Algae as Bio-fertilizers: Between current situation and future prospective

Bio-fertilization is a sustainable agricultural practice that includes using bio-fertilizers to increase soil nutrient content resulting in higher productivity. Soil micro-flora has been exposed to improve soil fertility and increase biomass productivity and identified as a correct environmentally friendly bio-based fertilizer for pollution-free agricultural applies. The majority of cyanobacteria can fix nitrogen from the atmosphere and several species including Anabaena sp., Nostoc sp., and Oscillatoria angustissima is known to be effective cyanobacterial based bio fertilizers. Acutodesmus dimorphus, Spirulina platensis Chlorella vulgaris, Scenedesmus dimorphus, Anabaena azolla, and Nostoc sp. are some of the green microalgae and cyanobacteria species that have been successfully used as bio fertilizers to boost crop growth. Also, Chlorella vulgaris is one of the most commonly used microalgae in bio fertilizer studies. The addition of seaweed species that are Sargassum sp. and Gracilaria verrucosa leads to chemical changes as a soil fertility indicator on clay and sandy soils, and the addition of seaweed conditioner to soil can improve its organic content, return pH to normal, and reduce C/N ratio in both sandy and clay soil. This review provides an effective approach to increase soil fertility via environmentally friendly bio-based fertilizer using micro and macro algae. Instead of the usage of inorganic and organic fertilizers that have polluted impacts to soil as aggregation of heavy metals, in addition to there their human carcinogenic effects.     

Aluminum-Induced Cholinergic Deficits in Different Brain Parts and Its Implications on Sociability and Cognitive Functions in Mouse

Aluminum is associated with etiology of many neurodegenerative diseases specially Alzheimer’s disease. Chronic exposure to aluminum via drinking water results in aluminum deposition in the brain that leads to cognitive deficits. The study aimed to determine the effects of aluminum on cholinergic biomarkers, i.e., acetylcholine level, free choline level, and choline acetyltransferase gene expression, and how cholinergic deficit affects novel object recognition and sociability in mice. Mice were treated with AlCl₃ (250 mg/kg). Acetylcholine level, free choline level, and choline acetyltransferase gene expression were determined in cortex, hippocampus, and amygdala. The mice were subjected to behavior tests (novel object recognition and social novelty preference) to assess memory deficits. The acetylcholine level in cortex and hippocampus was significantly reduced in aluminum-treated animals, as compared to cortex and hippocampus of control animals. Acetylcholine level in amygdala of aluminum-treated animals remained unchanged. Free choline level in all the three brain parts was found unaltered in aluminum-treated mice. The novel object recognition memory was severely impaired in aluminum-treated mice, as compared to the control group. Similarly, animals treated with aluminum showed reduced sociability compared to the control mice group. Our study demonstrates that aluminum exposure via drinking water causes reduced acetylcholine synthesis in spite of normal free choline availability. This deficit is caused by reduced recycling of acetylcholine due to lower choline acetyltransferase level. This cholinergic hypofunction leads to cognitive and memory deficits. Moreover, hippocampus is the most affected brain part after aluminum intoxication.     

Optimization of nitrilase production from Alcaligenes faecalis MTCC 10757 (IICT-A3): effect of inducers on substrate specificity

Microbial nitrilases are biocatalysts of interest and the enzyme produced using various inducers exhibits altered substrate specificity, which is of great interest in bioprocess development. The aim of the present study is to investigate the nitrilase-producing Alcaligenes faecalis MTCC 10757 (IICT-A3) for its ability to transform various nitriles in the presence of different inducers after optimization of various parameters for maximum enzyme production and activity. The production of A. faecalis MTCC 10757 (IICT-A3) nitrilase was optimum with glucose (1.0%), acrylonitrile (0.1%) at pH 7.0. The nitrilase activity of A. faecalis MTCC 10757 (IICT-A3) was optimum at 35 °C, pH 8.0 and the enzyme was stable up to 6 h at 50 °C. The nitrilase enzyme produced using different inducers was investigated for substrate specificity. The enzyme hydrolyzed aliphatic, heterocyclic and aromatic nitriles with different substitutions. Acrylonitrile was the most preferred substrate (~40 U) as well as inducer. Benzonitrile was hydrolyzed with almost twofold higher relative activity than acrylonitrile when it was used as an inducer. The versatile nitrilase-producing A. faecalis MTCC 10757 (IICT-A3) exhibits efficient conversion of both aliphatic and aromatic nitriles. The aromatic nitriles, which show not much or no affinity towards nitrilase from A. faecalis, are hydrolyzed effectively with this nitrilase-producing organism. Studies are in progress to exploit this organism for synthesis of industrially important compounds.     

