Primary and secondary somatic embryogenesis in Jatropha curcas L. From leaf transverse thin cell layers

An efficient method for plant regeneration in Jatropha curcas L. via primary and secondary somatic embryogenesis culture from ex vitro leaves of 6-month-old plants was presented in this study. Leaves were cut into transverse thin cell layers (tTCLs) and cultured on MS medium supplemented with kinetin (KIN) at 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mg/l in combination with indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 0.1, 0.5, and 1.0 mg/l or 2,4-dichlorophenoxyacetic acid (2,4-D) at 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 mg/l . The highest embryogenic callus formation rate (89.3%) was obtained on medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/l KIN and 1.5 mg/l 2,4-D. The calli were selected for the study of primary somatic embryogenesis on MS medium containing 2,4-D (0.01, 0.03, 0.05, and 0.07 mg/l) or KIN (0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mg/l). The highest primary somatic embryos formation rate (76.67%) was achieved on MS medium supplemented with 1.0 mg/l KIN. The primary embryos were cultured on medium supplemented with KIN (0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 1.5, and 2.0 mg/l) combined with 0.2 mg/l indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) or 0.05 mg/l 2,4-D. The combination of 1.5 mg/l KIN and 0.05 mg/l 2,4-D was suitable for secondary embryos formation. Embryos proliferated rapidly, and the highest number of secondary embryos (77.5 embryos) wasobtained from a single primary embryos inoculated. Results also showed that the addition of proline (0.75 g/l) or spermidine (0.15 mM) to the culture medium increased the number of secondary embryos considerably. The fully developed plantlets exhibiting healthy roots and shoots were obtained when somatic embryos were sub-cultured onto B5 medium containing 1.5 mg/l IBA

Finishing the euchromatic sequence of the human genome

The sequence of the human genome encodes the genetic instructions for human physiology, as well as rich information about human evolution. In 2001, the International Human Genome Sequencing Consortium reported a draft sequence of the euchromatic portion of the human genome. Since then, the international collaboration has worked to convert this draft into a genome sequence with high accuracy and nearly complete coverage. Here, we report the result of this finishing process. The current genome sequence (Build 35) contains 2.85 billion nucleotides interrupted by only 341 gaps. It covers ∼99% of the euchromatic genome and is accurate to an error rate of ∼1 event per 100,000 bases. Many of the remaining euchromatic gaps are associated with segmental duplications and will require focused work with new methods. The near-complete sequence, the first for a vertebrate, greatly improves the precision of biological analyses of the human genome including studies of gene number, birth and death. Notably, the human enome seems to encode only 20,000-25,000 protein-coding genes. The genome sequence reported here should serve as a firm foundation for biomedical research in the decades ahead

Global burden of 288 causes of death and life expectancy decomposition in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations, 1990–2021: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2021

