Effect of Liquid Organic Fertilizers and Soil Moisture Status on Some Biological and Physical Properties of Soil

This study was conducted to evaluate the effects of liquid organic fertilizers (LOFs) and soil moisture status on some biological and physical properties of postharvest soil of maize cultivation. For this purpose, a factorial greenhouse experiment was performed based on the completely randomized design with three replications. Treatments consisted of five levels of LOFs (control, vermicompost tea, vermiwash, plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria [PGPR] enriched vermicompost tea and PGPR enriched vermiwash) and three levels of soil moisture status (field capacity [FC], 0.8 FC and 0.6 FC). The results showed LOFs caused an increase of soil biological properties (soil microbial respiration, soil microbial biomass, dehydrogenase activity and the number of aerobic heterotrophic bacteria) and the improvement of soil physical condition. LOFs increased aggregate stability, hydrophobicity and total porosity, while decreased bulk density and soil penetration resistance. Increasing water stress levels reduced soil biological activity and made soil physical properties more unfavorable. In general, LOFs improved soil conditions by enhancing soil physical and biological properties and decreased the negative effects of water stress. In addition, results showed that LOFs enriched with PGPR could be more effective than non-enriched ones

Nrf2 modulation in breast cancer

Reactive oxygen species (ROS) are identified to control the expression and activity of various essential signaling intermediates involved in cellular proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Indeed, ROS represents a double-edged sword in supporting cell survival and death. Many common pathological processes, including various cancer types and neurodegenerative diseases, are inflammation and oxidative stress triggers, or even initiate them. Keap1-Nrf2 is a master antioxidant pathway in cytoprotective mechanisms through Nrf2 target gene expression. Activation of the Nfr2 pathway benefits cells in the early stages and reduces the level of ROS. In contrast, hyperactivation of Keap1-Nrf2 creates a context that supports the survival of both healthy and cancerous cells, defending them against oxidative stress, chemotherapeutic drugs, and radiotherapy. Considering the dual role of Nrf2 in suppressing or expanding cancer cells, determining its inhibitory/stimulatory position and targeting can represent an impressive role in cancer treatment. This review focused on Nrf2 modulators and their roles in sensitizing breast cancer cells to chemo/radiotherapy agents

Perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress in university students

      Psychological disorders are universally common problems. Social support contributes much to the health of individuals. Focusing upon social support and upon vicissitudes of life can help prevent the depression-induced disorders. The present paper investigated the relationship between perceived social support, depression and perceived stress in university students.The descriptive-analytical study was carried out on 390 students living in Shahid Beheshti University of Medical Sceince campus, whom were selected based on a simple random selection method. The related questionnaires of multidimensional scales of perceived social support, Beck’s depression, and perceived stress then were distributed during midterm among students to collect the necessary data. Data was fed into SPSS 16 and analysed using ANOVA, Pearson correlation coefficient, independent t-test, Chi-square, and Fisher exact test.Our results indicated that 49.7 per cent of students suffered from specific degrees of depression. 30.5 per cent of students had given educational progress and employment as sources of stress in living in the campus. The perceived social support scores were 28.32±9.56, depression, 12.10±9.02, and for perceived stress was 26.84±8.27. A significant relationship was shown to be between perceived social support, depression, and perceived stress (p<0.001) The conclusion made in the paper is that considering depression and stress is crucial to the health of the students. Also, forming workgroups to increase social support for students can help alleviates depression and stress in university students

Antioxidant activity and ACE-inhibitory of Class II hydrophobin from wild strain Trichoderma reesei

