Mechanisms of goethite dissolution in the presence of desferrioxamine B and Suwannee River fulvic acid at pH 6.5

Siderophores are Fe3+ specific low MW chelating ligands secreted by microorganisms in response to Fe stress. Low MW organic acids such as oxalate have been shown to enhance siderophore mediated dissolution of Fe3+ oxides. However, the effect of fulvic acid presence on siderophore function remains unknown. We used batch dissolution experiments to investigate Fe release from goethite in the goethite-fulvic acid desferrioxamine B (goethite-SRFA-DFOB) ternary system. Experiments were conducted at pH 6.5 while varying reagent addition sequence. FTIR and UV-Vis spectroscopy were employed to characterise the Fe-DFOB, Fe-SRFA and DFOB–SRFA complexes. Iron released from goethite in the presence of SRFA alone was below detection limit. In the presence of both SRFA and DFOB, dissolved Fe increased with reaction time, presence of the DFOB-SRFA complex, and where SRFA was introduced prior to DFOB. FTIR data show that in the ternary system, Fe3+ is complexed primarily to oxygen of the DFOB hydroxamate group, whilst the carboxylate C=O of SRFA forms an electrostatic association with the terminal NH3+ of DFOB. We propose that SRFA sorbed to goethite lowers the net positive charge of the oxide surface, thus facilitating adsorption of cationic DFOB and subsequent Fe3+ chelation and release. Furthermore, the sorbed SRFA weakens Fe-O bonds at the goethite surface, increasing the population of kinetically labile Fe. This work demonstrates the positive, though indirect role of SRFA in increasing the bioavailability of Fe3+

Differences in functional brain organization during gesture recognition between autistic and neurotypical individuals

Persons with and without autism process sensory information differently. Differences in sensory processing are directly relevant to social functioning and communicative abilities, which are known to be hampered in persons with autism. We collected functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) data from 25 autistic individuals and 25 neurotypical individuals while they performed a silent gesture recognition task. We exploited brain network topology, a holistic quantification of how networks within the brain are organized to provide new insights into how visual communicative signals are processed in autistic and neurotypical individuals. Performing graph theoretical analysis, we calculated two network properties of the action observation network: local efficiency, as a measure of network segregation, and global efficiency, as a measure of network integration. We found that persons with autism and neurotypical persons differ in how the action observation network is organized. Persons with autism utilize a more clustered, local-processing-oriented network configuration (i.e., higher local efficiency), rather than the more integrative network organization seen in neurotypicals (i.e., higher global efficiency). These results shed new light on the complex interplay between social and sensory processing in autism

Diverse in Local, Overlapping in Official Medical Botany: Critical Analysis of Medicinal Plant Records from the Historic Regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe, 1829–1895

Works on historical ethnobotany can help shed light on past plant uses and humankind’s relationships with the environment. We analyzed medicinal plant uses from the historical regions of Livonia and Courland in Northeast Europe based on three studies published within the 19th century by medical doctors researching local ethnomedicine. The sources were manually searched, and information extracted and entered into a database. In total, there were 603 detailed reports of medicinal plant use, which refer to 219 taxa belonging to 69 families and one unidentified local taxon. Dominant families were Asteraceae (14%), Solanaceae (7%), Rosaceae (6%), and Apiaceae (5%). The majority of use reports were attributed to the treatment of four disease categories: digestive (24%), skin (22%), respiratory (11%), and general (11%). The small overlapping portion (14 taxa mentioned by all three authors and another 27 taxa named by two authors) contained a high proportion of taxa (46%) mentioned in Dioscorides, which were widespread during that period in scholarly practice. Despite the shared flora, geographical vicinity, and culturally similar backgrounds, the medicinal use of plants in historical Courland and Livonia showed high biocultural diversity and reliance on wild taxa. We encourage researchers to study and re-evaluate the historical ethnobotanical literature and provide some suggestions on how to do this effectively

Differences in the production and perception of communicative kinematics in autism

In human communication, social intentions and meaning are often revealed in the way we move. In this study, we investigate the flexibility of human communication in terms of kinematic modulation in a clinical population, namely, autistic individuals. The aim of this study was twofold: to assess (a) whether communicatively relevant kinematic features of gestures differ between autistic and neurotypical individuals, and (b) if autistic individuals use communicative kinematic modulation to support gesture recognition. We tested autistic and neurotypical individuals on a silent gesture production task and a gesture comprehension task. We measured movement during the gesture production task using a Kinect motion tracking device in order to determine if autistic individuals differed from neurotypical individuals in their gesture kinematics. For the gesture comprehension task, we assessed whether autistic individuals used communicatively relevant kinematic cues to support recognition. This was done by using stick-light figures as stimuli and testing for a correlation between the kinematics of these videos and recognition performance. We found that (a) silent gestures produced by autistic and neurotypical individuals differ in communicatively relevant kinematic features, such as the number of meaningful holds between movements, and (b) while autistic individuals are overall unimpaired at recognizing gestures, they processed repetition and complexity, measured as the amount of submovements perceived, differently than neurotypicals do. These findings highlight how subtle aspects of neurotypical behavior can be experienced differently by autistic individuals. They further demonstrate the relationship between movement kinematics and social interaction in high-functioning autistic individuals

