Biochemical expression of exudes of a fungal-bacterial bio film during growth and maturation

Biofilms are often complex communities of multiple microbial species and remain attached to surfaces. Fungal-bacterial biofllms are formed when the fungal surface is colonized by one or more species of bacteria. These biofilms can enhance microbial effectiveness compared to the monocultures. Beneficial biofilms can be developed in vitro and be used for various agricultural and biotechnological purposes. As a recent development in biofertilizer research, fungal-rhizobial biofilms have been developed and these are termed biofilmed biofertilizers (BFBFs). This research was focused to investigate chemical composition of compounds exuded during growth and maturation of the biofilms. A developed fungal-bacterial biofilm using an Azotobacter species and a Colletorichum fungal species was used for the study. Exudates of the biofilm, fungal monoculture and bacterial monoculture in solid and liquid states were extracted separately by using three organic solvents; hexane, ethyl acetate and methanol. Extraction was done weekly for four weeks during growth and maturation of the biofllm. Then extracted exudates dissolved in organic solvents were evaporated by using a vortex evaporator. Thereafter crude was mixed with potassium bromide (KBr) and pellets were made. The KBr pellets were analyzed using Fourier Transform Infrared (FTIR) spectroscopy. To evaluate the effect of the exudates of the fungal-bacterial biofilm on seed germination and plant growth in comparison to bacterial and fungal monocultures, a plant assay was done weekly by using lettuce (Lactuca sativa) seeds (N 48). During all four harvests, the fungal-bacterial biofllm produced more diverse functional groups than the mono cultures. The developed biofilm produced carboxylic acids and carboxylic salts, which are associated with plant growth promoting hormones, especially in first and second harvests. Significantly higher plant height and high germination of lettuce with the biofilm exudates could be attributed to above fact. During third and fourth weeks, the biofllm produced more amines and amides than fungal and bacterial mono cultures. This may have contributed to increased pH in biofilm cultures compared to the mono cultures. Thus, it can be concluded that biochemical expression of exudates of fungal-bacterial biofilms during their growth and maturation is very useful for breaking dormancy of seeds and their germination and growth, contributing to high plant productivit

A spatially explicit representation of conservation agriculture for application in global change studies

Conservation agriculture (CA) is widely promoted as a sustainable agricultural management strategy with the potential to alleviate some of the adverse effects of modern, industrial agriculture such as large-scale soil erosion, nutrient leaching and overexploitation of water resources. Moreover, agricultural land managed under CA is proposed to contribute to climate change mitigation and adaptation through reduced emission of greenhouse gases, increased solar radiation reflection, and the sustainable use of soil and water resources. Due to the lack of official reporting schemes, the amount of agricultural land managed under CA systems is uncertain and spatially explicit information about the distribution of CA required for various modeling studies is missing. Here, we present an approach to downscale present-day national-level estimates of CA to a 5 arcminute regular grid, based on multicriteria analysis. We provide a best estimate of CA distribution and an uncertainty range in the form of a low and high estimate of CA distribution, reflecting the inconsistency in CA definitions. We also design two scenarios of the potential future development of CA combining present-day data and an assessment of the potential for implementation using biophysical and socioeconomic factors. By our estimates, 122–215 Mha or 9%–15% of global arable land is currently managed under CA systems. The lower end of the range represents CA as an integrated system of permanent no-tillage, crop residue management and crop rotations, while the high estimate includes a wider range of areas primarily devoted to temporary no-tillage or reduced tillage operations. Our scenario analysis suggests a future potential of CA in the range of 533–1130 Mha (38%–81% of global arable land). Our estimates can be used in various ecosystem modeling applications and are expected to help identifying more realistic climate mitigation and adaptation potentials of agricultural practices

Antifungal susceptibility and phenotypic characterization of oral isolates of a black fungus from a nasopharyngeal carcinoma patient under radiotherapy

10.1186/s12903-015-0023-9BMC Oral Health15

Modelled biophysical impacts of conservation agriculture on local climates

Including the parameterization of land management practices into Earth System Models has been shown to influence the simulation of regional climates, particularly for temperature extremes. However, recent model development has focused on implementing irrigation where other land management practices such as conservation agriculture (CA) has been limited due to the lack of global spatially explicit datasets describing where this form of management is practiced. Here, we implement a representation of CA into the Community Earth System Model and show that the quality of simulated surface energy fluxes improves when including more information on how agricultural land is managed. We also compare the climate response at the subgrid scale where CA is applied. We find that CA generally contributes to local cooling (~1°C) of hot temperature extremes in mid-latitude regions where it is practiced, while over tropical locations CA contributes to local warming (~1°C) due to changes in evapotranspiration dominating the effects of enhanced surface albedo. In particular, changes in the partitioning of evapotranspiration between soil evaporation and transpiration are critical for the sign of the temperature change: a cooling occurs only when the soil moisture retention and associated enhanced transpiration is sufficient to offset the warming from reduced soil evaporation. Finally, we examine the climate change mitigation potential of CA by comparing a simulation with present-day CA extent to a simulation where CA is expanded to all suitable crop areas. Here, our results indicate that while the local temperature response to CA is considerable cooling (>2°C), the grid-scale changes in climate are counteractive due to negative atmospheric feedbacks. Overall, our results underline that CA has a nonnegligible impact on the local climate and that it should therefore be considered in future climate projections

Temporal Evolution of the Migration-related Topics on Social Media?

