Seed germination and early seedling growth of fenugreek (Trigonella foenum-gracium L.) under Cu,Ni and As stress

Metals and metalloids were known to have a real problem and serious risk to the environment and the ecosystems as well as human beings. In the present experiment, phyototoxicity of essential metals (Cu and Ni) and non-essential metalloids (As) at 10, 50, 100 and 200 mg L^?1 were evaluated on seed germination and early seedlings growth of fenugreek. Higher concentrations of Cu had almost no effect on the parameters tested. By contrast, As was found to reduce germination, root and shoot elongation, seeds vigor index and dry biomass within range dose of 50–200 mg L^?1. Accordingly, tolerance index showed that fenugreek seeds have zero tolerance at higher concentration of As. The decreasing order of sensibility of fenugreek seeds to tested metals and metalloid followed the order: As > Ni > Cu.     

Adsorption of urea by some Sudan soils

Summary Experiments were carried out to measure direct adsorption of urea in some Sudan soils and to compare two methods for controlling urea hydrolysis. All the soils examined showed some capacity to adsorb urea. Urea adsorption was related to both the exchange capacity and clay content; the exchange capacity giving higher correlation than the clay content. Both autoclaving and mercuric chloride treatments controlled hydrolysis almost completely. Autoclaving was preferred as the method of controlling hydrolysis in this work.     

Decreasing organic carbon bioreactivity in European rivers

1. European rivers experience increased loading of total organic carbon (TOC) from terrestrial sources due to factors involving changes in land use, climate and soil acidity. However, little is known about how increased TOC is linked to changes in the bioreactivity of organic matter in these rivers on a continental scale.
2. We compiled paired measurements of TOC and biological oxygen demand in 5-day 20°C dark incubations from 3,486 EU monitoring rivers. Assuming first-order decay and a fixed respiratory quotient, annual average TOC and biological oxygen demand values were used to calculate 11,060 values of the decay coefficient k.
3. The k decreased by two orders of magnitude as a power function of increasing TOC. This relationship could partly be explained by carbon quality, as the C:N ratio of the organic matter was the lowest in high-reactivity low-TOC rivers, and vice versa. A trend analysis showed that TOC increased by 18% from 1996 to 2012, while k decreased by as much as 50%. As a consequence, the biological oxygen demand in the water decreased over time in spite of the water browning trend (increased TOC).
4. Together, these results suggest that reactivity is low near terrestrial hot spots for TOC export, and low during years with high terrestrial TOC loading, but increases in rivers with low TOC concentrations where internal processes in the water have high relative influence on bulk TOC quality. Thus, browning of European freshwaters is linked to strong decreases in TOC reactivity on a continental scale, suggesting that the impacts of browning on microbial water deoxygenation and greenhouse gas production are less severe than previously thought.

     

Disruption of the protein interaction between FAK and IGF-1R inhibits melanoma tumor growth

FAK (focal adhesion kinase) and IGF-1R (insulin-like growth factor receptor-1) directly interact with each other and thereby activate crucial signaling pathways that benefit cancer cells. Inhibition of FAK and IGF-1R function has been shown to significantly decrease cancer cell proliferation and increase sensitivity to chemotherapy and radiation treatment. As a novel approach in human melanoma, we evaluated the effect of a small-molecule compound that disrupts the protein interaction of FAK and IGF-1R. Previously, using virtual screening and functional testing, we identified a lead compound (INT2–31) that targets the known FAK-IGF-1R protein interaction site. We studied the ability of this compound to disrupt FAK-IGF-1R protein interactions, inhibit downstream signaling, decrease human melanoma cell proliferation, alter cell cycle progression, induce apoptosis and decrease tumor growth in vivo. INT2–31 blocked the interaction of FAK and IGF-1R in vitro and in vivo in melanoma cells and tumor xenografts through precluding the activation of IRS-1, leading to reduced phosphorylation of AKT upon IGF-1 stimulation. As a result, INT2–31 significantly inhibited cell proliferation and viability (range 0.05–10 μM). More importantly, 15 mg/kg of INT2–31 given for 21 d via intraperitoneal injection disrupted the interaction of FAK and IGF-1R and effectively decreased phosphorylation of tumor AKT, resulting in significant melanoma tumor regression in vivo. Our data suggest that the FAK-IGF-1R protein interaction is an important target, and disruption of this interaction with a novel small molecule (INT2–31) has potential anti-neoplastic therapeutic effects in human melanoma.     

Vasoactive intestinal peptide (VIP) cells in the pancrease and gastro-intestinal mucosa. An immunohistochemical and ultrastructural study.

Using antibodies against pure porcine VIP in immunoperoxidase and immunofluorescence tests, VIP-immunoreactive cells have been detected in the pancreas-especially in the islets-and gastrointestinal mucosa of the dog, guinea-pig and man. VIP immunoreactive cells were widely distributed in these tissues, never being numerous at any site. Some parallelism has been noted between such cells and ultrastructurally identified D1 cells fo the pancreas and gastrointestinal mucosa. The presence of VIP cells in normal pancreas may help explain the occurrence of pancreatic endocrine tumors producing VIP.     

Immobilized Sclerotinia sclerotiorum invertase to produce invert sugar syrup from industrial beet molasses by product

The fungus Sclerotinia sclerotiorum produces invertase activity during cultivation on many agroindustrial residues. The molasses induced invertase was purified by DEAE-cellulose chromatography. The molecular mass of the purified enzyme was estimated at 48 kDa. Optimal temperature was determined at 60 °C and thermal stability up to 65 °C. The enzyme was stable between pH 2.0 and 8.0; optimum pH was about 5.5. Apparent K_m and V_max for sucrose were estimated to be respectively 5.8 mM and 0.11 μmol/min. The invertase was activated by β-mercaptoethanol. Free enzyme exhibited 80 % of its original activity after two month’s storage at 4 °C and 50 % after 1 week at 25 °C. In order to investigate an industrial application, the enzyme was immobilized on alginate and examined for invert sugar production by molasses hydrolysis in a continuous bioreactor. The yield of immobilized invertase was about 78 % and the activity yield was 59 %. Interestingly the immobilized enzyme hydrolyzed beet molasses consuming nearly all sucrose. It retained all of its initial activity after being used for 4 cycles and about 65 % at the sixth cycle. Regarding productivity; 20 g/l of molasses by-product gave the best invert sugar production 46.21 g/day/100 g substrate related to optimal sucrose conversion of 41.6 %.