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Soilless agriculture is acknowledged worldwide because it uses organic leftovers as a means of supporting intensive and efficient plant production. However, the quality of potting media deteriorates because of lower nutrient content and excessive shrinkage of most organic materials. A current study was undertaken to identify the optimal blend of locally available organic materials with desirable qualities for use as potting media. Therefore, different ingredients, viz., Pinus roxburghii needles, sugarcane bagasse, and farmyard manure were used alone or in combination as potting media to test their suitability by growing spinach as a test crop. Results showed that an increase in Pinus roxburghii needles and sugarcane bagasse decreased medium pH and electrical conductivity. Higher pH and electrical conductivity were recorded for the treatments having a higher farmyard manure ratio (≥50%) in combination. Except for pine needles 100%, pH and electrical conductivity were in the recommended range. The growth attributes include, leaves plant-1, shoot length, fresh- and dry shoot weight along with plant macronutrients (nitrogen, phosphorous, and potassium) and micronutrients (iron, copper, manganese, and zinc) content were higher in treatment pine needles 50%+farmyard manure 50% followed by pine needles 25%+farmyard manure 50%+sugarcane bagasse 25%. Moreover, the particular treatment of pine needles 50%+farmyard manure 50% exhibited the highest concentrations of macro- (nitrogen, phosphorus, and potassium) as well as micronutrients (iron, copper, manganese, and zinc) in the potting media following the harvest. This study highlights the potential of utilizing agro-industrial litter/waste as a soilless growing medium for spinach production under greenhouse conditions. When employed in appropriate proportions, this approach not only addresses disposal concerns but also proves effective for sustainable cultivation. Further research is needed to investigate the use of these wastes as potting media by mixing various particle-size ingredients., Competing Interests: The authors declare they have no known conflict or competing interest., (Copyright: © 2024 Alam et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.)

Epigenetic deregulation remarkably triggers mechanisms associated with tumor aggressiveness like epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT). Since EMT is a highly complex, but also reversible event, epigenetic processes such as DNA methylation or chromatin alterations must be involved in its regulation. It was recently described that loss of the cell cycle regulator p21 was associated with a gain in EMT characteristics and an upregulation of the master EMT transcription factor ZEB1. In this study, in silico analysis was performed in combination with different in vitro and in vivo techniques to identify and verify novel epigenetic targets of ZEB1, and to proof the direct transcriptional regulation of SETD1B by ZEB1. The chorioallantoic-membrane assay served as an in vivo model to analyze the ZEB1/SETD1B interaction. Bioinformatical analysis of CRC patient data was used to examine the ZEB1/SETD1B network under clinical conditions and the ZEB1/SETD1B network was modeled under physiological and pathological conditions. Thus, we identified a self-reinforcing loop for ZEB1 expression and found that the SETD1B associated active chromatin mark H3K4me3 was enriched at the ZEB1 promoter in EMT cells. Moreover, clinical evaluation of CRC patient data showed that the simultaneous high expression of ZEB1 and SETD1B was correlated with the worst prognosis. Here we report that the expression of chromatin modifiers is remarkably dysregulated in EMT cells. SETD1B was identified as a new ZEB1 target in vitro and in vivo. Our study demonstrates a novel example of an activator role of ZEB1 for the epigenetic landscape in colorectal tumor cells.

Using a retrospective review of medical records, we sought the findings of surgical lung biopsy (SLB) in patients with hematological malignancy or hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) and unexplained pulmonary infiltrates and to determine the impact of this procedure on management and outcome of these patients. Sixty-two patients who underwent SLB were evaluated; 31 patients had underlying hematological malignancy and 31 patients were HSCT recipients; 58% of whom underwent allogeneic HSCT. Thirty-three patients (53%) had focal infiltrates on chest CT scan while 29 (47%) had diffuse infiltrates. Thirteen patients were mechanically ventilated prior to SLB, and 27 (43%) were neutropenic. There were 66 diagnoses in the 62 patients, 44 (67%) were specific and 22 (33%) were nonspecific. The most common specific diagnoses were infection (29%), malignancy (27%), and inflammatory conditions (11%). Aspergillosis was the most common diagnosis of all biopsies (21%). SLB led to a change in therapy in 40% of patients and was associated with complications in 7 patients (11%). Specific diagnosis was more likely to lead to a change in therapy (48% vs. 27%, P = 0.06) and was associated with a lower mortality when compared to a nonspecific finding (30% vs. 59%, P = 0.02). Nonspecific diagnosis, on the other hand, was seen more in patients on mechanical ventilation prior to SLB compared to those off mechanical ventilation (69% vs. 27%, P = 0.02). SLB provides a specific diagnosis in the majority of patients with hematologic malignancy or HSCT recipients and unexplained pulmonary infiltrates. Specific diagnosis is more likely to lead to a change in therapy and is associated with a better outcome., (Copyright 2005 Wiley-Liss, Inc.)

Objective: To assess the outcome of adult hematopoietic stem cell transplantation (HSCT) recipients who were admitted to a medical ICU (MICU), and to identify the measurable predictors of their MICU outcome., Design: Retrospective chart review study., Setting: MICU in a tertiary care, university-affiliated medical center with a comprehensive cancer program., Patients: Consecutive adult HSCT recipients admitted to the MICU between January 1998 and June 2001., Measurements and Main Results: Eighty-five patients were admitted to the MICU, representing 11.4% of patients who had undergone HSCT during the study period. The mean (+/- SD) age at MICU admission was 46.6 +/- 11.4 years (women, 67%; men, 33%). Forty-five patients (53%) underwent allogeneic HSCT, and 40 patients (47%) underwent autologous HSCT. Fifty-one patients (60%) required mechanical ventilation (MV). Fifty-two patients (61%) survived their MICU stay, and 35 patients (41%) were discharged alive from the hospital. The long-term survival rate (ie, > 6 months) in this cohort was 28%. Nineteen mechanically ventilated patients (37%) survived their MICU stay, and 33 patients (97%) survived who did not require MV (p < 0.01). The independent predictors of poor outcome during the MICU stay were elevated serum lactate level on admission to the MICU, the need for MV, and the presence of more than two organ systems that failed., Conclusions: The study showed short-term and long-term survival rates among adult HSCT recipients who had been admitted to MICU that were higher than those previously reported. While there were no absolute predictors of mortality, patients with higher MICU admission serum lactate levels, those requiring MV, or those developing more than two organ system failures had poor MICU outcomes.

In order to evaluate the clinical significance of Aspergillus-positive culture results from the lower respiratory tract specimens of elderly hospitalized patients, and to identify the clinical variables that differentiate between colonization and infection with Aspergillus spp. in this patient population, a retrospective study was conducted. The records of 66 elderly patients whose lower respiratory tract specimens yielded Aspergillus spp. between January 1995 and July 2000 were examined. The majority of the patients ( n=61) were determined to be colonized with Aspergillus spp., and serious lung infection due to Aspergillus spp. was rare. Clinical, radiological, and microbiological data did not help differentiate between infection and colonization.