National Academy Science Letters最新文献

Matrix metalloproteinase 11 (MMP-11) belongs to the family of matrix metalloproteinases whose serum level has been reported to be elevated in dogs with mammary tumors. The present investigation focuses on assessing the tissue level expression of MMP-11 in various histotypes of canine mammary tumors (CMT). In this study, 20 CMT tissue paraffin blocks preserved in the laboratory were used. Slides were prepared for histopathological examination and immunohistochemistry. Hyperimmune serum raised against the canine recombinant MMP-11 (rMMP-11) in mice was used to standardize immunohistochemistry to assess expression of MMP-11 protein in various histotypes of CMT. Based on the histopathological examination of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained tissue sections, the CMT tissues were classified into complex carcinoma, mixed mammary tumor, papillary carcinoma and anaplastic carcinoma. A strong MMP-11 expression was observed in 75% of the histotypes of CMT under study. The findings suggest that MMP-11 could act as molecular marker for the immunohistochemistry-based diagnosis of mammary tumors in dogs.

Direct seeded rice (DSR) has several economic and environmental benefits over transplanted rice (TPR), such as ease of planting, less water and labour requirement, short crop period, and reduced methane emission. We studied the incidence of pests: brown plant hopper (BPH), white-backed planthopper (WBPH), leaf folder, whorl maggot, yellow stem borer, and natural enemies like spiders and rove beetles in rice under direct seeded and transplanting methods. Results indicated a significantly higher incidence of BPH and WBPH in TPR (4.81 ± 0.66; 0.24 ± 0.04 respectively) compared to DSR (3.22 ± 0.41; 0.006 ± 0.004 respectively). While the overall percent of leaf folder damage was significantly higher in TPR (1.01 ± 0.12), the percentage of white ears was high in DSR (2.83%) compared to TPR (1.87%). However, no significant difference was observed in the whorl maggot damage and natural enemy populations: spiders and rove beetles. The study also revealed a significantly higher yield in TPR (35.06 q/ha) than in DSR (31.13 q/ha). Our findings highlight the varying pest incidence in TPR and DSR with respect to pest species and emphasize the importance of management practices in DSR to maximize yield.

Efavirenz (EFV) is a non-nucleoside reverse transcriptase inhibitor that binds to reverse transcriptase enzyme resulting in its allosteric inhibition. It is a constituent of highly active antiretroviral therapy (HAART) used for preventing maternal-to-child transmission of the HIV virus. Efavirenz has been classified as a class D drug which means that there have been reports of reproductive toxicity induced by it and should be used only when potential benefits outweigh the risk. Pregnant Swiss albino mice were divided into the following groups: control group (C): mice treated with distilled water (6 mice) and treated group (T): mice treated with EFV (50 mg/kg) (6 mice). All the mice were given the drug and distilled water from gestation days 6–15 by oral route. On the 18th day of gestation, each group’s mice blood was collected from retro-orbital sinus for biochemical assay, and then, they were killed by cervical dislocation. Laparotomy was done to resect out the fetuses which were weighed, and then fixed in 10% formalin. Their liver was processed for histological study under H&E and PAS stain. The microscopic study of the liver showed the reduced density of hepatoblasts and progenitor cells, deficient sinusoid formation and destruction of the central vein in the treated group as compared to the control. A significant reduction in the weight of the fetal liver was observed. The values of SGOT, SGPT and serum bilirubin were found to increase in the treated group, whereas the values of serum albumin and total protein were found to decrease. Efavirenz is a hepatotoxic drug that should be judiciously used in pregnancy.

A signed graph (Sigma) is an ordered pair (G,(sigma)) that consists of a underlying graph (G=(V,E)) and a sign mapping called signature (sigma) from E to the sign set (lbrace +, - rbrace). In this article, we provide another way of looking at the Cartesian product of a path graph and an arbitrary signed graph (Sigma). We then present the adjacency spectrum and Laplacian spectrum of the Cartesian product in terms of the spectrum and Laplacian spectrum of (Sigma), respectively. We further provide an upper bound and lower bound for the respective energies. As applications, the results in this article are used (1) to construct a family of infinitely many cospectral and Laplacian cospectral graphs and (2) to compute the adjacency (respectively, Laplacian) spectrum of some known classes of graphs.

