Influence of Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus thuringiensis with reducing rates of NPK on growth, physiology, and fruit quality of Citrus aurantifolia.

Continuous use of chemical fertilizers gradually shrinks the crop yield and quality, and these adverse effects can be reduced by adopting new sustainable practices such as the use of manure, biofertilizers, and nano fertilizers. Limited information is existed on the application of Trichoderma harzianum and Bacillus thuringiensis microbes to improve lemon seedlings growth, physiology, and fruit formation. Therefore, the current study is aimed to evaluate the effects of T. harzianum and B. thuringiensis microbes mixing with low levels of inorganic fertilizer (NPK) on the plant growth, development, and quality of limau nipis (key lemon) fruits. The lemon seedlings growing media were inoculated during transplanting with T. harzianum and B. thuringiensis at various NPK fertilizers under polybagged conditions. The seedlings were grown around eighteen (18) months after inoculation with biofertilizers followed by Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) with five (5) replications. The results showed that T. harzianum with 50 g of NPK treatment (T2) increased the seedling's height, branch number, leaf height, ground area, and absolute growth rate (AGR) plant height by 50.12%, 107.84%, 17.91%, 17.91%, 116.93%, and 56.02%, respectively, over the control treatment. The number of leaves (60.82%), leaf area (42.75%), stem diameter (27.34%), specific leaf area (SLA) (39.07%), leaf area index (LAI) (54.40%), and absolute growth rate for leaf number (73.86%), leaf area (306.85%) and stem diameter (46.8%) of lemon seedlings increased significantly with B. thuringiensis plus 50 g NPK treatment (T3). The applications of B. thuringiensis with 25 g NPK fertilizer treatment (T5) increased leaf fresh weight (LFW), leaf dry weight (LDW), leaf moisture content (LMC), specific leaf weight (SLW), leaf relative growth rate (RGR), and chlorophyll content by 96.45%, 56.78%, 13.60%, 24.76%, 45.45%, and 16.22%, respectively, over the control group. In addition, T5 treatment increased the fruits number, individual fruit weight, fruit diameter, fruit dimension, leaf total soluble solids (TSS), and fruit TSS content of lemon tress by 81.81%, 55.52%, 43.54%, 25.69%, 89.47%, and 70.78% compared to the control treatment. Furthermore, soil inoculation of B. thuringiensis significantly increased the pulp to peel ratio and juice content of lemon fruits. From this study, it can be concluded that soil inoculation of both T. harzianum and B. thuringiensis with 25-50% NPK during transplanting improved plant growth, physiology, and fruit quality of limau nipis trees.

Inherited retinal dystrophies in a Kuwaiti tribe.

PURPOSE: To evaluate the clinical and genetic spectrum of inherited retinal diseases (IRDs) in a Kuwaiti tribe. METHODS: Forty four patients with IRDs from 28 nuclear families from the tribe, were evaluated for presenting symptoms, visual acuity, fundus examination, OCT, microperimetry, full-field (ff), and multifocal electroretinography (mERG) and genotyping. RESULTS: Seventeen patients were diagnosed with autosomal recessive retinitis pigmentosa (arRP) associated with RP1 c.606C>A with onset of nictalopia in the third decade, myopia, and macular atrophy by the age of 50; eleven with autosomal recessive cone/rod dystrophy or macular dystrophy associated with RP1 c.606C>A (p.Asp202Glu) mutation with color and central vision deterioration in teenage, myopia, paracentral ring scotoma and macular atrophy; eleven were with arRP associated with PDE6B c.992 + 1 G > A mutation with onset around 5 years, myopia, cataract, retained central fixation, and ellipsoid zone and late perimacular atrophy; five-with Leber congenital amaurosis associated with homozygous RPGRIP1 for c.1107delA mutation with extinguished ffERG and electrophysiological phenotype of rod and cone; and one patient-with autosomal recessive rod-cone dystrophy associated with homozygous PDE6B c.992 + 1 G > A, who was homozygous ABCA4 c.5882 G > A and heterozygous EYS; c.2137 + 1 G > A. CONCLUSIONS: This study represents a typical tribe from the Middle East with high rate of consanguinity for many generations that harbors multiple mutated genes associated with IRD. It demonstrates the predominant phenotype and its variability in retinal disorders caused by identical mutations and illustrates the nuances in the clinical presentation and disease progression of patients with pathogenic mutations in more than one gene.

Spinal release of tumour necrosis factor activates c-Jun N-terminal kinase and mediates inflammation-induced hypersensitivity.

BACKGROUND: Mounting evidence points to individual contributions of tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF) and the c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) pathway to the induction and maintenance of various pain states. Here we explore the role of spinal TNF and JNK in carrageenan-induced hypersensitivity. As links between TNF and JNK have been demonstrated in vitro, we investigated if TNF regulates spinal JNK activity in vivo. METHODS: TNF levels in lumbar cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) were measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, spinal TNF gene expression by real-time polymerase chain reaction and TNF protein expression, JNK and c-Jun phosphorylation by western blotting. The role of spinal TNF and JNK in inflammation-induced mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity was assessed by injecting the TNF inhibitor etanercept and the JNK inhibitors SP600125 and JIP-1 intrathecally (i.t.). TNF-mediated regulation of JNK activity was examined by assessing the effect of i.t. etanercept on inflammation-induced spinal JNK activity. RESULTS: TNF levels were increased in CSF and spinal cord following carrageenan-induced inflammation. While JNK phosphorylation followed the same temporal pattern as TNF, c-jun was only activated at later time points. Intrathecal injection of TNF and JNK inhibitors attenuated carrageenan-induced mechanical and thermal hypersensitivity. TNF stimulation induced JNK phosphorylation in cultured spinal astrocytes and blocking the spinal actions of TNF in vivo by i.t. injection of etanercept reduced inflammation-induced spinal JNK activity. CONCLUSIONS: Here we show that spinal JNK activity is dependent on TNF and that both TNF and the JNK signalling pathways modulate pain-like behaviour induced by peripheral inflammation.

The Kuwait cataract outcome study: a 12-month evaluation.

OBJECTIVE: To assess the frequency of intraopertive difficulties, postoperative complications and the visual outcome in cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait. SUBJECTS AND METHODS: This case series study is comprised of 350 eyes from 325 subjects (169 male, 156 female; 30-78 years, mean age 64 years) undergoing consecutive cataract surgery performed at the Al-Bahar Eye Center, Kuwait from July 2001 to June 2002. All the eyes underwent extensive ophthalmic examinations before and after surgery. Details of surgical procedures, including the type of the cataract surgery, intraoperative difficulties or complications, postoperative complications, and the visual outcome were documented. RESULTS: The extracapsular cataract extraction (ECCE) technique was used for 50.2% of the eyes and for the remaining 49.8%, the small-incision phacoemulsification technique was used. Of the 350 eyes operated upon, 9.7% had coexisting ocular disease which may have affected the best spectacle corrected visual acuity (BSCVA). Complications included posterior capsule tears and vitreous loss (10%), cystoid macular edema (0.6%) and endophthalmitis (0.9%) of the eyes. A BSCVA of 6/12 or better was achieved in 78.3% of the cases. CONCLUSION: A high success rate in terms of visual acuity outcome was achieved in the cataract surgery. The operative and postoperative complications were similar for both techniques, ECCE and phacoemulsification.