Phosphorus retention capacity in red ferralitic soil

In this study the main physical-chemical characteristics of red ferralitic soil to use as substrate in subsurface wetlands was determined. The P-removal was evaluated in a short-term isotherm batch experiment and in a column percolation experiment. The acid characteristic and high content of iron minerals in the red ferralitic soil facilitated the phosphorus removal. Also the sorption isotherms at two different temperatures were obtained. The results showed that the sorption capacity increases with an increase in solution temperature from 25 to 35 degrees C. The experimental data were fitted to Langmuir and Freundlich models, having a better fit to the Freundlich isotherms. The maximum P-sorption capacities estimated using the Langmuir isotherm were 0.96 and 1.13 g/kg at 25 and 35 degrees C respectively. Moreover a column experiment was carried out at two different flows. Sequential extractions of the phosphorus-saturated soil indicated that phosphorus is mainly bound with iron or aluminum minerals. The results have demonstrated a good potential for red ferralitic soil for phosphorus removal from urban wastewater

Nanoscale Mapping Reveals Functional Differences in Ion Channels Populating the Membrane of Primary Cilia.

BACKGROUND/AIMS: The primary cilium is a nanoscale membrane protrusion believed to act as a mechano-chemical sensor in a range of different cell types. Disruptions in its structure and signalling have been linked to a number of medical conditions, referred to as ciliopathies, but remain poorly understood due to lack of techniques capable of investigating signal transduction in cilia at nanoscale. Here we set out to use latest advances in nanopipette technology to address the question of ion channel distribution along the structure of primary cilium. METHODS: We used glass nanopipettes and Scanning Ion Conductance Microscopy (SICM) to image 3D topography of intact primary cilia in inner medullary collecting duct (IMCD) cells with nanoscale resolution. The high-resolution topographical images were then used to navigate the nanopipette along the structure of each cilium and perform spatially resolved single-channel recordings under precisely controlled mechanical and chemical stimulation. RESULTS: We have successfully obtained first single-channel recordings at specific locations of intact primary cilia. Our experiments revealed significant differences between the populations of channels present at the ciliary base, tip and within extra-ciliary regions in terms of mean conductance and sensitivity to membrane displacement as small as 100 nm. Ion channels at the base of cilium, where mechanical strain is expected to be the highest, appeared particularly sensitive to the mechanical displacement. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest the distribution of ion channels in the membrane of primary cilia is non-homogeneous. The relationship between the location and function of ciliary ion channels could be key to understanding signal transduction in primary cilia

Evolutionary history of Podarcis tiliguerta on Corsica and Sardinia.

BACKGROUND: Podarcis tiliguerta is a wall lizard endemic to the Mediterranean islands of Corsica and Sardinia. Previous findings of high mtDNA and morphological diversity have led to the suggestion that it may represent a species complex. Here, we analysed mitochondrial and nuclear markers (mtDNA, 3110 bp; 6 nDNA loci, 3961 bp) in P. tiliguerta sampled from thirty-two localities across Corsica and Sardinia. RESULTS: We find much greater intraspecific genetic divergence than between sister species of other Mediterranean island Podarcis, i.e., between P. lilfordi and P. pityusensis. We detected three mtDNA clusters in Corsica (North, South-East and South-West) and either two or three in Sardinia (North vs. South) depending on the clustering method. Only one or two nDNA groups were identified within each main island (again, depending on the method). A Bayesian time-calibrated multispecies coalescent tree was obtained from mtDNA and provided statistical support for a Miocene origin of the species (13.87 Ma, 95% HPD: 18.30-10.77 Ma). The posterior mean divergence time for the Corsican and Sardinian lineages was 12.75 Ma ago (95% HPD: 16.94-9.04 Ma). CONCLUSION: The results support the evolutionary distinctiveness of Corsican and Sardinian populations and also indicate a lack of post-divergence migration despite periods of contact being possible. Further to this, species delimitation analyses of Corsican and Sardinian lineages provided statistical support for their recognition as distinct (sister) taxa. Our results provide new insights into the biogeography of the Mediterranean biodiversity hotspot, and contribute important findings relevant to the systematics and evolution of this speciose lizard genus

