6 research outputs found
Defense responses of rice plant to Monographella albescens attack
Leaf scald, caused by the necrotrophic fungus Monographella albescens, is one of the main
threats to rice (Oryza sativa L.) around the world. This disease decreases yields in rice by
up to 30% because of dead leaf tissue, damaged seeds, and sterile flowers. Currently, there
is limited knowledge about the molecular mechanisms involved in rice plant resistance
against this pathogen. For this purpose, six commercial cultivars of rice were primarily
screened for M. albescens infection and development. Dasht and Salari were found to be the
most resistant and susceptible to M. albescens infection, respectively. The plants were kept
in a greenhouse at 29 ± 2°C during the day and 26 ± 2°C at night with a relative air humidity of 85 ± 5%. Forty-five days after sowing, the plants with three biological replications
were inoculated by transferring a PDA disc (0.3 cm2) containing M. albescens mycelia to
the middle third of the 7th, 8th, and 9th completely open leaves. The leaves were collected
24, 48, 72, 96 and 120 hai. Leaf samples were also collected from the non-inoculated plants
(0 h) to serve as controls. Real-time quantitative PCR (RT-qPCR) showed rapid induction and significant accumulation of jasmonic acid (JA) and ethylene (ET) responsive
genes such as lipoxygenase (LOX), allene oxide synthase 2 (Aos2), jasmonic acid carboxyl
methyltransferase 1 (JMT1) and ACC synthase 1 (ACS1) in the resistant Dasht cultivar after
infection with M. albescens. Furthermore, the transcripts of salicylic acid (SA) responsive
phenyl alanine ammonia lyase 1 (PAL1) and nonexpressor of pathogenesis-related genes
1 (NPR1) genes were induced in the incompatible interaction. The activities of the defense
enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), peroxidase (POX) and glutathione reductase (GR)
increased strongly in Dasht in response to M. albescens infection. In addition, there was
an increase in the H2
O2
levels in the leaves of the Dasht cultivar during the infectious period of M. albescens associated with the enhancement of catalase (CAT) activity as well as
higher levels of malondialdehyde (MDA). This is the first study on the interaction between
rice and M. albescens at the molecular level. It can contribute to understanding how rice
responds to pathogen infection, as well as assist with future research plans of molecular
breeding regarding the tolerance to leaf scald disease
Dual tension: Lassa fever and COVID-19 in Nigeria
Lassa fever is a viral hemorrhagic, zoonotic disease that is a continuous health issue in West African countries such as Sierra Leone, Liberia, Guinea and Nigeria [1]. Ingestion and inhalation are the most common ways of transmission of Lassa fever. Patients generally get infected due to an exposure to food or household items which are contaminated with urine or droppings of infected Mastomys rodents. Lassa fever was first discovered in Lassa town, Borno State in Nigeria. It causes around 1000,000 – 300,000 infections each year with approximately 5,000 deaths in Nigeria [1]. In 2020, 70 deaths have been reported in 26 Nigerian states and the Federal Capital Territory. Among all those cases, 75% were from Edo, Ondo, and Ebonyi [2]. As of May 2020, Nigeria has recorded 991 confirmed cases and 191 deaths with case fatality ratio of 19.3% [3]. To prevent and mitigate the negative impact of Lassa Fever, the Nigeria Center for Disease Control (NCDC) has formed an interdisciplinary, multi-partner technical team to control outbreaks in affected Nigerian states
Comparison of FDA-based and PCA-based features in fault diagnosis of automobile gearboxes
Thermal conductivity of soils with heavy metals concentration from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria
This paper presents the characteristic thermal and chemical properties of some surface soil samples from the oil-producing regions of Nigeria. A microprocessor-based thermal analyzer was used to determine the thermal conductivity while spectrophotometric procedure was employed to conduct the heavy metal concentration analysis. Thermal conductivity values were compared with heavy metal concentrations in each soil sample. The values of lead and cadmium and their respective measured thermal conductivities were highly correlated, with their correlation coefficients both greater than 0.900, while other metals showed no correlation
Health risk assessment of heavy metals in vegetables grown around battery production area
Accelerated surgery versus standard care in hip fracture (HIP ATTACK) : an international, randomised, controlled trial
Background: Observational studies have suggested that accelerated surgery is associated with improved outcomes in patients with a hip fracture. The HIP ATTACK trial assessed whether accelerated surgery could reduce mortality and major complications. Methods: HIP ATTACK was an international, randomised, controlled trial done at 69 hospitals in 17 countries. Patients with a hip fracture that required surgery and were aged 45 years or older were eligible. Research personnel randomly assigned patients (1:1) through a central computerised randomisation system using randomly varying block sizes to either accelerated surgery (goal of surgery within 6 h of diagnosis) or standard care. The coprimary outcomes were mortality and a composite of major complications (ie, mortality and non-fatal myocardial infarction, stroke, venous thromboembolism, sepsis, pneumonia, life-threatening bleeding, and major bleeding) at 90 days after randomisation. Patients, health-care providers, and study staff were aware of treatment assignment, but outcome adjudicators were masked to treatment allocation. Patients were analysed according to the intention-to-treat principle. This study is registered at ClinicalTrials.gov (NCT02027896). Findings: Between March 14, 2014, and May 24, 2019, 27 701 patients were screened, of whom 7780 were eligible. 2970 of these were enrolled and randomly assigned to receive accelerated surgery (n=1487) or standard care (n=1483). The median time from hip fracture diagnosis to surgery was 6 h (IQR 4\u20139) in the accelerated-surgery group and 24 h (10\u201342) in the standard-care group (p<0\ub70001). 140 (9%) patients assigned to accelerated surgery and 154 (10%) assigned to standard care died, with a hazard ratio (HR) of 0\ub791 (95% CI 0\ub772 to 1\ub714) and absolute risk reduction (ARR) of 1% ( 121 to 3; p=0\ub740). Major complications occurred in 321 (22%) patients assigned to accelerated surgery and 331 (22%) assigned to standard care, with an HR of 0\ub797 (0\ub783 to 1\ub713) and an ARR of 1% ( 122 to 4; p=0\ub771). Interpretation: Among patients with a hip fracture, accelerated surgery did not significantly lower the risk of mortality or a composite of major complications compared with standard care. Funding: Canadian Institutes of Health Research