Field efficacy of new compounds to replace copper for scab control in organic apple production

Efficacy of compounds was investigated in field experiments in Denmark and the Netherlands according to EPPO guidelines. Some Yucca extracts and potassium bicarbonate had an efficacy similar to sulphur on leaves. Addition of sulphur to Yucca 1 and to potassium bicarbonate increased the level of efficacy to that of copper. This confirms results from earlier years. Although a dose increase resulted in better efficacy, this was more prominent for Yucca1 than for potassium bicarbonate

Effects of fat source and dietary sodium bicarbonate plus straw on the conjugated linoleic acid content of milk of dairy cows

The effects of fat source (0.7 kg of fatty acids from extruded soybeans or palmitic acid), of sodium bicarbonate (0.3 kg) plus straw (1 kg) and the interaction of these treatments on the content of conjugated linoleic acid (CLA) in the milk of dairy cows were examined. During nine weeks a group of 10 cows received a ration with palmitic acid and bicarbonate plus straw (ration PAB). During three periods of three weeks a second group of 10 cows received successively a ration with extruded soybeans and bicarbonate plus straw (ration ESB), a ration with palmitic acid without bicarbonate or straw (ration PA), and a ration with extruded soybeans without bicarbonate or straw (ration ES). Rations ES and ESB increased the content of polyunsaturated fatty acids in milk, but decreased milk fat content, compared to rations PAB and PA. Ration ESB led to the greatest milk CLA content, by a synergy between the high amount of dietary fat, and the action of bicarbonate plus straw, favouring trans11 isomers of CLA and C18:1, presumably via a ruminal pH near neutrality. Ration ES favoured trans10 isomers, not desaturated in the mammary gland, so that the milk CLA content was lower than with ration ESB, and resulted in the lowest milk fat content. In conclusion, a ration supplemented with both extruded soybeans and bicarbonate plus straw, was an efficient way to increase the CLA content in the milk of dairy cows

Lack of the Sodium-Driven Chloride Bicarbonate Exchanger NCBE Impairs Visual Function in the Mouse Retina

Regulation of ion and pH homeostasis is essential for normal neuronal function. The sodium-driven chloride bicarbonate exchanger NCBE (Slc4a10), a member of the SLC4 family of bicarbonate transporters, uses the transmembrane gradient of sodium to drive cellular net uptake of bicarbonate and to extrude chloride, thereby modulating both intracellular pH (pHi) and chloride concentration ([Cl-]i) in neurons. Here we show that NCBE is strongly expressed in the retina. As GABAA receptors conduct both chloride and bicarbonate, we hypothesized that NCBE may be relevant for GABAergic transmission in the retina. Importantly, we found a differential expression of NCBE in bipolar cells: whereas NCBE was expressed on ON and OFF bipolar cell axon terminals, it only localized to dendrites of OFF bipolar cells. On these compartments, NCBE colocalized with the main neuronal chloride extruder KCC2, which renders GABA hyperpolarizing. NCBE was also expressed in starburst amacrine cells, but was absent from neurons known to depolarize in response to GABA, like horizontal cells. Mice lacking NCBE showed decreased visual acuity and contrast sensitivity in behavioral experiments and smaller b-wave amplitudes and longer latencies in electroretinograms. Ganglion cells from NCBE-deficient mice also showed altered temporal response properties. In summary, our data suggest that NCBE may serve to maintain intracellular chloride and bicarbonate concentration in retinal neurons. Consequently, lack of NCBE in the retina may result in changes in pHi regulation and chloride-dependent inhibition, leading to altered signal transmission and impaired visual function

Practical experience with the use of Baking Powder (potassium bicarbonate) for the control of Apple Scab (Venturia ineaqualis)

