Increased serum copper and decreased serum zinc levels in children with iron deficiency anemia

In order to evaluate serum copper and zinc status in children with iron deficiency anemia (IDA), 60 children with IDA aged 1–14 yr and 64 healthy children as controls aged 1–14 yr were included the study. Serum copper levels were higher in children with IDA (189 ± 49 (Μg/dL) than those of controls (163 ± 37 Μg/dL) (p = 0.001). Serum zinc levels were lower in the patient group (109 ± 59 Μg/dL) than those of control subjects (135 ± 56 Μg/dL) (p = 0.017). In addition, there were statistically significant negative correlations between hematological parameters and serum copper levels in the patient group, but not in controls. No correlation between hematological parameters and serum zinc levels were found in both patient and control groups, except positive correlation between mean corpuscular volume (MCV) and serum zinc level in patients. It was concluded that at the time of managing children with IDA, zinc deficiency must be borne in mind and if necessary treatment should be initiated with zinc.     

Cell cycle Start is coupled to entry into the yeast metabolic cycle across diverse strains and growth rates

Cells have evolved oscillators with different frequencies to coordinate periodic processes. Here we studied the interaction of two oscillators, the cell division cycle (CDC) and the yeast metabolic cycle (YMC), in budding yeast. Previous work suggested that the CDC and YMC interact to separate high oxygen consumption (HOC) from DNA replication to prevent genetic damage. To test this hypothesis, we grew diverse strains in chemostat and measured DNA replication and oxygen consumption with high temporal resolution at different growth rates. Our data showed that HOC is not strictly separated from DNA replication; rather, cell cycle Start is coupled with the initiation of HOC and catabolism of storage carbohydrates. The logic of this YMC–CDC coupling may be to ensure that DNA replication and cell division occur only when sufficient cellular energy reserves have accumulated. Our results also uncovered a quantitative relationship between CDC period and YMC period across different strains. More generally, our approach shows how studies in genetically diverse strains efficiently identify robust phenotypes and steer the experimentalist away from strain-specific idiosyncrasies.     

Interspecific root interactions and rhizosphere effects on salt ions and nutrient uptake between mixed grown peanut/maize and peanut/barley in original saline-sodic-boron toxic soil

Two glasshouse studies were conducted to investigate the effect of interspecific complementary and competitive root interactions and rhizosphere effects on the concentration and uptake of Na, Cl and B, and N, P, K, Ca, Mg, Fe, Zn and Mn nutrition of mixed cropped peanut with maize (Experiment I), and barley (Experiment II) grown in nutrient-poor saline-sodic and B toxic soil. Mixed cropped plants were grown in either higher density or lower density. The results of the experiment revealed that dry shoot weight decreased in peanut but increased in maize and barley with associated plant species compared to their monoculture. Shoot Na and Cl concentrations of peanut decreased significantly in both experiments, regardless of higher or lower density. The concentrations of Na also decreased in the shoots of mixed cropped maize and barley, but Cl concentrations increased slightly. The concentration of B significantly decreased in mixed cropping in all plant species regardless of higher or lower density. Rhizosphere chemistry was strongly and differentially modified by the roots of peanut, maize and barley, and mixed growing. There were significant correlations between the root-secreted acid phosphatases (S-APase), acid phosphatase in rhizosphere (RS-APase) and rhizosphere P concentration (RS-P) in the both experiments. The Fe-solubilizing activity (Fe-SA) and ferric reducing (FR) capacity of the roots were generally higher in mixed culture relative to their monoculture, which improved Fe, Zn and Mn nutrition of peanut. Further, there were also significant correlations among FR, Fe-SA and RS-Fe concentrations. Peanut facilitated P nutrition of maize and barley, while maize and barley improved K, Fe, Zn and Mn nutrition of peanut grown in nutrient-poor saline-sodic and B toxic soil.     

Mechanical properties of bio self-healing concrete containing immobilized bacteria with iron oxide nanoparticles

Applied Microbiology and Biotechnology - Concrete is arguably one of the most important and widely used materials in the world, responsible for the majority of the industrial revolution due to its...     

Tantalum Nitride Electron‐Selective Contact for Crystalline Silicon Solar Cells

Minimizing carrier recombination at contact regions by using carrier‐selective contact materials, instead of heavily doping the silicon, has attracted considerable attention for high‐efficiency, low‐cost crystalline silicon (c‐Si) solar cells. A novel electron‐selective, passivating contact for c‐Si solar cells is presented. Tantalum nitride (TaN _x ) thin films deposited by atomic layer deposition are demonstrated to provide excellent electron‐transporting and hole‐blocking properties to the silicon surface, due to their small conduction band offset and large valence band offset. Thin TaN_x interlayers provide moderate passivation of the silicon surfaces while simultaneously allowing a low contact resistivity to n‐type silicon. A power conversion efficiency (PCE) of over 20% is demonstrated with c‐Si solar cells featuring a simple full‐area electron‐selective TaN_x contact, which significantly improves the fill factor and the open circuit voltage (V_oc) and hence provides the higher PCE. The work opens up the possibility of using metal nitrides, instead of metal oxides, as carrier‐selective contacts or electron transport layers for photovoltaic devices.