Anti-Allergic Cromones Inhibit Histamine and Eicosanoid Release from Activated Human and Murine Mast Cells by Releasing Annexin A1

PMCID: PMC3601088This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited

Radar interferometry based settlement monitoring in tunnelling: visualisation and accuracy analyses

Background The accurate, efficient and economical monitoring of settlements caused by tunnel boring machines, especially in regions of particular interest such as critical inner city areas, has become an important aspect of the tunnelling operation. Besides conventional terrestrial based methods to capture settlements, satellite based techniques that can accurately determine displacements remotely, are increasingly being used to augment standard terrestrial measurements. However, not much attention has been paid to analyse the accuracy of satellite based measurement data. In addition, there is also a lack of studies on how to visualise the resulting huge amount of data in the context of both the tunnel advancement and the existing building infrastructure. Methods This paper introduces the basics of settlement monitoring using radar interferometry methods, in particular showing the results obtained by processing radar images from the TerraSAR-X satellite to monitor a downtown construction site in Düsseldorf, Germany, where a new underground line (“Wehrhahn-Linie”) is being built. By comparing terrestrial measurements with remote satellite based settlement data in temporal and spatial corridors, the accuracy of the radar interferometry method is shown. Moreover, a 4D visualisation concept is presented that correlates satellite and terrestrial based settlement data correlated with above-ground buildings and boring machine performance parameters within a Virtual Reality (VR) environment. Results By comparing up to 23,000 pairs of satellite and terrestrial based settlement data points of a real tunnelling project an accuracy of about ±1.5 mm in the measurement of deformation using the method of radar interferometry in urban areas can be stated. In addition, providing a visual analysis of data sources within a VR environment, the accuracy of terrestrial and satellite-based measurements can be visualised in different time steps. Sources of error that affect the degree of accuracy, such as atmospheric conditions, systematic errors in the evaluation of radar images and local events in the spatial corridor, can be quantified. In addition, the 4D visualisation can help reveal direct interdependencies between settlement data and boring machine performance data. Conclusions The Persistent Scatterer Interferometry (PSI) based on high resolution radar images of the TerraSAR-X satellite, in combination with conventional ground-based terrestrial measurements, provides a new settlement monitoring approach in tunnelling. For example, due to minimized surveying works and disruptions of construction activities on site and due to the large settlement area coming with a high magnitude of settlement data points, this combined monitoring approach is very practical and economical. Moreover, by visualizing the settlement data properly, the risk of damage of surface structures can be analysed and understood more precisely, which increases the safety of underground works

Invasive Plants and Enemy Release: Evolution of Trait Means and Trait Correlations in Ulex europaeus

Several hypotheses that attempt to explain invasive processes are based on the fact that plants have been introduced without their natural enemies. Among them, the EICA (Evolution of Increased Competitive Ability) hypothesis is the most influential. It states that, due to enemy release, exotic plants evolve a shift in resource allocation from defence to reproduction or growth. In the native range of the invasive species Ulex europaeus, traits involved in reproduction and growth have been shown to be highly variable and genetically correlated. Thus, in order to explore the joint evolution of life history traits and susceptibility to seed predation in this species, we investigated changes in both trait means and trait correlations. To do so, we compared plants from native and invaded regions grown in a common garden. According to the expectations of the EICA hypothesis, we observed an increase in seedling height. However, there was little change in other trait means. By contrast, correlations exhibited a clear pattern: the correlations between life history traits and infestation rate by seed predators were always weaker in the invaded range than in the native range. In U. europaeus, the role of enemy release in shaping life history traits thus appeared to imply trait correlations rather than trait means. In the invaded regions studied, the correlations involving infestation rates and key life history traits such as flowering phenology, growth and pod density were reduced, enabling more independent evolution of these key traits and potentially facilitating local adaptation to a wide range of environments. These results led us to hypothesise that a relaxation of genetic correlations may be implied in the expansion of invasive species

1,8-Cineole Inhibits Both Proliferation and Elongation of BY-2 Cultured Tobacco Cells

Volatile monoterpenes such as 1,8-cineole inhibit the growth of Brassica campestris seedlings in a dose-dependent manner, and the growth-inhibitory effects are more severe for roots than hypocotyls. The preferential inhibition of root growth may be explained if the compounds inhibit cell proliferation more severely than cell elongation because root growth requires both elongation and proliferation of the constituent cells, whereas hypocotyl growth depends exclusively on elongation of existing cells. In order to examine this possibility, BY-2 suspension-cultured tobacco (Nicotiana tabacum) cells were treated with 1,8-cineole, and the inhibitory effects on cell proliferation and on cell elongation were assessed quantitatively. Treatment with 1,8-cineole lowered both the mitotic index and elongation of the cells in a dose-dependent manner, and the half-maximal inhibitory concentration (IC50) for cell elongation was lower than that for cell proliferation. Moreover, 1,8-cineole also inhibited starch synthesis, with IC50 lower than that for cell proliferation. Thus, the inhibitory effects of 1,8-cineole were not specific to cell proliferation; rather, 1,8-cineole seemed inhibitory to a variety of physiological activities when it was in direct contact with target cells. Based on these results, possible mechanisms for the mode of action of 1,8-cineole and for its preferential inhibition on root growth are discussed

