Assessment of growth and phytochemical quality of Gynura procumbens through nitrogen, potassium fertilization and evapotranspiration replacement interaction

Despite the progressive reports on potential pharmacological properties of G. procumbens, the importance of agronomic requirements to produce high yields and phytochemical content that may vary due to environmental variations are often overlooked. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the effects of N, K and ER interaction on the growth and phytochemical content of G. procumbens. The study was a three-factorial experiment; two rates of N and K, four rates of ER and three H time. The treatments have affected plant growth and phytochemical content significantly (p≤0.05) with stronger effect on physiology and biochemical attributes (p≤0.01). The study has shown discrete effect on growth, physiology, and phytochemicals content with N0K30>N90K0 and ER 75>50>100>25% treatment. The highest and lowest yield of plant biomass and phytochemical were observed under N0K30(70) and N90K0(25), respectively. The results have shown that the interaction and effect of treatments are highly significant (p≤0.0001) in Cond, CNB, TChlC, TPrC and TFC analysis, (p≤0.05) in NoL, CF and PWP, and not significant in TLA, Photo, TCC, TLC and TPC. The 75% ER has produced significant output of biomass as well as phytochemical content. The study also showed that low rate of N, moderate rate of K with 75% ER have produced high biomass as well as phytochemical content. Meanwhile, caffeic acid and kaempferol were demonstrated as the lead secondary metabolite compounds in this study.

Discrete effect on single-node boundary schemes of lattice Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook model for convection-diffusion equations

The discrete effect on the boundary condition has been a fundamental topic for the lattice Boltzmann method (LBM) in simulating heat and mass transfer problems. In previous works based on the anti-bounce-back (ABB) boundary condition for convection-diffusion equations (CDEs), it is indicated that the discrete effect cannot be commonly removed in the Bhatnagar–Gross–Krook (BGK) model except for a special value of relaxation time. Targeting this point in this paper, we still proceed within the framework of BGK model for two-dimensional CDEs, and analyze the discrete effect on a non-halfway single-node boundary condition which incorporates the effect of the distance ratio. By analyzing an unidirectional diffusion problem with a parabolic distribution, the theoretical derivations with three different discrete velocity models show that the numerical slip is a combined function of the relaxation time and the distance ratio. Different from previous works, we definitely find that the relaxation time can be freely adjusted by the distance ratio in a proper range to eliminate the numerical slip. Some numerical simulations are carried out to validate the theoretical derivations, and the numerical results for the cases of straight and curved boundaries confirm our theoretical analysis. Finally, it should be noted that the present analysis can be extended from the BGK model to other lattice Boltzmann (LB) collision models for CDEs, which can broaden the parameter range of the relaxation time to approach 0.5.

Effect of betaine and selenium on the growth and photosynthetic pigment production in Dunaliella salina as biostimulants

ABSTRACT The aim of our study was to establish the effect of selenium and betaine on the growth of D. salina, accumulation of photosynthetic pigments and antioxidant activity of the hydrophobic fraction. This approach was an attempt to demonstrate ‘microalgae biostimulant’ effects, similar to ‘plant biostimulant’ effects, i.e. increased tolerance to abiotic stress and enhanced accumulation of bioactive compounds. A high-throughput assay was done in 24-well microplates, at 15% NaCl and different concentrations of sodium selenite (0, 0.5, 2 and 8 µM) or betaine (0, 5, 50 and 500 µM). Both selenium and betaine induced a slight delay in algae growth during the actively growing stage but the final density reached similar values to the control. Betaine significantly enhanced (50%–100%) carotenoids and chlorophyll a accumulation, in a concentration depending manner. Antioxidant activity increased almost 3-fold in extracts of algae treated with 50 µM betaine. Selenium had a much more discrete effect than betaine on pigments biosynthesis. The antioxidant activity of the extracts increased 2-fold in the presence of Se compared to the control. Our work proves that it is possible to enhance production and activity of bioactive compounds from microalgae by using ingredients, which already proved to act as plant biostimulants.

