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Aluminium alloys have found application in many areas like aerospace industries and automobiles specifically in Machine tool parts, aircraft wheels, pump parts, marine hardware, valve bodies and automotive pistons, owed to their strength to low weight ratio. The present study deals with the growing demand for more durable aluminum alloys for the engine components with improved mechanical property/tribological properties majorly focusing on the area of wear and tear in engine piston systems. In the present research, the simultaneous effect of cobalt (Co) addition and wear testing factors on the wear resistance of Al-6.6Si-0.4Mg hypoeutectic alloy is investigated through response surface methodology (RSM), a system employed in the design of experiments. Using Minitab software, the regression analysis was done and an equation was formulated to forecast the wear rate and also to investigate the significance of each experimental parameter on the subsequent wear rate. It was found from the current research that, with a surge in the cobalt content, the wear resistance of the alloy increased. It was also noted that, the wear rate was found to increase with an increase in the sliding velocity and load. Whereas, wear rate decreases with an increase in the sliding distance. In order to obtain the minimal wear rate, optimal values for each parameter were found out. FESEM investigation was conducted on the worn-out specimen to evaluate the worn-out surface of the regular and modified alloy for different wear testing conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The glyoxalase system, involving Glyoxalase I (GlyI) and Glyoxalase II (Gly II), plays a vital role in abiotic stress tolerance in plants. A novel enzyme Glyoxalase III (Gly III) was found recently from bacteria, yeast, and plant species. This enzyme provides a new way to detoxify Methylglyoxal (MG), a cytotoxic α-oxoaldehyde, which, in excess, can cause complete cell destruction by forming Reactive Oxygen Species (ROS) and Advanced Glycation End products (AGEs) or DNA/RNA mutation. In this background, the current study examined sugarcane transgenic events that exhibit an increase in expression of EaGly III, to assess their performance in terms of germination and biomass production during formative stage under stress conditions. Southern blot analysis outcomes confirmed the integration of transgene in the transgenic plants. The results from quantitative RT-PCR analyses confirmed high expression levels of EaGly III in transgenic events compared to wild type (WT) under salinity (100 and 200 mM NaCl) and drought (withholding watering) conditions. Transgenic events exhibited enhanced biomass productivity ranged between 0.141 Kg/pot and 0.395 Kg/pot under 200 mM salinity and 0.262 Kg/pot and 0.666 Kg/pot under drought stress. Further, transgenic events observed significantly higher germination rates under salinity and drought conditions compared to that of WT. Subcellular localization prediction by EaGlyIII - GFP fusion expression in sugarcane callus showed that it is distributed across the cytoplasm, thus indicating its widespread activity within the cell. These results strongly suggest that enhancing EaGly III activity is a useful strategy to improve the salinity and drought-tolerance in sugarcane as well as other crops., (© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2024. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Commercial sugarcane hybrids are derivatives from Saccharum officinarum and Saccharum spontaneum hybrids containing the full complement of S. officinarum and a few S. spontaneum chromosomes and recombinants with favorable agronomic characters from both the species. The combination of the two sub-genomes in varying proportions in addition to the recombinants presents a challenge in the study of gene expression and regulation in the hybrid. We now report the transcriptome analysis of the two progenitor species and a modern commercial sugarcane hybrid through long read sequencing technology. Transcripts were profiled in the two progenitor species S. officinarum (Black Cheribon), and S. spontaneum (Coimbatore accession) and a recent high yielding, high sugar variety Co 11015. The composition and contribution of the progenitors to a hybrid with respect to sugar, biomass, and disease resistance were established. Sugar related transcripts originated from S. officinarum while several stress and senescence related transcripts were from S. spontaneum in the hybrid. The hybrid had a higher number of transcripts related to sugar transporters, invertases, transcription factors, trehalose, UDP sugars, and cellulose than the two progenitor species. Both S. officinarum and the hybrid had an abundance of novel genes like sugar phosphate translocator, while S. spontaneum had just one. In general, the hybrid shared a larger number of transcripts with S. officinarum than with S. spontaneum , reflecting the genomic contribution, while the progenitors shared very few transcripts between them. The common isoforms among the three genotypes and unique isoforms specific to each genotype indicate that there is a high scope for improvement of the modern hybrids by utilizing novel gene isoforms from the progenitor species., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Thirugnanasambandam, Singode, Thalambedu, Athiappan, Krishnasamy, Purakkal, Govind, Furtado and Henry.)

Chilling Tolerant Divergence 1 ( COLD1 ) gene consists of Golgi pH Receptor (GPHR) as well as Abscisic Acid-linked G Protein-Coupled Receptor (ABA_GPCR), which are the major transmembrane proteins in plants. This gene expression has been found to be differentially regulated, under various stress conditions, in wild Saccharum -related genera, Erianthus arundinaceus , compared to commercial sugarcane variety. In this study, Rapid Amplification of Genomic Ends (RAGE) technique was employed to isolate the 5' upstream region of COLD1 gene to gain knowledge about the underlying stress regulatory mechanism. The current study established the cis -acting elements, main promoter regions, and Transcriptional Start Site (TSS) present within the isolated 5' upstream region (Cold1P) of COLD1, with the help of specific bioinformatics techniques. Phylogenetic analysis results revealed that the isolated Cold1P promoter is closely related to the species, Sorghum bicolor . Cold1P promoter-GUS gene construct was generated in pCAMBIA 1305.1 vector that displayed a constitutive expression of the GUS reporter gene in both monocot as well as dicot plants. The histochemical GUS assay outcomes confirmed that Cold1P can drive expression in both monocot as well as dicot plants. Cold1P's activities under several abiotic stresses such as cold, heat, salt, and drought, revealed its differential expression profile in commercial sugarcane variety. The highest activity of the GUS gene was found after 24 h of cold stress, driven by the isolated Cold1P promoter. The outcomes from GUS fluorimetric assay correlated with that of the GUS expression findings. This is the first report on Cold1P isolated from the species, E. arundinaceus ., Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s13205-023-03650-8., Competing Interests: Conflict of interestThe authors declare that there are no conflicts of interest., (© King Abdulaziz City for Science and Technology 2023. Springer Nature or its licensor (e.g. a society or other partner) holds exclusive rights to this article under a publishing agreement with the author(s) or other rightsholder(s); author self-archiving of the accepted manuscript version of this article is solely governed by the terms of such publishing agreement and applicable law.)

