Expression Profiles and DNA-Binding Affinity of Five ERF Genes in Bunches of Vitis vinifera cv. Cardinal Treated with High Levels of CO2 at Low Temperature

Ethylene response factors (ERFs) play an important role in plants by regulating defense response through interaction with various stress pathways. After harvest, table grapes (Vitis vinifera L.) are subject to a range of problems associated with postharvest storage at 0°C, such as fungal attack, water loss and rachis browning. The application of a 3-day high CO2 treatment maintained fruit quality and activated the induction of transcription factors belonging to different families such as ERF. In this paper, we have isolated five VviERFs from table grapes cv. Cardinal, whose deduced amino acid sequence contained the conserved apetalous (AP2)/ERF domain. The phylogeny and putative conserved motifs in VviERFs were analyzed and compared with those previously reported in Vitis. VviERFs-c gene expression was studied by quantitative real-time RT-PCR in the different tissues of bunches stored at low temperature and treated with high levels of CO2. The results showed that in most of the tissues analyzed, VviERFs-c gene expression was induced by the storage under normal atmosphere although the application of high levels of CO2 caused a greater increase in the VviERFs-c transcript accumulation. The promoter regions of two PRs (pathogenesis related proteins), Vcchit1b and Vcgns1, were obtained and the in silico analysis revealed the presence of a cis-acting ethylene response element (GCC box). In addition, expression of these two PR genes was analyzed in the pulp and rachis of CO2-treated and non-treated table grapes stored at 0°C and results showed significant correlations with VviERF2-c and VviERF6L7-c gene expression in rachis, and between VviERF11-c and Vcchit1b in pulp. Finally by using electro mobility shift assays, we denoted differences in binding of VviERFs to the GCC sequences present in the promoters of both PRs, with VviERF6L7-c being the only member which did not bind to any tested probe. Overall, our results suggest that the beneficial effect of high CO2 treatment maintaining table grape quality seems to be mediated by the regulation of ERFs and in particular VviERF2-c might play an important role by modulating the expression of PR genes.This work was supported by the European Union under the 7th Framework Programme FP7-PEOPLE-2012-CIG no. 321694 and by CICYT projects AGL2011-26742 and AGL2014-53081-R. IR and MV-H were supported by a postdoctoral Juan de la Cierva contract from the MICINN and a predoctoral contract from the MEC, respectively.USD 2,116.5 APC fee funded by the EC FP7 Post-Grant Open Access PilotPeer reviewe

Radionuclide Determination In Surface Water Samples By Inductively Coupled Plasma With Sector Field Mass Spectrometry (ICP-SFMS)

The determination of naturally occurring radionuclides in the environment by inductively coupled plasma mass spectrometry of high resolution (ICP-SFMS) has gained recognition over the last fifteen years, relative to the radiometric techniques, as the result of improvement in instrumental performance, sample introduction equipment and sample preparation. With the increase in instrumental sensitivity, it is now possible to measure ultratrace levels of many radioisotopes.The aim of this work was to determined the natural radionuclides (232Th, 234U, 235U and 238U) in surface water using Inductively Coupled Plasma-Sector Field Mass Spectrometry (ICP-SFMS). The samples were sampling from Lerma river, State of Mexico at february to april 2015. The process of treatment of sample consisted in perform an acid digestion according to the 3015A USEPA method followed of the direct measurement in ICP-SFMS. Results obtained were: a) identify the presence of 232Th, 234U, 235U and 238U isotopes in water, b) isotopic ratios were for 234U/238U=1.133 ± 0.016. ICP-SFMS has gained popularity in the field of radiochemistry, particularly as a method of detection for long lived-actinides

Trade-off asymmetric profile for extended-depth-of-focus ocular lens

We explore the possibility of extending the depth of focus of an imaging lens with anasymmetric quartic phase-mask, while keeping the aberration within a relatively low level. Thiscan be intended, for instance, for ophthalmic applications, where no further digital processingcan take place, relying instead on the patient’s neural adaptation to their own aberrations. Wepropose a computational optimization method to derive the design-strength factor of the asymmetricprofile. The numerical and experimental results are shown. The optical experiment was conductedby means of a modulo-2pphase-only spatial light modulator. The proposed combination of theasymmetric mask and the lens can be implemented in a single refractive element. An exemplarycase of an extended-depth-of focus intraocular lens based on the proposed element is described anddemonstrated with a numerical experiment.Funding for this project was provided by the following: Agencia Estatal de Investigación (Spanish government) and European social fund, (PID2020-114582RB-I00/AEI/10.13039/501100011033); Centre de Cooperació i Desenvolupament, Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya-BarcelonaTech (Spain), Project B004-2019; Ministerio de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (Colombia), Project 124489786239 (Contract 763-2021).Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

High bubble concentrations produced by ultrasounds in binary mixtures

7th Meeting of the European‐Society‐of‐Sonochemistry, BIARRITZ GUETHARY, FRANCE, MAY 14‐18, 2000International audienceIt was discovered that simultaneous insonification and air blowing of different aqueous binary solutions such as water/sodium‐dodecyl‐sulphate (SDS), water/methanol or water/potassium‐sulphate yields a very concentrated bubble cloud invading the whole vessel in a few seconds. After the end of insonification, this cloudiness remained in the solution for about 1 min. The phenomenon was investigated by computer‐treatment of solution pictures recorded every second after the end of insonification. Turbidity appeared to increase with ultrasound power, and also with SDS concentration. During the disappearance of the cloud, a turbidity front appeared rising and spreading upward. This front was studied in the characteristic plane and interpreted as a spatial segregation of different bubble sizes rising with different terminal velocities. The bubble sizes involved were estimated to about 10 mum. Adsorption of surface active species are invoked to explain the cloud formation and its abnormally slow disappearance, but the occurrence of the phenomenon for potassium‐sulphate salt remains unexplained

