Leaf, root, and soil microbiomes of an invasive plant, Ardisia crenata, differ between its native and exotic ranges

IntroductionEcological underpinnings of the invasion success of exotic plants may be found in their interactions with microbes, either through the enemy release hypothesis and the enhanced mutualism hypothesis. Whereas recent high-throughput sequencing techniques have significantly expanded our understanding of plant-associated microbiomes and their functional guilds, few studies to date have used these techniques to compare the microbiome associated with invasive plants between their native and exotic ranges.MethodsWe extracted fungal and bacterial DNA within leaf endosphere, root endosphere and soil of an invasive plant, Ardisia crenata, sampled from their native range Japan and exotic range Florida, USA. Using Illumina sequencing data, we compared microbial community compositions and diversity between the native and exotic ranges, and tested whether abundance of pathogenic or mutualistic microbes differ between the native or exotic ranges in accordance to the enemy release hypothesis or the enhanced mutualism hypothesis.ResultsFungal and bacterial community compositions differed among leaves, roots and soil, and between the native and exotic ranges. Despite a higher microbial diversity in the soil in the exotic range than in the native range, the microbial diversity within leaf and root was lower in the exotic range compared to the native range. In addition, leaves in the native range harbored a greater number of plant pathogenic fungi compared to those in the exotic range.DiscussionThese patterns suggest plant controls over what microbes become associated with leaves and roots. The higher abundance of leaf pathogenic fungi, including the pathogen which is known to cause specific disease in A. crenata in the exotic range than in the native range, support the enemy release hypothesis and highlighted potential importance of examining microbial communities both above- and below-ground

Deposition of Apatite on Carbon Nanofibers in Simulated Body Fluid

Carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were soaked in 1.5 simulated body fluid (1.5 SBF) in which inorganic ion concentrations are 1.5 times as high as those in the standard SBF. The influence of the CNFs content in 1.5 SBF and pretreatment of the CNFs on the biomimetical deposition of apatite were investigated. The spherical bone-like apatite particles were deposited on the pristine CNFs soaked in 1.5 SBF. Amount of deposited apatite per a unit of CNFs increased with a decrease in the CNFs content in 1.5 SBF, and it decreased markedly when the CNFs were pretreated with concentrated sulfuric acid/nitric acid (3 : 1 v/v) mixture for longer periods. Such results suggest that too many nucleation sites of apatite, which were functional groups, such as carboxyl and hydroxyl groups, existed on the CNFs in the 1.5 SBF, and most embryos formed on the sites could not grow to critical nuclei and furthermore did not grow to apatite.ArticleJOURNAL OF NANOMATERIALS. 2011:935320 (2011)journal articl

テレビ カイギ システム オ カツヨウ シタ ゲンショク キョウイン ケンシュウ ノ コウチク

鳴門教育大学は，「学び続ける教員」を支援し，地域の教育課題に対応するため，徳島県教育委員会並びに阿南市教育委員会，美馬市教育委員会と協力し，テレビ会議システムICTを利用した研修室）による教員研修を開始した。その結果，テレビ会議システムによる研修は，地理的環境や小規模校ゆえに研修参加・実施が困難な教員の研修を活性化し，教員が児童生徒と向き合う時間を確保しながら，研修の充実を図ることにもつながることが示された。さらに，校内研修や教育相談，各教科等の部会など既存の研修にテレビ会議システムを活用することにより，教科指導や生徒理解に関する専門的知見を得られたり，喫緊の教育課題についても即時的にアドバイスを受けたりすることができるなど，教員の資質向上を図る上で効果的であることが明らかになった。また，公開講座の配信によって，地域の社会教育の発展と充実に資する人材育成を図ることが可能になるなど，学校を支える地域の人材活用の推進にも資することが今後期待される。Naruto University of Education，in collaboration with Tokushima Prefectural Board of Education, Anan City Board of Education, Mima City Board of Education, has started teacher training with the Teleconference System (Training room using ICT) to support teachers who continue to learn and to cope with local education issues. As a result, training with the Teleconference System has been shown to revitalize the training of teachers who find it difficult to participate in training and implementation due to the geographical environment and small scale of schools, and it has shown that teachers can improve their training while securing the time to face the students. Furthermore, utilizing the Teleconference system for existing training, such as in-school training, educational counseling, and subject group meetings, teachers can utilize professional knowledge on subject guidance and student understanding, and can receive immediate advice on urgent issues. It has become clear that satellite training is effective for improving the abilities of teachers. Also, it is expected that it will contribute to the promotion and utilization of regional human resources supporting the school, such as being able to foster human resource that will contribute to the development and enhancement of local social education through delivery of open lectures

Fabrication and mechanical properties of high-dispersion-treated carbon nanofiber/alumina composites

High-dispersion-treated carbon nanofibers (CNFs) were used to fabricate uniformly-dispersed CNFs-alumina composites with enhanced mechanical properties. The treatment was effective in obtaining dense and uniform composites. The composites containing 0.4-0.8 wt CNFs were densified to a relative density of more than 99% by vacuum sintering and subsequent hot isostatic pressing, and those containing 1.6-2.5 wt % CNFs were densified to full density by plasma activated sintering. The maximum bending strength of the composites (1050 MPa) was approximately the same as the bending strength of monolithic alumina (1079 MPa). The maximum fracture toughness of the composites was 5.9 MPa.m(0.5), which was a 69% increase compared with the fracture toughness of monolithic alumina (3.5 MPa.m(0.5)). Fracture toughness (Kid increased rapidly with a decrease in alumina grain size (G), and we found that the relationship could be expressed by the following equation: K-IC = (k(1)/G(2)) k(2) (where k(1), and k(2) are constants).ArticleJournal of the Ceramic Society of Japan. 118(1381):847-854 (2010)journal articl

Reliable temperature probe monitoring - Favorable esophageal motion for consistent probe contact during atrial fibrillation catheter ablation

Left atrial-esophageal (LA-Eso) fistula is now a well-recognized and fatal complication of percutaneous catheter ablation performed using radiofrequency energy for atrial fibrillation (AF). We noted an important esophageal motion during temperature monitoring by a multipolar sensing probe, which could resolve several potential concerns of accurate esophageal temperature measurement and could consequently minimize esophageal injuries including LA-Eso fistulas during catheter ablation for AF