Plankton Community as a Bio-indicator of Water Quality in Situ Ciburuy Padalarang, West Bandung Regency, West Java

This research was conducted to determine the water quality of Situ Ciburuy based on the plankton community as water quality bio-indicator. This research used the survey method and the observation result data were analyzed descriptively. The abundance of phytoplankton is about 340 – 8913 ind/L indicates that the abundance of phytoplankton is moderate and the abundance of zooplankton is about 7 – 30 ind/L indicates that the abundance of zooplankton is low. The Simpson diversity index for the phytoplankton group ranged from 0.29 – 0.33 and the Simpson Diversity Index for the zooplankton group ranged from 0.42 – 0.56 while the Simpson Dominance Index for the phytoplankton group ranged from 0.67 – 0.71 and the Simpson Dominance Index for zooplankton ranged from between 0.44 – 0.58 which indicates Situ Ciburuy is in an unstable condition. Based on the value of the Saprobic Index ranged between (-0.2) to (0). Situ Ciburuy belongs to α / β – mesosaprobic phase and categorized in the moderately polluted category.

Amenity trees diversity in selected tertiary institutions within Port Harcourt Metropolis, Rivers State, Nigeria

Trees are a central component of most urban communities, providing diverse benefits such as improving air quality, increasing aesthetic appeal, preventing erosion and providing habitat for wildlife. However, there is inadequate information on the distribution and diversity of these trees within our academic environments. This study investigates the distribution, frequency and species diversity of amenity trees within the main campuses of tertiary institutions in River State, Nigeria. The selected tertiary institutions are University of Port-Harcourt (Institution A) and Rivers State University (Institution B). Five (5) major roads in each campus were randomly selected, and 200m along each road was selected as sample areas. Ten (10) meter was marked from the edge of the road, and complete inventory was taken of all trees within the marked sample area. Diameter at breast height (DBH), crown diameter and tree height were measured. Shannon-Weiner and Simpson diversity index were used to calculate amenity trees diversity, while Margalef specie richness was used to calculate the species index. A total of 539 trees were surveyed on both campuses, comprising 26 different species and 10 families. Casuarina equisetifolia had the highest frequency with 92 trees in B. Simpson diversity index showed higher diversity (D = 0.78) in B amenity trees than A (D = 0.81). Shannon-Weiner species evenness was 0.71 and 0.76 for Institutions A and B respectively. Margalef specie richness index were 2.90 for A and 1.40 for B. This study provides baseline information for ecosystem management of urban forest tree species within campuses. For sustainable management of trees on campuses, frequent inventory and survey should be conducted to establish their abundance, distribution and diversity.

A checklist of gilled mushrooms (Basidiomycota: Agaricomycetes) with diversity analysis in Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary, Assam, India

<p>Hollongapar Gibbon Wildlife Sanctuary is comprised of five distinct compartments. A total of 138 species of gilled mushrooms belonging to 48 genera, 23 families, five orders of the class Agaricomycetes, division Basidiomycota, have been collected and analyzed. The order Agaricales was was found with the highest number of species (113), followed by Russulales (14), Polyporales (5), Cantharellales (4) and Boletales (2). The species <em>Coprinellus disseminatus </em>and <em>Megacollybia rodmani</em> have shown the highest (8.26) and the lowest density (0.05), respectively. A total of 24 species, e.g., <em>Termitomyces albuminosus, Marasmius curreyi, Marasmiellus candidus, Leucocoprinus medioflavus, Mycena leaiana, Hygrocybe miniata, Collybia chrysoropha, Gymnopus confluens</em> were common with frequency percentage of 11.9, whereas <em>Megacollybia rodmani</em> with less frequency percentage (2.4) was found only in few quadrates of the sanctuary. The highly abundant species were <em>Termitomyces medius</em> (91.7) and <em>Coprinellus disseminatus </em>(86.8), and less abundant species were <em>Psilocybe wayanadensis</em> (1.0) and <em>Lepiota</em> sp. (1.0) in the study site. The order of the species richness index (<em>R</em>) compartment wise was 2&gt;3&gt;4&gt;5&gt;1. Both the Shannon diversity index and Simpson diversity index of agarics was maximum (1.88, 0.98) in compartment 2, whereas minimum (1.72, 0.95) in compartment 1 and 5, respectively. Moreover, the compartment 2 was found very much similar with compartment 3 and very less similar with compartment 1.</p><div> </div>

