The Relationship between Nonalcoholic Fatty Liver Disease and Retinopathy in NHANES III

BackgroundNonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), an emerging multisystem disease, has the similar pathogenesis with diabetes and is prevalent in diabetes. This study investigated whether NAFLD is associated with retinopathy in individuals with diabetes and without diabetes.MethodsThe association between NAFLD and retinopathy was investigated in 5963 participants aged 40 years and older who participated in the NHANES III, a nationally representative, population-based and cross-sectional study. NAFLD was detected via ultrasonography, and fundus photographs were obtained to grade retinopathy patterns. We performed multivariate logistic regression analysis to investigate the relationship between the presence of retinopathy and NAFLD and diabetes.ResultsAfter adjusting for multiple covariates, NAFLD population had no evidence of retinopathy increase in population without diabetes (odds ratio [OR]: 0.77; 95% confidence interval [CI]: 0.48 to 1.26). In addition, NAFLD in individuals with diabetes was not significantly associated with retinopathy (OR: 0.77; 95% CI: 0.47 to 1.26), independent of age, gender, ethnicity, waist circumference, serum high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol, serum triglycerides, systolic blood pressure, and glycated hemoglobin.ConclusionsIn the US general population, NAFLD is not a precipitating factor of retinopathy in population with or without diabetes.     

Differential expression of iron-sulfur cluster biosynthesis genes during peach flowering

Iron is required for the Fe-S cluster assembly which occurs in chloroplasts, mitochondria, and cytosol and here we characterized 44 Fe-S cluster biosynthesis genes and investigated their expression profiles during different peach flowering stages. Quantitative real-time PCR analysis shows that the highest expression of most peach Fe-S cluster biosynthesis genes appeared in the full bloom stage. Also, the highest Fe accumulation occurred in the full bloom stage followed by beginning bloom, petal fall, and bud swell stages. Activities of nitrite reductase (NiR) and succinate dehydrogenase (SDH) were closely correlated to the flower Fe content, whereas the aconitase (ACO) activity kept steady during the whole flowering process. Moreover, shading treatment significantly reduced Fe accumulation and NiR, SDH, and ACO activities of the full blooming flowers. Seventeen Fe-S cluster biosynthesis genes were down-regulated in response to a shading treatment. In particular, plastid sulfur mobilization genes were sensitive to the shading treatment.     

Involvement of polar auxin transport in the inhibition of Arabidopsis seedling growth induced by Stenotrophomonas maltophilia

A wide range of microorganisms found in the rhizhosphere are able to regulate plant growth and development, but little is known about the mechanism by which epiphytic microbes inhibit plant growth. Here, an epiphytic bacteria Stenotrophomonas maltophilia, named as LZMBW216, were isolated and identified from the potato (Solanum tuberosum L. cv. Da Xi Yang) leaf surface. They could decrease primary root elongation and lateral root numbers in Arabidopsis seedlings. The inhibitory effects of LZMBW216 on plant growth were not due to a reduced indole-3-acetic acid (IAA) content, as exogenously applied IAA did not recover the inhibition. Furthermore, LZMBW216 did not affect the expression of DR5::GUS and CycB1;1::GUS. However, we found that LZMBW216 exhibited little effect on the primary root elongation in the pin2 mutant and on the lateral root numbers in the aux1-7 mutant. Moreover, LZMBW216 decreased expressions of AUX1 and PIN2 proteins. Together, these results suggest that root system architecture alterations caused by LZMBW216 may involve polar auxin transport.     

Root over-production in heterogeneous nutrient environment has no negative effects on Zea mays shoot growth in the field

Plant and Soil - Nutrient patches in soil have a limited life-span, but the long-term costs and benefits of root foraging in agro-ecological systems are poorly understood. Maize (Zea mays L) was...     

Response of Development and Body Mass to Daily Temperature Fluctuations: a Study on <Emphasis Type="Italic">Tribolium castaneum</Emphasis>

Differences in thermal regimes are of paramount importance in insect development. However, experiments that examine trait development under constant temperature conditions may yield less evolutionarily relevant results than those that take naturally occurring temperature fluctuations into account. We investigated the effect of different temperature regimes (constant 30 °C, constant 35 °C, fluctuating with a daily mean of 30 °C, or fluctuating with a daily mean of 35 °C) on sex-specific development time and body mass in Tribolium castaneum. Using a half-sib breeding design, we also examined whether there is any evidence for genotype-by-environment interactions (GEI) for the studied traits. In response to fluctuating temperature regimes, beetles demonstrated reaction norm patterns in which thermal fluctuations influenced traits negatively above the species’ thermal optimum but had little to no effect close to the thermal optimum. Estimated heritabilities of development time were in general low and non-significant. In case of body mass of pupae and adults, despite significant genetic variance, we did not find any GEI due to crossing of reaction norms, both between temperatures and between variability treatments. We have observed a weak tendency towards higher heritabilities of adult and pupa body mass in optimal fluctuating thermal conditions. Thus, we have not found any biasing effect of stable thermal conditions as compared to fluctuating temperatures on the breeding values of heritable body-size traits. Contrary to this we have observed a strong population-wide effect of thermal fluctuations, indicated by the significant temperature-fluctuations interaction in both adult and pupa mass.