Backgrounds/aims: Proximal splenorenal shunt (PSRS) is usually done in symptomatic non-cirrhotic portal fibrosis (NCPF). The outcomes of splenectomy with endotherapy in non-bleeder NCPF patients has not been well studied. We here by aimed to study the post-surgical outcomes on short and long-term basis between PSRS and splenectomy among non-bleeder NCPF patients., Methods: The consecutive non-bleeder NCPF patients whom underwent either splenectomy or PSRS from 2008 to 2016 were enrolled. The patients were followed up post-surgery clinically and biochemical investigations, Doppler ultrasound and upper gastrointestinal endoscopy were done as required. The peri-operative parameters compared were operative time, blood loss, hospital stay and morbidity. The long-term outcome measures compared were incidence of portal hypertension (PHTN) related bleed, change in grade of varices, shunt patency, shunt complications and thrombosis of spleno-portal axis., Results: Among 40 patients with non-bleeder status, 24 underwent splenectomy and 16 underwent PSRS. The baseline characteristics including indication of surgery, biochemical investigations and grade of varices were comparable between PSRS and splenectomy. The peri-operative morbidity was not significantly different between two groups. The median follow up duration was 42 months (12-72 months), the decrement in grade of varices was significantly higher in PSRS group ( p =0.03), symptomatic PHTN related UGIB was non-significant between PSRS and splenectomy ( p =0.5). In PSRS group, 3 (18.3%) patients had shunt thrombosis (n=1) & encephalopathy (n=2) while in splenectomy group two patients developed thrombosis of splenoportal axis., Conclusions: Splenectomy with endotherapy is alternative to PSRS in non-bleeder NCPF patients with indications for surgery.

Background: Laparoscopic choledochal cyst excision (LCCE) in adult patients is not common., Aims: The aim is to report our experience of LCCE in adult patients., Patients and Methods: This study includes a retrospective review of twenty adult patients (age >18 years) with choledochal cyst (CC) who underwent LCCE by a single surgical team from February 2011 to April 2016., Results: The mean age was 45.5 years. Nineteen (95%) patients had Type-I CC, and one patient (5%) had Type-IV CC (Todani's classification). Fifteen patients (75%) presented with pain in the abdomen, and five patients (25%) presented with jaundice and/or cholangitis. LCCE was successful in 16 (80%) patients, whereas four patients (20%) required conversion to open method. The reason for conversion was technical difficulty due to the initial learning curve, adhesion and inflammation. The mean blood loss, operation time and post-operative stay were 117.5 ml, 299.5 min and 8.15 days, respectively. Bilioenteric anastomosis leak and formation of pseudoaneurysm occurred in one patient (5%); this patient later died due to uncontrolled intra-abdominal haemorrhage. There were no remote complications during a mean follow-up of 17.2 months., Conclusion: LCCE in adult patients is safe and feasible, but bilioenteric anastomosis leak may have fatal consequences.

EPR studies are carried out on Cr(3+) ions doped in d-gluconic acid monohydrate (C(6)H(12)O(7)*H(2)O) single crystals at 77 K. From the observed EPR spectra, the spin Hamiltonian parameters g, |D| and |E| are measured to be 1.9919, 349 (x 10(-4)) cm(-1) and 113 (x 10(-4)) cm(-1), respectively. The optical absorption of the crystal is also studied at room temperature. From the observed band positions, the cubic crystal field splitting parameter Dq (2052 cm(-1)) and the Racah interelectronic repulsion parameter B (653 cm(-1)) are evaluated. From the correlation of EPR and optical data the nature of bonding of Cr(3+) ion with its ligands is discussed.

EPR study of Mn2+ doped ammonium tartrate single crystals is carried out at room temperature. The spin Hamiltonian parameters are: gx=1.9225+/-0.0002, gy=1.9554+/-0.0002, gz=2.1258+/-0.0002, A=(78+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), B=(75+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), D=(191+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), E=(61+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1) and a=(22+/-1) x 10(-4) cm(-1) for site I and gx=1.9235+/-0.0002, gy=1.9574+/-0.0002, gz=2.0664+/-0.0002, A=(78+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), B=(75+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), D=(180+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1), E=(57+/-2) x 10(-4) cm(-1) and a=(22+/-1) x 10(-4) cm(-1) for site II, respectively. The observed optical bands are fitted with inter-electronic repulsion parameters (B and C), crystal field parameter (Dq) and Trees correction (alpha) and the values found are B=752, C=2438, Dq=765 and alpha=76 cm(-1). The data obtained are further used to discuss the surrounding crystal field and the nature of metal-ligand bonding in the crystal.