The Purification and Partial Characterization of the Surface Polysaccharides from Three Fast-Growing Rhizobium japonicum Strains

The fast-growing strains of R. japonicum were originally isolated from China. They are acid-producing Rhizobia and are capable of nodulating soybeans. These isolates share a common host-specificity (Peking soybean) with the slow-growing R. japonicum strains even though their biochemical properties are more closely related to other fast-growing Rhizobium species. The surface polysaccharides from three fast-growing R. japonicum strains--USDA201, USDA205, and HC205--were isolated and partially characterized. Strain HC205 is a nod⁻ mutant of USDA205 which lacks the symbiotic plasmid. These surface polysaccharides consist of extracellular, capsular and lipopolysaccharides (EPSs, CPSs and LPSs). The EPSs from all three strains are very similar in composition having galactose, glucose, uronic acid and acetate. These components are similar to the EPSs from other fast-growing Rhizobium species except for pyruvate which is not detected in the EPSs from fast-growing R. japonicum strains. The CPSs from USDA205 and HC205 are very similar to the EPSs in composition except they contain increased amounts of acetate. The CPS from USDA201 is isolated in very small amounts and is different in composition from the EPSs in that it is reduced in glucose and increased in uronic acid. The EPSs and CPSs are different from those of the slow-growing R. japonicum strains which vary from strain to strain and can consist of methylated sugars and deoxysugars. The LPSs were purified by phenol/water extraction and gel filtration chromatography. The LPSs from USDA205 and HC205 elute as broad peaks from the gel filtration column and contain 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid (KDO) as one of the major sugar components. The LPS from HC205 differs from that of USDA205 in that it contains ribose. Both USDA205 and HC205 LPSs have a lamba max at 260 nm. Both the ribose content and the lamba max at 260 nm are resistant to RNase treatment. Gel-filtration of the phenol/water extracted polysaccharides from USDA201 results in two distinct KDO containing peaks (LPS1 and LPS2). Both LPS1 and LPS2 have similar compositions containing ribose, 2,3-di-O-methyl-hexose, galactose, glucose and KDO. Again KDO is a major sugar, LPS2 having the largest amount of KDO. None of the LPSs contain heptose. The presence of KDO as a major sugar in the LPSs makes these LPS different from the phenol/water extracted polysaccharides of the slow-growing R. japonicum strains which do not contain detectable levels of KDO, and different from the LPSs from other fast-growing Rhizobium species which contain 1-5% KDO. The LPSs from R. meliloti strains are other LPSs in which KDO is a major sugar. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis shows that the LPS are typically heterogeneous molecules. Differences in banding patterns are observed among the fast-growing R. japonicum LPSs as well as the differences between these LPSs and other fast-growing Rhizobium LPSs

Instruments of RT-2 Experiment onboard CORONAS-PHOTON and their test and evaluation II: RT-2/CZT payload

Cadmium Zinc Telluride (CZT) detectors are high sensitivity and high resolution devices for hard X-ray imaging and spectroscopic studies. The new series of CZT detector modules (OMS40G256) manufactured by Orbotech Medical Solutions (OMS), Israel, are used in the RT-2/CZT payload onboard the CORONAS-PHOTON satellite. The CZT detectors, sensitive in the energy range of 20 keV to 150 keV, are used to image solar flares in hard X-rays. Since these modules are essentially manufactured for commercial applications, we have carried out a series of comprehensive tests on these modules so that they can be confidently used in space-borne systems. These tests lead us to select the best three pieces of the 'Gold' modules for the RT-2/CZT payload. This paper presents the characterization of CZT modules and the criteria followed for selecting the ones for the RT-2/CZT payload. The RT-2/CZT payload carries, along with three CZT modules, a high spatial resolution CMOS detector for high resolution imaging of transient X-ray events. Therefore, we discuss the characterization of the CMOS detector as well.Comment: 26 pages, 19 figures, Accepted for publication in Experimental Astronomy (in press

Glycan complexity dictates microbial resource allocation in the large intestine.