BACKGROUND Regular, detailed reporting on population health by underlying cause of death is fundamental for public health decision making. Cause-specific estimates of mortality and the subsequent effects on life expectancy worldwide are valuable metrics to gauge progress in reducing mortality rates. These estimates are particularly important following large-scale mortality spikes, such as the COVID-19 pandemic. When systematically analysed, mortality rates and life expectancy allow comparisons of the consequences of causes of death globally and over time, providing a nuanced understanding of the effect of these causes on global populations. METHODS The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2021 cause-of-death analysis estimated mortality and years of life lost (YLLs) from 288 causes of death by age-sex-location-year in 204 countries and territories and 811 subnational locations for each year from 1990 until 2021. The analysis used 56 604 data sources, including data from vital registration and verbal autopsy as well as surveys, censuses, surveillance systems, and cancer registries, among others. As with previous GBD rounds, cause-specific death rates for most causes were estimated using the Cause of Death Ensemble model-a modelling tool developed for GBD to assess the out-of-sample predictive validity of different statistical models and covariate permutations and combine those results to produce cause-specific mortality estimates-with alternative strategies adapted to model causes with insufficient data, substantial changes in reporting over the study period, or unusual epidemiology. YLLs were computed as the product of the number of deaths for each cause-age-sex-location-year and the standard life expectancy at each age. As part of the modelling process, uncertainty intervals (UIs) were generated using the 2·5th and 97·5th percentiles from a 1000-draw distribution for each metric. We decomposed life expectancy by cause of death, location, and year to show cause-specific effects on life expectancy from 1990 to 2021. We also used the coefficient of variation and the fraction of population affected by 90% of deaths to highlight concentrations of mortality. Findings are reported in counts and age-standardised rates. Methodological improvements for cause-of-death estimates in GBD 2021 include the expansion of under-5-years age group to include four new age groups, enhanced methods to account for stochastic variation of sparse data, and the inclusion of COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality-which includes excess mortality associated with the pandemic, excluding COVID-19, lower respiratory infections, measles, malaria, and pertussis. For this analysis, 199 new country-years of vital registration cause-of-death data, 5 country-years of surveillance data, 21 country-years of verbal autopsy data, and 94 country-years of other data types were added to those used in previous GBD rounds. FINDINGS The leading causes of age-standardised deaths globally were the same in 2019 as they were in 1990; in descending order, these were, ischaemic heart disease, stroke, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, and lower respiratory infections. In 2021, however, COVID-19 replaced stroke as the second-leading age-standardised cause of death, with 94·0 deaths (95% UI 89·2-100·0) per 100 000 population. The COVID-19 pandemic shifted the rankings of the leading five causes, lowering stroke to the third-leading and chronic obstructive pulmonary disease to the fourth-leading position. In 2021, the highest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 occurred in sub-Saharan Africa (271·0 deaths [250·1-290·7] per 100 000 population) and Latin America and the Caribbean (195·4 deaths [182·1-211·4] per 100 000 population). The lowest age-standardised death rates from COVID-19 were in the high-income super-region (48·1 deaths [47·4-48·8] per 100 000 population) and southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania (23·2 deaths [16·3-37·2] per 100 000 population). Globally, life expectancy steadily improved between 1990 and 2019 for 18 of the 22 investigated causes. Decomposition of global and regional life expectancy showed the positive effect that reductions in deaths from enteric infections, lower respiratory infections, stroke, and neonatal deaths, among others have contributed to improved survival over the study period. However, a net reduction of 1·6 years occurred in global life expectancy between 2019 and 2021, primarily due to increased death rates from COVID-19 and other pandemic-related mortality. Life expectancy was highly variable between super-regions over the study period, with southeast Asia, east Asia, and Oceania gaining 8·3 years (6·7-9·9) overall, while having the smallest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 (0·4 years). The largest reduction in life expectancy due to COVID-19 occurred in Latin America and the Caribbean (3·6 years). Additionally, 53 of the 288 causes of death were highly concentrated in locations with less than 50% of the global population as of 2021, and these causes of death became progressively more concentrated since 1990, when only 44 causes showed this pattern. The concentration phenomenon is discussed heuristically with respect to enteric and lower respiratory infections, malaria, HIV/AIDS, neonatal disorders, tuberculosis, and measles. INTERPRETATION Long-standing gains in life expectancy and reductions in many of the leading causes of death have been disrupted by the COVID-19 pandemic, the adverse effects of which were spread unevenly among populations. Despite the pandemic, there has been continued progress in combatting several notable causes of death, leading to improved global life expectancy over the study period. Each of the seven GBD super-regions showed an overall improvement from 1990 and 2021, obscuring the negative effect in the years of the pandemic. Additionally, our findings regarding regional variation in causes of death driving increases in life expectancy hold clear policy utility. Analyses of shifting mortality trends reveal that several causes, once widespread globally, are now increasingly concentrated geographically. These changes in mortality concentration, alongside further investigation of changing risks, interventions, and relevant policy, present an important opportunity to deepen our understanding of mortality-reduction strategies. Examining patterns in mortality concentration might reveal areas where successful public health interventions have been implemented. Translating these successes to locations where certain causes of death remain entrenched can inform policies that work to improve life expectancy for people everywhere. FUNDING Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Preparation of cuprous‐oxide nanoparticles using ascorbic acid as reducing agent and its photocatalytic activity

In this present paper, cuprous‐oxide (Cu2O) nanoparticles were successfully fabricated using ascorbic acid as a reducing agent. The purity and characteristics of Cu2O nanoparticles were determined with XRD and FT‐IR techniques. The orphology and particle size of the material were characterized using SEM and TEM, respectively. The results show that the concentration of sodium hydroxide affects the morphology and particle size of the material. Furthermore, the Cu2O nanoparticles with a particle size of 70–80 nm exhibit good photocatalytic activity on photodegradation of Rhodamine B under visible light, and the photocatalytic degradation ratio of Rhodamine B is 70%

Study on Preparation of Water-Soluble Chitosan with Varying Molecular Weights and Its Antioxidant Activity

