In this Crystal Ball we describe the negative effects of the scheme of intensive agriculture of the green revolution technology. To recover the contaminated soils derived from intensive farming is ...necessary introduce new successful technologies to replace the use of chemical fertilizer and toxic pesticides by organic fertilizers and biological control agents. Our principal speculation is that in a short time authors in the field of PGPB and bioremediation will be expanding the knowledge on the development of different formulations containing super‐bacteria or a mixture of super‐bacteria able to provide beneficial effect for agriculture and bioremediation.
Diabetic foot osteomyelitis (DFO) is the most frequent infection associated with diabetic foot ulcers, occurs in >20% of moderate infections and 50%-60% of severe infections, and is associated with ...high rates of amputation. DFO represents a challenge in both diagnosis and therapy, and many consequences of its condition are related to late diagnosis, delayed referral, or ill-indicated treatment. This review aimed to analyze the current evidence on DFO management and to discuss advantages and disadvantages of different treatment options.
A narrative review of the evidence was begun by searching Medline and PubMed databases for studies using the keywords "management", "diabetic foot", "osteomyelitis", and "diabetic foot osteomyelitis" from 2008 to 2018.
We found a great variety of studies focusing on both medical and surgical therapies showing a similar rate of effectiveness and outcomes; however, the main factors in choosing one over the other seem to be associated with the presence of soft-tissue infection or ischemia and the clinical presentation of DFO.
Further randomized controlled trials with large samples and long-term follow-up are necessary to demonstrate secondary outcomes, such as recurrence, recurrent ulceration, and reinfection associated with both medical and surgical options.
Bacterial symbionts, with their shorter generation times and capacity for horizontal gene transfer (HGT), play a critical role in allowing marine organisms to cope with environmental change. The ...closure of the Isthmus of Panama created distinct environmental conditions in the Tropical Eastern Pacific (TEP) and Caribbean, offering a "natural experiment" for studying how closely related animals evolve and adapt under environmental change. However, the role of bacterial symbionts in this process is often overlooked. We sequenced the genomes of endosymbiotic bacteria in two sets of sister species of chemosymbiotic bivalves from the genera Codakia and Ctena (family Lucinidae) collected on either side of the Isthmus, to investigate how differing environmental conditions have influenced the selection of symbionts and their metabolic capabilities. The lucinid sister species hosted different Candidatus Thiodiazotropha symbionts and only those from the Caribbean had the genetic potential for nitrogen fixation, while those from the TEP did not. Interestingly, this nitrogen-fixing ability did not correspond to symbiont phylogeny, suggesting convergent evolution of nitrogen fixation potential under nutrient-poor conditions. Reconstructing the evolutionary history of the nifHDKT operon by including other lucinid symbiont genomes from around the world further revealed that the last common ancestor (LCA) of Ca. Thiodiazotropha lacked nif genes, and populations in oligotrophic habitats later re-acquired the nif operon through HGT from the Sedimenticola symbiont lineage. Our study suggests that HGT of the nif operon has facilitated niche diversification of the globally distributed Ca. Thiodiazotropha endolucinida species clade. It highlights the importance of nitrogen availability in driving the ecological diversification of chemosynthetic symbiont species and the role that bacterial symbionts may play in the adaptation of marine organisms to changing environmental conditions.
Seed commerce is a highly profitable global market. Most commercialized seeds are hybrid seeds originating from a controlled cross between two selected parental lines. The market value of hybrid ...seeds depends on their hybrid genetic purity. DNA molecular markers are a reliable and widespread tool to genotype plant materials; however, DNA extraction from seeds is challenging, often laborious and expensive. With the ultimate goal of creating a tomato and melon hybrid seeds purity test, various challenges arise. To overcome these problems and with the purpose of crude DNA extraction, a simple, fast, inexpensive and easily scalable adaptation of the hot sodium hydroxide and tris method coupled to a competitive allele-specific PCR genotyping method is proposed.
Adaptation of hot sodium hydroxide and tris method for easy, fast and cheap DNA extraction for seed genotyping.
A simple adaptation of the hot sodium hydroxide and tris method was established for molecular marker assessment in purity check analysis for tomato and melon seed lots.
Cryotherapy is commonly regarded as the primary treatment method for plantar warts. A new medical device called nitric–zinc complex solution (NZCS) has also emerged as a potential alternative for ...wart treatment. The main aim of this study was to analyze and compare the effectiveness of cryotherapy using liquid nitrogen and NZCS in treating plantar warts. We conducted a randomized and controlled clinical trial involving patients with plantar warts. A total of 62 patients were enrolled in the study and monitored for 12 weeks or until their warts were completely resolved. The patients received either cryotherapy or NZCS, with a maximum of six treatment applications. The cure rate was 65.5% in the group treated with cryotherapy and 56.6% in the group treated with NZCS. The average number of treatment applications required for curing warts was significantly lower in the cured group (3.28 ± 1.63) than in the group with unresolved warts (5.5 ± 1.27) (p < 0.01). Moreover, the average number of applications was lower in the cryotherapy group (3.6 ± 1.8) than in the NZCS group (4.8 ± 1.8) (p < 0.01). Based on the findings, NZCS could be considered a favorable first‐line treatment option for plantar warts.
