Impact of Energy Crops on Soil Management and Erosion

Energy crops are perennials that require less cultivation and inputs than conventional crops, and are low maintenance harvest crops used for biofuels

An AKAP-Lbc-RhoA interaction inhibitor promotes the translocation of aquaporin-2 to the plasma membrane of renal collecting duct principal cells

Stimulation of renal collecting duct principal cells with antidiuretic hormone (arginine-vasopressin, AVP) results in inhibition of the small GTPase RhoA and the enrichment of the water channel aquaporin-2 (AQP2) in the plasma membrane. The membrane insertion facilitates water reabsorption from primary urine and fine-tuning of body water homeostasis. Rho guanine nucleotide exchange factors (GEFs) interact with RhoA, catalyze the exchange of GDP for GTP and thereby activate the GTPase. However, GEFs involved in the control of AQP2 in renal principal cells are unknown. The A-kinase anchoring protein, AKAP-Lbc, possesses GEF activity, specifically activates RhoA, and is expressed in primary renal inner medullary collecting duct principal (IMCD) cells. Through screening of 18,431 small molecules and synthesis of a focused library around one of the hits, we identified an inhibitor of the interaction of AKAP-Lbc and RhoA. This molecule, Scaff10-8, bound to RhoA, inhibited the AKAP-Lbc-mediated RhoA activation but did not interfere with RhoA activation through other GEFs or activities of other members of the Rho family of small GTPases, Rac1 and Cdc42. Scaff10-8 promoted the redistribution of AQP2 from intracellular vesicles to the periphery of IMCD cells. Thus, our data demonstrate an involvement of AKAP-Lbc-mediated RhoA activation in the control of AQP2 trafficking

Low Temperature Physics

Contains research objectives

Modulation of EEG spectral edge frequency during patterned pneumatic oral stimulation in preterm infants

Background—Stimulation of the nervous system plays a central role in brain development and neurodevelopmental outcome. Thalamocortical and corticocortical development is diminished in premature infants and correlated to electroencephalography (EEG) progression. The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of orocutaneous stimulation on the modulation of spectral edge frequency, fc=90% (SEF-90) derived from EEG recordings in preterm infants. Methods—Twenty two preterm infants were randomized to experimental and control conditions. Pulsed orocutaneous stimulation was presented during gavage feedings begun at around 32 weeks postmenstrual age (PMA). The SEF-90 was derived from 2-channel EEG recordings. Results—Compared to the control condition, the pulsed orocutaneous stimulation produced a significant reorganization of SEF-90 in the left (p = 0.005) and right (p \u3c 0.0001) hemispheres. Notably, the left and right hemisphere showed a reversal in the polarity of frequency shift, demonstrating hemispheric asymmetry in the frequency domain. Pulsed orocutaneous stimulation also produced a significant pattern of short term cortical adaptation and a long term neural adaptation manifest as a 0.5 Hz elevation in SEF-90 after repeated stimulation sessions. Conclusion—This is the first study to demonstrate the modulating effects of a servo-controlled oral somatosensory input on the spectral features of EEG activity in preterm infants

Pentafluorosulfanyl (SF(5)) as a superior (19)F magnetic resonance reporter group: signal detection and biological activity of teriflunomide derivatives

Fluorine ((19)F) magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) is severely limited by a low signal-to noise ratio (SNR), and tapping it for (19)F drug detection in vivo still poses a significant challenge. However, it bears the potential for label-free theranostic imaging. Recently, we detected the fluorinated dihydroorotate dehydrogenase (DHODH) inhibitor teriflunomide (TF) noninvasively in an animal model of multiple sclerosis (MS) using (19)F MR spectroscopy (MRS). In the present study, we probed distinct modifications to the CF(3) group of TF to improve its SNR. This revealed SF(5) as a superior alternative to the CF(3) group. The value of the SF(5) bioisostere as a (19)F MRI reporter group within a biological or pharmacological context is by far underexplored. Here, we compared the biological and pharmacological activities of different TF derivatives and their (19)F MR properties (chemical shift and relaxation times). The (19)F MR SNR efficiency of three MRI methods revealed that SF(5)-substituted TF has the highest (19)F MR SNR efficiency in combination with an ultrashort echo-time (UTE) MRI method. Chemical modifications did not reduce pharmacological or biological activity as shown in the in vitro dihydroorotate dehydrogenase enzyme and T cell proliferation assays. Instead, SF(5)-substituted TF showed an improved capacity to inhibit T cell proliferation, indicating better anti-inflammatory activity and its suitability as a viable bioisostere in this context. This study proposes SF(5) as a novel superior (19)F MR reporter group for the MS drug teriflunomide

Optimizing Preprocessing and Analysis Pipelines for Single-Subject fMRI: 2. Interactions with ICA, PCA, Task Contrast and Inter-Subject Heterogeneity

A variety of preprocessing techniques are available to correct subject-dependant artifacts in fMRI, caused by head motion and physiological noise. Although it has been established that the chosen preprocessing steps (or “pipeline”) may significantly affect fMRI results, it is not well understood how preprocessing choices interact with other parts of the fMRI experimental design. In this study, we examine how two experimental factors interact with preprocessing: between-subject heterogeneity, and strength of task contrast. Two levels of cognitive contrast were examined in an fMRI adaptation of the Trail-Making Test, with data from young, healthy adults. The importance of standard preprocessing with motion correction, physiological noise correction, motion parameter regression and temporal detrending were examined for the two task contrasts. We also tested subspace estimation using Principal Component Analysis (PCA), and Independent Component Analysis (ICA). Results were obtained for Penalized Discriminant Analysis, and model performance quantified with reproducibility (R) and prediction metrics (P). Simulation methods were also used to test for potential biases from individual-subject optimization. Our results demonstrate that (1) individual pipeline optimization is not significantly more biased than fixed preprocessing. In addition, (2) when applying a fixed pipeline across all subjects, the task contrast significantly affects pipeline performance; in particular, the effects of PCA and ICA models vary with contrast, and are not by themselves optimal preprocessing steps. Also, (3) selecting the optimal pipeline for each subject improves within-subject (P,R) and between-subject overlap, with the weaker cognitive contrast being more sensitive to pipeline optimization. These results demonstrate that sensitivity of fMRI results is influenced not only by preprocessing choices, but also by interactions with other experimental design factors. This paper outlines a quantitative procedure to denoise data that would otherwise be discarded due to artifact; this is particularly relevant for weak signal contrasts in single-subject, small-sample and clinical datasets