Identification and Validation of Functional miRNAs and Their Main Targets in Sorghum bicolor.

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) are typically non-coding RNAs of 18-26 nucleotides (nts) that are produced endogenously and regulated post-transcriptionally through degradation or translational repression. Since miRNAs are evolutionarily conserved, their preservation is essential for important regulatory functions in plant development, growth, and responses to environmental stress. Sorghum bicolor (sbi) is a valuable food and fodder crop which is grown worldwide. A range of sbi miRNAs were identified so far as being connected to plant development and stress responses. Herein, we employed a variety of bioinformatics tools for miRNA profiling in sbi and a PCR-based platform for the validation of these miRNAs. In total, 74 new conserved sbi miRNAs from 52 miRNA families have been predicted. Using the psRNA Target method, 10613 different protein targets of these predicted miRNAs have been attained. These targets include 54 GO-terms which have substantial targets in the biological, molecular, and cellular processes. We particularly found that the sbi-miR1861c and sbi-miR5050 are involved to regulate sulphur compound biosynthetic process, while the significant spliceosomal complex is regulated by sbi-miR815b and sbi-miR7768b. Also, we report that the pre-ribosome, electron transport chain, cell communication, cellular respiration, protein localization, and photosynthesis are controlled by sbi-miR2907b, sbi-miR530, sbi-miR7749, sbi-miR1858a, sbi-mi7729a, and sbi-miR417, respectively. The identification and validation of these novel sbi miRNAs shall contribute a lot in improving the crop yield and ensure sustainable agriculture.

Controlled Size Oils Based Green Fabrication of Silver Nanoparticles for Photocatalytic and Antimicrobial Application.

The particle size at the nanometric level allows the manifestation of remarkable properties, chiefly due to changes in surface-to-volume ratio. This study is attributed to the novel green synthesis of nano silver by using essential oils as a capping and reducing agent. Clove oil, cinnamon oil, and cardamom oil were selected for the eco-friendly and low-cost fabrication of silver nanoparticles. The prepared nanoparticles were characterized by photoluminescence spectroscopy, FT-IR spectroscopy, X-Ray diffraction, energy dispersive X-ray spectroscopy, dynamic laser light scattering, thermogravimetric analysis, and transmission electron microscopy. It was found that samples prepared by using cinnamon oil (20 nm) and cardamom oil (12 nm) had smaller particle sizes as compared to those synthesized by using clove oil (45 nm). All the prepared samples exhibited very strong antimicrobial activities with a clear zone of inhibition (6-24 mm) against Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, and Candida albicans. Very resilient photocatalytic activities of the samples were observed against Allura red and fast green dyes. It was concluded that the cinnamon oil-based system is the best size reducer and size homogenizer (less chances of agglomeration) as compared to clove oil and cardamom oil (more chances of agglomeration) for the synthesis of silver nanoparticles.

Automatic Modulation Recognition Based on the Optimized Linear Combination of Higher-Order Cumulants.

Automatic modulation recognition (AMR) is used in various domains-from general-purpose communication to many military applications-thanks to the growing popularity of the Internet of Things (IoT) and related communication technologies. In this research article, we propose an innovative idea of combining the classical mathematical technique of computing linear combinations (LCs) of cumulants with a genetic algorithm (GA) to create super-cumulants. These super-cumulants are further used to classify five digital modulation schemes on fading channels using the K-nearest neighbor (KNN). Our proposed classifier significantly improves the percentage recognition accuracy at lower SNRs when using smaller sample sizes. A comparison with existing techniques manifests the supremacy of our proposed classifier.

Reliability of the ICECAP-O Quality of Life Scale With Community-Dwelling People With Dementia.

Currently, measures of quality of life used with older people with dementia (PWD) are mainly health related. Health is not an actual attribute of but a means to attain quality of life. The Investigating Choice Experiments for the Preferences of Older People - CAPability index (ICECAP-O) measures attributes of quality of life. While its construct validity has been tested with PWD, no study has yet published data on the reliability of this scale used directly with PWD. In this study, we tested the external (test-retest) reliability of the ICECAP-O with 54 community-dwelling older PWD from the south of England. The ICECAP-O had acceptable test-retest reliability (r = .68, p < .01 and r = .56, p < .01 for raw and tariff scores, respectively). This suggests that the ICECAP-O is both a reliable and valid measure of quality of life for use directly with community-dwelling PWD.

