Hepatitis E virus as an emerging zoonotic pathogen

Hepatitis E outbreaks are a serious public health concern in developing countries. The disease causes acute infections, primarily in young adults. The mortality rate is approximately 2%; however, it can exceed 20% in pregnant women in some regions in India. The causative agent, hepatitis E virus (HEV), has been isolated from several animal species, including pigs. HEV genotypes 3 and 4 have been isolated from both humans and animals, and are recognized as zoonotic pathogens. Seroprevalence studies in animals and humans indirectly suggest that HEV infections occur worldwide. The virus is primarily transmitted to humans via undercooked animal meats in developed countries. Moreover, transfusion- and transplantation-mediated HEV infections have recently been reported. This review summarizes the general characteristics of hepatitis E, HEV infection status in animals and humans, the zoonotic transmission modes of HEV, and HEV vaccine development status.     

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Soil texture affects the conversion factor of electrical conductivity from 1:5 soil-water to saturated paste extracts

Electrical conductivity (EC) of soil-water extracts is commonly used to assess soil salinity. However, its conversion to the EC of saturated soil paste extracts (EC_e), the standard measure of soil salinity, is currently required for practical applications. Although many regression models can be used to obtain EC_e from the EC of soil-water extracts, the application of a site-specific model to different sites is not straightforward due to confounding soil factors such as soil texture. This study was conducted to develop a universal regression model to estimate a conversion factor (CF) for predicting EC_e from EC of soil-water extracts at a 1:5 ratio (EC_1:5), by employing a site-specific soil texture (i.e., sand content). A regression model, CF=8.910 5e^{0.010 6sand}/1.298 4 (r²=0.97, P < 0.001), was developed based on the results of coastal saline soil surveys (n=173) and laboratory experiments using artificial saline soils with different textures (n=6, sand content=10%-65%) and salinity levels (n=7, salinity=1-24 dS m^-1). Model performance was validated using an independent dataset and demonstrated that EC_e prediction using the developed model is more suitable for highly saline soils than for low saline soils. The feasibility of the regression model should be tested at other sites. Other soil factors affecting EC conversion factor also need to be explored to revise and improve the model through further studies.     

Natural N abundances of inorganic nitrogen in soil treated with fertilizer and compost under changing soil moisture regimes

This study was conducted to examine whether the applications of N-inputs (compost and fertilizer) having different N isotopic compositions (δ¹⁵N) produce isotopically different inorganic-N and to investigate the effect of soil moisture regimes on the temporal variations in the δ¹⁵N of inorganic-N in soils. To do so, the temporal variations in the concentrations and the δ¹⁵N of NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ in soils treated with two levels (0 and 150 mg N kg⁻¹) of ammonium sulfate (δ¹⁵N=−2.3‰) and compost (+13.9‰) during a 10-week incubation were compared by changing soil moisture regime after 6 weeks either from saturated to unsaturated conditions or vice versa. Another incubation study using ¹⁵N-labeled ammonium sulfate (3.05 ¹⁵N atom%) was conducted to estimate the rates of nitrification and denitrification with a numerical model FLUAZ. The δ¹⁵N values of NH₄⁺ and NO₃⁻ were greatly affected by the availability of substrate for each of the nitrification and denitrification processes and the soil moisture status that affects the relative predominance between the two processes. Under saturated conditions for 6 weeks, the δ¹⁵N of NH₄⁺ in soils treated with fertilizer progressively increased from +2.9‰ at 0.5 week to +18.9‰ at 6 weeks due to nitrification. During the same period, NO₃⁻ concentrations were consistently low and the corresponding δ¹⁵N increased from +16.3 to +39.2‰ through denitrification. Under subsequent water-unsaturated conditions, the NO₃⁻ concentrations increased through nitrification, which resulted in the decrease in the δ¹⁵N of NO₃⁻. In soils, which were unsaturated for the first 6-weeks incubation, the δ¹⁵N of NH₄⁺ increased sharply at 0.5 week due to fast nitrification. On the other hand, the δ¹⁵N of NO₃⁻ showed the lowest value at 0.5 week due to incomplete nitrification, but after a subsequence increase, they remained stable while nitrification and denitrification were negligible between 1 and 6 weeks. Changing to saturated conditions after the initial 6-weeks incubation, however, increased the δ¹⁵N of NO₃⁻ progressively with a concurrent decrease in NO₃⁻ concentration through denitrification. The differences in δ¹⁵N of NO⁻₃ between compost and fertilizer treatments were consistent throughout the incubation period. The δ¹⁵N of NO₃⁻ increased with the addition of compost (range: +13.0 to +35.4‰), but decreased with the addition of fertilizer (−10.8 to +11.4‰), thus resulting in intermediate values in soils receiving both fertilizer and compost (−3.5 to +20.3‰). Therefore, such differences in δ¹⁵N of NO₃⁻ observed in this study suggest a possibility that the δ¹⁵N of upland-grown plants receiving compost would be higher than those treated with fertilizer because NO₃⁻ is the most abundant N for plant uptake in upland soils.     