Nowadays, the demand for the Internet of Medical Things (IoMT) is likely to be driven by the need for real-time health monitoring to handle chronic diseases. Designing a distributed and reliable access control and user authentication scheme for IoMT involves multiple layers of security measures to ensure the integrity, confidentiality, as well as availability of sensitive patient data. However, the major problem with smart healthcare systems is data security and privacy. Blockchain can resolve these issues due to its immutability and transparency features. Most of the existing research enhances security and data privacy but they do not consider the overhead, delay, and scalability. The clustering-based proposed approach adopted the real-world issues of blockchain, i.e., delay, and scalability. It is an efficient access control approach that enables users to establish their desired access control policy to protect their private medical data. It uses a dual chain mechanism in which the access policies are stored in one chain, while the data transactions are stored in another chain. This approach addresses the challenge of access control resolution by enabling data owners to decide their desirable access policies. The experimental results show the efficiency of the proposed scheme in terms of processing time, computational time and its resilience against various security threats.

Two specimens of Rhinoceros Leatherjacket, P. nasicornis were observed and collected from Vizhinjam fishing harbor, Arabian sea caught by the commercial fishing trawler. The presence of bigger blotch over the caudal fin region; presence of two brown stripes on lateral sides of body and long slender horn like dorsal-fin spine located in front of the eyes identified these specimens as Pseudalutarius nasicornis. Our present finding can be used as an extended distributional record of P. nasicornis in Arabian coastal region.

Soft corals are sessile marine benthic organisms that belong to the subclass Octocorallia of the class Anthozoa and play a significant role in the coral reef ecosystem. A recent marine faunal survey revealed the distribution of Lobophytum varium Tixier-Durivault, 1970 is reported here as a new record for India. The species is distinguished from congeneric species by the skeletal component structures of the colony’s surface layer, which have clubs and rod-shaped sclerites, and the interior regions contain cylindrical, spindle, oblong-shaped, irregular-shaped, and slender capstan-shaped sclerites. This paper provides a detailed descriptions of colony morphology and sclerite and their illustrations.

Mustard aphid, vernacularly known as turnip aphid, Lipaphis erysimi, is a serious pest of vegetable Brassicas in India. Design of new pest management strategies depends on the life-table parameters. However, life table of L. erysimi was poorly studied under field conditions. The present study aims at constructing life tables of L. erysimi on cabbage and cauliflower under field conditions. The field population had the shortest nymphal duration, viz. 4.31 ± 0.48 and 4.33 ± 0.62 days on cauliflower and cabbage, respectively. The biotic potential of aphid on cauliflower and cabbage in the field was 2.71 × 10⁵³ and 3.49 × 10⁴⁹, which was much better than the corresponding values in the laboratory (2.86 × 10³⁸ and 2.27 × 10³⁸). The population parameters varied between two rearing conditions, viz. r and λ, was significantly superior under field conditions; however, the R₀, GRR and T were superior under laboratory conditions. On cauliflower and cabbage, the population of L. erysimi doubles in 1.75 and 1.74 days, respectively, whereas in a laboratory conditions, it took 2.24 and 2.47 days. S_xj of L. erysimi varied across developmental stages. The expected longevity of L. erysimi on cauliflower at age zero (e₀) was 12.84 and 7.90 days under laboratory and field conditions, respectively.

Of late, hard turning is widely accepted as an innovative and cost-effective machining solution for the hard-to-cut materials in a single machining set-up using Dry machining and other cooling medium such as liquid and solid lubricants. The hard turning provides better part quality than grinding, but hard turning surfaces are affected by the distressed surface pattern termed as white layer (WL). This WL is detrimental to the part produced by decreasing the fatigue life. Also, the surface integrity is deteriorated due to dynamic phase transformations. So, an attempt was made with super hardened AISI D4 steel turned with cubic boron nitride insert under Dry Machining, also gas mixture cooling. Noticeably, the results revealed that the dry machining didn’t eliminate WL and produced more roughness. But WL elimination and better surface finish were accomplished under Gas mixture cooling.

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The population of the Indian Skimmer (Rynchops albicollis) has declined sharply due to the habitat distraction by different anthropogenic disturbances, and consequently, this species has recently been categorised as endangered. The article presents the first photographic record about the presence of two individuals of the Indian Skimmer in the Ganga valley in district Haridwar, Uttarakhand, Himalayan foothills during March 2023.Continuous monitoring of the breeding and wintering populations of this endangered species is, therefore, needed in different parts of the Indian subcontinent.