Pesticide residues analysis in farm gate vegetables of agricultural areas in Tumakuru district, Karnataka, India

The main purpose of this experiment was to understand pesticide residues persistence and their toxicity level in vegetables. In the present study pesticide residues in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum) and capsicum (Capsium annuum L.) vegetables cultivated in Tumakuru, Gubbi, Kunigal and Pavagada taluks in Tumkur district were analysed. In methodology, samples of 1 kg each were collected, cut into small pieces, macerated in a grinder and used for the analysis. Pesticides were quantified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS). Results showed tomato samples of Pavagada recorded acephate (0.346 mg/kg), dichlorvos (0.189 mg/kg), fenvalerate (0.057 mg/kg) and Tumakuru samples recorded phorate (0.072 mg/kg) residues higher than MRLs (Maximum residue levels). Chlorpyrifos, cyhalothrin-g and cypermethrin were below detection level (BDL) in all the samples. Cyfluthrin-β recorded highest in Kunigal samples (0.294 mg/kg), Tumakuru and Gubbi samples showed BDL. Deltamethrin was highest in Pavagada (0.296 mg/kg) samples and Tumakuru and Kunigal samples revealed BDL. Pavagada samples (0.026 mg/kg) showed monocrotophos residues higher than MRLs. In capsicum samples, acephate residue was highest in Tumakuru samples (0.333 mg/kg), highest chlorpyrifos (0.153 mg/kg) in Kunigal samples, deltamethrin (0.381 mg/kg), fenvalerate (0.168 mg/kg) and phorate (0.089 mg/kg) residues were higher than MRLs in Pavagada samples. Cyfluthrin-β (0.045 mg/kg) was high in Tumakuru and dichlorvos (0.042 mg/kg) high in Pavagada samples. Cyhalothrin-g, cypermethrin and monocrotophos were BDL in all the samples. An attempt has been made to assess the different pesticides usage and their adverse impacts on vegetables, which are backbone to afford assistance for an extensive array of investigators.

Circulating Blood miR-155 and miR-21 Promote the Development of Acute Pancreatitis and Can Be Used to Assess the Risk Stratification of Pancreatitis

To explore the role of circulating blood miR-155 and miR-21 in promoting acute pancreatitis (AP) and evaluating the risk stratification of pancreatitis. In this experiment, 70 patients with AP treated in our hospital from October 2019 to December 2020 were included in the research group (RG), and the blood of 52 healthy cases was collected and they were included in the control group (CG). The expression of miR-155 and miR-21 in circulating blood was observed in the two groups. The diagnostic efficacy of miR-155 and miR-21 in AP was observed. The risk factors of patients with AP were observed. The expression of serum gastrointestinal hormones was observed in the two groups. The GAS and VIP in RG were higher than those in CG, while MTL and CCK were lower than those in CG. Moreover, the detection level of mild, moderate, severe, and critical patients was also significantly different ( P < 0.05 ). The expression of miR-155 and miR-21 in circulating blood of RG was significantly lower than that of CG ( P < 0.05 ), and the area under the miR-155 curve was 0.775 and the area under the miR-21 curve was 0.832. Alcoholism, GAS, VIP, MTL, CCK, miR-155, and miR-21 were the risk factors of patients. miR-155 and miR-21 show low expression in the serum of patients. The lower the expression, the more serious the disease. They are closely related to the development of AP. miR-155 and miR-21 have good diagnostic efficacy by ROC analysis, and they are expected to become effective indicators for the diagnosis and treatment of AP in the future.

A new method for vehicles detection and tracking using information and image processing

<span lang="EN-US">In this article, a new method of vehicles detecting and tracking is presented: A thresholding followed by a mathematical morphology treatment are used. The tracking phase uses the information about a vehicle. An original labeling is proposed in this article. It helps to reduce some artefacts that occur at the detection level. The main contribution of this article lies in the possibility of merging information of low level (detection) and high level (tracking). In other words, it is shown that many artefacts resulting from image processing (low level) can be detected, and eliminated thanks to the information contained in the labeling (high level). The proposed method has been tested on many video sequences and examples are given illustrating the merits of our approach.</span>

RESEARCH OF THE SETTLEMENT OF PRAGUE-KORCHAK CULTURE IN RIVNE CITY

The paper introduces into scientific circulation the results of research of the objects of Early Slavs of the Prague-Korchak culture in a multi-layered settlement in the southern part of Rivne city. The settlement is located on the eastern shore of the Basiv Kut Reservoir, on the oval hill measuring 220 Ч 120 m. The first finds of the Early Middle Ages were discovered here by V. K. Piasetskyi in 1989. In 2019, the excavations were carried out on the area of 590 m2; the housing and storage pit of the Prague-Korchak culture have been discovered. The quadrangular foundation pit of 3.5 Ч 3.5 m square was sunk into the earth to the 0.3—0.4 m from detection level. The remains of stone stove made on the wooden frame were located in the northern corner of the dwelling. Such semi-dugout dwellings with the stove in one of corners was the main type of residential buildings in the population of the Prague-Korchak culture. The pillar holes found in the corners of the foundation pit and in the middle of the walls indicate the frame-pillar construction of the wooden walls. Among the stones from the destroyed stove and on the earthen floor in the central part of the foundation pit of the dwelling the remains of nine clay pots were found. We managed to reconstruct the full profiles of seven of them; two else vessels are represented by the profiles of the upper parts. The pots from the dwelling have a conical body, weakly marked shoulder, scarcely marked neck and short rim. The surface of the item is insufficiently smoothed and bumpy. The admixtures in the clay are mostly of small and medium size, with added fireclay, grus and sand. By their size the vessels are divided into small (1), medium (5) and large (3). All pots from the dwelling belong to variants 1—3 of the first type according to I. P. Rusanova’s classification. This combination is typical of the early monuments of the Prague-Korchak culture. The analysis allows attributing the ceramic complex from Rivne to phaze 1 according to I. O. Havritukhin and to date it as belonging to the second half of 5th — mid-6th centuries. The settlement was not large; two or three farmsteads could simultaneously exist there. They were located at a distance of 100—150 m from each other.