Source identification for mobile devices, based on wavelet transforms combined with sensor imperfections

One of the most relevant applications of digital image forensics is to accurately identify the device used for taking a given set of images, a problem called source identification. This paper studies recent developments in the field and proposes the mixture of two techniques (Sensor Imperfections and Wavelet Transforms) to get better source identification of images generated with mobile devices. Our results show that Sensor Imperfections and Wavelet Transforms can jointly serve as good forensic features to help trace the source camera of images produced by mobile phones. Furthermore, the model proposed here can also determine with high precision both the brand and model of the device

Detection and removal of dust artifacts in retinal images via sparse-based inpainting

Dust particle artifacts are present in all imaging modalities but have more adverse consequences in medical images like retinal images. They could be mistaken as small lesions, such as microaneurysms. We propose a method for detecting and accurately segmenting dust artifacts in retinal images based on multi-scale template-matching on several input images and an iterative segmentation via an inpainting approach. The inpainting is done through dictionary learning and sparse-based representation. The artifact segmentation is refined by comparing the original image to the initial restoration. On average, 90% of the dust artifacts were detected in the test images, with state-of-theart restoration results. All detected artifacts were accurately segmented and removed. Even the most challenging artifacts located on top of blood vessels were removed. Thus, ensuring the continuity of the retinal structures. The proposed method successfully detects and removes dust artifacts in retinal images, which could be used to avoid false-positive lesion detections or as an image quality criterion. An implementation of the proposed algorithm can be accessed and executed through a Code Ocean compute capsule.The authors acknowledge the financial support from the Centre de Cooperació i Desenvolupament (CCD) at the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya under project ref. CCD 2019-B004, and from the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar. Authors are grateful to Juan Luís Fuentes from the Miguel Servet University Hospital (Zaragoza, Spain) for providing the real images from clinical practice. E. Barrios thanks Minciencias and Sistema General de Regalías (Programa de Becas de Excelencia) for a PhD scholarship. E. Sierra thanks the Universidad Tecnológica de Bolívar for a post-graduate scholarship. Parts of this work were presented at the Pattern Recognition and Tracking XXX - SPIE DCS, 2019 [39]. L. Romero, A. Marrugo, and M.S. Millán thank the funds provided by the Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación under the project reference PID2020-114582RB-I00.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Crystal structure of SmeT bound to the biocide triclosan

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An efficient triose phosphate synthesis and distribution in wheat provides tolerance to higher field temperature

High temperatures in the field hinder bread wheat high yield production, mainly because of the adverse effects of heat over photosynthesis. The Yaqui Valley, the main wheat producer region in Mexico, is a zone prone to have temperatures over 30 °C. The aim of this work was to test the flag leaf photosynthetic performance in ten bread wheat genotypes grown under high temperatures in the field. The study took place during two seasons (2019-2020 and 2020-2021). In each season, control seeds were sown in December, while heat-stressed were sown in late January to subject wheat to heat stress (HS) during the grain filling stage. HS reduced Grain yield from 20 to 58 % in the first season. HS did not reduce chlorophyll content and light-dependent reactions were unaffected in any of the tested genotypes. Rubisco, chloroplast fructose 1,6-biphosphatase (FBPase), and sucrose phosphate synthase (SPS) activities were measured spectrophotometrically. Rubisco activity did not decrease under HS in any of the genotypes. FBPase activity was reduced by HS indicating that triose phosphate flux to starch synthesis was reduced, while SPS was not affected, and thus, sucrose synthesis was maintained. HS reduced aerial biomass in the ten chosen genotypes. Genotypes SOKWB.1, SOKWB.3, and BORLAUG100 maintained their yield under HS, pointing to a potential success in their introduction in this region for breeding heat-tolerant bread wheat

Linescan Camera System for 100% Moisture Measurement

Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory (LLNL), in collaboration with ABB Industrial Systems, and under the sponsorship of the Department of Energy's (DOE) Office of Industrial Technologies (OIT), has developed a new method for measuring the moisture content of a paper web process on-line with 100% coverage of the sheet. The method uses InGaAs linear arrays with associated optics and electronics to continuously image the full width of the web and measure transmitted light at 1.45{micro} and another suitable reference wavelength between 1{micro} and 1.6{micro}. The method could also be used to measure paper basis weight, in addition to moisture, by adding additional hardware and optics to measure a third wavelength at 1.57{micro}. A patent (USP: 6355931), entitled ''System and method for 100% moisture and basis weight measurement of moving paper'', was granted by the US Patent Office on March 12, 2002 for this invention. A proof-of-concept prototype system was also developed and tested on several occasions at ABB's sensors development facility in Columbus, Ohio. Based on current experimental results, the system seems particularly suitable for detecting moisture variation on a paper web for medium and heavy weight products at the dry end as well as the press section of the machine. The prototype system was scheduled to be tested at a paper mill in the fall of 2001. The test had to be canceled as ABB was unable to provide the required field support for the test due to restructuring and down-sizing of their R&D organization