scholarly journals A qualitative study of the nodulating ability of legumes of Pakistan

2014 ◽  
Vol 66 (3-4) ◽  
pp. 387-391
Author(s):  
Mohammad Athar

<em>Legume-Rhizobium</em> symbiosis accumulates substantial amounts of mineralizable nitrogen which help in ecological rehabilitation of degraded soils and increase the soil fertility in agricultural ecosystem. Nodulation was studied in 72 legume species from various parts of Pakistan. All the species of <em>Papilionoideae</em> and <em>Mimosoideae</em> were nodulated whereas all the species examined in <em>Caesalpinioideae</em> were non-nodulated. Attempts to elicit nodulation in <em>Caesalpinioid</em> species by rhizobial inoculation were not successful and they were accepted as lacking nodulating ability. Nodulation is reported for the first time in 6 species within 3 genera of <em>Mimosoideae</em> and 9 species within 5 genera of <em>Papilionoideae</em>. Majority of the species were abundantly nodulated under natural soil conditions or when grown in uninoculated garden soil indicating distribution of wide range of naturalized rhizobia. The study shows that the wild legumes hold great promise for inclusion in revegetation of denuded and derelict ecosystems.

2013 ◽  
Vol 8 (No. 4) ◽  
pp. 151-157 ◽  
Author(s):  
Š. Dlouhá ◽  
E. Petrovský ◽  
A. Kapička ◽  
L. Borůvka ◽  
Ch. Ash ◽  
...  

Serious pollution of alluvial soils by a wide range of potentially toxic elements is usually observed in the valleys with mining and metallurgical industry. To outline areas of increased risk elements inputs, measurements of soil magnetic susceptibility can be used. This method is based on the measurement of the concentration of ferrimagnetic minerals of anthropogenic origin, mainly iron oxides, which are closely associated with risk elements such as heavy metals. The aim of this study is to examine the link between magnetic susceptibility of poorly drained Litavka River alluvial soils located in the mining/smelting region of Př&iacute;bram (Czech Republic) and the observed high concentration of risk elements in soils. Surface volume magnetic susceptibility and the vertical distribution of magnetic susceptibility in soil profiles were measured in situ. On the basis of field measurements, selected parts of soil cores were sampled for a detailed magnetic and chemical analysis. Our results demonstrate a statistically significant correlation between magnetic susceptibility and soil concentration of Cu, Pb, and Zn. The magnetically enhanced soil layer, relatively low frequency-dependent susceptibility, presence of Verwey transition, and scanning electron microscope observations suggested a prevalence of coarse magnetite/maghemite, likely of anthropogenic origin. However, the magnetic properties in-situ also reflected the natural soil conditions and soil processes. The high content of organic matter, varying reductive/oxidative condition, and vertical migration of magnetic phases were the main factors influencing the observed magnetic susceptibility values.


Cells ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (8) ◽  
pp. 1786 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mingming Liang ◽  
Tingting Sui ◽  
Zhiquan Liu ◽  
Mao Chen ◽  
Hongmei Liu ◽  
...  

The CRISPR/nCas9-based cytosine base editors (CBEs) and adenine base editors (ABEs) are capable of catalyzing C•G to T•A or A•T to G•C conversions, respectively, and have become new, powerful tools for achieving precise genetic changes in a wide range of organisms. These base editors hold great promise for correcting pathogenic mutations and for being used for therapeutic applications. However, the recognition of cognate DNA sequences near their target sites can cause severe off-target effects that greatly limit their clinical applications, and this is an urgent problem that needs to be resolved for base editing systems. The recently discovered phage-derived proteins, anti-CRISPRs, which can suppress the natural CRISPR nuclease activity, may be able to ameliorate the off-target effects of base editing systems. Here, we confirm for the first time that AcrIIA2, AcrIIA4, and AcrIIA5 efficiently inhibit base editing systems in human cells. In particular, AcrIIA5 has a significant inhibitory effect on all base editing variant systems tested in our study. We further show that the off-target effects of BE3 and ABE7.10 were significantly reduced in AcrIIA5 treated cells. This study suggests that AcrIIA5 should be widely used for the precise control of base editing and to thoroughly “shut off” nuclease activity of both CBE and ABE systems.


2020 ◽  
pp. 63-72
Author(s):  
Yu. Olefir ◽  
E. Sakanyan ◽  
I. Osipova ◽  
V. Dobrynin ◽  
M. Smirnova ◽  
...  

