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Copyright of Larhyss Journal is the property of Biskra University, Research Laboratory in Subterranean & Surface Hydraulics and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

In the United States, diabetes is the seventh leading cause of death and continues to rise in prevalence, with type 2 diabetes accounting for 90-95% of all cases. Rates of diabetes in Kentucky, and, in particular, the Appalachian region, are among the highest in the nation and are increasing faster than the national average. Despite this disproportionate burden, barriers to clinical appointment attendance have not been fully explored in this population. This article examines the association among perceived barriers to clinical attendance, glycemic control, and diabetes self-care as part of an ongoing study. We used a 25-item checklist developed using the Chronic Care Model to assess participants' barriers to clinic attendance. Glycemic control was assessed via A1C measurement. Diabetes self-care was assessed using the Summary of Diabetes Self-Care Activities measure. At the time of analysis, 123 of the 356 participants (34.6%) did not report any barriers to clinic attendance. For the remainder, the major reported barriers included forgetting appointments, inability to afford medicines or other treatment, and placing faith above medical care. The average A1C was 7.7%, and the average diabetes self-care summary score was 17.1 out of 35 points (with higher values indicating better self-care). Missing clinic appointments is associated with lower health outcomes, especially in vulnerable populations. This study can help educate clinic staff on perceived barriers to type 2 diabetes management among people with diabetes in Appalachia., Competing Interests: No potential conflicts of interest relevant to this article were reported., (© 2023 by the American Diabetes Association.)

Wheat rust diseases pose one of the greatest threats to global food security, including subsistence farmers in Ethiopia. The fungal spores transmitting wheat rust are dispersed by wind and can remain infectious after dispersal over long distances. The emergence of new strains of wheat rust has exacerbated the risks of severe crop loss. We describe the construction and deployment of a near realtime early warning system (EWS) for two major wind-dispersed diseases of wheat crops in Ethiopia that combines existing environmental research infrastructures, newly developed tools and scientific expertise across multiple organisations in Ethiopia and the UK. The EWS encompasses a sophisticated framework that integrates field and mobile phone surveillance data, spore dispersal and disease environmental suitability forecasting, as well as communication to policy-makers, advisors and smallholder farmers. The system involves daily automated data flow between two continents during the wheat season in Ethiopia. The framework utilises expertise and environmental research infrastructures from within the cross-disciplinary spectrum of biology, agronomy, meteorology, computer science and telecommunications. The EWS successfully provided timely information to assist policy makers formulate decisions about allocation of limited stock of fungicide during the 2017 and 2018 wheat seasons. Wheat rust alerts and advisories were sent by short message service and reports to 10 000 development agents and approximately 275 000 smallholder farmers in Ethiopia who rely on wheat for subsistence and livelihood security. The framework represents one of the first advanced crop disease EWSs implemented in a developing country. It provides policy-makers, extension agents and farmers with timely, actionable information on priority diseases affecting a staple food crop. The framework together with the underpinning technologies are transferable to forecast wheat rusts in other regions and can be readily adapted for other wind-dispersed pests and disease of major agricultural crops., (© 2019 The Author(s).)

Introduction: Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a devastating disease characterized by obliteration of alveolar architecture, resulting in declining lung function and ultimately death. Pathogenic mechanisms involve a concomitant accumulation of scar tissue together with myofibroblasts activation and a strong abnormal vascular remodeling. Endothelial progenitor cells (ECFC subtype) have been investigated in several human lung diseases as a potential actor in IPF. We previously demonstrated that ECFCs are down-regulated in IPF in contrast to healthy controls. We postulated here that ECFCs might behave as a liquid biopsy in IPF patients and that they exert modified vasculogenic properties., Methods and Results: ECFCs isolated from controls and IPF patients expressed markers of the endothelial lineage and did not differ concerning adhesion, migration, and differentiation in vitro and in vivo. However, senescent and apoptotic states were increased in ECFCs from IPF patients as shown by galactosidase staining, p16 expression, and annexin-V staining. Furthermore, conditioned medium of IPF-ECFCs had increased level of interleukin-8 that induced migration of neutrophils in vitro and in vivo. In addition, an infiltration by neutrophils was shown in IPF lung biopsies and we found in a prospective clinical study that a high level of neutrophils in peripheral blood of IPF patients was associated to a poor prognosis., Conclusion: To conclude, our study shows that IPF patients have a senescent ECFC phenotype associated with an increased IL-8 secretion potential that might contribute to lung neutrophils invasion during IPF.