International audienceThere are several possible uses of the Class II hydrophobin HFBII in clinical applications. To fully understand and exploit this potential however, the antioxidant activity and ACE-inhibitory potential of this protein need to be better understood and have not been previously reported. In this study, the Class II hydrophobin HFBII was produced by the cultivation of wild type Trichoderma reesei. The crude hydrophobin extract obtained from the fermentation process was purified using reversed-phase liquid chromatography and the identity of the purified HFBII verified by MALDI-TOF (molecular weight: 7.2 kDa). Subsequently the antioxidant activities of different concentrations of HFBII (0.01–0.40 mg/mL) were determined. The results show that for HFBII concentrations of 0.04 mg/mL and upwards the protein significantly reduced the presence of ABTS+ radicals in the medium, the IC50 value found to be 0.13 mg/mL. Computational modeling highlighted the role of the amino acid residues located in the conserved and exposed hydrophobic patch on the surface of the HFBII molecule and the interactions with the aromatic rings of ABTS. The ACE-inhibitory effect of HFBII was found to occur from 0.5 mg/mL and upwards, making the combination of HFBII with strong ACE-inhibitors attractive for use in the healthcare industry

The urgent need for integrated science to fight COVID-19 pandemic and beyond

The COVID-19 pandemic has become the leading societal concern. The pandemic has shown that the public health concern is not only a medical problem, but also afects society as a whole; so, it has also become the leading scientifc concern. We discuss in this treatise the importance of bringing the world’s scientists together to fnd efective solu‑ tions for controlling the pandemic. By applying novel research frameworks, interdisciplinary collaboration promises to manage the pandemic’s consequences and prevent recurrences of similar pandemics

Development and analysis of the Soil Water Infiltration Global database

In this paper, we present and analyze a novel global database of soil infiltration measurements, the Soil Water Infiltration Global (SWIG) database. In total, 5023 infiltration curves were collected across all continents in the SWIG database. These data were either provided and quality checked by the scientists who performed the experiments or they were digitized from published articles. Data from 54 different countries were included in the database with major contributions from Iran, China, and the USA. In addition to its extensive geographical coverage, the collected infiltration curves cover research from 1976 to late 2017. Basic information on measurement location and method, soil properties, and land use was gathered along with the infiltration data, making the database valuable for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) for estimating soil hydraulic properties, for the evaluation of infiltration measurement methods, and for developing and validating infiltration models. Soil textural information (clay, silt, and sand content) is available for 3842 out of 5023 infiltration measurements ( ∼ 76%) covering nearly all soil USDA textural classes except for the sandy clay and silt classes. Information on land use is available for 76% of the experimental sites with agricultural land use as the dominant type ( ∼ 40%). We are convinced that the SWIG database will allow for a better parameterization of the infiltration process in land surface models and for testing infiltration models. All collected data and related soil characteristics are provided online in *.xlsx and *.csv formats for reference, and we add a disclaimer that the database is for public domain use only and can be copied freely by referencing it. Supplementary data are available at https://doi.org/10.1594/PANGAEA.885492 (Rahmati et al., 2018). Data quality assessment is strongly advised prior to any use of this database. Finally, we would like to encourage scientists to extend and update the SWIG database by uploading new data to it

Spatial Variability and Geostatistical Prediction of Some Soil Hydraulic Coefficients of a Calcareous Soil

