Direct regeneration protocols of five Capsicum annuum L. varieties

The bud induction obtained is a simple and efficient protocol developed for in vitro propagation of five varieties of cultivars. Seeds of Capsicum annuum L. of five varieties red, yellow, green, purple and white were decontaminated and placed in a culture bottle containing a Murashige and Skoog medium, supplemented with 6-benzylaminopurine (BAP, 5 mg/l) and naphthalene acetic acid (NAA, 1 mg/l) or indole-3- acetic acid (IAA, 0.5 mg/l) and then were incubated in the dark for 10 - 12 days for germination. Leaf explants excised from 4 weeks -old aseptic seedlings were cultured on a MS medium supplemented with hormones BAP, kinetin (Kin), the combination of BAP + Kin, BAP with NAA (0.1 or 0.01 mg/l) and BAP with IAA (0.5 mg/l). The 2.0 mg/l BAP with 0.1 mg/l NAA media was observed to be more suitable for callus formation. The highest number of regenerated shoot buds was obtained when shoot explants were cultured on a MS medium supplemented with 2.0 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l IAA. The mean number of shoot per explants was obtained in red (6.3), yellow (3.6), purple (3.3), and white (3.0) variety of C. annuum whereas 3.0 mg/l BAP and 0.5 mg/l IAA were observed to be more suitable for green (6.6) variety of C. annuum. Plantlets were successfully acclimatized in greenhouse.Keywords: Capsicum, auxin, cytokinin, micropropagation, organogenesis, sweet pepperAfrican Journal of Biotechnology, Vol. 13(2), pp. 307-312, 8 January, 201

Bioethanol Production from Coffee Mucilage

AbstractChiapas is one of the largest coffee-producing states in Mexico. In this industry, there are large quantities of waste, which are toxic and harmful to the environment. During the extraction process of coffee bean the waste generated are: pulp, mucilage and parchment. Recently, investigations have been done to utilize these residues for bioenergy generation. This paper provides an overview of coffee and one of its major industrial wastes. The objective of this research was the production of bioethanol from coffee mucilage at laboratory scale and extract and characterize the substrate used as raw material and establish a fermentation process for the production of bioethanol. Our results show the kinetics of fermentation of coffee mucilage as a substrate to yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae. The cell density, concentration of ethanol, reducing sugar consumption, physico-chemical variables such as pH and temperature were analyzed. The Fermentation parameters such as growth rate, saturation constant and yields were estimated

Beliefs, barriers, and promotion practices of Indian nurses' regarding healthy eating for cancer survivors in a tertiary care hospital-A cross sectional survey

PURPOSE: To describe the beliefs, barriers and promotion practices of Indian nurses' regarding healthy eating (HE) behaviours amongst cancer survivors, and to gain insights into whether their educational qualifications might affect the promotion of HE.METHODS: Data was gathered using a validated questionnaire, 388 of the approached 400 nurses who worked at a tertiary care hospital in India gave informed consent to participate in the study. The Mann-Whitney U test and the Chi square analysis (for continuous and categorical variables respectively) were performed to carry out sub-group comparisons based on the qualification of the nurses i.e., Bachelor of Science in Nursing (BSc) and General Nursing and Midwifery (GNM).RESULTS: The nurses believed that dieticians/nutritionists were primarily responsible for educating the cancer survivors regarding HE. HE was promoted by nurses' relatively equally across multiple treatment stages ("during" treatment 24.4%, "post" treatment 23.1%; and "pre" treatment 22.3%). Nurses' believed HE practices had numerous benefits, with improved health-related quality of life (HRQoL) (75.7%), and mental health (73.9%) being the most frequent responses. The most frequently cited barriers by the nurses in promoting HE were lack of time (22.2%), and lack of adequate support structure (19.9%). Sub-group comparisons generally revealed no significant difference between the BSc and GNM nurses in their perceptions regarding HE promotion to cancer survivors. Exceptions were how the GNM group had significantly greater beliefs regarding whether HE can "reduce risk of cancer occurrence" ( p = 0.004) and "whether or not I promote HE is entirely up to me" ( p = 0.002). CONCLUSION: The nurses in India believe in the promotion of HE practices among cancer survivors across various stages of cancer treatments. However, they do face a range of barriers in their attempt to promote HE. Overcoming these barriers might facilitate effective promotion of HE among cancer survivors and help improve survivorship outcomes.IMPLICATIONS FOR CANCER SURVIVORS: Indian nurses employed in the two tertiary care hospitals wish to promote HE among cancer survivors, but require further knowledge and support services for more effective promotion of HE.</p

Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 inhibition attenuates human airway smooth muscle growth and migration in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

