Sugars are under light control during bud burst in Rosa sp.

Bud burst in certain species is conditioned by the luminous environment. With roses, the requirement for light is absolute, and darkness totally inhibits bud burst. Few studies have looked into understanding the action of light on the physiological bud burst processes. Here, we show the impact of light on certain components of glucidic metabolism during bud burst. Measurements were taken on decapitated plants of Rosa hybrida L. ‘Radrazz’ exposed either to darkness, white, blue or R light. Results show that a mobilization of bud and the carrying stem sucrose reserves only takes place in light and accompanies the bud burst. Furthermore, the activity of the RhVI vacuolar acid invertase which contributes to the breakdown of sucrose in the buds, as well as the transcription of the RhVI gene, is reduced in darkness, although it is strongly stimulated by light. The same analysis concerning the RhNAD-SDH gene, coding an NAD-dependent sorbitol dehydrogenase, shows, on the contrary, a strong induction of its transcription in darkness that could reflect the use of survival mechanisms in this condition

Plant responses to red and far-red lights, applications in horticulture

Light drives plant growth and development, so its control is increasingly used as an environment-friendly tool to manage horticultural crops. However, this implies a comprehensive view of the main physiological processes under light control, and bridging knowledge gaps. This review presents the state of the art in i) perception of red (R) and far-red (FR) wavelengths and of the R:FR ratio by plants, ii) phenotypic plant responses, and iii) the molecular mechanisms related to these responses. Changes in red or far red radiation and R:FR ratios are perceived by phytochromes. Phytochrome-mediated regulation is complex and specific to each physiological process. Our review presents the effects of red and far-red lights on germination, aerial architectural development, flowering, photosynthesis and plant nutrition. It also addresses how red and far-red radiations interact with tolerance to drought, pathogens and herbivores. Current knowledge about the mechanisms whereby red, far-red and R:FR regulate these different processes is presented. The specific actors of light signal transduction are better known for germination or flowering than for other processes such as internode elongation or bud outgrowth. The phenotypic response to red, far-red and R:FR can vary among species, but also with growing conditions. The mechanisms underlying these differences in plant responses still need to be unveiled. Current knowledge about plants\u27 response to light is being applied in horticulture to improve crop yield and quality. To that purpose, it is now possible to manipulate light quality thanks to recent technological evolutions such as the development of photo-selective films and light-emitting diodes

Human Mesenchymal Stem Cells Protect Human Islets from Pro-Inflammatory Cytokines

Transplantation of human islets is an attractive alternative to daily insulin injections for patients with type 1 diabetes. However, the majority of islet recipients lose graft function within five years. Inflammation is a primary contributor to graft loss, and inhibiting pro-inflammatory cytokine activity can reverse inflammation mediated dysfunction of islet grafts. As mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) possess numerous immunoregulatory properties, we hypothesized that MSCs could protect human islets from pro-inflammatory cytokines. Five hundred human islets were co-cultured with 0.5 or 1.0×106 human MSCs derived from bone marrow or pancreas for 24 hours followed by 48 hour exposure to interferon-γ, tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin 1β. Controls include islets cultured alone (± cytokines) and with human dermal fibroblasts (± cytokines). For all conditions, glucose stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS), total islet cellular insulin content, islet β cell apoptosis, and potential cytoprotective factors secreted in the culture media were determined. Cytokine exposure disrupted human islet GSIS based on stimulation index and percentage insulin secretion. Conversely, culture with 1.0×106 bMSCs preserved GSIS from cytokine treated islets. Protective effects were not observed with fibroblasts, indicating that preservation of human islet GSIS after exposure to pro-inflammatory cytokines is MSC dependent. Islet β cell apoptosis was observed in the presence of cytokines; however, culture of bMSCs with islets prevented β cell apoptosis after cytokine treatment. Hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) as well as matrix metalloproteinases 2 and 9 were also identified as putative secreted cytoprotective factors; however, other secreted factors likely play a role in protection. This study, therefore, demonstrates that MSCs may be beneficial for islet engraftment by promoting cell survival and reduced inflammation

