Annual Research & Review in Biology

Nephrogenic Diabetes insipidus (NDI) is an issue coming about because of lacking against diuretic hormone (ADH) activity and is described by the entry of extensive measures of exceptionally dilute urine. This problem must be separated from other polyuric states, for example, essential polydipsia, osmotic diuresis and diabetes mellitus.  Diabetes insipidus is a condition when a person is passing urine with excess of water, this condition arise due to improper re-absorption of water during urine formation. Aquaporins (AQPs) play a important role in absorption of water. AQP2 is quite dominant than other isoforms.

This article provides nutshell information about Diabetes Insipidus and role of Aquaporin-2 gene in its physiology.

Aim: The present study was designed to evaluate the protective effects of ethanolic extract of whole plant of Scleria lithosperma (EEWSL) against doxorubicin-induced cardiotoxicity in rats.

Methodology: EEWSL was orally administrated in two different doses (250 mg/kg/day and 500 mg/kg/day) to wistar albino rats for 28 days and then intoxicated with doxorubicin (20 mg/kg) by intraperitoneal injection to induce myocardial toxicity. Lipid profile (Total cholesterol (TC), Triglyceride (TG), Low Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol (LDL-C) and High Density Lipoprotein-cholesterol (HDL-C)), antioxidant marker enzymes (Cardiac superoxide dismutase, Cardiac catalase activity, Glutathione reductase activity) and liver diagnostic marker enzymes (SALT, SAST, Creatine phosphokinase, Lactate dehydrogenase) were measured at the end of experimental period. Histopathological changes of heart were observed with optical microscopy.

Results: Doxorubicin (DOX) alone injected rats showed altered lipid profile and significant increase in serum markers (Serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase, Serum glutamate oxaloacetate tranaminase, Lactate dehydrogenase and Creatine phosphokinase) of heart injury and lipid peroxidation. Levels of endogenous antioxidant enzymes were also decreased when compared to normal control group. EEWSL pretreatment of DOX-challenged rats significantly reduced the risk of cardiotoxicity by decreasing the levels of liver diagnostic marker enzymes, TC, TG, LDL-C and VLDL-C and increasing the levels of HDL-C and antioxidant enzymes (cardiac superoxide dismutase, Cardiac catalase activity, Glutathione reductase activity) Histopathology of DOX- induced heart of rats pretreated with EEWSL showed a significant recovery from necrosis.

Conclusion: Current findings suggest that EEWSL has protective effects against DOX induced cardiotoxicity and this can be attributed due to its antioxidant properties and inhibition of lipid peroxidation.

There is an increased interest worldwide in developing wheat cultivars that are more efficient in utilizing nitrogen (N) and better fitted to N limitations. The objective of this investigation was to study the effects of contrasting soil N levels on the genetic parameters controlling the nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) components in bread wheat. Parents of contrasting low-N tolerance and their diallel F₂ hybrids were evaluated in two seasons under varying levels of soil N, i.e. low-N (0 kg N/fed) and high-N (75 kg N/fed) using a randomized complete block design in three replications. Results of analysis of combining ability across seasons showed that variances due to both general (GCA) and specific (SCA) combining ability were significant for all studied nitrogen efficiency traits. Under low-N, the best general combiners were L25 and L26 for NUE and nitrogen uptake efficiency (NUPE) and L27 for NUE and the best F₂ cross for SCA effects was L25 x Gem 7 for two traits (NUE and NUPE), L25 x L27 and L26 x Gem 9 for NUPE. The magnitude of dominance in F₂'s was much greater than that of additive variance for all studied traits under both high N and low N, suggesting that selection methods that eliminate masking non-additive effects and take advantage of the additive variance should be employed to improve NUE traits under low-N and high-N environments. The average degree of dominance in F₂'s was in the range of partial dominance for all studied traits under the two levels of nitrogen, except for NUTE and nitrogen harvest index (NHI) under high N, which indicated over dominance and NHI under low-N, which indicated no dominance. Narrow-sense heritability (h²_n) in F₂'s ranged from 2.11% (NHI) to 42.64% (NUE) under high-N and from 6.80% (NHI) to 85.00% (NUE) under low-N, suggesting that it is better to practice selection for studied nitrogen efficiency traits under low-N conditions to obtain higher values of selection gain.