The entry of a wide range of biotechnological products into the pharmaceutical market calls for rein-forcement of the quality, efficacy and safety standards at the state level. The following general monographs have been elaborated for the first time to be included into the State Pharmacopoeia of the Russian Federation, XIV edition: "Viral safety" and "Reduction of the risk of transmitting animal spongiform encephalopathy via medicinal products". These general monographs were elaborated taking into account the requirements of foreign pharmacopoeias and the WHO recommendations. The present paper summarises the key aspects of the monographs.


2016 ◽  
Vol 5 (11) ◽  
pp. 5110
Author(s):  
Sartaj Ahmad Allayie ◽  
Mushtaq Ahmed Parray* ◽  
Bilal Ahmad Bhat ◽  
S. Hemalatha

The use of traditional medicines holds a great promise as an easily available source as effective medicinal agents to cure a wide range of ailments among the people particularly in tropical developing countries like India. The present study investigates the qualitative and quantitative analysis of the major bioactive constituents of N. crenulata leaf extracts. The extractive values of aqueous, acetone and chloroform extracts were found to be 11.34, 4.24 and 6.06 respectively. Qualitative phytochemical analysis of these three solvent extracts confirm the presence of Alkaloids, Saponins, Flavonoids and Phenolic compounds in all the three extracts; however, these phytochemicals were more significant in aqueous extract. Quantitative analysis was carried out using TLC method by different solvent system. Amongst various solvent systems, Butanol: acetic acid: water (9: 0.9: 0.1 v/v/v) shows maximum resolution and number of spots produced at long UV (365 nm) and under iodine vapours. The TLC chromatograms constituted different coloured phytochemical compounds with different Rf values. It can be conveniently used to evaluate the quality of different area samples. This indicates that the leaves can be useful for treating different diseases because the therapeutic activity of a plant is due to the presence of particular class of compounds and thus can serve as potential sources of useful drugs in future.


Author(s):  
Petros Bouras-Vallianatos

Byzantine medicine is still a little-known and misrepresented field not only in the wider arena of debates on medieval medicine but also among Byzantinists. Byzantine medical literature is often viewed as ‘stagnant’ and mainly preserving ancient ideas; and our knowledge of it continues to be based to a great extent on the comments of earlier authorities, which are often repeated uncritically. This book presents the first comprehensive examination of the medical corpus of, arguably, the most important late Byzantine physician John Zacharias Aktouarios (c.1275–c.1330). The main thesis is that John’s medical works show an astonishing degree of openness to knowledge from outside Byzantium combined with a significant degree of originality, in particular, in the fields of uroscopy, pharmacology, and human physiology. The analysis of John’s edited (On Urines and On Psychic Pneuma) and unedited (Medical Epitome) works is supported for the first time by the consultation of a large number of manuscripts. The study is also informed by evidence from a wide range of medical sources, including previously unpublished ones, and texts from other genres, such as epistolography and merchants’ accounts. The contextualization of John’s works sheds new light on the development of Byzantine medical thought and practice, and enhances our understanding of the late Byzantine social and intellectual landscape. Finally, John’s medical observations are also examined in the light of examples from the medieval Latin and Islamic worlds, placing his medical theories in the wider Mediterranean milieu and highlighting the cultural exchange between Byzantium and its neighbours.


Author(s):  
Noel Malcolm

This book of essays covers a wide range of topics in the history of Albania and Kosovo. Many of the essays illuminate connections between the Albanian lands and external powers and interests, whether political, military, diplomatic or religious. Such topics include the Habsburg invasion of Kosovo in 1689, the manoeuvrings of Britain and France towards the Albanian lands during the Napoleonic Wars, the British interest in those lands in the late nineteenth century, and the Balkan War of 1912. On the religious side, essays examine ‘crypto-Christianity’ in Kosovo during the Ottoman period, the stories of conversion to Islam revealed by Inquisition records, the first theological treatise written in Albanian (1685), and the work of the ‘Apostolic Delegate’ who reformed the Catholic Church in early twentieth-century Albania. Some essays bring to life ordinary individuals hitherto unknown to history: women hauled before the Inquisition, for example, or the author of the first Albanian autobiography. The longest essay, on Ali Pasha, tells for the first time the full story of the role he played in the international politics of the Napoleonic Wars. Some of these studies have been printed before (several in hard-to-find publications, and one only in Albanian), but the greater part of this book appears here for the first time. This is not only a contribution to Albanian and Balkan history it also engages with many broader issues, including religious conversion, methods of enslavement within the Ottoman Empire, and the nature of modern myth-making about national identity.