A novel virtual-reality-based route-learning test suite: Assessing the effects of cognitive aging on navigation.

Most research groups studying human navigational behavior with virtual environment (VE) technology develop their own tasks and protocols. This makes it difficult to compare results between groups and to create normative data sets for any specific navigational task. Such norms, however, are prerequisites for the use of navigation assessments as diagnostic tools-for example, to support the early and differential diagnosis of atypical aging. Here we start addressing these problems by presenting and evaluating a new navigation test suite that we make freely available to other researchers (https://osf.io/mx52y/). Specifically, we designed three navigational tasks, which are adaptations of earlier published tasks used to study the effects of typical and atypical aging on navigation: a route-repetition task that can be solved using egocentric navigation strategies, and route-retracing and directional-approach tasks that both require allocentric spatial processing. Despite introducing a number of changes to the original tasks to make them look more realistic and ecologically valid, and therefore easy to explain to people unfamiliar with a VE or who have cognitive impairments, we replicated the findings from the original studies. Specifically, we found general age-related declines in navigation performance and additional specific difficulties in tasks that required allocentric processes. These findings demonstrate that our new tasks have task demands similar to those of the original tasks, and are thus suited to be used more widely.

Randomised Controlled Trial Of The Effect Of Tai Chi On Postural Balance Of People With Dementia.

PURPOSE: To investigate the effect of Tai Chi exercise on postural balance among people with dementia (PWD) and the feasibility of a definitive trial on falls prevention. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Dyads, comprising community-dwelling PWD and their informal carer (N=85), were randomised to usual care (n=43) or usual care plus weekly Tai Chi classes and home practice for 20 weeks (n=42). The primary outcome was the timed up and go test. All outcomes for PWD and their carers were assessed six months post-baseline, except for falls, which were collected prospectively over the six-month follow-up period. RESULTS: For PWD, there was no significant difference at follow-up on the timed up and go test (mean difference [MD] = 0.82, 95% confidence interval [CI] = -2.17, 3.81). At follow-up, PWD in the Tai Chi group had significantly higher quality of life (MD = 0.051, 95% CI = 0.002, 0.100, standardised effect size [ES] = 0.51) and a significantly lower rate of falls (rate ratio = 0.35, 95% CI =0.15, 0.81), which was no longer significant when an outlier was removed. Carers in the Tai Chi group at follow-up were significantly worse on the timed up and go test (MD = 1.83, 95% CI = 0.12, 3.53, ES = 0.61). The remaining secondary outcomes were not significant. No serious adverse events were related to participation in Tai Chi. CONCLUSION: With refinement, this Tai Chi intervention has potential to reduce the incidence of falls and improve quality of life among community-dwelling PWD [Trial registration: NCT02864056].

ANTIOXIDANTS AND ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITIES OF SUBSTITUTED GUANIDINES AND THEIR COPPER COMPLEXES.

A series of guanidines and their copper (II) complexes were investigated for their radical scavenging activity including peroxyl radicals (ROO), superoxide anion (O2), hydroxyl ('OH), and reactive hydrogen per- oxide (H202) species. Among the Cu(II) complexes, Cu-MR-9-2 shows the highest, Cu-MR-9-3, Cu-MR-9-6 less and Cu-MR-9-1 least antioxidant potential. The Cu(II) complexes show better Fea'-chelating activity than that of ligands. Among the Cu(II) complexes Cu-MR-9-2 was found to have the highest, Cu-MR-9-6 moderate, MR-9-3 less and Cu-MR-9-1 least ferric reducing capacity. The IC50 values for ligands (MR-9-1, MR-9-2, MR- 9-3, MR-9-6) were determined to be 197.53 ± 7.13, 189.07 ± 7.34, 207.98 ± 6.78 and 233.38 ±6.37 pM, which showed lower antioxidant activity than their Cu(II) complexes. The IC,o values for ascorbic acid were found to be 51.60 ± 13.18 pM. The Cu(I) metal compounds (Cu-MR-9-1,Cu-MR-9-2, Cu-MR-9-3 and Cu-MR-9-6) were detected to be the most powerful scavengers of the hydroxyl radical with IC50 up to 108.03 ± 11.34 pM, 101.41 ±12.10 pM, 90.59 ± 11.53 pM and 88.86 ± 13.16 pM, respectively.