Impact of horticultural therapy on patients admitted to psychiatric wards, a randomised, controlled and open trial.

Psychiatric inpatients often endure anxiety. This randomized trial assessed the impact of horticultural therapy on anxiety in adult psychiatric inpatients over four weeks, compared to standard care. Recruiting 211 inpatients from six units were randomized into control (n = 105) and experimental (n = 106) groups.

Some Plant Defense Stimulators can induce IL-1β production in human immune cells .

Among Plant Protection Products (PPP), a new emerging category of pesticides act by stimulating plant defense in order to improve plant resistance against microbial pathogens. Given that these compounds, the so-called Plant Defense Stimulators (PDS) act on innate immunity, we tested, using an approach on human mononuclear leucocytes (PBMC), the potential toxicity (XTT assay) and inflammatory effects (production of IL-1β) of 4 PPP belonging to different chemical families. We found that two products (LBG-01F34® and Regalis®) did not induce any cytotoxicity or IL-1 β production.

Inflammatory Effects of the Plant Protection Product Stifenia (FEN560) on Vertebrates.

Plant defense stimulators (PDSs) rely on the activation of plant innate immunity in order to protect crops against various pests. These molecules are thought to be a safer alternative to classical plant protection products. Given that innate immune systems share common features in plants and vertebrates, PDS can potentially cross-react with innate immunity of non-target organisms.

Role of mannitol metabolism in the pathogenicity of the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola.

In this study, the physiological functions of fungal mannitol metabolism in the pathogenicity and protection against environmental stresses were investigated in the necrotrophic fungus Alternaria brassicicola. Mannitol metabolism was examined during infection of Brassica oleracea leaves by sequential HPLC quantification of the major soluble carbohydrates and expression analysis of genes encoding two proteins of mannitol metabolism, i.e.