Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria mediated moisture stress alleviation in the early stages of Rice (Oryza sativa L.) variety CO 51

Drought is one of the abiotic stresses that have a significant impact on agricultural growth across the world. Plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) inoculation in rice plants may be a viable and environmentally acceptable method of sustaining the development and yield of drought-stressed rice plants. The current study focused on the alleviation of drought in the early stages of rice variety CO 51 using PGPR isolated from the rhizosphere of xerophytes. The seeds were treated with bio inoculants and subjected to different moisture stress levels (10%, 20% and 30%) using PEG 6000. The seeds treated with bio inoculants exhibited higher germination percentage and growth traits such as shoot length root length and fresh weight, especially seeds treated with Bacillus velezensis VKSB5 (MT729963), and Bacillus altitudinis MLSB2 (MT729964) over uninoculated plants. This was found to be due to the increased proline accumulation and antioxidant activity in these seedlings, which plays a major role in drought alleviation by altering the osmotic potential and by its ROS scavenging mechanism. Hence this study provides evidence for the effective drought ameliorating ability of these cultures during the initial growth stages of rice. Further studies can contribute to the development of effective bio-inoculants for the mitigation of drought in rice

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

Effect of angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor and angiotensin receptor blocker initiation on organ support-free days in patients hospitalized with COVID-19

IMPORTANCE Overactivation of the renin-angiotensin system (RAS) may contribute to poor clinical outcomes in patients with COVID-19. Objective To determine whether angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) inhibitor or angiotensin receptor blocker (ARB) initiation improves outcomes in patients hospitalized for COVID-19. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PARTICIPANTS In an ongoing, adaptive platform randomized clinical trial, 721 critically ill and 58 non–critically ill hospitalized adults were randomized to receive an RAS inhibitor or control between March 16, 2021, and February 25, 2022, at 69 sites in 7 countries (final follow-up on June 1, 2022). INTERVENTIONS Patients were randomized to receive open-label initiation of an ACE inhibitor (n = 257), ARB (n = 248), ARB in combination with DMX-200 (a chemokine receptor-2 inhibitor; n = 10), or no RAS inhibitor (control; n = 264) for up to 10 days. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES The primary outcome was organ support–free days, a composite of hospital survival and days alive without cardiovascular or respiratory organ support through 21 days. The primary analysis was a bayesian cumulative logistic model. Odds ratios (ORs) greater than 1 represent improved outcomes. RESULTS On February 25, 2022, enrollment was discontinued due to safety concerns. Among 679 critically ill patients with available primary outcome data, the median age was 56 years and 239 participants (35.2%) were women. Median (IQR) organ support–free days among critically ill patients was 10 (–1 to 16) in the ACE inhibitor group (n = 231), 8 (–1 to 17) in the ARB group (n = 217), and 12 (0 to 17) in the control group (n = 231) (median adjusted odds ratios of 0.77 [95% bayesian credible interval, 0.58-1.06] for improvement for ACE inhibitor and 0.76 [95% credible interval, 0.56-1.05] for ARB compared with control). The posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitors and ARBs worsened organ support–free days compared with control were 94.9% and 95.4%, respectively. Hospital survival occurred in 166 of 231 critically ill participants (71.9%) in the ACE inhibitor group, 152 of 217 (70.0%) in the ARB group, and 182 of 231 (78.8%) in the control group (posterior probabilities that ACE inhibitor and ARB worsened hospital survival compared with control were 95.3% and 98.1%, respectively). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE In this trial, among critically ill adults with COVID-19, initiation of an ACE inhibitor or ARB did not improve, and likely worsened, clinical outcomes. TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov Identifier: NCT0273570

Decolorisation of Azo Dye Congo Red (CR) by Termitomyces sp. Biomass

Aims: A study was conducted to evaluate decoloration of azo dye, Congo Red (CR) using fungal hyphal mat of beneficial bacidiomycete Termitomyces sp. TMS7 (MW694830) as bio sorbent material. Study design:  Completely randomized block design (CRD). Place and duration of study: Department of Agricultural Microbiology, Tamil Nadu Agricultural University, Coimbatore, Tamil Nadu, India, between September 2019 and January 2020. Methodology: Isolation of white rot fungus from basidiocarb was done and screened based on their ligninolytic enzyme activity and Isolate TMS 7 was selected as best isolate and identified through ITS 1 and ITS 4 primers. Efficiency of fungal biomass to decolorize Congo red was assessed and per cent decoloration and kinetics were calculated. Results: Twelve fungal isolates were obtained and Isolate TMS 7 was selected as best isolate based on enzymatic activity. TMS 7 was identified as Termitomyces sp. using ITS 1 and ITS 4 primer. Ligninolytic enzymes i.e. cellulase (9.97 µ mol of glucose released/min/mg protein), and xylanase (9.55 µ mol of xylose released/min/mg protein) were quantified from the crude fungal extract of TMS 7, which was higher than standard (Termitomyces albuminosus -MTCC 1366). Decolorisation efficiency of termitomyces fungal biomass (1 g/100 ml) against different concentration of congo red dye (50-250 mg/L) was assessed. About 100 % (99.9) degradation was recorded in the minimum dye concentration of 50 mg/L within 3 days and 8 % decoloration was achieved at the highest dye concentration (250 mg/L) within 5 days. Conclusion: Possible mechanism of degradation is the presence of lignolytic enzyme especially cellulase, xylanase in the culture filtrate and bio sorption of degraded product by the fungal cell wall components viz., chitin, glucan other complex polymers

Effect of Antiplatelet Therapy on Survival and Organ Support–Free Days in Critically Ill Patients With COVID-19

International audienc