Fourteen Days vs 28 Days of Albendazole Therapy for Neurocysticercosis in Children: An Open Label Randomized Controlled Trial.

BACKGROUND: There is a paucity of literature to support 14-days albendazole therapy for neurocysticercosis (NCC). OBJECTIVE: To compare the efficacy of 14-day and 28-day albendazole therapy in the management of children with newly diagnosed active NCC. STUDY DESIGN: Open-labelled randomized controlled trial. PARTICIPANTS: Children aged 1-14 years with newly diagnosed active neurocysticercosis. INTERVENTION: Albendazole (15 mg/kg/day) for either 14 days or 28 days. OUTCOME: The primary outcome measure was proportion of children with radiological resolution of active lesion at 6-month follow up. Secondary outcome measures were proportion of children with seizure recurrence, duration to seizure recurrence and calcification on follow up imaging. RESULTS: 65 children with newly diagnosed NCC were rando-mized to receive albendazole therapy for 14 days (n=32) or 28 days (n=33). The proportion of children with complete resolution was comparable between the two groups [6 (18.8%) vs. 9 (27.3%); OR (95%CI):0.61 (0.19 to 1.98); P=0.56]. Similarly, proportion of children with seizure recurrence [5(15.6%) vs 2(6.1%); OR (95%CI): 2.87(0.51-16.0); P=0.26] and proportion of children with calcification on follow-up imaging [26(81.2%) vs 23(69.7%); OR (95%CI): 1.88 (0.59-5.99); P=0.39] were also comparable. There were no major side-effects noted during the study. CONCLUSION: 14-day treatment with albendazole therapy is as effective as 28-day treatment in achieving radiological resolution at six-month follow up. However, high rate of calcification in both the groups indicates need for further evaluation with an adequately powered study and longer follow up.

Coupled steel slag and biochar amendment correlated with higher methanotrophic abundance and lower CH4 emission in subtropical paddies.

Aerobic methanotrophs in paddies serve as methane (CH4) filters and thereby reduce CH4 emissions. Amending soil with waste products can mitigate CH4 emissions in crops, but little is known about the impacts of amendments with steel slag and biochar on the populations and activities of aerobic methanotrophs in rice cropland. We used real-time quantitative PCR detecting system and high-throughput sequencing to determine the effects of slag and biochar amendments on CH4 emission, abundance, and community structure of methanotrophs, and the relationships between soil properties and the abundance and community composition of methanotrophs during the rice growing season in both early and late paddies. Soil salinity and pH were significantly higher for an amendment with both slag and biochar than the control in both the early and late paddies, and pH was significantly higher for a slag amendment in the late paddy. Cumulative CH4 emission was lower for the slag and slag + biochar amendments than the control in early paddy by-34.1%. Methanotrophic abundance was three- and sixfold higher for the slag + biochar amendment than the control in the early and late paddies (p < 0.05), respectively. The abundance of different groups of methanotrophs varied among the treatments. The relative abundance of Methylosarcina was higher for the slag amendment than the control, and the relative abundance of Methylomonas was lower for biochar, and slag + biochar amendments than the control. The relative abundance of Methylocystis was higher for the slag and slag + biochar amendments than the control in the early paddy, and the relative abundance of Methylocystis was higher for the slag, biochar, and slag + biochar amendments in the late paddy. Univariate and multivariate analyses indicated that the higher abundance of methanotrophic bacteria for the slag and slag + biochar amendments was correlated with soil pH, salinity, soil organic carbon, and C/N ratio, and the relative abundances of Methylocystis, Methylomonas, and Methylosarcina were associated with the effective mitigation of CH4 emission in the paddies. A discriminant general analysis indicated that the total population of methanotrophs was larger for the slag + biochar amendment than the control, and that this effect was only weakly correlated with changes in the soil properties, demonstrating that this effect on the size and species composition of methanotrophic soil populations was mostly associated with a direct effect of the slag + biochar amendment.

Effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO2, CH4, and N2O flux, and rice productivity in a subtropical Chinese paddy field.

