Impact of sulfate deprivation and H₂S exposure on the metabolites of the activated methyl cycle in Chinese cabbage

The activated methyl cycle is a central metabolic pathway used to generate (and recycle) several important sulfur-containing metabolites including methionine, S-adenosylmethionine (SAM) and S-adenosylhomocysteine (SAH) and enable methylation. We have developed a precise and sensitive method for the simultaneous measurement of several sulfur metabolites based on liquid chromatography coupled with tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) and 34S-metabolic labeling of sulfur-containing metabolites including glutathione and the metabolites of the activated methyl cycle. Sulfate deprivation resulted in a decreased biomass production and content of glutathione, methionine, SAH of both shoot and root, and SAM of the root of Chinese cabbage. Foliarly absorbed H2S may able to replace sulfate taken up by the root as sulfur source for growth and an atmospheric concentration of 0.2 μl l-1 alleviated the decrease in the content of sulfur metabolites. The SAM content of the shoot was hardly affected upon sulfate-deprivation, resulting an increase in the SAM/SAH ratio, indicating a potential higher methylation capacity under this condition

Adapting Agriculture Platforms for Nutrition: A Case Study of a Participatory, Video-Based Agricultural Extension Platform in India.

Successful integration of nutrition interventions into large-scale development programmes from nutrition-relevant sectors, such as agriculture, can address critical underlying determinants of undernutrition and enhance the coverage and effectiveness of on-going nutrition-specific activities. However, evidence on how this can be done is limited. This study examines the feasibility of delivering maternal, infant, and young child nutrition behaviour change communication through an innovative agricultural extension programme serving nutritionally vulnerable groups in rural India. The existing agriculture programme involves participatory production of low-cost videos promoting best practices and broad dissemination through village-level women's self-help groups. For the nutrition intervention, 10 videos promoting specific maternal, infant, and young child nutrition practices were produced and disseminated in 30 villages. A range of methods was used to collect data, including in-depth interviews with project staff, frontline health workers, and self-help group members and their families; structured observations of mediated video dissemination sessions; nutrition knowledge tests with project staff and self-help group members; and a social network questionnaire to assess diffusion of promoted nutrition messages. We found the nutrition intervention to be well-received by rural communities and viewed as complementary to existing frontline health services. However, compared to agriculture, nutrition content required more time, creativity, and technical support to develop and deliver. Experimentation with promoted nutrition behaviours was high, but sharing of information from the videos with non-viewers was limited. Key lessons learned include the benefits of and need for collaboration with existing health services; continued technical support for implementing partners; engagement with local cultural norms and beliefs; empowerment of women's group members to champion nutrition; and enhancement of message diffusion mechanisms to reach pregnant women and mothers of young children at scale. Understanding the experience of developing and delivering this intervention will benefit the design of new nutrition interventions which seek to leverage agriculture platforms

Five-Year Field Results and Long-Term Effectiveness of 20 mg/kg Liposomal Amphotericin B (Ambisome) for Visceral Leishmaniasis in Bihar, India

Visceral Leishmaniasis (VL; also known as Kala-azar) is an ultimately fatal disease endemic in Bihar. A 2007 observational cohort study in Bihar of 251 patients with VL treated with 20 mg/Kg intravenous liposomal amphotericin B (Ambisome) demonstrated a 98% cure rate at 6-months. Between July 2007 and August 2012, Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) and the Rajendra Memorial Research Institute (RMRI) implemented a VL treatment project in Bihar, India-an area highly endemic for Leishmania donovani-using this regimen as first-line treatment

Final results on νμ→ντ\nu_{\mu} \to \nu_{\tau} oscillation from the CHORUS experiment

The final oscillation analysis of the complete set of data collected by CHORUS in the years 1994-1997 is presented. Reconstruction algorithms of data extracted by electronic detectors were improved and the data recorded in the emulsion target were analysed by new automated scanning systems, allowing the use of a new method for event reconstruction in emulsion. CHORUS has applied these new techniques to the sample of 1996-1997 events for which no muons were observed in the electronic detectors. Combining the new sample with the data analysed in previous papers, the overall sensitivity of the experiment to the $\nu_\tau$ appearance is thus improved. In a two-neutrino mixing scheme, a 90% C.L. upper limit of $\sin^2 2\theta_{\mu\tau} < 4.4 \times 10^{-4}$ is set for large $\Delta m^2$, improving by a factor 1.5 the previously published CHORUS result