β-N-methylamino-L-alanine Enhances Neurotoxicity Through Multiple Mechanisms

The idea that the environmental toxin β-N-methylamino-l-alanine (BMAA) is involved in neurodegenerative diseases on Guam has risen and fallen over the years. The theory has gained greater interest with recent reports that BMAA is biomagnified, is widely distributed around the planet, and is present in the brains of Alzheimer\u27s patients in Canada. We provide two important new findings. First, we show that BMAA at concentrations as low as 10 μM can potentiate neuronal injury induced by other insults. This is the first evidence that BMAA at concentrations below the mM range can enhance death of cortical neurons and illustrates potential synergistic effects of environmental toxins with underlying neurological conditions. Second, we show that the mechanism of BMAA toxicity is threefold: it is an agonist for NMDA and mGluR5 receptors, and induces oxidative stress. The results provide further support for the hypothesis that BMAA plays a role in neurodegenerative diseases

Analysis of movement quality in full-body physical activities

Full-body human movement is characterized by fine-grain expressive qualities that humans are easily capable of exhibiting and recognizing in others' movement. In sports (e.g., martial arts) and performing arts (e.g., dance), the same sequence of movements can be performed in a wide range of ways characterized by different qualities, often in terms of subtle (spatial and temporal) perturbations of the movement. Even a non-expert observer can distinguish between a top-level and average performance by a dancer or martial artist. The difference is not in the performed movements-the same in both cases-but in the \u201cquality\u201d of their performance. In this article, we present a computational framework aimed at an automated approximate measure of movement quality in full-body physical activities. Starting from motion capture data, the framework computes low-level (e.g., a limb velocity) and high-level (e.g., synchronization between different limbs) movement features. Then, this vector of features is integrated to compute a value aimed at providing a quantitative assessment of movement quality approximating the evaluation that an external expert observer would give of the same sequence of movements. Next, a system representing a concrete implementation of the framework is proposed. Karate is adopted as a testbed. We selected two different katas (i.e., detailed choreographies of movements in karate) characterized by different overall attitudes and expressions (aggressiveness, meditation), and we asked seven athletes, having various levels of experience and age, to perform them. Motion capture data were collected from the performances and were analyzed with the system. The results of the automated analysis were compared with the scores given by 14 karate experts who rated the same performances. Results show that the movement-quality scores computed by the system and the ratings given by the human observers are highly correlated (Pearson's correlations r = 0.84, p = 0.001 and r = 0.75, p = 0.005)

Fast electron slowing-down and diffusion in a high temperature coronal X-ray source

Finite thermal velocity modifications to electron slowing-down rates may be important for the deduction of solar flare total electron energy. Here we treat both slowing-down and velocity diffusion of electrons in the corona at flare temperatures, for the case of a simple, spatially homogeneous source. Including velocity diffusion yields a consistent treatment of both "accelerated" and "thermal" electrons. It also emphasises that one may not invoke finite thermal velocity target effects on electron lifetimes without simultaneously treating the contribution to the observed X-ray spectrum from thermal electrons. We present model calculations of the X-ray spectra resulting from injection of a power-law energy distribution of electrons into a source with finite temperature. Reducing the power-law distribution low-energy cutoff to lower and lower energies only increases the relative magnitude of the thermal component of the spectrum, because the lowest energy electrons simply join the background thermal distribution. Acceptable fits to RHESSI flare data are obtained using this model. These also demonstrate, however, that observed spectra may in consequence be acceptably consistent with rather a wide range of injected electron parameters

Feature ranking of active region source properties in solar flare forecasting and the uncompromised stochasticity of flare occurrence

Solar flares originate from magnetically active regions but not all solar active regions give rise to a flare. Therefore, the challenge of solar flare prediction benefits by an intelligent computational analysis of physics-based properties extracted from active region observables, most commonly line-of-sight or vector magnetograms of the active-region photosphere. For the purpose of flare forecasting, this study utilizes an unprecedented 171 flare-predictive active region properties, mainly inferred by the Helioseismic and Magnetic Imager onboard the Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO/HMI) in the course of the European Union Horizon 2020 FLARECAST project. Using two different supervised machine learning methods that allow feature ranking as a function of predictive capability, we show that: i) an objective training and testing process is paramount for the performance of every supervised machine learning method; ii) most properties include overlapping information and are therefore highly redundant for flare prediction; iii) solar flare prediction is still - and will likely remain - a predominantly probabilistic challenge

