Activity of Nemathorin,natural product and bioproducts against root-knot nematodes on tomatoes

An experimental study was carried out in pots to investigate the activity of Nemathorin, natural product and biopesticides against root-knot nematodes (RKNs) on tomatoes. Fosthiazate and abamectin proved to be the most effective treatments which suppressed the RKN population by 82.1%. Furthermore, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungus 2 (AMF2) was the superior treatment that reduced galls/root system followed by abamectin with the values of 72.5% and 67.2%, respectively. In addition, fosthiazate, cadusafos and crustacean2 gave the highest increase in the root length with the values of 55.8%, 54.6% and 54.6%, respectively. AMF2 was the most effective treatment which increases the root weight by 43.9%, while azadirachtin decreased the rootweight by 12.2% compared to untreated check. AMF2, cadusafos and crustacean2 not only increased the shoot length but also increased the shoot weight. Azadirachtin recorded the minimum increase in shoot system length and weight.     

Salicylic acid alters endothelin-1 binding in intact adult rat ventricular myocytes.

Endothelin receptors ET(A)R and ET(B)R form tight receptor-ligand complexes that complicate our understanding of the physiological, pharmacological, and biochemical properties of these receptors. Although radioligand-binding studies have demonstrated the binding of endothelin-1 (ET-1) to ET(A)R to be essentially irreversible, ET(A)R internalize in a ligand-dependent manner, release ET-1, and then recycle to the cell surface. Salicylic acid (SA) reduces ET-1 binding (IC(50) = 10 mmol/L) to recombinant ET(A)R in isolated membranes by promoting dissociation of [(125)I]ET-1. In the present study, SA (5 mmol SA/L) did not alter [(125I)]ET-1 binding to intact adult rat ventricular myocytes. The lack of effect was not due to internalization of receptor-ligand complexes. However, 100 mmol SA/L significantly reduced [(125)I]ET-1 binding to both intact myocytes and isolated membranes. SA induced the phosphorylation p42/44 extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase and an unidentified 40-kDa protein on the activating threonine-glutamic acid-tyrosine (T-E-Y) motif. ERK phosphorylation was reduced by a MAP kinase kinase (MEK) inhibitor, PD98059. Phosphorylation of p40 was reduced by the p38 MAP kinase inhibitor SB203580, but not PD98059. However, inhibition of ERK or p38 MAP kinases did not alter the ability of 100 mmol SA/L to induce dissociation of [125I]ET-1. These results suggest that, in the ventricular myocyte, salicylic acid alters the kinetics of ET-1 binding. The results also suggest an allosteric binding site may be present that modulates the dissociation of ET-1 receptor-ligand complexes in response to an as-of-yet unidentified mediator.     

Regulation of the sphingolipid signaling pathways in the growing and hypoxic rat heart

Sphingolipids (SLs) have a biomodulatory role in physiological as well as pathological cardiovascular conditions. This study aims to assess the variation of SL mediators and metabolizing enzymes in the growing and hypoxic rat heart. Sprague-Dawley rats were placed in a hypoxic environment at birth. Control animals remained in room air. In control animals, activities of acidic-sphingomyelinase (A-SMase), sphingomyelin synthase (SMS), glucosylceramide synthase (GCS), and ceramidase decreased with age in both ventricles whereas activity of neutral-sphingomyelinase (N-SMase) increased with age. Hypoxic RV mass was 171 and 229% that of controls, at 4 and 8 weeks, respectively. This was accompanied by an increase in RV myocardial ceramide synthesis, consumption and breakdown, with a net effect of suppression of ceramide accumulation and increase in diacylglycerol (DAG) concentration. In addition, significant increase in activities of: A-SMase by 26 and 29%, SMS by 108 and 40%, and ceramidase by 66 and 35%, in the hypoxic RV rats as compared to controls, was noted at 4 and 8 weeks of age, respectively. Sphingolipids and their regulating enzymes appear to play a role in adaptive responses to chronic hypoxia in the neonatal rat heart.     

Bolus transit patterns in healthy subjects: a study using simultaneous impedance monitoring, videoesophagram, and esophageal manometry

Impedance monitoring (Imp) measures bolus transit. Combining Imp with manometry (EM) allows the effect of contractile patterns on transit to be assessed. The objective of this study is to identify bolus transit patterns in normal subjects, correlate Imp findings with the gold standard barium esophagram (Ba), and compare bolus transit with concomitant EM findings. Simultaneous Ba-Imp-EM was performed for 2 min in 15 normal volunteers (women, 11; age, 43 yr). Combined impedance-pressure sites were 5, 10, 15, 20 cm above the lower esophageal sphincter (LES). Boluses (10 ml) of 45% barium mixed with 0.9% NaCl were swallowed at > or = 20-s intervals (5-6 swallows/subject). Imp and Ba showed three bolus transit patterns, and the two methods were in agreement on the pattern type in 97% (83/86) of swallows. Normal bolus transit was found in 73% (61/83), and each had normal peristalsis and contraction amplitude. Stasis in the proximal esophagus occurred in 7 of 83 swallows despite normal manometric parameters in 4 of 7 swallows. Retrograde escape of a residue of incompletely cleared bolus from just above the LES to the site 5 cm above occurred in 14 of 83 swallows. Retrograde escape was triggered by the next swallow, occurred despite normal manometric parameters, and did not occur if the swallow interval was >30 s. In 55% (47/86) of swallows, air accumulated in the distal esophagus and persisted there for a mean of 3.6 s until cleared into the stomach. We conclude that impedance monitoring is a valid transit test and describe bolus transit patterns in normal subjects for comparison with patients with esophageal motility disorders.     

