Effect of different shading intensities on growth and yield of cherry tomato

Cherry tomato (Solanum lycopersicon var cerasiforme) is small size fruits, with a bright red colour resembling to cherry and becoming popular in the retail chains which are marketed at a premium price. The field experiment was conducted to study the effect of different (35, 50 and 75 per cent) shading intensities on growth and yield (qha-1 ) of cherry tomato. Significantly maximum yield was recorded in 35 per cent shading intensity and genotype Kalash Seeds Product (KSP)-113 (579.44 and 503.88 q ha-1 , respectively). Among the different shading intensities and genotypes, maximum plant height was observed in 75 per cent shading intensity and genotype KSP -113 at 30 days interval (74.70 and 60.95 cm, respectively). The minimum days to 50% flowering of cherry tomato were observed in cherry tomatoes grown under 35 per cent shading intensity (45.00 days) as compared to other shading intensities while minimum days to 50% flowering were observed in genotype KSP-113 (44.00 days). The maximum length of the cluster (9.58 cm), the weight of cluster (27.67 g), number of fruits per cluster (9.42) and number of pickings (11.67) were observed in 35 per cent shading intensities and in genotype KSP-113. The cultivation of KSP-113 genotype under 35 per cent shading intensity was found to be most sustainable for improving growth and yield of cherry tomato during the summer season

Ecofriendly production of silver nanoparticles using Candida utilis and its mechanistic action against pathogenic microorganisms

Silver nanoparticles (AgNPs) have attracted great interest due to their applications in various areas. In the present study ecofriendly biosynthesis of extracellular silver nanoparticles was carried out using Candida utilis NCIM 3469. Characterization of synthesized AgNPs was done by UV–visible spectroscopy, Scanning electron microscopy and antibacterial activity. AgNPs are found spherical in shape with size in the range of 20–80 nm. AgNPs showed antibacterial activity against pathogenic organisms such as Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Staphylococcus aureus, and Escherichia coli. The SEM analysis confirms the antibacterial activity of Ag nanoparticles due to damage of cytoplasmic membrane. AgNPs synthesized by C. utilis could be applicable in the development of antibacterial water filters for treatment of water

Photophysics of some styryl thiazolo quinoxaline dyes in organic media

The photophysics of a new class of styryl dyes, 2-styryl thiazolo quinoxaline (STQ) based structures was investigated in organic solvents and organized molecular assemblies. The absorption, steady state and time-resolved fluorescence characteristics of the STQ dyes in low-viscosity organic solvents are consistent with a single species in the ground and excited state. The one electron electrochemical oxidation and reduction potentials of the dyes are within ±1V vs. NHE. The spectral shifts of the dyes in organic solvents are linearly correlated with the variation of solvent polarity parameters. The dipole moments in the ground and excited state of the dyes were calculated without assuming a value for the cavity radius. The temperature dependence of the nonradiative rate of STQ dye in DMSO indicated an activation barrier (ΔE=10.7 kJ/mol) which is comparable to the activation energy (Ea=13.7 kJ/mol) of viscous friction in DMSO. In dichloromethane, the activation barrier is 34.0 kJ/mol which is very high compared to Ea=6.64 kJ/mol. Formation of a dye–solvent complex is suggested in dichloromethane. The fluorescence decay of STQ dye is multiexponential in a viscous solvent (2-octanol) or when bound to a protein (Lysozyme), micelle or lipid membrane. In 2-octanol, the decay parameters are wavelength dependent and the results are consistent with the mechanism of excited state kinetics of solvent relaxation. In other systems, the multiexponential decay is due to multiple sites of solubilization of the dye in the organized molecular assembly

User Feedback Analysis System using Natural Language Processing and Artificial Intelligence

The Web has dramatically changed the way that people express their views and opinions. Now if one wants to purchase a product, he/she is no longer limited to asking his/her friends and families because there are many product reviews on the Web which give opinions of existing users of the product. Here we present the system which provides us information about such products and services in summarization form. Finding opinion sources and monitoring them on the Web can still be a difficult task because there are a large number of diffrent sources, and each source may also have a huge volume of opinionated text (text with opinions or sentiments). In most cases, opinions are hidden in long forum posts and blogs. It is complicated for a human reader to find relable sources, extract related sentences with opinions, read them, summarize them, and manage them into usable forms. Thus, automated summarization systems are needed. Using this summarization we can recognize the importance, quality, popularity of product and services. In this system we make summarization for product. But, we can use this system anywhere, where text analysis is required. Sentiment analysis, also known as opinion mining, grows out of this need. It is a challenging natural language processing or text mining problem. Due to its tremendous value for practical applications, there has been an excessive growth of both research in academia and applications in the industry

In vitro and in vivo mRNA delivery using lipid-enveloped pHresponsive polymer nanoparticles

