Recent and historical developments in chelated fertilizers as plant nutritional sources, their usage efficiency, and application methods.

Chelates are nutrient-rich compounds that enhance the condition of plant tissues as micronutrients. Micronutrient deficiencies particularly iron (Fe) and zinc (Zn) leads to various problems for plant including chlorosis and necrosis etc. An adequate intake of Fe and Zn etc. is required by the human body. Biofortification of cereals with Fe and Zn is seen as a cost-effective solution to the problem of Fe and Zn deficiencies as well. In recent decades, many chelating compounds have been established and incorporated into agricultural systems. The most recent formulation involves the use of amino acids synthesized with one or more nutrient ions to improve fertilizer efficiency and better respond to environmental conservation. In addition to its primary function as a source of micronutrients, aminochelled are an active nitrogen (N) stimulant in plant nutrition, preventing the negative effects of basic N fertilizers like urea. The use of amino chelates, rather than just chemical fertilizers, has been shown to provide better production and quality as well as higher nutritional concentrations in several experiments. Furthermore, this review sheds light on various aspects of amino chelates fertilizers including types, history, and their effects on agricultural crops. In spite of amino chelates fast dominance in many countries' fertilizer countries, there is not enough scientific data and knowledge on the specific reactions of plants to biotic and abiotic stresses from amino fertilizers.

Restauración psicológica y naturaleza urbana: algunas implicaciones para la salud mental / Psychological restoration and urban nature: some mental health implications

En las temáticas de promoción de salud mental existe una carencia sistemática de investigaciones que documenten la importancia de las cualidades del ambiente físico en el desarrollo de políticas públicas de salud. Actualmente existen varias líneas emergentes de investigación sobre ambientes restauradores (AR) y restauración psicológica (RP) que pueden contribuir a la definición conceptual y operativa de las cualidades del ambiente que pueden ser relevantes para promover la salud mental. La RP se relaciona con la recuperación de los recursos cognitivos y de la capacidad de respuesta psicofisiológica que experimentan las personas ante la exposición a ambientes con cualidades restauradoras. En el presente estudio se documenta la aplicación de un modelo ecológico social del impacto de la naturaleza urbana en la RP considerando un contexto de vivienda. Se planteó como objetivo documentar los posibles efectos restauradores de variables relacionadas con la presencia de Naturaleza Urbana-NU (e.g. vistas de naturaleza en las ventanas de las viviendas, plantas y jardines interiores, proximidad de áreas verdes exteriores), Procesos Psicológicos de Transacción con el Medio Ambiente - PPTRAMA (actividades con la naturaleza y percepción de restauración ambiental de la vivienda) sobre indicadores emotivos y cognitivos de la RP. Para conseguir tal objetivo se ha llevado a cabo un estudio en el que se entrevistaron en sus domicilios a 120 personas (edad media 45.73 años, 63 hombres y 57 mujeres) de la Zona Metropolitana de la Ciudad de México. Por medio de un modelo de ecuaciones estructurales se comprobó que la NU tiene efectos directos e indirectos en la dimensión emotiva y cognitiva de la RP. Del abordaje teórico, conceptual y metodológico se desprende una plataforma conceptual a partir de la cual es posible desarrollar investigación innovadora con implicaciones empíricas relevantes para la promoción de la salud mental.

Topics relating to mental health promotion systematically lack research that documents the importance of physical environment qualities in the development of public health policies. At the present time, several emerging research lines regarding restorative environments (RE) and psychological restoration (PR) may contribute to the conceptual and operational definition of relevant environmental qualities promoting mental health. PR relates to the recovery of people's cognitive resources and psychophysiological responses when exposed to environments with restorative qualities. The present study documents the application of an ecological social model regarding the impact of urban nature on PR in a housing context. We posed the objective to document possible restoration effects of variables related to Urban Nature-UN (for example, views of nature from housing windows, indoor plants and gardens, proximity to outdoor green areas) and Psychological Transaction Processes with the Environment - PTRAPE (activities in nature and perception of environmental restoration of housing) on emotional and cognitive indicators of PR. To achieve this goal, we carried out a study with 120 individual home interviews (mean age of 45.73 years, 63 men and 57 women) in the metropolitan area of Mexico City. The structural equations model showed that UN has both direct and indirect effects on emotional and cognitive dimension of PR. This theoretical, conceptual, and methodological approach provides a conceptual platform to carry out innovative research with relevant empirical implications for mental health promotion.

Alpha-, beta- and kappa-caseins inhibit the proliferation of the myeloid cell lines 32D cl3 and WEHI-3 and exhibit different differentiation properties.

We have recently shown that sodium caseinate (CasNa) was able to inhibit the proliferation of the myeloid cell line 32D cl3 in a non-toxic way, and that it also induced the expression of macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF). Casein is the main protein present in milk and is composed of alpha (alpha), beta (beta) and kappa (kappa) subunits. This work was undertaken to evaluate if any one casein is responsible for the proliferation and differentiation properties found for CasNa on myeloid cells. Taking into consideration that 32D cl3 cells are considered to be non-malignant and dependent on IL-3 for proliferation, we also included for this study a leukemic cell line, WEHI-3, that does not depend on any external growth factor for its proliferation in order to evaluate if the growth inhibitory effect of caseins is also present for malignant cells. Our results showed that all caseins were inhibitory for the proliferation of either 32D cl3 and WEHI-3 and that only the 32D cl3 cells were induced to differentiate into the monocyte-macrophage lineage. In order to evaluate if CasNa was able to inhibit the proliferation of other myeloid cells we used J774 and P388 and found that they were also inhibited. We also determined that the different caseins exhibit different differentiation properties, with alpha-casein being the only one able to induce the secretion of M-CSF. We consider this work to open a new field of research, where casein, or its components, can be studied for their possible role in hematopoiesis and on the inhibition of malignant cell proliferation for therapeutic use.