Filtrates from cultures of endophytic fungi isolated from leaves of Copaifera oblongifolia (Fabaceae) affect germination and seedling development differently

Interactions between endophytic fungi (EFs) and their host plants range from positive to neutral to negative. The results of such interactions can vary depending on the organ of the infected host plant. EFs isolated from the leaves of some species of plants have potential for use as agents to inhibit seed germination and control invasive plants. The objectives of this study were to identify EFs present in the leaves of Copaifera oblongifolia and to evaluate the role of these fungi in seed germination and seedling development. A total of 11 species of EFs were isolated, which were identified using the internal transcribed spacers (ITS) sequence of the nuclear ribosomal DNA. The isolated species of EFs are generalists and probably are transmitted horizontally. Laboratory tests revealed that filtrates of these fungal isolates differently affect seed germination and seedling development of C. oblongifolia. The species Curvularia intermedia, Neofusicoccum parvum, Pseudofusicoccum stromaticum and Phomopsis sp. negatively affected seed germination, with N. parvum standing out for its negative effects, inhibiting seedling germination and survival in 89 and 222%, respectively. In addition, Cochliobolus intermedius negatively affected seedling development. Thus, the combined use of N. parvum and C. intermedius, or products from the metabolism of these microorganisms, in the control of invasive plants deserves attention from future studies.

Learning Sentence-to-Hashtags Semantic Mapping for Hashtag Recommendation on Microblogs

The growing use of microblogging platforms is generating a huge amount of posts that need effective methods to be classified and searched. In Twitter and other social media platforms, hashtags are exploited by users to facilitate the search, categorization, and spread of posts. Choosing the appropriate hashtags for a post is not always easy for users, and therefore posts are often published without hashtags or with hashtags not well defined. To deal with this issue, we propose a new model, called HASHET ( HAshtag recommendation using Sentence-to-Hashtag Embedding Translation ), aimed at suggesting a relevant set of hashtags for a given post. HASHET is based on two independent latent spaces for embedding the text of a post and the hashtags it contains. A mapping process based on a multi-layer perceptron is then used for learning a translation from the semantic features of the text to the latent representation of its hashtags. We evaluated the effectiveness of two language representation models for sentence embedding and tested different search strategies for semantic expansion, finding out that the combined use of BERT ( Bidirectional Encoder Representation from Transformer ) and a global expansion strategy leads to the best recommendation results. HASHET has been evaluated on two real-world case studies related to the 2016 United States presidential election and COVID-19 pandemic. The results reveal the effectiveness of HASHET in predicting one or more correct hashtags, with an average F -score up to 0.82 and a recommendation hit-rate up to 0.92. Our approach has been compared to the most relevant techniques used in the literature ( generative models , unsupervised models, and attention-based supervised models ) by achieving up to 15% improvement in F -score for the hashtag recommendation task and 9% for the topic discovery task.

Combined Use of Multiple Intravascular Imaging Techniques in Acute Coronary Syndrome

Recent advances in intravascular imaging techniques have made it possible to assess the culprit lesions of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) in the clinical setting. Intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) is the most commonly used intravascular imaging technique that provides cross-sectional images of coronary arteries. IVUS can assess plaque burden and vessel remodeling. Optical coherence tomography (OCT) is a high-resolution (10 μm) intravascular imaging technique that uses near-infrared light. OCT can identify key features of atheroma, such as lipid core and thin fibrous cap. Near-infrared spectroscopy (NIRS) can detect lipid composition by analyzing the near-infrared absorption properties of coronary plaques. NIRS provides a chemogram of the coronary artery wall, which allows for specific quantification of lipid accumulation. These intravascular imaging techniques can depict histological features of plaque rupture, plaque erosion, and calcified nodule in ACS culprit lesions. However, no single imaging technique is perfect and each has its respective strengths and limitations. In this review, we summarize the implications of combined use of multiple intravascular imaging techniques to assess the pathology of ACS and guide lesion-specific treatment.

Dirhodium(II)-Catalyzed Synthesis of N-(Arylsulfonyl)hydrazines by N–H Amination of Aliphatic Amines

This study reports the development of Rh(II)-catalyzed N–N bond-forming reaction of amino acid derivatives or aliphatic amines to provide hydrazine derivatives through the combined use of Rh2(esp)2 and [(3,4-dimethoxyphenyl)sulfonylimino]-2,4,6-trimethylphenyliodinane (3,4-(MeO)2C6H3SO2N=IMes). This is the first report of N–H amination of aliphatic amines with metal–nitrene species.