The effect of wave-particle interactions on low energy cutoffs in solar flare electron spectra

Solar flare hard X-ray spectra from RHESSI are normally interpreted in terms of purely collisional electron beam propagation, ignoring spatial evolution and collective effects. In this paper we present self-consistent numerical simulations of the spatial and temporal evolution of an electron beam subject to collisional transport and beam-driven Langmuir wave turbulence. These wave-particle interactions represent the background plasma's response to the electron beam propagating from the corona to chromosphere and occur on a far faster timescale than coulomb collisions. From these simulations we derive the mean electron flux spectrum, comparable to such spectra recovered from high resolution hard X-rays observations of solar flares with RHESSI. We find that a negative spectral index (i.e. a spectrum that increases with energy), or local minima when including the expected thermal spectral component at low energies, occurs in the standard thick-target model, when coulomb collisions are only considered. The inclusion of wave-particle interactions does not produce a local minimum, maintaining a positive spectral index. These simulations are a step towards a more complete treatment of electron transport in solar flares and suggest that a flat spectrum (spectral index of 0 to 1) down to thermal energies maybe a better approximation instead of a sharp cut-off in the injected electron spectrum.Comment: 6 pages, 5 figures, accepted by ApJ

Métodos de remoção da mucilagem e qualidade fisiológica de sementes de tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum, Mill.)

Different methods of mucilage remotion and quality of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seeds were studied, in a complete randomized design experiment with four replications. After manual extraction, seeds and slimes were submitted to the following remotion treatments: immediate washing, three-day fermentation, hydrochloric acid at 2,5% (25 mg/kg for 2 hrs.), acetic acid at 10% (25 ml/kg of material), and ammonia hydroxide at 2,5% (25 ml/kg, for 2 hrs.). A physiological quality evaluation of seeds was carried out through the percentage of germination and vigor, percentage of in-sand emergence, electrical conductivity, and weight of fresh and dry matters of seedlings. The results showed that the methods of immediate washing, fermentation, commercial hydrochloric and acetic acids do not affect the physiological quality of tomato seeds; the germination percentage was not affected by the different remotion methods, and the ammonia hydroxide method affects seed vigor.Objetivando estudar diferentes métodos de remoção da mucilagem e a qualidade de sementes de tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), conduziu-se um experimento, em delineamento inteiramente casualizado com quatro repetições. Após extração manual, sementes e mucilagens foram submetidas aos seguintes tratamentos de remoção: lavagem imediata, fermentação por três dias, ácido clorídrico a 2,5% (25 ml/kg, durante 2 horas), ácido acético a 10% (25 ml/kg de material) e hidróxido de amônia a 2,5% (25 ml/kg, durante 2 horas). Seguiu-se a avaliação da qualidade fisiológica das sementes através das determinações de porcentagem de germinação e vigor, pela porcentagem de emergência em areia, condutividade elétrica e pesos das matérias verde e seca de plântulas. Os resultados permitiram concluir que os métodos de remoção por lavagem imediata, fermentação, ácido clorídrico e ácido acético comercial não afetaram a qualidade fisiológica de sementes de tomate; a porcentagem de germinação não foi afetada pelos diferentes métodos de remoção e o método hidróxido de amônia prejudica o vigor das sementes

Comparison among several media for the rooting of croton (Codiaeum variegatum L.) cuttings