The structure of the human gut microbiota is controlled primarily through the degradation of complex dietary carbohydrates, but the extent to which carbohydrate breakdown products are shared between members of the microbiota is unclear. We show here, using xylan as a model, that sharing the breakdown products of complex carbohydrates by key members of the microbiota, such as Bacteroides ovatus, is dependent on the complexity of the target glycan. Characterization of the extensive xylan degrading apparatus expressed by B. ovatus reveals that the breakdown of the polysaccharide by the human gut microbiota is significantly more complex than previous models suggested, which were based on the deconstruction of xylans containing limited monosaccharide side chains. Our report presents a highly complex and dynamic xylan degrading apparatus that is fine-tuned to recognize the different forms of the polysaccharide presented to the human gut microbiota.This work was supported in part by grants to D.N.B. (BBSRC BB/G016186/1) and H.J.G. (Wellcome Trust WT097907AIA).This is the final version. It was first published by NPG at http://dx.doi.org/10.1038/ncomms848

Global, regional, and national incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability for 354 diseases and injuries for 195 countries and territories, 1990–2017: A systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2017 (GBD 2017) includes a comprehensive assessment of incidence, prevalence, and years lived with disability (YLDs) for 354 causes in 195 countries and territories from 1990 to 2017. Previous GBD studies have shown how the decline of mortality rates from 1990 to 2016 has led to an increase in life expectancy, an ageing global population, and an expansion of the non-fatal burden of disease and injury. These studies have also shown how a substantial portion of the world's population experiences non-fatal health loss with considerable heterogeneity among different causes, locations, ages, and sexes. Ongoing objectives of the GBD study include increasing the level of estimation detail, improving analytical strategies, and increasing the amount of high-quality data. Methods: We estimated incidence and prevalence for 354 diseases and injuries and 3484 sequelae. We used an updated and extensive body of literature studies, survey data, surveillance data, inpatient admission records, outpatient visit records, and health insurance claims, and additionally used results from cause of death models to inform estimates using a total of 68 781 data sources. Newly available clinical data from India, Iran, Japan, Jordan, Nepal, China, Brazil, Norway, and Italy were incorporated, as well as updated claims data from the USA and new claims data from Taiwan (province of China) and Singapore. We used DisMod-MR 2.1, a Bayesian meta-regression tool, as the main method of estimation, ensuring consistency between rates of incidence, prevalence, remission, and cause of death for each condition. YLDs were estimated as the product of a prevalence estimate and a disability weight for health states of each mutually exclusive sequela, adjusted for comorbidity. We updated the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary development indicator of income per capita, years of schooling, and total fertility rate. Additionally, we calculated differences between male and female YLDs to identify divergent trends across sexes. GBD 2017 complies with the Guidelines for Accurate and Transparent Health Estimates Reporting. Findings: Globally, for females, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and haemoglobinopathies and haemolytic anaemias in both 1990 and 2017. For males, the causes with the greatest age-standardised prevalence were oral disorders, headache disorders, and tuberculosis including latent tuberculosis infection in both 1990 and 2017. In terms of YLDs, low back pain, headache disorders, and dietary iron deficiency were the leading Level 3 causes of YLD counts in 1990, whereas low back pain, headache disorders, and depressive disorders were the leading causes in 2017 for both sexes combined. All-cause age-standardised YLD rates decreased by 3·9% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 3·1-4·6) from 1990 to 2017; however, the all-age YLD rate increased by 7·2% (6·0-8·4) while the total sum of global YLDs increased from 562 million (421-723) to 853 million (642-1100). The increases for males and females were similar, with increases in all-age YLD rates of 7·9% (6·6-9·2) for males and 6·5% (5·4-7·7) for females. We found significant differences between males and females in terms of age-standardised prevalence estimates for multiple causes. The causes with the greatest relative differences between sexes in 2017 included substance use disorders (3018 cases [95% UI 2782-3252] per 100 000 in males vs 1400 [1279-1524] per 100 000 in females), transport injuries (3322 [3082-3583] vs 2336 [2154-2535]), and self-harm and interpersonal violence (3265 [2943-3630] vs 5643 [5057-6302]). Interpretation: Global all-cause age-standardised YLD rates have improved only slightly over a period spanning nearly three decades. However, the magnitude of the non-fatal disease burden has expanded globally, with increasing numbers of people who have a wide spectrum of conditions. A subset of conditions has remained globally pervasive since 1990, whereas other conditions have displayed more dynamic trends, with different ages, sexes, and geographies across the globe experiencing varying burdens and trends of health loss. This study emphasises how global improvements in premature mortality for select conditions have led to older populations with complex and potentially expensive diseases, yet also highlights global achievements in certain domains of disease and injury