Use of information computer technologies in development of preschool speech

Использование ИКТ в развитии речи дошкольников является требованием времени. Автор раскрывает практическую потребность и значимость использования в дошкольных образовательных учреждениях современных компьютерных программ по развитию речи. Автор приходит к выводу, что использование ИКТ откроет новые возможности образования, развития и воспитания дошкольников.The use of ICT in the development of preschool children is the need of the hour. The author reveals the practical need for and the importance of the use of preschool educational institutions of modern computer programs for the development of speech. The author concludes that the use of ICT will provide new opportunities of education, development and education of preschool children

Shared neural representations of tactile roughness intensities by somatosensation and touch observation using an associative learning method

Previous human fMRI studies have reported activation of somatosensory areas not only during actual touch, but also during touch observation. However, it has remained unclear how the brain encodes visually evoked tactile intensities. Using an associative learning method, we investigated neural representations of roughness intensities evoked by (a) tactile explorations and (b) visual observation of tactile explorations. Moreover, we explored (c) modality-independent neural representations of roughness intensities using a cross-modal classification method. Case (a) showed significant decoding performance in the anterior cingulate cortex (ACC) and the supramarginal gyrus (SMG), while in the case (b), the bilateral posterior parietal cortices, the inferior occipital gyrus, and the primary motor cortex were identified. Case (c) observed shared neural activity patterns in the bilateral insula, the SMG, and the ACC. Interestingly, the insular cortices were identified only from the cross-modal classification, suggesting their potential role in modality-independent tactile processing. We further examined correlations of confusion patterns between behavioral and neural similarity matrices for each region. Significant correlations were found solely in the SMG, reflecting a close relationship between neural activities of SMG and roughness intensity perception. The present findings may deepen our understanding of the brain mechanisms underlying intensity perception of tactile roughness

Active wild food practices among culturally diverse groups in the 21st century across latgale, Latvia

Local ecological knowledge (LEK), including but not limited to the use of wild food plants, plays a large role in sustainable natural resource management schemes, primarily due to the synergy between plants and people. There are calls for the study of LEK in culturally diverse areas due to a loss of knowledge, the active practice of utilizing wild plants in various parts of the world, and a decline in biodiversity. An ethnobotanical study in a border region of Latvia, characterised by diverse natural landscapes and people with deep spiritual attachments to nature, provided an opportunity for such insight, as well as the context to analyse wild food plant usages among different sociocultural groups, allowing us to explore the differences among these groups. Semi-structured interviews were carried out as part of a wider ethnobotanical field study to obtain information about wild food plants and their uses. The list of wild food plant uses, derived from 72 interviews, revealed a high level of homogenisation (in regards to knowledge) among the study groups, and that many local uses of wild food plants are still actively practiced. People did not gather plants as a recreational activity but rather as a source of diet diversification. The results provide evidence of the importance of safeguarding ecological and cultural diversity due to high local community dependency on natural resources

Oil-crop biomass conversion using polymerstabilized catalysts

Palladium-based catalysts supported on hypercrosslinked polystyrene were studied in the hydroconversion processes of oilseed biomass: (I) deoxygenation in a conventional solvent; (II) deoxygenation in supercritical hexane; (III) hydrogenation in toluene. It was shown that the highest selectivity towards the formation of target product, as well as the highest rate of stearic acid conversion in all the investigated processes, was observed using a 1% -Pd/HPS catalyst

Электрон-избыточные металлoфенантроцианины – новый класс тетраазахромофорных комплексов d-элементов

Data of experimental and theoretical study (DFT method) of electron-rich metal phenanthrocyanines – new class of tetraazachromophore complexes of delements Pt2+, Pd2+, Rh3+, Cr3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ and Cd2+ was presented. On basis of experimental data on electron absorption spectra (EAS) and quantum chemical calculations of EAS of model anion-radical 1,10-phenanthroline and electron-rich 1,10-phenanthroline complexes suggest of long-wave bands in EAS of metal phenanthrocyanines was made. Some general regularities of new metal phenanthrocyanines formation in C(sp2 )H-C(sp2 )H-coupling reactions of coordinated 1,10-phenanthrolines concerned with metal promotion and elementary electron and proton transfer processes in initialization stage of C(sp2 )H-C(sp2 )H-coupling was analysedредставлены результаты экспериментального и теоретического (методом DFT) исследования электрон-избыточных металлофенантроцианинов – нового класса тетраазахромофорных комплексов d-элементов Pt2+, Pd2+, Rh3+, Cr3+, Co2+, Ni2+, Zn2+ и Cd2+. Сделаны отнесения длинноволновых полос в ЭСП металлофенантроцианинов. Проанализированы некоторые общие закономерности образования новых металлофенантроцианинов в реакциях C(sp2 )H-C(sp2 )H-сочетания координированных 1,10-фенантролинов, связанные с металл-промотированием, а также с элементарными процессами электронного и протонного переноса на стадии инициирования C(sp2 )H-C(sp2 )H-сочетания