Assessment of radiological indices and physiochemical characterization of sediments in Chashma Lake, Pakistan.

Twenty surface sediment samples were gathered from Chasma Lake, deciding the radionuclides 137Cs, 226Ra, 228Ra, 232Th, and 40K and their associated hazard indices. The deliberate radionuclide activities of present research have been contrasted with earlier research, and acquired outcomes in the present study are found below the results in the world. The radiation hazard indices following the presence of natural radionuclides in sediment samples were estimated, and the results assigned the values of all the determined radiological indices found inside the worldwide suggested limits. It was concluded from the current review that the sediment of Chashma Lake is safe for construction and agriculture and does not make radiation dangerous to the nearby local area of the lake.

Radiological risk assessment in sediment of Namal Lake, Mianwali, Pakistan.

This study is concentrated on the radiological risk assessment of sixteen surface sediment samples recovered from Namal Lake, District Mianwali, Punjab, Pakistan. The activity of 137Cs, 40 K, 226Ra, 228Ra, and 232Th was carried out with the help of a high purity germanium detector (HPGe) in the sediment, varied in the ranges of > 0.02-3.73 ± 1.31, 98.32 ± 21.45-341.02 ± 58.67, 18.34 ± 2.16-34.23 ± 4.34, 1.62 ± .30-2.34 ± .52, and 0.14 ± 0.10-2.34 ± 0.59 Bq kg-1 with average values 0.74 ± 0.29, 237.26 ± 37.97, 25.06 ± 4.74, 1.97 ± 0.39, and 1.73 ± 0.33 Bq kg-1, respectively. The measured concentrations in the current study have been compared with other earlier studies in the world. The data was also used for determining the other useful parameters like radium equivalent activity, absorbed dose rate, annual effective dose rate, and external and internal hazards index to assess the radiological risk assessment for the environment around the study area. The ERICA Tool software was also applied for radiological risk assessment for lake fish due to the radioactivity present in the lake sediments. It was concluded from the results of ERICA tool that the risk quotient in this study is less than one indicating that no toxic effects of radioactivity for Namal Lake fish.

Dry Blood Spots a Reliable Method for Measurement of Hepatitis B Viral Load in Resource-Limited Settings.

BACKGROUND & AIMS: Hepatitis B virus (HBV) quantification is essential in the management of chronic hepatitis B, both to determine treatment eligibility and in the monitoring of treatment effect. This test, however, is rarely available in resource-limited settings due to high costs and stringent requirements for shipment and storage of plasma. Dried Blood Spots (DBS) can be a convenient alternative to plasma, but its use for HBV monitoring has not been investigated under real-life conditions in Africa. METHODS: The performance of DBS in HBV quantification was investigated using a modified commercial test (Abbott RealTime HBV assay). Paired DBS and plasma samples were collected from an HBV positive cohort in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. DBS were stored at ambient temperature for 4-39 days before shipment to the laboratory. RESULTS: Twenty-six paired samples were selected covering the total range of quantification, from 2.14 log IU/ml to >7 log IU/ml. HBV was detected in 21 of 21 (100%) DBS from patients with a corresponding plasma viral load above 2.70 log IU/ml. The mean difference between plasma and DBS was 0.59 log IU/ml, and the correlation was strong (R2 = 0.92). In stability studies there was no significant change in DBS viral load after storage at room temperature for up to 12 weeks. CONCLUSIONS: This study suggests that DBS can be a feasible and reliable alternative to plasma for quantification of HBV in resource-limited settings. DBS can expand access to antiviral treatment for patients in low- and middle-income countries.

Local and systemic changes in expression of resistance genes, NB-LRR genes and their putative microRNAs in Norway spruce after wounding and inoculation with the pathogen Ceratocystis polonica.

BACKGROUND: NB-LRR resistance proteins are involved in recognizing pathogens and other exogenous stressors in plants. Resistance proteins are the first step in induced defence responses and a better understanding of their regulation is important to understand the mechanisms of plant defence. Much of the post-transcriptional regulation in plants is controlled by microRNAs (miRNA). We examined the expression of five Norway spruce miRNA that may regulate NB-LRR related transcripts in secondary phloem (bark) of resistant Norway spruce after wounding and inoculation with the necrotrophic blue stain fungus Ceratocystis polonica. RESULTS: The plants of this clone recovered from both the pathogen inoculations and wounding alone. We found local and systemic induction of the resistance marker genes PaChi4, PaPAL and PaPX3 indicative of an effective induced host defence response. There were minor local and systemic changes in the expression of five miRNAs and 21 NB-LRRs between healthy and treated plants. Only five putative NB-LRRs (PaLRR1, PaLRR3, PaLRR14, PaLRR15 and PaLRR16) showed significant increases greater than two-fold as a local response to C. polonica. Of all NB-LRRs only PaLRR3, the most highly differentially regulated NB-LRR, showed a significant increase also due to wounding. The five miRNAs showed indications of an initial local and systemic down-regulation at day 1, followed by a later increase up to and beyond the constitutive levels at day 6. However, the initial down-regulation was significant only for miR3693 and miR3705. CONCLUSIONS: Overall, local and systemic expression changes were evident only for the established resistance marker genes and PaLRR3. The minor expression changes observed both for the followed miRNAs and their predicted NB-LRR targets suggest that the expression of most NB-LRR genes are maintained close to their constitutive levels in stressed and healthy Norway spruce plants.

