Plant growth promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) hold promising future for sustainable agriculture. Here, we demonstrate a carotenoid producing halotolerant PGPR Dietzia natronolimnaea STR1 protecting wheat plants from salt stress by modulating the transcriptional machinery responsible for salinity tolerance in plants. The expression studies confirmed the involvement of ABA-signalling cascade, as TaABARE and TaOPR1 were upregulated in PGPR inoculated plants leading to induction of TaMYB and TaWRKY expression followed by stimulation of expression of a plethora of stress related genes. Enhanced expression of TaST, a salt stress-induced gene, associated with promoting salinity tolerance was observed in PGPR inoculated plants in comparison to uninoculated control plants. Expression of SOS pathway related genes (SOS1 and SOS4) was modulated in PGPR-applied wheat shoots and root systems. Tissue-specific responses of ion transporters TaNHX1, TaHAK, and TaHKT1, were observed in PGPR-inoculated plants. The enhanced gene expression of various antioxidant enzymes such as APX, MnSOD, CAT, POD, GPX and GR and higher proline content in PGPR-inoculated wheat plants contributed to increased tolerance to salinity stress. Overall, these results indicate that halotolerant PGPR-mediated salinity tolerance is a complex phenomenon that involves modulation of ABA-signalling, SOS pathway, ion transporters and antioxidant machinery.

Use of cone-beam computed tomography (CBCT) is becoming more frequent. For proper reconstruction, the geometry of the CBCT systems must be known. While the system can be designed to reduce errors in the geometry, calibration measurements must still be performed and corrections applied. Investigators have proposed techniques using calibration objects for system calibration. In this study, the authors present methods to calibrate a rotary-stage CB micro-CT (CBμCT) system using only the images acquired of the object to be reconstructed, i.e., without the use of calibration objects. Projection images are acquired using a CBμCT system constructed in the authors' laboratories. Dark- and flat-field corrections are performed. Exposure variations are detected and quantified using analysis of image regions with an unobstructed view of the x-ray source. Translations that occur during the acquisition in the horizontal direction are detected, quantified, and corrected based on sinogram analysis. The axis of rotation is determined using registration of antiposed projection images. These techniques were evaluated using data obtained with calibration objects and phantoms. The physical geometric axis of rotation is determined and aligned with the rotational axis (assumed to be the center of the detector plane) used in the reconstruction process. The parameters describing this axis agree to within 0.1 mm and 0.3 deg with those determined using other techniques. Blurring due to residual calibration errors has a point-spread function in the reconstructed planes with a full-width-at-half-maximum of less than 125 μm in a tangential direction and essentially zero in the radial direction for the rotating object. The authors have used this approach on over 100 acquisitions over the past 2 years and have regularly obtained high-quality reconstructions, i.e., without artifacts and no detectable blurring of the reconstructed objects. This self-calibrating approach not only obviates calibration runs, but it also provides quality control data for each data set.

Background:Stress plays a significant role in the pathogenesis of neuropsychiatric disorders such as anxiety and depression. Beta vulgaris is commonly known as “beet root” possessing antioxidant, anticancer, hepatoprotective, nephroprotective, wound healing, and anti-inflammatory properties.Objective:To study the protective effect of Beta vulgaris Linn. ethanolic extract (BVEE) of leaves against acute restraint stress (ARS)-induced anxiety- and depressive-like behavior and oxidative stress in mice.Materials and Methods:Mice (n = 6) were pretreated with BVEE (100 and 200 mg/kg, p. o.) for 7 days and subjected to ARS for 6 h to induce behavioral and biochemical changes. Anxiety- and depressive-like behavior were measured by using different behavioral paradigms such as open field test (OFT), elevated plus maze (EPM), forced swim test (FST), and tail suspension test (TST) 40 min postARS. Brain homogenate was used to analyze oxidative stress parameters, that is, malondialdehyde (MDA) and reduced glutathione (GSH) level.Results:BVEE pretreatment significantly (P < 0.05) reversed the ARS-induced reduction in EPM parameters, that is, percentage entries and time spent in open arms and in OFT parameters, that is, line crossings, and rearings in mice. ARS-induced increase in the immobility time in FST and TST was attenuated significantly (P < 0.05) by BVEE pretreatment at both the dosage. An increase in MDA and depletion of GSH level postARS was prevented significantly (P < 0.05) with BVEE pretreatment at both the dosage (100 and 200 mg/kg).Conclusion:BVEE exhibits anxiolytic and antidepressant activity in stressed mice along with good antioxidant property suggesting its therapeutic potential in the treatment of stress-related psychiatric disorders.SUMMARY Stress plays major role in the pathogenesis of anxiety and depressionARS-induced anxiety- and depressive-like behavior through oxidative damage in miceBVEE pretreatment reversed ARS-induced behavioral changes, that is, anxiety and depressionARS-induced oxidative stress was prevented by BVEE pretreatment in mice. Abbreviations Used: ANOVA: Analysis of variance, ARS: Acute restraint stress, BVEE: Beta vulgaris ethanolic extract, BV: Beta vulgaris, CMC: Carboxymethylcellulose, CNS: Central nervous system, CPCSEA: Committee for the purpose of control and supervision of experiments on animals, cms: Centimeter, DNA: Deoxyribose nucleic acid, EPM: Elevated plus maze, FST: Forced swim test, GSH: Reduced glutathione, g: Gram, h: Hour, IAEC: Institutional Animal Ethics Committee, mg: Milligram, μM: Microgram, MDA: Malondialdehyde, SEM: Standard error of mean, TST: Tail suspension test, UV: Ultraviolet, w/v: Weight by volume.