2004 Nomenclature for the chicken major histocompatibility (<Emphasis Type="Italic">B</Emphasis> and <Emphasis Type="Italic">Y</Emphasis> ) complex

The first standard nomenclature for the chicken (Gallus gallus) major histocompatibility (B) complex published in 1982 describing chicken major histocompatibility complex (MHC) variability is being revised to include subsequent findings. Considerable progress has been made in identifying the genes that define this polymorphic region. Allelic sequences for MHC genes are accumulating at an increasing rate without a standard system of nomenclature in place. The recommendations presented here were derived in workshops held during International Society of Animal Genetics and Avian Immunology Research Group meetings. A nomenclature for B and Y (Rfp-Y) loci and alleles has been developed that can be applied to existing and newly defined haplotypes including recombinants. A list of the current standard B haplotypes is provided with reference stock, allele designations, and GenBank numbers for corresponding MHC class I and class II sequences. An updated list of proposed names for B recombinant haplotypes is included, as well as a list of over 17 Y haplotypes designated to date.     

A pathogen-inducible patatin-like lipid acyl hydrolase facilitates fungal and bacterial host colonization in Arabidopsis

Genes and proteins related to patatin, the major storage protein of potato tubers, have been identified in many plant species and shown to be induced by a variety of environmental stresses. The Arabidopsis patatin-like gene family (PLPs) comprises nine members, two of which (PLP2 and PLP7) are strongly induced in leaves challenged with fungal and bacterial pathogens. Here we show that accumulation of PLP2 protein in response to Botrytis cinerea or Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato (avrRpt2) is dependent on jasmonic acid and ethylene signaling, but is not dependent on salicylic acid. Expression of a PLP2-green fluorescent protein (GFP) fusion protein and analysis of recombinant PLP2 indicates that PLP2 encodes a cytoplasmic lipid acyl hydrolase with wide substrate specificity. Transgenic plants with altered levels of PLP2 protein were generated and assayed for pathogen resistance. Plants silenced for PLP2 expression displayed enhanced resistance to B. cinerea, whereas plants overexpressing PLP2 were much more sensitive to this necrotrophic fungus. We also established a positive correlation between the level of PLP2 expression in transgenic plants and cell death or damage in response to paraquat treatment or infection by avirulent P. syringae. Interestingly, repression of PLP2 expression increased resistance to avirulent bacteria, while PLP2-overexpressing plants multiplied avirulent bacteria close to the titers reached by virulent bacteria. Collectively, the data indicate that PLP2-encoded lipolytic activity can be exploited by pathogens with different lifestyles to facilitate host colonization. In particular PLP2 potentiates plant cell death inflicted by Botrytis and reduces the efficiency of the hypersensitive response in restricting the multiplication of avirulent bacteria. Both effects are possibly mediated by providing fatty acid precursors of bioactive oxylipins.     

Co-ABC: Correlation artificial bee colony algorithm for biomarker gene discovery using gene expression profile

In this paper, we propose a new hybrid method based on Correlation-based feature selection method and Artificial Bee Colony algorithm,namely Co-ABC to select a small number of relevant genes for accurate classification of gene expression profile. The Co-ABC consists of three stages which are fully cooperated: The first stage aims to filter noisy and redundant genes in high dimensionality domains by applying Correlation-based feature Selection (CFS) filter method. In the second stage, Artificial Bee Colony (ABC) algorithm is used to select the informative and meaningful genes. In the third stage, we adopt a Support Vector Machine (SVM) algorithm as classifier using the preselected genes form second stage. The overall performance of our proposed Co-ABC algorithm was evaluated using six gene expression profile for binary and multi-class cancer datasets. In addition, in order to proof the efficiency of our proposed Co-ABC algorithm, we compare it with previously known related methods. Two of these methods was re-implemented for the sake of a fair comparison using the same parameters. These two methods are: Co-GA, which is CFS combined with a genetic algorithm GA. The second one named Co-PSO, which is CFS combined with a particle swarm optimization algorithm PSO. The experimental results shows that the proposed Co-ABC algorithm acquire the accurate classification performance using small number of predictive genes. This proofs that Co-ABC is a efficient approach for biomarker gene discovery using cancer gene expression profile.     

