Occupancy and Abundance of American Badgers and Piute Ground Squirrels in the Sagebrush-Steppe: Implications of the Fire-Cheatgrass Cycle

Sagebrush-steppe is experiencing vast changes due to biological invasions and changing fire characteristics. Understanding how these changes influence functionally important animals is essential for ecosystem management. American Badgers (Taxidea taxus) are an apex predator and ecosystem engineer within sagebrush ecosystems. Piute Ground Squirrels (Urocitellus mollis) are also an ecosystem engineer as well as an essential prey source for many predators.  Our objective was to evaluate the relative importance of large-scale changes, abiotic processes, and biotic processes on badgers and ground squirrels. We samples 163 1-ha plots across a gradient of burn histories within a 1,962 km2 area in Southern Idaho, USA. At each plot, we characterized ground squirrel and badger occupancy, ground squirrel relative abundance, and many environmental variables. We used information-theoretic approaches to evaluate competing hypotheses concerning occupancy of ground squirrels and badgers, and ground squirrel relative abundance. Results suggest that ground squirrel occupancy was positively associated with abiotic characteristics (e.g., higher precipitation and finer textured soil). Badger occupancy was positively associated with ground squirrel occupancy and agriculture. Relative abundance of ground squirrels was positively associated with finer textured soils, but negatively associated with cheatgrass (Bromus tectorum), fire frequency, agriculture and shrubs. Managers can focus restoration efforts on areas with high cheatgrass and shrub cover, if ground squirrels are a management objective. These results support previous hypotheses suggesting abiotic processes are important for herbivore occupancy. However, we provide support that a combination of abiotic, biotic and disturbance processes are important for mesocarnivore occupancy and herbivore abundance

Role of gliotoxin in the symbiotic and pathogenic interactions of Trichoderma virens

Using a gene disruption strategy, we generated mutants in the gliP locus of the plant-beneficial fungus Trichoderma virens that were no longer capable of producing gliotoxin. Phenotypic assays demonstrated that the gliP-disrupted mutants grew faster, were more sensitive to oxidative stress and exhibited a sparse colony edge compared with the WT strain. In a plate confrontation assay, the mutants deficient in gliotoxin production were ineffective as mycoparasites against the oomycete, Pythium ultimum, and the necrotrophic fungal pathogen, Sclerotinia sclerotiorum, but retained mycoparasitic ability against Rhizoctonia solani. Biocontrol assays in soil showed that the mutants were incapable of protecting cotton seedlings from attack by P. ultimum, against which the WT strain was highly effective. The mutants, however, were as effective as the WT strain in protecting cotton seedlings against R. solani. Loss of gliotoxin production also resulted in a reduced ability of the mutants to attack the sclerotia of S. sclerotiorum compared with the WT. The addition of exogenous gliotoxin to the sclerotia colonized by the mutants partially restored their degradative abilities. Interestingly, as in Aspergillus fumigatus, an opportunistic human pathogen, gliotoxin was found to be involved in pathogenicity of T. virens against larvae of the wax moth, Galleria mellonella. The loss of gliotoxin production in T. virens was restored by complementation with the gliP gene from A. fumigatus. We have, thus, demonstrated that the putative gliP cluster of T. virens is responsible for the biosynthesis of gliotoxin, and gliotoxin is involved in mycoparasitism and biocontrol properties of this plant-beneficial fungusFil: Vargas, Walter Alberto. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Rosario. Centro de Estudios Fotosintéticos y Bioquímicos (i); ArgentinaFil: Mukherjee, Prasun K.. Bhabha Atomic Research Centre; IndiaFil: Laughlin, David. Texas A&M University; Estados UnidosFil: Wiest, Aric. University Of Missouri; Estados UnidosFil: Moran Diez, Maria E.. Texas A&M University; Estados UnidosFil: Kenerley, Charles M.. Texas A; Estados Unido

The Role of MAPKs in B Cell Receptor-Induced Down-Regulation of Egr-1 in Immature B Lymphoma Cells

