Tritrophic interactions between parasitoids and cereal aphids are mediated by nitrogen fertilizer

Host plant nutritional quality can directly and indirectly affect the third trophic levels. The aphid–parasitoid relationship provides an ideal system to investigate tritrophic interactions (as the parasitoids are completely dependent for their development upon their hosts) and assess the bottom up forces operating at different concentrations of nitrogen applications. The effects of varying nitrogen fertilizer on the performance of Aphidius colemani (V.) reared on Sitobion avenae (F.) and Aphidius rhopalosiphi (D.) reared on Rhopalosiphum padi (L.) were measured. Parasitism and percent emergence of parasitoids were positively affected by nitrogen fertilizer treatments while developmental duration (egg, larval, and pupal stages) was not affected by increasing nitrogen inputs. In males and females of both parasitoid species, adult longevity increased with the increasing nitrogen fertilizer. Hind tibia length and mummy weight of both parasitoid species increased with nitrogen fertilizer concentrations, as a result of larger aphids. This study showed that nitrogen application to the soil can have important consequences for aboveground multitrophic interactions.     

Automatic Detection of Diseased Tomato Plants Using Thermal and Stereo Visible Light Images

Accurate and timely detection of plant diseases can help mitigate the worldwide losses experienced by the horticulture and agriculture industries each year. Thermal imaging provides a fast and non-destructive way of scanning plants for diseased regions and has been used by various researchers to study the effect of disease on the thermal profile of a plant. However, thermal image of a plant affected by disease has been known to be affected by environmental conditions which include leaf angles and depth of the canopy areas accessible to the thermal imaging camera. In this paper, we combine thermal and visible light image data with depth information and develop a machine learning system to remotely detect plants infected with the tomato powdery mildew fungus Oidium neolycopersici. We extract a novel feature set from the image data using local and global statistics and show that by combining these with the depth information, we can considerably improve the accuracy of detection of the diseased plants. In addition, we show that our novel feature set is capable of identifying plants which were not originally inoculated with the fungus at the start of the experiment but which subsequently developed disease through natural transmission.     

Psychosocial Factors of Antenatal Anxiety and Depression in Pakistan: Is Social Support a Mediator?

Introduction

Pregnancy is generally viewed as a time of fulfillment and joy; however, for many women it can be a stressful event. In South Asia it is associated with cultural stigmas revolving around gender discrimination, abnormal births and genetic abnormalities.

Methodology

This cross-sectional study was done at four teaching hospitals in Lahore from February, 2014 to June, 2014. A total of 500 pregnant women seen at hospital obstetrics and gynecology departments were interviewed with a questionnaire consisting of three sections: demographics, the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) and the Social Provisions Scale (SPS). Pearson’s chi-squared test, bivariate correlations and multiple linear regression were used to analyze associations between the independent variables and scores on the HADS and SPS.

Results

Mean age among the 500 respondents was 27.41 years (5.65). Anxiety levels in participants were categorized as normal (145 women, 29%), borderline (110, 22%) or anxious (245, 49%). Depression levels were categorized as normal (218 women, 43.6%), borderline (123, 24.6%) or depressed (159, 31.8%). Inferential analysis revealed that higher HADS scores were significantly associated with lower scores on the SPS, rural background, history of harassment, abortion, cesarean delivery and unplanned pregnancies (P < .05). Social support (SPS score) mediated the relationship between the total number of children, gender of previous children and HADS score. Women with more daughters were significantly more likely to score higher on the HADS and lower on the SPS, whereas higher numbers of sons were associated with the opposite trends in the scores (P < .05).

Conclusion

Because of the predominantly patriarchal sociocultural context in Pakistan, the predictors of antenatal anxiety and depression may differ from those in developed countries. We therefore suggest that interventions designed and implemented to reduce antenatal anxiety and depression should take into account these unique factors.     

