Biochemical basis of systemic acquired resistance induced by different Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) elicitors in Brassica cultivars challenge inoculated with downy mildew pathogen

In India, Brassica is attacked by many bacterial, fungal and viral pathogens causing various diseases among which, downy mildew caused by Hyaloperonospora brassicae, an oomycete is the most severe one.  The present investigation was conducted to reduce fungicide load on Brassica by testing an alternate method of disease control.  Different Systemic Acquired Resistance (SAR) compounds were tested as foliar sprays like Salicylic acid, Jasmonic acid and Bion (Benzothiadiazole-BTH) for inducing resistance in different genotypes of Raya (Brassica juncea) against downy mildew pathogen. Protein content in plants ranged between 43.5 to 57.7 mg/g fresh weight compared to 37.2 mg/g fresh weight in control. Induction of proteins and defense related enzymes was systemic in nature. The SAR compounds also surged the levels of defense related proteins, i.e. Polyphenol oxidase (PPO), Phenylalanine ammonia lyase (PAL) and pathogenesis related Pr- proteins i.e. ?-1,3 glucanase, Peroxidase (POD),  from 21 to 130 per cent indicating induction of resistance. Protein profiling of treated Brassica plants was also done electrophoreticaly, which further confirmed the induction of pathogenesis-related proteins ranging from 15- 75 kDa along with some other proteins. Salicylic acid @ 500µM showed best results with 71.27 per cent disease control followed by Jasmonic acid with 69.6 per cent; whereas both, Bion and ?eta amino butyric acid gave almost 63 per cent disease control as compared to control plants. Integration of disease tolerance in Brassica varieties/genotypes combined with prophylactic spray of salicylic acid proved to be very economical for managing downy mildew disease

Nitrogen release kinetics of organic nutrient sources in two benchmark soils of Indo-Gangetic plains

An understanding of the mineralization process of organic amendments in soil is required to synchronize N release with crop demand and protect the environment from excess N accumulation. Therefore, we conducted a laboratory incubation experiment to assess nitrogen mineralization potential of crop residues (rice and wheat straw) and organic manures (poultry manure, farmyard manure, cowpea and sesbania) in two benchmark soils (Typic Haplustept and Typic Ustifluvents) of semi-arid region of Punjab, India, varying in textureat field capacity moisture level at a constant temperature of 331°C. Mineralization was faster during first 7 days of incubation in Typic Haplustept and upto 14 days in Typic Ustifluvents which subsequently declined over time. In both soils, net N mineralization continued to increase with increasing period of incubation (expect with crop residues) and was significantly higher in Typic Ustifluvents (54-231µg g-1) than Typic Haplustept (33-203 µg g-1). Compared to unamended soils, percent N mineralized was highest is sesbania (35-40 %) followed by cowpea (32-37 %) and least in wheat (10-11 %) after 42 days of incubation. Thus, sesbania and cowpea may preferably be used to meetthe large N demand during early period of plant growth. Further, mineralization rate constants (k) also indicated that availability of mineral N was significantly higher with application of organic amendments than unamended control treatments in both soils. Therefore, it may be concluded that considerable economy in the use of inorganic N fertilizer can be employed if N mineralization potential of organic inputs is taken into consideration

Transport processes in the soil as factors of potassium availability

RESP-892

Complete Genome Sequences of Four Escherichia coli ST95 Isolates from Bloodstream Infections

Finished genome sequences are presented for four Escherichia coli strains isolated from bloodstream infections at San Francisco General Hospital. These strains provide reference sequences for four major fimH-identified sublineages within the multilocus sequence type (MLST) ST95 group, and provide insights into pathogenicity and differential antimicrobial susceptibility within this group

Evaluation of Antioxidant, Antidiabetic and Antiobesity Potential of Selected Traditional Medicinal Plants

This study evaluated potential antidiabetic and antiobesity properties in vitro of selected medicinal plants. The hot water (WE) and ethanol extracts (EE) of sweet gale (Myrica gale L.), roseroot (Rhodiola rosea L.), sheep sorrel (Rumex acetosa L.), stinging nettles (Utrica dioica L.) and dandelion (Taraxacum officinale L.) were tested for total antioxidant capacity using ferric reducing antioxidant power (FRAP) and DPPH• scavenging capacity assays, followed by α-amylase, α-glucosidase and formation of advanced glycation end products (AGE) inhibition assays in vitro. Myrica gale EE had the highest total phenolic content (12.4 mmol GAE/L), FRAP value (17.4 mmol TE/L) and DPPH• scavenging activity (IC50 = 3.28 mg/L). Similarly, Myrica gale also exhibited significantly lower IC50 values for the percentage inhibition of α-amylase (IC50 = 62.65 mg/L) and α-glucosidase (IC50 = 27.20 mg/L) compared to acarbose (IC50 = 91.71 mg/L; IC50 = 89.50 mg/L, respectively) (p ≤ 0.05). The 3T3-L1 preadipocyte study also revealed that Myrica gale EE (54.8%) and stinging nettles (62.2% EE; 63.2% WE) significantly inhibited the adipogenesis in adipocytes in vitro (p ≤ 0.05). Polyphenols present in these medicinal plants have the potential to use in managing type 2 diabetes and obesity

Motoric Cognitive Risk Syndrome: Could It Be Defined Through Increased Five-Times-Sit-to-Stand Test Time, Rather Than Slow Walking Speed?