Cardiovascular and respiratory developmental plasticity under oxygen depleted environment and in genetically hypoxic zebrafish (Danio rerio).

Known vertebrate response to low oxygen concentration include change in carbohydrate metabolism, increase in nitric oxide, stimulation of red blood cell and hemoglobin production and induction of gene expression for glycolytic enzymes and hormones. Also, extreme hypoxia plays main role in pathological studies of cardiac dysfunction. The morphological and physiological developmental studies of the cardiovascular system under low oxygen are important as it is directly related to oxygen supply and consumption. Furthermore, cardiac function demands high energy during system development and thus it is most likely to be affected by hypoxia. Zebrafish (Danio rerio) can act as a model organism for oxygen demand management study as in natural environment, due to ecological disturbances, it is exposed to changes in oxygen concentrations routinely and thus would have natural ability to cope with it for survival. We have studied, in zebrafish, i) cardiovascular flexibility under extreme hypoxia (PO(2)=20 Torr, 3 kPa) at 3-10 dpf (days post-fertilization), ii) cardiac re-animation in normoxia (PO(2)=152 Torr, 20 kPa) after 90 min of anoxia (PO(2)=0 Torr, 0 kPa)-induced suspended animation at 4 dpf and iii) oxygen consumption in 8 dpf von Hippel-Lindau (vhl(-)(/)(-)) mutant that exhibits an artificial hypoxic response under normoxic conditions. In hypoxic fish, cardiac output, stroke volume and end-diastolic volume were elevated while intersegmental blood vessels vascularization index at 6 dpf and at 10 dpf was 22% and 11% higher respectively as compared to the normoxic fish. The heart rate in hypoxic fish was lower until 6 dpf and then showed an elevated trend. There was no significant difference in body length between the hypoxic and normoxic individuals. The observed changes may have enhanced the performance of the cardiovascular system for oxygen uptake. We also report for the first time that the post-anoxia re-animated heart rate returns to normal after 48h. Measurement of oxygen consumption in 8 dpf hyperventilating vhl(-)(/)(-) mutant was, unexpectedly, significantly lower than the non-mutant fish of the same age which point towards artificial hypoxic signal from brain in these mutants.

Ontogenetic development of erythropoiesis can be studied non-invasively in GATA-1:DsRed transgenic zebrafish.

For the erythroid cell lineage development in vertebrates, GATA-1 transcription factor is essential. In our report, we have demonstrated that the approximate developmental status of erythrocytes and the progression of blood formation can be studied non-invasively in GATA-1:DsRed transgenic zebrafish (Danio rerio) embryo and larva by characterization of fluorescence luminance spectra. The study was carried out for animals maintained under normoxic and hypoxic (152 and 20 torr PO(2) respectively) conditions up to 10 days post-fertilization (dpf) and total blood cell concentrations and fluorescent cells' percentage were determined for this purpose. The erythroids were classified into five intensity stages (IS) on the basis of their fluorescence intensity. The luminescent cells with medium intensities (IS3) in normoxic animals were found throughout 2 to 10 dpf although in lower quantity while in hypoxic group they appeared from 5 dpf to 10 dpf showing a maximum of 15% of the total luminescent cells at 8 dpf. The total blood cell concentration dropped after 8 dpf in contrast to hypoxic group which showed further increasing trend. The fluorescent cells' percentage in normoxic group was generally higher as compared to the hypoxic ones. Our method successfully defined various stages of erythroid development. An effort was also made to correlate our luminance data (GATA-1 expression) and total blood cell concentrations with Epo mRNA production. Quantitative RT-PCR of 2-15 dpf old zebrafish was carried out for this purpose. Normoxic animals showed 1-3 Epo mRNA copies per ng RNA in contrast to the hypoxic larvae that showed remarkable fluctuation of 1 to 12 Epo mRNA copies per ng RNA during development. The blood volume (aortic diameter) and production time scale proved to be important factors to define the relationship of Epo mRNA with total blood cell concentration and GATA-1 protein expression respectively.