Inhibition of tumorigenesis in ApcMin/+ mice by a combination of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate and fish oil

The effect of a combination of (-)-epigallocatechin-3-gallate (EGCG) with fish oil on intestinal tumorigenesis in Apc (Min/+) mice fed a high-fat diet was investigated in the present study. The combined treatment of EGCG and fish oil for 9 weeks reduced the tumor number by 53% as compared to controls while neither agent alone had a significant effect. Apoptosis was significantly increased in all treatment groups. beta-Catenin nuclear positivity in adenomas from the combination group was lower than control mice, implicating the modulation of Wnt signaling by the combination. Fish oil and the combination significantly reduced prostaglandin E 2 (PGE 2) levels in small intestinal tumors as compared to controls, suggesting modulation of aberrant arachidonic acid metabolism by fish oil. Akt phosphorylation in adenomas was significantly reduced in all treatment groups, which may have contributed to the observed increase in apoptosis. The results indicate that a combination of low doses of EGCG and fish oil can inhibit tumor multiplicity in Apc (Min/+) mice.     

Variability in meteorological droughts as pivotal mechanism for rice production over the middle gangetic plains

The meteorological drought dynamics and its impacts on rice productivity has been evaluated for the Indian Summer Monsoon Rainfall (ISMR) season using the standardized precipitation index (SPI) over the middle Gangetic plains (MGP) of Bihar. The meteorological drought over the ISMR period was found to be a recurring phenomenon coinciding with the rice growing season over Bihar. The rice crop has an intensive water requirement; therefore, it is significantly impacted by the meteorological droughts. In the present study, spatiotemporal characteristics viz. intensity, frequency, and probability of meteorological drought has been assessed along with an investigation for significant trends and detection of regime shift points to identify the impact of drought on rice production. For the purpose, SPI-4 derived from high resolution gridded daily rainfall data (0.25^°?×?0.25^°) from India Meteorological Department (IMD) has been considered to analyse the meteorological drought episodes over agro-climatic zones of Bihar from 1961 to 2019. The regime shifts were determined using the Rodionov test for the drought dynamics and production of rice in Bihar. A moderate to severe drought-prone zone was found over the zone BRZ3B; while zone BRZ2 and BRZ3A showed comparatively a greater number of mild drought events persisting with more than 70% probability of occurrence. An inkling of increasing dependency on groundwater is found, which is in turn governing the rice production regime. The present study shows there is a substantial need for climate resilience and food security policies incorporating the subtle linkage between SPI variability and crop production, especially over rice producing regions of the globe.

     

Detection and characterization of avian leukosis virus in Marek's disease vaccines

Avian leukosis virus (ALV) infection in chickens is known to induce increased mortality, tumors, delayed growth, and suboptimal egg production. Countries importing specified pathogen-free eggs, vaccines, and poultry breeding stock require freedom of infection or contamination with ALV in such products among other avian pathogens. Recently, ALV was found as a contaminant in a limited number of commercial poultry vaccines, even after routine quality assurance procedures cleared the vaccines for commercialization. The contaminated vaccines were promptly withdrawn from the market, and no direct detrimental effects were reported in poultry vaccinated with such vaccines. We describe herein the characterization in vitro of the contaminant viruses. All exogenous viruses detected in four vaccine lots belong to subgroup A of ALV based on cell receptor interaction, subgroup-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), envelope gene sequencing, and virus neutralization. A combination of thermal treatment and serial dilutions of the contaminated vaccines facilitated detection of contaminating ALVs in cell culture coupled with antigen-capture enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. Subgroup-specific PCR readily detected ALV-A directly in the contaminated vaccines but not in naive vaccines or cell controls. Our methods are proposed as complementary procedures to the currently required complement fixation for avian leukosis test for detection of ALV in commercial poultry vaccines.     

Experimental infection with avian leukosis virus isolated from Marek's disease vaccines

Recently, avian leukosis virus (ALV) was isolated from four lots of Marek's disease vaccine produced by two laboratories. The ALVs isolated were characterized by examination of their interactions with cells of two phenotypes (C/E and C/A,E), subgroup-specific polymerase chain reaction (PCR), virus neutralization, envelope gene sequencing, and phylogenetic analysis. All four ALVs are exogenous, belong to subgroup A, and appear to be virtually identical to each other based on PCR and envelope gene nucleotide sequences. We describe herein the characterization of the contaminant viruses in vivo by means of experimental infection in chickens. The contaminant viruses established transient viremia in specified pathogen-free (SPF) Leghorn chickens and elicited a robust and lasting antibody response detectable by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. None of the contaminant ALVs induced tumors up to 31 wk of age, and mortality was insignificant. Despite a strong antibody response against the contaminant ALVs, vertical (congenital) transmission to the progeny of experimentally infected SPF chickens took place, albeit at a very low rate (< or = 1.6%). Experimental infection in meat-type chicken embryos resulted in viremia at hatch, suggesting that some meat-type chickens are susceptible to infection and support virus replication.     