Aims: To study development of placenta in wild type and domesticated silver fox with special reference to  cell cycle progression of the invasive trophoblast cells.

Study Design: Immunohistochemistry with cytokeratin and CD34 primary antibodies to evaluate trophoblast, epithelium and blood vessel arrangement. Semiquantitative evaluation of Ki-67 immunolocalization to characterize involvement of the cells in cell cycle during placenta development.

Place and Duration of the Study: Institute of Cytology RAS, St.-Petersburg, Institute of Cytology and Genetics, Novosibirsk, Institute of Radiology and Surgical technologies,  Saint-Petersburg, between March 2014 and July 2015.

Methodology: Paraffin-embedded placentae of wild type and domesticated silver fox at the 19-22 day of gestation were sectioned and stained with hematoxylin/eosin and immunostained with standard procedure. Percentage of nuclei of different patterns of Ki-67-immunolocalization was calculated.

Results: Endotheliochorial placenta development in the silver fox Vulpes fulvus Desm. includes invasion of endometrial glands by the trophoblast cells. Immunohistochemical Ki-67 reaction demonstrated high incidence of cell cycle progression in the invasive trophoblast cells of spongy zone of placenta at early developmental stages (19 day of gestation) followed by  decrease of Ki-67 immunopositivity at the later stages (21-22 days) in both genotypes. Attenuation of Ki-67 expression starts from the loss of labeling of chromatin while labeling of nucleoli persists for a longer time.

Conclusion: Invasive trophoblast cells show high capability of cell cycle progression that attenuate by the time of definitive endotheliochorial placenta development both in wild type and domesticated silver fox placenta.

Aims: The aim of this study is to analyze the framework of dialogue and management of fires for a better involvement and sense of ownership of the actors in general and the local communities in particular. Specifically, this study seeks to (i) analyze the efficiency of the national framework of regulation and management of fires, (ii) analyze the effectiveness and the state of owning the legal provisions by the actors (iii) assess the perceptions of the actors, precisely local communities from the buffer zones of protected areas, on the prevention and management of forest fires.      

Place and Duration of Study: Sample: Botany and Plant Ecology Laboratory, University of Lomé. Ecological site LAMTO, Ivory Coast, CRC Sophia, Antipolis France, between September 2011 and April 2015.

Methodology: The present study took place in the buffer zone localities of the national park Oti-Keran-Mandouri (OKM), the wildlife reserve of Abdoulaye (ABD) and the natural resources reserve of Togodo (TGD). Qualitative and quantitative methods were exploited on a complementary basis. The qualitative method was based on the techniques of collection and analysis of stakeholders’ perception of the legal fire regulation. The survey was dedicated to the local populations and the discussion topics concerned the knowledge and the understanding of the legal requirements of fires management and ecological consciousness of fire impacts. The quantitative method allowed to quantify the data collected to measure the frequencies and establish regularities between the answers. It was about the sample question techniques. A percentage of 1/1000th was applied to the resident populations and the index cards of inquiries revealed.

Results: The results show an ineffectiveness of the fire management frame as the interventions of several institutions are not coordinated. The majority of the inquired population (> 93 %) have an insufficient knowledge and understanding of the legal requirements of regulations of fires. Indeed, they are little informed (8%) about the existence of the regulations in force about fires and particularly of the deadline of the early fires (6%). The actors are mainly from the informal sector (70%) with a low rate of literacy and generally in areas where the rate of poverty is high. Even the qualified actors have little knowledge about the regulations on fires (5%) and women are more disadvantaged compared with men in terms of target for the sensitization and the capacity building of the population. The local leaders, who represent the relays of the administration at the local level, have a low level of knowledge (3%) to assure an effective spreading of information. This context explains the low level of participation of the actors to the implementation of the regulations on fires. However, the majority (78%) are well informed about the impacts of fires on the development of their land. So, awareness campaigns, which begun since 1980s seem to become a routine and approaches of solutions are more and more far away from the realities and the concerns of the local communities. Indeed, for the local fire management stakeholders, every fire regimes has its advantages and inconveniences. The early or late fires are not only temporal references to be fixed, but are dependent on the local ecological context and especially the burning objectives expected.