Cross-linking of the B cell receptor (BCR) on the immature B lymphoma cell line BKS-2 induces growth inhibition and apoptosis accompanied by rapid down-regulation of the immediate-early gene egr-1. In these lymphoma cells, egr-1 is expressed constitutively and has a prosurvival role, as Egr-1-specific antisense oligonucleotides or expression of a dominant-negative inhibitor of Egr-1 also prevented the growth of BKS-2 cells. Moreover, enhancement of Egr-1 protein with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate or an egr-1 expression vector rescued BKS-2 cells from BCR signal-induced growth inhibition. Nuclear run-on and mRNA stability assays indicated that BCR-derived signals act at the transcriptional level to reduce egr-1 expression. Inhibitors of ERK and JNK (but not of p38 MAPK) reduced egr-1 expression at the protein level. Transcriptional regulation appears to have a role because egr-1 promoter-driven luciferase expression was reduced by ERK and JNK inhibitors. Promoter truncation experiments suggested that several serum response elements are required for MAPK-mediated egr-1 expression. Our study suggests that BCR signals reduce egr-1 expression by inhibiting activation of ERK and JNK. Unlike ERK and JNK, p38 MAPK reduces constitutive expression of egr-1. Unlike the immature B lymphoma cells, normal immature B cells did not exhibit constitutive MAPK activation. BCR-induced MAPK activation was modest and transient with a small increase in egr-1 expression in normal immature B cells consistent with their inability to proliferate in response to BCR cross-linking

Subversion of T lineage commitment by PU.1 in a clonal cell line system

Specification of mammalian T lymphocytes involves prolonged developmental plasticity even after lineage-specific gene expression begins. Expression of transcription factor PU.1 may maintain some myeloid-like developmental alternatives until commitment. Commitment could reflect PU.1 shutoff, resistance to PU.1 effects, and/or imposition of a suicide penalty for diversion. Here, we describe subclones from the SCID.adh murine thymic lymphoma, adh.2C2 and adh.6D4, that represent a new tool for probing these mechanisms. PU.1 can induce many adh.2C2 cells to undergo diversion to a myeloid-like phenotype, in an all-or-none fashion with multiple, coordinate gene expression changes; adh.6D4 cells resist diversion, and most die. Diversion depends on the PU.1 Ets domain but not on known interactions in the PEST or Q-rich domains, although the Q-rich domain enhances diversion frequency. Protein kinase C/MAP kinase stimulation can make adh.6D4 cells permissive for diversion without protecting from suicide. These results show distinct roles for regulated cell death and another stimulation-sensitive function that establishes a threshold for diversion competence. PU.1 also diverts normal T-cell precursors from wild type or Bcl2-transgenic mice to a myeloid-like phenotype, upon transduction in short-term culture. The adh.2C2 and adh.6D4 clones thus provide an accessible system for defining mechanisms controlling developmental plasticity in early T-cell development

Predicting Infarct Core From Computed Tomography Perfusion in Acute Ischemia With Machine Learning: Lessons From the ISLES Challenge.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE The ISLES challenge (Ischemic Stroke Lesion Segmentation) enables globally diverse teams to compete to develop advanced tools for stroke lesion analysis with machine learning. Detection of irreversibly damaged tissue on computed tomography perfusion (CTP) is often necessary to determine eligibility for late-time-window thrombectomy. Therefore, the aim of ISLES-2018 was to segment infarcted tissue on CTP based on diffusion-weighted imaging as a reference standard. METHODS The data, from 4 centers, consisted of 103 cases of acute anterior circulation large artery occlusion stroke who underwent diffusion-weighted imaging rapidly after CTP. Diffusion-weighted imaging lesion segmentation was performed manually and acted as a reference standard. The data were separated into 63 cases for training and 40 for testing, upon which quality metrics (dice score coefficient, Hausdorff distance, absolute lesion volume difference, etc) were computed to rank methods based on their overall performance. RESULTS Twenty-four different teams participated in the challenge. Median time to CTP was 185 minutes (interquartile range, 180-238), the time between CTP and magnetic resonance imaging was 36 minutes (interquartile range, 25-79), and the median infarct lesion size was 15.2 mL (interquartile range, 5.7-45). The best performance for Dice score coefficient and absolute volume difference were 0.51 and 10.1 mL, respectively, from different teams. Based on the ranking criteria, the top team's algorithm demonstrated for average Dice score coefficient and average absolute volume difference 0.51 and 10.2 mL, respectively, outperforming the conventional threshold-based method (dice score coefficient, 0.3; volume difference, 15.3). Diverse algorithms were used, almost all based on deep learning, with top-ranked approaches making use of the raw perfusion data as well as methods to synthetically generate complementary information to boost prediction performance. CONCLUSIONS Machine learning methods may predict infarcted tissue from CTP with improved accuracy compared with threshold-based methods used in clinical routine. This dataset will remain public and can be used to test improvement in algorithms over time

