Expression of the legume symbiotic lectin genes psl and gs52 promotes rhizobial colonization of roots in rice

Transgenic rice (Oryza sativa L. cv. Murasaki) carrying genes encoding pea (Pisum sativum) lectin (PSL) or wild-soybean (Glycine soja) lectin-nucleotide phosphohydrolase (GS52) were inoculated with Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae or Bradyrhizobium japonicum USDA110, respectively, as well as with Rhizobium sp. NGR234, and root colonization was assessed in comparison to comparably inoculated control plants. The data showed that expression of PSL and GS52 significantly promoted rhizobial colonization of root epidermal cells including root hairs in rice. In addition, in the case of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae and B. japonicum USDA110 colonization of the psl and gs52 transgenic rice plants, respectively, the bacterial cells were found to preferentially home towards and aggregate maximally at the root hair tip regions rather than on the root hair "stalks". The above data suggest that the lectins PSL and GS52, which participate in rhizobial recognition by root epidermal cells in pea and soybean, respectively, are also able to facilitate rhizobial attachment and colonization of the epidermal cells in rice roots. Moreover, aggregation of R. leguminosarum bv. viciae and B. japonicum USDA110 cells preferentially at root hair tip regions suggest that similar to legumes, the PSL and GS52 lectins are targeted to the root hair tips in transgenic rice, enabling higher bacterial attachment/colonization at the tip region. Rhizobial colonization at root hair tips in the psl and gs52 rice plants frequently led to the localized dissolution of the cell wall creating perforations at the tip region. It is likely that the presence of lectins, such as PSL and GS52 leads to structural modifications in cell wall organization of the root hair/epidermal cells, making them prone to localized dissolution by the hydrolytic activity of compatible rhizobia to permit invasion of the root cells. © 2005 Elsevier Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved

Large spin expansion of the long-range Baxter equation in the sl(2) sector of N=4 SYM

Recently, several multi-loop conjectures have been proposed for the spin dependence of anomalous dimensions of twist-2 and 3 operators in the sl(2) sector of N=4 SYM. Currently, these conjectures are not proven, although several consistency checks have been performed on their large spin expansion. In this paper, we show how these expansions can be efficiently computed without resorting to any conjecture. To this aim we present in full details a method to expand at large spin the solution of the long-range Baxter equation. We treat the twist-2 and 3 cases at two loops and the twist-3 case at three loops. Several subtleties arise whose resolution leads to a simple algorithm computing the expansion.Comment: 26 page

A rotating three component perfect fluid source and its junction with empty space-time

The Kerr solution for empty space-time is presented in an ellipsoidally symmetric coordinate system and it is used to produce generalised ellipsoidal metrics appropriate for the generation of rotating interior solutions of Einstein's equations. It is shown that these solutions are the familiar static perfect fluid cases commonly derived in curvature coordinates but now endowed with rotation. The resulting solutions are also discussed in the context of T-solutions of Einstein's equations and the vacuum T-solution outside a rotating source is presented. The interior source for these solutions is shown not to be a perfect fluid but rather an anisotropic three component perfect fluid for which the energy momentum tensor is derived. The Schwarzschild interior solution is given as an example of the approach.Comment: 14 page

Randomised clinical non-inferiority trial of breathing-based meditation and cognitive processing therapy for symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder in military veterans

Objective Test whether Sudarshan Kriya Yoga (SKY) was non-inferior to cognitive processing therapy (CPT) for treating symptoms of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) among veterans via a parallel randomised controlled non-inferiority trial. Setting Outpatient Veterans Affairs healthcare centre. Participants 85 veterans (75 men, 61% white, mean age 56.9) with symptoms of PTSD participated between October 2015 and March 2020: 59 participants completed the study. Interventions SKY emphasises breathing routines and was delivered in group format in a 15-hour workshop followed by two 1-hour sessions per week for 5 weeks. CPT is an individual psychotherapy which emphasises shifting cognitive appraisals and was delivered in two 1-hour sessions per week for 6 weeks. Measures The primary outcome measure was the PTSD Checklist-Civilian Version (PCL-C). The secondary measures were the Beck Depression Inventory-II (BDI-II) and Positive and Negative Affect Scale (PANAS). Results Mean PCL-C at baseline was 56.5 (±12.6). Intent-to-treat analyses showed that PCL-C scores were reduced at 6 weeks (end of treatment) relative to baseline (SKY, −5.6, d=0.41, n=41: CPT, −6.8, d=0.58, n=44). The between-treatment difference in change scores was within the non-inferiority margin of 10 points (−1.2, 95% CI −5.7 to 3.3), suggesting SKY was not inferior to CPT. SKY was also non-inferior at 1-month (CPT–SKY: −2.1, 95% CI −6.9 to 2.8) and 1-year (CPT–SKY: −1.8, 95% CI −6.6 to 2.9) assessments. SKY was also non-inferior to CPT on the BDI-II and PANAS at end of treatment and 1 month, but SKY was inferior to CPT on both BDI-II and PANAS at 1 year. Dropout rates were similar (SKY, 27%, CPT, 34%: OR=1.36, 95% CI 0.51 to 3.62, p=0.54). Conclusions SKY may be non-inferior to CPT for treating symptoms of PTSD and merits further consideration as a treatment for PTSD

Effect of Phosphorus and Strontium Additions on Formation Temperature and Nucleation Density of Primary Silicon in Al-19 Wt Pct Si Alloy and Their Effect on Eutectic Temperature