Introduction: Saturated hydraulic conductivity and the other hydraulic properties of soils are essential vital soil attributes that play role in the modeling of hydrological phenomena, designing irrigation-drainage systems, transportation of salts and chemical and biological pollutants within the soil. Measurement of these hydraulic properties needs some special instruments, expert technician, and are time consuming and expensive and due to their high temporal and spatial variability, a large number of measurements are needed. Nowadays, prediction of these attributes using the readily available soil data using pedotransfer functions or using the limited measurement with applying the geostatistical approaches has been receiving high attention. The study aimed to determine the spatial variability and prediction of saturated (Ks) and near saturated (Kfs) hydraulic conductivity, the power of Gardner equation (α), sorptivity (S), hydraulic diffusivity (D) and matric flux potential (Фm) of a calcareous soil. Material and Methods: The study was carried out on the soil series of Daneshkadeh located in the Bajgah Agricultural Experimental Station of Agricultural College, Shiraz University, Shiraz, Iran (1852 m above the mean sea level). This soil series with about 745 ha is a deep yellowish brow calcareous soil with textural classes of loam to clay. In the studied soil series 50 sampling locations with the sampling distances of 16, 8 , and 4 m were selected on the relatively regular sampling design. The saturated hydraulic conductivity (Ks), near saturated hydraulic conductivity (Kfs), the power of Gardner equation (α), sorptivity (S), hydraulic diffusivity (D) and matric flux potential (Фm) of the aforementioned sampling locations was determined using the Single Ring and Droplet methods. After, initial statistical processing, including a normality test of data, trend and stationary analysis of data, the semivariograms of each studied hydraulic attributes were calculated in various directions and their surface semivariograms were also prepared to determine the isotropic or anisotropic behavior of each studied soil attributes. Since all of studied soil hydraulic attributes were isotropic variables, therefore, the omnidirectional semivariograms were calculated and different theoretical models were fitted to them. The best fitted semivariogram models were determined using the determination coefficient, R2, and the residual sum of the square, RSS. The parameters of the best fitted models to the experimental semivariograms were also determined. The prediction of study hydraulic attributes was carried out using the parameters of semivariogram models by applying the ordinary Kriging approach. Predictions were also carried out using the Inverse Distance Weighing approach. The results of predictions were compared to each other using the Jackknifing evaluation approach and the suitable prediction method was determined and zoning was performed using the results of introducing prediction method. All of the semivariogram calculations and modeling, prediction of zoning of study hydraulic attributes were performed using the GS+ 5.1 software packages. Results and Discussion: Results indicated that all of the studied soil hydraulic attributes belonged to the weak to moderated spatial correlation classes and the spherical model was the best fitted model for their semivariograms (except for Kfs and D that their best semivariogram models were exponential). The sill of all semivariograms ranged between 0.0003 to 0.419 for the S and Kfs, respectively. The nugget effects and the Range parameter of all semivariograms were located between 0.00015 to 0.108 for the S and Фm, and 211 to 6.4 m for Ks and D, respectively. Results also indicated that 3.5 and 50% of total variation of D and Ks was spatially structured and the other was random, respectively. The spatial correlation classes of near saturated soil hydraulic conductivity and soil hydraulic diffusivity were week, whereas, the spatial correlation classes of the other studied soil hydraulic attributes were moderate. Results revealed that the Inverse Distance Weighting method was the most suitable approach for the prediction of all studied soil hydraulic attributes in the present study. Comparison of the calculated statistical evaluation measures (i.e. Determination coefficient, R2, Mean residual error, MRE, mean square error, MSE, Normalized mean square error, NRMSE and geometric mean error ratio, GMER) and the final determined order of precision showed that the most and the least accurate predictions were obtained for Ks and Фm, respectively. Conclusion: It is suggested in the cases that we need to map the hydraulic attributes or need their quantities in a large number; geostatistical prediction be performed using the limited measurements to reduce the needed time and costs

The Effect of Compost and the Ripe Fruit Waste of Fig on some Physical Properties of Surface Soil