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A 360x360-element very high frame rate (VHFR) burst image sensor captures images at maximum frame rate up to IO6 frame/s. This is accomplished by continuously storing the last 30 image frames a t the pixel locations. The 360x360 VHFR imager having a 2x2cm2 chip is designed in the form of 4 quadrants each with 180x180 pixels. Each pixel occupies 50x50pn2 and consists of a 337pm2 photodetector with a fill factor of 13.5% and a 3-phase 30stage (5x6) series-parallel type buried-channel CCD (BCCD) register for continuously storing the Past 30 detected image frames. The chip uses 1.5pm design rules and 1.5x3pm2 minimum-size BCCD storage elements.The architecture of the VHFR imager is illustrated in Figure 1 for an array of 2x2 pixels. Each pixel consists of a photodiode with charge-collecting well under the G, gate, a blooming barrier gate G,, a drain D, and the gate G, separating the charge collecting well from the 5-stage serial ( S ) register. The drain D is used for control of blooming during the optical (frame) integration time and for dumping the excess charge signals (excess frames) from the S register. However, the drain D could also facilitate the operation with subframe optical integration time. The 5-stage serial register coupled to a 5x5-stage parallel (P) register forms a 30-frame CCD storage at each pixel location. A block diagram of the 360x360 VHFR imager is shown in Figure 2. T h i s imager is organized into 4 quadrants to reduce transfer losses and to improve processing yield of usable quadrants. Note that all 360x360 photodetectors, PDs, have the same spacing, while the shape of the CCD pixel storage is different for upper and lower quadrants.During the image acquisition cycle, the charge signal detected by the photodetector, PD, is transferred in series into the serial BCCD register of the pixel for detection of the successive frames. After the detection of 5 frames, the detected charge signals are transferred in parallel from the S register to the P register, providing a storage for the last 30 detected image frames. The continuous storage of the last 30 frames is obtained by preceding the loading of the S register from the photodetector by a parallel transfer into the S register of the charge signals from the last row of the P register of the pixel above. This last row of 5 charge signals a t each pixel location is transferred to the dumping drain D while a new row of 5 charge signals corresponding to the next 5 frames i s transferred from the photodetector into the S register. The readout of the last detected 30 frames can be initiated aRer the loading of the S register is completed. This can be at the end of any pixel row-time. At this time, all of the BCCD storage registers of each quadrant are converted (under control of the BCCD clocks) into a single large frame-transfer type CCD readout of 180x(5+1) rows and 180x6 columns. For the 3-phase BCCD design, this charge readout involves up to 180x6~3 = 3,240 transfers in vertical direction by the parallel registers and up to 180x(5+1)x3 = 3,240 tra...

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The performance of high-sensitivity x-ray imagers may be limited by additive instrumentation noise rather than by quantum noise when operated at the low exposure rates used in fluoroscopic procedures. The equipment-invasive instrumentation noise measures (in terms of electrons) are generally difficult to make and are potentially not as helpful in clinical practice as would be a direct radiological representation of such noise that may be determined in the field. In this work, we define a clinically relevant representation for instrumentation noise in terms of noise-equivalent detector entrance exposure, termed the instrumentation noise-equivalent exposure (INEE), which can be determined through experimental measurements of noise-variance or signal-to-noise ratio (SNR). The INEE was measured for various detectors, thus demonstrating its usefulness in terms of providing information about the effective operating range of the various detectors. A simulation study is presented to demonstrate the robustness of this metric against post-processing, and its dependence on inherent detector blur. These studies suggest that the INEE may be a practical gauge to determine and compare the range of quantum-limited performance for clinical x-ray detectors of different design, with the implication that detector performance at exposures below the INEE will be instrumentation-noise limited rather than quantum-noise limited.

Absence of a significant preexisting medical diagnosis is associated with a higher risk for excess mortality among Black men diagnosed with prostate cancer.