Global, regional, and national age-sex-specific mortality and life expectancy, 1950-2017: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background: Assessments of age-specific mortality and life expectancy have been done by the UN Population Division, Department of Economics and Social Affairs (UNPOP), the United States Census Bureau, WHO, and as part of previous iterations of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD). Previous iterations of the GBD used population estimates from UNPOP, which were not derived in a way that was internally consistent with the estimates of the numbers of deaths in the GBD. The present iteration of the GBD, GBD 2017, improves on previous assessments and provides timely estimates of the mortality experience of populations globally. Methods: The GBD uses all available data to produce estimates of mortality rates between 1950 and 2017 for 23 age groups, both sexes, and 918 locations, including 195 countries and territories and subnational locations for 16 countries. Data used include vital registration systems, sample registration systems, household surveys (complete birth histories, summary birth histories, sibling histories), censuses (summary birth histories, household deaths), and Demographic Surveillance Sites. In total, this analysis used 8259 data sources. Estimates of the probability of death between birth and the age of 5 years and between ages 15 and 60 years are generated and then input into a model life table system to produce complete life tables for all locations and years. Fatal discontinuities and mortality due to HIV/AIDS are analysed separately and then incorporated into the estimation. We analyse the relationship between age-specific mortality and development status using the Socio-demographic Index, a composite measure based on fertility under the age of 25 years, education, and income. There are four main methodological improvements in GBD 2017 compared with GBD 2016: 622 additional data sources have been incorporated; new estimates of population, generated by the GBD study, are used; statistical methods used in different components of the analysis have been further standardised and improved; and the analysis has been extended backwards in time by two decades to start in 1950. Findings: Globally, 18·7% (95% uncertainty interval 18·4–19·0) of deaths were registered in 1950 and that proportion has been steadily increasing since, with 58·8% (58·2–59·3) of all deaths being registered in 2015. At the global level, between 1950 and 2017, life expectancy increased from 48·1 years (46·5–49·6) to 70·5 years (70·1–70·8) for men and from 52·9 years (51·7–54·0) to 75·6 years (75·3–75·9) for women. Despite this overall progress, there remains substantial variation in life expectancy at birth in 2017, which ranges from 49·1 years (46·5–51·7) for men in the Central African Republic to 87·6 years (86·9–88·1) among women in Singapore. The greatest progress across age groups was for children younger than 5 years; under-5 mortality dropped from 216·0 deaths (196·3–238·1) per 1000 livebirths in 1950 to 38·9 deaths (35·6–42·83) per 1000 livebirths in 2017, with huge reductions across countries. Nevertheless, there were still 5·4 million (5·2–5·6) deaths among children younger than 5 years in the world in 2017. Progress has been less pronounced and more variable for adults, especially for adult males, who had stagnant or increasing mortality rates in several countries. The gap between male and female life expectancy between 1950 and 2017, while relatively stable at the global level, shows distinctive patterns across super-regions and has consistently been the largest in central Europe, eastern Europe, and central Asia, and smallest in south Asia. Performance was also variable across countries and time in observed mortality rates compared with those expected on the basis of development. Interpretation: This analysis of age-sex-specific mortality shows that there are remarkably complex patterns in population mortality across countries. The findings of this study highlight global successes, such as the large decline in under-5 mortality, which reflects significant local, national, and global commitment and investment over several decades. However, they also bring attention to mortality patterns that are a cause for concern, particularly among adult men and, to a lesser extent, women, whose mortality rates have stagnated in many countries over the time period of this study, and in some cases are increasing

The Purification and Partial Characterization of the Surface Polysaccharides from Three Fast-Growing Rhizobium japonicum Strains

