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Foxtail millet [Setaria italica (L.) P. Beauv.] is an important small millet, grown as a short duration, drought tolerant crop across the world. This crop can be grown on wide ranges of soil conditions and has an immense potential for food and fodder in rainfed and arid regions of the India. In the present study, 31 primer pairs (27 SSR and 4 EST-SSR) were used to analyse the genetic diversity in 223 core collection accessions. Analysis resulted in detection of a total of 136 alleles with an average of 4.38 alleles per locus. Among these 136 alleles, 22 were rare, 70 were common and 44 were frequent. The PIC value ranged from 0.01 to 0.86 with an average of 0.31. The average number of observed alleles ranged from 2.0 (northern hills of India accessions) to 4.06 (exotic) with an average of 2.72. The mean Shannon's Information Index ranged from 0.44 (northern hills of India) to 0.69 (exotic) with an average of 0.52. Pair-wise Fst values indicated little to moderate genetic differentiation among the group of accessions. UPGMA clustering grouped the accessions into two major groups while analysis for population substructure indicated presence of four subpopulations. However there was no statistically well supported grouping of the accessions based on eco-geographic specificities. The core collection designated here represented substantial genetic diversity at molecular level, hence may be a good source of diversity for use in foxtail improvement programs in the region.

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Nearly monodisperse rhodium nanoparticles with adsorbed NH(x) were synthesized at the CCl(4)-water interface. The presence of NH(x)-adsorbed species was confirmed by energy-dispersive X-ray analysis (EDX) and X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy (XPS) studies. The synthesis of controlled size 2-38 nm rhodium particles was studied as a function of reducing agent concentration by transmission electron microscopy (TEM). HRTEM confirmed the formation of rhodium nanoparticles having fringe spacing consistent with reported Rh (111) planes. The continuity of these films over an area of 1×1 µm was revealed by atomic force microscopy (AFM) studies. The electrocatalytic application of these nanostructure Rh-NH(x) thin films for formaldehyde oxidation in 0.5M NaOH was investigated by cyclic voltammetry. The Rh nanoparticles formed by the present strategy are expected to be useful for other catalytic applications also.

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Cashew (Anacardium occidentale L.), introduced into India about 400 years ago, is distributed widely in the coastal regions as spontaneous populations as well as in cultivation. Despite the plant's commercial exploitation, little is known about its actual introduction and diversification. We attempted to construct these events by investigating the level of genetic variation and genetic structure of cashew populations collected from different geographical regions of India. A total of 91 individuals from four populations were analysed using AFLP markers and morphometric data. AFLP analysis based on 354 polymorphic loci revealed Indian cashew to have low but relatively substantial genetic diversity for an introduced species (H(E) = 0.262 and I(S) = 0.404). Twenty-seven qualitative and quantitative traits also revealed the existence of considerable morphometric variation (24% around the mean values). Bayesian cluster analysis based on AFLP data did not indicate the existence of definite population differentiation. Morphometric analysis allocated 12% variation among all four populations, whereas AFLP variation observed in cashew individuals was entirely within populations. The results, supporting the possibility of cashew having been introduced into India repeatedly over a period of time but at a single location (west coast), are discussed and their implications for germplasm management are described.

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BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE: Curcumin has been used to treat cancer, diabetes and other pathologies. However, little is known regarding its role in altering post-translational modifications of histone H3. A recent report suggests that acute hyperglycaemia induces a global down-regulation of gene expression in human tissues and epigenetic regulation of gene expression could be a novel mechanism underlying the pathological processes of hyperglycaemia. The present study was undertaken to examine changes in histone modification by curcumin treatment which prevents development of type I diabetic nephropathy. EXPERIMENTAL APPROACH: Male Sprague-Dawley rats were rendered diabetic using a single dose of streptozotocin (55 mg kg(-1), i.p.). Diabetic nephropathy was assessed by measurements of blood urea nitrogen, albumin and creatinine levels. Post-translational modifications of histone H3, heat shock protein-27 (HSP-27) and mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase p38 expression were examined by western blotting. KEY RESULTS: Treatment of diabetic rats with curcumin significantly decreased blood urea nitrogen and creatinine and increased albumin; variables associated with the development of diabetic nephropathy. There were also increased levels of HSP-27 and MAP kinase (p38) in diabetic kidney. However, curcumin treatment prevented this increase in HSP-27 and p38 expression. Moreover, at nuclear level curcumin prevented the decrease in dephosphorylation and increases acetylation of histone H3. CONCLUSIONS AND IMPLICATIONS: Our results suggested that protection against development of diabetic nephropathy by curcumin treatment involved changes in post-translational modifications of histone H3, expression of HSP-27 and MAP kinase p38 in diabetic kidney.

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The preparation method of metal based Indian traditional drugs involves conversion of a pure metal into its oxide by repeated high temperature calcination cycles. In this work, the effect of number of calcination cycles followed in the preparation of tin oxide based Ayurvedic drug, 'vanga bhasma' was studied by a systematic characterization of the drug samples after various calcination stages. It was found that tin was in the form of Sn4+ state and that the formation of SnO2 proceeded step-wise through Sn(OH)4.

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Nineteen cashew accessions were analysed with 50 random primers, 12 ISSR primers and 6 AFLP primer pairs to compare the efficiency and utility of these techniques for detecting variation in cashew germplasm. Each marker system could discriminate between all of the accessions, albeit with varied efficiency of polymorphism detection. AFLP exhibited maximum discrimination efficiency with a genotype index of 1. The utility of each molecular marker technique, expressed as marker index, was estimated as a function of average band informativeness and effective multiplex ratio. Marker index was calculated to be more than 10 times higher in AFLP than in RAPD and ISSR. Similarity matrices were determined based on the data generated by molecular and morphometric analyses, and compared for congruency. AFLP displayed no correspondence with RAPD and ISSR. Correlation between ISSR and RAPD similarity matrices was low but significant (r = 0.63; p < 0.005). The similarity matrix based on morphometric markers exhibited no correlation with any of the molecular markers. AFLP, with its superior marker utility, was concluded to be the marker of choice for cashew genetic analysis.

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