In small plot trials, performed by several institutes in the past years, potassium bicarbonate proved to be a promising alternative to the use of copper for the control of apple scab in organic orchards. Feasibility, effectiveness, consequences, and side effects of the replacement of copper by bicarbonate under practical conditions are largely unknown. In 2007 Five Dutch organic apple growers compared a bicarbonate based scab management strategy with their standard spray program. The use of 5 kg potassium bicarbonate + 2 kg. wettable sulphur shortly before rain or during infection development, was the core of the strategy. It was concluded that the control of apple scab with the potassium bicarbonate strategy was as effective as the standard spray plan, provided lime sulphur was available tot cover extreme situations. The applications did not lead to any phytotoxic damage on leafs or fruits. Potassium bicarbonate tank mixed with a Mn leaf fertilizer however resulted in severe leaf drop, and necrotic spots on the remaining leafs. The use of potassium bicarbonate did not increase the potassium content of the fruits

Increased intestinal carbonate precipitate abundance in the sea bream (Sparus aurata L.) in response to ocean acidification

Marine fish contribute to the carbon cycle by producing mineralized intestinal precipitates generated as by-products of their osmoregulation. Here we aimed at characterizing the control of epithelial bicarbonate secretion and intestinal precipitate presence in the gilthead sea bream in response to predicted near future increases of environmental CO2. Our results demonstrate that hypercapnia (950 and 1800 μatm CO2) elicits higher intestine epithelial HCO3- secretion ex vivo and a subsequent parallel increase of intestinal precipitate presence in vivo when compared to present values (440 μatm CO2). Intestinal gene expression analysis in response to environmental hypercapnia revealed the up-regulation of transporters involved in the intestinal bicarbonate secretion cascade such as the basolateral sodium bicarbonate co-transporter slc4a4, and the apical anion transporters slc26a3 and slc26a6 of sea bream. In addition, other genes involved in intestinal ion uptake linked to water absorption such as the apical nkcc2 and aquaporin 1b expression, indicating that hypercapnia influences different levels of intestinal physiology. Taken together the current results are consistent with an intestinal physiological response leading to higher bicarbonate secretion in the intestine of the sea bream paralleled by increased luminal carbonate precipitate abundance and the main related transporters in response to ocean acidification.Agência financiadora Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) SFRH/BD/113363/2015 PTDC/MAR-BIO/3034/2014 Fundacao para a Ciencia e a Tecnologia (FCT) UID/Multi/04326/2019 Ministry of Science and Higher Education, Polandinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Outcomes after angiography with sodium bicarbonate and acetylcysteine

Background: Intravenous sodium bicarbonate and oral acetylcysteine are widely used to prevent acute kidney injury and associated adverse outcomes after angiography without definitive evidence of their efficacy. Methods: Using a 2-by-2 factorial design, we randomly assigned 5177 patients at high risk for renal complications who were scheduled for angiography to receive intravenous 1.26% sodium bicarbonate or intravenous 0.9% sodium chloride and 5 days of oral acetylcysteine or oral placebo; of these patients, 4993 were included in the modified intention-to-treat analysis. The primary end point was a composite of death, the need for dialysis, or a persistent increase of at least 50% from baseline in the serum creatinine level at 90 days. Contrast-associated acute kidney injury was a secondary end point. Results: The sponsor stopped the trial after a prespecified interim analysis. There was no interaction between sodium bicarbonate and acetylcysteine with respect to the primary end point (P=0.33). The primary end point occurred in 110 of 2511 patients (4.4%) in the sodium bicarbonate group as compared with 116 of 2482 (4.7%) in the sodium chloride group (odds ratio, 0.93; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.72 to 1.22; P=0.62) and in 114 of 2495 patients (4.6%) in the acetylcysteine group as compared with 112 of 2498 (4.5%) in the placebo group (odds ratio, 1.02; 95% CI, 0.78 to 1.33; P=0.88). There were no significant between-group differences in the rates of contrast-associated acute kidney injury. Conclusions: Among patients at high risk for renal complications who were undergoing angiography, there was no benefit of intravenous sodium bicarbonate over intravenous sodium chloride or of oral acetylcysteine over placebo for the prevention of death, need for dialysis, or persistent decline in kidney function at 90 days or for the prevention of contrast-associated acute kidney injury. (Funded by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Office of Research and Development and the National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia; PRESERVE ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01467466.

