Gibberellins (GAs), which form a large family of phytohormones involved in almost every step of plant life and development, were discovered almost a century ago. The molecular characterization of GA ...metabolism and signalling mechanisms now provides explanations for the multiple crosstalk and the integration of external signals required for plants to adapt their development and growth to environmental conditions. In this review, we present the molecular elements of GA metabolism and signalling pathways, with emphasis on the key role of the GA/GID1/DELLA complex as a conserved developmental integrator. Further, we discuss how the GA signalling pathway, together with feedback regulation on GA metabolism, contributes to the integration of endogenous and exogenous signals to provide an adaptive output.
Gibberellin pathways have emerged as multi‐signals integrators for plant development through complex feedback regulations and cross‐talks.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
SOX8 was linked in a genome-wide association study to human height heritability, but roles in chondrocytes for this close relative of the master chondrogenic transcription factor SOX9 remain unknown. ...We undertook here to fill this knowledge gap. High-throughput assays demonstrate expression of human
and mouse
in growth plate cartilage. In situ assays show that
is expressed at a similar level as
in reserve and early columnar chondrocytes and turned off when
expression peaks in late columnar and prehypertrophic chondrocytes.
mice and
and
mice (inactivation in limb skeletal cells) have a normal or near normal skeletal size. In contrast, juvenile and adult
compound mutants exhibit a 15 to 20% shortening of long bones. Their growth plate reserve chondrocytes progress slowly toward the columnar stage, as witnessed by a delay in down-regulating
expression, in packing in columns and in elevating their proliferation rate.
or
overexpression in chondrocytes reveals not only that SOX8 can promote growth plate cell proliferation and differentiation, even upon inactivation of endogenous
, but also that it is more efficient than SOX9, possibly due to greater protein stability. Altogether, these findings uncover a major role for SOX8 and SOX9 in promoting skeletal growth by stimulating commitment of growth plate reserve chondrocytes to actively proliferating columnar cells. Further, by showing that SOX8 is more chondrogenic than SOX9, they suggest that SOX8 could be preferred over SOX9 in therapies to promote cartilage formation or regeneration in developmental and degenerative cartilage diseases.
Given that cancer is a disease that is rampant in the world and especially in Africa, where the population has enormous difficulty treating it, plants are a safer and less expensive alternative. ...Cassava is a plant species valued in Benin because of its numerous medicinal and nutritional virtues. This study evaluated the biological activities of amygdalin from the organs of three cassava varieties most commonly produced in Benin (BEN, RB, and MJ). HPLC analysis was used to quantify amygdalin in cassava organs and derivatives. Phytochemical screening was performed to determine secondary metabolite groups. DPPH and FRAP methods were used to assess antioxidant activity. Cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested on
larvae. The anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in vivo in an albino mouse paw edema model induced by 5% formalin. The anticancer activity was evaluated in vivo on Wistar rats rendered cancerous by 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) using 5-fluorouracil as a reference molecule. The results showed that the organs of all three-cassava varieties contained glycosides, flavonoids, saponosides, steroids, tannins, coumarins, and cyanogenic derivatives. Young stems and fresh cassava leaves had the highest amygdalin concentrations, with 11,142.99 µg 10 g
and 9251.14 µg 10 g
, respectively. The
derivative was more concentrated in amygdalin, with a content of 401.56 µg 10 g
than the other derivatives. The antioxidant activity results showed that the amygdalin extracts were DPPH radical scavengers with IC
values ranging from 0.18 mg mL
to 2.35 mg mL
. The cytotoxicity test showed no toxicity of the extracts toward shrimp larvae. Administration of amygdalin extracts from the leaves of BEN and MJ varieties prevents inflammatory edema. The percentages of edema inhibition varied between 21.77% and 27.89%. These values are similar (
> 0.05) to those of acetylsalicylic acid (25.20%). Amygdalin extract of the BEN variety significantly (
< 0.0001) reduces edema. Both BEN extracts inhibited cancer induction with DMH. In preventive and curative treatments, rats fed with amygdalin extracts showed low anti-cancer activity under the effect of DMH and a significant difference in biochemical results. Thus, the organs of all three cassava varieties studied have secondary metabolites and good antioxidant activity. The leaves contain high levels of amygdalin and can be used as anti-inflammatory and anticancer agents.
