Depolymerised carrageenan enhances physiological activities and menthol production in Mentha arvensis L.

Irradiated carrageenan (IC) could elicit plant growth promoting activities in plants. The effect of foliar spray of five concentrations of IC (20, 40, 60_, 80 and 100 mg L⁻¹) was studied on Mentha arvensis L. in terms of plant growth, physiological attributes, herbage yield and the content and yield of essential oil and its components. Un-irradiated carrageenan and deionized water had no effect on the attributes studied. GPC study revealed formation of low molecular weight fractions in irradiated samples containing less than 20,000 molecular weight oligomers which are responsible for plant growth promotion in this study. 80 mg L⁻¹ of IC was the most effective concentration which resulted in the highest values of growth attributes, herbage yield and the content and yield of essential oil and menthol content of the oil. It also improved the leaf-nutrient contents, photosynthetic rate and other physiological parameters. 100 mg L⁻¹ of IC did not further improve the attributes studied, but it was always better than the control.     

Technology for efficient and successful delivery of vermicompost colonized bioinoculants in Pogostemon cablin (patchouli) Benth.

The usefulness of vermicompost as a supporting media for growth of bioinoculants was evaluated for successful transfer of sufficient propagules of bioinoculants into the organic fields. The rooted plants after 50 days were pot and field tested for their growth and yield performances when transplanted along with rooting medium into pots/organic fields. The rooting medium, 50 days of inoculation, contained sufficient population of bioinoculants and arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungi. Treatment with bioinoculants (except Trichoderma harzianum) substantially improved the root and shoot biomass of nursery raised rooted cuttings particularly in treatments containing Azotobacter chroococcum (150 and 91.67%, respectively), Glomus intraradices (117 and 91.67%, respectively) and Pseudomonas fluorescens (117 and 83%, respectively). The transplanted rooted plants in pots, over two harvests, yielded higher shoot biomass when rooting medium contained A. chroococcum (147%), G. intraradices (139%) and P. fluorescencs (139%). Although the treatments did not affect the content of essential oil, the quality of essential oil as measured by the content of patchouli alcohol improved with Glomus aggregatum (18%). Similar trends were observed in field trials with significantly higher biomass yield achieved with A. chroococcum (51%), G. intraradices (46%) and P. fluorescencs (17%) compared to control (un-inoculated) plots. Increased in herb yield was found to be related with increased nutrient uptake. The population of bioinoculants in the rhizosphere was observed to be considerably higher in plots receiving vermicompost enriched with bioinoculants. This technology can be a successful way of delivering sufficient propagules of bioinoculants along with vermicompost especially in organic fields.     

"There are too many, but never enough": qualitative case study investigating routine coding of clinical information in depression

Background

We sought to understand how clinical information relating to the management of depression is routinely coded in different clinical settings and the perspectives of and implications for different stakeholders with a view to understanding how these may be aligned.

Materials and Methods

Qualitative investigation exploring the views of a purposefully selected range of healthcare professionals, managers, and clinical coders spanning primary and secondary care.

Results

Our dataset comprised 28 semi-structured interviews, a focus group, documents relating to clinical coding standards and participant observation of clinical coding activities. We identified a range of approaches to coding clinical information including templates and order entry systems. The challenges inherent in clearly establishing a diagnosis, identifying appropriate clinical codes and possible implications of diagnoses for patients were particularly prominent in primary care. Although a range of managerial and research benefits were identified, there were no direct benefits from coded clinical data for patients or professionals. Secondary care staff emphasized the role of clinical coders in ensuring data quality, which was at odds with the policy drive to increase real-time clinical coding.

Conclusions

There was overall no evidence of clear-cut direct patient care benefits to inform immediate care decisions, even in primary care where data on patients with depression were more extensively coded. A number of important secondary uses were recognized by healthcare staff, but the coding of clinical data to serve these ends was often poorly aligned with clinical practice and patient-centered considerations. The current international drive to encourage clinical coding by healthcare professionals during the clinical encounter may need to be critically examined.     

