Salicylic acid and salicylic acid glucoside in xylem sap of Brassica napus infected with Verticillium longisporum

Salicylic acid (SA) and its glucoside (SAG) were detected in xylem sap of Brassica napus by HPLC–MS. Concentrations of SA and SAG in xylem sap from the root and hypocotyl of the plant, and in extracts of shoots above the hypocotyl, increased after infection with the vascular pathogen Verticillium longisporum. Both concentrations were correlated with disease severity assessed as the reduction in shoot length. Furthermore, SAG levels in shoot extracts were correlated with the amount of V. longisporum DNA in the hypocotyls. Although the concentration of SAG (but not SA) in xylem sap of infected plants gradually declined from 14 to 35 days post infection, SAG levels remained significantly higher than in uninfected plants during the whole experiment. Jasmonic acid (JA) and abscisic acid (ABA) levels in xylem sap were not affected by infection with V. longisporum. SA and SAG extend the list of phytohormones potentially transported from root to shoot with the transpiration stream. The physiological relevance of this transport and its contribution to the distribution of SA in plants remain to be elucidated

Protective intraoperative ventilation with higher versus lower levels of positive end-expiratory pressure in obese patients (PROBESE): study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background: Postoperative pulmonary complications (PPCs) increase the morbidity and mortality of surgery in obese patients. High levels of positive end-expiratory pressure (PEEP) with lung recruitment maneuvers may improve intraoperative respiratory function, but they can also compromise hemodynamics, and the effects on PPCs are uncertain. We hypothesized that intraoperative mechanical ventilation using high PEEP with periodic recruitment maneuvers, as compared with low PEEP without recruitment maneuvers, prevents PPCs in obese patients. Methods/design The PRotective Ventilation with Higher versus Lower PEEP during General Anesthesia for Surgery in OBESE Patients (PROBESE) study is a multicenter, two-arm, international randomized controlled trial. In total, 2013 obese patients with body mass index ≥35 kg/m2 scheduled for at least 2 h of surgery under general anesthesia and at intermediate to high risk for PPCs will be included. Patients are ventilated intraoperatively with a low tidal volume of 7 ml/kg (predicted body weight) and randomly assigned to PEEP of 12 cmH2O with lung recruitment maneuvers (high PEEP) or PEEP of 4 cmH2O without recruitment maneuvers (low PEEP). The occurrence of PPCs will be recorded as collapsed composite of single adverse pulmonary events and represents the primary endpoint. Discussion To our knowledge, the PROBESE trial is the first multicenter, international randomized controlled trial to compare the effects of two different levels of intraoperative PEEP during protective low tidal volume ventilation on PPCs in obese patients. The results of the PROBESE trial will support anesthesiologists in their decision to choose a certain PEEP level during general anesthesia for surgery in obese patients in an attempt to prevent PPCs. Trial registration ClinicalTrials.gov identifier: NCT02148692. Registered on 23 May 2014; last updated 7 June 2016. Electronic supplementary material The online version of this article (doi:10.1186/s13063-017-1929-0) contains supplementary material, which is available to authorized users

Bionik - Innovationen aus der Natur: Biologische Oberflächenstrukturen geben Impulse für neue Materialien und ein optimiertes Oberflächenfinish

Biologische Materialien sind ressourceneffizient und zeichnen sich durch eine hohe Funktionalität bei maximaler Materialeffizienz aus. Das Fraunhofer-Institut für Umwelt-, Sicherheits- und Energietechnik UMSICHT in Oberhausen hat es sich zur Aufgabe gemacht, biologische Oberflächenstrukturen auf technische Anwendungen zu übertragen

The sublayer-Stanton numbers of heat and matter for different types of naturual surfaces

It is well established that the transfer of heat and matter across the interfacial sublayer in the immediate vicinity of any surface is strongly controlled and limited by molecular transfer properties. Whereas a considerable part of the shear stress is transmitted to the surface as a form drag on the individual asperities. The sublayer-Stanton number, B i , can be considered as a measure of the difference in the corresponding rates of momentum and heat as well as matter to and from surfaces, no matter how irregular they may be. This quantity plays, therefore, an important role in modelling the exchange of heat and matter between the atmosphere and the vegetation-soil system and natural water systems, respectively, and, hence, in deriving surface fluxes of sensible and latent heat by remote sensing techniques. Usually, B i is related to the ratio z 0, z p, where z 0 is the roughness length for momentum, and z p is that for heat and matter, respectively. It is argued that the derivation of this relationship is not straight-forward. Instead, a more physically adequate relationship is presented. Sublayer-Stanton numbers of heat and matter for different types of surfaces are presented and discussed. The results are derived from the vertical profile data of wind speed, temperature, humidity and HN03 concentrations, collected during the GREIV 1 1974 project and the experiment "ecosystem wheat" of the EUROTRAC subproject BIATEX, and from model studies for aerodynamically smooth surfaces. The model results for aerodynamically smooth surfaces are based on Roth's (1972) modified Heisenberg model for the spectral energy transfer under locally isotropic conditions. These results are compared with those provided by Reichardt's (1951) approach for an effective diffusivity. The B i (exp - 1)-values obtained from the field and the model studies are much larger than those suggested by Garratt and Hicks (1973)

Integration of transfected LTR sequences into the c-raf proto-oncogene: activation by promoter insertion.

A malignant cell line (clone S1) isolated after co-transfection of normal NIH3T3 DNA and Moloney leukemia virus long terminal repeat (Mo-LTR) sequences has previously been described to contain an activated c-raf oncogene. Here, we report the isolation by molecular cloning and the structural analysis of the LTR-activated c-raf gene. As shown by Southern blot and nucleotide sequence analyses, the transfected Mo-LTR sequences integrated into the 5th intron of the endogenous c-raf proto-oncogene. This intragenic LTR insertion led to the expression of high levels of LTR-U5-c-raf hybrid transcripts indicating an initiation of transcription from the Mo-LTR promoter. Transcriptional activation of c-raf is accompanied by the synthesis of large amounts of cytoplasmic c-raf protein. Immunoblot analysis suggests that the proteins encoded by the LTR-activated c-raf gene are truncated compared with the normal c-raf gene product(s). Our results indicate a promoter insertion mechanism of c-raf activation