The fast-growing strains of R. japonicum were originally isolated from China. They are acid-producing Rhizobia and are capable of nodulating soybeans. These isolates share a common host-specificity (Peking soybean) with the slow-growing R. japonicum strains even though their biochemical properties are more closely related to other fast-growing Rhizobium species. The surface polysaccharides from three fast-growing R. japonicum strains--USDA201, USDA205, and HC205--were isolated and partially characterized. Strain HC205 is a nod⁻ mutant of USDA205 which lacks the symbiotic plasmid. These surface polysaccharides consist of extracellular, capsular and lipopolysaccharides (EPSs, CPSs and LPSs). The EPSs from all three strains are very similar in composition having galactose, glucose, uronic acid and acetate. These components are similar to the EPSs from other fast-growing Rhizobium species except for pyruvate which is not detected in the EPSs from fast-growing R. japonicum strains. The CPSs from USDA205 and HC205 are very similar to the EPSs in composition except they contain increased amounts of acetate. The CPS from USDA201 is isolated in very small amounts and is different in composition from the EPSs in that it is reduced in glucose and increased in uronic acid. The EPSs and CPSs are different from those of the slow-growing R. japonicum strains which vary from strain to strain and can consist of methylated sugars and deoxysugars. The LPSs were purified by phenol/water extraction and gel filtration chromatography. The LPSs from USDA205 and HC205 elute as broad peaks from the gel filtration column and contain 2-keto-3-deoxyoctonic acid (KDO) as one of the major sugar components. The LPS from HC205 differs from that of USDA205 in that it contains ribose. Both USDA205 and HC205 LPSs have a lamba max at 260 nm. Both the ribose content and the lamba max at 260 nm are resistant to RNase treatment. Gel-filtration of the phenol/water extracted polysaccharides from USDA201 results in two distinct KDO containing peaks (LPS1 and LPS2). Both LPS1 and LPS2 have similar compositions containing ribose, 2,3-di-O-methyl-hexose, galactose, glucose and KDO. Again KDO is a major sugar, LPS2 having the largest amount of KDO. None of the LPSs contain heptose. The presence of KDO as a major sugar in the LPSs makes these LPS different from the phenol/water extracted polysaccharides of the slow-growing R. japonicum strains which do not contain detectable levels of KDO, and different from the LPSs from other fast-growing Rhizobium species which contain 1-5% KDO. The LPSs from R. meliloti strains are other LPSs in which KDO is a major sugar. Polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis shows that the LPS are typically heterogeneous molecules. Differences in banding patterns are observed among the fast-growing R. japonicum LPSs as well as the differences between these LPSs and other fast-growing Rhizobium LPSs

Physicochemical characteristics, oxidative stability, pigments, fatty acid profile and antioxidant properties of co-pressed oil from blends of peanuts, flaxseed and black cumin seeds

Peanut (PS) oil is low in ω3 fatty acid (FA) and antioxidants while black cumin seeds (BS) and flaxseed (FS) oil had higher antioxidants and ω3 FA, respectively. In this study, raw PS premixed with BS and FS at 10, 20, 30 and 40% levels (individually or collectively) were co-pressed (CP) to improve oxidative stability index (OSI), nutritional and FA profile of oil. The twelve co-pressed oils varying in proportion of PS, BS and FS were investigated and compared. The oil yield, viscosity, L* value, atherogenicity (AI) and thrombogenicity (TI) indices decreased while RI, total phenolic content (TPC), chlorophyll content (ChC), carotenoid content (CaC), radical scavenging activity (RSA), a* and b* value increased by increasing proportion of BS and FS collectively or individually in co-pressing seed mixtures. The AI, TI and ω6/ω3 ratio was improved by increasing the proportion of FS (10–40%) while increment in TPC, ChC, CaC, OSI and RSA was observed by increasing proportion of BS (10–40%) in co-pressing process. The study suggests co-pressing PS with 20%BS and 20%FS collectively for improving the AI, TI, OSI, ω6/ω3 ratio and nutritional qualities of oil

Cellulosic Fraction from Agricultural Biomass as a Viable Alternative for Plastics and Plastic Products

Plastics are versatile and cost-effective materials with a variety of functionalities. Their non-biodegradability, accumulation in landfills and natural habitats, physical problems for wildlife resulting from ingestion or entanglement in debris, leaching of chemicals and transfer to humans are concerns of greater magnitude, however. In this regard, plastic replacing materials are warranted. A possible respite is seen in agriculture that feeds the world but a significant portion of crops exists as biomass or the parts that can’t be used as food by humans. Agriculture biomass such as corn stalk, wheat straw, rice straw and soy stalk offers a viable source of cellulose that has excellent potential to replace plastics. Herein, the benefits of agriculture biomass and its prospects for cellulose-based biodegradable products are highlighted. The use of agriculture biomass further offers a unique value-added proposition to the agriculture industry and farmers to capitalize on their byproducts to increase the profitability of their operations. The Earth, and its current and future generations, will benefit immensely with this cost-effective and environmentally sustainable solution to curb the ills associated with plastics