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The causative agent of melioidosis, Burkholderia pseudomallei, as well as closely related nonpathogenic bacteria of the B. pseudomallei/thailandensis complex of species, are found in soils and water bodies in melioidosis-endemic areas which results in significant biological risks to agricultural workers in these regions. Bacteriophages related to the phiBp-AMP1 phage are the most common known group of B. pseudomallei/thailandensis viruses. The interaction of these bacteriophages with their hosts may be a key factor in the natural control of the B. pseudomallei population, which determines the dynamics of melioidosis infection in humans. In this study, we showed that frequently used herbicides (paraquat, atrazine, 2,4-D, ametrine, and copper dichloride) did not significantly affect the stability and infectivity of the AMP1 phage, while iron(II) salts, which are used as fertilizers, inactivated the phage even at concentrations of about 0.1 mM or lower. Moreover, the concentration of sodium chloride was critical for the infectivity of the AMP1 phage, both against B. thailandensis and against the pathogen B. pseudomallei. When the concentration of this salt in solution was less than 3 g/L, the phages ceased infecting the host cells. Therefore, soil salinity may thus be responsible for the mosaic pattern of B. pseudomallei population dynamics within a number of endemic regions, such as northeastern Thailand. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Stress can lead to excessive weight gain. Mindfulness-based stress reduction that incorporates mindful eating shows promise for reducing stress, overeating, and improving glucose control. No interventions have tested mindfulness training with a focus on healthy eating and weight gain during pregnancy, a period of common excessive weight gain. Here, we test the effectiveness of such an intervention, the Mindful Moms Training (MMT), on perceived stress, eating behaviors, and gestational weight gain in a high-risk sample of low income women with overweight/obesity. Method: We conducted a quasi-experimental study assigning 115 pregnant women to MMT for 8 weeks and comparing them to 105 sociodemographically and weight equivalent pregnant women receiving treatment as usual. Our main outcomes included weight gain (primary outcome), perceived stress, and depression. Results: Women in MMT showed significant reductions in perceived stress (β = − 0.16) and depressive symptoms (β = − 0.21) compared to the treatment as usual (TAU) control group. Consistent with national norms, the majority of women (68%) gained excessive weight according to Institute of Medicine weight-gain categories, regardless of group. Slightly more women in the MMT group gained below the recommendation. Among secondary outcomes, women in MMT reported increased physical activity (β = 0.26) and had lower glucose post-oral glucose tolerance test (β = − 0.23), being 66% less likely to have impaired glucose tolerance, compared to the TAU group. Conclusion: A short-term intervention led to significant improvements in stress, and showed promise for preventing glucose intolerance. However, the majority of women gained excessive weight. A longer more intensive intervention may be needed for this high-risk population. Clinical Trials.gov #NCT01307683. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background High stress and depression during pregnancy are risk factors for worsened health trajectories for both mother and offspring. This is also true for pre-pregnancy obesity and excessive gestational weight gain. Reducing stress and depression may be one path to prevent excessive caloric intake and gestational weight gain. Study Purpose We tested the feasibility of two novel interventions aimed at reducing stress and overeating during pregnancy. Reflecting different theoretical underpinnings, the interventions target different mechanisms. Mindful Moms Training (MMT) uses mindfulness to improve awareness and acceptance of experiences and promote conscious rather than automatic behavior choices. Emotional Brain Training (EBT) uses active coping to change perceptions of negative experience and promote positive affective states. Methods Forty-six overweight/obese low-income women were assigned to either MMT (n = 24) or EBT (n = 22) for an 8-week feasibility study. Pre-post changes in perceived stress, eating and presumed mechanisms were assessed. Results Women reported high levels of stress at baseline. Both interventions were well attended and demonstrated clinically significant pre-post reductions in stress, depressive symptoms, and improved eating behaviors. MMT significantly decreased experiential avoidance, whereas EBT significantly increased positive reappraisal; these changes were marginally significantly different by group. Conclusions This feasibility study found that both interventions promoted meaningful reductions in stress and depressive symptoms and improved reported eating behaviors in a high-risk group of pregnant women. Each intervention has a potentially different pathway—acceptance for MMT and reappraisal for EBT. Larger studies are needed to test efficacy on longer term reductions in stress and overeating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