Biodegradable core−shell structured nanoparticles with a poly(β-amino ester) (PBAE) core enveloped by a phospholipid bilayer shell were developed for in vivo mRNA delivery with a view toward delivery of mRNA-based vaccines. The pH-responsive PBAE component was chosen to promote endosome disruption, while the lipid surface layer was selected to minimize toxicity of the polycation core. Messenger RNA was efficiently adsorbed via electrostatic interactions onto the surface of these net positively charged nanoparticles. In vitro, mRNA-loaded particle uptake by dendritic cells led to mRNA delivery into the cytosol with low cytotoxicity, followed by translation of the encoded protein in these difficult-to-transfect cells at a frequency of 30%. Particles loaded with mRNA administered intranasally (i.n.) in mice led to the expression of the reporter protein luciferase in vivo as soon as 6 h after administration, a time point when naked mRNA given i.n. showed no expression. At later time points, luciferase expression was detected in naked mRNA-treated mice, but this group showed a wide variation in levels of transfection, compared to particle-treated mice. This system may thus be promising for noninvasive delivery of mRNA-based vaccines.United States. Dept. of Defense (Institute for Soldier Nanotechnology, contract W911NF-07-D-0004)Ragon Institute of MGH, MIT and HarvardSingapore. Agency for Science, Technology and ResearchHoward Hughes Medical Institute (Investigator

PEG–Polypeptide Block Copolymers as pH-Responsive Endosome-Solubilizing Drug Nanocarriers

Herein we report the potential of click chemistry-modified polypeptide-based block copolymers for the facile fabrication of pH-sensitive nanoscale drug delivery systems. PEG–polypeptide copolymers with pendant amine chains were synthesized by combining N-carboxyanhydride-based ring-opening polymerization with post-functionalization using azide–alkyne cycloaddition. The synthesized block copolymers contain a polypeptide block with amine-functional side groups and were found to self-assemble into stable polymersomes and disassemble in a pH-responsive manner under a range of biologically relevant conditions. The self-assembly of these block copolymers yields nanometer-scale vesicular structures that are able to encapsulate hydrophilic cytotoxic agents like doxorubicin at physiological pH but that fall apart spontaneously at endosomal pH levels after cellular uptake. When drug-encapsulated copolymer assemblies were delivered systemically, significant levels of tumor accumulation were achieved, with efficacy against the triple-negative breast cancer cell line, MDA-MB-468, and suppression of tumor growth in an in vivo mouse model.Novartis Institutes of Biomedical ResearchNational Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Grant P30 CA14051)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (Centers for Cancer Nanotechnology Excellence Grant 5 U54 CA151884-02)National Science Foundation (U.S.). Graduate Research FellowshipNatural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (Postdoctoral Fellowship

Dynamic Phase Transition from Localized to Spatiotemporal Chaos in Coupled Circle Map with Feedback

We investigate coupled circle maps in presence of feedback and explore various dynamical phases observed in this system of coupled high dimensional maps. We observe an interesting transition from localized chaos to spatiotemporal chaos. We study this transition as a dynamic phase transition. We observe that persistence acts as an excellent quantifier to describe this transition. Taking the location of the fixed point of circle map (which does not change with feedback) as a reference point, we compute number of sites which have been greater than (less than) the fixed point till time t. Though local dynamics is high-dimensional in this case this definition of persistence which tracks a single variable is an excellent quantifier for this transition. In most cases, we also obtain a well defined persistence exponent at the critical point and observe conventional scaling as seen in second order phase transitions. This indicates that persistence could work as good order parameter for transitions from fully or partially arrested phase. We also give an explanation of gaps in eigenvalue spectrum of the Jacobian of localized state

Efficiency of siRNA delivery by lipid nanoparticles is limited by endocytic recycling

Despite substantial efforts to understand the interactions between nanoparticles and cells, the cellular processes that determine the efficiency of intracellular drug delivery remain largely unclear. Here we examined cellular uptake of siRNA delivered in lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) using cellular trafficking probes in combination with automated high-throughput confocal microscopy as well as defined perturbations of cellular pathways paired with systems biology approaches to uncover protein-protein and protein-small molecule interactions. We show that multiple cell signaling effectors are required for initial cellular entry of LNPs through macropinocytosis, including proton pumps, mTOR, and cathepsins. SiRNA delivery is substantially reduced as ≅70% of the internalized siRNA undergoes exocytosis through egress of LNPs from late endosomes/lysosomes. Niemann Pick type C1 (NPC1) is shown to be an important regulator of the major recycling pathways of LNP-delivered siRNAs. NPC1-deficient cells show enhanced cellular retention of LNPs inside late endosomes/lysosomes and increased gene silencing of the target gene. Our data suggests that siRNA delivery efficiency might be improved by designing delivery vehicles that can escape the recycling pathways

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) and their applications [forthcoming]

Deep Eutectic Solvents (DESs) and Their Application