Leaf area phenology across mire types in response to meteorological variation and experimental water level manipulation

Climate change is expected to cause long-term drying on northern peatlands due to increased evapotranspiration. Summer heatwaves and droughts are also predicted to increase with climate change. Vascular plant leaf area phenology on peatlands is affected by reduced water levels and interannual variation in weather. Nutrient rich mire types are more susceptible to both functional and compositional changes in response to long-term and short-term changes in water level. What remains unexplored is the potential for interactive effects between long-term drying and short-term drought events on leaf area phenology on varying mire types. This study quantifies the response of leaf area phenology to 20-year experimental water level drawdown (WLD) across three mire types of varying nutrient levels (mesotrophic fen, oligotrophic fen and ombrotrophic bog). Measurements were conducted in two contrasting growing seasons, 2017 a cool wet year and 2021 a hot dry year. WLD led to significantly earlier growth peaks across all sites. Community compositional changes in response to WLD were most significant at the more nutrient rich mire sites. At the mesotrophic site WLD resulted in significant reductions in peak leaf area (LAIMAX), which was not observed at the other sites. Across all the WLD plots the hot dry year 2021 resulted in significantly greater LAIMAX relative to the cool wet year 2017, this difference was not significant at any of the control plots. This suggests long-term drying alters the way mire phenology responds to short-term variations in weather. This has important implications for the ability of northern mires to function ‘normally’ under future climate conditions

Dream Daddy

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/1361/thumbnail.jp

Probing the microbiome to predict response to biologic therapy in Inflammatory Bowel Disease: one step closer to precision medicine?

© 2022 by the AGA InstituteCurrent treatment algorithms in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) rely on a “trial and error” approach, and therefore, patients may receive ineffective and costly therapy for many months, with associated risks. Furthermore, after failure of the first biologic, response rates to second-line therapies drop considerably. Personalized medicine, which seeks to identify biomarkers that predict disease course and treatment efficacy, thus remains a significant unmet need in IBD.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Sunshine Of Mine

https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/mmb-vp/2982/thumbnail.jp

Random word generation reveals spatial encoding of syllabic word length

Existing random number generation studies demonstrate the presence of an embodied attentional bias in spontaneous number production corresponding to the horizontal Mental Number Line: Larger numbers are produced on right‐hand turns and smaller numbers on left‐hand turns (Loetscher et al.,2008, Curr. Biol., 18, R60). Furthermore, other concepts were also shown to rely on horizontal attentional displacement (Di Bono and Zorzi, 2013, Quart. J. Exp. Psychol., 66, 2348). In two experiments, we used a novel random word generation paradigm combined with two different ways to orient attention in horizontal space: Participants randomly generated words on left and right head turns (Experiment 1) or following left and right key presses (Experiment 2). In both studies, syllabically longer words were generated on right‐hand head turns and following right key strokes. Importantly, variables related to semantic magnitude or cardinality (whether the generated words were plural‐marked, referred to uncountable concepts, or were associated with largeness) were not affected by lateral manipulations. We discuss our data in terms of the ATOM (Walsh, 2015, The Oxford handbook of numerical cognition, 552) which suggests a general magnitude mechanism shared by different conceptual domains

Intrinsic Domain and Loop Dynamics Commensurate with Catalytic Turnover in an Induced-Fit Enzyme

SummaryArginine kinase catalyzes reversible phosphoryl transfer between ATP and arginine, buffering cellular ATP concentrations. Structures of substrate-free and -bound enzyme have highlighted a range of conformational changes thought to occur during the catalytic cycle. Here, NMR is used to characterize the intrinsic backbone dynamics over multiple timescales. Relaxation dispersion indicates rigid-body motion of the N-terminal domain and flexible dynamics in the I182–G209 loop, both at millisecond rates commensurate with kcat, implying that either might be rate limiting upon catalysis. Lipari-Szabo analysis indicates backbone flexibility on the nanosecond timescale in the V308–V322 loop, while the rest of the enzyme is more rigid in this timescale. Thus, intrinsic dynamics are most prominent in regions that have been independently implicated in conformational changes. Substrate-free enzyme may sample an ensemble of different conformations, of which a subset is selected upon substrate binding, with critical active site residues appropriately configured for binding and catalysis

Radiological data of brachial plexus avulsion injury associated spinal cord herniation (BPAI-SCH) and comparison to anterior thoracic spinal cord herniation (ATSCH).

Spinal cord herniation (SCH) is a rare cause of myelopathy. When reported, SCH has most commonly been described as occurring spontaneously in the thoracic spine, and being idiopathic in nature (anterior thoracic spinal cord herniation, ATSCH) [1-3]. Several theories have been proposed to explain its occurrence, including congenital, inflammatory, and traumatic etiologies alike [1-4]. Even more rarely, SCH has been described to occur in the cervical spine in association with brachial plexus avulsion injuries (BPAI-SCH). In our accompanying article, Late Cervical Spinal Cord Herniation Resulting from Post-Traumatic Brachial Plexus Avulsion Injury, two cases of BPAI-SCH are presented and discussed in the context of the reviewed literature [5]. Here, pertinent accompanying follow-up data was collected and is presented for the cases, including postoperative radiographic outcome imaging. Furthermore, a table is presented comparing and contrasting ATSCH to BPAI-SCH. Although the two phenomena have been previously grouped together, this table highlights ATSCH and BPAI-SCH as distinct entities; more specifically, BPAI-SCH is a separate, long-term complicating feature of BPAI. This supplementary data helps treating physicians by increasing awareness and knowledge of BPAI-SCH as a distinct entity from ATSCH and cause of delayed neurological deterioration

Frost trends and their estimated impact on yield in the Australian wheatbelt

Radiant spring frosts occurring during reproductive developmental stages can result in catastrophic yield loss for wheat producers. To better understand the spatial and temporal variability of frost, the occurrence and impact of frost events on rain-fed wheat production was estimated across the Australian wheatbelt for 1957–2013 using a 0.05 ° gridded weather data set. Simulated yield outcomes at 60 key locations were compared with those for virtual genotypes with different levels of frost tolerance. Over the last six decades, more frost events, later last frost day, and a significant increase in frost impact on yield were found in certain regions of the Australian wheatbelt, in particular in the South-East and West. Increasing trends in frost-related yield losses were simulated in regions where no significant trend of frost occurrence was observed, due to higher mean temperatures accelerating crop development and causing sensitive post-heading stages to occur earlier, during the frost risk period. Simulations indicated that with frost-tolerant lines the mean national yield could be improved by up to 20 through (i) reduced frost damage (~10 improvement) and (ii) the ability to use earlier sowing dates (adding a further 10 improvement). In the simulations, genotypes with an improved frost tolerance to temperatures 1 °C lower than the current 0 °C reference provided substantial benefit in most cropping regions, while greater tolerance (to 3 °C lower temperatures) brought further benefits in the East. The results indicate that breeding for improved reproductive frost tolerance should remain a priority for the Australian wheat industry, despite warming climates