The influence of P and Sr additions on the formation temperature and nucleation density of primary silicon in Al-19 wt pct Si alloy has been determined, for small volumes of melt solidified at cooling rates _T of ~0.3 and 1 K/s. The proportion of ingot featuring primary silicon decreased progressively with increased Sr addition, which also markedly reduced the temperature for first formation of primary silicon and the number of primary silicon particles per unit volume �Nv: When combined with previously published results, the effects of amount of P addition and cooling rate on �Nv are in reasonable accord with �Nv� _T ¼ ðp=6fÞ1=2 109 [250 � 215 (wt pct P)0.17]�3, where �Nv is in mm�3, _T is in K/s, and f is volume fraction of primary silicon. Increased P addition reduces the eutectic temperature, while increased Sr appears to generate a minimum in eutectic temperature at about 100 ppmw Sr

Journalism, journalism education and a region's integration: The case of Southeast Asia

The 50-year-old Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is now in its third year implementing the mechanics of regional integration. How does this region-wide development affect journalism in individual countries and in the region? This qualitative research sought to find out the meaning and implications of regional integration to journalism practice and education in Southeast Asia. There is enthusiasm over developing a model on ‘ASEAN-centered journalism and journalism education’, however there are country-level realities that news organisations and journalism schools face before proceeding to even attuning reportage and journalism instruction to the needs of ASEAN.Jeremaiah M. Opiniano, Aira L. Bagtas, Karl C. Basco, Raplh J. Hernandez, Elyssa C. Lopez, Michael C. Rodolfo and Anne K. Vich

Methods to Determine Neutrino Flux at Low Energies:Investigation of the Low ν\nu Method

We investigate the "low-$\nu$" method (developed by the CCFR/NUTEV collaborations) to determine the neutrino flux in a wide band neutrino beam at very low energies, a region of interest to neutrino oscillations experiments. Events with low hadronic final state energy $\nu<\nu_{cut}$ (of 1, 2 and 5 GeV) were used by the MINOS collaboration to determine the neutrino flux in their measurements of neutrino ($\nu_\mu$) and antineutrino (\nub_\mu) total cross sections. The lowest $\nu_\mu$ energy for which the method was used in MINOS is 3.5 GeV, and the lowest \nub_\mu energy is 6 GeV. At these energies, the cross sections are dominated by inelastic processes. We investigate the application of the method to determine the neutrino flux for $\nu_\mu$, \nub_\mu energies as low as 0.7 GeV where the cross sections are dominated by quasielastic scattering and $\Delta$(1232) resonance production. We find that the method can be extended to low energies by using $\nu_{cut}$ values of 0.25 and 0.50 GeV, which is feasible in fully active neutrino detectors such as MINERvA.Comment: 25 pages, 32 figures, to be published in European Physics Journal

Finite-Size Corrections to Anomalous Dimensions in N=4 SYM Theory

The scaling dimensions of large operators in N=4 supersymmetric Yang-Mills theory are dual to energies of semiclassical strings in AdS(5)xS(5). At one loop, the dimensions of large operators can be computed with the help of Bethe ansatz and can be directly compared to the string energies. We study finite-size corrections for Bethe states which should describe quantum corrections to energies of extended semiclassical strings.Comment: 10 page

Deviation From \Lambda CDM With Cosmic Strings Networks

In this work, we consider a network of cosmic strings to explain possible deviation from \Lambda CDM behaviour. We use different observational data to constrain the model and show that a small but non zero contribution from the string network is allowed by the observational data which can result in a reasonable departure from \Lambda CDM evolution. But by calculating the Bayesian Evidence, we show that the present data still strongly favour the concordance \Lambda CDM model irrespective of the choice of the prior.Comment: 15 Pages, Latex Style, 4 eps figures, Revised Version, Accepted for publication in European Physical Journal

Confirming the bidirectional nature of the association between severe hypoglycemic and cardiovascular events in type 2 diabetes: Insights from Exscel

OBJECTIVE We sought to confirm a bidirectional association between severe hypoglycemic events (SHEs) and cardiovascular (CV) event risk and to characterize individuals at dual risk. RESEARCH DESIGN AND METHODS In a post hoc analysis of 14,752 Exenatide Study of Cardiovascular Event Lowering (EXSCEL) participants, we examined time-dependent associations between SHEs and subsequent major adverse cardiac events (CV death, nonfatal myocardial infarction [MI] or stroke), fatal/nonfatal MI, fatal/nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome (hACS), hospitalization for heart failure (hHF), and all-cause mortality (ACM), as well as time-dependent associations between nonfatal CV events and subsequent SHEs. RESULTS SHEs were uncommon and not associated with once-weekly exenatide therapy (hazard ratio 1.13 [95% CI 0.94–1.36], P 5 0.179). In fully adjusted models, SHEs were associated with an increased risk of subsequent ACM (1.83 [1.38–2.42], P < 0.001), CV death (1.60 [1.11–2.30], P 5 0.012), and hHF (2.09 [1.37–3.17], P 5 0.001), while nonfatal MI (2.02 [1.35–3.01], P 5 0.001), nonfatal stroke (2.30 [1.25–4.23], P 5 0.007), hACS (2.00 [1.39–2.90], P < 0.001), and hHF (3.24 [1.98–5.30], P < 0.001) were all associated with a subsequent increased risk of SHEs. The elevated bidirectional time-dependent hazards linking SHEs and a composite of all CV events were approximately constant over time, with those individuals at dual risk showing higher comorbidity scores compared with those without. CONCLUSIONS These findings, showing greater risk of SHEs after CV events as well as greater risk of CV events after SHEs, validate a bidirectional relationship between CV events and SHEs in patients with high comorbidity scores