Assessing the influence of the carbon oxidation-reduction state on organic pollutant biodegradation in algal-bacterial photobioreactors

The influence of the carbon oxidation-reduction state (CORS) of organic pollutants on their biodegradation in enclosed algal-bacterial photobioreactors was evaluated using a consortium of enriched wild-type methanotrophic bacteria and microalgae. Methane, methanol and glucose (with CORS -4, -2 and 0, respectively) were chosen as model organic pollutants. In the absence of external oxygen supply, microalgal photosynthesis was not capable of supporting a significant methane and methanol biodegradation due to their high oxygen demands per carbon unit, while glucose was fully oxidized by photosynthetic oxygenation. When bicarbonate was added, removal efficiencies of 37¿±¿4% (20 days), 65¿±¿4% (11 days) and 100% (2 days) were recorded for CH(4,) CH(3)OH and C(6)H(12)O(6), respectively due to the additional oxygen generated from photosynthetic bicarbonate assimilation. The use of NO(3)(-) instead of NH(4)(+) as nitrogen source (N oxidation-reduction state of +5 vs. -3) resulted in an increase in CH(4) degradation from 0 to 33¿±¿3% in the absence of bicarbonate and from 37¿±¿4% to 100% in the presence of bicarbonate, likely due to a decrease in the stoichiometric oxygen requirements and the higher photosynthetic oxygen production. Hypothetically, the CORS of the substrates might affect the CORS of the microalgal biomass composition (higher lipid content). However, the total lipid content of the algal-bacterial biomass was 19¿±¿7% in the absence and 16¿±¿2% in the presence of bicarbonat

CO2 per se activates carbon dioxide receptors.

Carbon dioxide has been used in traps for more than six decades to monitor mosquito populations and help make informed vector management decisions. CO2 is sensed by gustatory receptors (GRs) housed in neurons in the maxillary palps. CO2-sensitive GRs have been identified from the vinegar fly and mosquitoes, but it remains to be resolved whether these receptors respond to CO2 or bicarbonate. As opposed to the vinegar fly, mosquitoes have three GR subunits, but it is assumed that subunits GR1 and GR3 form functional receptors. In our attempt to identify the chemical species that bind these receptors, we discovered that GR2 and GR3 are essential for receptor function and that GR1 appears to function as a modulator. While Xenopus oocytes coexpressing Culex quinquefasciatus subunits CquiGR1/3 and CquiGR1/2 were not activated, CquiGR2/3 gave robust responses to sodium bicarbonate. Interestingly, CquiGR1/2/3-coexpressing oocytes gave significantly lower responses. That the ternary combination is markedly less sensitive than the GR2/GR3 combination was also observed with orthologs from the yellow fever and the malaria mosquito. By comparing responses of CquiGR2/CquiGR3-coexpressing oocytes to sodium bicarbonate samples (with or without acidification) and measuring the concentration of aqueous CO2, we showed that there is a direct correlation between dissolved CO2 and receptor response. We then concluded that subunits GR2 and GR3 are essential for these carbon dioxide-sensitive receptors and that they are activated by CO2 per se, not bicarbonate

Using small molecules to facilitate exchange of bicarbonate and chloride anions across liposomal membranes

Bicarbonate is involved in a wide range of biological processes, which include respiration, regulation of intracellular pH and fertilization. In this study we use a combination of NMR spectroscopy and ion-selective electrode techniques to show that the natural product prodigiosin, a tripyrrolic molecule produced by microorganisms such as Streptomyces and Serratia, facilitates chloride/bicarbonate exchange (antiport) across liposomal membranes. Higher concentrations of simple synthetic molecules based on a 4,6-dihydroxyisophthalamide core are also shown to facilitate this antiport process. Although it is well known that proteins regulate Cl-/HCO3- exchange in cells, these results suggest that small molecules may also be able to regulate the concentration of these anions in biological systems