Hemoglobin variants in Koreans: hemoglobin G Taegu

Hemoglobin G Taegu, an electrophoretically slow hemoglobin with a structural anomaly believed to be in the beta-T-3 section of the beta chain, was the only variant found among 6700 normal Koreans. Four subjects, 0.06 percent, had the G-hemoglobin variant in addition to normal hemoglobin A. Hemoglobin E, known in numerous groups from Southeast Asia and the variant most frequently seen in Chinese subjects, was not found among the Koreans we tested.     

Internal regulation of reproduction seasonality in earthworm Dendrobaena octaedra (Savigny, 1826) (Lumbricidae, Oligochaeta)

The study was conducted on Dendrobaena octaedra—a small epigeic earthworm species common in different forest types. In the laboratory the P (parent animals collected in forest) and F1 generations were cultured separately in containers filled with 50 g artificial soil. The containers were kept at 15±0.5 °C, 80% humidity and constant artificial light of low intensity. Every month during the 47 months of culture, the animals and cocoons were removed from the soil by washing on a sieve, weighed, and replaced into new soil. Individuals of the F1 generation did not reproduce continuously. Cocoon production was seasonal, despite culture in constant conditions throughout the whole experiment. Reproduction was highest in spring and summer, and dropped in the winter months. Seasonality characterized the fraction of animals reproducing as well as the number of cocoons produced. The observed seasonal changes in the cocoon production of the F1 generation cultured in constant conditions suggest that internal regulation of reproduction may exist in the earthworm D. octaedra. External factors like temperature, moisture, photoperiod or food supply, which could be responsible for seasonality of reproduction were missing.     

Silver Fir (Abies alba) Extracts Inhibit Enzymes Involved in Blood Glucose Management and Protect against Oxidative Stress in High Glucose Environment

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - The diet rich in fruits and vegetables reduces the risk of metabolic syndrome, including diabetes development by various mechanisms of action, mainly due to the...     

Phenotypic Variation in a Germplasm Collection of Pepper (<Emphasis Type="Italic">Capsicum chinense</Emphasis> Jacq.) from Korea

A total of 47 core collections of pepper (Capsicum chinense Jacq.) conserved in National Agrobiodiversity Center (NAC) were studied under field condition at Jeonju over two consecutive years (2015 and 2016). All accessions were characterized for their 14 qualitative and 16 quantitative characters. Results revealed that both qualitative and quantitative characters exhibited wide variation among the studied germplasm. Distribution of fruit characters (fruit length, width, and fruit wall thickness) among the accessions was positively skewed. Of the 47 accessions evaluated, 38.3% accessions had conical shaped fruits and mature fruit color was predominantly red (51.1%), orange (21.3%) and yellow (14.9%). Principal component analyses revealed that (i) 56.64% of the qualitative (fruit shape, color and fruit surface) variation and (ii) 89.42% of the quantitative (plant width, height and fruit maturity days) variation were explained by the first two components. Clustering revealed two groups and dendrogram revealed morphological variation among accessions. The phenotypic diversity exists in this core collections provide valuable information to improve agronomic traits in pepper breeding program.