Conclusion: The national sensitization deserves to be supported by a wide restitution at the local level up to the hamlets where live the majority of the real local actors of fire management. The state of owning legal requirements seems to correlate to the level of elimination of illiteracy and poverty at the local level, hence the necessity, in the medium and long term, of an integrated approach of the management of fires and of the complete human development at the local level.

Earthworms contribute significantly towards the proper functioning of our ecosystem and are environmentally and economically beneficial to the well-being of other organisms. These soil dwelling organisms serve to enhance vegetation growth in an eco-friendly manner among other benefits such as alternative source of proteins that are vital for the existence of life on earth. Earthworm diversity varies across different parts of the globe and species identification is a key to each of the specific regions such as Guyana. The present study was conducted during the year 2014-15 at University of Guyana, Georgetown during the rainy season period. The primary objective of this investigation was to successfully collect, identify and classify local Earthworm species. Earthworm samples were collected from a local organic kitchen garden in Cane Grove at GPS location 218º SW (6º 37’27” N 57º 55’8” W) by utilizing the hand sorting method. Cane Grove is a rural agricultural area in the Demerara- Mahaica Region of Guyana located on the coastal plain along Mahaica River. The area from which earthworms were collected was generally moist and showed rich organic composition. Hand fork was used for digging the soil and samples of earthworms collected were placed into a vermi-container. The collected specimens were taken to the lab where taxonomic studies were conducted.  The external morphology, internal anatomy and the ecological features were carefully examined. Based on this investigation, the species was grouped into the family Megascolecidae and identified as Perionyx excavates (Perr.). This study has showed that Perionyx excavatus (Perr.) is an important epigeic species in Guyana.

Gynaecomastia is a glandular tissue proliferation leading to unilateral or bilateral enlargement of male mammary glands of man and animals. The present work describes a rare case of gynecomastia in a four-year-old Nubian buck.

Place of Study: Departments of Microbiology, Pathology and Clinical Studies, College of Veterinary Medicine, King Faisal University, Al Ahsa, KSA. 

Clinical examination revealed bilateral unequal enlargement of male rudimentary teats and both testicles were situated caudal to the udder. The animal performed well as a sire and produced liberal amount of normal milk from his udder. It was presented to the Veterinary Clinic for development of chronic mastitis. The case was referred to surgery and the decision was total amputation of the udder.

On microbiological examination, Pseudomonas aeruginosa was identified by traditional methods and confirmed by the commercial VITEK 2 technique. Antimicrobial susceptibility test of the strain revealed resistance to common antibiotics in use to treat animals and was sensitive only for Aminoglycosides, Carbepenems, Cephalosporins and Lincosamides antimicrobial groups. Molecular bacteriology analysis by 16S rDNA sequence showed it is Pseud aeruginosa with only 99% similarity with the strains S164S, DQ8, PA96, PA1 and PA38182 pointing out it may be a new strain. Mastectomy was performed as radical treatment of gynaecomastia and chronic mastitis developed in the udder of the male goat. The animal performed well after surgery for up to two months follow-up. Histopathological examination demonstrated the udder connective tissue was completely transformed to multiform embryonic connective tissue with fibrosis. This picture is common in chronic infection and may not aid in differential diagnosis of the causes of gynaecomastia. The isolated Pseud aeruginosa strain was resistant to common antimicrobial agents with possible production of biosurfactants that induced development of chronic infection.

Implication of gynecomastia in the health and performance of male goats and need to further investigate predisposing factors, are stressed.