Analogies between geminivirus and oncovirus: Cell cycle regulation

Geminiviruses are a large family of plant viruses whose genome is composed of one or two circular and single strand of DNA. They replicate in the cell nucleus being Rep protein, the only viral protein necessary for their replication process. Geminiviruses as same as animal DNA oncoviruses, like SV40, adenovirus and papillomavirus, use the host replication machinery to replicate their DNA. Consequently, they alter host cell cycle regulation to create a suitable environment for their replication. One of the events involved in this alteration would be the inactivation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) that negatively regulates the G1/S transition in cells. The discovery of one homologue of the pRb in plants and the finding that Rep protein of some geminiviruses interacts with human retinoblastoma protein, as well as animal virus oncoproteins, is very interesting. This finding laid the groundwork for subsequent detection of analogies between geminiviruses and animal DNA tumor viruses, especially in their interaction with pRb. Moreover, the finding allowed the determination of how this interaction affects the regulation of the cell cycle in plants and animals. Accumulated knowledge generates new interesting questions and possible implications, and so, in this document, we dare to watch in that direction.Key words: Geminivirus, oncovirus, retinoblastoma protein, cell cycle regulation, endoreduplication

Kothe dual of Banach lattices generated by vector measures

We study the Kothe dual spaces of Banach function lattices generated by abstract methods having roots in the theory of interpolation spaces. We apply these results to Banach spaces of integrable functions with respect to Banach space valued countably additive vector measures. As an application we derive a description of the Banach dual of a large class of these spaces, including Orlicz spaces of integrable functions with respect to vector measuresThe first author was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). The second author was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant #MTM2012-36740-C02-02.Mastylo, M.; Sánchez Pérez, EA. (2014). Kothe dual of Banach lattices generated by vector measures. Monatshefte fur Mathematik. 173(4):541-557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00605-013-0560-8S5415571734Aronszajn, N., Gagliardo, E.: Interpolation spaces and interpolation methods. Ann. Mat. Pura. Appl. 68, 51–118 (1965)Bartle, R.G., Dunford, N., Schwartz, J.: Weak compactness and vector measures. Canad. J. Math. 7, 289–305 (1955)Brudnyi, Yu.A., Krugljak, N.Ya.: Interpolation functors and interpolation spaces $$I$$ I . North-Holland, Amsterdam (1991)Curbera, G.P.: Operators into $$L^1$$ L 1 of a vector measure and applications to Banach lattices. Math. Ann. 293, 317–330 (1992)Curbera, G.P., Ricker, W.J.: The Fatou property in $$p$$ p -convex Banach lattices. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 328, 287–294 (2007)Delgado, O.: Banach function subspaces of $$L^1$$ L 1 of a vector measure and related Orlicz spaces. Indag. Math. 15(4), 485–495 (2004)Diestel, J., Jr., Uhl, J.J.: Vector measures, Amer. Math. Soc. Surveys 15, Providence, R.I. (1977)Fernández, A., Mayoral, F., Naranjo, F., Sánchez-Pérez, E.A.: Spaces of $$p$$ p -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure. Positivity 10, 1–16 (2006)Ferrando, I., Rodríguez, J.: The weak topology on $$L_p$$ L p of a vector measure. Topol. Appl. 155, 1439–1444 (2008)Ferrando, I., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Tensor product representation of the (pre)dual of the $$L_p$$ L p -space of a vector measure. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 87, 211–225 (2009)Galaz-Fontes, F.: The dual space of $$L^p$$ L p of a vector measure. Positivity 14(4), 715–729 (2010)Kamińska, A.: Indices, convexity and concavity in Musielak-Orlicz spaces, dedicated to Julian Musielak. Funct. Approx. Comment. Math. 26, 67–84 (1998)Kantorovich, L.V., Akilov, G.P.: Functional analysis, 2nd edn. Pergamon Press, New York (1982)Krein, S.G., Petunin, Yu.I., Semenov, E.M.: Interpolation of linear operators. In: Translations of mathematical monographs, 54. American Mathematical Society, Providence, R.I., (1982)Lewis, D.R.: Integration with respect to vector measures. Pacific. J. Math. 33, 157–165 (1970)Lewis, D.R.: On integrability and summability in vector spaces. Ill. J. Math. 16, 583–599 (1973)Lindenstrauss, J., Tzafriri, L.: Classical Banach spaces II. Springer, Berlin (1979)Lozanovskii, G.Ya.: On some Banach lattices, (Russian). Sibirsk. Mat. Z. 10, 419–430 (1969)Musielak, J.: Orlicz spaces and modular spaces. In: Lecture Notes in Math. 1034, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1983)Okada, S.: The dual space of $$L^1(\mu )$$ L 1 ( μ ) of a vector measure $$\mu$$ μ . J. Math. Anal. Appl. 177, 583–599 (1993)Okada, S., Ricker, W.J., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Optimal domain and integral extension of operators acting in function spaces, operator theory. Adv. Appl., vol. 180, Birkhäuser, Basel (2008)Rao, M.M., Zen, Z.D.: Applications of Orlicz spaces. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (2002)Rivera, M.J.: Orlicz spaces of integrable functions with respect to vector-valued measures. Rocky Mt. J. Math. 38(2), 619–637 (2008)Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Compactness arguments for spaces of $$p$$ p -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure and factorization of operators through Lebesgue-Bochner spaces. Ill. J. Math. 45(3), 907–923 (2001)Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Vector measure duality and tensor product representation of $$L_p$$ L p spaces of vector measures. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 132, 3319–3326 (2004)Zaanen, A.C.: Integration. North Holland, Amsterdam (1967