Genetic background influences survival of infections with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium in the Collaborative Cross

Salmonella infections typically cause self-limiting gastroenteritis, but in some individuals these bacteria can spread systemically and cause disseminated disease. Salmonella Typhimurium (STm), which causes severe systemic disease in most inbred mice, has been used as a model for disseminated disease. To screen for new infection phenotypes across a range of host genetics, we orally infected 32 Collaborative Cross (CC) mouse strains with STm and monitored their disease progression for seven days by telemetry. Our data revealed a broad range of phenotypes across CC strains in many parameters including survival, bacterial colonization, tissue damage, complete blood counts (CBC), and serum cytokines. Eighteen CC strains survived to day 7, while fourteen susceptible strains succumbed to infection before day 7. Several CC strains had sex differences in survival and colonization. Surviving strains had lower pre-infection baseline temperatures and were less active during their daily active period. Core body temperature disruptions were detected earlier after STm infection than activity disruptions, making temperature a better detector of illness. All CC strains had STm in spleen and liver, but susceptible strains were more highly colonized. Tissue damage was weakly negatively correlated to survival. We identified loci associated with survival on Chromosomes (Chr) 1, 2, 4, 7. Polymorphisms in Ncf2 and Slc11a1, known to reduce survival in mice after STm infections, are located in the Chr 1 interval, and the Chr 7 association overlaps with a previously identified QTL peak called Ses2. We identified two new genetic regions on Chr 2 and 4 associated with susceptibility to STm infection. Our data reveal the diversity of responses to STm infection across a range of host genetics and identified new candidate regions for survival of STm infection.     

Pathological and immunological evaluation of different regimens of praziquantel treatment in a mouse model of Schistosoma mansoni infection

BackgroundOne of the considerable challenges of schistosomiasis chemotherapy is the inefficacy of praziquantel (PZQ) at the initial phase of the infection. Immature schistosomes are not susceptible to PZQ at the curative dose. Here, we investigated the efficacy of different PZQ regimens administered during the initial stage of Schistosoma mansoni infection in mice.Methodology/Principal findingsTwo months-old mice were individually infected with 80 S. mansoni cercariae and divided into one infected-untreated control group (IC) and four PZQ-treated groups: PZQ at 100 mg/kg/day for five consecutive days (group PZQ1), PZQ at 100 mg/kg/day for 28 days (group PZQ2), PZQ at 18 mg/kg/day for 28 days (group PZQ3) and a single dose of PZQ at 500 mg/kg (group PZQ4). The treatment started on day one post-infection (p.i), and each group of mice was divided into two subgroups euthanized on day 36 or 56 p.i, respectively. We determined the mortality rate, the parasitological burden, the hepatic and intestinal granulomas, the serum levels of Th-1, Th-2, and Th-17 cytokines, and gene expression. The treatment led to a significant (p < 0.001) reduction of worm burden and egg counts in the intestine and liver in groups PZQ2 and PZQ3. On 56^th day p.i, there was a significant reduction (p < 0.001) of the number and volume of the hepatic granulomas in groups PZQ2 and PZQ3 compared to group PZQ1 or PZQ4. Moreover, in group PZQ3, the serum levels of IFN-γ, TNF-α, IL-13, and IL-17 and their liver mRNA expressions were significantly reduced while IL-10 and TGF-β gene expression significantly increased. The highest mortality rate (81.25%) was recorded in group PZQ2.Conclusion/SignificanceThis study revealed that the administration of PZQ at 18 mg/kg/day for 28 consecutive days was the optimal effective posology for treating S. mansoni infection at the initial stage in a murine model.     

Acetophenone and stilbene derivatives from Gnetum ula

The isolation of bergenin, 2-hydroxy-4-benzyloxyacetophenone and the related dimer and stilbene from Gnetum ula is reported.     

Non-Communicable Disease Risk Factors among Employees and Their Families of a Saudi University: An Epidemiological Study

ObjectivesTo assess the prevalence of noncommunicable disease (NCD) risk factors among Saudi university employees and their families; to estimate the cardiovascular risk (CVR) amongst the study population in the following 10years.MethodsThe NCD risk factors prevalence was estimated using a cross-sectional approach for a sample of employees and their families aged ≥ 18 years old, in a Saudi university (Riyadh in Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; KSA). WHO STEPwise standardized tools were used to estimate NCD risk factors and the Framingham Coronary Heart Risk Score calculator was used to calculate the CVR.ResultsFive thousand and two hundred subjects were invited, of whom 4,500 participated in the study, providing a response rate of 87%. The mean age of participants was 39.3±13.4 years. The majority of participants reported low fruit/vegetables consumption (88%), and physically inactive (77%). More than two thirds of the cohort was found to be either overweight or obese (72%), where 36% were obese, and 59% had abdominal obesity. Of the total cohort, 22–37% were found to suffer from dyslipidaemia, 22% either diabetes or hypertension, with rather low reported current tobacco use (12%). One quarter of participants was estimated to have >10% risk to develop cardiovascular disease within the following 10-years.ConclusionThe prevalence of NCD risk factors was found to be substantially high among the university employees and their families in this study.     

Studies on the antibacterial effects of negapillin in combination with other antibiotics and sulfa drugs

Summary The antibacterial effect of negapillin in combination with other antibiotics and sulfa drugs was studied using Gram+ve and Gram-ve bacteria as test organisms. Subsequently, various proportions of negapillin in combination with the antibiotics and the sulfa drugs were examined to determine the optimum proportions which exert maximum inhibitory effects on the bacterial growth. Mixtures of these antibiotics with negapillin were found more superior not only as antimicrobial agents but also for having comparatively low toxicity.