© 2018 The Author(s). Increased airway smooth muscle (ASM) mass is observed in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), which is correlated with disease severity and negatively affects lung function in these patients. Thus, there is clear unmet clinical need for finding new therapies which can target airway remodeling and disease progression in COPD. Apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) is a ubiquitously expressed mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) kinase kinase (MAP3K) activated by various stress stimuli, including reactive oxygen species (ROS), tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α, and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and is known to regulate cell proliferation. ASM cells from COPD patients are hyperproliferative to mitogens in vitro. However, the role of ASK1 in ASM growth is not established. Here, we aim to determine the effects of ASK1 inhibition on ASM growth and pro-mitogenic signaling using ASM cells from COPD patients. We found greater expression of ASK1 in ASM bundles of COPD lung when compared with non-COPD. Pre-treatment of ASM cells with highly selective ASK1 inhibitor, TC ASK 10 resulted in a dose-dependent reduction in mitogen (FBS, PDGF, and EGF; 72 h)-induced ASM growth as measured by CyQUANT assay. Further, molecular targetting of ASK1 using siRNA in ASM cells prevented mitogen-induced cell growth. In addition, to anti-mitogenic potential, ASK1 inhibitor also prevented TGFβ1-induced migration of ASM cells in vitro. Immunoblotting revealed that anti-mitogenic effects are mediated by C-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and p38MAP kinase-signaling pathways as evident by reduced phosphorylation of downstream effectors JNK1/2 and p38MAP kinases, respectively, with no effect on extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) 1/2 (ERK1/2). Collectively, these findings establish the anti-mitogenic effect of ASK1 inhibition and identify a novel pathway that can be targetted to reduce or prevent excessive ASM mass in COPD

Urban environmental exposures during the first 2000 days of life as a foundation for health across the life-course: a scoping review

Objectives: By 2030, 60% of the global population is expected to live in urban areas. Exposure to urban environments during the first 2000 days of life can have positive or negative health outcomes across the life course. Understanding the types of urban exposures that influence health outcomes is needed to guide research priorities for public health and urban planning. This review aims to summarise the published research examining the health outcomes of all urban environmental exposures during the first 2000 days of life, identify the quantity and characteristics of research in this area, methods used, and knowledge gaps. Methods: We conducted a scoping review using the JBI methodology for scoping reviews. Eight databases were searched for peer-reviewed primary studies. Inclusion criteria were studies that measured maternal, infant and child exposure to everyday urban environment features and conditions in cities/metropolitan areas during the first 2000 days of life and reported offspring health outcomes across the life course, including embryo, fetal/ newborn, infant, child, adolescent, and adult outcomes. We used Covidence software for data screening and extraction. Study characteristics and findings were summarised using tables and narrative synthesis. Results: We reviewed 235 articles, which included studies conducted across 41 countries, the majority in the US (n = 63). A broad range of environmental exposures were studied, spanning seven categories: air pollution; energy-based pollution; atmosphere, chemical and metal exposure; neighbourhood-built and natural environment features; neighbourhood community conditions; and residential living conditions. Air pollution was the most studied exposure type (n = 153 studies). Health outcomes were reported for all life stages except adults, with fetal/ newborn outcomes the most studied life stage (n = 137). Conclusions: We found that most research investigating urban environmental exposures in the first 2000 days and health outcomes across the life course focused on air pollution exposures and fetal/ newborn health outcomes, using correlational retrospective cohort designs. Few studies included multiple environmental exposures. There is a clear need for more longitudinal research to determine the health impacts of multiple urban environmental exposures across the life course. This will assist in developing urban design and planning strategies and population health to mitigate health risks across the life course

Decreasing Physical Activity Levels across Religious Sikh Male South Asian Migrant Population in Kent, UK: A Public Health Concern

Physical activity (PA) plays a crucial role in reducing the risk of non-communicable diseases (NCDs). We investigated intergenerational physical activity level (PAL) among first and second generation Sikh Punjabi male subjects (n = 137), recruited from two Sikh temples in Medway, UK. Employing a crosssectional survey PA was quantified using the validated Global PA Questionnaire (GPAQ). Data were analysed using SPSS 20 and Epi Info software. Ninety-one per cent of the subjects were classified as overweight. Mean PAL range was sedentary to low levels of PA (1.45–1.60). Comparisons between first and second generation Punjabi male subjects showed that the two groups are equally culpable in not engaging in work-related or recreational PA, but for the second generation this is significantly lower. Low PAL is a contributory factor to increased risk and prevalence of NCDs among this population and a public health concern. Efforts to increase PA in this group should continue

Hydrotropism: analysis of the root response to a moisture gradient

Hydrotropism is a genuine response of roots to a moisture gradient to avoid drought. An experimental system for the induction of hydrotropic root response in petri dishes was designed by pioneering groups in the field. This system uses split agar plates containing an osmolyte only in a region of the plate in order to generate a water potential gradient. Arabidopsis seedlings are placed on the MS agar plate so that their root tips are near the junction between plain MS medium and the region supplemented with the osmolyte. This elicits a hydrotropic response in Arabidopsis roots that can be measured as the root curvature angle

Multicenter data acquisition made easy

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The process for data collection in multicenter trials may be troublesome and expensive. We report our experience with the spreadsheet function in Googledocs for this purpose.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In Googledocs the data manager creates a form similar to the paper case record form, which will function as a decentral data entry module. When the forms are submitted, they are presented in a spreadsheet in Googledocs, which can be exported to different standard spreadsheet formats.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>For a multicenter randomized clinical trial with five different participating hospitals we created a decentral data entry module using the spreadsheet function in Googledocs. The study comprised 332 patients (clinicaltrials.gov identifier: NCT00815698) with five visits per patient. One person at each study site entered data from the original paper based case report forms which were kept at the study sites as originals. We did not experience any technical problems using the system.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The system allowed for decentral data entry, and it was easy to use, safe, and free of charge. The spreadsheet function in Googledocs may potentially replace current expensive solutions for data acquisition in multicenter trials.</p> <p>Trial registration</p> <p>clinicaltrials.gov NCT00815698</p