Developmental arrest of T cells in RpL22-deficient mice is dependent upon multiple p53 effectors

available in PMC 2012 July 15alpha beta and gamma delta lineage T cells are thought to arise from a common CD4–CD8– progenitor in the thymus. However, the molecular pathways controlling fate selection and maturation of these two lineages remain poorly understood. We demonstrated recently that a ubiquitously expressed ribosomal protein, Rpl22, is selectively required for the development of alpha beta lineage T cells. Germline ablation of Rpl22 impairs development of alpha beta lineage, but not gamma delta lineage, T cells through activation of a p53-dependent checkpoint. In this study, we investigate the downstream effectors used by p53 to impair T cell development. We found that many p53 targets were induced in Rpl22−/− thymocytes, including miR-34a, PUMA, p21waf, Bax, and Noxa. Notably, the proapoptotic factor Bim, while not a direct p53 target, was also strongly induced in Rpl22−/− T cells. Gain-of-function analysis indicated that overexpression of miR-34a caused a developmental arrest reminiscent of that induced by p53 in Rpl22-deficient T cells; however, only a few p53 targets alleviated developmental arrest when individually ablated by gene targeting or knockdown. Co-elimination of PUMA and Bim resulted in a nearly complete restoration of development of Rpl22−/− thymocytes, indicating that p53-mediated arrest is enforced principally through effects on cell survival. Surprisingly, co-elimination of the primary p53 regulators of cell cycle arrest (p21waf) and apoptosis (PUMA) actually abrogated the partial rescue caused by loss of PUMA alone, suggesting that the G1 checkpoint protein p21[superscript waf] facilitates thymocyte development in some contexts.National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ( (NIH) Grant R01AI073920)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) (NIH Core Grant P01CA06927)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ( (NIH) Grant R21CA141194)National Institutes of Health (U.S.) ( NIH Center Grant P30-DK-50306)Pennsylvania (appropriation)Fox Chase Cancer Center (NIH Postdoctoral Training Grant T32 CA00903534)Fox Chase Cancer Center (NIH Postdoctoral Training Grant F32 AI089077-01A1

Безналичные расчеты и кассовые операции организаций: специфика коммерческого и банковского учета

Объектом исследования является ЧФ "ЛИГА". Целью данной работы является изучение специфики коммерческого и банковского учета безналичных расчетов и кассовых операций организаций. Представленная работа состоит из введения, трех глав, заключения. В процессе исследования рассматривались теоретические основы банковского и коммерческого учета наличных и безналичных расчетов, а также организации бухгалтерского учета денежных средств на примере ЧФ "ЛИГА".The object of the study is the Black Sea Fleet "LIGA". The purpose of this work is to study the specifics of commercial and banking accounting of non-cash payments and cash transactions of organizations. The presented work consists of an introduction, three chapters, a conclusion. In the process of research, the theoretical foundations of banking and commercial accounting of cash and non-cash payments, as well as the organization of the bookkeeping of funds by the example of the Black Sea Fleet "LIGA" were considered