Improving confirmed nanometric sulfur bioproduction using engineered Thioalkalivibrio versutus.

Complicated production procedures and superior characteristics of nano-sized sulfur elevate its price to 25-40 fold higher than micrograde kind. Also, natural gas hydrogen sulfide levels are restricted because of its toxic environmental consequences. Thioalkalivibrio versutus is a polyextremophilic industrial autotroph with high natural gas desulfurization capability. Here, nanometric (>50 nm) sulfur bioproduction using T. versutus while desulfurizing natural gas was validated. Also, this production was enhanced by 166.7% via lowering sulfate production by 55.1%. A specially-developed CRISPR system, with 42% editing efficiency, simplified the genome editing workflow scheme for this challenging bacterium. In parallel, sulfur metabolism was uncovered using proteins mining and transcriptome studies for defining sulfate-producing key genes (heterodisulfide reductase-like complex, sulfur dioxygenase, sulfite dehydrogenase and sulfite oxidase). This study provided cost-effective nanometric sulfur production and improved this production using a novel CRISPR strategy, which could be suitable for industrial polyextremophiles, after uncovering sulfur pathways in T. versutus.

Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebrae In Patients Visiting Tertiary Care Hospital Of Khyber Pakhtukhwa: A Radiological Study.

BACKGROUND: Lumbosacral transitional vertebra is a common anatomical variant of the spine that possibly is related to low back pain. The objective is to determine the frequency of Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebrae on lumbosacral radiographs in patients with low back pain visiting Neurosurgery OPD of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP). METHODS: This cross-sectional study was conducted on radiographs of lumbosacral spine in patients visiting for low back pain to the Neurosurgery OPD of Khyber Teaching Hospital Peshawar. A total of 300 anteroposterior (AP) and lateral lumbosacral plain radiographs were studied for the variation in lumbosacral spinal segment. The transition was classified according to the scheme used by Castellvi. RESULTS: Among a total of 300 patients, normal anatomy of lumbosacral segments was observed in 215 patients (72%). About 85 cases (28%) showed Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebrae. The relationship of vertebral variation with age and gender was not observed. With regard to morphology, 29 (34.1%) patients had Castellvi type I, 26 cases (30.5%) were observed with Castellvi type II and 12 patients (14.1%) had type III while 18 cases (21.2%) had type IV transitional morphology. CONCLUSIONS: Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebrae are commonly found in patient with low back pain. Identification of Lumbosacral Transitional Vertebrae is clinically important to prevent an intervention at an incorrect vertebral level.

Enhanced growth-driven stepwise inducible expression system development in haloalkaliphilic desulfurizing Thioalkalivibrio versutus.

Highly toxic and flammable H2S gas has become an environmental threat. Because of its ability to efficiently remove H2S by oxidation, Thioalkalivibrio versutus is gaining more attention. Haloalkaliphilic autotrophs, like the bio-desulfurizing T. versutus, grow weakly. Weak growth makes any trial for developing potent genetic tools required for genetic engineering far from achieved. In this study, the fed-batch strategy improved T. versutus growth by 1.6 fold in maximal growth rate, 9-fold in O.D600 values and about 3-fold in biomass and protein productions. The strategy also increased the favorable desulfurization product, sulfur, by 2.7 fold in percent yield and 1.5-fold in diameter. A tight iron-inducible expression system for T. versutus was successfully developed. The system was derived from fed-batch cultivation coupled with new design, build, test and validate (DPTV) approach. The inducible system was validated by toxin expression. Fed-batch cultivation coupled with DPTV approach could be applied to other autotrophs.

Birth and death of Mx genes and the presence/absence of genes regulating Mx transcription are correlated with the diversity of anti-pathogenicity in vertebrate species.

Gene duplication and amino acid substitution are two types of genetic innovations of antiviral genes in inhibiting the emerging pathogens in different species. Mx proteins are well known for inhibiting negative-stranded RNA viruses and have evolved a number of paralogs or orthologs, showing distinct antiviral activities or capacities within or between species. The presence of upstream genes in the signaling pathway(s) that activates Mx genes (upstream regulators of Mx gene) also exhibits variety across species. The association between the evolution of Mx gene and their upstream regulators and the various antiviral capacities in host species has not been investigated. Herein, we traced the evolution of Mx gene and profiled the gene birth/death events on each branch of the 64 chordate species. We provided additional support that the diversity in gene member and amino acid changes in the different clades is correlated to their various antiviral activities of the species. We identified amino acid substitutions that may lead to the functional divergence between Mx paralogs in rodents. Although the copy number of the Mx gene is conserved in birds, infection by influenza A virus (IAV) results in diverse morbidity rates in different avian species. The evidences of gene interaction in the IAV-induced pathway and the genome analysis performed in this study indicated that the existence of the upstream regulators of Mx gene exhibits variation among different species, particularly in birds. The variation is related to the differences in the expression of Mx genes, resulting in the antiviral specificity and morbidity rates in avian species. We conclude that the antiviral capacity in host species is associated with the variations in the gene number of the Mx gene family and the existence of upstream regulators of Mx gene as well.

