Explore the vast range of titles available.

Background Paenibacillus polymyxa is a plant-growth promoting rhizobacterium that could be exploited as an environmentally friendlier alternative to chemical fertilizers and pesticides. Various strains have been isolated that can benefit agriculture through antimicrobial activity, nitrogen fixation, phosphate solubilization, plant hormone production, or lignocellulose degradation. However, no single strain has yet been identified in which all of these advantageous traits have been confirmed. Results P. polymyxa CR1 was isolated from degrading corn roots from southern Ontario, Canada. It was shown to possess in vitro antagonistic activities against the common plant pathogens Phytophthora sojae P6497 (oomycete), Rhizoctonia solani 1809 (basidiomycete fungus), Cylindrocarpon destructans 2062 (ascomycete fungus), Pseudomonas syringae DC3000 (bacterium), and Xanthomonas campestris 93-1 (bacterium), as well as Bacillus cereus (bacterium), an agent of food-borne illness. P. polymyxa CR1 enhanced growth of maize, potato, cucumber, Arabidopsis , and tomato plants; utilized atmospheric nitrogen and insoluble phosphorus; produced the phytohormone indole-3-acetic acid (IAA); and degraded and utilized the major components of lignocellulose (lignin, cellulose, and hemicellulose). Conclusions P. polymyxa CR1 has multiple beneficial traits that are relevant to sustainable agriculture and the bio-economy. This strain could be developed for field application in order to control pathogens, promote plant growth, and degrade crop residues after harvest.

Lignin is a polyphenolic heteropolymer constituting between 18 to 35% of lignocellulose and is recognized as preventative of cellulosic biofuel commercialization. Paenibacillus polymyxa CR1 was isolated from naturally degrading corn stover and shown to produce alcohols using lignin as a sole carbon source. Genome sequencing and comparative genomics of P. polymyxa CR1 identified two homologs, a Dyp-type peroxidase and a laccase, which have previously been implicated in lignin metabolism in other bacteria. Knockout mutants of the identified genes displayed no growth deficiency and P. polymyxa CR1 is incapable of metabolizing common aromatic intermediates of lignin, suggesting the bacterium employs a novel catabolic pathway. To identify genes involved in lignin metabolism, a transposon library was generated and screened for abnormal lignin growth phenotypes. The results contained within will help elucidate the genetic basis of known functions helping delineate regulatory pathways and metabolic versatility in P. polymyxa relevant to lignin metabolism.

Background Stress fractures are a common and potentially debilitating overuse injury to bone and occur frequently among military recruits and athletes. Recovery from a lower body stress fracture typically requires several weeks of physical rehabilitation. Teriparatide, a recombinant form of the bioactive portion of parathyroid hormone (1–34 amino acids), is used to treat osteoporosis, prevent osteoporotic fractures, and enhance fracture healing due to its net anabolic effect on bone. The study aim is to investigate the effect of teriparatide on stress fracture healing in young, otherwise healthy adults undergoing military training. Methods In a two-arm, parallel, prospective, randomised controlled, intention-to-treat trial, Army recruits ( n = 136 men and women, 18–40 years) with a magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) diagnosed lower body stress fracture (pelvic girdle, sacrum, coccyx, or lower limb) will be randomised to receive either usual Army standard care, or teriparatide and usual Army standard care. Teriparatide will be self-administered by subcutaneous injections (20 μg/day) for 16 weeks, continuing to 24 weeks where a fracture remains unhealed at week 16. The primary outcome will be the improvement in radiological healing by two grades or more, or reduction to grade zero, 8 weeks after randomisation, assessed using Fredericson grading of MRI by radiologists blind to the randomisation. Secondary outcomes will be time to radiological healing, assessed by MRI at 8, 10, 12, 14, 16, 20 and 24 weeks, until healed; time to clinical healing, assessed using a clinical severity score of injury signs and symptoms; time to discharge from Army physical rehabilitation; pain, assessed by visual analogue scale; health-related quality of life, using the Short Form (36) Health Survey; and adverse events. Exploratory outcomes will include blood and urine biochemistry; bone density and morphology assessed using dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry, peripheral quantitative computed tomography (pQCT), and high-resolution pQCT; physical activity measured using accelerometers; and long-term future fracture rate. Discussion This study will evaluate whether teriparatide, in addition to standard care, is more effective for stress fracture healing than standard care alone in Army recruits who have sustained a lower body stress fracture. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov NCT04196855 . Registered on 12 December 2019.