Unsafe at Low Levels: Adopt a Federal MCL for 1,2,3-Trichloropropane in United States’ Drinking Water

1,2,3-trichloropropane (TCP) is a toxic, man-made chemical used widely in agricultural and other contexts from the 1940s to the 1980s. TCP has settled into the groundwater supplies nearly everywhere it was used. In 2009, the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) included TCP on the Third Contaminant Candidate list (CCL3) and listed the safe oral reference dose (RfD) for TCP at 0.004 milligrams per kilogram per day. Since then, we have learned that the scope of the TCP contamination problem is greater than first understood. At least 13 states and one territory have contaminated wells. Animal studies show that TCP is a potent carcinogen, and toxicology studies suggest that TCP is unsafe at levels at and above its 5 ppt detection limit. Three states, California, Hawaii, and New Jersey have adopted enforceable maximum contaminant levels of TCP in groundwater. As other states become aware of contamination levels, it is likely that some of them will also regulate TCP, but that could take many years. Federal legislation could mandate EPA advisories sooner than state legislation. The EPA has used the detection limit as the maximum for at least one other chemical, 1,2-Dibromo-3-chloropropane (DBCP), a common co-contaminant of TCP. We recommend that the EPA adopt TCP’s lowest detection level, 5 ppt, as the federal maximum contaminant level

Comparative Sensitivity of Rapid Antigen Tests for the Delta Variant (B.1.617.2) of SARS-CoV-2

Rapid antigen tests (RATs) for COVID-19 based on lateral flow immunoassays are useful for rapid diagnosis in a variety of settings. Although many kinds of RATs are available, their respective sensitivity has not been compared. Here, we examined the sensitivity of 27 RATs available in Japan for the detection of the SARS-CoV-2 delta variant. All of the RATs tested detected the delta variant albeit with different sensitivities. Nine RATs (ESPLINE SARS-CoV-2, ALSONIC COVID-19 Ag, COVID-19 and Influenza A+B Antigen Combo Rapid Test, ImmunoArrow SARS-CoV-2, Fuji Dri-chem immuno AG cartridge COVID-19 Ag, 2019-nCoV Ag rapid detection kit, Saliva SARS-CoV-2(2019-nCoV) Antigen Test Kit, and Rabliss SARS-CoV-2 antigen detection kit COVID19 AG) showed superior sensitivity to the isolated delta variant. Although actual clinical specimens were not examined, the detection level of most of the RATs was 7500 pfu, indicating that individuals whose test samples contained less virus than that would be considered negative. Therefore, it is important to bear in mind that RATs may miss individuals shedding low levels of infectious virus.

Systematic review and meta-analysis of diagnostic methods for occlusal surface caries

Aim This systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to assess the diagnostic performance of commonly used methods for occlusal caries diagnostics, such as visual examination (VE), bitewing radiography (BW) and laser fluorescence (LF), in relation to their ability to detect (dentin) caries under clinical and laboratory conditions. Materials and methods A systematic search of the literature was performed to identify studies meeting the inclusion criteria using the PIRDS concept (N = 1090). A risk of bias (RoB) assessment tool was used for quality evaluation. Reports with low/moderate RoB, well-matching thresholds for index and reference tests and appropriate reporting were included in the meta-analysis (N = 37; 29 in vivo/8 in vitro). The pooled sensitivity (SE), specificity (SP), diagnostic odds ratio (DOR) and areas under ROC curves (AUCs) were computed. Results SP ranged from 0.50 (fibre-optic transillumination/caries detection level) to 0.97 (conventional BW/dentine detection level) in vitro. AUCs were typically higher for BW or LF than for VE. The highest AUC of 0.89 was observed for VE at the 1/3 dentin caries detection level; SE (0.70) was registered to be higher than SP (0.47) for VE at the caries detection level in vivo. Conclusion The number of included studies was found to be low. This underlines the need for high-quality caries diagnostic studies that further provide data in relation to multiple caries thresholds. Clinical relevance VE, BW and LF provide acceptable measures for their diagnostic performance on occlusal surfaces, but the results should be interpreted with caution due to the limited data in many categories.

Effectual Gold Nanoprobe Sensor for Screening Cow Milk Adulteration in Goat Milk—Comparison With Conventional PCR

Different methods have been used to detect milk adulteration, but in recent years the use of nanomaterials has been introduced as an interesting tool, due to their optical properties. A gold nanoparticle (AuNP) probe application was developed in order to evaluate milk adulteration. The methodology relies on the colorimetric differentiation and the participation profiles of the hybridization DNA sequence with the AuNPs. Various concentrations, from 0.01 (traces) to 50%, of cows&rsquo; milk in goats&rsquo; milk samples were prepared for DNA extraction, further identification with the AuNPs and comparison with a conventional PCR. Also, a total of 40 dairy products from goat milk, commonly consumed in Greece, were tested. Negative and goat reaction mixtures showed a purplish coloured solution with a peak at &gt; 570 nm, while samples containing bovine DNA had an absorbance closer to the characteristic peak of the AuNPs at 520-525 nm. Presence of bovine milk was detected even at traces level, achieving a detection level comparable to those achieved by conventional PCR. The use of AuNPs in milk products, provides a low-cost and easy-to-perform method and offers the possibility to detect fraudulent practices in various food matrices.