Low mannitol concentrations in Arabidopsis thaliana expressing Ectocarpus genes improve salt tolerance

Mannitol is abundant in a wide range of organisms, playing important roles in biotic and abiotic stress responses. Nonetheless, mannitol is not produced by a vast majority of plants, including many important crop plants. Mannitol-producing transgenic plants displayed improved tolerance to salt stresses though mannitol production was rather low, in the µM range, compared to mM range found in plants that innately produce mannitol. Little is known about the molecular mechanisms underlying salt tolerance triggered by low concentrations of mannitol. Reported here is the production of mannitol in Arabidopsis thaliana, by expressing two mannitol biosynthesis genes from the brown alga Ectocarpus sp. strain Ec32. To date, no brown algal genes have been successfully expressed in land plants. Expression of mannitol-1-phosphate dehydrogenase and mannitol-1-phosphatase genes was associated with the production of 42.3–52.7 nmol g−1 fresh weight of mannitol, which was sufficient to impart salinity and temperature stress tolerance. Transcriptomics revealed significant differences in the expression of numerous genes, in standard and salinity stress conditions, including genes involved in K+ homeostasis, ROS signaling, plant development, photosynthesis, ABA signaling and secondary metabolism. These results suggest that the improved tolerance to salinity stress observed in transgenic plants producing mannitol in µM range is achieved by the activation of a significant number of genes, many of which are involved in priming and modulating the expression of genes involved in a variety of functions including hormone signaling, osmotic and oxidative stress, and ion homeostasis

The gender specific frequency of risk factor and CHD diagnoses prior to incident MI: A community study

BACKGROUND: CHD is a chronic disease often present years prior to incident AMI. Earlier recognition of CHD may be associated with higher levels of recognition and treatment of CHD risk factors that may delay incident AMI. To assess timing of CHD and CHD risk factor diagnoses prior to incident AMI. METHODS: This is a 10-year population based medical record review study that included all medical care providers in Olmsted County, Minnesota for all women and a sample of men residing in Olmsted County, MN with confirmed incident AMI between 1995 and 2000. RESULTS: All medical care for the 10 years prior to incident AMI was reviewed for 150 women and 148 men (38% sample) in Olmsted County, MN. On average, women were older than men at the time of incident AMI (74.7 versus 65.9 years, p < 0.0001). 30.4% of the men and 52.0% of the women received diagnoses of CHD prior to incident AMI (p = 0.0002). Unrecognized and untreated CHD risk factors were present in both men (45% of men 5 years prior to AMI) and women (22% of women 5 years prior to first AMI), more common in men and those without a diagnosis of CHD prior to incident AMI (p < 0.0001). CONCLUSION: A CHD diagnosis prior to incident AMI is associated with higher rates of recognition and treatment of CHD risk factors suggesting that diagnosing CHD prior to AMI enhances opportunities to lower the risk of future CHD events

Notes on the Indian Sand Skink Ophiomorus tridactylus

Volume: 67Start Page: 334End Page: 33

Stability analysis of convection in the intracluster medium

We use the machinery usually employed for studying the onset of Rayleigh--B\'enard convection in hydro- and magnetohydro-dynamic settings to address the onset of convection induced by the magnetothermal instability and the heat-flux-buoyancy-driven-instability in the weakly-collisional magnetized plasma permeating the intracluster medium. Since most of the related numerical simulations consider the plasma being bounded between two `plates' on which boundary conditions are specified, our strategy provides a framework that could enable a more direct connection between analytical and numerical studies. We derive the conditions for the onset of these instabilities considering the effects of induced magnetic tension resulting from a finite plasma beta. We provide expressions for the Rayleigh number in terms of the wave vector associated with a given mode, which allow us to characterize the modes that are first to become unstable. For both the heat-flux-buoyancy-driven-instability and the magnetothermal instability, oscillatory marginal stable states are possible.Comment: 10 pages, 1 figur

Evaluation of the Surajdewal sand for the glass industry

The raw sand available at Surajdewal was examined chemically and petrographically and some beneficiation work was carried out to investigate the suitability of the sand for the glass industry. The sand, as such, corresponds to Grade 3 of IS: 488-1963. During beneficiation it was observed that washing with water lowered the iron content, bringing the sand almost equivalent to Grade 2, and on leaching with 1 H2S04 the sand was found to be in conformity with Grade 1. The coarseness of the sand was reduced through grinding and this led to significant improvement in particle size distribution, ali preferred by the glass industry. Trial melting wa11 carried out with untreated and different grades of treated sands. The results were found to be encouraging for utilization in the glass industry. © 1982 Taylor & Francis Group, LLC