In the paper a new method, called the Noise Scattering Pattern (NSP) method, for RTS noise identification in a noise signal is presented. Examples of patterns of the NSP method are included.
Cross layer cooperative protocol which exploits the benefits of physical layer cooperative communication, is one of the widely recognized MAC layer protocol design strategies for future wireless networks. This paper presents performance analysis of a cooperative mac and these performance parameters are compared those of the legacy IEEE 802.11 DCF MAC. Appropriate relay station selection is the main hurdle in designing efficient cooperative MAC protocol for wireless networks. This cooperative mac demonstrated that intermediate relay nodes themselves can initiate cooperation for relaying data frame to the receiver on behalf of the sender. This procedure makes the selection process of a “helper node” more distributed in nature as well as it contributes to increase throughput of a wireless network by reducing the overheads that are usually incurred in the helper selection process. It has been shown by thorough analytical analysis that the proposed cooperative MAC protocol offers higher throughput and lower frame transmission delay in both ideal and error prone wireless environment. These performance metrics are also evaluated while the wireless nodes are mobile as well.
In the paper a new method of Random Telegraph Signal (RTS) noise identification is presented. The method is based on a standardized histogram of instantaneous noise values and processing by Gram-Charlier series. To find a device generating RTS noise by the presented method one should count the number of significant coefficients of the Gram-Charlier series. This would allow to recognize the type of noise. There is always one (first) significant coefficient (c0) representing Gaussian noise. If additional coefficients cr (where r > 0) appear it means that RTS noise (two-level as well as multiple-level) is detected. The coefficient representing the Gaussian component always has the highest value of all. The application of this method will be presented on the example of four devices, each with different noise (pure Gaussian noise signal, noise signal with two-level RTS noise, noise signal with three-level RTS noise and noise signal with not precisely visible occurrence of RTS noise).
The aim of this work was to evaluate the relative gene expression levels of the cytokines IL- 1B, IL-8, IL-12, IFN-γ, IL-4, IL-10 and TGF-β in somatic milk cells of French Alpine breed, anestrous goats that were experimentally infected in the left mammary gland with Staphylococcus chromogenes during the lactation peak. Milk samples were obtained from both glands for 21 consecutive days post infection. Total RNA was extracted, and real-time PCR was conducted using primers specific to each cytokine. The relative RNA expression of the evaluated cytokines was determined by the comparative method 2-ΔΔCT, using milk from the right gland of the goats as a reference (control) and glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) as an endogenous control. According to the Wilcoxon test results, IL-1B and IL-12 expression levels showed significant differences compared to those in the control group (p<0.05) from 24 hours post infection until the end of lactation; on day three, IL1β, IL8, IL12 and TGF-β had a statistically significant change in expression with respect to those in the control group (p<0.05); closer to the end of the lactation period, there is no overexpression of the anti-inflammatory interleukins (IL-4 and TGF-β) which may reflect the effort of the host immune system to eradicate the microorganism from the mammary gland.
The use of lactoferrin (LF) and/or lactobacillus sp. (LB) to improve animal health and production has increased recently. However, information regarding the immune-modulatory role of LB supplementations either alone or in combination with LF in sheep remains unclear. Therefore, the present study was designed to evaluate the immune modulating properties and the antioxidant activity of supplementing commercially available LF and/or LB in healthy lambs. For this reason, twenty-four apparently healthy Ossimi lambs were used. After three weeks of acclimatization, the lambs were randomly allocated to four equal-sized groups and assigned to receive one of the following supplements: LB at a dose of ~ 1 g active ingredient/head (group 1), LF at a dose rate of 0.5 gm /head (group 2), a combination of both treatments using the same dosing regimens (group 3), and (group 4) received only 10 mL of isotonic saline and was considered as a control group. All supplements were given orally twice daily for 30 consecutive days. Blood samples were collected from each lamb before starting the experiment (T0) and two weeks (T15), and four weeks (T30) after giving supplements for hematological examinations, serum biochemical analyses, and RT-PCR assays. Our findings demonstrated that lambs receiving LB showed statistically significant (P<0.05) higher values of total leucocytes, lymphocytes and lysozyme activity than those receiving LF. In contrast, lambs that received LF had significantly (P< 0.05) higher values of serum catalase, nitric oxide and GSH with a significantly lower MDA level compared with those supplemented with LB. A combination of LF and LB supplementation elicited maximal up-regulation of Tollip, TLR4, IL-5, and IL-6 gene expression compared with other groups. The results suggest that bovine LF and or LB could be used as useful nutritional supplements to support the immune system in healthy lambs.
Onion yellow dwarf virus (OYDV), an aphid-borne potyvirus is one of the major viral pathogens of garlic causing significant yield losses worldwide. It is found almost everywhere in the world where Allium species is grown. The aim of this study was to test the presence of OYDV infection in garlic from Ethiopia. The presence of the virus was tested by Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). The direct sequencing of the PCR product produced a sequence of 296 bp. Sequence analysis showed 89.27% sequence homology with an isolate from Australia (HQ258894) and 89.29% with an isolate from Spain (JX429964). A phylogenetic tree constructed with MEGA 7.0 revealed high levels of homology with various isolates of OYDV from all over the world and thus further confirmed the identity of the virus.
