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Forests are under intense human pressure, hindering their restoration. A potential solution to regeneration problems is the adoption of tree shelters, which have demonstrated protective benefits in the early establishment of forest plantations. A 9-year study was conducted in the Maamora forest (Morocco) to evaluate the effects of tube shelters and regeneration methods (direct seeding and seedling) on the growth and survival of cork oak (Quercus suber) plantations. A split-plot design was developed with three replicates of 36 plants for each of the four shelter treatments, including T0 (control), T1 (Tubex 1.20 m), T2 (Tubex 1.50 m), and T3 (Tubex 1.80 m) for a total of 964 plants, where periodic inventories were conducted to assess plant survival and growth. Our results show regeneration methods and shelters significantly influenced the survival of cork oak. Direct-seeded plants were more successful than those from seedlings, presenting survival rates of up to 97%. Despite a minimal shelter effect at the beginning, their positive influence was strong later on. Only plants installed with the 1.20 m shelter had an overall success rate of over 50%. Regeneration method had a strong influence on height and diameter growth, with seedling units showing taller plants initially, which shifted to direct-seeded plants in subsequent years. Conversely, the effect of shelters on growth parameters was generally non-significant. Nonetheless, sheltered trees exhibited greater height and diameter than unsheltered trees, particularly in the latter years. Sheltered plants showed an overall faster rate of vertical growth, while unsheltered plants showed faster radial growth.

3,6-Dimethyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidin-4(5H)-one 3 was prepared by an intramolecular cyclization of N-(4-cyano-3-methyl-1-phenyl-1H-pyrazol-5-yl) acetamide 2 in ethanol in the presence of piperidine. N-allylation and N-propargyl alkylation of N-substituted pyrazolo[3,4-d] pyrimidin-4(5H)-one 3 yielded the corresponding dipolarophiles 4 and 5 which afford by condensation with arylnitrile oxides in toluene the expected new isoxazolines 6 and isoxazoles 7, respectively. On the other hand, the aminopyrazole 1 in refluxing with ethanol in the presence of sodium hydroxide afforded the corresponding carboxamide 8, which then, was converted to its ethyl 3-methyl-4-oxo-1-phenyl-4,5-dihydro-1H-pyrazolo[3,4-d] pyrimidine-6-carboxylate 9 with neat diethyl oxalate. The dipolarophile 10 on regiospecific 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition with arylnitrile oxides affords isoxazoles 11 and the unexpected deethoxycarbonylated isoxazoles 12. The target compounds were completely characterized by 1H NMR, 13C NMR, IR and HRMS. Keywords: Aminopyrazole-carbonitrile, Pyrazolo[3,4-d]pyrimidinones, 1,3-dipolar cycloaddition, Isoxazolines, Isoxazoles

Two compounds having biological activities, 3-indolethanol and (L-phe, L-pro) diketopiperazine, have been isolated from a new filamentous soil bacterium called Streptomyces sp. US24 strain.To our knowledge, it is the first time that these two active molecules are described from Streptomyces species. The structures of these two compounds were established on the basis on their spectral data such as IR, EI-MS, and ESI-MS spectrometry, as well as NMR 1D and 2D (COSY, HMQC, HMBC). [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study aimed to evaluate the impact of time-restricted eating (TRE) on neuro-physiological parameters, objective and subjective sleep, pulmonary capacity, and postural balance among women with excess body weight., Methods: Thirty-one participants were assigned to either a TRE group (n = 15, 28.74 ± 9.25 years, 88.32 ± 13.38 kg, and 32.71 ± 5.15 kg/m 2 ), engaging in ad libitum 16 h fasting over a 12-week period, or a control group (CG, n = 16, 36.25 ± 11.52 years, 90.88 ± 19.01 kg, and 33.66 ± 6.18 kg/m 2 ). The assessment of heart rate variability (HRV), spirometric parameters (forced vital capacity (FVC), forced expiratory volume in the first second (FEV1), FEV1/ FVC ratio, objective and subjective sleep assessments employing actigraphy and the Epworth Sleepiness Scale, and postural balance using the Y balance test (YBT) were conducted before and after the intervention., Results: No significant negative effects of TRE were observed for HRV and objective sleep parameters. Only the TRE group improved FEV1 in both sitting ( p < 0.0005) and supine positions ( p = 0.001). Furthermore, the TRE group showed improvement in postural balance performance compared to the CG in anterior ( p = 0.03), postero-medial ( p = 0.04), and postero-lateral directions ( p = 0.003)., Conclusion: This study highlights TRE as a feasible and safe dietary intervention with significant improvements in postural balance and pulmonary function, without any negative impact on HRV or objective sleep assessments among overweight or obese women.

