Description of Distorhabditis poonchiana n. gen., n. sp. (Nematoda: Rhabditidae) from Jammu and Kashmir,India

Distorhabditis poonchiana n. gen., n. sp. from humus in Jammu and Kashmir, India, is described and illustrated. The new genus is characterized by a small body; slightly setoff labial region; long tubular gymnostom; prominently cuticularized cheilostom; absence of glottoid apparatus; monoprodelphic reproductive system; vulva (V) = 81 to 84; spicules with trifurcated distal ends, simple gubernaculum, peloderan bursa with eight pairs of bursal papillae arranged in 1 + 1 + 1 + 2 + 1 + 2 arrangement.     

Reference values for serum nitric oxide metabolites in pediatrics

Serum concentration of nitric oxide metabolites (NO_x) is associated with cardiovascular disease risk factors in pediatrics. The aim of this study was to determine sex- and age-specific reference ranges for serum NO_x concentrations in pediatrics. Serum NO_x levels were measured in 401 subjects (189 boys and 212 girls), aged 4–19 years, using the Griess method. Study subjects selected from participants of Tehran lipid and glucose study, an ongoing cohort study aimed at determining of noncommunicable disease risk factors among Tehranian subjects. The International Federation of Clinical Chemistry guidelines and the robust method were used for determining reference values for sample sizes greater or less than 120 respectively. The 95% reference values for serum NO_x concentrations were 13.6–69.2, 11.4–66.0, and 12.2–69.4 μmol/L in boys, girls, and total population respectively. The upper limit of serum NO_x was 28% lower in otherwise healthy overweight and obese boys while it was 6% higher in overweight and obese girls, for both groups compared to their corresponding normal weight subjects. In conclusion, this study, for the first time, reports reference values for serum NO_x levels in healthy children and adolescents.     

A review on gold nanoparticles radiosensitization effect in radiation therapy of cancer

In the recent years, application of nanoparticles in diagnosis and treatment of cancer has been the issue of extensive research. Among these studies some have focused on the dose enhancement effect of gold nanoparticles (GNPs) in radiation therapy of cancer. On the other hand, some studies indicated energy dependency of dose enhancement effect, and the others have studied the GNP size effect in association with photon energy. However, in some aspects of GNP-based radiotherapy the results of recent studies do not seem very conclusive in spite of relative agreement on the basic physical interaction of photoelectric between GNPs and low energy photons. The main idea behind the GNP dose enhancement in some studies is not able to explain the results especially in recent investigation on cell lines and animal models radiation therapy using GNPs. In the present article the results of the available reports and articles were analyzed and compared and the final status of the GNP-RT was discussed.     

RAPD Fingerprint to Appraise the Genetic Fidelity of In Vitro Propagated <Emphasis Type="Italic">Araucaria excelsa</Emphasis> R. Br. var. glauca Plantlets

Randomly amplified polymorphic DNA (RAPD) was used as a tool to assess the genetic fidelity of in vitro propagated Araucaria excelsa R. Br. var. glauca with explants taken from orthotropic stem along with their related mother plants after treatment with kinetin, 2iP, BA (0.02–0.26 mg/l) and TDZ (0.001–1 mg/l) to produce axillary shoots. TDZ and kinetin induced more shoot and higher length per explant. Results showed a total of 1,676 fragments were generated with 12 RAPD primers in micropropagated plants and their donor mother plants. The number of loci ranged from 6 in OPB 12–18 in OPY 07 with a size ranging from 250 bp in OPH 19–3500 bp in OPH 11. Cluster analysis of RAPD data using UPGMA (unweighted pair group method with arithmetic average) revealed more than 92% genetic similarities between tissue cultured plants and their corresponding mother plant measured by the Jaccard’s similarity coefficient. Similarity matrix and PCoA (two dimensional principal coordinate analysis) resulted in the same affinity. Primers had shown 36% polymorphism. However, careful monitoring of tissue culture derived plants might be needed to determine that rooted shoots are adventitious in origin.     

A computational approach to model gliding motion of an organism on a sticky slime layer over a solid substrate

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Bacteria are microscopic single-celled microbes that can only be spotted via a microscope. They occur in a variety of shapes and sizes, and their...     

