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Pepper wilt, caused by Fusarium oxysporum, is an important disease of pepper in many regions of the world. A phosphate solubilising Trichoderma strain MHT1134 was selected from 76 isolates from the...

Objective Distinguishing recurrence and pseudoprogression is a major challenge in the clinical practice of treatment for high-grade gliomas (HGGs). The neutrophil-lymphocyte ratio (NLR) has been reported to be closely related to survival in HGGs. We aimed to assess the predictive value of NLR in the differential diagnosis of recurrence and pseudoprogression. Materials and Methods A total of 135 patients with histologically confirmed HGGs were studied. All patients underwent focal radiotherapy and concomitant temozolomide (TMZ), followed by 6 cycles of TMZ if MRI showed no progressive enlargement of contrast-enhancing lesions. MRI evaluation was taken 4 weeks after concurrent chemoradiotherapy and then every 2 months later. NLR was calculated at 4 time points of preoperation, before concurrent RT-TMZ (pretreatment), 4 weeks following completion of RT-TMZ, and MRI showed lesion enlarged or treatment completed. Results In 135 patients, 47 (34.8%) were found to be pseudoprogression (PsPD), and 28 (20.7%) were early disease progression (ePD). The mean pretreatment and post-treatment NLR were 4.2±2.1 and 5.1±3.5, respectively. The median overall survival in the PsPD group (25.2 months) was significantly longer than in the ePD (15.4 months) and no progression group (nPD) (21.6 months) (p

Vitamin D deficiency can lead to high blood pressure. Polymorphisms in the vitamin D hydroxylase gene have been associated with serum vitamin D levels in some Western countries. The aim of this study was to investigate whether polymorphisms of hydroxylase genes in the vitamin D metabolic pathway contribute to hypertension by affecting serum vitamin D status in a Han Chinese population. We selected four single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs; rs1993116 and rs10741657 of CYP2R1; rs4809957 and rs6068816 of CYP24A1) for genotyping in 525 control subjects and 324 hypertensive patients, and detected vitamin D levels in blood in subsets of these groups. The results showed that rs1993116 and rs10741657 were associated with a reduced risk of hypertension. The odds ratios, 95% confidence intervals, and p values from the adjusted additive and dominant models were 0.788 (0.644-0.963, p = 0.02) and 0.719 (0.545-0.949, p = 0.02) for rs1993116 and 0.805 (0.66-0.983, p = 0.033) and 0.733 (0.556-0.966, p = 0.028) for rs10741657. A protective effect of CYP2R1 with regard to hypertension was also found in males and non-smokers. The TT genotypes of rs1993116 and rs10741657 were associated with significantly lower systolic blood pressure in treated hypertensive patients (both p = 0.002). No association with hypertension was found for the two SNPs of CYP24A1, and no difference in vitamin D level was found among the three genotypes of the four SNPs. Our results suggest that CYP2R1 polymorphisms are associated with a reduced risk of hypertension independent of the vitamin D level in the Han Chinese population.

Estrogen regulates a wide variety of nonreproductive functions in the central nervous system. Cortical neurons contain a diverse range of voltage-gated ion channels, including calcium (Ca(2+)) channels, and Ca(2+) channels play an important role in the regulation of action potential generation and neuronal excitability. In this study, the effect of estradiol (E2) on high-voltage-activated (HVA) Ca(2+) channels in cultured rat cortical neurons was examined.We used the whole-cell patch-clamp technique to measure the HVA Ca(2+) channels.We found that HVA Ca(2+) channel currents was inhibited by 17β-E2 in a rapid, reversible and concentration-dependent manner. Moreover, 17β-E2 shifted the steady-state inactivation curve in the hyperpolarizing direction without changing the activation curve. We also found that the inhibitory effects of 17β-E2 on Ca(2+) currents were unaffected by the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist ICI 182780; however, the protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor rottlerin and protein kinase A (PKA) inhibitor H-89 blocked the 17β-E2-induced inhibition of Ca(2+) currents.E2 inhibited HVA Ca(2+) currents via PKC and PKA-dependent signaling pathway in cortical neurons, and the effects of BPA were independent of classical ER.