Temporal dynamics of endophytic bacterial and fungal communities during spike development in Piper longum L.

The female spikes (fruits) of Piper longum are widely used in Ayurvedic, Siddha and Unani medicine systems to treat respiratory and digestive disorders. The spikes are rich in piperine, a pharmacologically active amide alkaloid and a potent bioavailability enhancer, which accumulates to the highest level during the dark-green stage of spike development. Plant-associated microbiota influence the plant's fitness, response, and production of economically important metabolites. Considering the economic importance of piperine and other spike-derived alkaloids, understanding microbial community dynamics during spike development would be key to bioprospecting for economically important metabolites. In the present study, the structural diversity of microbial communities associated with early (SI), mid (SII), and late (SIII) stages of spike development in P. longum has been analysed by Illumina-based amplicon sequencing of 16S rRNA gene and ITS region. Results revealed that spike development significantly drives the diversity and abundance of spike-associated microbiota, especially bacterial communities. Cyanobacteria and Ascomycota constituted the most abundant bacterial and fungal phyla, respectively, across all stages of spike development. Interestingly, Halomonas, Kushneria and Haererehalobacter were found to be exclusively associated with SIII (corresponding to economically important) stage of spike development. Sphingomonas, Mortierella, Cladosporium and Vishniacozyma constituted the core microbiome of the spike. Besides, PICRUSt analysis revealed that amino acid metabolism was the most dominant metabolic function attributed to spike-associated bacterial communities. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to investigate the endomicrobiome dynamics during spike development in a medicinal plant species. Supplementary Information: The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s12298-023-01352-2.

Prospective Phase II Open-Label Randomized Controlled Trial to Compare Mandibular Preservation in Upfront Surgery With Neoadjuvant Chemotherapy Followed by Surgery in Operable Oral Cavity Cancer.

PURPOSE: The objective of this study was to explore the potential role and safety of neoadjuvant chemotherapy (NACT) in tumor shrinkage and resultant mandibular preservation in oral cancers compared with conventional surgical treatment. METHODS: This study was a single-center, randomized, phase II trial of treatment-naive histologically confirmed squamous cell carcinoma of the oral cavity with cT2-T4 and N0/N+, M0 (American Joint Committee on Cancer, seventh edition) stage, necessitating resection of the mandible for paramandibular disease in the absence of clinicoradiologic evidence of bone erosion. The patients were randomly assigned (1:1) to either upfront surgery (segmental resection) followed by adjuvant treatment (standard arm [SA]) or two cycles of NACT (docetaxel, cisplatin, and fluorouracil) at 3-week intervals (intervention arm [IA]), followed by surgery dictated by postchemotherapy disease extent. All patients in the IA received adjuvant chemoradiotherapy, and patients in the SA were treated as per final histopathology report. The primary end point was mandible preservation rate. The secondary end points were disease-free survival and treatment-related toxicity. RESULTS: Sixty-eight patients were enrolled over 3 years and randomly assigned to either SA (34 patients) or IA (34 patients). The median follow-up was 3.6 years (interquartile range, 0.95-7.05 years). Mandibular preservation was achieved in 16 of 34 patients (47% [95% CI, 31.49 to 63.24]) in the IA. The disease-free survival (P = .715, hazard ratio 0.911 [95% CI, 0.516 to 1.607]) and overall survival (P = .747, hazard ratio 0.899 [95% CI, 0.510 to 1.587]) were similar in both the arms. Complications were similar in both arms, but chemotherapy-induced toxicity was observed in the majority of patients (grade III: 14, 41.2%; grade IV: 11, 32.4%) in the IA. CONCLUSION: NACT plays a potential role in mandibular preservation in oral cancers with acceptable toxicities and no compromise in survival. However, this needs to be validated in a larger phase III randomized trial.

Agricultural practices modulate the bacterial communities, and nitrogen cycling bacterial guild in rhizosphere: field experiment with soybean.

BACKGROUND: Modern agricultural management approaches are often dependent on the application of chemicals, resulting in adverse impacts on human and environmental health. Therefore, for sustainable agriculture, there is a need to implement integrated agriculture practices that can maintain natural soil microbiome and enhance crop production. Various agricultural approaches influence crop production by impacting the functional bacterial community entailed in biogeochemical cycles, for example, nitrogen (N) cycle. This study aimed to assess the rhizospheric N cycling community of soybean under three agricultural practices, namely, conservation agriculture (CA), conventional treatment (CT), and organic agriculture (OA) for two consecutive years (2017 and 2018). RESULTS: A field experiment was designed under soybean-wheat cropping system employing CA, CT, and OA modules that included different practices of tillage, crop bedding pattern, crop residue retention, and nutrient application. Assessment of bacterial communities contributing to N transformation was performed with quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) of important markers (nifH, amoA, narG, and nirK). CONCLUSION: Results concluded that the practice of conservation agriculture comprising of raised bed, zero tillage, crop residue retention, and application of NPK (nitrogen, phosphorus, potassium) nutrients favorably affected the plant attributes and the abundance of N cycling bacterial community over the two consecutive years. The outcome revealed the mechanistic principle behind enhanced plant growth under conservation agriculture, and opened up the possibility of regulating the N cycling bacterial community to develop sustainable and productive agro-ecosystems. © 2020 Society of Chemical Industry.

Synergistic effect of oilseed cake and biocontrol agent in the suppression of Fusarium wilt in Solanum lycopersicum.

