Estimation of diversity and combining abilities in Helianthus annuus L. under water stress and normal conditions.

Sunflower cannot produce high yields under water-limiting conditions. The aim of the present study was to prevent the impediments on yield and to develop varieties with high-yield potential under water scarce conditions. For achieving this objective, it is necessary to detect parents with desirable traits that mainly depend on the action of genes controlling the trait under improvement, combining ability, and genetic makeup of the parents. Heterosis can also be used to pool the desirable genes from genetically divergent varieties and these divergent parents could be detected by molecular studies. Ten tolerant and five susceptible tester lines were selected, crossed, and tested for genetic diversity using simple sequence repeat primers. We identified two parents (A-10.8 and G-60) that showed maximum (46.7%) genetic dissimilarity. On an average 3.1 alleles per locus were detected for twenty pair of primers. Evaluation of mean values revealed that under stress conditions the mean performances of the genotypes were reduced for all traits under study. Parent A-10.8 was consistent as a good general combiner for achene yield per plant under both non-stress and stress conditions. Line A-10.8 in the hybrid A-10.8 x G-60 proved to be a good combiner as it showed negative specific combining ability (SCA) effects for plant height and internodal length and positive SCA effects for head weight, achene yield per plant, and membrane stability index. Valuable information on gene action, combining ability, and heterosis was generated, which could be used in further breeding programs.

Role of Toll-like receptor 2 (-196 to -174) polymorphism in susceptibility to pulmonary tuberculosis in Pakistani population.

Tuberculosis (TB) is a global public health problem and a source of preventable deaths each year, with 8.8 million new cases of TB and 1.6 million deaths worldwide. Pakistan ranks sixth on the list of 22 high-burden tuberculosis countries in the world. The transitions from infection to clinical disease are very few signifying that host-defence factors could lead to the development of active disease. Toll-like receptor (TLR) 2 polymorphisms have been associated with regulation of TLR expression and development of active TB. In this study, blood samples of 187 subjects including 100 healthy and 87 TB positive were collected from three districts of Pakistan. DNA was extracted from blood and TLR 2 (-196 to -174del) polymorphism was analysed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). The results suggest that the frequency of -196 to -174del/del polymorphism of TLR2 was significantly higher in TB-positive patients compared with healthy. Results revealed that (-196 to -174del) polymorphism may increase the susceptibility to TB in healthy population of Pakistan. Moreover, males with heterozygous genotype (I/D) are more prone to TB than females with the same genotype. The occurrence of TB infection has been found positively associated with the age, suggesting that the population within the range of 21-45 years is more susceptible to Mycobacterium tuberculosis than other age groups studied. A significant association is also observed between smoking and the chances of developing TB, confirming that smoking strongly promotes its incidence.

Establishment of an in vitro regeneration system for genetic transformation of selected sugarcane genotypes.

A good culture system provides considerable quantities of highly regenerable target tissues. Embryogenic callus cultures are ideal for micro-projectile-mediated transformation, because regenerable cells are not very stable. Effective exploitation of genetic transformation requires good regeneration systems. We selected three sugarcane genotypes for the establishment and optimization of good in vitro regeneration systems, viz., S-2003-us-359, S-2006-sp-30, and S-2003-us-165. Three callus induction media were investigated. These media were composed of Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium salt plus 1, 2, and 3 mg/L 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D). Medium with 3 mg/L 2,4-D gave the greatest mass of embryogenic calli. The calli produced on the three callus induction media were transferred to 18 types of regeneration media (RM1-RM18). They varied with respect to plant growth regulators and sucrose levels but the basal medium was MS. Two levels of sucrose (30 and 40 g/L), three levels of 2,4-D (0.1, 0.25, 0.5 mg/L) and three levels of 6-benzylaminopurine (0, 0.25 and 0.5 mg/L) were studied in the regeneration media. The effects of callus age on regeneration were evaluated by transferring the calli to regeneration media after 15, 21, 28, and 35 days of culture. The 21-day-old callus of the genotype S-2003-us-359 on RM3 yielded the largest number of plants and was selected as the best for transformation. Six RAPD DNA primers were used to check genetic stability; this medium did not affect the sugarcane genomes.

Mineral and parathyroid hormone inter-relationships in normal pregnancy and pregnancy-induced hypertension.

The serum of calcium, other involved minerals and parathyroid hormone (PTH) were studied in non-pregnant women, during pregnancy and in pregnancy-induced hypertension (PIH). In pregnant women, serum creatinine, total calcium, total protein, albumin, inorganic phosphorus and magnesium declined, while parathyroid hormone levels increased significantly when compared to non-pregnant women. In PIH cases, serum total proteins, albumin and inorganic phosphorus were further reduced, while PTH levels were further increased when compared to normal pregnant women. Serum ionised calcium and sodium levels were similar in all the three groups. No significant relationship between blood pressure, PTH and involved minerals was observed in this study.

Nutritive value of human milk and nutritional status of wives of army personnel of low income from Rawalpindi.

The nutritional status and proximate composition, fatty acid profile and mineral composition of milk from 26 wives of army personnel of low income group from Rawalpindi was investigated. The body mass index ranged from 13.5 to 23.7, hemoglobin from 8.6 to 14.8 G/dl, serum protein from 4.8 to 7.5 G and serum albumin from 3.3 to 4.8 G%. Milk protein content varied from 0.6 to 2.4%, fat from 1.0 to 3.7% [corrected]. Palmitic acid was the major fatty acid in milk whose concentration ranged from 34.4 to 47.1% [corrected] and the linoleic acid from 6.9-15.4% [corrected]. The calcium content of milk varied from 7.9-87.1 mg%, iron from traces to 0.44 mg% and zinc from 0.02-1.28 mg%.

Nutritional evaluation of some commercial wheat varieties grown in Pakistan.

The nutritive value of some commercial wheat varieties grown in Pakistan was measured chemically, including amino acid analysis, and biologically in N-balance experiments with growing rats. The protein content ranged from 13.2% in Punjab-83 to 16% in Barani-83. Lysine per 100 g protein varied between 2.46 and 2.75%. The available carbohydrate ranged from 67.3 to 74.7%. Iron content was highest in Sonalika while the concentration of zinc and manganese was highest in Sarhad-82. The protein digestibility (TD), biological value (BV) and net protein utilisation (NPU) varied between 92-95%, 56-68% and 53-65% respectively. Level of wheat protein was negatively correlated with available carbohydrate (r = -0.93), lysine per unit protein (r = -0.67) and BV(r = -0.76). The lysine content (g/16gN) of commercial wheat varieties showed a positive correlation (r = +0.95) with the BV. The protein quality was lowered in varieties having higher content of protein.