WalkMate overview.

<p><b>A</b>) Schematic depiction of the WalkMate system. <b>B</b>) The computer's timing system used nonlinear oscillators and was organized hierarchically in two modules. Module 1 mutually entrained the gait frequencies of the computer and the participant. Module 2 adjusted the relative phase difference between the computer's auditory onset and the participant's step contact to a target phase difference [more details in the <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0032600#s2" target="_blank">Materials and Methods</a> section].</p

Examples of two trials.

<p>On the left, the stride times of one leg are plotted against trial time. On the right, the DFA technique plots the average fluctuation per box size. Using DFA, a scaling exponent α≈0.5 corresponds to rough and unpredictable white noise; α≈1.0 corresponds to 1/<i>f</i>-like noise and long-range correlations <a href="http://www.plosone.org/article/info:doi/10.1371/journal.pone.0032600#pone.0032600-Goldberger1" target="_blank">[26]</a>. The mean and SD of stride times are similar in both trials, but the fractal scaling differs considerably. During the Silent condition (<b>A</b>), the PD patient's strides are unpredictable and akin to white noise, whereas during interactive rhythmic stimulation (<b>B</b>), the stride fluctuations have a 1/f-like structure.</p

Stride Times (Mean and Standard Deviation) of one leg in seconds for Parkinson's patients (PD) and healthy participants with rhythmic cueing treatment, and for the PD patients' post-treatment carry-over.

<p> Standard deviations of each measure are in parentheses.</p

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungal community of wheat under long-term mineral and organic amendments in semi-arid Mediterranean Turkey

<p>A minimal amount of information is currently available concerning arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) fungal associations with crops in semi-arid zones on Leptosols in Turkey. Therefore, using molecular ecological techniques, we studied the effects of different management practices (without fertilization, chemical fertilization, farmyard manure, and plant compost amendments) on AM fungal communities associated with wheat roots. Experiments were conducted in a field established in 1996 in southern Mediterranean Turkey where soil productivity is low owing to unfavorable climatic effects and soil characteristics. We determined 201 partial sequences of AM fungal nuclear ribosomal large subunit genes. The higher AM fungal richness was found in the control treatment without fertilization and plant compost treatments compared with the chemical fertilization and farmyard manure treatments. Clones related to <i>Rhizophagus</i> were found in all treatments and accounted for 37% of the total AM fungal clones, whereas those of <i>Funneliformis</i> were dominant under chemical fertilization. Redundancy analysis based on the frequency of operational taxonomic units revealed that AM fungal communities were divided into three groups, namely, the control treatment, the chemical fertilization treatment, and the organic treatments (farmyard manure and plant compost treatments). Although different organic amendments supported relatively similar AM fungal communities, plant compost induced higher AM fungal richness than farmyard manure fertilization.</p

Native <i>Trichoderma</i> strains isolated from Bangladesh with broad spectrum antifungal action against fungal phytopathogens

<p>Nineteen <i>Trichoderma</i> isolates, collected from different locations in Bangladesh, were characterised through phenotypic, biochemical and molecular means. Besides, they were assessed for their antifungal action <i>in vitro</i>. The isolates were divided into three groups: <i>T. asperellum</i>, <i>T. virens</i> and <i>T. harzianum</i>. A dual culture assay and a culture filtrate assay against 6 phytopathogens revealed that 9 of the 19 isolates showed significant antifungal activities. The isolate <i>T. harzianum</i> TR05 showed the highest inhibition against <i>Fusarium oxysporum</i>, <i>Rhizoctonia solani</i>, <i>Fusarium circinatum and Phomopsis vexans</i>, followed by <i>T. asperellum</i> TR08 and <i>T. virens</i> TR06. TR08 had the highest inhibition against <i>Sclerotium rolfsii</i> and <i>Pythium aphanidermatum</i>, followed by TR05 and TR06. These findings were in agreement with their activities of extracellular hydrolytic enzymes, including chitinase, β-1,3-glucanase, and proteinase. Our results suggest that isolates TR05, TR06 and TR08 have the potential to be effective biocontrol agents against the phytopathogenic fungi.</p