Influence of atmospheric vapour pressure deficit on ozone responses of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) genotypes

Environmental conditions influence plant responses to ozone (O3), but few studies have evaluated individual factors directly. In this study, the effect of O3 at high and low atmospheric vapour pressure deficit (VPD) was evaluated in two genotypes of snap bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) (R123 and S156) used as O3 bioindicator plants. Plants were grown in outdoor controlled-environment chambers in charcoal-filtered air containing 0 or 60 nl l−1 O3 (12 h average) at two VPDs (1.26 and 1.96 kPa) and sampled for biomass, leaf area, daily water loss, and seed yield. VPD clearly influenced O3 effects. At low VPD, O3 reduced biomass, leaf area, and seed yield substantially in both genotypes, while at high VPD, O3 had no significant effect on these components. In clean air, high VPD reduced biomass and yield by similar fractions in both genotypes compared with low VPD. Data suggest that a stomatal response to VPD per se may be lacking in both genotypes and it is hypothesized that the high VPD resulted in unsustainable transpiration and water deficits that resulted in reduced growth and yield. High VPD- and water-stress-induced stomatal responses may have reduced the O3 flux into the leaves, which contributed to a higher yield compared to the low VPD treatment in both genotypes. At low VPD, transpiration increased in the O3 treatment relative to the clean air treatment, suggesting that whole-plant conductance was increased by O3 exposure. Ozone-related biomass reductions at low VPD were proportionally higher in S156 than in R123, indicating that differential O3 sensitivity of these bioindicator plants remained evident when environmental conditions were conducive for O3 effects. Assessments of potential O3 impacts on vegetation should incorporate interacting factors such as VPD

Astrophysical structures from primordial quantum black holes

The characteristic sizes of astrophysical structures, up to the whole observed Universe, can be recovered, in principle, assuming that gravity is the overall interaction assembling systems starting from microscopic scales, whose order of magnitude is ruled by the Planck length and the related Compton wavelength. This result agrees with the absence of screening mechanisms for the gravitational interaction and could be connected to the presence of Yukawa corrections in the Newtonian potential which introduce typical interaction lengths. This result directly comes out from quantization of primordial black holes and then characteristic interaction lengths directly emerge from quantum field theory.Comment: 11 page

Distinct Peripheral Blood RNA Responses to Salmonella in Pigs Differing in Salmonella Shedding Levels: Intersection of IFNG, TLR and miRNA Pathways

Transcriptomic analysis of the response to bacterial pathogens has been reported for several species, yet few studies have investigated the transcriptional differences in whole blood in subjects that differ in their disease response phenotypes. Salmonella species infect many vertebrate species, and pigs colonized with Salmonella enterica serovar Typhimurium (ST) are usually asymptomatic, making detection of these Salmonella-carrier pigs difficult. The variable fecal shedding of Salmonella is an important cause of foodborne illness and zoonotic disease. To investigate gene pathways and biomarkers associated with the variance in Salmonella shedding following experimental inoculation, we initiated the first analysis of the whole blood transcriptional response induced by Salmonella. A population of pigs (n = 40) was inoculated with ST and peripheral blood and fecal Salmonella counts were collected between 2 and 20 days post-inoculation (dpi). Two groups of pigs with either low shedding (LS) or persistent shedding (PS) phenotypes were identified. Global transcriptional changes in response to ST inoculation were identified by Affymetrix Genechip® analysis of peripheral blood RNA at day 0 and 2 dpi. ST inoculation triggered substantial gene expression changes in the pigs and there was differential expression of many genes between LS and PS pigs. Analysis of the differential profiles of gene expression within and between PS and LS phenotypic classes identified distinct regulatory pathways mediated by IFN-γ, TNF, NF-κB, or one of several miRNAs. We confirmed the activation of two regulatory factors, SPI1 and CEBPB, and demonstrated that expression of miR-155 was decreased specifically in the PS animals. These data provide insight into specific pathways associated with extremes in Salmonella fecal shedding that can be targeted for further exploration on why some animals develop a carrier state. This knowledge can also be used to develop rational manipulations of genetics, pharmaceuticals, nutrition or husbandry methods to decrease Salmonella colonization, shedding and spread

Soil Microbial Responses to Elevated CO2 and O3 in a Nitrogen-Aggrading Agroecosystem

