Biofortification of wheat with zinc through zinc fertilization in seven countries

Background and aims

Phosphorus (P) is a commonly limiting nutrient for plant growth in natural environments. Many legumes capable of N₂-fixation require more P than non-legumes do. Some legume crops can use sparingly soluble forms of P such as iron phosphate much better than other species, but reports on the ability of woody legumes to access iron phosphate are rare.

Methods

Plants of four Acacia species (Acacia stipuligera F. Muell., A. ancistrocarpa Maiden & Blakely, A. stellaticeps Kodela, Tindale & D. Keith and A. robeorum Maslin), native to the Great Sandy Desert in north-western Australia, were grown in a glasshouse in river sand with different levels of iron phosphate, between 0 and 16?μg P g^?1 sand. Plant growth, tissue P concentrations, and pH and carboxylates in the rhizosphere were measured.

Results

Growth of A. stipuligera and A. ancistrocarpa was not responsive to increased P supply; in contrast, A. stellaticeps and A. robeorum produced significantly more root and shoot dry mass at 8 and 16?μg P g^?1 sand than at 0?μg P g^?1 sand; differences in root mass ratio were significant between species but not between P treatments. A. robeorum was the only species colonised by mycorrhizal fungi, and the colonisation percentage decreased with increasing P supply. In all species, P-uptake rates and tissue P concentrations were significantly higher at greater P supply. Rhizosphere pH and the amount of carboxylates in the rhizosphere decreased with increasing P supply.

Conclusions

Net P uptake increased with increasing P supply, showing that the present Acacia species can access P from iron phosphate. However, due to their inherently slow growth rate, enhanced P supply did not increase growth of two of the four studied species. The ability of the Acacia species to access P from iron phosphate is presumably related with carboxylate exudation and rhizosphere acidification.     

Prevalence and Genotyping of Microsporidian Parasites in Dogs in Turkey: Zoonotic Concerns

Microsporidia are opportunistic pathogens that infect a wide range of invertebrates and vertebrates. To assess the potential role of dogs in the transmission of these zoonotic pathogens, a total of 282 fecal samples from dogs in the Central Anatolia Region of Turkey were analyzed by utilizing species specific polymerase chain reaction for the four most frequent human microsporidia. Two microsporidia species were recognized in 41 samples (14.5%). Encephalitozoon intestinalis was detected in 35 samples (12.4%) and it was the most common microsporidium. The second microsporidium, E. cuniculi, was identified in six (2.1%) of the samples. Sequence analysis of the intergenic spacer of the ribosomal ribonucleic acid (RNA) internal transcribed spacer (ITS) gene revealed the presence of three E. intestinalis haplotypes closely associated with each other. No polymorphic region was found among the ITS sequences of E. cuniculi isolates and they were characterized as genotype III. This study provides the first data on the zoonotic microsporidia species from dogs in Turkey.     

Quantitative evaluation of immunohistochemical staining in gastrointestinal stromal tumors

OBJECTIVE: To evaluate the differences among pathologists' interpretations in gastrointestinal stromal tumors (GISTs) and to demonstrate the usefulness of quantitative pathology in the assessment of immunohistochemical staining. STUDY DESIGN: Twenty GISTs were separately evaluated by 4 pathologists by the visual estimation method using a 6-antibody panel. Each case was then quantitatively measured with a computer-assisted image analysis system by 2 pathologists. Cohen's kappa test was performed for statistical analysis. RESULTS: All GISTs showed some degree of expression of CD 117, CD34, SMA and Ki-67. No case was immunoreactive for desmin or S-100 protein. There were remarkable differences in the pathologists' visual estimations. Moreover, the discrepancies between visual and quantitative methods were noteworthy. The differences in interpretations showed the greatest variability for Ki-67, which is known to be related to poor prognosis. CONCLUSION: Quantitative pathology in assessment of immunohistochemical staining of GISTs may improve the consistency in the interpretation of staining results and provide some degree of reproducibility.     

Functional Changes during Hospital Stay in Older Patients Admitted to an Acute Care Ward: A Multicenter Observational Study

Objectives

Changes in physical performance during hospital stay have rarely been evaluated. In this study, we examined functional changes during hospital stay by assessing both physical performance and activities of daily living. Additionally, we investigated characteristics of older patients associated with meaningful in-hospital improvement in physical performance.