The synergistic effect of minocycline and azole antifungal drugs against Scedosporium and Lomentospora species

Background This study was aimed to determine the potency of Minocycline (MIN) and azoles, including itraconazole (ITR), voriconazole (VOR) and posaconazole (POS) against Scedosporium and Lomentospora species. Results This study revealed that MIN exhibited no significant antifungal activity against any of the tested strains, whereas in vitro combination of MIN with ITR, VOR or POS showed satisfactory synergistic effects against 8 (80%), 1 (10%), and 9 (90%) strains, respectively. Moreover, combined use of MIN with azoles decreased the minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) range from 5.33–16 μg/ml to 1–16 μg/ml for ITR, from 0.42–16 μg/ml to 0.21–16 μg/ml for VOR, and from 1.33–16 μg/ml to 0.33–16 μg/ml for POS. Meanwhile, no antagonistic interactions were observed between the above combinations. The G. mellonella infection model demonstrated the in vivo synergistic antifungal effect of MIN and azoles. Conclusions The present study demonstrated that combinations between MIN and azoles lead to synergistic antimicrobial effects on Scedosporium and Lomentospora species, while showing a potential for overcoming and preventing azole resistance.

An eco-friendly way to protect wheat seeds from phytopathogens

Protecting wheat seed from phytopathogens is a popular topic for plant breeders. The objects requiring close attention and control on wheat are smut infections, pathogens of root rot. And if the pathogens of smut we have learned to fight quite effectively with, then microorganisms that infect underground parts of plants are controlled with less success and many questions in the system of protection against them remain controversial. The issue of reducing the pesticide load on agrocenoses, starting with the protection of seeds, also remains relevant. The article presents the results of field trials of means of protecting spring wheat seeds from root rot in 2019–2020, carried out within the framework of the state assignment at the Kurgan SRIA — branch of FSBSI UrFASRC, according to generally accepted methods. The aim of the research was to assess the biological, economic efficiency of the combined use of a chemical seed dressing agent and a biofungicide based on Bacillus subtilis in protecting wheat from soil-seed infections, to determine the competitiveness of an ecologized method of protecting seeds (reduced consumption rate of a chemical seed dressing agent in combination with biological fungicide). The obtained research results indicate that with a high level of damage to wheat by root rot (Fusarium, B. sorokiniana), the use of seed treatment with the studied preparations ensured the preservation of 10–12% of the yield, more efficiency was noted in the variants with the Oplot 0.5 l/t and the Oplot 0.3 l/t + Nodix Premium 0.3 l/t . The technical effectiveness of fungicides against wheat root rot ranged 44% for Nodix Premium to 85–86% for chemical protection and mixed use. An environmentally friendly method of protecting wheat seeds, which consists in using a 40% lower rate of a chemical dressing agent with a biopesticide, turned out to be competitive.

Short-term starvation synergistically enhances cytotoxicity of Niraparib via Akt/mTOR signaling pathway in ovarian cancer therapy

Background Short-term starvation (STS) has gradually been confirmed as a treatment method that synergistically enhances the effect of chemotherapy on malignant tumours. In clinical applications, there are still some limitations of poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase inhibitors (PARPi), including understanding their effectiveness and side effects. Here, we sought to investigate the effect and mechanism of the combined use of STS and niraparib in the treatment of ovarian cancer. Methods In in vitro experiments, SKOV3 and A2780 ovarian cancer cells were treated with STS and niraparib alone or in combination. Cell viability was assessed with CCK-8, and cell cycle, apoptosis, DNA damage repair and autophagy were examined to explore the molecular mechanisms. Akt and mTOR inhibitors were used to examine any changes in DNA damage repair levels. Xenograft animal models were treated with STS and niraparib, and HE staining and immunohistochemistry were performed to examine the effects. Results The combined use of STS and niraparib inhibited cell proliferation and increased apoptosis more than niraparib application alone. In addition, compared with the niraparib group, the STS + niraparib group had increased G2/M arrest, DNA damage and autophagy, which indicated that STS pretreatment enhanced the cytotoxicity of niraparib. In animal experiments, STS did not affect the growth of transplanted tumours, but the combined treatment synergistically enhanced the cytotoxicity of niraparib. In in vivo experiments, STS did not affect the growth of transplanted tumours, but the combined treatment synergistically enhanced the cytotoxicity of niraparib and reduced the small intestinal side effects caused by niraparib chemotherapy. Conclusion STS pretreatment can synergistically enhance the cytotoxicity of niraparib. STS + niraparib is a potentially effective strategy in the maintenance therapy of ovarian cancer.