Steel slag, a by-product of the steel industry, contains high amounts of active iron oxide and silica which can act as an oxidizing agent in agricultural soils. Biochar is a rich source of carbon, and the combined application of biochar and steel slag is assumed to have positive impacts on soil properties as well as plant growth, which are yet to be validated scientifically. We conducted a field experiment for two rice paddies (early and late paddy) to determine the individual and combined effects of steel slag and biochar amendments on CO2, CH4, and N2O emission, and rice productivity in a subtropical paddy field of China. The amendments did not significantly affect rice yield. It was observed that CO2 was the main greenhouse gas emitted from all treatments of both paddies. Steel slag decreased the cumulative CO2 flux in the late paddy. Biochar as well as steel slag + biochar treatment decreased the cumulative CO2 flux in the late paddy and for the complete year (early and late paddy), while steel slag + biochar treatment also decreased the cumulative CH4 flux in the early paddy. The biochar, and steel slag + biochar amendments decreased the global warming potential (GWP). Interestingly, the cumulative annual GWP was lower for the biochar (55,422 kg CO2-eq ha-1), and steel slag + biochar (53,965 kg CO2-eq ha-1) treatments than the control (68,962 kg CO2-eq ha-1). Total GWP per unit yield was lower for the combined application of steel slag + biochar (8951 kg CO2-eq Mg-1 yield) compared to the control (12,805 kg CO2-eq Mg-1 yield). This study suggested that the combined application of steel slag and biochar could be an effective long-term strategy to reduce greenhouse gases emission from paddies without any detrimental effect on the yield.

Post-translational modifications in regulation of pathogen surveillance and signaling in plants: The inside- (and perturbations from) outside story.

In its lifetime a plant is exposed to pathogens of diverse types. Although methods of surveillance are broadly pathogen-individualized, immune signaling ultimately connect to common core networks maintained by key protein hubs. Defense elicitations modulate these hubs to re-allocate energy from central metabolic pathway into processes that execute immunity. Because unregulated defenses severely decrease growth and productivity of the host, signaling regulators within the networks function to achieve cellular equilibrium once the threat is minimized. Protein modifications by post-translational processes regulate the molecular switches and crosstalks between interconnected pathways spatially and temporally. Covalent modification of host targets connected to hubs are strategies used by most virulent effectors and result in re-routing signals to suppress host defenses. Resistance is a result of activation of specialized classes of receptors that short-circuit effector activities by co-localizing via post-translational modifications (PTMs) with effector targets. Despite advancement in proteome methodologies, our understanding of how PTMs regulate plant defenses remains elusive. This review presents protein-modifications as forefront regulators of plant innate immunity.

An overview of key pretreatment processes for biological conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol.

Second-generation bioethanol can be produced from various lignocellulosic biomasses such as wood, agricultural or forest residues. Lignocellulosic biomass is inexpensive, renewable and abundant source for bioethanol production. The conversion of lignocellulosic biomass to bioethanol could be a promising technology though the process has several challenges and limitations such as biomass transport and handling, and efficient pretreatment methods for total delignification of lignocellulosics. Proper pretreatment methods can increase concentrations of fermentable sugars after enzymatic saccharification, thereby improving the efficiency of the whole process. Conversion of glucose as well as xylose to bioethanol needs some new fermentation technologies to make the whole process inexpensive. The main goal of pretreatment is to increase the digestibility of maximum available sugars. Each pretreatment process has a specific effect on the cellulose, hemicellulose and lignin fraction; thus, different pretreatment methods and conditions should be chosen according to the process configuration selected for the subsequent hydrolysis and fermentation steps. The cost of ethanol production from lignocellulosic biomass in current technologies is relatively high. Additionally, low yield still remains as one of the main challenges. This paper reviews the various technologies for maximum conversion of cellulose and hemicelluloses fraction to ethanol, and it point outs several key properties that should be targeted for low cost and maximum yield.

Experience with uroflowmetry in evaluation of lower urinary tract symptoms in patients with benign prostatic hyperplasia.

INTRODUCTION: Uroflowmetry is a non- invasive urodynamic tool which is widely used for most of the patients with suspected lower urinary tract dysfunction. The severity of lower urinary tract symptoms (LUTS) can be measured reliably by using a number of validated questionnaires, like International Prostate Symptom Score (IPSS). This study was designed to determine the relationship between the parameters of uroflowmetry and symptom severity. MATERIALS AND METHODS: Fifty patients with LUTS caused by benign prostatic hyperplasia were evaluated by using uroflowmetry, IPSS, prostate volume estimation. The correlations between these parameters were quantified by means of Spearman correlation co-efficients. RESULTS: Statistically significant correlations were found between the IPSS and results of uroflowmetry (peak flow rate and average flow rate) and post void residual urine. No correlation was found between the IPSS and results of prostate volume measurements. CONCLUSION: There was a positive correlation between peak flow rate, as was measured by uroflowmetry and lower urinary tract symptom severity.