Reactive oxygen species induced by water containing nano-bubbles and its role in the improvement of barley seed germination

This paper was presented at the 4th Micro and Nano Flows Conference (MNF2014), which was held at University College, London, UK. The conference was organised by Brunel University and supported by the Italian Union of Thermofluiddynamics, IPEM, the Process Intensification Network, the Institution of Mechanical Engineers, the Heat Transfer Society, HEXAG - the Heat Exchange Action Group, and the Energy Institute, ASME Press, LCN London Centre for Nanotechnology, UCL University College London, UCL Engineering, the International NanoScience Community, www.nanopaprika.eu.The study of reactive oxygen species (ROS) generation caused by nano-bubbles (NBs) is of great importance for its application in both physiological activity promotion aspect and sterilization aspect. In this paper, Aminophenyl Fluorescein (APF) was used as a fluorescent reagent for the detection of ROS generation by NBs. The NBs scattering could cause the decrease of fluorescence intensity. Meanwhile, the quenching effect of oxygen could also cause the decrease of fluorescence intensity. Although the above two factors masked the fluorescence intensity generation by ROS, the fluorescence intensity of the water containing NBs still increased with NBs generation time, which proved that oxygen NBs could generate ROS. Moreover, the endogenous ROS in the barley seed cells were measured in the seed that germinated in the water containing NBs and the distilled water respectively. According to the results of seed staining experiments, both the microscope images and the absorbance at 560nm proved that the seeds dipped in the water containing NBs could generate more ROS compared to those in the distilled water. These findings greatly increase the NBs potential use both in agricultural field and environmental field

New Bound States of Heavy Quarks at LHC and Tevatron

The present paper is based on the assumption that heavy quarks bound states exist in the Standard Model (SM). Considering New Bound States (NBS) of top-anti-top quarks (named T-balls) we have shown that: 1) there exists the scalar 1S--bound state of $6t+6\bar t$; 2) the forces which bind the top-quarks are very strong and almost completely compensate the mass of the twelve top-anti-top-quarks in the scalar NBS; 3) such strong forces are produced by the Higgs-top-quarks interaction with a large value of the top-quark Yukawa coupling constant $g_t\simeq 1$. Theory also predicts the existence of the NBS $6t + 5\bar t$, which is a color triplet and a fermion similar to the $t'$-quark of the fourth generation. We have also considered the "b-quark-replaced" NBS, estimated the masses of the lightest fermionic NBS: $M_{NBS}\gtrsim 300$ GeV, and discussed the larger masses of T-balls. We have developed a theory of the scalar T-ball's condensate and predicted the existence of three SM phases. Searching for heavy quark bound states at the Tevatron and LHC is discussed. We have constructed the possible form-factors of T-balls, and estimated the charge multiplicity coming from the T-ball's decays.Comment: 25 pages 12 figure

Photocurrent Generation in a Metallic Transition Metal Dichalcogenide

Light induced current in two-dimensional (2D) layered materials emerges from mechanisms such as photothermoelectric effect, photovoltaic effect or nonlocal hot carrier transport. Semiconducting layered transition metal dichalcogenides have been studied extensively in recent years as the generation of current by light is a crucial process in optoelectronic and photovoltaic devices. However, photocurrent generation is unexpected in metallic 2D layered materials unless a photothermal mechanism is prevalent. Typically, high thermal conductivity and low absorption of the visible spectrum prevent photothermal current generation in metals. Here, we report photoresponse from two-terminal devices of mechanically exfoliated metallic 3R-NbS$_2$ thin crystals using scanning photocurrent microscopy (SPCM) both at zero and finite bias. SPCM measurements reveal that the photocurrent predominantly emerges from metal/NbS$_2$ junctions of the two-terminal device at zero bias. At finite biases, along with the photocurrent generated at metal/NbS$_2$ junctions, now a negative photoresponse from all over the NbS$_2$ crystal is evident. Among our results, we realized that the observed photocurrent can be explained by the local heating caused by the laser excitation. These findings show that NbS$_2$ is among a few metallic materials in which photocurrent generation is possible

HSV-1 genome subnuclear positioning and associations with host-cell PML-NBs and centromeres regulate LAT locus transcription during latency in neurons.

