Organic acid production in vitro and plant growth promotion in maize under controlled environment by phosphate-solubilizing fluorescent Pseudomonas

BACKGROUND: Phosphorus deficiency is a major constraint to crop production due to rapid binding of the applied phosphorus into fixed forms not available to the plants. Microbial solubilization of inorganic phosphates has been attributed mainly to the production of organic acids. Phosphate-solubilizing microorganisms enhance plant growth under conditions of poor phosphorus availability by solubilizing insoluble phosphates in the soil. This paper describes the production of organic acids during inorganic phosphate solubilization and influence on plant growth as a function of phosphate solubilization by fluorescent Pseudomonas. RESULTS: Nineteen phosphate-solubilizing fluorescent Pseudomonas strains of P. fluorescens, P. poae, P. trivialis, and Pseudomonas spp. produced gluconic acid, oxalic acid, 2-ketogluconic acid, lactic acid, succinic acid, formic acid, citric acid and malic acid in the culture filtrates during the solubilization of tricalcium phosphate, Mussoorie rock phosphate, Udaipur rock phosphate and North Carolina rock phosphate. The strains differed quantitatively and qualitatively in the production of organic acids during solubilization of phosphate substrates. Cluster analysis based on organic acid profiling revealed inter-species and intra-species variation in organic acids produced by Pseudomonas strains. The phosphate-solubilizing bacterial treatments P. trivialis BIHB 745, P. trivialis BIHB 747, Pseudomonas sp. BIHB 756 and P. poae BIHB 808 resulted in significantly higher or statistically at par growth and total N, P and K content over single super phosphate treatment in maize. These treatments also significantly affected pH, organic matter, and N, P, and K content of the soil. CONCLUSION: The results implied that organic acid production by Pseudomonas strains is independent of their genetic relatedness and each strain has its own ability of producing organic acids during the solubilization of inorganic phosphates. Significant difference in plant growth promotion by efficient phosphate-solubilizing Pseudomonas strains point at the need for selecting potential strains in plant growth promotion experiments in conjunction with various phosphate substrates for their targeted application as bioinoculants

Experimental Detection of Non-local Correlations using a Local Measurement-Based Hierarchy on an NMR Quantum Processor

The non-local nature of the correlations possessed by quantum systems may be revealed by experimental demonstrations of the violation of Bell-type inequalities. Recent work has placed bounds on the correlations that quantum systems can possess in an actual experiment. These bounds were limited to a composite quantum system comprising of a few lower-dimensional subsystems. In a more general approach, it has been shown that fewer body correlations can reveal the non-local nature of the correlations arising from a quantum mechanical description of nature. Such tests on the correlations can be transformed to a semi-definite program (SDP). This study reports the experimental implementation of a local measurement-based hierarchy on the nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) hardware utilizing three nuclear spins as qubits. The protocol has been experimentally tested on genuinely entangled tripartite states such as W state, GHZ state and a few graph states. In all the cases, the experimentally measured correlations were used to formulate the SDP, using linear constraints on the entries of the moment matrix. We observed that for each genuinely entangled state, the SDP failed to find a semi-definite positive moment matrix consistent with the experimental data. This implies that the observed correlations can not arise from local measurements on a separable state and are hence non-local in nature, and also confirms that the states being tested are indeed entangled.Comment: Minor changes made, experimental fidelities recomputed, minor text modification

Effect of troponin C on the cooperativity in Ca2+ activation of cardiac muscle

AbstractThis study describes the effects of exchanging native cardiac troponin C (CTnC) from the right ventricular muscle of Syrian hamster for purified skeletal (S) TnC from fast twitch muscles in triggering cardiac contraction. Ca2+ sensitivity of the myocardium became decreased with STnC to 62% of the original value with CTnC. Furthermore, the slope of the pCa-force curve of cardiac muscle was found to be increased with STnC. The results show that the TnC moiety, as part of the switching mechanism during activation, also regulates thin-filament cooperativity in muscle. Modifications in both the Ca2+ sensitivity and cooperativity are associated with alterations in the primary structure of TnC

Synthesis of novel antimicrobial aryl himachalene derivatives from naturally occurring himachalenes

Five new 2,9,9-trimethyl-6,7,8,9-tetrahydro-benzocyclohepten-5-ylidene-amine derivatives (16a-16e) were synthesized from α-dehydro-ar-himachalene (11) that was originally prepared from an isomeric mixture of α, β and γ himachalenes (10), the abundant sesquiterpenes of Cedrus deodara essential oil. In addition, different aryl himachalenes derivatives (9, 12, 14 and 15) were also formed from 11. The structures of the synthesized compounds were confirmed on the basis of their NMR, IR and mass spectral data. The prepared compounds were tested against a group of sixteen organisms including gram positive and gram negative bacterial and fungal strains. The introduction of a series of substituted imine groups into aryl himachalenes at 5th position (16a-16e) enhanced antimicrobial activity as compared to the aromatized derivatives (9, 12, 14 and 15) against gram-positive bacteria Bacillus subtilis, Micrococcus luteus and Staphylococcus aureus, and mycotoxigenic fungi Aspergillus parasiticus, A. ochraceous and A. sydowii

Sex‐ and age‐based differences in the natural history and outcome of dilated cardiomyopathy