The Extent of Intra-Clonal Genetic Diversity within the Myeloma Clone Is a Predictive Biomarker of Progression and Outcome after Treatment

Multiple myeloma (MM) is a disease characterized by the abnormal proliferation of plasma cells in the bone marrow. We and others have recently demonstrated the existence of different myeloma subclones phylogenetically related to the founding clone. This intra-clonal heterogeneity is the basis for disease progression, treatment resistance, and relapse. However, the clinical and biological relevance of the presence and diversity of different myeloma subclones has not been fully established. In this study, we used whole exome sequencing (WES) plus a pull down of the MYC, IGH, IGL and IGK loci as a tool to analyze the largest series of presenting cases of myeloma (463 patients) to date, which were entered into the Myeloma XI trial (NCT01554852). DNA from both tumor and peripheral blood samples were used in the exome capture protocol following the SureSelect Target Enrichment System for Illumina Paired-End Sequencing Library v1.5. Exome reads were used to call single nucleotide variants (SNVs), indels, translocations, and copy number aberrations. The proportion of tumor cells containing an SNV was inferred. The presence and proportion of subclones were defined in a subset of 437 patients using a genetic algorithm based-tool (GAUCHO), which also calculated different indices of clonal diversity: number of clones, mean pairwise genetic divergence, Shannon and Inverse Simpson diversity index and Berger-Parker dominance index. Based on these results, we aimed to determine the clinical implications of the number of mutations and the subclonal diversity of MM at presentation in progression free (PFS) and overall survival (OS). We found that MM patients with t(14;16) and t(14;20) had more exonic mutations (not including Ig variants) than the rest of samples (median 87 versus 43, p<0.001). Additionally, we found that MM patients with an APOBEC signature or with mutations in ATM/ATR had significantly more mutations than patients without these genetic lesions with a median number of 137 mutations (range 20-569) and 84.5 (range 33-319) respectively (p<0.001). Subsequently, we identified patients with high number of mutations (>59 mutations) that had a worse outcome in terms of OS (2-year OS rate of 71% (95% CI, 63-80%) vs. 82% (95% CI, 78-87%), p=0.02), but not progression free survival (median 22.5 (95% CI 18.7-30.2) vs. 27.5 (95% CI, 25.8-30.5) months, p=0.1) We reported recurrent mutated genes in myeloma with mutations being present at both clonal and subclonal levels (IRF4, RB1, DIS3, BRAF, KRAS, and NRAS), whereas other genes were mutated only at clonal (HIST1H1E, LTB, TP53 or EGR1), or subclonal levels (CYLD, TRAF3, MAX). These results give insights about the differences in mutation acquisition times and potential subclonal fitness. We inferred that the median number of clones present in this myeloma series was 5, and determined the prognostic value of the number and diversity of subclones in MM patients. The prognostic impact of having high number of clones was unclear as no significant differences were found. On the contrary, there was a significant difference in terms of outcome when calculating distinct measurements of subclonal diversity. Briefly, MM patients with high values of inverse Simpson diversity index had a significantly poorer PFS (median 13.2 (95% CI, 9.4-∞) vs. 26.9 months (95% CI, 24-30.2) months, p=0.02) and OS (66% (95% CI, 52-82%) vs. 81% (95% CI, 77-85%) alive at 2-years, p=0.01); and, alternatively, MM patients who did not have a dominant subclone accounting for >25% of MM cells (low values of Berger-Parker Dominance index, n=56) had a significantly shorter PFS than those with a dominant clone accounting for more than 25% of cells with a median of 22 (95% CI, 12.3-26.3) vs. 27.5 months (95% CI, 23.9-30.9) respectively, p=0.02. Our results show that mutational load and subclonal diversity are poor prognostic factors in myeloma. Previous studies from massive-parallel sequencing and single cell analyses of myeloma plasma cells already revealed that myeloma had the features of an evolutionary ecosystem, where different tumour subclones coexist and have differential response to treatment. We have demonstrated in this study that measures of tumor diversity have important clinical consequences. To our knowledge, this is the first time that the use of clonal diversity indices as predictive biomarkers of progression is proposed in haematological malignancies, and more specifically, myeloma. Disclosures Walker: Onyx Pharmaceuticals: Consultancy, Honoraria.