around 80% of the population relies on agriculture, rice being the staple food. topography urges farmers to cultivate upland rice. the chinese interest in rubber latex has stimulated farmers to grow rubber, although the technical knowledge regarding tree management and latex processing is poor. a study was conducted in an area in luang prabang province to examine the suitability of upland rice ...

Natural rubber (NR) is stored in latex as rubber particles (RPs), rubber molecules surrounded by a lipid monolayer. Rubber transferase (RTase), the enzyme responsible for NR biosynthesis, is believed to be a member of the cis-prenyltransferase (cPT) family. However, none of the recombinant cPTs have shown RTase activity independently. We show that HRT1, a cPT from Heveabrasiliensis, exhibits di...

Increasing demand for natural rubber (NR) calls for an increase in latex yield and also an extension of rubber plantations in marginal zones. Both harvesting and abiotic stresses lead to tapping panel dryness through the production of reactive oxygen species. Many microRNAs regulated during abiotic stress modulate growth and development. The objective of this paper was to study the regulation o...

Latex from Hevea brasiliensis contains 30-50% (w/w) of natural rubber (cis-1,4-polyisoprene), the important raw material for many rubber industries. We have constructed a cDNA library from the latex of H. brasiliensis to investigate the expressed genes and molecular events in the latex. We analyzed 412 expressed sequence tags (ESTs). More than 90% of the EST clones showed homology to previously...

Natural rubber latex (NRL) allergy has become an important occupational health problem in recent years. However, the prevalence of sensitization to NRL among allergic asthmatic patients is unknown. This study was undertaken evaluate the levels specific IgE in sera of 70 adult asthmatic patients (27 male and 43 female) with mild (32 patients) and moderate (38 patients) asthma, whose diagnosis wa...

The Permanente Journal /Winter 1998/Volume 2 No. 1 The recently documented increasing incidence of natural rubber latex (Hevea brasiliensis protein allergy (HBPA) in health care workers and the general population has led several national organizations and governmental agencies to recommend that health care organizations: modify use of latex products, particularly gloves; implement mechanisms to...

Latex allergy is recognized worldwide as a serious health risk. To date, exposure assessment and intervention strategies have focused primarily on respiratory protection; this work evaluates the potential role of dermal protein penetration in the development of latex allergy. In vitro penetration models using flow-through diffusion cells and both human surgical specimens and hairless guinea pig...

Petroleum-based synthetic plastics used for making consumer articles constitute the largest non-renewable source of municipal solid waste in the United States. Containers and packaging products represent the largest group within plastic waste in municipal landfills. Efforts are being made worldwide to search for renewable and biodegradable substitutes for non-biodegradable plastics. Starch from...

Natural rubber latex (NRL) from Hevea brasiliensis is easily manipulated, low cost, is of can stimulate natural angiogenesis and cellular adhesion, is a biocompatible, material and presents high mechanical resistance. Ciprofloxacin (CIP) is a synthetic antibiotic (fluoroquinolone) used in the treatment of infection at external fixation screws sites and remote infections, and this use is increas...

Geranylgeranyl diphosphate (GGPP) synthase catalyzes the condensation of isopentenyl diphosphate (IPP) with allylic diphosphates to give (all-E)-GGPP. GGPP is one of the key precursors in the biosynthesis of biologically significant isoprenoid compounds. In order to examine possible participation of the GGPP synthase in the enzymatic prenyl chain elongation in natural rubber biosynthesis, we cl...