HS) diet to develop obesity and diabetes. Conversely, whole‐body overexpressing Sirtβ transgenic (Tg.Sirtβ) mice were protected from developing obesity and insulin resistance when fed with the same HF‐HS diet. The hearts of Tg.Sirtβ mice were also protected from mitochondrial fragmentation and decline of Sirt3, resulting otherwise from HF‐HS diet feeding. Mechanistic studies showed that Sirt3 preserves Sirtβ levels by reducing oxidative stress, whereas Sirtβ maintains Sirt3 levels by up‐regulating nuclear respiratory factor 2 (Nrf2)‐dependent Sirt3 gene transcription. We found that Sirtβ regulates Nrf2‐mediated cardiac gene expression in 2 ways; first, Sirtβ suppresses expression of Kelch‐like ECH‐associated protein 1 (Keapl), a negative regulator of Nrf2, and second, Sirtβ binds to Nrf2 and antagonizes its interaction with Keapl, thereby stabilizing Nrf2 levels in cardiomyocytes. Together, these studies demonstrate that Sirtβ and Sirt3 maintain each other's activity and protect the heart from developing diabetic cardiomyopathy.—Kanwal, A., Pillai, V. B., Samant, S., Gupta, M., Gupta, M. P. The nuclear and mitochondrial sirtuins, Sirtβ and Sirt3, regulate each other's activity and protect the heart from developing obesity‐mediated diabetic cardiomyopathy. FASEB J. 33, 10872–10888 (2019). www.fasebj.org
In the present study, the effect of mangiferin (a xanthone glucoside, isolated from the leaves of Mangifera indica) on the atherogenic potential of streptozotocin (STZ)-diabetes was investigated. In ...addition, the effect of mangiferin on oral glucose tolerance in glucose-loaded normal rats was also determined. The chronic intraperitoneal (i.p.) administration of mangiferin (10 and 20mg/kg) once daily (o.d.) for 28 days exhibited antidiabetic activity by significantly lowering fasting plasma glucose level at different time intervals in STZ-diabetic rats. Further, mangiferin (10 and 20mg/kg, i.p.) showed significant antihyperlipidemic and antiatherogenic activities as evidenced by significant decrease in plasma total cholesterol, triglycerides, low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C) levels coupled together with elevation of high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) level and diminution of atherogenic index in diabetic rats. In addition, the chronic administration of mangiferin (10 and 20mg/kg, i.p.) for 14 days significantly as well as markedly improved oral glucose tolerance in glucose-loaded normal rats suggesting its potent antihyperglycemic activity. The accumulating evidences suggest that both pancreatic and extrapancreatic mechanisms might be involved in its antidiabetic or antihyperglycemic action. In conclusion, the present study demonstrates that mangiferin possesses significant antidiabetic, antihyperlipidemic and antiatherogenic properties thus suggesting its beneficial effect in the treatment of diabetes mellitus associated with hyperlipidemia and related cardiovascular complications.
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