Alterations of Oxidative Stress Indicators, Antioxidant Enzymes, Soluble Sugars, and Amino Acids in Mustard [Brassica juncea (L.) Czern and Coss.] in Response to Varying Sowing Time, and Field Temperature.

The impact of elevated temperature at the reproductive stage of a crop is one of the critical limitations that influence crop growth and productivity globally. This study was aimed to reveal how sowing time and changing field temperature influence on the regulation of oxidative stress indicators, antioxidant enzymes activity, soluble sugars (SS), and amino acids (AA) in Indian Mustard. The current study was carried out during the rabi 2017-2018 and 2018-2019 where, five varieties of mustard viz. Pusa Mustard 25 (PM-25) (V1), PM-26 (V2), BPR-541-4 (V3), RH-406 (V4), and Urvashi (V5) were grown under the field conditions on October 30 (normal sowing; S1), November 18 (late sowing; S2) and November 30 (very late sowing; S3) situations. The S1 and S3 plants, at mid-flowering stage, showed a significant variation in accumulation of SS (8.5 and 17.3%), free AA (235.4 and 224.6%), and proline content (118.1 and 133%), respectively, and played a crucial role in the osmotic adjustment under stress. The results showed that S3 sowing, exhibited a significant induction of the hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) (110.2 and 86.6%) and malondialdehyde (23.5 and 47.5%) concentrations, respectively, which indicated the sign of oxidative stress in plants. Interestingly, the polyphenol oxidase, peroxidase, superoxide dismutase, and catalase enzyme activities were also significantly increased in S3 plants compared to S1 plants, indicating their significant roles in ameliorating the oxidative stress. Furthermore, the concentration of fatty acid levels such as palmitic, stearic, oleic, and linoleic acids level also significantly increased in S3 plants, which influenced the seed and oil quality. The study suggests that the late sowing significantly impaired the biochemical mechanisms in Indian mustard. Further, the mustard variety V4 (RH-406) was found to be effective for cultivation as well as environmental stress adoption in Indian soils, and it could be highly useful in breeding for developing heat-tolerant genotypes for ensuring the food security.

Experimental and Numerical Assessment of Temperature Field and Analysis of Microstructure and Mechanical Properties of Low Power Laser Annealed Welded Joints.

In this present work, laser welding experiments were carried out on 1 mm thin Ti6Al4V sheets using a low power Nd-YAG laser machine without using any filler wire and without edge preparation of welding specimens. The influence of different major process control parameters such as welding speed and power on the yield parameters like temperature field, weld bead geometry, microstructure, and mechanical properties are critically investigated. Experimental results are compared in detail with the simulated results obtained using a commercial 3D finite element model. In the simulation model, temperature-dependent thermal and mechanical properties of plates were considered. The temperature readings were recorded with the aid of K type thermocouples. Forced convection has been assumed near weld zone region because of the movement of the shielding gas. Appreciable agreement is found between the experimental and the simulated temperature fields in most of the cases with few exceptions. These deviations on few occasions may be due to the presence of uncertainties inherently present in the experimental domain and uncertainties in the subsequent temperature sensing techniques by the thermocouples. In addition, annealing has been done at 950 °C, 980 °C, and 1010 °C for one selected parameter (192 W, 6 mm/s). The tensile strength of the samples annealed at 980 °C has been found to be 1048 MPa and it is 3% to 4% higher than that of the usual welded samples.

Impact of school health education program on personal hygiene among school children of Lucknow district.

BACKGROUND: Personal hygiene plays a major role to promote healthy life. This study was performed to assess the current level of knowledge and practicing behavior in regard to hand washing, bathing, tooth brushing, and taking care of nail and hair. MATERIALS AND METHODS: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 800 students of Lucknow district. All the students were interviewed with a structured questionnaire (pretest). A visual display of good and bad personal hygiene was shown on projector and explained the benefits of good personal hygiene behavior. Again, structured questionnaire was given (posttest). RESULTS: Most of the students belonged to the 10-12 years age group. The knowledge of the students regarding general body cleanliness was 87.5% in posttest as compared to 53.8% in pretest. Keeping the hair well-trimmed was considered as a part of personal hygiene by 38.0% of students. Knowledge about eating less food in diarrhea was positive in 80% of students. Only 12.5% of students accepted that diarrhea can kill children (pretest) while 100% (posttest) children were aware of this fact. Practice regarding change of clothes was on alternate day in 79.5% of students. Most of the students were found washing their hair once a week (72.5%) and 70% students were washing hands before meal. CONCLUSION: Overall trend of knowledge and practice about personal hygiene was in poor condition among students at the time of pretest. Posttest results were highly satisfactory.

Integrated teaching program using case-based learning.