Leaf scald, caused by the necrotrophic fungus Monographella albescens, is one of the main threats to rice (Oryza sativa L.) around the world. This disease decreases yields in rice by up to 30% because of dead leaf tissue, damaged seeds, and sterile flowers. Currently, there is limited knowledge about the molecular mechanisms involved in rice plant resistance against this pathogen. For this purpose, six commercial cultivars of rice were primarily screened for M. albescens infection and development. Dasht and Salari were found to be the most resistant and susceptible to M. albescens infection, respectively. The plants were kept in a greenhouse at 29 ± 2°C during the day and 26 ± 2°C at night with a relative air humidity of 85 ± 5%. Forty-five days after sowing, the plants with three biological replications were inoculated by transferring a PDA disc (0.3 cm2) containing M. albescens mycelia to the middle third of the 7th, 8th, and 9th completely open leaves. The leaves were collected 24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hai. Leaf samples were also collected from the non-inoculated plants (0 h) to serve as controls. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) showed rapid induction and significant accumulation of jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) responsive genes such as lipoxygenase (LOX), allene oxide synthase 2 (Aos2), jasmonic acid carboxyl methyltransferase 1 (JMT1) and ACC synthase 1 (ACS1) in the resistant Dasht cultivar after infection with M. albescens. Furthermore, the transcripts of salicylic acid (SA) responsive phenyl alanine ammonia lyase 1 (PAL1) and nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related genes 1 (NPR1) genes were induced in the incompatible interaction. The activities of the defense enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX) and glutathione reductase (GR) increased strongly in Dasht in response to M. albescens infection. In addition, there was an increase in the H2O2 levels in the leaves of the Dasht cultivar during the infectious period of M. albescens associated with the enhancement of catalase (CAT) activity as well as higher levels of malondialdehyde (MDA). This is the first study on the interaction between rice and M. albescens at the molecular level. It can contribute to understanding how rice responds to pathogen infection, as well as assist with future research plans of molecular breeding regarding the tolerance to leaf scald disease.
Bovine parvovirus (BPV), bovine coronavirus (BCoV) and bovine parainfluenza virus (BPIV) are common etiologies causing gastrointestinal and respiratory diseases in dairy herds. However, there are few reports on the synchronous detection of BPV, BCoV and BPIV. The present article aimed to develop a quick and accurate RT-PCR assay to synchronously detect BPV, BCoV and BPIV based on their specific probes. One pair universal primers, one pair specific primers and one specific probe was designed and synthesized. After the concentrations of primer and probe and annealing temperature were strictly optimized, the specificity, sensitivity and repeatability of the established triplex probe qRT-PCR were evaluated, respectively. The results showed the recombinant plasmids of pMD18-T-BPV, pMD18-T-BCoV and pMD18-T-BPIV were 554bp, 699bp and 704bp, respectively. The optimal annealing temperature was set at 45.0°C for triplex qRT-PCR. The triplex probe qRT-PCR can only synchronously detect BPV, BCoV and BPIV. Detection sensitivities were 2.0×102, 2.0×102 and 2.0×101 copies/μL for BPV, BCoV and BPIV, being 1000-fold greater than that in the conventional PCR. Detection of clinical samples demon- strated that triplex probe qRT-PCR had a higher sensitivity and specificity. The intra-assay and inter-assay coefficient of variation were lower than 2.0%. Clinical specimens verified that the triplex qRT-PCR had a higher sensitivity and specificity than universal PCR. In conclusion, this triplex probe qRT-PCR could detect only BPV, BCoV and BPIV. Minimum detection limits were 2.0×102 copies/μL for BPV and BCoV, and 2.0×101 copies/μL for BPIV. The sensitivity of this triplex probe qRT-PCR was 1000-fold greater than that in the conventional PCR. The newly qRT-PCR could be used to monitor or differentially diagnose virus infection.
In the spring of 2019, many plants, mainly winter wheat, were observed to have dwarfism and leaf yellowing symptoms. These plants from several regions of Poland were collected and sent to the Plant Disease Clinic of the Institute of Plant Protection – National Research Institute in Poznań to test for the presence of viral diseases. Double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) results showed numerous cases of Wheat dwarf virus (WDV) and a few cases of plant infections caused by Barley yellow dwarf viruses (BYDVs). WDV was detected in 163 out of 236 tested winter wheat plants (69.1%), in 10 out of 27 tested winter barley plants (37%) and in 6 out of 7 triticale plants (85.7%) while BYDVs were found, respectively, in 9.7% (23 out of 236) and in 18.5% (5 out of 27) of tested winter forms of wheat and barley plants. Infected plants came mainly from the regions of Lower Silesia and Greater Poland. Furthermore, individual cases of infections were also confirmed in the following districts: Lubusz, Opole, Silesia, Kuyavia-Pomerania and Warmia-Masuria. Results of Duplex-immunocapture-polymerase chain reaction (Duplex-IC-PCR) indicated the dominance of WDV-W form in wheat and WDV-B form in barley plants. Moreover, results of reverse transcription – polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) connected with restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) analysis, performed for 17 BYDVs samples, revealed 8 BYDV-PAS, 4 BYDV-MAV and 2 BYDVPAV as well as the presence of two mixed infections of BYDV-MAV/-PAS and one case of BYDV-MAV/-PAV. Next, RT-PCR reactions confirmed single BYDV-GAV infection and the common presence of BYDV-SGV. To the best of our knowledge, in 2020 the viruses were not a big threat to cereal crops in Poland.