Trabecular microarchitecture contributes to bone strength, but its role in bone stress injury (BSI) risk in young healthy adults is unclear. Tibial volumetric BMD (vBMD), geometry, and microarchitecture, whole-body areal BMD, lean and fat mass, biochemical markers of bone metabolism, aerobic fitness, and muscle strength and power were measured in 201 British Army male infantry recruits (age 20.7 [4.3] years, BMI 24.0 ± 2.7 kg·m2) in week one of basic training. Tibial scans were performed at the ultra-distal site, 22.5 mm from the distal endplate of the non-dominant leg using High Resolution Peripheral Quantitative Computed Tomography (XtremeCT, Scanco Medical AG, Switzerland). Binary logistic regression analysis was performed to identify associations with lower body BSI confirmed by MRI. 20 recruits (10.0%) were diagnosed with a lower body BSI. Pre-injured participants had lower cortical area, stiffness and estimated failure load (p = 0.029, 0.012 and 0.011 respectively) but tibial vBMD, geometry, and microarchitecture were not associated with BSI incidence when controlling for age, total body mass, lean body mass, height, total 25(OH)D, 2.4-km run time, peak power output and maximum dynamic lift strength. Infantry Regiment (OR 9.3 [95%CI, 2.6, 33.4]) Parachute versus Line Infantry, (p ≤ 0.001) and 2.4-km best effort run time (1.06 [95%CI, 1.02, 1.10], p < 0.033) were significant predictors. Intrinsic risk factors, including ultradistal tibial density, geometry, and microarchitecture, were not associated with lower body BSI during arduous infantry training. The ninefold increased risk of BSI in the Parachute Regiment compared with Line Infantry suggests that injury propensity is primarily a function of training load and risk factors are population-specific.

IntroductionPatients who sustain orthopaedic trauma are at an increased risk of venous thromboembolism (VTE), including fatal pulmonary embolism (PE). Current guidelines recommend low-molecular-weight heparin (LMWH) for VTE prophylaxis in orthopaedic trauma patients. However, emerging literature in total joint arthroplasty patients suggests the potential clinical benefits of VTE prophylaxis with aspirin. The primary aim of this trial is to compare aspirin with LMWH as a thromboprophylaxis in fracture patients.Methods and analysisPREVENT CLOT is a multicentre, randomised, pragmatic trial that aims to enrol 12 200 adult patients admitted to 1 of 21 participating centres with an operative extremity fracture, or any pelvis or acetabular fracture. The primary outcome is all-cause mortality. We will evaluate non-inferiority by testing whether the intention-to-treat difference in the probability of dying within 90 days of randomisation between aspirin and LMWH is less than our non-inferiority margin of 0.75%. Secondary efficacy outcomes include cause-specific mortality, non-fatal PE and deep vein thrombosis. Safety outcomes include bleeding complications, wound complications and deep surgical site infections.Ethics and disseminationThe PREVENT CLOT trial has been approved by the ethics board at the coordinating centre (Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health) and all participating sites. Recruitment began in April 2017 and will continue through 2021. As both study medications are currently in clinical use for VTE prophylaxis for orthopaedic trauma patients, the findings of this trial can be easily adopted into clinical practice. The results of this large, patient-centred pragmatic trial will help guide treatment choices to prevent VTE in fracture patients.Trial registration numberNCT02984384.

We present the discovery and characterization of six short-period, transiting giant planets from NASA's Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS) -- TOI-1811 (TIC 376524552), TOI-2025 (TIC 394050135), TOI-2145 (TIC 88992642), TOI-2152 (TIC 395393265), TOI-2154 (TIC 428787891), & TOI-2497 (TIC 97568467). All six planets orbit bright host stars (8.9

Paper

Share this book

Add to My Shelf