In the present study 60 samples were collected from lower respiratory tract of patients suffering from Ventilator Associated Pneumonia (VAP) admitted in surgical and medical Intensive Care Units (ICUs) of Khyber Teaching Hospital, Peshawar, Pakistan. Recovered pathogens were characterized and their susceptibility pattern against commonly used antibacterial agents investigated. Most frequent bacterial pathogen found was methicillin- resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) (40%) followed by members of Enterobacteriaceae (22%; of which Escherichia coli (50%), Klebsiella pneumonia (30%), Enterobacter cloacae (10%) and Citrobacter freundii (10%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa 20% and Acinetobacter baumannii 18%. Majority of the specimens yielded polymicrobial growth (85.75% polymicrobial growth compared to 14.25% specimens yielding monomicrobial growth). The susceptibility pattern showed that A. baumannii was the most resistant bacterial pathogen. Based on the results of susceptibility pattern obtained in the present study, combination of linezolid with meropenem and colistin has been found to be the best combination option for empirical therapy for VAP pathogens in this region.

Endothelial colony-forming cells (ECFCs) are progenitor cells committed to endothelial lineages and have robust vasculogenic properties. Mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have been described to support ECFC-mediated angiogenic processes in various matrices. However, MSC-ECFC interactions in hind limb ischemia (HLI) are largely unknown. Here we examined whether co-administration of ECFCs and MSCs bolsters vasculogenic activity in nude mice with HLI. In addition, as we have previously shown that endoglin is a key adhesion molecule, we evaluated its involvement in ECFC/MSC interaction. Foot perfusion increased on day 7 after ECFC injection and was even better at 14 days. Co-administration of MSCs significantly increased vessel density and foot perfusion on day 7 but the differences were no longer significant at day 14. Analysis of mouse and human CD31, and in situ hybridization of the human ALU sequence, showed enhanced capillary density in ECFC+MSC mice. When ECFCs were silenced for endoglin, coinjection with MSCs led to lower vessel density and foot perfusion at both 7 and 14 days (p<0.001). Endoglin silencing in ECFCs did not affect MSC differentiation into perivascular cells or other mesenchymal lineages. Endoglin silencing markedly inhibited ECFC adhesion to MSCs. Thus, MSCs, when combined with ECFCs, accelerate muscle recovery in a mouse model of hind limb ischemia, through an endoglin-dependent mechanism.

The role of different growth media and chemical enhancer on synthesis of secondary metabolites Cladosporium resinae (NRL-6437) was investigated for their in vitro biological activities. Cladosporium resinae (NRL-6437) were grown in various nutrient media (Czapeak-dox Broth (CB), Czapeak Yeast-extract Broth (CYB), Yeast Extract Sucrose (YES), Potato Dextrose Broth (PDB) and Czapeak-dox (supplemented with glucose and starch) Broth (CGSB) for the production of metabolites. Two chemical epigenetic modifiers (suberoyl-anilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and 5-azacytidine (5-AZA) were also used for the expression of silent genes for secondary metabolite production. Our results indicated that among different media, Czapeak yeast extract broth produced more secondary metabolites. Application of 15mM of both modifiers was effective for the expressions of silent genes resulting in an increased metabolites production. Secondary metabolites extracted in ethyl acetate and fractionized in n-Hexane were also tested for their biological activity. The secondary metabolites revealed varying degrees of growth inhibitions of the tested organisms. Similarly, these metabolites were also active against brine shrimps and Lemna.

The present study investigates the effect of different growth media and chemical enhancer on silent genes in Aspergillus carbonarius (NRL-369) for secondary metabolites production and its in vitro biological activities. Results revealed that Aspergillus carbonarius (NRL-369) grown in Czapeak yeast extract broth medium produced more metabolites compared with other media. Chemical epigenetic modifiers (suberoyl-anilide hydroxamic acid (SAHA) and 5-azacytidine (5-AZA) at concentration of 15mM were effective for the expression of silent genes resulting in increased secondary metabolites production. Secondary metabolites extracted in ethyl acetate and fractionized in n-Hexane showed variable degree of growth inhibitions of the tested microorganisms. Similarly, these samples were also active against brine shrimps and Lemna.

