The bHLH transcription factors TSAR1 and TSAR2 regulate triterpene saponin biosynthesis in Medicago truncatula

Plants respond to stresses by producing a broad spectrum of bioactive specialized metabolites. Hormonal elicitors, such as jasmonates, trigger a complex signaling circuit leading to the concerted activation of specific metabolic pathways. However, for many specialized metabolic pathways, the transcription factors involved remain unknown. Here, we report on two homologous jasmonate-inducible transcription factors of the basic helix-loop-helix family, TRITERPENE SAPONIN BIOSYNTHESIS ACTIVATING REGULATOR1 (TSAR1) and TSAR2, which direct triterpene saponin biosynthesis in Medicago truncatula. TSAR1 and TSAR2 are coregulated with and transactivate the genes encoding 3-HYDROXY-3-METHYLGLUTARYL-COENZYME A REDUCTASE1 (HMGR1) and MAKIBISHI1, the rate-limiting enzyme for triterpene biosynthesis and an E3 ubiquitin ligase that controls HMGR1 levels, respectively. Transactivation is mediated by direct binding of TSARs to the N-box in the promoter of HMGR1. In transient expression assays in tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) protoplasts, TSAR1 and TSAR2 exhibit different patterns of transactivation of downstream triterpene saponin biosynthetic genes, hinting at distinct functionalities within the regulation of the pathway. Correspondingly, overexpression of TSAR1 or TSAR2 in M. truncatula hairy roots resulted in elevated transcript levels of known triterpene saponin biosynthetic genes and strongly increased the accumulation of triterpene saponins. TSAR2 overexpression specifically boosted hemolytic saponin biosynthesis, whereas TSAR1 overexpression primarily stimulated nonhemolytic soyasaponin biosynthesis. Both TSARs also activated all genes of the precursor mevalonate pathway but did not affect sterol biosynthetic genes, pointing to their specific role as regulators of specialized triterpene metabolism in M. truncatula

Concert recording 2016-04-09

[Track 01]. Vespertine formations / Christopher Deane -- [Track 02]. Four movements for Marimba. Improvisation ; [Track 03]. Ethereal ; [Track 04]. Mecanique / Michael Burritt -- [Track 05]. Vignettes. Dinner with Andre ; [Track 06]. Running with Lionel ; [Track 07]. Chuck\u27s march ; [Track 08]. Waltz in Berlin ; [Track 09]. Chasing Igor / James M. Stephenson -- [Track 10]. Canto / Elliott Carter -- [Track 11]. Trio per uno. II ; [Track 12]. I / Nebosja Zivkovic

Prospectus, March 18, 1998

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1998/1009/thumbnail.jp

“Hiccups” with COVID-19 Management

Hiccups, medically referred as singultus, is a condition that results from involuntary contraction of the diaphragm and intercostal muscles. Singultus is usually a self-limiting condition which typically lasts less than 48 hours but in rare cases, can persist greater than 48 hours. This is a case of a 48 year-old male who was prescribed dexamethasone for COVID-19 but developed intractable singultus for two weeks. Patient was unable to tolerate diet due to intractable singultus leading to vomiting. He underwent various non-pharmacological maneuvers and pharmacotherapy without resolution. Dexamethasone- induced hiccups have been reported as an under recognized side effect of dexamethasone. Despite discontinuation of offending agent, patient’s singultus persisted. The patient achieved resolution of singultus with a combination of baclofen and olanzapine. This case provides additional literature during this COVID-19 pandemic while dexamethasone is being used as the first line management

