Xylanase Production by Fusarium Solani in Solid State Fermentation

Xylanase constitute one of the most important groups of enzymes for commercial use. In the present study, production of xylanase was enhanced using a newly isolated F. solani SyrN7 strain from infected wheat seeds via solid state fermentation (SSF) using wheat bran as substrate. Optimum pH and temperature for enzyme production were found to be 8 and 25 °C, respectively. The wheat bran to mineral solution ratios were tested. The ratio 1:3 (w/v) yielded the highest xylanase production. Among the different nitrogen sources investigated, yeast extract was the best nitrogen source and gave the highest xylanase activity (1593 U/g). The cultivation systems can easily be modified with the above tested features and enhanced the xylanase yield by 3-fold

Efficiency of IRAP and ITS-RFLP marker systems in accessing genetic variation of Pyrenophora graminea

The usefulness of IRAP (inter-retrotransposon amplified polymorphism) and ITS-RFLP (restriction of PCR-amplified internal transcribed spacers of the rDNA) markers in the analysis of 39 Pyrenophora graminea isolates was determined. Each marker system could discriminate between all of the isolates in detecting polymorphism, albeit with variable efficiency. IRAP and ITS-RFLP produced 85% and 77% polymorphic bands, respectively, with a corresponding mean polymorphic information content (PIC) of 0.38 and 0.36. The IRAP marker index ratio (2.41) was higher than ITS-RFLP (1.50). On one hand, the quality nature of data (QND) was higher for ITS-RFLP (0.169) than IRAP (0.093). However, correlation between both marker similarity matrices was significant (r = 0.34, p < 0.05). These findings suggest their combined use in phylogenetic analysis. To our knowledge, this is the first report of a comparison involving these two advanced DNA marker systems

A simple method for assessing antagonistic activity of Bacillus atrophaeus against common root rot of barley

Common root rot (CRR) caused by Cochliobolus sativus (Ito &amp; Kuribayashi) Drechs. ex Dastur is a serious disease of barley causing significant economic losses worldwide. An in vitro technique was developed for assessing directly the antagonistic potential of Bacillus atrophaeus isolate SY15b against CRR on barley. Seeds of the susceptible barely cv. WI 2291 were inoculated by mixing them thoroughly with C. sativus-SY15bsuspension and placed onto 1.5% water agar in sterile Petri dishes for 10 days. Our results demonstrated that B. atrophaeus had significant antagonistic capacities against the CRR by decreasing the percentage of barley infected area of sub-crown internodes (SCIs) as compared to controls after 10 days post incubation. Highly significant correlation coefficients (r = 0.85, P = 0.001) were found between in vitro and pot methods, indicating that in vitro co-culture testing procedure is reliable. The developed method is both simple and precise and could be used directly for a rapid assessment of the antagonistic activity of Bacillus on barley plants under uniform conditions for selecting suitable biocontrol agent against fungal soil-borne pathogens

Differential gene behavior in resistant potato plants challenged with late blight disease

Late blight caused by the fungus Phytophthora infestans, is one of the most important diseases of potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) crop worldwide. However, in spite of its importance, understanding of the pathosystems mediating potato infection by this fungus is still limited. Therefore, to better understand the defense responses initiated by potato resistant plants challenged with P. infestans, expression of six well known defense-related genes were monitored at early four-time points of infection. Time-course experiments revealed notable differences in gene expression patterns during potato-pathogen interaction as compared to the non-infected control. It is noteworthy that both PR3 and StSYR1 have higher constitutive expressions with 6.1 and 8.1 folds, respectively, at 48 and 72 hours post inoculation (hpi) period. It was clear that their expressions were higher at the necrotrophic stage compared with the biotrophic one. According to findings, our data can provide an insight into the signaling pathways that accounts for conventional gene expression changes elicited during potato-P. infestans interactions

Prevalence of Obesity among Students in Private and Public high Schools in Sulaimani City

Background: There is an increasing concern about obesity among children and adolescents worldwide as they constitute 20% of the world population. Several predisposing factors are contributing to the obesity that can be monitored, particularly healthy diet and physical activities. Addressing those factors among children and adolescents lead to decreasing health related conditions. Objective: To investigate the prevalence rate of obesity, sociodemographic, dietary habits, lifestyle and knowledge factors among adolescents attending private and public schools in Sulaimani city, Iraq. Patients and Methods: Through a school-based cross-sectional study from October 2021 to April 2022, a total of 576 students in high schools located in Sulaimani city, Kurdistan Region, Iraq were studied. A structured questionnaire was used to collect information on students’ sociodemographic characteristics, physical activities, dietary habits and knowledge. Body mass index was measured based on WHO Growth Reference for 5 to 19 years of age. Results: The obesity prevalence rate in private schools (36.11%) was higher than public schools (31.6%) (P=0.5890) however, the difference was not statistically significant. The majority of students in private schools exercised more frequently and for a longer duration; however, they ate more red meat, less dairy produce and had a higher fast food intake. Conclusion: The prevalence of obesity is slightly higher among students in private schools than the students in public schools

A New Subblock Segmentation Scheme in Partial Transmit Sequence for Reducing PAPR Value in OFDM Systems

Partial transmit sequence (PTS) is considered an efficient algorithm to alleviate the high peak-to-average power ratio (PAPR) in orthogonal frequency division multiplexing (OFDM) systems. The PTS technique is depended on the partitioning the input data sequence into the several subblocks, and then weighting these subblocks with a group of the phase factors. There are three common types of partitioning schemes: interleaving scheme (IL-PTS), adjacent scheme (Ad-PTS), and pseudo-random scheme (PR-PTS). The three conventional partitioning schemes have various performances of the PAPR value and the computational complexity pattern which are considered the main problems of the OFDM system. In this paper, the three ordinary partition schemes are analyzed and discussed depending on the capability of reducing the PAPR value and the computational complexity. Furthermore, new partitioning scheme is introduced in order to improve the PAPR reduction performance. The simulation results indicated that the PR-PTS scheme could achieve the superiority in PAPR mitigation compared with the rest of the schemes at the expense of increasing the computational complexity. Furthermore, the new segmentation scheme improved the PAPR reduction performance better than that the Ad-PTS and IL-PTS schemes

MiRNA-93: a novel signature in human disorders and drug resistance

miRNA-93 is a member of the miR-106b-25 family and is encoded by a gene on chromosome 7q22.1. They play a role in the etiology of various diseases, including cancer, Parkinson’s disease, hepatic injury, osteoarthritis, acute myocardial infarction, atherosclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis, and chronic kidney disease. Different studies have found that this miRNA has opposing roles in the context of cancer. Recently, miRNA-93 has been downregulated in breast cancer, gastric cancer, colorectal cancer, pancreatic cancer, bladder cancer, cervical cancer, and renal cancer. However, miRNA-93 is up-regulated in a wide variety of malignancies, such as lung, colorectal, glioma, prostate, osteosarcoma, and hepatocellular carcinoma. The aim of the current review is to provide an overview of miRNA-93's function in cancer disorder progression and non-cancer disorders, with a focus on dysregulated signaling pathways. We also give an overview of this miRNA's function as a biomarker of prognosis in cancer and emphasize how it contributes to drug resistance based on in vivo, in vitro, and human studies