Enzootic reticuloendotheliosis in the endangered Attwater's and greater prairie chickens

Reticuloendotheliosis (RE) in captive greater prairie chickens (GPC, Tympanuchus cupido pinnatus) and Attwater's prairie chickens (APC, Tympanuchus cupido attwateri) was first reported in 1998. RE is caused by avian reticuloendotheliosis virus (REV), an oncogenic and immunosuppressive retrovirus infecting multiple species of wild and domestic birds. During August 2004 through May 2006 a captive population of prairie chickens was affected simultaneously with a neoplastic condition and also avian pox, the latter being detected in 7.4% (2 of 27) of all birds submitted for histopathology. A survey for REV was conducted in order to examine its possible role in mortality observed primarily in juvenile and adult specimens of prairie chickens. The investigative procedures included postmortem examinations, histopathology, molecular detection, and virus isolation. In total, 57 Attwater's prairie chickens and two greater prairie chickens were included in the study. REV infection was diagnosed using virus isolation or polymerase chain reaction (PCR) or both in 59.5% (28 of 47) of blood samples and/or tumors from suspect birds. Lymphosarcomas were detected in the tissues of 37% (10 of 27) of the birds submitted for histopathology. Such lymphosarcomas suggestive of RE represented the most frequent morphologic diagnosis on histopathology among 27 separate submissions of naturally dead prairie chickens. Overall, REV was detected or RE diagnosed in 34 of 59 prairie chickens (57.62%). The average death age of all birds diagnosed with lymphosarcomas on histopathology was 2.2 yr, ranging from <1 to 4 yr. Although deaths associated with neoplasia occurred in males and females in equal proportions based on submissions, overall more males were diagnosed as REV infected or RE affected (16 males vs. 7 females, and 11 birds of undetermined gender). Reticuloendotheliosis virus was confirmed as a significant cause of mortality in captive prairie chickens.     

Low levels of haptoglobin and putative amino acid sequence in Taiwanese Lanyu miniature pigs

Porcine haptoglobin (Hp) is an acute phase protein. Its plasma level increases significantly during inflammation and infection. One of the main functions of Hp is to bind free hemoglobin (Hb) and inhibit its oxidative activity. In the present report, we studied the Hp phenotype of Taiwanese Lanyu miniature pigs (TLY minipigs; n=43) and found their Hp structure to be a homodimer (beta-alpha-alpha-beta) similar to human Hp 1-1. Interestingly, Western blot and high performance liquid chromatographic (HPLC) analysis showed that 25% of the TLY minipigs possessed low or no plasma Hp level (<0.05 mg/ml). The Hp cDNA of these TLY minipigs was then cloned, and the translated amino acid sequence was analyzed. No sequences were found to be deficient; they showed a 99.7% identity with domestic pigs (NP_999165). The mean overall Hp level of the TLY minipigs (0.21 +/- 0.25 mg/ml; n=43) determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was markedly lower than that of domestic pigs (0.78 +/- 0.45 mg/ml; p<0.001), while 25% of the TLY minipigs had an Hp level that was extremely low (<0.05 mg/ml). In addition, the initial recovery rate (first 40 min) in the circulation of infused fluorescein isothiocyanate (FITC)-Hb was significantly higher in the TLY minipigs with extremely low Hp levels than those with high levels. This data suggests that the low concentration of Hp-Hb complex is responsible for the higher recovery rate of Hb in the circulation. TLY minipigs have been used as an experimental model for cardiovascular diseases; whether they can be used as a model for inflammatory diseases, with Hp as a marker, remains a topic of interest. However, since the Hp level varies significantly among individual TLY minipigs, it is necessary to prescreen the Hp levels of the animals to minimize variation in the experimental baseline. The present study may provide a reference value for future use of the TLY minipig as an animal model for inflammation-associated diseases.     