Scorpion venom peptides represent a novel source of antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) with broad-spectrum activity. In this study, we determined the minimum bactericidal concentration (MBC) of three ...scorpion AMPs, Uy234, Uy17, and Uy192, which are found in the venomous glands of the Urodacus yaschenkoi scorpion, against the clinical isolates of multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. In addition, we tested the activity of a consensus AMP designed in our laboratory based on some previously reported IsCT-type (cytotoxic linear peptide) AMPs with the aim of obtaining higher antimicrobial activity. All peptides tested showed high antimicrobial activity against MDR clinical isolates, with the highest activity against β-hemolytic Streptococcus strains. The hemolytic activity was determined against human red blood cells and was significantly lower than that of previously reported AMPs. The α-helical structure of the four AMPs was confirmed by circular dichroism (CD). These results suggest that the four peptides can be valuable tools for the design and development of AMPs for use in the inhibition of MDR pathogenic bacteria. A clear index of synergism and additivity was found for the combination of QnCs-BUAP + Uy234, which makes these peptides the most promising candidates against pathogenic bacteria.
Water extracts and polysaccharides from
sp.,
sp., and
sp. were tested for their activity against the fungal plant pathogen
. Water extracts at 2.5, 5.0, and 10.0 mg/mL inhibited
growth in vitro. ...Antifungal activity of polysaccharides obtained by
-cetylpyridinium bromide precipitation in water extracts was evaluated in vitro and in vitro at 0.5, 2.0, and 3.5 mg/mL. These concentrations were tested against fungal colony growth, spore germination, colony forming units (CFUs), CFU growth, and on strawberry fruits against
infection with pre- and post-harvest application. In in vitro experiments, polysaccharides from
sp. and from
sp. inhibited
colony growth, CFUs, and CFU growth, while those extracted from
sp. reduced only the pathogen spore germination. In in vitro experiments, all concentrations of polysaccharides from
sp.,
sp., and
sp. reduced both the strawberry fruits infected area and the pathogen sporulation in the pre-harvest treatment, suggesting that they might be good candidates as preventive products in crop protection.
The aim of our study was to elucidate the impact of bevacizumab added to neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) on the tumor immune microenvironment and correlate the changes with the clinical outcome of ...the patients.
IHC and multiplex immunofluorescence for lymphoid and myeloid lineage markers were performed in matched tumor samples from 23 patients with ovarian cancer enrolled in GEICO 1205/NOVA clinical study before NACT and at the time of interval cytoreductive surgery.
Our results showed that the addition of bevacizumab to NACT plays a role mainly on lymphoid populations at the stromal compartment, detecting a significant decrease of CD4+ T cells, an increase of CD8+ T cells, and an upregulation in effector/regulatory cell ratio (CD8+/CD4+FOXP3+). None of the changes observed were detected in the intra-epithelial site in any arm (NACT or NACT-bevacizumab). No differences were found in myeloid lineage (macrophage-like). The percentage of Treg populations and effector/regulatory cell ratio in the stroma were the only two variables significantly associated with progression-free survival (PFS).
The addition of bevacizumab to NACT did not have an impact on PFS in the GEICO 1205 study. However, at the cellular level, changes in CD4+, CD8+ lymphocyte populations, and CD8+/CD4+FOXP3 ratio have been detected only at the stromal site. On the basis of our results, we hypothesize about the existence of mechanisms of resistance that could prevent the trafficking of T-effector cells into the epithelial component of the tumor as a potential explanation for the lack of efficacy of ICI in the first-line treatment of advanced epithelial ovarian cancer. See related commentary by Soberanis Pina and Oza, p. 12.
Methanolic and acetonic extracts of apple pomace were evaluated for phenolic profiles, antioxidant properties and antiviral effect against herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) and 2 (HSV-2). Acetone ...extraction yielded the higher amounts of phenolic compounds. The extraction method influenced the phenolic composition although antioxidant activity correlated weakly with phenols concentration. Among the polyphenols analysed, quercetin glycosides were the most important family, followed by dihydrochalcones. Apple pomace extracts were able to inhibit both HSV-1 and HSV-2 replication in Vero cells by more than 50%, at non-cytotoxic concentrations. Selectivity indexes (SI) ranged from 9.5 to 12.2.
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