Interactions of cubilin with megalin and the product of the amnionless gene (AMN): effect on its stability

Cubilin, a 456 kDa multipurpose receptor lacking in both transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains is expressed in the apical BBMs (brush border membranes) of polarized epithelia. Cubilin interacts with two transmembrane proteins, AMN, a 45-50 kDa protein product of the amnionless gene, and megalin, a 600 kDa giant endocytic receptor. In vitro, three fragments of cubilin, the 113-residue N-terminus and CUB domains 12-17 and 22-27, demonstrated Ca2+-dependent binding to megalin. Immunoprecipitation and immunoblotting studies using detergent extracts of rat kidney BBMs revealed that cubilin interacts with both megalin and AMN. Ligand (intrinsic factor-cobalamin)-affinity chromatography showed that in renal BBMs, functional cubilin exists as a complex with both AMN and megalin. Cubilin and AMN levels were reduced by 80% and 55-60% respectively in total membranes and BBMs obtained from kidney of megalin antibody-producing rabbits. Immunohistochemical analysis and turnover studies for cubilin in megalin or AMN gene-silenced opossum kidney cells showed a significant reduction (85-90%) in cubilin staining and a 2-fold decrease in its half-life. Taken together, these results indicate that three distinct regions of cubilin bind to megalin and its interactions with both megalin and AMN are essential for its intracellular stability.     

Central leptin insufficiency syndrome: an interactive etiology for obesity, metabolic and neural diseases and for designing new therapeutic interventions

This review critically reappraises recent scientific evidence concerning central leptin insufficiency versus leptin resistance formulations to explain metabolic and neural disorders resulting from subnormal or defective leptin signaling in various sites in the brain. Research at various fronts to unravel the complexities of the neurobiology of leptin is surveyed to provide a comprehensive account of the neural and metabolic effects of environmentally imposed fluctuations in leptin availability at brain sites and the outcome of newer technology to restore leptin signaling in a site-specific manner. The cumulative new knowledge favors a unified central leptin insufficiency syndrome over the, in vogue, central resistance hypothesis to explain the global adverse impact of deficient leptin signaling in the brain. Furthermore, the leptin insufficiency syndrome delineates a novel role of leptin in the hypothalamus in restraining rhythmic pancreatic insulin secretion while concomitantly enhancing glucose metabolism and non-shivering thermogenic energy expenditure, sequelae that would otherwise promote fat accrual to store excess energy resulting from consumption of energy-enriched diets. A concerted effort should now focus on development of newer technologies for delivery of leptin or leptin mimetics to specifically target neural pathways for remediation of diverse ailments encompassing the central leptin insufficiency syndrome.     

Structural biology of human cannabinoid receptor-2 helix 6 in membrane-mimetic environments

We detail the structure and dynamics of a synthetic peptide corresponding to transmembrane helix 6 (TMH6) of human cannabinoid receptor-2 (hCB2) in biomembrane-mimetic environments. The peptide’s NMR structural biology is characterized by two α-helical domains bridged by a flexible, nonhelical hinge region containing a highly-conserved CWFP motif with an environmentally sensitive, Pro-based conformational switch. Buried within the peptide’s flexible region, W²⁵⁸ may hydrogen-bond with L²⁵⁵ to help stabilize the Pro-kinked hCB2 TMH6 structure and position C²⁵⁷ advantageously for interaction with agonist ligands. These characteristics of hCB2 TMH6 are potential structural features of ligand-induced hCB2 activation in vivo.     

Aptamers as a model for functional evaluation of LNA and 2′-amino LNA

The affinity change upon incorporation of LNA and 2′-amino-LNA monomers into an avidin binding DNA aptamer is described. The kinetic profile of selected modified-aptamer was obtained by surface plasmon resonance experiments and compared with the profile of the parent unmodified DNA aptamer. We report significant improvement of avidin binding affinity by the incorporation of single LNA modifications into the aptamer, and successful incorporation of 2′-amino LNA as a novel monomer in aptamers with potential function as carrier unit for additional molecular entities.