Cystatin C: A Candidate Biomarker for Amyotrophic Lateral Sclerosis

Amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) is a fatal neurologic disease characterized by progressive motor neuron degeneration. Clinical disease management is hindered by both a lengthy diagnostic process and the absence of effective treatments. Reliable panels of diagnostic, surrogate, and prognostic biomarkers are needed to accelerate disease diagnosis and expedite drug development. The cysteine protease inhibitor cystatin C has recently gained interest as a candidate diagnostic biomarker for ALS, but further studies are required to fully characterize its biomarker utility. We used quantitative enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to assess initial and longitudinal cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) and plasma cystatin C levels in 104 ALS patients and controls. Cystatin C levels in ALS patients were significantly elevated in plasma and reduced in CSF compared to healthy controls, but did not differ significantly from neurologic disease controls. In addition, the direction of longitudinal change in CSF cystatin C levels correlated to the rate of ALS disease progression, and initial CSF cystatin C levels were predictive of patient survival, suggesting that cystatin C may function as a surrogate marker of disease progression and survival. These data verify prior results for reduced cystatin C levels in the CSF of ALS patients, identify increased cystatin C levels in the plasma of ALS patients, and reveal correlations between CSF cystatin C levels to both ALS disease progression and patient survival

The Antidiabetic Effect of MSCs Is Not Impaired by Insulin Prophylaxis and Is Not Improved by a Second Dose of Cells

Type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1D) is due to autoimmune destruction of pancreatic beta-cells. Previously, we have shown that intravenously administered bone marrow-derived multipotent mesenchymal stromal cells (MSCs) allows pancreatic islet recovery, improves insulin secretion and reverts hyperglycemia in low doses streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetic mice. Here we evaluate whether insulin prophylaxis and the administration of a second dose of cells affect the antidiabetic therapeutic effect of MSC transplantation. Insulitis and subsequent elimination of pancreatic beta-cells was promoted in C57BL/6 mice by the injection of 40 mg/kg/day STZ for five days. Twenty-four days later, diabetic mice were distributed into experimental groups according to if they received or not insulin and/or one or two doses of healthy donor-derived MSCs. Three and half months later: glycemia, pancreatic islets number, insulinemia, glycated hemoglobin level and glucose tolerance were determined in animals that did not received exogenous insulin for the last 1.5 months. Also, we characterized MSCs isolated from mice healthy or diabetic. The therapeutic effect of MSC transplantation was observed in diabetic mice that received or not insulin prophylaxis. Improvements were similar irrespective if they received one or two doses of cells. Compared to MSCs from healthy mice, MSCs from diabetic mice had the same proliferation and adipogenic potentials, but were less abundant, with altered immunophenotype and no osteogenic potential

Descriptors of Posidonia oceanica meadows: Use and application

The conservation of the coastal marine environment requires the possession of information that enables the global quality of the environment to be evaluated reliably and relatively quickly. The use of biological indicators is often an appropriate method. Seagrasses in general, and Posidonia oceanica meadows in particular, are considered to be appropriate for biomonitoring because of their wide distribution, reasonable size, sedentary habit, easy collection and abundance and sensitivity to modifications of littoral zone. Reasoned management, on the scale of the whole Mediterranean basin, requires standardized methods of study, to be applied by both researchers and administrators, enabling comparable results to be obtained. This paper synthesises the existing methods applied to monitor P. oceanica meadows, identifies the most suitable techniques and suggests future research directions. From the results of a questionnaire, distributed to all the identified laboratories working on this topic, a list of the most commonly used descriptors was drawn up, together with the related research techniques (e.g. standardization, interest and limits, valuation of the results). It seems that the techniques used to study meadows are rather similar, but rarely identical, even though the various teams often refer to previously published works. This paper shows the interest of a practical guide that describes, in a standardized way, the most useful techniques enabling P. oceanica meadows to be used as an environmental descriptor. Indeed, it constitutes the first stage in the process. (c) 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.Peer reviewe

Dynamics of a COVID-19 Model with a Nonlinear Incidence Rate, Quarantine, Media Effects, and Number of Hospital Beds

In many countries the COVID-19 pandemic seems to witness second and third waves with dire consequences on human lives and economies. Given this situation the modeling of the transmission of the disease is still the subject of research with the ultimate goal of understanding the dynamics of the disease and assessing the efficacy of different mitigation strategies undertaken by the affected countries. We propose a mathematical model for COVID-19 transmission. The model is structured upon five classes: an individual can be susceptible, exposed, infectious, quarantined or removed. The model is based on a nonlinear incidence rate, takes into account the influence of media on public behavior, and assumes the recovery rate to be dependent on the hospital-beds to population ratio. A detailed analysis of the proposed model is carried out, including the existence and uniqueness of solutions, stability analysis of the disease-free equilibrium (symmetry) and sensitivity analysis. We found that if the basic reproduction number is less than unity the system can exhibit Hopf and backward bifurcations for some range of parameters. Numerical simulations using parameter values fitted to Saudi Arabia are carried out to support the theoretical proofs and to analyze the effects of hospital-beds to population ratio, quarantine, and media effects on the predicted nonlinear behavior