A shear-rate-dependent flow generated via magnetically controlled metachronal motion of artificial cilia

Biomechanics and Modeling in Mechanobiology - Cilia beating is a naturally occurring phenomenon that can be utilized in fluid transport in designing several biomechanical devices. Inspired by the...     

Anagnorisma chamrani sp. n. (Lepidoptera,Noctuidae) from Iran

A new Anagnorisma species, Anagnorisma chamrani sp. n., is described from Binaloud Mountains of Khorasan-e-Razavi province in north-eastern Iran, and compared with its sister species, Anagnorisma eucratides (Boursin, 1960). The adults, and male and female genitalia of both species are illustrated in 11 figures. The genus Anagnorisma is recorded for the first time for the fauna of Iran.     

Energetics of the interactions of human serum albumin with cationic surfactant

The heat capacity changes for interaction of human serum albumin (HSA) and a cationic surfactant—cetylpyridinium chloride (CPC), were studied at conditions close to physiological (50 mM HEPES or phosphate buffer, pH 7.4 and 160 mM NaCl) carrying out isothermal calorimetric titrations (ITC) at various temperatures (20-40 °C). ITC measurements indicated that the small endothermic changes associated with CPC demicellization were temperature independent at these conditions. Surprisingly, important enthalpy changes associated with binding of CPC to HSA were exothermic and temperature independent at lower concentrations (below 0.022 mM) of CPC and endothermic and temperature dependent at higher concentrations of CPC. The values of heat capacity changes were obtained for each studied concentration of CPC from the plot of enthalpy changes vs temperature. The obtained results demonstrate the temperature independence of heat capacity changes at entire range of studied CPC concentrations. Both enthalpograms and heat capacity curves indicate the two-step mechanism of HSA folding changes due to its interactions with CPC. The first step corresponds to transition from native state to partially unfolded state and the second to unfolding and to the loss of tertiary structure. The analysis of the results indicates that predominant cooperative unfolding occurs at CPC/HSA molar ratio region between 25 and 30. Such information could not be extracted from thermograms and describes the role of heat capacity as a major thermodynamic quantity giving insight on physical, mechanistic and even atomic-level into how HSA may unfold and interact with CPC. The effect of CPC binding on HSA intrinsic fluorescence, UV-Vis and CD spectra were also examined. Hence, the analysis of spectral data confirms the ITC results about the biphasic mechanism of HSA folding changes induced by CPC. The CD measurement also represents the conservation of considerable secondary structure of HSA due to interaction with CPC.     

Differential Effects of Plant Growth-Promoting Rhizobacteria on Maize Growth and Cadmium Uptake

Maize is a plant known for food, feed, and energy value, but being a greater biomass, it may also be utilized to extract pollutants from soil. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) may act as biofertilizer to improve plant health and indirectly may enhance metal extraction. This study focuses on five bacterial strains isolated from the vegetable (Bitter gourd) rhizosphere irrigated with industrial effluent and characterized for various plant growth-promoting activities. Based on 16S rRNA gene sequencing, bacterial strains belonging to the genera, Bacillus (CIK-517, CIK-519), Klebsiella (CIK-518), Leifsonia (CIK-521), and Enterobacter (CIK-521R), were tested for their ability to promote maize growth in axenic conditions. Results showed negative and positive regulation of maize growth by the exogenous application of Cd and PGPR, respectively. Seed germination assays revealed significant reduction in relative seedling growth of maize cultivars upon Cd exposure (0–80 mg Cd L^?1). The tested strains showed tolerance to Cd (1.78–4.45 mmol L^?1) and were positive for catalase, oxidase, phosphate solubilization, exopolysaccharide (EPS), and auxin production, whereas CIK-518, CIK-519, and CIK-521R were negative for EPS, phosphate solubilization, and oxidase activities, respectively. Bacterial strains significantly increased shoot/root growth and their dry biomass in normal and Cd-contaminated soil as compared to their respective controls. None of the strains showed significant effects on relative water content or membrane permeability; however, Cd uptake significantly increased in plant tissues upon bacterial inoculation. Bacterial strains CIK-518 and CIK-521R are effective colonizers and thus can be potential inoculants to promote maize growth and Cd extraction/stabilization in Cd-contaminated soil.