Inhibition of phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase induces preferentially killing of PTEN-null T leukemias through AKT pathway

We examined the functional role of the phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase pathway in the growth and survival of cell lines of T-cell origin. Pharmacological inhibition of PI3'-kinase using LY294002 resulted in apoptosis of acute lymphoblastic T-cell leukemia (T-ALL) cell lines including CEM, Jurkat, and MOLT-4. On the other hand, the cutaneous T-cell lymphoma cell line HUT-78 was found to be refractory to LY294002- inducible apoptosis. Sensitivity or resistance to pharmacological inhibitors of PI3'-kinase correlated with tumor suppressor PTEN gene expression, as sensitive T-ALL cells do not express PTEN and have high level of activated AKT, in contrast to HUT-78 cells. Our data demonstrate that inhibition of PI3'-kinase results in dephosphorylation of AKT and partial inhibition of Bcl-xL expression in T-ALL cells, but not in HUT-78 cells. Interestingly, HUT-78 cells were also found to express higher levels of Bcl-xL protein as compared to T-ALL cells. Inhibition of PI3'-kinase also induces release of cytochrome c from mitochondria and activation of caspase-3 and PARP in all T-ALL cell lines tested, but not in HUT-78 cells. Taken altogether, our data demonstrate that the PI3'-kinase/AKT pathway plays a major role in the growth and survival of PTEN-null T-ALL cells, and identify this cascade as promising target for therapeutic intervention in acute T-cell leukemias.     

Sources of Nitrogen in Combination with Systems of Irrigation Influence the Productivity of Modern Rice (<i>Oryza sativa</i> L.) Cultivars during Dry Season in Sub-Tropical Environment

In irrigated agricultural systems, nitrogen (N) and water are the vital resources for sustainability of the crop production in the modern era of climate change. The current study aimed to assess the impact of water and N management on the productivity of irrigated rice cultivars. In the context, a field observation was done at the research farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University, Mymensingh, during dry seasons in consecutive two years (2018–2019 and 2019–2020). The experiments were set up following split-plot design assigning water management in the main plots, nitrogen management in the sub-plots, and the cultivars were approved in the split-split plot with three replications. After two years observation, it was revealed that rice cultivar Binadhan-8 gave the maximum value of leaf area index, number effective tillers hill^-1 and grains panicle^-1 which lead to the higher grain yield (GY). Substantial relationships were observed among the concentration of N, growth, total dry matter (TDM) and N content, N uptake, N utilization effectiveness, and GY. However, with little exception, the Combined effect of water and N, cultivars and water management were varied significantly for all parameters. Finally, the results of the current study concluded that application of irrigation at 8 days after the disappearance of ponded water and source of 105 kg N ha^-1 from PU + Poultry manure are the best management approach for the excellent performance of rice cultivar Binadhan-8.     

Localization of kallikrein in the guinea-pig submandibular gland

The localization of kallikrein in the acinar and the ductal components of the guinea-pig submandibular gland was investigated by a microdissection technique and an esterase assay. The results indicated that a major portion of the kallikrein is located in the striated duct cells. These results disagree with previous studies in the guinea-pig but are consistent with findings in the rat and cat submandibular gland.     

Mechanomyogram for Muscle Function Assessment: A Review

Background

Mechanomyography (MMG) has been extensively applied in clinical and experimental practice to examine muscle characteristics including muscle function (MF), prosthesis and/or switch control, signal processing, physiological exercise, and medical rehabilitation. Despite several existing MMG studies of MF, there has not yet been a review of these. This study aimed to determine the current status on the use of MMG in measuring the conditions of MFs.

Methodology/Principal Findings

Five electronic databases were extensively searched for potentially eligible studies published between 2003 and 2012. Two authors independently assessed selected articles using an MS-Word based form created for this review. Several domains (name of muscle, study type, sensor type, subject''s types, muscle contraction, measured parameters, frequency range, hardware and software, signal processing and statistical analysis, results, applications, authors'' conclusions and recommendations for future work) were extracted for further analysis. From a total of 2184 citations 119 were selected for full-text evaluation and 36 studies of MFs were identified. The systematic results find sufficient evidence that MMG may be used for assessing muscle fatigue, strength, and balance. This review also provides reason to believe that MMG may be used to examine muscle actions during movements and for monitoring muscle activities under various types of exercise paradigms.

