Isolation and biochemical characterizations of the bacteria (Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae) associated with red stripe disease of sugarcane

Studies on Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae, associated with red stripe disease of sugarcane was conducted in the Department of Plant Pathology, Pir Mehr Ali Shah Arid Agriculture University Rawalpindi during 2009 to 2010, in collaboration with Shakarganj Sugar Research Institute (SSRI), Jhang, Pakistan. Red stripe of sugarcane were recently observed on promising clones of sugarcane planted in autumn 2009 at Ashaba Research Farm of SSRI. Bacteria were isolated from diseased plants. These isolates yielded off white convex colonies on potato dextrose agar (PDA) media at 29°C with 1.7 to 1.9 mm diameter and were yellow on yeast extract dextrose chalk agar (YDC) media at 27°C with 1.8 to 2.0 mm diameter. The bacteria were rod shape measuring 0.5 to 0.6 × 1.4 to 1.6 μm on PDA and 0.6 to 0.7 × 1.5 to 1.7 μm on YDC. Bacterial culture was stored at different temperature levels for 150 days. Reisolation of bacterial culture which was stored at 4°C showed best result on YDC at 27°C after 150 days, whereas it showed positive result after 120 days on PDA at 29°C. Bacteria were gram negative, citrate utilization was positive, oxidase was negative, catalase was positive and urease was negative. Morphological appearance and biochemical characterizations identified the bacteria as A. avenae subsp. Avenae. In vitro screening for the efficacy of various antibiotics to inhibit the growth of A. avenae subsp. avenae on YDC media showed that ampicillin and vancomycin were most effective. Artificial inoculation on sugarcane against red stripe disease was observed. Observations were made upto six weeks for disease development. Out of 27 varieties, 16 were found resistant, four moderately resistant, five moderately susceptible and two susceptible.Key words: Sugarcane, yeast extract dextrose chalk agar (YDC), potato dextrose agar (PDA), Acidovorax avenae subsp. avenae, biochemical characterization, antibiotics

Degradability of cross-linked polyurethanes based on synthetic polyhydroxybutyrate and modified with polylactide

In many areas of application of conventional non-degradable cross-linked polyurethanes (PUR), there is a need for their degradation under the influence of specific environmental factors. It is practiced by incorporation of sensitive to degradation compounds (usually of natural origin) into the polyurethane structure, or by mixing them with polyurethanes. Cross-linked polyurethanes (with 10 and 30%wt amount of synthetic poly([R,S]-3-hydroxybutyrate) (R,S-PHB) in soft segments) and their physical blends with poly([d,l]-lactide) (PDLLA) were investigated and then degraded under hydrolytic (phosphate buffer solution) and oxidative (CoCl2/H2O2) conditions. The rate of degradation was monitored by changes of samples mass, morphology of surface and their thermal properties. Despite the small weight losses of samples, the changes of thermal properties of polymers and topography of their surface indicated that they were susceptible to gradual degradation under oxidative and hydrolytic conditions. Blends of PDLLA and polyurethane with 30 wt% of R,S-PHB in soft segments and PUR/PDLLA blends absorbed more water and degraded faster than polyurethane with low amount of R,S-PHB

Ranking insertion, deletion and nonsense mutations based on their effect on genetic information

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Genetic variations contribute to normal phenotypic differences as well as diseases, and new sequencing technologies are greatly increasing the capacity to identify these variations. Given the large number of variations now being discovered, computational methods to prioritize the functional importance of genetic variations are of growing interest. Thus far, the focus of computational tools has been mainly on the prediction of the effects of amino acid changing single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) and little attention has been paid to indels or nonsense SNPs that result in premature stop codons.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We propose computational methods to rank insertion-deletion mutations in the coding as well as non-coding regions and nonsense mutations. We rank these variations by measuring the extent of their effect on biological function, based on the assumption that evolutionary conservation reflects function. Using sequence data from budding yeast and human, we show that variations which that we predict to have larger effects segregate at significantly lower allele frequencies, and occur less frequently than expected by chance, indicating stronger purifying selection. Furthermore, we find that insertions, deletions and premature stop codons associated with disease in the human have significantly larger predicted effects than those not associated with disease. Interestingly, the large-effect mutations associated with disease show a similar distribution of predicted effects to that expected for completely random mutations.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>This demonstrates that the evolutionary conservation context of the sequences that harbour insertions, deletions and nonsense mutations can be used to predict and rank the effects of the mutations.</p

Chitin Research Revisited

Two centuries after the discovery of chitin, it is widely accepted that this biopolymer is an important biomaterial in many aspects. Numerous studies on chitin have focused on its biomedical applications. In this review, various aspects of chitin research including sources, structure, biosynthesis, chitinolytic enzyme, chitin binding protein, genetic engineering approach to produce chitin, chitin and evolution, and a wide range of applications in bio- and nanotechnology will be dealt with

