Co-planting can phytoextract similar amounts of cadmium and zinc to mono-cropping from contaminated soils

Co-planting crops normally decreases the main crop yield due to the reduced soil surface area occupied by the main crop. However, in our previous experiments, co-planting Sedum alfredii, a shade-requiring, Cd and Zn-hyperaccumulating plant, with corn increased the biomass and metal phytoextraction of S. alfredii. This experiment was conducted to verify if co-planting another hyperaccumulator, Thlaspi caerulescens, with ryegrass (Lolium perenne) in a pot-trial could obtain a similar result. The soil was separated by two permeable nets with a 2 mm interface soil layer to obtain a shared rhizosphere zone. Soluble metal concentrations in the soil in different rooting zones were measured using 0.01 mol L^?1 CaCl₂ extraction. The results showed that the growth of T. caerulescens was significantly promoted by co-planting, with a growth increase of about 2-fold compared with monoculture growth. The total uptake of Cd and Zn by T. caerulescens was not decreased by co-planting, and resulted in similar phytoextraction rates for Cd (about 26.6% of the soil total Cd) and Zn (about 2.4% of the soil total Zn) when compared with monoculture, though the T. caerulescens population was decreased by 50% because of co-planting. Analysis of soil samples showed that T. caerulescens substantially reduced the concentrations of 0.01 mol L^?1 CaCl₂ extractable Cd and Zn throughout the soil, even in the interface area and the ryegrass rooting area. The ryegrass roots did not mobilize more metals for the co-planted T. caerulescens. Based on these results, existing grass on contaminated land could be partly left while planting metal hyperaccumulators for phytoremediation in order to reduce runoff from the contaminated soil. However a field scale trial would be required for these results to be verified.     

Wool-degrading <Emphasis Type="Italic">Bacillus</Emphasis> isolates: extracellular protease production for microbial processing of fabrics

Wool is a natural animal fiber commonly used in fabrics, but requires physical and chemical processing treatment for such applications. With the aim of developing new woollen textile products using environmentally friendly treatments, proteolytic bacteria were isolated from raw wool samples of Merino sheep and screened for wool-degrading activity. Two isolates were identified as Bacillus megaterium L4 and Bacillus thuringiensis L11 by 16S rRNA gene sequence analysis. Both isolates grew on a minimal medium using wool-fiber or wool-fabric as sole carbon and nitrogen sources. Bacterial growth was correlated with extracellular protease activity, and maximal protease production was in early stationary phase. The exoprotease produced by L11 was found to be a thermo-tolerant metalloprotease stabilized by calcium or magnesium, and had optimum activity at pH 7.0 and temperature at 40°C. During bacterial growth the wool-fiber lost weight, but it did not show changes in diameter. When wool-fabric was used instead of wool-fiber weight loss and non-shrinking was found. These are encouraging results for textile processing that should be useful for development of new textile products by direct microbial processing. A potential alternative that could be suggested from our study would be to treat wool with wool-degrading microorganisms in order to develop environmentally friendly processes.     

Impact of Legume Flour Addition on Pasta Structure: Consequences on Its <Emphasis Type="Italic">In Vitro</Emphasis> Starch Digestibility

Pasta is popular for its ease of cooking and its low glycaemic index (GI). This interesting nutritional property can be attributed to its specific compact structure generally described as a protein network entrapping starch granules. Despite this low GI, pasta is poor in fibres and lack some essential amino acids. To enhance its nutritional composition, pasta can be fortified with non-traditional ingredients such as legume flours. The objective of this study was to investigate the impact of legume flour addition on pasta structure and the inherent consequences on the in vitro digestibility of starch. The addition of a high level (35%, w/w) of legume flour, especially split pea flour, induced some minor structural changes in pasta. The inclusion of fibres, the dilution of gluten proteins by albumins and globulins, and the larger amount of thin protein films (in split pea pasta) may have favoured higher susceptibility of starch to digestive enzymes. At the opposite, the presence of some partially gelatinised starch granules in the core of fortified pasta may have favoured the decrease in the in vitro starch digestibility. As a consequence, a high level of legume flour addition in pasta did not have any significant impact on its in vitro starch digestibility. A high level of split pea and faba bean flours can thus be added to pasta to increase its nutritional composition while keeping its low glycaemic index.     