Objective: The purpose of this study was to examine the long-term effects of time-restricted eating (TRE), with or without high intensity functional training (HIFT), on body composition and cardiometabolic biomarkers among inactive women with obesity., Methods: Sixty-four women (BMI = 35.03 ± 3.8 kg/m2; age = 32.1 ± 10 years) were randomly allocated to either: (1) TRE (≤8-h daily eating window, with ad libitum energy intake) group; (2) HIFT (3 sessions/week) group; or (3) TRE combined with HIFT (TRE-HIFT) group. The interventions lasted 12 weeks with a pre-post measurement design. A HIFT session consists of 8 sets of multiple functional exercises with self-selected intensity (20 or 30s work/10s rest)., Results: TRE-HIFT showed a greater decrease of waist and hip circumferences and fat mass compared to TRE (p = 0.02, p = 0.02 and p<0.01; respectively) and HIFT (p = 0.012, p = 0.028 and p<0.001; respectively). Weight and BMI decreased in TRE-HIFT compared to HIFT group (p<0.001; for both). Fat-free mass was lower in TRE compared to both HIFT and TRE-HIFT groups (p<0.01 and p<0.001; respectively). Total cholesterol, triglyceride, insulin, and HOMA-IR decreased in TRE-HIFT compared to both TRE (p<0.001, p<0.01, p = 0.015 and p<0.01; respectively) and HIFT (p<0.001, p = 0.02, p<0.01 and p<0.001; respectively) groups. Glucose level decreased in TRE-HIFT compared to HIFT (p<0.01). Systolic blood pressure decreased significantly in both TRE-HIFT and HIFT groups compared to TRE group (p = 0.04 and p = 0.02; respectively)., Conclusion: In inactive women with obesity, combining TRE with HIFT can be a good strategy to induce superior effects on body composition, lipid profile and glucose regulation compared with either diet or exercise intervention alone., Trial Registration: Clinical Trials Number: PACTR202301674821174., Competing Interests: The authors have declared that no competing interests exist., (Copyright: © 2024 Ameur 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.)

Snake venoms constitute a very promising resource for the development of new medicines. They are mainly composed of very complex peptide and protein mixtures, which composition may vary significantly from batch to batch. This latter consideration is a challenge for routine quality control (QC) in the pharmaceutical industry. In this paper, we report the use of capillary zone electrophoresis for the development of an analytical fingerprint methodology to assess the quality of snake venoms. The analytical fingerprint concept is being widely used for the QC of herbal drugs but rarely for venoms QC so far. CZE was chosen for its intrinsic efficiency in the separation of protein and peptide mixtures. The analytical fingerprint methodology was first developed and evaluated for a particular snake venom, Lachesis muta. Optimal analysis conditions required the use of PDADMAC capillary coating to avoid protein and peptide adsorption. Same analytical conditions were then applied to other snake venom species. Different electrophoretic profiles were obtained for each venom. Excellent repeatability and intermediate precision was observed for each batch. Analysis of different batches of the same species revealed inherent qualitative and quantitative composition variations of the venoms between individuals., (© 2017 WILEY-VCH Verlag GmbH & Co. KGaA, Weinheim.)

Increased phenotyping accuracy and throughput are necessary to improve our understanding of quantitative variation and to be able to deconstruct complex traits such as those involved in growth responses to the environment. Still, only a few facilities are known to handle individual plants of small stature for non-destructive, real-time phenotype acquisition from plants grown in precisely adjusted and variable experimental conditions. Here, we describe Phenoscope, a high-throughput phenotyping platform that has the unique feature of continuously rotating 735 individual pots over a table. It automatically adjusts watering and is equipped with a zenithal imaging system to monitor rosette size and expansion rate during the vegetative stage, with automatic image analysis allowing manual correction. When applied to Arabidopsis thaliana, we show that rotating the pots strongly reduced micro-environmental disparity: heterogeneity in evaporation was cut by a factor of 2.5 and the number of replicates needed to detect a specific mild genotypic effect was reduced by a factor of 3. In addition, by controlling a large proportion of the micro-environmental variance, other tangible sources of variance become noticeable. Overall, Phenoscope makes it possible to perform large-scale experiments that would not be possible or reproducible by hand. When applied to a typical quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping experiment, we show that mapping power is more limited by genetic complexity than phenotyping accuracy. This will help to draw a more general picture as to how genetic diversity shapes phenotypic variation., (© 2013 The Authors The Plant Journal © 2013 Blackwell Publishing Ltd.)

The study investigates the direct effect of Epstein-Barr virus infection on the oxidative profile of in vitro cultivated human cells. For this purpose, a panel of human EBV target cells presenting heterogeneity in their cellular and culture types (epithelial cells or lymphocytes; primary culture or continuous cell culture) was selected. These cells are purified human B lymphocytes, DG75, 293, and HepG2 cell lines. The oxidative stress was evaluated during the early stages of infection (2, 12, and 24 h) by measuring malondialdehyde, the end product of the lipid peroxidation, as well as the activities of two antioxidant enzymes: catalase and superoxide dismutase. The obtained results were compared with those of the untreated cells and the K562 cell line which has no interaction with EBV. The incubation of the different target cells with EBV induced an oxidative stress in the purified B lymphocytes, DG75, and 293, but not in HepG2 and K562. This oxidative stress was highlighted by an increase in MDA level (P < 0.05), which began 2 h after the addition of the virus and persisted after 12 and 24 h. Simultaneously, a decrease in catalase and superoxide dismutase activities was observed (P < 0.05), suggesting an alteration of the molecular mechanisms promoting cellular resistance to reactive oxygen species (ROS). The efficiency of EBV infection, assessed by viral DNA PCR amplification, was confirmed in 293 and DG75 but not in HepG2, which was in total concordance with their oxidative profiles. In conclusion, the EBV infection of B and epithelial cells leads to the establishment of an oxidative stress which can play a key role during the viral transformation.