Two rapid assays for screening of patulin biodegradation

Artículo sobre distintos ensayos para comprobar la biodegradación de la patulinaThe mycotoxin patulin is produced by the blue mould pathogen Penicillium expansum in rotting apples during postharvest storage. Patulin is toxic to a wide range of organisms, including humans, animals, fungi and bacteria. Wash water from apple packing and processing houses often harbours patulin and fungal spores, which can contaminate the environment. Ubiquitous epiphytic yeasts, such as Rhodosporidium kratochvilovae strain LS11 which is a biocontrol agent of P. expansum in apples, have the capacity to resist the toxicity of patulin and to biodegrade it. Two non-toxic products are formed. One is desoxypatulinic acid. The aim of the work was to develop rapid, high-throughput bioassays for monitoring patulin degradation in multiple samples. Escherichia coli was highly sensitive to patulin, but insensitive to desoxypatulinic acid. This was utilized to develop a detection test for patulin, replacing time-consuming thin layer chromatography or high-performance liquid chromatography. Two assays for patulin degradation were developed, one in liquid medium and the other in semi-solid medium. Both assays allow the contemporary screening of a large number of samples. The liquid medium assay utilizes 96-well microtiter plates and was optimized for using a minimum of patulin. The semisolid medium assay has the added advantage of slowing down the biodegradation, which allows the study and isolation of transient degradation products. The two assays are complementary and have several areas of utilization, from screening a bank of microorganisms for biodegradation ability to the study of biodegradation pathways

Astrobiological Complexity with Probabilistic Cellular Automata

Search for extraterrestrial life and intelligence constitutes one of the major endeavors in science, but has yet been quantitatively modeled only rarely and in a cursory and superficial fashion. We argue that probabilistic cellular automata (PCA) represent the best quantitative framework for modeling astrobiological history of the Milky Way and its Galactic Habitable Zone. The relevant astrobiological parameters are to be modeled as the elements of the input probability matrix for the PCA kernel. With the underlying simplicity of the cellular automata constructs, this approach enables a quick analysis of large and ambiguous input parameters' space. We perform a simple clustering analysis of typical astrobiological histories and discuss the relevant boundary conditions of practical importance for planning and guiding actual empirical astrobiological and SETI projects. In addition to showing how the present framework is adaptable to more complex situations and updated observational databases from current and near-future space missions, we demonstrate how numerical results could offer a cautious rationale for continuation of practical SETI searches.Comment: 37 pages, 11 figures, 2 tables; added journal reference belo