Background: Slow walking speed, time to perform the five-times-sit-to-stand (FTSS) test and motoric cognitive risk syndrome (MCR; defined as slow gait speed combined with subjective cognitive complaint) have been separately used to screen older individuals at risk of cognitive decline. This study seeks to (1) compare the characteristics of older individuals with MCR, as defined through slow walking speed and/or increased FTSS time; and (2) examine the relationship between MCR and its motor components as well as amnestic (a-MCI) and non-amnestic (na-MCI) Mild Cognitive Impairment.Methods: A total of 633, individuals free of dementia, were selected from the cross-sectional “Gait and Alzheimer Interactions Tracking” study. Slow gait speed and increased FTSS time were used as criteria for the definition of MCR. Participants were separated into five groups, according to MCR status: MCR as defined by (1) slow gait speed exclusively (MCRs); (2) increased FTSS time exclusively (MCRf); (3) slow gait speed and increased FTSS time (MCRsaf); (4) MCR; irrespective of the mobility test used (MCRsof); and (5) the absence of MCR. Cognitive status (i.e., a-MCI, na-MCI, cognitively healthy) was also determined.Results: The prevalence of MCRs was higher, when compared to the prevalence of MCRf (12.0% versus 6.2% with P ≤ 0.001). There existed infrequent overlap (2.4%) between individuals exhibiting MCRs and MCRf, and frequent overlap between individuals exhibiting MCRs and na-MCI (up to 50%). a-MCI and na-MCI were negatively [odd ratios (OR) ≤ 0.17 with P ≤ 0.019] and positively (OR ≥ 2.41 with P ≤ 0.019) related to MCRs, respectively.Conclusion: Individuals with MCRf are distinct from those with MCRs. MCRf status does not relate to MCI status in the same way that MCRs does. MCRs is related negatively to a-MCI and positively to na-MCI. These results suggest that FTTS cannot be used to define MCR when the goal is to predict the risk of cognitive decline, such as future dementia

Cerebrovascular pressure reactivity and brain tissue oxygen monitoring provide complementary information regarding the lower and upper limits of cerebral blood flow control in traumatic brain injury : a CAnadian High Resolution-TBI (CAHR-TBI) cohort study

Background: Brain tissue oxygen tension (PbtO2) and cerebrovascular pressure reac-tivity monitoring have emerged as potential modalities to individualize care in moder-ate and severe traumatic brain injury (TBI). The relationship between these modalities has had limited exploration. The aim of this study was to examine the relationship between PbtO(2) and cerebral perfusion pressure (CPP) and how this relationship is modified by the state of cerebrovascular pressure reactivity.Methods: A retrospective multi-institution cohort study utilizing prospectively collected high-resolution physiologic data from the CAnadian High Resolution-TBI (CAHR-TBI) Research Collaborative database collected between 2011 and 2021 was performed. Included in the study were critically ill TBI patients with intracranial pres-sure (ICP), arterial blood pressure (ABP), and PbtO(2) monitoring treated in any one of three CAHR-TBI affiliated adult intensive care units (ICU). The outcome of interest was how PbtO2 and CPP are related over a cohort of TBI patients and how this relationship is modified by the state of cerebrovascular reactivity, as determined using the pressure reactivity index (PRx).Results: A total of 77 patients met the study inclusion criteria with a total of 377,744 min of physiologic data available for the analysis. PbtO2 produced a triphasic curve when plotted against CPP like previous population-based plots of cerebral blood flow (CBF) versus CPP. The triphasic curve included a plateau region flanked by regions of relative ischemia (hypoxia) and hyperemia (hyperoxia). The plateau region shortened when cerebrovascular pressure reactivity was disrupted compared to when it was intact.Conclusions: In this exploratory analysis of a multi-institution high-resolution physiology TBI database, PbtO(2) seems to have a triphasic relationship with CPP, over the entire cohort. The CPP range over which the plateau exists is modified by the state of cerebrovascular reactivity. This indicates that in critically ill TBI patients admitted to ICU, PbtO2 may be reflective of CBF.Peer reviewe

PLEXdb: gene expression resources for plants and plant pathogens

PLEXdb (http://www.plexdb.org), in partnership with community databases, supports comparisons of gene expression across multiple plant and pathogen species, promoting individuals and/or consortia to upload genome-scale data sets to contrast them to previously archived data. These analyses facilitate the interpretation of structure, function and regulation of genes in economically important plants. A list of Gene Atlas experiments highlights data sets that give responses across different developmental stages, conditions and tissues. Tools at PLEXdb allow users to perform complex analyses quickly and easily. The Model Genome Interrogator (MGI) tool supports mapping gene lists onto corresponding genes from model plant organisms, including rice and Arabidopsis. MGI predicts homologies, displays gene structures and supporting information for annotated genes and full-length cDNAs. The gene list-processing wizard guides users through PLEXdb functions for creating, analyzing, annotating and managing gene lists. Users can upload their own lists or create them from the output of PLEXdb tools, and then apply diverse higher level analyses, such as ANOVA and clustering. PLEXdb also provides methods for users to track how gene expression changes across many different experiments using the Gene OscilloScope. This tool can identify interesting expression patterns, such as up-regulation under diverse conditions or checking any gene’s suitability as a steady-state control