The preparation of water-soluble chitosan (WSC) with various molecular weights by gamma Co-60 irradiation of chitosan solution (5%) in the presence of hydrogen peroxide (1%) combined with acetylated reaction was carried out. The average molecular weight (Mw) of chitosan was measured by gel permeation chromatography (GPC). The chemical structure and the crystallinity of chitosan and WSC were characterized by Fourier-transform infrared (FT-IR) spectroscopy and X-ray diffraction (XRD), respectively. The antioxidant activity of WSC and chitosan was investigated using the free radical 2,2′-azino-bis (3-ethylbenzothiazoline-6-sulphonic acid) (ABTS•+). Obtained results showed that chitosan with Mw of 18–90 kDa could be efficiently prepared by this technique in the dose range from 10 to 24.5 kGy. After the acetylated process, the resulting WSC possesses good solubility in a wide pH level of 2–12, and WSC with low molecular weight exhibited significantly higher antioxidant activity than the one with high molecular weight. In detail, the antioxidant activity was 14.7%, 70.5%, 84.2%, 89.4%, and 97.5% for WSC samples prepared from chitosan with Mw of 140.2 kDa, 91.4 kDa, 51.2 kDa, 35.3 kDa, and 18.1 kDa, respectively, at the same reaction time of 90 min. Moreover, the antioxidant activity of WSC was higher than that of chitosan. Thus, WSC prepared by gamma Co-60 irradiation and acetylated process can be potentially applied as a natural antioxidant agent

A Study on Astrazon Black AFDL Dye Adsorption onto Vietnamese Diatomite

In the present paper, the adsorption of Astrazon Black AFDL dye onto Vietnamese diatomite has been demonstrated. The diatomite was characterized by XRD, SEM, TEM, EDS, and nitrogen adsorption/desorption isotherms. The results show that diatomite mainly constituted centric type frustules characterized by pores as discs or as cylindrical shapes. The adsorption kinetics and isotherms of dye onto Vietnam diatomite were investigated. The experimental data were fitted well to both Freundlich and Langmuir in the initial concentration range of 400–1400 mg L−1. The average value of maximum adsorption capacity, qm, calculated from Freundlich equation is statistically similar to the average value of maximum monolayer adsorption capacity calculated from Langmuir equation. The thermodynamic parameters evaluated from the temperature dependent on adsorption isotherms in the range of 303–343 K show that the adsorption process was spontaneous and endothermic. The Webber and pseudo-first/second-order kinetic models were used to analyze the mechanism of adsorption. The piecewise linear regression and Akaike’s Information Criterion were used to analyze experimental data. The results show that the dye adsorption onto diatomite was film diffusion controlled and the goodness of fit of experimental data for kinetics modes was dependent on the initial concentration

Exploring the Multitarget Activity of Wedelolactone against Alzheimer’s Disease: Insights from <i>In Silico</i> Study

In this study, Wedelolactone’s multitarget activity against Alzheimer’s disease was examined using density functional theory and molecular docking techniques. At physiological pH, the pKa and molar fractions have been estimated. The most likely relative rate constants of two radical scavenger mechanisms are formal hydrogen transfer in a lipid environment and single-electron transfer in a water solvent. Compared to Trolox (koverall = 8.96 × 104 M–1 s–1), Wedelolactone (koverall = 4.26 × 109 M–1 s–1) is more efficient in scavenging the HOO• radical in an aqueous environment. The chelation capacity of metals was investigated by examining the complexation of the Cu(II) ion at various coordination positions and calculating the complexation kinetic constants. Furthermore, molecular docking simulations showed that the known forms of Wedelolactone at physiological pH effectively inhibited the AChE and BChE enzymes by comparing their activity to that of tacrine (control). Wedelolactone is a promising drug candidate for Alzheimer’s disease therapy in light of these findings

The Species Composition and Distribution Patterns of Non-Native Fishes in the Main Rivers of South China

Non-native fish invasions are among the greatest threats to the sustainability of freshwater ecosystems worldwide. Tilapia and catfish are regularly cultured in South China which is similar to their climate in native areas and may also support their invasive potential. We systematically collected fish from eight main rivers of South China, from 2016 to 2018, to investigate and analyse species' composition and the distribution of non-native fishes. The data reveal that non-native fishes are widespread and abundant in the sampled rivers: of the 98,887 fish collected, 11,832 individuals representing 20 species were not native, which were distributed in the 96% sampled sites. Of the non-native fish species, 17 are used in aquaculture and 19 are native to the tropics; 13 are omnivores while the other seven are predators. Based on dissimilarity of the non-native fish species distributions across the eight rivers, the different rivers could be divided into four assemblages. Geographical isolation and temperature were identified as affecting the distribution patterns of non-native fishes, thereby influencing fish species composition, species number, dominant species, and distribution variations in the South China rivers. Species composition of the non-native fishes in these rivers are related to their introduction vector, compatibility with their native habitat, and feeding strategies. Their distribution was mainly influenced by geographical location and temperature. To mitigate the impacts of non-native fish, a series of stricter management practices, systematic monitoring, and more research are needed