Application of silver nanoparticles as an antibacterial mordant in wool natural dyeing: Synthesis,antibacterial activity,and color characteristics

Madder is a natural colorant which is commonly applied with metal salts as a mordant to improve its affinity to fibers and color fastness. Madder produces an insoluble complex or lake in the presence of metal ions on mordanted fabric. In this study, wool fabric was pretreated with AgNPs (silver nanoparticles) as a mordant, then dyed with madder. The wool fabric samples were examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) and their colorimetric characteristics were evaluated. The formation of spherical silver nanoparticle was confirmed using UV-Visible spectroscopy, SEM images, and elemental analysis. The average size of synthesized silver nanoparticles on the surface of wool fibers is around 73 nm. The dyed wool samples were pretreated with different concentration of Ag⁺ ions or AgNPs, which showed higher color strength value compared to untreated dyed wool fabric. This pretreatment also presented good antibacterial activity.     

Ornithological importance of artificial ponds: a case study at Kabaklı Pond,south-eastern Anatolia,Turkey

The birds of Kabakl? Pond and its near surrounding were surveyed between October 2014 and December 2015 periods. During the study period, 105 bird species that belong to 12 orders and 34 families were detected and represented. Among these species determined, 17 of them certainly, 19 probably and 11 possibly breed in the area, while 58 of them are wintering or transitory migrating birds for the area. Among the recorded species, seven are globally threatened, while 20 are threatened for Turkey without least concern species. Obtained information suggests that this small artificial area has a great importance for many bird species related to habitat that have. Habitat preferences of species were analysed, and it was determined that the most preferred habitats are pond (water surface), wooded and agricultural zones, respectively. Also, the maximum bird number obtained during April and December, while maximum bird species richness observed during April. Results suggest that artificial ponds can be important for birds as feeding, resting and breeding area due to rapidly decline in natural wetland areas. Effective protection of the area requires the prevention of illegal hunting, fishing, human disturbance and pasturing. Also, in order to extend the existing reed and meadow areas, convenient plantation of natural plants at around of pond has a critic role for waterfowl.     

Investigation of the Potential Health Benefits as Lipase Inhibitor and Antioxidant of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Leopoldia comosa</Emphasis> (L.) Parl.: Variability of Chemical Composition of Wild and Cultivated Bulbs

There is a great interest in the nutritional value of vegetables and fruits and how the habitat affects nutritive and biological properties. In vitro studies here reported were performed to evaluate the inhibitory activity of formulations from edible plant on pancreatic lipase. The aim of this study was also to evaluate the biovariability of L. comosa (L.) Parl. bulbs from Italy. The wild bulbs were compared with the same cultivated species that are commonly commercialized to identify samples with the best quality for a potential therapeutic application. Hydroalcoholic extract and polar fraction of wild bulbs showed a very important pancreatic lipase inhibitory activity, with IC₅₀ values of 0.166 ± 0.005 and 0.153 ± 0.005 mg/mL, respectively. In order to characterize the extracts, gas chromatography associated with mass spectrometry (GC/MS) analysis was performed, revealing the predominance of palmitic acid. Phenolic and flavonoid composition was also evaluated. L. comosa extract obtained from wild bulbs demonstrated both antioxidant and anti-obesity activities that might be attributed to a wide range of present phenolic compounds.     

西南地区油菜品种根肿病抗性及布局分析

为明确西南地区主栽油菜品种根肿病抗性,以期为合理品种布局提供依据,降低根肿病的危害和损失。结合病圃根肿病菌生理小种鉴定,在四川安县、大邑、广汉三地区,采用病圃自然发病法,对80个油菜品种进行根肿病抗性评价,并对22个品种连续3年进行抗性跟踪。结果表明：三地区病圃根肿菌为存在基因型分化的4号生理小种;供试油菜品种中无免疫根肿病品种,安县、大邑、广汉三地感病品种分别占比88.75%、83.75%、87.50%,其中55个品种在三地区均表现感病,即不适宜在根肿病菌为4号生理小种区域种植;抗性跟踪评价显示不同品种的抗性稳定性存在差异。‘浙油50’、‘油罐罐’适宜安县地区种植,‘黄金荚’、‘金油858’、‘油研9号’、‘种都油998’和‘渝黄4号’适宜大邑地区种植,‘志远油8号’适宜广汉地区种植。‘绵丰油5号’、‘德名油1号’表现抗性丧失趋势;‘丰油精’、‘高油48’抗性不稳定;‘矮架早’抗性完全丧失。     