Identification of Arenin, a Novel Kunitz-Like Polypeptide from the Skin Secretions of Dryophytes arenicolor

Amphibian skin secretions are enriched with complex cocktails of bioactive molecules such as proteins, peptides, biogenic amines, alkaloids guanidine derivatives, steroids and other minor components spanning a wide spectrum of pharmacological actions exploited for centuries in folk medicine. This study presents evidence on the protein profile of the skin secretions of the canyon tree frog, Dryophytes arenicolor. At the same time, it presents the reverse-phase liquid chromatography isolation, mass spectrometry characterization and identification at mRNA level of a novel 58 amino acids Kunitz-like polypeptide from the skin secretions of Dryophytes arenicolor, arenin. Cell viability assays performed on HDFa, CaCo2 and MCF7 cells cultured with different concentrations of arenin showed a discrete effect at low concentrations (2, 4, 8 and 16 µg/mL) suggesting a multi-target interaction in a hormetic-like dose-response. Further work is required to investigate the mechanisms underlying the variable effect on cell viability produced by different concentrations of arenin.

Low Dose Administration of Glutamate Triggers a Non-Apoptotic, Autophagic Response in PC12 Cells

Background/Aims: Increasing amounts of the neurotransmitter glutamate are associated with excitotoxicity, a phenomenon related both to homeostatic processes and neurodegenerative diseases such as multiple sclerosis. Methods: PC12 cells (rat pheochromocytoma) were treated with various concentrations of the non-essential amino acid glutamate for 0.5-24 hours. The effect of glutamate on cell morphology was monitored with electron microscopy and haematoxylin-eosin staining. Cell survival was calculated with the MTT assay. Expression analysis of chaperones associated with the observed phenotype was performed using either Western Blotting at the protein level or qRT-PCR at the mRNA level. Results: Administration of glutamate in PC12 cells in doses as low as 10 μM causes an up-regulation of GRP78, GRP94 and HSC70 protein levels, while their mRNA levels show the opposite kinetics. At the same time, GAPDH and GRP75 show reduced protein levels, irrespective of their transcriptional rate. On a cellular level, low concentrations of glutamate induce an autophagy-mediated pro-survival phenotype, which is further supported by induction of the autophagic marker LC3. Conclusion: The findings in the present study underline a discrete effect of glutamate on neuronal cell fate depending on its concentration. It was also shown that a low dose of glutamate orchestrates a unique expression signature of various chaperones and induces cell autophagy, which acts in a neuroprotective fashion.

Discrete Analysis of Maize Ear at Different Impact Head

In order to find the best impact head and threshing moisture content to damage the arrangement law of maize ear,the impact test with different varieties and different moisture of the maize ear is carried out in the drop impact test bench. The experimental result shows that the breakage rate of kernel is smaller and the discrete effect of kernel is better than others in the the action of impact head when moisture content of the maize ear belongs to 14%-20% or less than 12%. The wedge impact head is the most suitable for maize kernel threshing than other impact heads.The effect of maize varieties to the breakage rate is not obvious. The research results can provide a theoretical reference for the low damage threshing method of further research.

Free Vibration Analysis of Battened Beams

This paper presents an analytical solution for the free vibration analysis of simply supported battened beams/columns. The free vibration frequencies are derived using the classical Hamilton's principle. Unlike most of the existing studies on this topic, the present approach considers not only the transverse shear deformation effect but also the discrete effect of battens on the dynamic characteristics of the beams. The present analytical solution is validated using the data obtained from the finite element analysis. The results show that the shear and discrete effects of battens have significant influence on the frequencies of battened beams, particularly for the beams that are short and the vibration modes that are in high-order. It is also shown that the frequency decreases with the increase of the beam length. The decrease is rather rapid for beams that are shorter than 5 m.

Emergent creationism: another option in the origin of the soul debate

In the debate over the theology of the soul's origin, there have traditionally been three broad views on origins. These include creationism, traducianism, and Origen's pre-existence view. In the recent philosophy of religion and mind literature, William Hasker posits an alternative view of origins called emergent substance dualism. As a contribution to this discussion, I put forward one novel option as a via media between simple creationism and Hasker's emergent substance dualism, wherein it has relevant overlapping features found in the two contrary positions. I suggest that this view is a variation of creationism like emergentism where the material part (i.e. the brain) has some positive causal role in the soul's coming to be as a discrete effect of one divine cause. I argue that emergent creationism (as I call it) is a viable option deserving the attention of philosophers and theologians.