Substrate integrated waveguide (SIW) bandpass filter with novel microstrip-CPW-SIW input coupling

A Substrate integrated waveguide bandpass filter is presented with a novel CPW-to-SIW transition at both the input and output ports which also served as the input and output couplings into the filter. The CPW-to-SIW transition structures presented here exploited the step impedance between the 50 ohms input/output feedline and the transition to control the input/output couplings of the filter. The SIW filter is also shown to have very minimum milling or etching requirement which reduces the fabrication error. The proposed SIW filter has been validated experimentally and results presented. The results show that a simulated return loss of 15 dB and an initial measured return loss of 16 dB were achieved. An improved measured return loss of 22 dB was later achieved after some tuining adjustments were performed on the filter input and output couplings. A minimum insertion loss of 1.3 dB was also achieved across the band

The nuclear immune receptor RPS4 is required for RRS1SLH1-dependent constitutive defense activation in Arabidopsis thaliana

Plant nucleotide-binding leucine-rich repeat (NB-LRR) disease resistance (R) proteins recognize specific ‘‘avirulent’’ pathogen effectors and activate immune responses. NB-LRR proteins structurally and functionally resemble mammalian Nod-like receptors (NLRs). How NB-LRR and NLR proteins activate defense is poorly understood. The divergently transcribed Arabidopsis R genes, RPS4 (resistance to Pseudomonas syringae 4) and RRS1 (resistance to Ralstonia solanacearum 1), function together to confer recognition of Pseudomonas AvrRps4 and Ralstonia PopP2. RRS1 is the only known recessive NBLRR R gene and encodes a WRKY DNA binding domain, prompting suggestions that it acts downstream of RPS4 for transcriptional activation of defense genes. We define here the early RRS1-dependent transcriptional changes upon delivery of PopP2 via Pseudomonas type III secretion. The Arabidopsis slh1 (sensitive to low humidity 1) mutant encodes an RRS1 allele (RRS1SLH1) with a single amino acid (leucine) insertion in the WRKY DNA-binding domain. Its poor growth due to constitutive defense activation is rescued at higher temperature. Transcription profiling data indicate that RRS1SLH1-mediated defense activation overlaps substantially with AvrRps4- and PopP2-regulated responses. To better understand the genetic basis of RPS4/RRS1-dependent immunity, we performed a genetic screen to identify suppressor of slh1 immunity (sushi) mutants. We show that many sushi mutants carry mutations in RPS4, suggesting that RPS4 acts downstream or in a complex with RRS1. Interestingly, several mutations were identified in a domain C-terminal to the RPS4 LRR domain. Using an Agrobacterium-mediated transient assay system, we demonstrate that the P-loop motif of RPS4 but not of RRS1SLH1 is required for RRS1SLH1 function. We also recapitulate the dominant suppression of RRS1SLH1 defense activation by wild type RRS1 and show this suppression requires an intact RRS1 P-loop. These analyses of RRS1SLH1 shed new light on mechanisms by which NB-LRR protein pairs activate defense signaling, or are held inactive in the absence of a pathogen effector

Transcriptional Responses of Arabidopsis thaliana during Wilt Disease Caused by the Soil-Borne Phytopathogenic Bacterium, Ralstonia solanacearum

Bacterial wilt is a common disease that causes severe yield and quality losses in many plants. In the present study, we used the model Ralstonia solanacearum-Arabidopsis thaliana pathosystem to study transcriptional changes associated with wilt disease development. Susceptible Col-5 plants and RRS1-R-containing resistant Nd-1 plants were root-inoculated with R. solanacearum strains harbouring or lacking the matching PopP2 avirulence gene. Gene expression was marginally affected in leaves during the early stages of infection. Major changes in transcript levels took place between 4 and 5 days after pathogen inoculation, at the onset of appearance of wilt symptoms. Up-regulated genes in diseased plants included ABA-, senescence- and basal resistance-associated genes. The influence of the plant genetic background on disease-associated gene expression is weak although some genes appeared to be specifically up-regulated in Nd-1 plants. Inactivation of some disease-associated genes led to alterations in the plant responses to a virulent strain of the pathogen. In contrast to other pathosystems, very little overlap in gene expression was detected between the early phases of the resistance response and the late stages of disease development. This observation may be explained by the fact that above-ground tissues were sampled for profiling whereas the bacteria were applied to root tissues

The Difference of Grammatical Error in Writing Recount Text Between Natural Science and Social Science Students

This study concerned on the difference of grammatical error in writing recount text between natural science and social science students. The objective of this study was to find out the difference of grammatical error in writing recount text between natural science and social science students. This research was conducted by using causal- comparative research. The subject of the study was the students of XI-IPA1 and XI- IPS1 of SMA Swasta Methodist Berastagi. The number of the samples was twenty eight. The techniques for data analysis were quantitative data. The t-result was 2,60 (bigger than t table 1,706). The conclusion is that there is a significant difference of grammatical error in writing recount text between natural science and social science students

A construção dos prontuários como expressão da prática dos profissionais de saúde

