Nixonbork7194

The mutagenic patterns of A. flavus, A. parasiticus and A. fumigatus extracts were evaluated. These strains of toxigenic Aspergillus were collected from the agricultural environment. The Ames test was performed on Salmonella typhimurium strains TA98, TA100 and TA102, without and with S9mix (exogenous metabolic activation system). These data were compared with the mutagenicity of the corresponding pure mycotoxins tested alone or in reconstituted mixtures with equivalent concentrations, in order to investigate the potential interactions between these molecules and/or other natural metabolites. At least 3 mechanisms are involved in the mutagenic response of these aflatoxins firstly, the formation of AFB1-8,9-epoxide upon addition of S9mix, secondly the likely formation of oxidative damage as indicated by significant responses in TA102, and thirdly, a direct mutagenicity observed for higher doses of some extracts or associated mycotoxins, which does not therefore involve exogenously activated intermediates. Besides the identified mycotoxins (AFB1, AFB2 and AFM1), additional "natural" compounds contribute to the global mutagenicity of the extracts. On the other hand, AFB2 and AFM1 modulate negatively the mutagenicity of AFB1 when mixed in binary or tertiary mixtures. Thus, the evaluation of the mutagenicity of "natural" mixtures is an integrated parameter that better reflects the potential impact of exposure to toxigenic Aspergilli.Obesity is a known risk factor for the development of pancreatic cancer, one of the deadliest types of malignancies. In recent years it has become clear that the pancreatic microenvironment is critically involved and a contributing factor in accelerating pancreatic neoplasia. In this context obesity-associated chronic inflammation plays an important role. Among several immune cells, macrophages have been shown to contribute to obesity-induced tissue inflammation. This review article summarizes the current knowledge about the role of pancreatic macrophages in early pancreatic cancer development. It describes the heterogenous origin and mixture of pancreatic macrophages, their role in pancreatic endocrine and exocrine pathology, and the impact of obesity on islet and stromal macrophages. A model is postulated, by which during obesity monocytes are recruited into the pancreas, where they are polarized into pro-inflammatory macrophages that drive early pancreatic neoplasia. This occurs in the presence of local inflammatory, metabolic, and endocrine signals. A stronger appreciation and more detailed knowledge about the role of macrophages in early pancreatic cancer development will lead to innovative preventive or interceptive strategies.Globally, chickpea production is severely affected by salinity stress. Understanding the genetic basis for salinity tolerance is important to develop salinity tolerant chickpeas. A recombinant inbred line (RIL) population developed using parental lines ICCV 10 (salt-tolerant) and DCP 92-3 (salt-sensitive) was screened under field conditions to collect information on agronomy, yield components, and stress tolerance indices. GSK-3 signaling pathway Genotyping data generated using Axiom®CicerSNP array was used to construct a linkage map comprising 1856 SNP markers spanning a distance of 1106.3 cM across eight chickpea chromosomes. Extensive analysis of the phenotyping and genotyping data identified 28 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) explaining up to 28.40% of the phenotypic variance in the population. We identified QTL clusters on CaLG03 and CaLG06, each harboring major QTLs for yield and yield component traits under salinity stress. The main-effect QTLs identified in these two clusters were associated with key genes such as calcium-dependent protein kinases, histidine kinases, cation proton antiporter, and WRKY and MYB transcription factors, which are known to impart salinity stress tolerance in crop plants. Molecular markers/genes associated with these major QTLs, after validation, will be useful to undertake marker-assisted breeding for developing better varieties with salinity tolerance.The paper describes an experiment focusing on the way the material system influences the bond strength of large-format tiles installed on concrete substrate during mechanical loading under conditions that correspond to real-life application. This involves a controllable mechanical load applied over an area of a test model while observing its condition using non-destructive methods (ultrasonic pulse velocity test, acoustic emission method, strain measurement, and acoustic tracing). The model consisted of a concrete slab onto which were mounted four different systems with large-format tiles with the dimensions of 3 m × 1 m. The combinations differed in the thickness of the tile, the adhesive, and whether or not a fabric membrane was included in the adhesive bed. The experiment showed that the loading caused no damage to the ceramic tile. All the detected failures took place in the adhesive layer or in the concrete slab.Gene expression varies stochastically even in both heterogenous and homogeneous cell populations. This variation is not simply useless noise; rather, it is important for many biological processes. Unicellular organisms or cultured cell lines are useful for analyzing the variation in gene expression between cells; however, owing to technical challenges, the biological relevance of this variation in multicellular organisms such as higher plants remain unclear. Here, we addressed the biological relevance of this variation between cells by examining the genetic basis of trichome distribution patterns in Arabidopsis thaliana. The distribution pattern of a trichome on a leaf is stochastic and can be mathematically represented using Turing's reaction-diffusion (RD) model. We analyzed simulations based on the RD model and found that the variability in the trichome distribution pattern increased with the increase in stochastic variation in a particular gene expression. Moreover, differences in heat-dependent variability of the trichome distribution pattern between the accessions showed a strong correlation with environmental factors to which each accession was adapted. Taken together, we successfully visualized variations in gene expression by quantifying the variability in the Arabidopsis trichome distribution pattern. Thus, our data provide evidence for the biological importance of variations in gene expression for environmental adaptation.