To determine the best medium for rooting of crotón (Codiaeum variegatum L.) cuttings, the media: sand, medium grade vermiculite, sand x vermiculite (75% x 25%); (50% x 50%); (25% x 75%), phenolic foam and soil were used. The experiment was conducted in a mist chamber in a randomized block design with four replicátions of twenty cuttings each. The physical properties of the media were determined and the following evaluations made: rooted cutting percentage, shooted cutting percentage, number of roots per cutting, lenght of the longest root, and weight of root dry matter. The results show that the medium grade vermiculite medium is the most suitable for the rooting of crotón cuttings although the others may also be used, except soil and sand which presented the poorest performances.Com o objetivo de determinar o melhor substrato para o enraizamento de estacas de crotón (Codiaeum variegatum L.), utilizou-se areia, vermiculita média, areia x vermiculita (75% x 25%); (50% x 50%); (25% x 75%), esponja fenólica e solo. O experimento foi conduzido em câmara de nebulização com delineamento em blocos casualizados com quatro repetições de vinte estacas cada. Determinaram-se as propriedades físicas dos substratos e foram efetuadas as seguintes avaliações: porcentagem de estacas enraizadas, porcentagem de estacas brotadas, número de raízes por estaca, comprimento da maior raiz e peso da matéria seca das raízes. Os resultados permitem concluir que o substrato vermiculita média é o mais indicado para o enraizamento de estacas de crotón, embora os demais, exceto o solo e areia que apresentaram os piores desempenhos, também possam ser utilizados

Efeito da profundidade de semeadura na emergência de plântulas de tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.)

The effect of seeding depth on the emergence of tomato (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.) seedlings variety Tropic was tested for 0.5; 1.5; 2.5; 3.5; 4.5, and 5.5 cm depth of seeding in soil and sand medium, at a 3:1 ratio with a constant water content around 70% of field capacity. The experimental design was totally randomized with four replications of 50 seeds per treatment, quantifying the depth effects by determining the emergence time and percentage of the final stand. The results showed that the 1.5 cm seeding depth provided an emergence time and a final stand significantly higher than the others, thus being considered as ideal for tomato seeding.Com o objetivo de avaliar o efeito da profundidade de semeadura na emergência de plântulas de tomate (Lycopersicon esculentum Mill.), utilizou-se sementes da cultivar Tropic à profundidade de 0,5; 1,5; 2,5; 3,5; 4.5 e 5,5 cm em substrato solo e areia na proporção de 3:1, mantendo-se constante o teor de água do mesmo em 70% da capacidade de campo. O delineamento experimental empregado foi inteiramente casualizado com quatro repetições de 50 sementes por tratamento, quantificando-se os efeitos das profundidades através das determinações de índice e velocidade de emergência e estande final em porcentagem. Os resultados revelaram que a profundidade de semeadura de 1,5 cm proporcionou índice de velocidade de emergência e estande final, significativamente superiores às demais, razão por que pode ser considerada como a mais indicada à semeadura de tomate

Water availability and germination of onion seeds (Allium cepa L.)

Objetivando verificar a influência do teor de água do substrato na germinação de sementes de cebola (Allium cepa L.), conduziu-se um ensaio sob condições de ambiente de laboratório. Os efeitos de cinco níveis de água no substrato solo x areia (3:1), 20, 40, 60, 80 e 100% da capacidade de retenção foram avaliados através da porcentagem de emergência no 14° dia da semeadura e pesos da matéria verde e seca das plântulas normais. Para tanto, 200 sementes do cultivar Pira Ouro por tratamento, em quatro repetições de 50, foram semeadas a 1,5 cm de profundidade, mantendo-se constantes os níveis de água no substrato. Os resultados possibilitaram concluir que os níveis de umidade do solo indicados para germinação de sementes de cebola são de 40% e 60% da capacidade de retenção do substrato, por possibilitarem uma melhor emergência, peso da matéria verde e seca das plântulas.One essay was conducted under laboratory conditions, in order to verify the influence of substrate water content on the germination of onion (Allium cepa L.) seeds. The effect of five water levels in the medium soil x sand (3:1) - 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% retention capacity-were evaluated through the emergence percentage 14 days after seedling and the weight of fresh and dry matters of normal seedlings. For that purpose, 200 treated seeds of Pira Ouro cultivar were sown 1.5 cm deep in four replicátions of 50, with a constant water content in the medium. The best results showed that the soil moisture levels suggested for the germination of onion seeds were 40% to 60% of the substrate retention capacity, once they provide better emergence, weight of the fresh and dry matters of seedlings