The common NOD2/CARD15 variant P268S in patients with non-infectious uveitis: a cohort study

Background: The etiology of Autoimmune chronic uveitis (ACU) is still unknown; NOD2/CARD15 gene mutations are responsible for the Blau Syndrome and can induce uveitis in animal models. Presentation of the hypothesis: Aim of our study was to assess if NOD2/CARD15 variants have a role in the etiology or in the clinical course of patients with ACU, either idiopathic or associated with other inflammatory diseases. Testing the hypothesis: We consecutively enrolled 25 patients (19 pediatric and 6 adults) affected with ACU. For each patient medical history was reviewed and clinical data were recorded. Allelic and genotypic frequencies of NOD2/CARD15 variations were calculated in patients and matched with those of 25 healthy controls. The statistical analysis was performed. Fifteen patients showed the polymorphism P268S/SNP5 (SNP rs2066842) as heterozygous carriers while two patients were homozygous for the same polymorphism; one patient carried also the variant c647 18-16 TCT on intron 3, not previously reported in the literature. Statistical analysis for NOD2/CARD15 genotyping showed significant differences between patients and controls for allelic frequencies (p=0.04, OR: 4.03, 95 %; CI=1.2-13.5) but not for genotypic frequencies. We could not identify a significant phenotype-genotype correlation. Implications of the hypothesis: In our cohort of Italian patients, the NOD2/CARD15 common variant P268S/SNP5 could potentially be significantly associated with ACU

Experimental estimation of the dimension of classical and quantum systems

An overwhelming majority of experiments in classical and quantum physics make a priori assumptions about the dimension of the system under consideration. However, would it be possible to assess the dimension of a completely unknown system only from the results of measurements performed on it, without any extra assumption? The concept of a dimension witness answers this question, as it allows one to bound the dimension of an unknown classical or quantum system in a device-independent manner, that is, only from the statistics of measurements performed on it. Here, we report on the experimental demonstration of dimension witnesses in a prepare and measure scenario. We use pairs of photons entangled in both polarization and orbital angular momentum to generate ensembles of classical and quantum states of dimensions up to 4. We then use a dimension witness to certify their dimensionality as well as their quantum nature. Our results open new avenues for the device-independent estimation of unknown quantum systems and for applications in quantum information science.Comment: See also similar, independent and jointly submitted work of J. Ahrens et al., quant-ph/1111.127

Tumour heterogeneity in glioblastoma assessed by MRI texture analysis: a potential marker of survival

Objective: The main objective of this retrospective work was the study of three-dimensional (3D) heterogeneity measures of post-contrast pre-operative MR images acquired with T1 weighted sequences of patients with glioblastoma (GBM) as predictors of clinical outcome. Methods: 79 patients from 3 hospitals were included in the study. 16 3D textural heterogeneity measures were computed including run-length matrix (RLM) features (regional heterogeneity) and co-occurrence matrix (CM) features (local heterogeneity). The significance of the results was studied using Kaplan?Meier curves and Cox proportional hazards analysis. Correlation between the variables of the study was assessed using the Spearman?s correlation coefficient. Results: Kaplan?Meyer survival analysis showed that 4 of the 11 RLM features and 4 of the 5 CM features considered were robust predictors of survival. The median survival differences in the most significant cases were of over 6 months. Conclusion: Heterogeneity measures computed on the post-contrast pre-operative T1 weighted MR images of patients with GBM are predictors of survival. Advances in knowledge: Texture analysis to assess tumour heterogeneity has been widely studied. However, most works develop a two-dimensional analysis, focusing only on one MRI slice to state tumour heterogeneity. The study of fully 3D heterogeneity textural features as predictors of clinical outcome is more robust and is not dependent on the selected slice of the tumour