The Integration of Transgender Health into JeffMD

Purpose: One way to address healthcare disparities experienced by the transgender community is by educating medical students on trans health. Currently, there is not a universal LGBTQ+ curriculum in medical schools, which has resulted in students feeling incompetent and uncomfortable when treating transgender patients. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the current trans health content in JeffMD and remedy any curricular gaps with trans specific content. Methods: The trans content in JeffMD was identified using a Keyword Search tool, One45 and lecture notes. A survey distributed to all Thomas Jefferson healthcare students regarding their attitudes and knowledge surrounding trans healthcare was used as a framework for developing curricular additions. The learner population is first and second year medical students. Results and Conclusions: The curricular search revealed that there are three lectures during Phase 1 that focus on transgender healthcare. This curricular search showed that JeffMD has an adequate amount of trans specific content especially in the health systems science thread but trans health considerations in other threads are lacking. The survey showed that 86% of students reported being interested in learning more about gender-related healthcare issues. It also showed that students prefer to learn via clinical skills sessions, patient panels, and lectures. Therefore, the focus of curricular additions was adding trans content to pre-existing clinical medicine and pharmacology lectures along with clinical skills sessions. The goal of these curricular additions is to normalize trans healthcare and prepare medical students for their future interactions with trans patients

Tailoring the energy distribution and loss of 2D plasmons

The ability to tailor the energy distribution of plasmons at the nanoscale has many applications in nanophotonics, such as designing plasmon lasers, spasers, and quantum emitters. To this end, we analytically study the energy distribution and the proper field quantization of 2D plasmons with specific examples for graphene plasmons. We find that the portion of the plasmon energy contained inside graphene (energy confinement factor) can exceed 50%, despite graphene being infinitely thin. In fact, this very high energy confinement can make it challenging to tailor the energy distribution of graphene plasmons just by modifying the surrounding dielectric environment or the geometry, such as changing the separation distance between two coupled graphene layers. However, by adopting concepts of parity-time symmetry breaking, we show that tuning the loss in one of the two coupled graphene layers can simultaneously tailor the energy confinement factor and propagation characteristics, causing the phenomenon of loss-induced plasmonic transparency.Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Institute for Soldier Nanotechnologies (W911NF-13-D-0001)United States. Department of Energy. Office of Science. Solid-State Solar Thermal Energy Conversion Center (DESC0001299)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (1122374)National Science Foundation (U.S.) (DMR-1419807)China Scholarship Council (201506320075

Development and Implementation of a Direct Evaluation Solution for Fault Tree Analyses Competing With Traditional Minimal Cut Sets Methods

Fault tree analysis (FTA) is a well-established technique to analyze the safety risks of a system. Two specific prominent FTA methods, largely applied in the aerospace field, are the so-called minimal cut sets (MCS), which uses an approximate evaluation of the problem, and the direct evaluation (DE) of the fault tree, which uses a top-down recursive algorithm. The first approach is only valid for small values of basic event probabilities and has historically yielded faster results than exact solutions for complex fault trees. The second one means exact solutions at a higher computational cost. This article presents several improvements applied to both approaches in order to upgrade the computing performance. First, improvements to the MCS approach have been performed, where the main idea has been to optimize the number of required permutations and to take advantage of the available information from previous solved subsets. Second, improvements to the DE approach have been applied, which deal with a reduction of the number of recursive calls through a deep search for independent events in the fault tree. This could dramatically reduce the computation time for industrial fault trees with a high number of repeated events. Additional implementation improvements have been also applied regarding hash tables, and memory access and usage, but also implementing the so-called “virtual gates”, which enable limitless children on each gate. The results presented hereafter are promising, not only because they show that both approaches have been highly optimized compared to the literature, but also because a DE solution has been achieved, which can compete in time resources (and obviously in precision) with the MCS approach. These improvements are relevant when considering the industrial, and more specifically the aeronautical, implementation and application of both techniques.The author Jordi Pons‐Prats acknowledges the support from Serra Hunter programme, Generalitat de Catalunya, as well as the support through the Severo Ochoa Centre of Excellence (2019‐2023) under the grant CEX2018‐000797‐S funded by MCIN/AEI/10.13039/501100011033.Postprint (author's final draft

Prospectus, March 4, 1998

https://spark.parkland.edu/prospectus_1998/1007/thumbnail.jp