Aim: To evaluate the relationship between sex, age and outcome in dilated cardiomyopathy (DCM). Methods and results: We used proportional hazard modelling to examine the association between sex, age and all‐cause mortality in consecutive patients with DCM. Overall, 881 patients (290 women, median age 52 years) were followed for a median of 4.9 years. Women were more likely to present with heart failure (64.0% vs. 54.5%; P = 0.007) and had more severe symptoms (P 60 years of age was driven by non‐sudden death. Conclusion: Women with DCM have better survival compared to men, which may partly be due to less severe left ventricular dysfunction and a smaller scar burden. There is increased mortality driven by non‐sudden death in patients >60 years of age that is less marked in women. Outcomes with contemporary treatment were favourable, with a low incidence of sudden death

A randomized clinical trial indicates that levamisole increases the time to relapse in children with steroid-sensitive idiopathic nephrotic syndrome

Levamisole has been considered the least toxic and least expensive steroid-sparing drug for preventing relapses of steroid-sensitive idiopathic nephrotic syndrome (SSINS). However, evidence for this is limited as previous randomized clinical trials were found to have methodological limitations. Therefore, we conducted an international multicenter, placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trial to reassess its usefulness in prevention of relapses in children with SSINS. The efficacy and safety of one year of levamisole treatment in children with SSINS and frequent relapses were evaluated. The primary analysis cohort consisted of 99 patients from 6 countries. Between 100 days and 12 months after the start of study medication, the time to relapse (primary endpoint) was significantly increased in the levamisole compared to the placebo group (hazard ratio 0.22 [95% confidence interval 0.11-0.43]). Significantly, after 12 months of treatment, six percent of placebo patients versus 26 percent of levamisole patients were still in remission. During this period, the most frequent serious adverse event (four of 50 patients) possibly related to levamisole was asymptomatic moderate neutropenia, which was reversible spontaneously or after treatment discontinuation. Thus, in children with SSINS and frequent relapses, levamisole prolonged the time to relapse and also prevented recurrence during one year of treatment compared to prednisone alone. However, regular blood controls are necessary for safety issues

Defining the Rhizobium leguminosarum Species Complex

Bacteria currently included in Rhizobium leguminosarum are too diverse to be considered a single species, so we can refer to this as a species complex (the Rlc). We have found 429 publicly available genome sequences that fall within the Rlc and these show that the Rlc is a distinct entity, well separated from other species in the genus. Its sister taxon is R. anhuiense. We constructed a phylogeny based on concatenated sequences of 120 universal (core) genes, and calculated pairwise average nucleotide identity (ANI) between all genomes. From these analyses, we concluded that the Rlc includes 18 distinct genospecies, plus 7 unique strains that are not placed in these genospecies. Each genospecies is separated by a distinct gap in ANI values, usually at approximately 96% ANI, implying that it is a ‘natural’ unit. Five of the genospecies include the type strains of named species: R. laguerreae, R. sophorae, R. ruizarguesonis, “R. indicum” and R. leguminosarum itself. The 16S ribosomal RNA sequence is remarkably diverse within the Rlc, but does not distinguish the genospecies. Partial sequences of housekeeping genes, which have frequently been used to characterize isolate collections, can mostly be assigned unambiguously to a genospecies, but alleles within a genospecies do not always form a clade, so single genes are not a reliable guide to the true phylogeny of the strains. We conclude that access to a large number of genome sequences is a powerful tool for characterizing the diversity of bacteria, and that taxonomic conclusions should be based on all available genome sequences, not just those of type strains

Defining the Rhizobium leguminosarum Species Complex

Bacteria currently included in Rhizobium leguminosarum are too diverse to be considered a single species, so we can refer to this as a species complex (the Rlc). We have found 429 publicly available genome sequences that fall within the Rlc and these show that the Rlc is a distinct entity, well separated from other species in the genus. Its sister taxon is R. anhuiense. We constructed a phylogeny based on concatenated sequences of 120 universal (core) genes, and calculated pairwise average nucleotide identity (ANI) between all genomes. From these analyses, we concluded that the Rlc includes 18 distinct genospecies, plus 7 unique strains that are not placed in these genospecies. Each genospecies is separated by a distinct gap in ANI values, usually at approximately 96% ANI, implying that it is a ‘natural’ unit. Five of the genospecies include the type strains of named species: R. laguerreae, R. sophorae, R. ruizarguesonis, “R. indicum” and R. leguminosarum itself. The 16S ribosomal RNA sequence is remarkably diverse within the Rlc, but does not distinguish the genospecies. Partial sequences of housekeeping genes, which have frequently been used to characterize isolate collections, can mostly be assigned unambiguously to a genospecies, but alleles within a genospecies do not always form a clade, so single genes are not a reliable guide to the true phylogeny of the strains. We conclude that access to a large number of genome sequences is a powerful tool for characterizing the diversity of bacteria, and that taxonomic conclusions should be based on all available genome sequences, not just those of type strains

Large vessel vasculitis

Takayasu arteritis is a chronic granulomatous disease of the aorta and its major branches that usually affects women during the second and third decades of life, but it has been reported in young children. This review details the clinical, pathological and radiological features, differential diagnoses and management of the condition, focusing chiefly on the disease in children. The recent definition of Takayasu arteritis is discussed. The condition should be considered in patients with unexplained arterial hypertension or unexplained inflammatory syndromes without signs of localization. Since the disease may be life-threatening and progressive, early recognition is necessary to initiate appropriate therapy. Patients with persistent ischaemic symptoms including hypertension might benefit from revascularization procedures