Deletion 17q12 is a recurrent copy number variant that confers high risk of autism and schizophrenia

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and schizophrenia are neurodevelopmental disorders for which recent evidence indicates an important etiologic role for rare copy number variants (CNVs) and suggests common genetic mechanisms. We performed cytogenomic array analysis in a discovery sample of patients with neurodevelopmental disorders referred for clinical testing. We detected a recurrent 1.4 Mb deletion at 17q12, which harbors HNF1B, the gene responsible for renal cysts and diabetes syndrome (RCAD), in 18/15,749 patients, including several with ASD, but 0/4,519 controls. We identified additional shared phenotypic features among nine patients available for clinical assessment, including macrocephaly, characteristic facial features, renal anomalies, and neurocognitive impairments. In a large follow-up sample, the same deletion was identified in 2/1,182 ASD/neurocognitive impairment and in 4/6,340 schizophrenia patients, but in 0/47,929 controls (corrected p = 7.37 × 10⁻⁵). These data demonstrate that deletion 17q12 is a recurrent, pathogenic CNV that confers a very high risk for ASD and schizophrenia and show that one or more of the 15 genes in the deleted interval is dosage sensitive and essential for normal brain development and function. In addition, the phenotypic features of patients with this CNV are consistent with a contiguous gene syndrome that extends beyond RCAD, which is caused by HNF1B mutations only.     

Acute dyspnoea and single tracheal localisation of mantle cell lymphoma

We report a case of a 48-year-old Chinese female with end-stage renal disease and chronic anemia on hemodialysis. Clonazepam was prescribed for myoclonus disorder two weeks prior to her hospitalization. Subsequently, she was hospitalized for neutropenic fever with thrombocytopenia and worsening anemia. Bone marrow examination demonstrated a markedly hypocellular marrow (10-20% total cellularity). Clonazepam was discontinued, with gradual improvement of thrombocytopenia, and neutropenia in 1-2 weeks. To our knowledge, this is the first reported case of pancytopenia associated with clonazepam. We recommend patients taking clonazepam to be monitored with regular complete blood count to check for clinically significant pancytopenia or thrombocytopenia.     

The neutralizing activity of anti-hepatitis C virus antibodies is modulated by specific glycans on the E2 envelope protein

Hepatitis C virus (HCV) envelope glycoproteins are highly glycosylated, with up to 5 and 11 N-linked glycans on E1 and E2, respectively. Most of the glycosylation sites on HCV envelope glycoproteins are conserved, and some of the glycans associated with these proteins have been shown to play an essential role in protein folding and HCV entry. Such a high level of glycosylation suggests that these glycans can limit the immunogenicity of HCV envelope proteins and restrict the binding of some antibodies to their epitopes. Here, we investigated whether these glycans can modulate the neutralizing activity of anti-HCV antibodies. HCV pseudoparticles (HCVpp) bearing wild-type glycoproteins or mutants at individual glycosylation sites were evaluated for their sensitivity to neutralization by antibodies from the sera of infected patients and anti-E2 monoclonal antibodies. While we did not find any evidence that N-linked glycans of E1 contribute to the masking of neutralizing epitopes, our data demonstrate that at least three glycans on E2 (denoted E2N1, E2N6, and E2N11) reduce the sensitivity of HCVpp to antibody neutralization. Importantly, these three glycans also reduced the access of CD81 to its E2 binding site, as shown by using a soluble form of the extracellular loop of CD81 in inhibition of entry. These data suggest that glycans E2N1, E2N6, and E2N11 are close to the binding site of CD81 and modulate both CD81 and neutralizing antibody binding to E2. In conclusion, this work indicates that HCV glycans contribute to the evasion of HCV from the humoral immune response.     

Opposite regulation of endothelial NO synthase by HSP90 and caveolin in liver and lungs of rats with hepatopulmonary syndrome

The hepatopulmonary syndrome is a complication of cirrhosis that associates an overproduction of nitric oxide (NO) in lungs and a NO defect in the liver. Because endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) is regulated by caveolin that decreases and heat shock protein 90 (HSP90) that increases NO production, we hypothesized that an opposite regulation of eNOS by caveolin and HSP90 might explain the opposite NO production in both organs. Cirrhosis was induced by a chronic bile duct ligation (CBDL) performed 15, 30, and 60 days before sample collection and pharmacological tests. eNOS, caveolin, and HSP90 expression were measured in hepatic and lung tissues. Pharmacological tests to assess NO released by shear stress and by acetylcholine were performed in livers (n = 28) and lungs (n = 28) isolated from normal and CBDL rats. In lungs from CBDL rats, indirect evidence of high NO production induced by shear stress was associated with a high binding of HSP90 and a low binding of caveolin to eNOS. Opposite results were observed in livers from CBDL rats. Our study shows an opposite posttranslational regulation of eNOS by HSP90 and caveolin in lungs and liver from rats with CBDL. Such opposite posttranslational regulation of eNOS by regulatory proteins may explain in part the pulmonary overproduction of NO and the hepatic NO defect in rats with hepatopulmonary syndrome.