Mapping QTLs using a novel source of salinity tolerance from Hasawi and their interaction with environments in rice

Background

Salinity is one of the most severe and widespread abiotic stresses that affect rice production. The identification of major-effect quantitative trait loci (QTLs) for traits related to salinity tolerance and understanding of QTL × environment interactions (QEIs) can help in more precise and faster development of salinity-tolerant rice varieties through marker-assisted breeding. Recombinant inbred lines (RILs) derived from IR29/Hasawi (a novel source of salinity) were screened for salinity tolerance in the IRRI phytotron in the Philippines (E1) and in two other diverse environments in Senegal (E2) and Tanzania (E3). QTLs were mapped for traits related to salinity tolerance at the seedling stage.

Results

The RILs were genotyped using 194 polymorphic SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphisms). After removing segregation distortion markers (SDM), a total of 145 and 135 SNPs were used to construct a genetic linkage map with a length of 1655 and 1662 cM, with an average marker density of 11.4 cM in E1 and 12.3 cM in E2 and E3, respectively. A total of 34 QTLs were identified on 10 chromosomes for five traits using ICIM-ADD and segregation distortion locus (SDL) mapping (IM-ADD) under salinity stress across environments. Eight major genomic regions on chromosome 1 between 170 and 175 cM (qSES1.3, qSES1.4, qSL1.2, qSL1.3, qRL1.1, qRL1.2, qFWsht1.2, qDWsht1.2), chromosome 4 at 32 cM (qSES4.1, qFWsht4.2, qDWsht4.2), chromosome 6 at 115 cM (qFWsht6.1, qDWsht6.1), chromosome 8 at 105 cM (qFWsht8.1, qDWsht8.1), and chromosome 12 at 78 cM (qFWsht12.1, qDWsht12.1) have co-localized QTLs for the multiple traits that might be governing seedling stage salinity tolerance through multiple traits in different phenotyping environments, thus suggesting these as hot spots for tolerance of salinity. Forty-nine and 30 significant pair-wise epistatic interactions were detected between QTL-linked and QTL-unlinked regions using single-environment and multi-environment analyses.

Conclusions

The identification of genomic regions for salinity tolerance in the RILs showed that Hasawi possesses alleles that are novel for salinity tolerance. The common regions for the multiple QTLs across environments as co-localized regions on chromosomes 1, 4, 6, 8, and 12 could be due to linkage or pleiotropic effect, which might be helpful for multiple QTL introgression for marker-assisted breeding programs to improve the salinity tolerance of adaptive and popular but otherwise salinity-sensitive rice varieties.

     

我国喀斯特断陷盆地石漠化区植物群落构建机制研究

喀斯特断陷盆地是我国石漠化综合治理8大喀斯特类型中治理成效最低、治理难度最大的区域，面临石漠化严重、干旱频发、植被恢复难等突出问题。文中针对水分是影响喀斯特断陷盆地石漠化治理与植被恢复成效最关键的限制因素，综合分析了国内外水分梯度差异与植物群落构建机制研究动态与发展趋势；提出利用日趋成熟的水分脆弱性评价方法，通过建立基于耦合暴露度、敏感性及适应性的水资源脆弱性评价指标体系，以满足遥感影像分辨率和植物群落调查样地大小的评价单元进行水分脆弱性评估；在建立物种库—功能性状—生境特征数据库的基础上，提出基于功能性状差异进行喀斯特断陷盆地植物群落机制构建的研究方案。提出的研究方案有望解决喀斯特断陷盆地石漠化区水分梯度特征与分布格局、自然植物群落组配规律及其生境特征、水分梯度与生境要素对植物群落特征及功能性状组成的影响规律等关键科学问题，可为不同脆弱生态区植被恢复群落构建机制研究提供重要参考和借鉴。     

Investigation of mechanical properties of developed antimicrobial PPsuture/Ag nanocomposite

In order to prevent surgical complications due to microbial infections, we have developed polypropylene suture grafted with silver nanoparticles (PPsuture/Ag nanocomposite) by a simple immersion procedure. Physical and mechanical properties of developed suture are investigated. Suture surface characteristics are examined by scanning electron microscopy (SEM) imaging and atomic force microscopy (AFM). Silver content on suture surface was determined by Inductively coupled plasma atomic emission spectroscopy (ICP-AES). The mechanical properties of developed antibacterial PP suture/Ag were studied. We note that proposed silver coating method has not affected mechanical performances of suture. Antimicrobial performances of PP suture/Ag nanocomposites against S. aureus and E. coli colonies were also investigated.