BACKGROUND: At present, in a medical school, students are taught in different departments, subject-wise, without integration to interrelate or unify subjects and these results in compartmentalization of medical education, with no stress on case-based learning. Therefore, an effort was made to develop and adopt integrated teaching in order to have a better contextual knowledge among students. METHODOLOGY AND IMPLEMENTATION: After the faculty orientation training, four "topic committees" with faculty members from different departments were constituted which decided and agreed on the content material to be taught, different methodologies to be used, along with the logical sequencing of the same for the purpose of implementation. Different teaching methodologies used, during the program, were didactic lectures, case stimulated sessions, clinical visits, laboratory work, and small group student's seminar. RESULTS: After the implementation of program, the comparison between two batches as well as between topics taught with integrated learning program versus traditional method showed that students performed better in the topics, taught with integrated approach. Students rated "clinical visits" as very good methodology, followed by "case stimulated interactive sessions." Students believed that they felt more actively involved, and their queries are better addressed with such interactive sessions. CONCLUSION: There is a very good perception of students toward integrated teaching. Students performed better if they are taught using this technique. Although majority of faculty found integrated teaching, as useful method of teaching, nevertheless extra work burden and interdepartmental coordination remained a challenging task.

Prevalence of Hypertension Amongst Adult Patients Attending Out Patient Department of Urban Health Training Centre, Department of Community Medicine, Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow.

BACKGROUND: Hypertension is the most common disorder which is encountered in outdoor patients. The existing data suggests that there is an increase in the prevalence of pre-hypertension and hypertension in India. The prevalence of hypertension will increase even further, unless broad and effective preventive measures are implemented. The main objective of this study was to find out the prevalence of hypertension amongst the adult outdoor patients of an urban health centre of Lucknow district. MATERIALS AND METHODS: This observational, Out Patients Department based study involved a survey on 306 male and 1203 female respondents who were aged 18 years, who attended the Urban Health Training Centre of the Department of Community Medicine, Era's Lucknow Medical College and Hospital, Lucknow, India. A structured, pretested schedule was used to collect the data with regards to the demographic characteristics and the blood pressure pattern. The Chi- square test and ANOVA were used to analyze the data. RESULTS: The prevalence of hypertension was found to be 44.46%. The proportion of hypertension showed an increasing trend with age. The mean systolic as well as diastolic blood pressure patterns were found to be higher, with an increase in age. CONCLUSION: Hypertension was found to be highly prevalent among the outdoor patients of an urban health centre of Lucknow. An early detection of hypertension can be facilitated by periodically screening people regularly.

QTL mapping of terminal heat tolerance in hexaploid wheat (T. aestivum L.).

High temperature (>30 °C) at the time of grain filling is one of the major causes of yield reduction in wheat in many parts of the world, especially in tropical countries. To identify quantitative trait loci (QTL) for heat tolerance under terminal heat stress, a set of 148 recombinant inbred lines was developed by crossing a heat-tolerant hexaploid wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivar (NW1014) and a heat-susceptible (HUW468) cultivar. The F(5), F(6), and F(7) generations were evaluated in two different sowing dates under field conditions for 2 years. Using the trait values from controlled and stressed trials, four different traits (1) heat susceptibility index (HSI) of thousand grain weight (HSITGW); (2) HSI of grain fill duration (HSIGFD); (3) HSI of grain yield (HSIYLD); and (4) canopy temperature depression (CTD) were used to determine heat tolerance. Days to maturity was also investigated. A linkage map comprising 160 simple sequence repeat markers was prepared covering the whole genome of wheat. Using composite interval mapping, significant genomic regions on 2B, 7B and 7D were found to be associated with heat tolerance. Of these, two (2B and 7B) were co-localized QTL and explained more than 15 % phenotypic variation for HSITGW, HSIGFD and CTD. In pooled analysis over three trials, QTL explained phenotypic variation ranging from 9.78 to 20.34 %. No QTL × trial interaction was detected for the identified QTL. The three major QTL obtained can be used in marker-assisted selection for heat stress in wheat.

Stability constants and thermodynamic functions of molybdenum and uranium chelates formed with dl-alpha-aminobutyric acid.

The stability constants and thermodynamic functions involved in the formation of Mo(VI) and U(VI) chelates with dl-alpha-aminobutyric acid have been determined potentiometrically. It is observed that in the case of Mo(VI) system three chelates ML, ML(2) and ML(3) are formed stepwise, whereas in the U(VI) system only two chelates ML and ML(2) are formed before precipitation occurs, and both steps occur almost simultaneously. Results show that entropy makes a predominant contribution to the stability of both Mo(VI) and U(VI) chelates.

The influence of some correlates of blood pressure on its distribution in an Indian rural community.

A door-to-door investigation of casual blood pressure (BP) was carried out in 1325 adults in an Indian rural community to study its distribution and the influence on BP levels of some correlative factors--namely, age, sex, weight, build, and socioeconomic status. Systolic and diastolic levels of BP rose with increasing age, weight, and build. However, the socioeconomic status of respondents did not significantly influence their BP levels. After the age of 40, women had considerably higher levels of systolic blood pressure (SBP) than men. Evidence was found of multimodality, espically in diastolic blood pressure (DBP) distributions. The need is emphasised for an extensive investigation to obtain more accurate and generalised results, utilising the technique of blood pressure measurement recommended by the World Health Organisation (WHO, 1959).