Introduction: In arid and semi-arid soils, low organic matter is one of the barriers to achieving optimal performance. The soils with more organic matter have a better structure and are more resistant to erosive factors such as water and wind. Soil organic matter has a particular importance and has significant impact on the stability of soil aggregates, the extension of plant root system, carbon and water cycles and soil resistance to erosion. This substance acts as a cementing agent and plays an important role in soil flocculation and formation of resistant aggregates.Also, the addition of organic matter to the soil increases soil porosity and decreases soil bulk density. Materials and Methods: In this research, the effect of the two types of organic matter (compost and the ripe fruit waste of fig) on some soil physical properties was studied. A factorial experiment based on completely randomized design, including the four levels of compost and the ripe fruit waste of fig (0, 1, 2 and 4 by weight %) and three soil types (loamy sand, loam and silty clay loam) with three replications was carried out. The soil samples were collected from the three territories of Fars Province: loamy sand soil from Shiraz, loamy soil from Maharlu and Silty clay loam soil from Zarghan area. The soil samples were air dried and passed through a 2 mm sieve. The physical properties including the bulk density, particle density, porosity, moisture content and soil crust strength was measured. In this research, the soil texture by hydrometer method, Electrical conductivity of the soil saturated paste extract by electrical conductivity meter, saturated paste pH by pH meter, seedling emergence test, soil crust strength by a pocket penetrometer (HUMBOLDT MFG.CO.) bulk density by cylindrical sample and particle density by pycnometer method were measured. The fig fruit treatments were prepared by thoroughly mixing the dried powder of ripe fig fruit passed through a 2 mm sieve (with the rates of 0, 1, 2, and 4 % by dry weight) with the air dried soils. Also, the compost treatments were prepared by thoroughly mixing the dried powder of compost passed through a 2 mm sieve (with the rates of 0, 1, 2, and 4 % by dry weight) with the air dried soils. The test measurement PVC cylinders with an inner diameter of 12.5 cm and a height of 20 cm were prepared. The bottom ends of the cylinders were closed with a screened PVC plate. These cylinders were uniformly filled with the treated soils and irrigated a few times to make a homogeneous soil column. About 3 cm of the top end of the cylinders were left empty. Results and Discussion: The results showed that all the rates of the ripe fruit waste of fig and the compost treatments significantly decreased crust strength of all soils compared to control at 1% probability level. The results also showed nearly the greater effect of all the treatments on crust strength of loamy sand soil compared to the other soils. All the rates of the ripe fruit waste of fig and compost treatments significantly increased the moisture content of all the soils compared to control at 1% probability level. Moreover, the greater effect of all the treatments on the moisture content of silty clay loam soil compared to other soils was generally observed. All the rates of the ripe fruit waste of fig and compost treatments decreased the bulk density and particle density of all the soils compared to control. Tthe greatest impact was observed in the compost treatments at the level of 4% by dry weight and silty clay loam texture. Also, all the rates of the ripe fruit waste of fig and compost treatments increased the porosity of all the soils compared to control, and the greatest impact belonged to the compost treatments at the level of 4% by dry weight andsilty clay loam texture. Conclusion: The results showed that the use of the ripe fruit waste of fig and compost in the soil increased moisture content and decreased crust strength significantly compared to the control. Also, the ripe fruit waste of fis and compost in the soil increased porosity and decreased bulk density and particle density compared to the control, but this increase and decrease were not significant.Reduction in crust strength caused by the ripe fruit waste of fig application was more than compost application. However, the effect of compost application on the soil bulk density, particle density, porosity and moisture content was more than the ripe fruit waste of fig application

Overview on differential scanning calorimetry applications for early stage of cancers: brief report

Background: Cancer is the most common cause of death in the world, and it incidence has been increasing for many years in economically developed countries. Early detection of cancers greatly increases the chances for successful treatment. So finding cancers before they start to cause symptoms is a most effective treatment. Recent studies have proposed that blood plasma contains a rich source of disease biomarkers for detecting, diagnosing and monitoring diseases. While some researchers have dismissed the low molecular weight serum peptidome as biological trash, recent work using differential scanning calorimetry has indicated that the peptidome may reflect biological event and contain diagnostic biomarkers. Methods: Differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), a highly sensitive tool for analysis of blood plasma and other biofluids has recently been reported. Louisville Bioscience, Inc. (LBIdx™), The Plasma Thermogram™ (pT™) company has made a significant breakthrough in the analysis of blood plasma using differential scanning calorimetry for clinical monitoring and diagnostic applications. Results: DSC analysis of plasma from diseased individuals revealed significant changes in the thermogram which are suggested to result not from changes in the concentration of the major plasma proteins but from interactions of small molecules or peptides with these proteins. The difference in plasma thermograms between healthy and disease individuals caused this method was recognized as a novel technique for disease diagnosis and monitoring. Conclusion: Measurement of plasma proteins is a powerful clinical is standard medical practice which hope revolutionizes strategies for early cancer detection