Stromal Transcriptional Profiles Reveal Hierarchies of Anatomical Site,Serum Response and Disease and Identify Disease Specific Pathways

Synovial fibroblasts in persistent inflammatory arthritis have been suggested to have parallels with cancer growth and wound healing, both of which involve a stereotypical serum response programme. We tested the hypothesis that a serum response programme can be used to classify diseased tissues, and investigated the serum response programme in fibroblasts from multiple anatomical sites and two diseases. To test our hypothesis we utilized a bioinformatics approach to explore a publicly available microarray dataset including rheumatoid arthritis (RA), osteoarthritis (OA) and normal synovial tissue, then extended those findings in a new microarray dataset representing matched synovial, bone marrow and skin fibroblasts cultured from RA and OA patients undergoing arthroplasty. The classical fibroblast serum response programme discretely classified RA, OA and normal synovial tissues. Analysis of low and high serum treated fibroblast microarray data revealed a hierarchy of control, with anatomical site the most powerful classifier followed by response to serum and then disease. In contrast to skin and bone marrow fibroblasts, exposure of synovial fibroblasts to serum led to convergence of RA and OA expression profiles. Pathway analysis revealed three inter-linked gene networks characterising OA synovial fibroblasts: Cell remodelling through insulin-like growth factors, differentiation and angiogenesis through _3 integrin, and regulation of apoptosis through CD44. We have demonstrated that Fibroblast serum response signatures define disease at the tissue level, and that an OA specific, serum dependent repression of genes involved in cell adhesion, extracellular matrix remodelling and apoptosis is a critical discriminator between cultured OA and RA synovial fibroblasts.     

Redox homeostasis and respiratory metabolism in camels (Camelus dromedaries): comparisons with domestic goats and laboratory rats and mice

We have previously reported the occurrence of multiple forms of drug-metabolizing enzymes in camel tissues. Here, we investigate glutathione (GSH)-dependent redox homeostasis, reactive oxygen species (ROS) production and mitochondrial respiratory functions in camel tissues and compare them with imported domestic goats and laboratory rats and mice. Cytochrome P450 2E1 (CYP 2E1) and GSH-metabolizing enzymes were differentially expressed in the liver and kidney of these animals. Camel liver has significantly lower GSH pool than that in goats, rats and mice. Mitochondria isolated from the tissues of these animals showed a comparable ability to metabolize specific substrates for respiratory enzyme complexes I, II/III and IV. These complexes were metabolically more active in the kidney than in the liver of all the species. Furthermore, the activity of complex IV in camel tissues was significantly lower than in other species. On the other hand, complex II/III activity in camel kidney was higher compared to the other species. In addition, as expected, we observed that inhibitors of these enzyme complexes augment the production of mitochondrial ROS in camel and goat tissues. These results help to better understand the metabolic ability and adaptation in desert camels in comparison with domestic goats and laboratory rats and mice since they are exposed to different environmental and dietary conditions. Our study may also have implications in the pharmacology and toxicology of drugs and pollutants in these species.     

beta1-Adrenoreceptor activation contributes to ischemia-reperfusion damage as well as playing a role in ischemic preconditioning

Protein kinase A (PKA) activation has been implicated in early-phase ischemic preconditioning. We recently found that during ischemia PKA activation causes inactivation of cytochrome-c oxidase (CcO) and contributes to myocardial damage due to ischemia-reperfusion. It may be that beta-adrenergic stimulation during ischemia via endogenous catecholamine release activates PKA. Thus beta-adrenergic stimulation may mediate both myocardial protection and damage during ischemia. The present studies were designed to determine the role of the beta(1)-adrenergic receptor (beta(1)-AR) in myocardial ischemic damage and ischemic preconditioning. Langendorff-perfused rabbit hearts underwent 30-min ischemia by anterior coronary artery ligation followed by 2-h reperfusion. Occlusion-reperfusion damage was evaluated by delineating the nonperfused volume of myocardium at risk and volume of myocardial necrosis after 2-h reperfusion. In some hearts ischemic preconditioning was accomplished by two 5-min episodes of global low-flow ischemia separated by 10 min before coronary occlusion-reperfusion. Orthogonal electrocardiograms were recorded, and coronary flow was monitored by a drip count. Three hearts from each experimental group were used to determine mitochondrial CcO and aconitase activities. Two-hour reperfusion after occlusion caused an additional decrease in CcO activity vs. that after 30-min occlusion alone. Blocking the beta(1)-AR during occlusion-reperfusion reversed CcO activity depression and preserved myocardium at risk for necrosis. Similarly, mitochondrial aconitase activity exhibited a parallel response after occlusion-reperfusion as well as for the other interventions. Furthermore, classic ischemic preconditioning had no effect on CcO depression. However, blocking the beta(1)-AR during preconditioning eliminated the cardioprotection. If the beta(1)-AR was blocked after preconditioning, the myocardium was preserved. Interestingly, in both of the latter cases the depression in CcO activity was reversed. Thus the beta(1)-AR plays a dual role in myocardial ischemic damage. Our findings may lead to therapeutic strategies for preserving myocardium at risk for infarction, especially in coronary reperfusion intervention.     