Fires can benefit plants by disrupting antagonistic interactions

Fire has a key role in the ecology and evolution of many ecosystems, yet its effects on plant–insect interactions are poorly understood. Because interacting species are likely to respond to fire differently, disruptions of the interactions are expected. We hypothesized that plants that regenerate after fire can benefit through the disruption of their antagonistic interactions. We expected stronger effects on interactions with specialist predators than with generalists. We studied two interactions between two Mediterranean plants (Ulex parviflorus, Asphodelus ramosus) and their specialist seed predators after large wildfires. In A. ramosus we also studied the generalist herbivores. We sampled the interactions in burned and adjacent unburned areas during 2 years by estimating seed predation, number of herbivores and fruit set. To assess the effect of the distance to unburned vegetation we sampled plots at two distance classes from the fire perimeter. Even 3 years after the fires, Ulex plants experienced lower seed damage by specialists in burned sites. The presence of herbivores on Asphodelus decreased in burned locations, and the variability in their presence was significantly related to fruit set. Generalist herbivores were unaffected. We show that plants can benefit from fire through the disruption of their antagonistic interactions with specialist seed predators for at least a few years. In environments with a long fire history, this effect might be one additional mechanism underlying the success of fire-adapted plants

Conserved CDC20 Cell Cycle Functions Are Carried out by Two of the Five Isoforms in Arabidopsis thaliana

The CDC20 and Cdh1/CCS52 proteins are substrate determinants and activators of the Anaphase Promoting Complex/Cyclosome (APC/C) E3 ubiquitin ligase and as such they control the mitotic cell cycle by targeting the degradation of various cell cycle regulators. In yeasts and animals the main CDC20 function is the destruction of securin and mitotic cyclins. Plants have multiple CDC20 gene copies whose functions have not been explored yet. In Arabidopsis thaliana there are five CDC20 isoforms and here we aimed at defining their contribution to cell cycle regulation, substrate selectivity and plant development.Studying the gene structure and phylogeny of plant CDC20s, the expression of the five AtCDC20 gene copies and their interactions with the APC/C subunit APC10, the CCS52 proteins, components of the mitotic checkpoint complex (MCC) and mitotic cyclin substrates, conserved CDC20 functions could be assigned for AtCDC20.1 and AtCDC20.2. The other three intron-less genes were silent and specific for Arabidopsis. We show that AtCDC20.1 and AtCDC20.2 are components of the MCC and interact with mitotic cyclins with unexpected specificity. AtCDC20.1 and AtCDC20.2 are expressed in meristems, organ primordia and AtCDC20.1 also in pollen grains and developing seeds. Knocking down both genes simultaneously by RNAi resulted in severe delay in plant development and male sterility. In these lines, the meristem size was reduced while the cell size and ploidy levels were unaffected indicating that the lower cell number and likely slowdown of the cell cycle are the cause of reduced plant growth.The intron-containing CDC20 gene copies provide conserved and redundant functions for cell cycle progression in plants and are required for meristem maintenance, plant growth and male gametophyte formation. The Arabidopsis-specific intron-less genes are possibly "retrogenes" and have hitherto undefined functions or are pseudogenes

Rice APC/CTE controls tillering by mediating the degradation of MONOCULM 1

Rice MONOCULM 1 (MOC1) and its orthologues LS/LAS (lateral suppressor in tomato and Arabidopsis) are key promoting factors of shoot branching and tillering in higher plants. However, the molecular mechanisms regulating MOC1/LS/LAS have remained elusive. Here we show that the rice tiller enhancer (te) mutant displays a drastically increased tiller number. We demonstrate that TE encodes a rice homologue of Cdh1, and that TE acts as an activator of the anaphase promoting complex/cyclosome (APC/C) complex. We show that TE coexpresses with MOC1 in the axil of leaves, where the APC/CTE complex mediates the degradation of MOC1 by the ubiquitin–26S proteasome pathway, and consequently downregulates the expression of the meristem identity gene Oryza sativa homeobox 1, thus repressing axillary meristem initiation and formation. We conclude that besides having a conserved role in regulating cell cycle, APC/CTE has a unique function in regulating the plant-specific postembryonic shoot branching and tillering, which are major determinants of plant architecture and grain yield

Cisplatin-based adjuvant chemotherapy in patients with completely resected non-small-cell lung cancer

BACKGROUND

Does nitrogen affect the interaction between a native hemiparasite and its native or introduced leguminous hosts?

© 2016 The Authors. New Phytologist © 2016 New Phytologist Trust Associations between plants and nitrogen (N)-fixing rhizobia intensify with decreasing N supply and come at a carbon cost to the host. However, what additional impact parasitic plants have on their leguminous hosts’ carbon budget in terms of effects on host physiology and growth is unknown. Under glasshouse conditions, Ulex europaeus and Acacia paradoxa either uninfected or infected with the hemiparasite Cassytha pubescens were supplied (high nitrogen (HN)) or not (low nitrogen (LN)) with extra N. The photosynthetic performance and growth of the association were measured. Cassytha pubescens significantly reduced the maximum electron transport rates and total biomass of U. europaeus but not those of A. paradoxa, regardless of N. Infection significantly decreased the root biomass of A. paradoxa only at LN, while the significant negative effect of infection on roots of U. europaeus was less severe at LN. Infection had a significant negative impact on host nodule biomass. Ulex europaeus supported significantly greater parasite biomass (also per unit host biomass) than A. paradoxa, regardless of N. We concluded that rhizobia do not influence the effect of a native parasite on overall growth of leguminous hosts. Our results suggest that C. pubescens will have a strong impact on U. europaeus but not A. paradoxa, regardless of N in the field