Soil salinization is a constant threat to crop productivity and ecology worldwide. The conventional approach, breeding salt-tolerant plant cultivars, has often failed to efficiently alleviate this devastating environmental stress factor. In contrast, the use of a diverse array of microorganisms harbored by plants has attracted increasing attention because of the remarkable beneficial effects of them on plants. Among these microorganisms, halophilic and halotolerant rhizomicrobes is one of the most important extremophilic microorganisms. They can be found in saline or hypersaline ecosystems and have developed different adaptations to survive in salty environments. Their proteins and encoding genes are magnificently engineered to function in a milieu containing 2–5 M salt and represent a valuable repository and resource for reconstruction and visualizing processes of habitat selection and adaptive evolution. Indeed, the natural occurrence of these microorganisms in saline soils opens up a possible important role of them in increasing the salt tolerance in crops. They are capable of eliciting physical, chemical, and molecular changes in plants which enhanced their tolerance and promoted their growth, and thus they can refine agricultural practices and production under saline conditions. Likewise, their ability to serve as bioinoculants could be a more ready utilizable and sustainable solution to ameliorate the deleterious salt effects on plants. However, the ecology of their interactions with plants is still under investigation and not fully understood. This chapter aims to introduce the halotolerant rhizomicrobes and shed light on their special mechanisms to adapt to salinity conditions. A special section would be dedicated for their potential to be exploited in engineering salt tolerance in crops.

Growth, yield, and chemical composition responses of two faba bean cultivars due to foliar application of 28-homobrassinolide (HBR) and 24-epibrassinolide (EBR) were studied in two field experiments conducted at the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Agriculture, Cairo University at Giza, Egypt, during 2003/2004 and 2004/2005. The application of 0.10 mg l−1 EBR improved the growth characters and yield of the two cultivars over the control. Treatment with 0.05 mg l−1 EBR and 0.50 mg l−1 HBR stimulated plant growth and productivity but less effectively than treatment with 0.10 mg l−1 EBR. This increment was more pronounced in Sakha 1 cultivar as compared with Giza 40 cultivar. Application of 0.10 mg l−1 EBR gave, along with a 28% rise in productivity of Sakha 1 cultivar and 21.8% rise in productivity of Giza 40 cultivar, a better quality of yield with regard to an enhancement in the concentration of N, P, K, Fe, Zn, Mn, Cu, protein, and total carbohydrates. These considerable effects of EBR and HBR on plant development and yield promotion, together with the environmentally safe aspects of these compounds, would mark a major development in the field of plant growth regulators, and would minimize the risks associated with agrochemicals by reducing environmental contamination.

Background: Diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease can greatly benefit from decreasing the stress response to intubation with its metabolic sequelae. The use of fiberoptic bronchoscopy will eliminate the response to direct laryngoscopy while lubrication of ETT with lidocaine gel 2% will decrease the response to endotracheal intubation. This study was conducted to compare the stress response hormones (glucose, cortisol and c-peptide) and the hemodynamic responses to intubation between direct laryngoscopy and fiberoptic bronchoscopy in diabetic ischemic patients.Patients and methods: Forty-four adult diabetic patients with ischemic heart disease, ASA II, with a blood glucose level between 120 and 180 mg/dL, requiring orotracheal intubation under general anesthesia were divided into 2 equal groups. The laryngoscopic group (n = 22) and the fiberoptic group (n = 22). Ovassapian airway was used to facilitate fiberoptic intubation with avoidance of jaw thrust maneuver. Blood glucose, cortisol and c-peptide were recorded before induction and 10 min after intubation and compared between both groups. The hemodynamic parameters were recorded and compared between both groups. Automated ST segment monitoring was used to detect ischemia.
Results: There was statistically significant increase in HR, SBP and DBP in laryngoscopic group than in fiberoptic group. However, the incidence of ECG ST-segment changes was comparable with no statistically significant difference between groups. There were no statistically significant differences regarding glucose, cortisol and c-peptide levels between the study groups pre and post-induction. The intubation time in the fiberoptic group showed a statistically significant increase in comparison with the laryngoscope group (39 ± 12.04 vs. 29.3 ± 8.54 s; P

Identified in a recent S. mansoni genome sequencing and analysis study, our report is the first to measure nSMase enzymatic activity in Triton X-100-solubilized surface membrane (Sup 1) and whole worm soluble (SWAP) molecules of male and female Schistosoma mansoni and Schistosoma haematobium. Neutral, but no acidic, sphingomyelinase activity was readily detectable by the Amplex Red Sphingomyelinase Assay, and increased with incubation time and protein amount. Like nSMase family members, the schistosome nSMase activity was significantly (P < 0.05 - < 0.0001) enhanced by unsaturated fatty acids and phosphatidyl serine and significantly (P < 0.01) decreased following exposure to the nSMase specific inhibitor GW4869. Peptides based on the published sequence of S. mansoni putative nSMase and used in a multiple antigen peptide form induced the generation of specific antibodies, which readily bound to the immunogen and to the cognate protein in Sup 1 and SWAP. Immunofluorescence studies suggested the parasite nSMase is located in the worm tegument and gut lining. Studies using RNA interference are in progress to define nSMase role in larval and adult worm surface membrane antigen exposure and unsaturated fatty acid-mediated attrition.