Methods

The CRiteria to assess appropriate Medication use among Elderly complex patients project recruited 1123 patients aged ≥65 years, consecutively admitted to geriatric or internal medicine acute care wards of seven Italian hospitals. We analyzed data from 639 participating participants with a Mini Mental State Examination score ≥18/30. Physical performance was assessed by walking speed and grip strength, and functional status by activities of daily living at hospital admission and at discharge. Meaningful improvement was defined as a measured change of at least 1 standard deviation. Multivariable logistic regression models predicting meaningful improvement, included age, gender, type of admission (through emergency room or elective), and physical performance at admission.

Results

Mean age of the study participants was 79 years (range 65–98), 52% were female. Overall, mean walking speed and grip strength performance improved during hospital stay (walking speed improvement: 0.04±0.20 m/s, p<0.001; grip strength improvement: 0.43±5.66 kg, p = 0.001), no significant change was observed in activities of daily living. Patients with poor physical performance at admission had higher odds for in-hospital improvement.

Conclusion

Overall, physical performance measurements show an improvement during hospital stay. The margin for meaningful functional improvement is larger in patients with poor physical function at admission. Nevertheless, most of these patients continue to have poor performance at discharge.     

Immunopathological basis of lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus-induced chorioretinitis and keratitis

The infection of humans with the rodent-borne lymphocytic choriomeningitis virus (LCMV) can lead to central nervous system disease in adults or severe neurological disease with hydrocephalus and chorioretinitis in children infected congenitally. Although LCMV-induced meningitis and encephalitis have been studied extensively, the immunopathological mechanisms underlying LCMV infection-associated ocular disease remain elusive. We report here that the intraocular administration of the neurotropic LCMV strain Armstrong (Arm) elicited pronounced chorioretinitis and keratitis and that infection with the more viscerotropic strains WE and Docile precipitated less severe immunopathological ocular disease. Time course analyses revealed that LCMV Arm infection of the uvea and neuroretina led to monophasic chorioretinitis which peaked between days 7 and 12 after infection. Analyses of T-cell-deficient mouse strains showed that LCMV-mediated ocular disease was strictly dependent on the presence of virus-specific CD8⁺ T cells and that the contribution of CD4⁺ T cells was negligible. Whereas the topical application of immunosuppressive agents did not prevent the development of chorioretinitis, passive immunization with hyperimmune sera partially prevented retinal and corneal damage. Likewise, mice displaying preexisting LCMV-specific T-cell responses were protected against LCMV-induced ocular disease. Thus, antibody- and/or T-cell-based vaccination protocols could be employed as preventive strategies against LCMV-mediated chorioretinitis.     

Universal behaviour of gel formation from acrylamide-carrageenan mixture around the gel point: a fluorescence study

The steady state fluorescence (SSF) technique was used to study the sol-gel transition, for the solution free radical crosslinking copolymerization of acrylamide (AAm) with various carrageenan content. N, N'- methylenebis (acrylamide) (BIS) and ammonium persulfate (APS) are used as crosslinker and an initiator, respectively. Pyranine (8-hydroxypyrene-1, 3,6-trisulfonic acid, trisodium salt, HPTS) was added as a floroprobe for monitoring the polymerization. Pyranine molecules start to bind to acrylamide polymer chains upon the initiation of the polymerization; thus, the spectra of the bonded pyranines shift to the shorter wavelengths. Fluorescence spectra from the bonded pyranines allows one to monitor the sol-gel transition, without disturbing the system mechanically, and to test the universality of the sol-gel transition as a function of some kinetic parameters like polymer concentration. Observations around the critical point show that the gel fraction exponent beta obeyed the percolation result for low carrageenan concentrations (< 2.0%) however classical results were produced at higher carrageenan concentration (> 2.0%).     

P-M phenotypes and their correlation with longitude in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster from Turkey

We analyzed the P-M gonadal dysgenesis characteristics and the molecular patterns of P and KP elements of 35 populations from distinct locations of Turkey and Cyprus to find out P element dynamics in natural populations of Drosophila melanogaster. The results of Gonadal dysgenesis (GD) tests showed a predominat M?? phenotype for this region. Besides Q populations were also found in less numbers. It was also noticed that there is a strong tendency for the presence of a Q type ??buffer zone?? in the Western part of Turkey. The variation in GD percentage (as a index for P element activity and susceptibility) observed among the populations did not show any clear relationship with some geoclimatic variables, but a significant correlation was found between longitude, and P element susceptibility. The P and KP element were also characterized by polymerase chain reaction amplification. The molecular analyses showed that all the populations examined have the entire of 1.15 kb KP element. The molecular patterns of KP elements have been found similar between the populations studied.