O artigo aborda a temática da construção dos prontuários a partir de análise documental no sentido de entender as práticas dos profissionais de saúde que integram equipes de pré-natal de adolescentes em dois ambulatórios da rede pública de atenção básica de saúde estadual e municipal. Partindo da definição contemporânea de prontuário, que entende que, para além da missão de ser um instrumento jurídico de registro de propriedade do paciente, ele também atua como mediador da comunicação intraequipe de saúde e da comunicação dessa equipe com o usuário, fazemos um resgate histórico e crítico, baseado na análise de Michel Foucault sobre a origem do registro como tecnologia disciplinar que caracterizou o nascimento da instituição hospitalar e da clínica moderna. Identificamos que o aspecto comunicativo, segundo conceito do 'agir comunicativo' de Jürgen Habermas, vem sendo negligenciado pelas equipes pesquisadas, fruto de uma visão profissional focada no 'sigilo' e no individual em detrimento da construção de saberes coletivos.The focus of the paper is the construction of medical records by health professionals in two public health assistance services for pregnant teenagers. The medical record, beyond its judicial character, must be understood nowadays as a tool for promoting communication between the staff members, as well as between staff and patients, an instrument that mediates communication actions. Based on Michel Foucault's historical approach to registration as part of a disciplinary technology that emerges together with the modern hospital and clinical view, it was identified that health professionals neglect the communicative aspect, according to the concept of 'communicative acting' developed by Jürgen Habermas, of the registration action, and show a conception of clinical procedures based on 'secrecy' rather than a social construction of new knowledge

An initial event in insect innate immune response: structural and biological studies of interactions between β-1,3-glucan and the N-terminal domain of β-1,3-glucan recognition protein

In response to invading microorganisms, insect β-1,3-glucan recognition protein (βGRP), a soluble receptor in the hemolymph, binds to the surfaces of bacteria and fungi and activates serine protease cascades that promote destruction of pathogens by means of melanization or expression of antimicrobial peptides. Here we report on the NMR solution structure of the N-terminal domain of βGRP (N-βGRP) from Indian meal moth (Plodia interpunctella), which is sufficient to activate the prophenoloxidase (proPO) pathway resulting in melanin formation. NMR and isothermal calorimetric titrations of N-βGRP with laminarihexaose, a glucose hexamer containing β-1,3 links, suggest a weak binding of the ligand. However, addition of laminarin, a glucose polysaccharide (~ 6 kDa) containing β-1,3 and β-1,6 links that activates the proPO pathway, to N-βGRP results in the loss of NMR cross-peaks from the backbone 15N-1H groups of the protein, suggesting the formation of a large complex. Analytical ultra centrifugation (AUC) studies of formation of N-βGRP:laminarin complex show that ligand-binding induces sel-fassociation of the protein:carbohydrate complex into a macro structure, likely containing six protein and three laminarin molecules (~ 102 kDa). The macro complex is quite stable, as it does not undergo dissociation upon dilution to sub-micromolar concentrations. The structural model thus derived from the present studies for N-βGRP:laminarin complex in solution differs from the one in which a single N-βGRP molecule has been proposed to bind to a triple helical form of laminarin on the basis of an X-ray crystallographic structure of N-βGRP:laminarihexaose complex [Kanagawa, M., Satoh, T., Ikeda, A., Adachi, Y., Ohno, N., and Yamaguchi, Y. (2011) J. Biol. Chem. 286, 29158-29165]. AUC studies and phenoloxidase activation measurements carried out with the designed mutants of N-βGRP indicate that electrostatic interactions involving Asp45, Arg54, and Asp68 between the ligand-bound protein molecules contribute in part to the stability of N-βGRP:laminarin macro complex and that a decreased stability is accompanied by a reduced activation of the proPO pathway. Increased β-1,6 branching in laminarin also results in destabilization of the macro complex. These novel findings suggest that ligand-induced self-association of βGRP:β-1,3-glucan complex may form a platform on a microbial surface for recruitment of downstream proteases, as a means of amplification of the initial signal of pathogen recognition for the activation of the proPO pathway

Autoacetylation of the Ralstonia solanacearum Effector PopP2 Targets a Lysine Residue Essential for RRS1-R-Mediated Immunity in Arabidopsis

Type III effector proteins from bacterial pathogens manipulate components of host immunity to suppress defence responses and promote pathogen development. In plants, host proteins targeted by some effectors called avirulence proteins are surveyed by plant disease resistance proteins referred to as “guards”. The Ralstonia solanacearum effector protein PopP2 triggers immunity in Arabidopsis following its perception by the RRS1-R resistance protein. Here, we show that PopP2 interacts with RRS1-R in the nucleus of living plant cells. PopP2 belongs to the YopJ-like family of cysteine proteases, which share a conserved catalytic triad that includes a highly conserved cysteine residue. The catalytic cysteine mutant PopP2-C321A is impaired in its avirulence activity although it is still able to interact with RRS1-R. In addition, PopP2 prevents proteasomal degradation of RRS1-R, independent of the presence of an integral PopP2 catalytic core. A liquid chromatography/tandem mass spectrometry analysis showed that PopP2 displays acetyl-transferase activity leading to its autoacetylation on a particular lysine residue, which is well conserved among all members of the YopJ family. These data suggest that this lysine residue may correspond to a key binding site for acetyl-coenzyme A required for protein activity. Indeed, mutation of this lysine in PopP2 abolishes RRS1-R-mediated immunity. In agreement with the guard hypothesis, our results favour the idea that activation of the plant immune response by RRS1-R depends not only on the physical interaction between the two proteins but also on its perception of PopP2 enzymatic activity