The present study investigates the antibiotic resistance of S. pyogenes of 600 isolates collected from different body parts including throat and sputum were analyzed for their antimicrobial susceptibility to 5 antibiotics using the Kirby Bauer disc diffusion method. Based on different identification tests including, gram staining, beta hemolysis, catalase test and bacitracin sensitivity test, a total of 138 isolates were confirmed as S. pyogenes. The prevalence of S. pyogenes was 80% in sore throat and 29% in sputum samples. These isolates were further tested for antibiotics resistance using disk diffusion method. Out of 138 isolates, 49.27% isolates showed resistance towards cefixime, 28.98% towards cefotaxime and 17.39% towards ciprofloxacin, 17.39% towards ampicillin, 17.39% towards erythromycin, 15.94% towards streptomycin, 0.724% isolates towards chloromphenicol and 0% towards penicillin. Among the resistant isolates of S. pyogenes, 60.71% showed resistance towards cefixime, 57.14% towards ciprofloxacin, 57.14% towards streptomycin, 50% towards erythromycin and 25% towards cefotaxime.

Aspergillus westerdijkiae is the main producer of several biologically active polyketide metabolites including isoasperlactone and asperlactone. A 5298bp polyketide synthase gene "aomsas" has been cloned in Aspergillus westerdijkiae by using gene walking approach and RACE-PCR. The predicted amino acid sequence of aomsas shows an identity of 40-56% with different methylsalicylic acid synthase genes found in Byssochlamys nivea, P. patulum, A. terreus and Streptomyces viridochromogenes. Based on the reverse transcription PCR and kinetic secondary metabolites production studies, aomsas expression was found to be associated with the biosynthesis of isoasperlactone and asperlactone. Moreover an aomsas knockout mutant "aoDeltamsas" of A. westerdijkiae, not only lost the capacity to produce isoasperlactone and asperlactone, but also 6-methylsalicylic acid. The genetically complemented mutant ao+msas restored the biosynthesis of all the missing metabolites. Chemical complementation through the addition of 6-methylsalicylic acid, aspyrone and diepoxide to growing culture of aoDeltamsas mutant revealed that these compounds play intermediate roles in the biosynthesis of asperlactone and isoasperlactone.

In phytopathogenic fungi, STE12-like genes encode transcription factors essential for appressorium-mediated host penetration. However, their regulation and downstream targets are still unknown. In the present study, a STE12-like gene (CLSTE12) from Colletotrichum lindemuthianum was isolated. We identified a spliced variant whose expression was negatively regulated during early stages of pathogenesis, whereas the correctly spliced mRNA remained expressed up to the penetration step, suggesting distinct roles for these two transcripts. Indeed, the full-length sequence was able to complement a yeast STE12 mutant, whereas overexpression of the transcript variant had a dominant-negative effect on yeast invasive growth and C. lindemuthianum pathogenicity. To further investigate the downstream genes that could be regulated by CLSTE12, disruption mutants were generated. Phenotypic analyses of the mutants revealed reduced pectinase activity and conidial adhesion to polystyrene. Analysis of cell surface proteins allowed the identification of a major protein, Clsp1p, which was absent from the mutants. Clsp1p belongs to a new family of wall-associated proteins only found in euascomycetous fungi. Overall, these results suggest that the activity of CLSTE12 can be modulated by a regulated alternative splicing mechanism and that this factor is involved in the production of cell surface proteins and host cell wall degrading enzymes.

A technique i.e., Soil Solarization and Amendments (neem, chicken farmyard manure, farmyard manure and biokhad viz synthetic bio fertilizer), towards the natural cropping system has been evaluated for its effectiveness and practicability at the National Agricultural Research Center Islamabad Pakistan. Soil solarization and amendments were analyzed as a control measure against soil born fungi and nematodes. Eight weeks of solarization resulted in about 11 degrees C increase in the soil temperature. This increase in soil temperature caused a reduction of about 70 to 80% in the fungal population and about 99% in nematode population at various depths. Neem and Biokhad amendments were proved synergistic for solarization and also improved the properties of soil in the benefit of crop plants. Fusarium sp., Macrophomina phyaseolina and Verticillium sp. of fungi and Tylenchus sp., Haplolaimus sp., Xiphenema sp. and almost all of the parasitic nematodes were significantly (p<0.01) controlled. It was found that even after 40 days the solarized plots contain significantly less number of fungi and nematodes as compared to the nonsolarized plots, which confirmed the durability of this process.