A Comparison Of Skeletal Age Of Thalassaemic Patients Of 9-15 Years With Chronological Age By Radiography.

BACKGROUND: Thalassemia is inherited disorder characterized by haemolytic anaemia, due to complete absence or reduced ß-globin chain synthesis, stimulating pathological bone marrow overstimulation and altered erythropoiesis. The change in bone mass ultimately results into miss interpretation of bone age once assed from x-ray radiograph. The aims compare skeletal age of thalassaemic children of 9-15 years with chronological age by x-ray wrist bones. METHODS: This was cross sectional analytical study; the study was conducted in conjunction with Fatimid Hospital Peshawar Pakistan and Out Patients Department (OPD) of paediatrics for minor illness (other than Thalassemia) Khyber Teaching Hospital August 2014 to January 2015. A total 156 samples were selected convenient sampling to make comparison of bone age and chronological age between thalassaemic children (age 9-15years) and age sex matched normal control. A structure data collection check list was used to collect data X-ray findings (bone age). SPSS 20 was used for statistical analysis. RESULTS: The results showed a total of 156 children with their mean age 11.9±2.2, male were 97 (62.2%) and females 59 (37.8%). Out of thalassaemic (n=76) majority 49 (62.8%) were male as compared to female 29 (37.2%). The mean chorological age among both of group were not significantly different (p=0.67). However, the bone age was significantly different from each other (p=0001). Pearson's correlation analysis revealed that was strong correlation between erupt teeth and bone age (r=0.462, p=0.0001). CONCLUSION: Skeletal age assessment was found to be suboptimal along with chronological age in children and adolescents suffering from thalassemia.

Determinants of Antenatal Psychological Distress in Pakistani Women.

INTRODUCTION: An increasing number of evidence has demonstrated that poor antenatal psychological health can lead to adverse pregnancy outcomes. Studies conducted in various countries demonstrated a wide range of factors associated with psychological distress during pregnancy. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted between September 2011 and December 2012 in Peshawar, north-west Pakistan. A total of 230 women in their third trimester of pregnancy fulfilled the inclusion criteria. The antenatal psychological health status of women was measured using the Depression Anxiety Stress Scale. Relevant data regarding health and demographic-socioeconomic status were collected through personal interviews using standardized questionnaires. RESULTS: Overall, 45% (n=104) of women exhibited symptoms for composite depression, anxiety, and stress (composite DAS). In the univariate analysis, maternal age, husband support, monthly income, family size, stressful life events, lack of confidence, domestic violence, and pregnancy-related concerns were strongly associated with antenatal composite DAS (p<0.01). The association of maternal composite DAS symptoms with age, monthly income, family size, and lack of confidence remained significant in the multivariate analysis (p<0.01). CONCLUSION: A major proportion of women exhibited symptoms of antenatal composite DAS, and various factors were found to be related to their psychological distress. A young maternal age, low husband support, low income, large family size, adverse life events, lack of confidence, pregnancy-related concerns, and domestic violence were stronger determinants of poor antenatal psychological status. The study findings concluded that policymakers at the government level should launch special intervention programs to improve maternal perinatal mental and psychological health at the community level.

Integrating large-scale phylogenetic datasets to dissect the ancient evolutionary history of vertebrate genome.

BACKGROUND: The vertebrate genome often contains closely spaced set of paralogous genes from distinct gene families on typically two, three or four different chromosomes (paralogons). This type of genome architecture is widely considered to be remnants of whole genome duplication events (WGD/2R). RESULTS: Taking advantage of the well-annotated and high-quality human genomic sequence map as well as the ever-increasing accessibility of large-scale genomic sequence data from a diverse range of animal species, we investigated the evolutionary history of potential quadruplicated regions residing on human HOX-cluster bearing chromosomes (chromosomes 2/7/12/17). For this purpose a detailed phylogenetic analysis was performed for those multigene families, including members of at least three of the four HOX-bearing chromosomes. Topology comparison approach categorized the members of 63 families into distinct co-duplicated groups. Distinct gene families belonging to a particular co-duplicated group, exhibit similar evolutionary history and hence have duplicated concurrently, whereas genes of two different co-duplicated groups do not share their history and have not duplicated in concert with each other. CONCLUSIONS: These results based on large-scale phylogenetic dataset yielded no evidence in favor of polyploidization events; instead it appears that triplicated and quadruplicated genomic segments on the human HOX-bearing chromosomes arose by small-scale duplication events that occurred at widely different time points in animal evolution.