Improved production of biosurfactant by a <Emphasis Type="Italic">Pseudomonas aeruginosa</Emphasis> mutant using vegetable oil refinery wastes

Biosurfactant production by Pseudomonas aeruginosa EBN-8 mutant was studied in shake flasks on separate wastes from canola, soybean and corn oil refineries. Of the substrates tested, canola oil refinery waste (COD=20 g l⁻¹) supplemented with sodium nitrate (at COD/N=20) showed the best microbial growth (4.50 g l⁻¹) and rhamnolipid production (8.50 g l⁻¹), at 10 d of incubation with the specific growth rate of 0.316 h⁻¹ and specific product yield of 0.597 g g⁻¹ h. Its cell-free supernatant showed the critical micelle dilution (CMD) of 150 and surface tension (ST) of 28.5 mN m⁻¹.     

Construction of Adipogenic ceRNA Network Based on lncRNA Expression Profile of Adipogenic Differentiation of Human MSC Cells

Biochemical Genetics - The Long non-coding RNA (lncRNA) expression profile data of ten samples including human Mesenchymal Stem Cell (MSC) adipogenic differentiation 0, 3, and 6&nbsp;days from...     

Plant-growth-promoting traits and antifungal potential of the Bacillus amyloliquefaciens YL-25

Biological control of plant soil-borne diseases has been shown as an attractive and an environment friendly alternative to chemical fungicides. Different microbial strains have been reported effective in controlling plant pathogens. Among those, Bacillus strains have their own importance. Bacillus amyloliquefaciens strain YL-25, isolated from the rhizosphere of healthy banana plant, was evaluated as bio-organic fertiliser (BIO) for its ability to promote plant growth and suppress Fusarium wilt of banana in pot experiment. The results showed that the application of the BIO containing strain YL-25 significantly promoted the growth of banana plants and decreased the incidence of Fusarium wilt compared to the organic fertiliser and chemical fertiliser (CF). In order to explore the beneficial mechanisms of strain YL-25, experiments were conducted in vitro. The phytohormones including indole-3-acetic acid and gibberellin A3 and stable antifungal compounds three homologous of iturin A were identified in the culture broth of strain YL-25. The strain YL-25 also showed the ability to degrade extracellular phytate in plate experiment. Owing to its innate multiple functional traits and biocontrol activity, the strain YL-25 may be used as plant-growth-promoting rhizobacterium and biocontrol agent against Fusarium wilt of banana.     

Ethnic disparity in 21-hydroxylase gene mutations identified in Pakistani congenital adrenal hyperplasia patients

Background

Congenital adrenal hyperplasia (CAH) is a group of autosomal recessive disorders caused by defects in the steroid 21 hydroxylase gene (CYP21A2). We studied the spectrum of mutations in CYP21A2 gene in a multi-ethnic population in Pakistan to explore the genetics of CAH.

Methods

A cross sectional study was conducted for the identification of mutations CYP21A2 and their phenotypic associations in CAH using ARMS-PCR assay.

Results

Overall, 29 patients were analyzed for nine different mutations. The group consisted of two major forms of CAH including 17 salt wasters and 12 simple virilizers. There were 14 phenotypic males and 15 females representing all the major ethnic groups of Pakistan. Parental consanguinity was reported in 65% cases and was equally distributed in the major ethnic groups. Among 58 chromosomes analyzed, mutations were identified in 45 (78.6%) chromosomes. The most frequent mutation was I2 splice (27%) followed by Ile173Asn (26%), Arg 357 Trp (19%), Gln319stop, 16% and Leu308InsT (12%), whereas Val282Leu was not observed in this study. Homozygosity was seen in 44% and heterozygosity in 34% cases. I2 splice mutation was found to be associated with SW in the homozygous. The Ile173Asn mutation was identified in both SW and SV forms. Moreover, Arg357Trp manifested SW in compound heterozygous state.

Conclusion

Our study showed that CAH exists in our population with ethnic difference in the prevalence of mutations examined.