Conclusions/Significance

Overall judging from the increasing number of articles in recent years, this review reports sufficient evidence that MMG is increasingly being used in different aspects of MF. Thus, MMG may be applied as a useful tool to examine diverse conditions of muscle activity. However, the existing studies which examined MMG for MFs were confined to a small sample size of healthy population. Therefore, future work is needed to investigate MMG, in examining MFs between a sufficient number of healthy subjects and neuromuscular patients.     

Alterations in sucrose metabolizing enzyme activities and total phenol content of Curcuma Ionga L. as affected by different triazole compounds

Changes in the sucrose metabolism of Cur-cuma longa L. plants were studied under treatment with different triazole compounds viz., triadimefon (TDM) and propiconazole (PCZ). Plants were treated with TDM at 15 mg/L and PCZ at 10 mg/L separately by soil drenching on 80, 110, and 140 days after planting (DAP). The plants were harvested randomly on 90, 120, and 150DAP to determine the effect of both the triazoles on sucrose metabolizing enzymes and phenol content. The sucrose metabolism was studied by analyzing sucrose metaboliz-ing enzymes like sucrose synthase and sucrose phosphate synthase. All the analyses were assayed in leaves and tubers of both control and treated plants. It was found that both of the triazole compounds had profound effects on these parameters.     

Toward "strong" green nanocomposites: polyvinyl alcohol reinforced with extremely oriented cellulose whiskers

To exploit the maximum potential of cellulose whiskers (CWs), we report here for the first time the successful fabrication of nanocomposites reinforced with highly oriented CWs in a polymer matrix. The nanocomposites were prepared using polyvinyl alcohol (PVA) and a colloidal suspension of cotton-derived CWs. The macroscopically homogeneous PVA-CW suspensions were extruded into cold methanol to form gel fibers followed by a hot drawing. Compared to the neat PVA fiber, the as-spun fiber containing a small amount of CWs (5 wt % of solid PVA) showed higher drawability, leading to an extremely high orientation of CWs with the matrix PVA. The stress-transfer mechanism, a prime determining factor for high mechanical properties of nanocomposites, was studied by X-ray diffraction. The stress on the incorporated CWs was monitored by applying an in situ nondestructive load to the composite fibers. The applied stress to the whole sample was found to be effectively transferred to the CWs inside the composites, suggesting strong interfacial bonding between the filler and the matrix. Effective stress transfer to the oriented whiskers resulted in outstanding enhancement in mechanical properties of the nanocomposites.     

Compositional dynamics and codon usage pattern of BRCA1 gene across nine mammalian species

The BRCA1 gene is located on the human chromosome 17q21.31 and plays important role in biological processes. The aminoacyl-tRNA synthetases (AARS) are a family of heterogenous enzymes responsible protein synthesis and whose secondary functions include a role in autoimmune myositis. Our findings reveal that the compositional constraint and the preference of more A/T –ending codons determine the codon usage patterns in BRCA1 gene while more G/C-ending codons influence the codon usage pattern of AARS gene among mammals. The codon usage bias in BRCA1 and AARS genes is low. The codon CGC encoding arginine amino acid and the codon TTA encoding leucine were uniformly distributed in BRCA1 and AARS genes, respectively in mammals including human. Natural selection might have played a major role while mutation pressure might have played a minor role in shaping the codon usage pattern of BRCA1 and AARS genes.     

Silicon Nanoparticles Mediated Increase in Glandular Trichomes and Regulation of Photosynthetic and Quality Attributes in Mentha piperita L.

Journal of Plant Growth Regulation - Interest in the use of the nanoparticles as plant growth elicitors mushroomed within the last decade and the field is quite intriguing to meet the growing needs...