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IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Widely used in traditional medicine in Asia and recently introduced in Burkina Faso under the name Beng-tigré, mung bean is a legume consumed throughout the world and more so in India. The objective ...of this study was to evaluate the cytotoxicity of the mung bean grown and consumed in Burkina Faso and to study its biological properties such as anti-inflammatory and anticancer activity of the natural and sprouted seeds. The cytotoxicity of the extracts was tested on Artemia salina larvae, and the anti-inflammatory activity was evaluated in vitro by albumin denaturation method using diclofenac as reference molecule. The anticancer activity of hydro-ethanol extracts was evaluated on rats made cancerous with 1,2-dimethylhydrazine (DMH) using 5-fluorouracil as reference molecule. The results showed that the highest yield of the plant extraction was observed with the hydro-ethanol solvent, both for the natural form of mung bean (MBN) and for its sprouted form (MBG). The cytotoxicity test showed no toxicity of the extracts toward shrimp larvae. The ethanolic extract of germinated mung bean seeds gave the highest anti-inflammatory activity at 95.13 ± 0.22% inhibition with significant difference (p<0.05) between the extracts. Cancer induction with DMH was inhibited by both MBN and MBG extracts. The test of preventive effects of the extracts showed the best activity with significant difference in biochemical results. These results confirm that the mung bean grown in Burkina Faso, as a nontoxic legume, is a functional food that can be integrated into the population’s dietary habits for a double interest. Moreover, they open perspectives for the research of active principles of plant origin with anti-inflammatory and anticancer properties.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
Malaria is a real public health problem. It is the leading cause of morbidity and mortality in the world. Research in herbal medicine has so far shown that the use of plants against malaria is not to ...be neglected. This review aims to highlight the antiplasmodial potential of Cameroonian plants. In order to achieve this objective, we conducted a bibliographic search in April 2022 using the PubMed search engine. This research included both the published and unpublished studies. A narrative approach was used to describe the antiplasmodial potential of the various species of plants investigated. Quantitative data were analyzed using R studio 4.1.1 software and random effects model was used to estimate the effect size. The research of the antiplasmodial activity of Cameroonian plants dates back to 2000. This area of research has since provided extensive data to indicate the antiplasmodial potential of several plants, most of which originate from the central region. Despite the heterogeneity observed between the different plant families studied in Cameroon for their in vitro antiplasmodial effect, there is strong evidence that 17 active compounds from these plants would be ideal candidates for the synthesis of new antimalarial drugs. The Dacryodes edulis species could be considered as the best natural alternative in the treatment of uncomplicated malaria according to its properties. It is clear that the traditional Cameroonian pharmacopoeia has many species that contain compounds with antiplasmodial activity. More studies need to be conducted to explore the multitude of unexplored plants that are used in traditional medicine. These studies should take into account the nature of the cell model used for cytotoxicity assessment.
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FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK, VSZLJ
6.
Oblique Stepwise Rise and Growth of the Tibet Plateau Tapponnier, Paul; Zhiqin, Xu; Roger, Françoise ...
Science (American Association for the Advancement of Science),
11/2001, Volume:
294, Issue:
5547
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Two end member models of how the high elevations in Tibet formed are (i) continuous thickening and widespread viscous flow of the crust and mantle of the entire plateau and (ii) time-dependent, ...localized shear between coherent lithospheric blocks. Recent studies of Cenozoic deformation, magmatism, and seismic structure lend support to the latter. Since India collided with Asia ∼55 million years ago, the rise of the high Tibetan plateau likely occurred in three main steps, by successive growth and uplift of 300- to 500-kilometer-wide crustal thrust-wedges. The crust thickened, while the mantle, decoupled beneath gently dipping shear zones, did not. Sediment infilling, bathtub-like, of dammed intermontane basins formed flat high plains at each step. The existence of magmatic belts younging northward implies that slabs of Asian mantle subducted one after another under ranges north of the Himalayas. Subduction was oblique and accompanied by extrusion along the left lateral strike-slip faults that slice Tibet's east side. These mechanisms, akin to plate tectonics hidden by thickening crust, with slip-partitioning, account for the dominant growth of the Tibet Plateau toward the east and northeast.
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BFBNIB, NMLJ, NUK, PNG, SAZU, UL, UM, UPUK
Chronic non-communicable diseases are becoming more and more recurrent and require the addition of functional foods in our eating habits. Legumes due to their composition in biomolecules could meet ...this need. Much used in Chinese medicine, the mung bean arouses interest in Burkina Faso. The objective of this study is to perform phytochemical profiling and to evaluate certain biological properties of the mung bean in its natural or germinated state. Qualitative phytochemical screening was carried out by precipitation and differential staining tests. The antimicrobial activity was tested on in vitro growth by the agar medium diffusion method. DPPH and FRAP methods were used to assess antioxidant activity. The antidiabetic activity of hydroethanolic extracts was evaluated on rats rendered diabetic by streptozotocin, with metformin as a reference molecule. Phytochemistry has revealed the presence of phenolic compounds and derivatives in the mung bean, whether in its natural state (MBN) or in its germinated state (MBG). Only the MBG exhibits antimicrobial activity on 70% of the strains used. It appears that the MBG has a reducing power of the DPPH radical with an IC
of 28 mg/mL compared to the same extract of the MBN, which had an IC
of 32.5 mg/mL with a difference (
< 0.05) between the extracts. MBN extracts at a dose of 300 milligrams per kilogram of body weight (mg/kg.bw) showed a reduction (
< 0.0001) in glycaemia and kept the body weight of the animals constant throughout the treatment. In addition, the MBN regulated the level of total cholesterol, tryglicerides of LDL, ASAT, ALAT, urea and creatine. These results show that the mung bean grown in Burkina Faso is a health food, which, integrated into dietary habits, could contribute to the prevention of chronic diseases.