Approaches in biotechnological applications of natural polymers

Natural polymers, such as gums and mucilage, are biocompatible, cheap, easily available and non-toxic materials of native origin. These polymers are increasingly preferred over synthetic materials for industrial applications due to their intrinsic properties, as well as they are considered alternative sources of raw materials since they present characteristics of sustainability, biodegradability and biosafety. As definition, gums and mucilages are polysaccharides or complex carbohydrates consisting of one or more monosaccharides or their derivatives linked in bewildering variety of linkages and structures. Natural gums are considered polysaccharides naturally occurring in varieties of plant seeds and exudates, tree or shrub exudates, seaweed extracts, fungi, bacteria, and animal sources. Water-soluble gums, also known as hydrocolloids, are considered exudates and are pathological products; therefore, they do not form a part of cell wall. On the other hand, mucilages are part of cell and physiological products. It is important to highlight that gums represent the largest amounts of polymer materials derived from plants. Gums have enormously large and broad applications in both food and non-food industries, being commonly used as thickening, binding, emulsifying, suspending, stabilizing agents and matrices for drug release in pharmaceutical and cosmetic industries. In the food industry, their gelling properties and the ability to mold edible films and coatings are extensively studied. The use of gums depends on the intrinsic properties that they provide, often at costs below those of synthetic polymers. For upgrading the value of gums, they are being processed into various forms, including the most recent nanomaterials, for various biotechnological applications. Thus, the main natural polymers including galactomannans, cellulose, chitin, agar, carrageenan, alginate, cashew gum, pectin and starch, in addition to the current researches about them are reviewed in this article.. }To the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientfíico e Tecnológico (CNPq) for fellowships (LCBBC and MGCC) and the Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nvíel Superior (CAPES) (PBSA). This study was supported by the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the strategic funding of UID/BIO/04469/2013 unit, the Project RECI/BBB-EBI/0179/2012 (FCOMP-01-0124-FEDER-027462) and COMPETE 2020 (POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006684) (JAT)

Fast T2 gradient-spin-echo (T2-GraSE) mapping for myocardial edema quantification: first in vivo validation in a porcine model of ischemia/reperfusion

BACKGROUND: Several T2-mapping sequences have been recently proposed to quantify myocardial edema by providing T2 relaxation time values. However, no T2-mapping sequence has ever been validated against actual myocardial water content for edema detection. In addition, these T2-mapping sequences are either time-consuming or require specialized software for data acquisition and/or post-processing, factors impeding their routine clinical use. Our objective was to obtain in vivo validation of a sequence for fast and accurate myocardial T2-mapping (T2 gradient-spin-echo [GraSE]) that can be easily integrated in routine protocols. METHODS: The study population comprised 25 pigs. Closed-chest 40 min ischemia/reperfusion was performed in 20 pigs. Pigs were sacrificed at 120 min (n = 5), 24 h (n = 5), 4 days (n = 5) and 7 days (n = 5) after reperfusion, and heart tissue extracted for quantification of myocardial water content. For the evaluation of T2 relaxation time, cardiovascular magnetic resonance (CMR) scans, including T2 turbo-spin-echo (T2-TSE, reference standard) mapping and T2-GraSE mapping, were performed at baseline and at every follow-up until sacrifice. Five additional pigs were sacrificed after baseline CMR study and served as controls. RESULTS: Acquisition of T2-GraSE mapping was significantly (3-fold) faster than conventional T2-TSE mapping. Myocardial T2 relaxation measurements performed by T2-TSE and T2-GraSE mapping demonstrated an almost perfect correlation (R(2) = 0.99) and agreement with no systematic error between techniques. The two T2-mapping sequences showed similarly good correlations with myocardial water content: R(2) = 0.75 and R(2) = 0.73 for T2-TSE and T2-GraSE mapping, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: We present the first in vivo validation of T2-mapping to assess myocardial edema. Given its shorter acquisition time and no requirement for specific software for data acquisition or post-processing, fast T2-GraSE mapping of the myocardium offers an attractive alternative to current CMR sequences for T2 quantification

An open-access database and analysis tool for perovskite solar cells based on the FAIR data principles

AbstractLarge datasets are now ubiquitous as technology enables higher-throughput experiments, but rarely can a research field truly benefit from the research data generated due to inconsistent formatting, undocumented storage or improper dissemination. Here we extract all the meaningful device data from peer-reviewed papers on metal-halide perovskite solar cells published so far and make them available in a database. We collect data from over 42,400 photovoltaic devices with up to 100 parameters per device. We then develop open-source and accessible procedures to analyse the data, providing examples of insights that can be gleaned from the analysis of a large dataset. The database, graphics and analysis tools are made available to the community and will continue to evolve as an open-source initiative. This approach of extensively capturing the progress of an entire field, including sorting, interactive exploration and graphical representation of the data, will be applicable to many fields in materials science, engineering and biosciences.</jats:p

Correction to: Clinical recommendations for cardiovascular magnetic resonance mapping of T1, T2, T2* and extracellular volume: A consensus statement by the Society for Cardiovascular Magnetic Resonance (SCMR) endorsed by the European Association for Cardiovascular Imaging (EACVI).

CORRECTION TO: J CARDIOVASC MAGN RESON (2017) 19: 75. DOI: 10.1186/S12968-017-0389-8: In the original publication of this article [1] the "Competing interests" section was incorrect. The original publication stated the following competing interests