An Erratum to this paper has been published: https://doi.org/10.1134/S0026261722602238 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Leukocyte telomere length (LTL) has been inversely associated with sugar-sweetened beverage (SSB) consumption in cross-sectional studies, but no studies have examined whether dietary intake influences LTL over time. This study examined longitudinal associations between sugary foods and beverages and LTL. Participants were 65 overweight and obese pregnant women, aged 18-45 years, from a mindfulness intervention study conducted from early pregnancy (⩽16 weeks gestation) and followed through 9 months postpartum. During pregnancy and postpartum, dietary intake was measured with 24-h diet recalls, and LTL was assessed using quantitative PCR. Adjusting for sociodemographic and health characteristics, decreased SSB consumption from baseline to 9 months postpartum was associated with greater concurrent LTL lengthening (β=-0.102, 95% confidence interval (CI) -0.192, -0.013). No associations between sugary foods and LTL were found in either period. The finding that reduced SSB consumption is associated with increased LTL warrants investigation in large cohort studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Biotrickling filter (BTF) technology was applied for the treatment of waste gas containing a mixture of chlorobenzene and 1,2-dichlorobenzene. An adapted microbial community was immobilised on a structured packing material. The strategy followed was to reach high removal efficiencies at initially low mass loading rates followed by an increase of the latter. This procedure was successful and resulted in a short start-up period of only 2 weeks. A 3-month operation under steady-state conditions showed good performance, with >95% removal efficiency at a mass loading rate of 1,800 g m-3 day-1. Dimensionless concentration profiles showed that the chlorobenzenes were simultaneously degraded. Low dissolved organic carbon of 15 mg l-1 and stoichiometric chloride concentrations in the trickling liquid indicated complete mineralisation of the pollutant. Transient-state experiments with five times higher mass loading rates caused a decrease in the removal efficiency that recovered rapidly once the mass loading rate returned to its original steady-state level. A progressive increase of the mass loading rate in a long-term performance experiment showed that the removal efficiency could be kept stable between 95 and 99% at loads of up to 5,200 g m-3 day-1 over several days. Above this mass loading rate, the elimination capacity did not increase any further. These results demonstrated that with a well-adapted inoculum and optimal operation parameters, a BTF system with excellent performance and stability that efficiently removes a mixture of cholorobenzene vapours from air can be obtained. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

One hundred and eighty dihaploid clones used for protoplast fusions, and 144 tetraploid German potato cultivars were analysed for their cytoplasms using 11 homologous mt DNA-probes, and were classified as mitochondrial (mt) types α, β, γ, δ, and ɛ according to their RFLP patterns. From the 4 x cultivars, 79 had the typical mt-type β of Solanum tuberosum being different from the 46 cvs which had the mt-α type and 19 others with mt-γ. A dendrogram shows their relationships to other Solanum species. The distantly related mt-ɛ was only found in di-haploids, and particularly in clones deriving from Solanum phureja and Solanum andigena. Accessory mt types will be actualized on website (http://www.edv.agrar.tu-muenchen.de/pbpz/ mm/mt/al1.htm). In order to evaluate the genetic potential of novel plastid-mitochondrial configurations we have analyzed four representative populations, which derive from different fusion-combination classes: [α (+) β], [α (+) γ], [α (+) δ] and [α (+) ɛ]. On the mitochondrial expression level, hybrids from an [α (+) ɛ] fusion could be distinguished by in-organello translation from [α (+) β] hybrids, and other di-haploids, by an additional translation product of 15 kDa. In fusion parents with mt-α and -γ an additional atp6 reading frame is detectable in sub-stoichiometric amounts by the use of specific PCR primers. The gene differs from the original 211 bp 3′ from the stop codon. Novel RFLP-patterns in 10% of the somatic hybrids were due to a high-rate replication of this pre-existing parental genome region. A second characteristic for somatic hybrids was the partial addition of parental mt sub-genomes. The major part of them revealed a new organization in their mt genomes at the mt-type characteristic loci rpl5, rps14, cob, rps10, coxI and rpl2, which contain recombination-specific repeats homologous to Petunia spp. and Nicotiana. A schematic model for the formation of novel mitochondrial genomes in potato somatic hybrids is provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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The regional glucose utilization in the telencephalon of toads Bufo bufo during stimulation with different visual key stimuli was quantitatively mapped by means of theC-2DG autoradiographic method: (i) a 4×28 mm worm-like stripe (W) eliciting prey catching responses, (ii) a 84×84 mm square (S) releasing predator avoidance responses, and (iii) a 28×4 mm antiwormlike stripe (A) eliciting no motor response. Various telencephalic structures changedC- 2DG uptake statistical significantly during stimulation with the above visual objects in comparison with binocular enucleated animals (brain-to-brain comparison) and in comparison between both hemispheres in monocular animals (interhemispherical comparison): (1) The ventral two-thirds of the posterior half of the medial pallium decreased-2DG uptake during W- and S-experiments, particularly in response to W. (2) In the posterior two-thirds of the lateral pallium,C- 2DG uptake was decreased in response to the worm-, and increased in response to the square (S) and antiworm stimuli (A). (3) The ventral striatum increased uptake ofC-2DG during the animal's response to W- and S-stimuli significantly stronger than in the A-experiment. (4) The dorsal striatum also showed a significant change inC-2DG uptake which, on a lower level, was not correlated with the type of stimulation experiment. Various prosencephalic structures are involved in circuitries related to attentional phenomena and the gating of prey catching and predator avoidance behavior. The different functions of these structures are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The (C)2DG autoradiographic technique has been employed to quantitatively map glucose utilization in the mesencephalon, the diencephalon and the cerebellum, of toads in response to configurational moving visual stimuli: (i) a 0.4 cm × 2.8 cm worm-like stripe (W) which elicited prey catching responses, (ii) a 8.4 cm × 8.4 cm square (S) that released predator avoidance responses, and (iii) a 2.8 cm × 0.4 cm antiworm-like stripe (A) which elicited no motor activity. For various brain nuclei different relationships were obtained: The optic tectum showed statistical significant higher 2DG uptake during worm-stimulation ( ¯X) than during antiworm stimulation ( ¯X), i.e. ¯X> ¯X. The latter visual pattern led to a 2DG utilization that was statistically significant stronger than during stimulation with a square ( ¯X), i.e. ¯X> ¯X. Thus, in comparison between right and left hemisphere as well as between brains the following ratios were obtained: Optic tectum: ¯X> ¯X> ¯X; nucleus isthmi: ¯X> ¯X- ¯X; posterodorsal lateral thalamic nucleus: ¯X> ¯X> ¯X; posteroventral lateral thalamic nucleus: ¯X> ¯X≃ ¯X; posterior thalamic nucleus: ¯X> ¯X≃ ¯X; anteripr division of the lateral thalamic nucleus: ¯X> ¯X≃ ¯X; anterior thalamic nucleus: ¯X> ¯X> ¯X; nucleus of Bellonci and dorsal division of the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus: ¯X≃ ¯X≃ ¯X; cerebellum: ¯X≃ ¯X> ¯X. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The present work investigates 1-anthraquinone sulphonate (1-AS) biodegradation under (i) aerobic conditions using domestic activated sludge as inoculum, (ii) anaerobic conditions using sludge from an anaerobic domestic wastewater treatment digestor in a sulphate-containing or methanogenic environment, (iii) a combination of anaerobic followed by aerobic conditions. The process was evaluated in terms of primary degradation, i.e. 1-AS elimination and ultimate degradation, as total dissolved organic carbon removal. It was shown that aerobic conditions lead to the complete primary and ultimate degradation, of 1-AS. By contrast, neither under sulphato-reductive nor methanogenic conditions does anaerobic digestion lead to the significant degradation of 1-AS. The use of anaerobic treatment followed by aerobic treatment did not improve degradation. Indeed aerobic post-treatment resulted in the re-appearance of pollutant in the medium even though this had been partly degraded under anaerobic conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The possibility of predicting the parameters in HPLC by means of theoretical calculations, represents a significant step forward in the analysis of the complex mixtures of higher boiling petroleum fractions. Quantitative structure-property relationship, QSPR, is being used more and more in Chromatographic studies, since it is by now established that the retention indices have a structural origin. In the present paper we investigate whether the HPLC parameters of alkanes could be predicted from the QSPR-type models using the Wiener number as a structural descriptor. The Wiener number, which has already been applied in several cases to the prediction of gas Chromatographic retention indices and HPLC parameters for polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbons, has now been employed for calculating the HPLC retention time of n-alkanes and cycloalkanes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]