Major human pathologies are caused by nuclear replicative viruses establishing life-long latent infection in their host. During latency the genomes of these viruses are intimately interacting with the cell nucleus environment. A hallmark of herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) latency establishment is the shutdown of lytic genes expression and the concomitant induction of the latency associated (LAT) transcripts. Although the setting up and the maintenance of the latent genetic program is most likely dependent on a subtle interplay between viral and nuclear factors, this remains uninvestigated. Combining the use of in situ fluorescent-based approaches and high-resolution microscopic analysis, we show that HSV-1 genomes adopt specific nuclear patterns in sensory neurons of latently infected mice (28 days post-inoculation, d.p.i.). Latent HSV-1 genomes display two major patterns, called "Single" and "Multiple", which associate with centromeres, and with promyelocytic leukemia nuclear bodies (PML-NBs) as viral DNA-containing PML-NBs (DCP-NBs). 3D-image reconstruction of DCP-NBs shows that PML forms a shell around viral genomes and associated Daxx and ATRX, two PML partners within PML-NBs. During latency establishment (6 d.p.i.), infected mouse TGs display, at the level of the whole TG and in individual cells, a substantial increase of PML amount consistent with the interferon-mediated antiviral role of PML. "Single" and "Multiple" patterns are reminiscent of low and high-viral genome copy-containing neurons. We show that LAT expression is significantly favored within the "Multiple" pattern, which underlines a heterogeneity of LAT expression dependent on the viral genome copy number, pattern acquisition, and association with nuclear domains. Infection of PML-knockout mice demonstrates that PML/PML-NBs are involved in virus nuclear pattern acquisition, and negatively regulate the expression of the LAT. This study demonstrates that nuclear domains including PML-NBs and centromeres are functionally involved in the control of HSV-1 latency, and represent a key level of host/virus interaction

Some services of the Time and Frequency Division of the National Bureau of Standards

The Time and Frequency Division of the National Bureau of Standards (NBS) provides several services to the general public. The radio broadcasts of WWV, WWVH, and WWVB supply reliable, unambiguous time signals to many users. The NBS telephone time-of-day service attracts several hundreds of thousands of calls each year. Periodically, the NBS provides courses on specific topics relating to time and frequency technology. In addition to numerous technical papers published each year, the NBS has prepared the first volume of a comprehensive monograph on time and frequency. The results of research in the Time and Frequency Division of the NBS have had significant impact. An active TV time system capable of serving most of the U.S. currently awaits a ruling by the FCC on a petition filed last year on behalf of the NBS by the Department of Commerce. Three more recent developments are: (1) a TV frequency comparator (patent applied for); (2) a method to perform an independent (absolute) frequency evaluation of commercial cesium beam oscillators; and (3) a method of removing one source of frequency drift in commercial cesium beam oscillators

Improving Communication between Doctors and Parents after Newborn Screening

Background: Newborn screening (NBS) enables early treatment, and some consider it a natural vehicle for genetic screening. Bioethicists argue for caution since families of infants with carrier status can develop psychosocial complications. This paper describes the methods and feasibility of Wisconsin’s statewide project for quality improvement of communication and psychosocial outcomes after NBS. Methods: When NBS identifies carrier status for cystic fibrosis or sickle cell, we contact primary care providers (PCPs), answer questions, and invite them to rehearse informing the parents. Three months later, we telephone the parents, assess knowledge and psychosocial outcomes, provide counseling, and assist with self-referral to further resources. Afterward, evaluation surveys are provided to the parents, to be returned anonymously. Results: Birthing facilities provided accurate PCP names for 73% of 817 infants meeting inclusion criteria; we identified PCPs for 21% more. We reached 47.3% of PCPs in time to invite a rehearsal; 60% of these accepted. We successfully called 50.2% of eligible parents; 61% recalled a PCP explanation, and 48.5% evaluated the explanation favorably. Evaluations by parents with limited health literacy were less favorable. Conclusion: It is feasible to follow parents for psychosocial outcomes after NBS. Preliminary data about communication is mixed, but further data will describe psychosocial outcomes and investigate outcomes’ associations with communication

The utility of NBS profiling for plant systematics: a first study in tuber-bearing Solanum species

Systematic relationships are important criteria for researchers and breeders to select materials. We evaluated a novel molecular technique, nucleotide binding site (NBS) profiling, for its potential in phylogeny reconstruction. NBS profiling produces multiple markers in resistance genes and their analogs (RGAs). Potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) is a crop with a large secondary genepool, which contains many important traits that can be exploited in breeding programs. In this study we used a set of over 100 genebank accessions, representing 49 tuber-bearing wild and cultivated Solanum species. NBS profiling was compared to amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP). Cladistic and phenetic analyses showed that the two techniques had similar resolving power and delivered trees with a similar topology. However, the different statistical tests used to demonstrate congruency of the trees were inconclusive. Visual inspection of the trees showed that, especially at the lower level, many accessions grouped together in the same way in both trees; at the higher level, when looking at the more basal nodes, only a few groups were well supported. Again this was similar for both techniques. The observation that higher level groups were poorly supported might be due to the nature of the material and the way the species evolved. The similarity of the NBS and AFLP results indicate that the role of disease resistance in speciation is limite