Comparative Assessment of Al(III) and Cd(II) Biosorption onto Turbinaria conoides in Single and Binary Systems

The present work investigated the ability of inactive brown seaweed, Turbinaria conoides, to biosorb aluminum(III) and cadmium(II) ions in both single and binary systems. Initial experiments were undertaken to determine the influence of pH and biosorption isotherms of each metallic ion. Owing to the presence of carboxylic groups, T. conoides exhibited high uptake capacity towards Al(III) and Cd(II) through ion-exchange mechanism. In the case of Al(III), T. conoides exhibited maximum biosorption at pH 4 with a capacity of 2.37?mmol/g, whereas the highest Cd(II) biosorption occurred at pH 5 with a capacity of 0.96?mmol/g. For both metal ions, T. conoides exhibited fast kinetics. Several models were used to describe isotherm (Langmuir, Freundlich, Redlich-Peterson, and Toth) and kinetic (pseudo-first and pseudo-second order) data. Desorption and reuse of T. conoides biomass in three repeated cycles was successful with 0.1?M HCl as elutant. In binary systems, the presence of Cd(II) severely affected Al(III) uptake by T. conoides. Compared to single-solute systems, Al(III) uptake was reduced to 56% compared to only 27% for Cd(II). Based on the model parameters regressed from the respective monometal systems, multicomponent Langmuir and Freundlich models were used to predict binary (Al + Cd) system of which the multicomponent Freundlich model was able to describe with good accuracy.     

Normal bacterial flora from vaginas of Criollo Limonero cows

In order to describe the normal bacterial flora in vaginas of Criollo Limonero cows, 51 healthy multiparous cows, at least 90-day postpartum, were selected. Duplicated swabs (N = 102) were taken from the vaginal fornix of cows to perform aerobic and anaerobic cultures as well as conventional biochemical tests. Out of 102 swabs, bacterial growth was obtained in 55 (53.9%) while the remaining 47 (46.1%) did not exhibited any bacterial growth. Of the 55 bacterial growths, 23 (41.8%) were aerobic whereas 32 (58.1%) were anaerobic. Likewise, 29 (52.72%) of bacterial growths were pure and 26 (47.27%) were mixed. Under both aerobic and anaerobic conditions, Gram positive bacteria were predominant (81.82% and 73.08%, respectively) over Gram negative bacteria (18.18% and 26.92%, respectively). Isolated bacteria were Arcanobacterium pyogenes (22.92%), Staphylococcus aureus (15.63%), Staphylococcus coagulase negative (17.71%), Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae (6.25%), Bacteroides spp. (13.54%), and Peptostreptococcus spp. (7.29%). In conclusion, normal vaginal bacterial flora of Criollo Limonero cows was predominantly Gram positive and included A. pyogenes, S. aureus, coagulase negative Staphylococcus, E. rhusiopathiae, Bacteroides spp., and Peptostreptococcus spp. In Criollo Limonero cattle, adaptive aspects such as development of humoral and physical mechanisms for defense, and bacterial adaptation to host deserve research attention.     

Effect of Albizia julibrissin water extracts on low-density lipoprotein oxidization

High-value phytochemicals could be extracted from biomass prior to the current cellulosic pretreatment technologies (i.e., lime, ammonia, dilute acid, or pressurized hot water treatments) provided that the extraction is performed with a solvent that is compatible with the pretreatment. This work reports on the extraction of flavonoids from Albizia julibrissin biomass. While extracting A. julibrissin foliage with 50 degrees C water, 2.227 mg/g of hyperoside and 8.134 mg/g quercitrin were obtained, which is in the realm of what was obtained with 60% methanol. A. julibrissin foliage, flower, and whole plant extracts were tested in terms of their potential to inhibit low-density lipoprotein (LDL) oxidization. The highest inhibition was obtained with foliage water extracts, which were standardized at 2.5 microM of flavonoids. Also, the 2.5 microM foliage water extract resulted in a reduction from 43% to only 1% of the observed monocyte adherence. To have commercial application, A. julibrissin water extracts should be devoid of toxicity. The A. julibrissin foliage, flower, and whole plant water extracts were not toxic to Vero 76 cells. In summary, A. julibrissin biomass can be extracted with 50 degrees C water to yield an antioxidant stream, showing that it may be possible to couple extraction of valuable phytochemicals to the cellulosic pretreatment step.     

Taking the "waste" out of "wastewater" for human water security and ecosystem sustainability

Humans create vast quantities of wastewater through inefficiencies and poor management of water systems. The wasting of water poses sustainability challenges, depletes energy reserves, and undermines human water security and ecosystem health. Here we review emerging approaches for reusing wastewater and minimizing its generation. These complementary options make the most of scarce freshwater resources, serve the varying water needs of both developed and developing countries, and confer a variety of environmental benefits. Their widespread adoption will require changing how freshwater is sourced, used, managed, and priced.