The antagonistic efficacy of a biocontrol agent in combination with oilseed cake against fungal phytopathogens has been sparsely explored. The present study aimed to evaluate the antifungal activity of a biocontrol agent (Trichoderma harzianum MTCC 3928) formulated with oilseed cake (OSC) against Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici responsible for causing vascular wilt in Solanum lycopersicum. In in vitro studies, OSC of mustard (Brassica juncea) exhibited significant mycelial inhibition against the pathogen. The volatile plate assay showed mycelial inhibition of 70 and 40% with unautoclaved and autoclaved mustard cakes, respectively. The aqueous extract (10% v/v) of the mustard cake was the most effective with 47.3% mycelial inhibition of pathogen over control. In addition, volatiles and aqueous extract of mustard cake subjected to GC-MS analysis revealed a range of antifungal bioactive compounds with hexanedioic acid, dioctyl ester (16.57%), and oleic acid trimethylsilyl ester (12.41%) being predominant compounds. In in vitro studies, it was noticed that the T. harzianum strain was compatible with mustard cake, and hence used as a growth substrate for its mass multiplication. SEM analysis revealed no distortion in spores and mycelium of T. harzianum grown on the mustard cake. Further, seed germination assay suggested the optimum concentration of mustard cake (10%) supporting the germination rate and economics of formulation development. In in planta assay, the combination of biocontrol agent and mustard cake showed 48% disease reduction, and ~ 40% with T. harzianum alone in comparison to untreated control. Also, the combination of mustard cake and T. harzianum significantly enhanced the growth parameters of S. lycopersicum. The findings of the current study identified an environmentally friendly alternative for mitigation of Fusarium wilt, thereby providing a sustainable option for mitigation of wilt disease and enhancement of plant health.

Iron and Folic Acid Consumption by the Ante-natal Mothers in a Rural Area of India in 2010.

BACKGROUND: The average rural Indian women enter her reproductive life, particularly in pregnancy, suffer from nutritional anemia due to iron deficiency. National program of India had implemented a strategy for supplementation of iron folic acid by means of iron folic acid (IFA) tablets at least 3 months during antenatal period. The study had been conducted to assess the proportion of pregnant mothers consumes the IFA tablets and the factors determine compliance. METHODS: A cross-sectional, community-based study was conducted in rural area of India on 50 antenatal mothers by multistage sampling technique. The data were analyzed by using SPSS 16 (Statistical Package for the Social Sciences, ver. 16), Chicago, considering the level of significance at 95%. RESULTS: The IFA tablet was adequately consumed by 62% mother among the study population. The consumption is more among the mother who were explained properly than those who were not explained by the health worker (χ(2)= 4.529, P < 0.05). CONCLUSIONS: The compliance of iron folic acid tablets was still far behind to reach the National Goal though the service component are quite strong by the front line workers and health providers. An effort should be given at the level of front line health workers by training and re-training them to improve the compliance of IFA consumption.

Beneficial effect of chromium supplementation on glucose, HbA1C and lipid variables in individuals with newly onset type-2 diabetes.

PROJECT: Chromium is an essential nutrient involved in normal carbohydrate and lipid metabolism. It influences glucose metabolism by potentiating the action as taking part in insulin signal amplification mechanism. A placebo-controlled single blind, prospective study was carried out to investigate the effect of chromium supplementation on blood glucose, HbA(1)C and lipid profile in newly onset patients with type-2 diabetes. PROCEDURE: Total 40 newly onset type-2 diabetics were selected and after 1 month stabilization further randomly divided into two groups viz. study group and placebo group. The study group received 9 g brewer's yeast (42 µg Cr) daily and the other placebo group received yeast devoid of chromium for 3 months. Subjects were instructed not to change their normal eating and living habits. Fasting blood glucose, HbA(1)C and lipid profile were analyzed at beginning and completion of the study. RESULTS: Results revealed that fasting blood glucose level significantly reduced in the subjects consuming yeast supplemented with chromium (197.65±6.68 to 103.68±6.64 mg/dL; p<0.001). HbA(1)C values improved significantly from 9.51±0.26% to 6.86±0.28%; p<0.001 indicating better glycaemic control. In experimental group total cholesterol, TG and LDL levels were also significantly reduced from 199.66±3.11 to 189.26±3.01 mg/dL; p<0.02, 144.94±8.31 to 126.01±8.26; p<0.05 and 119.19±1.71 to 99.58±1.10; p<0.001 respectively. CONCLUSIONS: These data demonstrate beneficial effect of chromium supplementation on glycaemic control and lipid variables in subjects with newly onset type-2 diabetes.

Triclosan as a systemic antibacterial agent in a mouse model of acute bacterial challenge.

The upsurge of multiple-drug-resistant microbes warrants the development and/or use of effective antibiotics. Triclosan, though used in cosmetic and dermatological preparations for several decades, has not been used as a systemic antibacterial agent due to problems of drug administration. Here we report the striking efficacy of triclosan in a mouse model of acute systemic bacterial infection. Triclosan not only significantly extends the survival time of the infected mice, it also restores blood parameters and checks liver damage induced by the bacterial infection. We believe that the excellent safety track record of triclosan in topical use coupled with our findings qualifies triclosan as a candidate drug or lead compound for exploring its potential in experimental systems for treating systemic bacterial infections.