PRODUCTION PERFORMANCE OF SOME WHEAT VARIETIES IN THE PEDOCLIMATE CONDITIONS FROM SCDA CARACAL

Knowing the particularities of the reaction of the new varieties and hybrids of the crop plants, under different conditions of experimentation is one of the basic activities of the experimental agricultural research and its aim is their judicious choice for cultivation in certain areas. The paper presents the production results obtained from two Romanian varieties of autumn wheat grown under pedoclimatic conditions at SCDA Caracal, under non-irrigation regime, during three years of experimentation. Taking into consideration the variations of the climatic conditions over the years of experimentation, at the same level of fertilization, the productions obtained for the two varieties of wheat recommend their cultivation in the area of the Caracal Plain

Şantierul arheologic Băile Herculane (reg. Timişoara, r. Almaş) / Chantier archéologique de Băile Herculane

Nicolăescu-Plopşor Constantin S., Comşa Eugen, Păunescu Alexandru. Şantierul arheologic Băile Herculane (reg. Timişoara, r. Almaş) / Chantier archéologique de Băile Herculane. In: Materiale şi cercetări arheologice, N°3 1957. pp. 51-58

Est-ce 'la' ou 'le'? Un apprentissage difficile

A study of the acquisition of nominal gender in Germanic and Romance languages by monolingual and bilingual children on the one hand and second language learners on the other shows that gender is difficult to acquire in all languages for L2 learners. In the same time, it is shown that in Romance languages, monolingual and bilingual children have no problems in acquiring gender, while it is harder to acquire gender in Germanic languages, except for Swedish and Norwegian. The Dutch gender seems to be hardest to learn

Ultrastructural Characterization of the Glomerulopathy in Alport Mice by Helium Ion Scanning Microscopy (HIM)

Abstract The glomerulus exercises its filtration barrier function by establishing a complex filtration apparatus consisting of podocyte foot processes, glomerular basement membrane and endothelial cells. Disruption of any component of the glomerular filtration barrier leads to glomerular dysfunction, frequently manifested as proteinuria. Ultrastructural studies of the glomerulus by transmission electron microscopy (TEM) and conventional scanning electron microscopy (SEM) have been routinely used to identify and classify various glomerular diseases. Here we report the application of newly developed helium ion scanning microscopy (HIM) to examine the glomerulopathy in a Col4a3 mutant/Alport syndrome mouse model. Our study revealed unprecedented details of glomerular abnormalities in Col4a3 mutants including distorted podocyte cell bodies and disorganized primary processes. Strikingly, we observed abundant filamentous microprojections arising from podocyte cell bodies and processes, and presence of unique bridging processes that connect the primary processes and foot processes in Alport mice. Furthermore, we detected an altered glomerular endothelium with disrupted sub-endothelial integrity. More importantly, we were able to clearly visualize the complex, three-dimensional podocyte and endothelial interface by HIM. Our study demonstrates that HIM provides nanometer resolution to uncover and rediscover critical ultrastructural characteristics of the glomerulopathy in Col4a3 mutant mice

Altered V-ATPase expression in renal intercalated cells isolated from B1-subunit deficient mice by fluorescence activated cell sorting

Unlike human patients with mutations in the 56-kDa B1 subunit isoform of the vacuolar proton-pumping ATPase (V-ATPase), B1-deficient mice (Atp6v1b1(-/-)) do not develop metabolic acidosis under baseline conditions. This is due to the insertion of V-ATPases containing the alternative B2 subunit isoform into the apical membrane of renal medullary collecting duct intercalated cells (ICs). We previously reported that quantitative Western blots (WBs) from whole kidneys showed similar B2 protein levels in Atp6v1b1(-/-) and wild type mice. However, WBs from renal medulla (including outer and inner medulla) membrane and cytosol fractions reveal a decrease in the levels of the ubiquitous V-ATPase E1 subunit. To compare V-ATPase expression specifically in ICs from wild type and Atp6v1b1(-/-) mice, we crossed mice in which EGFP expression is driven by the B1 subunit promoter (EGFP-B1(+/+) mice) with Atp6v1b1(-/-) mice to generate novel EGFP-B1(-/-) mice. We isolated pure IC populations by fluorescence-assisted cell sorting from EGFP-B1(+/+) and EGFP-B1(-/-) mice to compare their V-ATPase subunit protein levels. We report that V-ATPase A, E1, and H subunits are all significantly down-regulated in EGFP-B1(-/-) mice, while the B2 protein level is considerably increased in these animals. We conclude that under baseline conditions the B2 up-regulation compensates for the lack of B1, and is sufficient to maintain basal acid-base homeostasis, even when other V-ATPase subunits are down-regulated