This poster focuses on capturing the temporal evolution of migration-related topics on relevant tweets. It uses Dynamic Embedded Topic Model (DETM) as a learning algorithm to perform a quantitative and qualitative analysis of these emerging topics. TweetsKB is extended with the extracted Twitter dataset along with the results of DETM which considers temporality. These results are then further analyzed and visualized. It reveals that the trajectories of the migration-related topics are in agreement with historical events

Is minimally invasive surgery safe, to treat significant upper urinary tract obstructive uropathy due to urolithiasis: Single centre experience

Objectives: Upper urinary tract obstruction (UTO) is a urological emergency. Failure in timely intervention results in nephron loss, urosepsis and death. The objective was to assess the safety and efficacy of minimally invasive surgery in UTO.Methods: Prospective Descriptive Study was carried out at professorial surgical unit of Sri Jayewardenepura Hospital. All patients presenting with upper tract urolithiais from January 2014 to January 2015, with significant upper tract obstruction (moderate to severe hydronephrosis) were included. CT KUB±Urogram confirmed the obstructing calculus and the degree of hydronephrosis. Patients with significant UTO were analyzed by presentation, interventions, complications and outcome.Results: Out of 224 patients, 25% (n=57) had significant UTO. Of them 41%, and 14% had Diabetes mellitus and chronic kidney disease respectively. Eighteen patients (32%) had UTO complicated with urosepsis and/or acute kidney injury, out of them each underwent PCN insertion (n=7) and retrograde stenting (n=7) followed by secondary ureteroscopic lasertripsy (URSL) while 4 patients underwent Primary URSL in 4±2 days. Uncomplicated UTO patients (n=39) underwent Percutaneous nephrolithotomy (n=6), primary URSL (n=23), laparoscopic ureterolithotomy (n=8) and open surgery (n=2) as definitive treatment in 32±11 days. Two patients with complicated UTO underwent nephrectomy. There were no intervention related major complications including renal loss or deaths. 95% had fovourable renal recovery by 6 month of follow upConclusions: One in four patients who present with UTO has significant obstruction. Timely management of complicated UTO by immediate urinary diversion or decompression saves lives and kidneys. Significant UTO can be effectively managed with minimally invasive surgical techniques by careful patient selection and prioritization.

Supine percutaneous nephrolithotomy (s-PCNL) as an alternative to conventional prone approach

Objectives: Percutaneous Nephrolithotomy(PCNL) is conventionally performed in the prone position. However supine PCNL(s-PCNL) may be more advantageous in terms of facilitating simultaneous flexible ureterorenoscopy and negating the need for a second percutaneous renal access for complex stones. It may reduce the cardio-respiratory compromise seen in the prone position. We reviewed our experience of performing supine percutaneous nephrolithotomy (s-PCNL) in the management of large or complicated renal calculi.Methods: Data was prospectively collected on 103 consecutive cases of s-PCNL performed at our institution from September 2014 to December 2015. Stone fragmentation was done using Lithoclast Master and inaccessible stones were manipulated simultaneously using a flexible ureterorenoscopy. Stone clearance was assessed with CT-KUB.Results: The mean age and BMI were 53.2 years (range 27 – 81) and 29kg/m2(range 20 – 34), respectively. Calculi size ranged from 16-41 mm (mean 23 mm) which included staghorn, calyceal, diverticular, pelvis and upper ureteric calculi. Lower pole calyx was utilized as the most frequent form of access (63%), followed by upper pole(7%) and interpolar(30%) access. Simultaneous flexible ureterorenoscopy was used in 15% of patients. Median operative time and hospital stay were 80 min (range 40 – 240 min) and 3 days(range 3 – 15 days) respectively. Complications noted were pyrexia, renal derangement and pulmonary embolism (0.97% each). Interval CT KUBs confirmed complete stone clearance in 91% of patients.Conclusions: s-PCNL is safe and effective in treating renal calculi. Patient benefits include a comfortable position, lack of major complications (in our series) and favourable stone clearance rates. We would advocate the supine, extended lithotomy position in centers performing PCNL

Adaptation of the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM-IV Disorders for assessing depression in women during pregnancy and post-partum across countries and cultures

BackgroundTo date, no study has used standardised diagnostic assessment procedures to determine whether rates of perinatal depression vary across cultures.AimsTo adapt the Structured Clinical Interview for DSM–IV Disorders (SCID) for assessing depression and other non-psychotic psychiatric illness perinatally and to pilot the instrument in different centres and cultures.MethodAssessments using the adapted SCID and the Edinburgh Postnatal Depression Scale were conducted during the third trimester of pregnancy and at 6 months postpartum with 296 women from ten sites in eight countries. Point prevalence rates during pregnancy and the postnatal period and adjusted 6-month period prevalence rates were computed for caseness, depression and major depression.ResultsThe third trimester and 6-month point prevalence rates for perinatal depression were 6.9% and 8.0%, respectively. Postnatal 6-month period prevalence rates for perinatal depression ranged from 2.1% to 31.6% across centres and there were significant differences in these rates between centres.ConclusionsStudy findings suggest that the SCID was successfully adapted for this context. Further research on determinants of differences inprevalence of depression across cultures isneeded

Health services research into postnatal depression : results from a preliminary cross-cultural study

Background: Little is known about the availability and uptake of health and welfare services by women with postnatal depression in different countries. Aims: Within the context of a cross- cultural research study, to develop and test methods for undertaking quantitative health services research in postnatal depression. Method: Interviews with service planners and the collation of key health indicators were used to obtain a profile of service availability and provision. A service use questionnaire was developed and administered to a pilot sample in a number of European study centres. Results: Marked differences in service access and use were observed between the centres, including postnatal nursing care and contacts with primary care services.Rates of use of specialist services were generally low.Common barriers to access to care included perceived service quality and responsiveness. On the basis of the pilot work, a postnatal depression version of the Service Receipt Inventory was revised and finalised. Conclusions: This preliminary study demonstrated the methodological feasibility of describing and quantifying service use, highlighted the varied and often limited use of care in this population, and indicated the need for an improved understanding of the resource needs and implications of postnatal depression