Climate change factors such as elevated atmospheric carbon dioxide (CO2) and ozone (O3) can exert significant impacts on soil microbes and the ecosystem level processes they mediate. However, the underlying mechanisms by which soil microbes respond to these environmental changes remain poorly understood. The prevailing hypothesis, which states that CO2- or O3-induced changes in carbon (C) availability dominate microbial responses, is primarily based on results from nitrogen (N)-limiting forests and grasslands. It remains largely unexplored how soil microbes respond to elevated CO2 and O3 in N-rich or N-aggrading systems, which severely hinders our ability to predict the long-term soil C dynamics in agroecosystems. Using a long-term field study conducted in a no-till wheat-soybean rotation system with open-top chambers, we showed that elevated CO2 but not O3 had a potent influence on soil microbes. Elevated CO2 (1.5×ambient) significantly increased, while O3 (1.4×ambient) reduced, aboveground (and presumably belowground) plant residue C and N inputs to soil. However, only elevated CO2 significantly affected soil microbial biomass, activities (namely heterotrophic respiration) and community composition. The enhancement of microbial biomass and activities by elevated CO2 largely occurred in the third and fourth years of the experiment and coincided with increased soil N availability, likely due to CO2-stimulation of symbiotic N2 fixation in soybean. Fungal biomass and the fungi∶bacteria ratio decreased under both ambient and elevated CO2 by the third year and also coincided with increased soil N availability; but they were significantly higher under elevated than ambient CO2. These results suggest that more attention should be directed towards assessing the impact of N availability on microbial activities and decomposition in projections of soil organic C balance in N-rich systems under future CO2 scenarios

Endocrinologic, neurologic, and visual morbidity after treatment for craniopharyngioma

Craniopharyngiomas are locally aggressive tumors which typically are focused in the sellar and suprasellar region near a number of critical neural and vascular structures mediating endocrinologic, behavioral, and visual functions. The present study aims to summarize and compare the published literature regarding morbidity resulting from treatment of craniopharyngioma. We performed a comprehensive search of the published English language literature to identify studies publishing outcome data of patients undergoing surgery for craniopharyngioma. Comparisons of the rates of endocrine, vascular, neurological, and visual complications were performed using Pearson’s chi-squared test, and covariates of interest were fitted into a multivariate logistic regression model. In our data set, 540 patients underwent surgical resection of their tumor. 138 patients received biopsy alone followed by some form of radiotherapy. Mean overall follow-up for all patients in these studies was 54 ± 1.8 months. The overall rate of new endocrinopathy for all patients undergoing surgical resection of their mass was 37% (95% CI = 33–41). Patients receiving GTR had over 2.5 times the rate of developing at least one endocrinopathy compared to patients receiving STR alone or STR + XRT (52 vs. 19 vs. 20%, χ2P < 0.00001). On multivariate analysis, GTR conferred a significant increase in the risk of endocrinopathy compared to STR + XRT (OR = 3.45, 95% CI = 2.05–5.81, P < 0.00001), after controlling for study size and the presence of significant hypothalamic involvement. There was a statistical trend towards worse visual outcomes in patients receiving XRT after STR compared to GTR or STR alone (GTR = 3.5% vs. STR 2.1% vs. STR + XRT 6.4%, P = 0.11). Given the difficulty in obtaining class 1 data regarding the treatment of this tumor, this study can serve as an estimate of expected outcomes for these patients, and guide decision making until these data are available

Oxidation of Alcohols and Activated Alkanes with Lewis Acid-Activated TEMPO

The reactivity of MCl3(η(1)-TEMPO) (M = Fe, 1; Al, 2; TEMPO = 2,2,6,6-tetramethylpiperidine-N-oxyl) with a variety of alcohols, including 3,4-dimethoxybenzyl alcohol, 1-phenyl-2-phenoxyethanol, and 1,2-diphenyl-2-methoxyethanol, was investigated using NMR spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Complex 1 was effective in cleanly converting these substrates to the corresponding aldehyde or ketone. Complex 2 was also able to oxidize these substrates; however, in a few instances the products of overoxidation were also observed. Oxidation of activated alkanes, such as xanthene, by 1 or 2 suggests that the reactions proceed via an initial 1-electron concerted proton-electron transfer (CPET) event. Finally, reaction of TEMPO with FeBr3 in Et2O results in the formation of a mixture of FeBr3(η(1)-TEMPOH) (23) and [FeBr2(η(1)-TEMPOH)]2(μ-O) (24), via oxidation of the solvent, Et2O

Perchlorate content of plant foliage reflects a wide range of species dependent accumulation but not ozone-induced biosynthesis

Perchlorate (ClO4-) interferes with uptake of iodide in humans. Emission inventories do not explain observed distributions. Ozone (O3) is implicated in the natural origin of ClO4-, and has increased since preindustrial times. O3 produces ClO4 - in vitro from Cl -, and plant tissues contain Cl- and redox reactions.We hypothesize that O3 exposure may induce plant synthesis of ClO4-.We exposed contrasting crop species to environmentally relevant O3 concentrations. In the absence of O3 exposure, species exhibited a large range of ClO4- accumulation but there was no relationship between leaf ClO4- and O3, whether expressed as exposure or cumulative flux (dose). Older, senescing leaves accumulated more ClO4- than younger leaves. O3 exposed vegetation is not a source of environmental ClO4 -. There was evidence of enhanced ClO4 - content in the soil surface at the highest O3 exposure, which could be a significant contributor to environmental ClO4-