Controlling sap-sucking insect pests with recombinant endophytes expressing plant lectin

We developed a novel pest management strategy, which uses endophytes to express anti-pest plant lectins. Fungal endophyte of Chaetomium globosum YY-11 with anti-fungi activities was isolated from rape seedlings, and bacterial endophytes of SJ-10 (Enterobacter sp.) and WB (Bacillus subtilis) were isolated from rice seedlings. Pinellia ternate agglutinin gene was cloned into SJ-10 and WB for expression by a shuttle vector, and YY-11 was mediated by Agrobacterium tumefaciens. Positive transformants were evaluated using PCR and Western blot assay. Recombinant endophytes colonized most of crops, and resistance of rice seedlings, which were inoculated with the recombinant endophytic bacteria, to white backed planthoppers was dramatically enhanced by decreasing the survival and fecundity of white backed planthoppers. Rape inoculated with recombinant endophytic fungi significantly inhibited the growth and reproduction of aphids. Recombinant endophytes expressing PTA may endow hosts with resistance against sap-sucking pests

The cytoplasmic adaptor protein Caskin mediates Lar signal transduction during Drosophila motor axon guidance

The multiprotein complexes that receive and transmit axon pathfinding cues during development are essential to circuit generation. Here, we identify and characterize the Drosophila sterile α-motif (SAM) domain-containing protein Caskin, which shares homology with vertebrate Caskin, a CASK [calcium/calmodulin-(CaM)-activated serine-threonine kinase]-interacting protein. Drosophila caskin (ckn) is necessary for embryonic motor axon pathfinding and interacts genetically and physically with the leukocyte common antigen-related (Lar) receptor protein tyrosine phosphatase. In vivo and in vitro analyses of a panel of ckn loss-of-function alleles indicate that the N-terminal SAM domain of Ckn mediates its interaction with Lar. Like Caskin, Liprin-α is a neuronal adaptor protein that interacts with Lar via a SAM domain-mediated interaction. We present evidence that Lar does not bind Caskin and Liprin-α concurrently, suggesting they may assemble functionally distinct signaling complexes on Lar. Furthermore, a vertebrate Caskin homolog interacts with LAR family members, arguing that the role of ckn in Lar signal transduction is evolutionarily conserved. Last, we characterize several ckn mutants that retain Lar binding yet display guidance defects, implying the existence of additional Ckn binding partners. Indeed, we identify the SH2/SH3 adaptor protein Dock as a second Caskin-binding protein and find that Caskin binds Lar and Dock through distinct domains. Furthermore, whereas ckn has a nonredundant function in Lar-dependent signaling during motor axon targeting, ckn and dock have overlapping roles in axon outgrowth in the CNS. Together, these studies identify caskin as a neuronal adaptor protein required for axon growth and guidance

A variational approach to analyzing catalytic reactions in short monoliths

AbstractIn this paper a variational principle is established for analyzing catalytic reactions in short monoliths by He’s semi-inverse method. On the basis of the established variational formulation, the solutions can be easily obtained by the Ritz method

Characterization and design of CMOS components for microwave and millimeter wave applications

Ph.DDOCTOR OF PHILOSOPH

Alcohol Use, HIV Treatment Adherence, and Sexual Risk Among People with a History of Injecting Drug Use in Vietnam.

Alcohol use can limit the effectiveness of antiretroviral therapy (ART) for people living with HIV (PLH) who have a history of injecting drug use. This study described the patterns of alcohol use among PLH with a history of injecting drug use in Vietnam and examined the relationships between alcohol use, adherence to ART, and sexual risks. We utilized cross-sectional data of 109 PLH on ART collected from a randomized controlled intervention trial in Vietnam. Approximately 30 and 46% of the participants were frequent and occasional drinkers, respectively. Frequent drinkers reported the highest number of missed medication days. About 61% of frequent drinkers reported having sex after using alcohol. Additionally, 23, 34, and 24% of nondrinkers, occasional drinkers, and frequent drinkers, respectively, reported inconsistent condom use during sex. Future intervention programs should address the issues of alcohol use and sexual risks to maximize the effectiveness of HIV treatment programs in Vietnam

The Chart Excites Me! Exploring How Data Visualization Design Influences Affective Arousal

As data visualizations have been increasingly applied in mass communication, designers often seek to grasp viewers immediately and motivate them to read more. Such goals, as suggested by previous research, are closely associated with the activation of emotion, namely affective arousal. Given this motivation, this work takes initial steps toward understanding the arousal-related factors in data visualization design. We collected a corpus of 265 data visualizations and conducted a crowdsourcing study with 184 participants during which the participants were asked to rate the affective arousal elicited by data visualization design (all texts were blurred to exclude the influence of semantics) and provide their reasons. Based on the collected data, first, we identified a set of arousal-related design features by analyzing user comments qualitatively. Then, we mapped these features to computable variables and constructed regression models to infer which features are significant contributors to affective arousal quantitatively. Through this exploratory study, we finally identified four design features (e.g., colorfulness, the number of different visual channels) cross-validated as important features correlated with affective arousal