Plant growth promotion and Penicillium citrinum

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Endophytic fungi are known plant symbionts. They produce a variety of beneficial metabolites for plant growth and survival, as well as defend their hosts from attack of certain pathogens. Coastal dunes are nutrient deficient and offer harsh, saline environment for the existing flora and fauna. Endophytic fungi may play an important role in plant survival by enhancing nutrient uptake and producing growth-promoting metabolites such as gibberellins and auxins. We screened roots of <it>Ixeris repenes </it>(L.) A. Gray, a common dune plant, for the isolation of gibberellin secreting endophytic fungi.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We isolated 15 endophytic fungi from the roots of <it>Ixeris repenes </it>and screened them for growth promoting secondary metabolites. The fungal isolate IR-3-3 gave maximum plant growth when applied to waito-c rice and <it>Atriplex gemelinii </it>seedlings. Analysis of the culture filtrate of IR-3-3 showed the presence of physiologically active gibberellins, GA₁, GA₃, GA₄and GA₇(1.95 ng/ml, 3.83 ng/ml, 6.03 ng/ml and 2.35 ng/ml, respectively) along with other physiologically inactive GA₅, GA₉, GA₁₂, GA₁₅, GA₁₉, GA₂₀and, GA₂₄. The plant growth promotion and gibberellin producing capacity of IR-3-3 was much higher than the wild type <it>Gibberella fujikuroi</it>, which was taken as control during present study. GA₅, a precursor of bioactive GA₃was reported for the first time in fungi. The fungal isolate IR-3-3 was identified as a new strain of <it>Penicillium citrinum </it>(named as <it>P. citrinum </it>KACC43900) through phylogenetic analysis of 18S rDNA sequence.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Isolation of new strain of <it>Penicillium citrinum </it>from the sand dune flora is interesting as information on the presence of <it>Pencillium </it>species in coastal sand dunes is limited. The plant growth promoting ability of this fungal strain may help in conservation and revegetation of the rapidly eroding sand dune flora. <it>Penicillium citrinum </it>is already known for producing mycotoxin citrinin and cellulose digesting enzymes like cellulase and endoglucanase, as well as xylulase. Gibberellins producing ability of this fungus and the discovery about the presence of GA₅will open new aspects of research and investigations.</p

The origin of proinflammatory cytokines in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy.

Proinflammatory cytokines and their receptors are increased in the peripheral blood of patients with heart failure. We measured cytokines and their receptors in systemic artery (SA), coronary sinus (CS) and infra-renal inferior vena cava (IVC), in order to investigate their origin and influential factors. Thirty patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy were performed echocardiography at admission, and right heart catheterization after stabilization. Blood was drawn from 3 sites for measurement of tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and soluble tumor necrosis factor-alpha receptor (sTNFR) I, II. TNF-alpha at CS (3.25 +/- 0.34 pg/mL) was higher than those of SA (1.81 +/- 0.39 pg/mL) and IVC (1.88 +/- 0.38 pg/mL, p<0.05). IL-6 at CS (18.3 +/- 3.8 pg/mL) was higher than that of SA (5.8 +/- 1.2 pg/mL, p<0.01). The levels of sTNFR I, II showed increasing tendency in sequence of SA, IVC and CS. TNF-alpha and sTNFR I, II from all sites were proportional to worsening of functional classes at admission (p<0.05). E/Ea by Doppler study at admission, which reflects left ventricular end-diastolic pressure (LVEDP) was positively correlated with TNF-alpha from SA (R=0.71, p<0.01), CS (R=0.52, p<0.05) and IVC (R=0.46, p<0.05). Thus, elevated LVEDP during decompensation might cause cytokine release from myocardium in patients with idiopathic dilated cardiomyopathy

Impact of Body Mass Index on the relationship of epicardial adipose tissue to metabolic syndrome and coronary artery disease in an Asian population

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In a previous study, we demonstrated that the thickness of epicardial adipose tissue (EAT), measured by echocardiography, was increased in patients with metabolic syndrome (MS) and coronary artery disease (CAD). Several studies on obese patients, however, failed to demonstrate any relationship between EAT and CAD. We hypothesized that body mass index (BMI) affected the link between EAT and MS and CAD.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We consecutively enrolled 643 patients (302 males, 341 females; 59 ± 11 years), who underwent echocardiography and coronary angiography. The EAT thickness was measured on the free wall of the right ventricle at the end of diastole. All patients were divided into two groups: high BMI group, ≥27 kg/m²(n = 165), and non-high BMI group, < 27 kg/m²(n = 478).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The median and mean EAT thickness of 643 patients were 3.0 mm and 3.1 ± 2.4 mm, respectively. In the non-high BMI group, the median EAT thickness was significantly increased in patients with MS compared to those without MS (3.5 vs. 1.9 mm, p < 0.001). In the high BMI group, however, there was no significant difference in the median EAT thickness between patients with and without MS (3.0 vs. 2.5 mm, p = 0.813). A receiver operating characteristic (ROC) curve analysis predicting MS revealed that the area under the curve (AUC) of the non-high BMI group was significantly larger than that of the high BMI group (0.659 vs. 0.506, p = 0.007). When compared to patients without CAD, patients with CAD in both the non-high and high BMI groups had a significantly higher median EAT thickness (3.5 vs. 1.5 mm, p < 0.001 and 4.0 vs. 2.5 mm, p = 0.001, respectively). However, an ROC curve analysis predicting CAD revealed that the AUC of the non-high BMI group tended to be larger than that of the high BMI group (0.735 vs. 0.657, p = 0.055).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>While EAT thickness was significantly increased in patients with MS and CAD, the power of EAT thickness to predict MS and CAD was stronger in patients with BMI < 27 kg/m². These findings showed that the measurement of EAT thickness by echocardiography might be especially useful in an Asian population with a non-high BMI, less than 27 kg/m².</p

Impact of the Metabolic Syndrome on the Clinical Outcome of Patients with Acute ST-Elevation Myocardial Infarction

We sought to determine the prevalence of metabolic syndrome (MS) in patients with acute myocardial infarction and its effect on clinical outcomes. Employing data from the Korea Acute Myocardial Infarction Registry, a total of 1,990 patients suffered from acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) between November 2005 and December 2006 were categorized according to the National Cholesterol Education Program-Adult Treatment Panel III criteria of MS. Primary study outcomes included major adverse cardiac events (MACE) during one-year follow-up. Patients were grouped based on existence of MS: group I: MS (n=1,182, 777 men, 62.8±12.3 yr); group II: Non-MS (n=808, 675 men, 64.2±13.1 yr). Group I showed lower left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF) (P=0.005). There were no differences between two groups in the coronary angiographic findings except for multivessel involvement (P=0.01). The incidence of in-hospital death was higher in group I than in group II (P=0.047), but the rates of composite MACE during one-year clinical follow-up showed no significant differences. Multivariate analysis showed that low LVEF, old age, MS, low high density lipoprotein cholesterol and multivessel involvement were associated with high in-hospital death rate. In conclusion, MS is an important predictor for in-hospital death in patients with STEMI