The recycling and reuse of materials and objects were extensive in the past, but have rarely been embedded into models of the economy; even more rarely has any attempt been made to assess the scale of these practices. Recent developments, including the use of large datasets, computational modelling, and high-resolution analytical chemistry, are increasingly offering the means to reconstruct recycling and reuse, and even to approach the thorny matter of quantification. Growing scholarly interest in the topic has also led to an increasing recognition of these practices from those employing more traditional methodological approaches, which are sometimes coupled with innovative archaeological theory. Thanks to these efforts, it has been possible for the first time in this volume to draw together archaeological case studies on the recycling and reuse of a wide range of materials, from papyri and textiles, to amphorae, metals and glass, building materials and statuary. Recycling and reuse occur at a range of site types, and often in contexts which cross-cut material categories, or move from one object category to another. The volume focuses principally on the Roman Imperial and late antique world, over a broad geographical span ranging from Britain to North Africa and the East Mediterranean. Last, but not least, the volume is unique in focusing upon these activities as a part of the status quo, and not just as a response to crisis.


1998 ◽  
Vol 162 ◽  
pp. 100-105
Author(s):  
Andrew J. Norton ◽  
Mark H. Jones

The Open University is the UK's foremost distance teaching university. For over twenty five years we have been presenting courses to students spanning a wide range of degree level and vocational subjects. Since we have no pre-requisites for entry, a major component of our course profile is a selection of foundation courses comprising one each in the Arts, Social Science, Mathematics, Technology and Science faculties. The Science Faculty's foundation course is currently undergoing a substantial revision. The new course, entitled “S103: Discovering Science”, will be presented to students for the first time in 1998.


Metabolites ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (8) ◽  
pp. 481
Author(s):  
Gemma G. Martínez-García ◽  
Raúl F. Pérez ◽  
Álvaro F. Fernández ◽  
Sylvere Durand ◽  
Guido Kroemer ◽  
...  

Autophagy is an essential protective mechanism that allows mammalian cells to cope with a variety of stressors and contributes to maintaining cellular and tissue homeostasis. Due to these crucial roles and also to the fact that autophagy malfunction has been described in a wide range of pathologies, an increasing number of in vivo studies involving animal models targeting autophagy genes have been developed. In mammals, total autophagy inactivation is lethal, and constitutive knockout models lacking effectors of this route are not viable, which has hindered so far the analysis of the consequences of a systemic autophagy decline. Here, we take advantage of atg4b−/− mice, an autophagy-deficient model with only partial disruption of the process, to assess the effects of systemic reduction of autophagy on the metabolome. We describe for the first time the metabolic footprint of systemic autophagy decline, showing that impaired autophagy results in highly tissue-dependent alterations that are more accentuated in the skeletal muscle and plasma. These changes, which include changes in the levels of amino-acids, lipids, or nucleosides, sometimes resemble those that are frequently described in conditions like aging, obesity, or cardiac damage. We also discuss different hypotheses on how impaired autophagy may affect the metabolism of several tissues in mammals.


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Evdoxia Efstathiadou ◽  
Georgia Ntatsi ◽  
Dimitrios Savvas ◽  
Anastasia P. Tampakaki

AbstractPhaseolus vulgaris (L.), commonly known as bean or common bean, is considered a promiscuous legume host since it forms nodules with diverse rhizobial species and symbiovars. Most of the common bean nodulating rhizobia are mainly affiliated to the genus Rhizobium, though strains belonging to Ensifer, Pararhizobium, Mesorhizobium, Bradyrhizobium, and Burkholderia have also been reported. This is the first report on the characterization of bean-nodulating rhizobia at the species and symbiovar level in Greece. The goals of this research were to isolate and characterize rhizobia nodulating local common bean genotypes grown in five different edaphoclimatic regions of Greece with no rhizobial inoculation history. The genetic diversity of the rhizobial isolates was assessed by BOX-PCR and the phylogenetic affiliation was assessed by multilocus sequence analysis (MLSA) of housekeeping and symbiosis-related genes. A total of fifty fast-growing rhizobial strains were isolated and representative isolates with distinct BOX-PCR fingerpriniting patterns were subjected to phylogenetic analysis. The strains were closely related to R. anhuiense, R. azibense, R. hidalgonense, R. sophoriradicis, and to a putative new genospecies which is provisionally named as Rhizobium sp. I. Most strains belonged to symbiovar phaseoli carrying the α-, γ-a and γ-b alleles of nodC gene, while some of them belonged to symbiovar gallicum. To the best of our knowledge, it is the first time that strains assigned to R. sophoriradicis and harbored the γ-b allele were found in European soils. All strains were able to re-nodulate their original host, indicating that they are true microsymbionts of common bean.


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