Residual tissue repositories as a resource for population-based cancer proteomic studies

Background

Mass spectrometry-based proteomics has become a powerful tool for the identification and quantification of proteins from a wide variety of biological specimens. To date, the majority of studies utilizing tissue samples have been carried out on prospectively collected fresh frozen or optimal cutting temperature (OCT) embedded specimens. However, such specimens are often difficult to obtain, in limited in supply, and clinical information and outcomes on patients are inherently delayed as compared to banked samples. Annotated formalin fixed, paraffin embedded (FFPE) tumor tissue specimens are available for research use from a variety of tissue banks, such as from the surveillance, epidemiology and end results (SEER) registries’ residual tissue repositories. Given the wealth of outcomes information associated with such samples, the reuse of archived FFPE blocks for deep proteomic characterization with mass spectrometry technologies would provide a valuable resource for population-based cancer studies. Further, due to the widespread availability of FFPE specimens, validation of specimen integrity opens the possibility for thousands of studies that can be conducted worldwide.

Methods

To examine the suitability of the SEER repository tissues for proteomic and phosphoproteomic analysis, we analyzed 60 SEER patient samples, with time in storage ranging from 7 to 32 years; 60 samples with expression proteomics and 18 with phosphoproteomics, using isobaric labeling. Linear modeling and gene set enrichment analysis was used to evaluate the impacts of collection site and storage time.

Results

All samples, regardless of age, yielded suitable protein mass after extraction for expression analysis and 18 samples yielded sufficient mass for phosphopeptide analysis. Although peptide, protein, and phosphopeptide identifications were reduced by 50, 20 and 76% respectively, from comparable OCT specimens, we found no statistically significant differences in protein quantitation correlating with collection site or specimen age. GSEA analysis of GO-term level measurements of protein abundance differences between FFPE and OCT embedded specimens suggest that the formalin fixation process may alter representation of protein categories in the resulting dataset.

Conclusions

These studies demonstrate that residual FFPE tissue specimens, of varying age and collection site, are a promising source of protein for proteomic investigations if paired with rigorously verified mass spectrometry workflows.

     

Expression of a Novel Piscine Growth Hormone Gene Results in Growth Enhancement in Transgenic Tilapia (Oreochromis Niloticus)

Several lines of transgenic G1 and G2 tilapia fish (Oreochromis niloticus) have been produced following egg injection with gene constructs carrying growth hormone coding sequences of fish origin. Using a construct in which an ocean pout antifreeze promoter drives a chinook salmon growth hormone gene, dramatic growth enhancement has been demonstrated, in which the mean weight of the 7 month old G2 transgenic fish is more than three fold that of their non transgenic siblings. Somewhat surprisingly G1 fish transgenic for a construct consisting of a sockeye salmon metallothionein promoter spliced to a sockeye salmon growth hormone gene exhibited no growth enhancement, although salmon transgenic for this construct do show greatly enhanced growth. The growth enhanced transgenic lines were also strongly positive in a radio-immuno assay for the specific hormone in their serum, whereas the non growth enhanced lines were negative. Attempts to induce expression from the metallo thionein promoter by exposing fish to increased levels of zinc were also unsuccessful.Homozygous transgenic fish have been produced from the ocean pout antifreeze/chinook salmon GH construct and preliminary trials suggest that their growth performance is similar to that of the hemizygous transgenics. No abnormalities were apparent in the growth enhanced fish, although minor changes to skull shape and reduced fertility were noted in some fish. There is also preliminary evidence for improved food conversion ratios when growth enhanced transgenic tilapia are compared to their non-transgenic siblings.The long term objective of this study is to produce lines of tilapia which are both growth enhanced and sterile, so offering improved strains of this important food fish for aquaculture.     

Liraglutide ameliorated peripheral neuropathy in diabetic rats: Involvement of oxidative stress,inflammation and extracellular matrix remodeling

Diabetic peripheral neuropathy is one of the most common microvascular complications that occurs with both type 1 and type 2 diabetes mellitus. It has a significant negative impact on patients’ quality of life; as it starts with loss of limbs’ sensation and may lead to lower limb amputation. This study aimed at investigating the effect of liraglutide on peripheral neuropathy in diabetic rats. Experimental diabetes was induced by single intraperitoneal injections of nicotinamide (50 mg/kg) and streptozotocin (52.5 mg/kg). Rats were allocated into five groups. Two groups were given saline or liraglutide (0.8 mg/kg, s.c.). Three diabetic groups were either untreated or treated with liraglutide (0.8 mg/kg, s.c.) or pregabalin (10 mg/kg, i.p.). After 2 weeks of treatment, behavioral, biochemical, histopathological, and immunohistochemical investigations were performed. Treatment with liraglutide‐restored animals’ body weight, normalized blood glucose, decreased glycated hemoglobin, and increased insulin levels. In parallel, it normalized motor coordination and the latency withdrawal time of both tail flick and hind paw cold allodynia tests and reversed histopathological alterations. Treatment with liraglutide also normalized malondialdehyde, matrix metalloproteinase‐2 and ‐9 contents in sciatic nerve. Likewise, it decreased sciatic nerve nitric oxide and interleukin‐6 contents, DNA fragmentation and expression of cyclooxygenase‐2. Meanwhile, it increased superoxide dismutase and interleukin‐10 contents in sciatic nerve. These findings indicate the neuroprotective effect of liraglutide against diabetic peripheral neuropathy probably via modulating oxidative stress, inflammation, and extracellular matrix remodeling.