Fission-track analysis on zircons and apatites yields new information about the timing of deformation of the northern Tibetan plateau. Ages on zircons, ranging from 221±22 to 96±4 Ma are indicative ...of a general late Triassic–early Jurassic cooling probably driven by the collision between the Qiantang and Kunlun blocks. Mid-Jurassic slow cooling is recorded also in the apatites in regions not affected by later Cenozoic deformation. This Jurassic denudation was followed by a period of sedimentation during the Cretaceous, except along the Altyn Tagh fault (ATF) zone, and in some restricted areas of the western and eastern Qilian Shan. This long and relatively quiet period ended at about 40±10 Ma along the major Altyn Tagh and Kunlun strike-slip fault zones, which were activated by the India–Asia collision. This first movement along lithospheric faults resulted in the eastward extrusion of the Tibet plateau, which was followed, in late Oligocene–Miocene times, by a major compression event, initiating the formation of the high relief of north Tibet. A final compressional event took place at 9–5 Ma and is well correlated with high sedimentation rates in the basins of this region. This compression induced continental subduction in the Kunlun ranges, the Altun Shan belt, and possibly the Qilian Shan belt.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
Methamphetamine (also known as meth and crystal meth) is a highly psychoactive synthetic amphetamine type stimulant, which falls under the German Federal Narcotics Law. The substance is similar to ...other stimulants but has distinct features with respect to psychoactive effects, clinical symptoms, user characteristics and short and long-term consequences including substance-induced problems and comorbidities. The consumption and misuse of crystal meth is still limited to certain regions in Germany; however, the substance causes significant clinical and public health concerns in the affected regions and beyond due to the associated high potential for misuse and dependence, neurotoxic and neurodegenerative effects as well as many other severe health risks. The new German guidelines for methamphetamine use disorders are now available to provide clinicians with the current knowledge on effective diagnostics and treatment planning.
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EMUNI, FIS, FZAB, GEOZS, GIS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, MFDPS, NLZOH, NUK, OBVAL, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, SBMB, SBNM, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK, VKSCE, ZAGLJ
New structural, petrographic, and 40Ar/39Ar data constrain the kinematics of the ASRR (Ailao Shan‐Red River shear zone). In the XueLong Shan (XLS), geochronological data reveal Triassic, Early ...Tertiary, and Oligo‐Miocene thermal events. The latter event (33–26 Ma) corresponds to cooling during left‐lateral shear. In the FanSiPan (FSP) range, thrusting of the SaPa nappe, linked to left‐lateral deformation, and cooling of the FSP granite occurred at ≈35 Ma. Rapid cooling resumed at 25–29 Ma as a result of uplift within the transtensive ASRR. In the DayNuiConVoi (DNCV), foliation trends NW‐SE, but is deflected near large‐scale shear planes. Stretching lineation is nearly horizontal. On steep foliations, shear criteria indicate left‐lateral shear sense. Zones with flatter foliations show compatible shear senses. Petrographic data indicate decompression from ≈6.5 kbar during left‐lateral shear (temperatures >700°C). 40Ar/39Ar data imply rapid cooling from above 350°C to below 150°C between 25 and 22 Ma without diachronism along strike. Along the whole ASRR cooling histories show two main episodes: (1) rapid cooling from peak metamorphism during left‐lateral shear; (2) rapid cooling from greenschist conditions during right‐lateral reactivation of the ASRR. In the NW part of the ASRR (XLS, Diancang Shan), we link rapid cooling 1 to local denudations in a transpressive environment. In the SW part (Ailao Shan and DNCV), cooling 1 resulted from regional denudation by zipper‐like tectonics in a transtensive regime. The induced cooling diachronism observed in the Ailao Shan suggests left‐lateral rates of 4 to 5 cm/yr from 27 Ma until ≈17 Ma. DNCV rocks always stayed in a transtensive regime and do not show cooling diachronism. The similarities of deformation kinematics along the ASRR and in the South China Sea confirms the causal link between continental strike‐slip faulting and marginal basin opening.
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