Synthesis And Characterization Of High Efficiency And Stable Ag 3Po 4/Tio 2 Visible Light Photocatalyst For The Degradation Of Methylene Blue And Rhodamine B Solutions

A Fabry-Perot etalon, consisting of two π phase shifted reflecting volume Bragg gratings, is presented. These gratings are obtained as a moiré pattern resulting from sequential recording of interference patterns with different periods in photo-thermo-refractive glass and called moiré volume Bragg gratings (MVBGs). A detailed investigation of the fundamental operating principles and measurement techniques for phase shifted gratings is shown. Experimental results demonstrating a MVBG with a 15 pm bandwidth and 90% transmission at resonance are presented. The use of the MVBG for longitudinal mode selection in a laser resonator is shown. © 2012 Copyright Society of Photo-Optical Instrumentation Engineers (SPIE)

Identification and Functional Analysis of Long Non-Coding RNA (lncRNA) in Response to Seed Aging in Rice

Many lncRNAs have been shown to play a vital role in aging processes. However, how lncRNAs regulate seed aging remains unknown. In this study, we performed whole transcriptome strand-specific RNA sequencing of samples from rice embryos, analyzed the differences in expression of rice seed lncRNAs before and after artificial aging treatment (AAT), and systematically screened 6002 rice lncRNAs. During the AAT period, the expression levels of most lncRNAs (454) were downregulated and only four were upregulated among the 458 differentially expressed lncRNAs (DELs). Cis- or trans-regulated target genes of the four upregulated lncRNAs were mainly related to base repair, while 454 downregulated lncRNAs were related to plant–pathogen interaction, plant hormones, energy metabolism, and secondary metabolism. The pathways of DEL target genes were similar with those of differentially expressed mRNAs (DEGs). A competing endogenous RNA (ceRNA) network composed of 34 lncRNAs, 24 microRNAs (miRNA), and 161 mRNAs was obtained. The cDNA sequence of lncRNA LNC_037529 was obtained by rapid amplification of cDNA ends (RACE) cloning with a total length of 1325 bp, a conserved 5′ end, and a non-conserved 3′ end. Together, our findings indicate that genome-wide selection for lncRNA downregulation was an important mechanism for rice seed aging. LncRNAs can be used as markers of seed aging in rice. These findings provide a future path to decipher the underlying mechanism associated with lncRNAs in seed aging

Temperature dependence of the Rayleigh Brillouin spectrum linewidth in air and nitrogen

The relation between spontaneous Rayleigh Brillouin (SRB) spectrum linewidth, gas temperature, and pressure are analyzed at the temperature range from 220 to 340 K and the pressure range from 0.1 to 1 bar, covering the stratosphere and troposphere relevant for the Earth’s atmosphere and for atmospheric Lidar missions. Based on the analysis, a model retrieving gas temperature from directly measured linewidth is established and the accuracy limitations are estimated. Furthermore, some experimental data of air and nitrogen are used to verify the accuracy of the model. As the results show, the retrieved temperature shows good agreement with the reference temperature, and the absolute difference is less than 3 K, which indicates that this method provides a fruitful tool in satellite retrieval to extract the gaseous properties of atmospheres on-line by directly measuring the SRB spectrum linewidth

Overexpressed proteins in hypervirulent clade 8 and clade 6 strains of Escherichia coli O157:H7 compared to E. coli O157:H7 EDL933 clade 3 strain

Escherichia coli O157:H7 is responsible for severe diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and predominantly affects children under 5 years. The major virulence traits are Shiga toxins, necessary to develop HUS and the Type III Secretion System (T3SS) through which bacteria translocate effector proteins directly into the host cell. By SNPs typing, E. coli O157:H7 was separated into nine different clades. Clade 8 and clade 6 strains were more frequently associated with severe disease and HUS. In this study, we aimed to identify differentially expressed proteins in two strains of E. coli O157:H7 (clade 8 and clade 6), obtained from cattle and compared them with the well characterized reference EDL933 strain (clade 3). Clade 8 and clade 6 strains show enhanced pathogenicity in a mouse model and virulence-related properties. Proteins were extracted and analyzed using the TMT-6plex labeling strategy associated with two dimensional liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry in tandem. We detected 2241 proteins in the cell extract and 1787 proteins in the culture supernatants. Attention was focused on the proteins related to virulence, overexpressed in clade 6 and 8 strains compared to EDL933 strain. The proteins relevant overexpressed in clade 8 strain were the curli protein CsgC, a transcriptional activator (PchE), phage proteins, Stx2, FlgM and FlgD, a dienelactone hydrolase, CheW and CheY, and the SPATE protease EspP. For clade 6 strain, a high overexpression of phage proteins was detected, mostly from Stx2 encoding phage, including Stx2, flagellin and the protease TagA, EDL933_p0016, dienelactone hydrolase, and Haemolysin A, amongst others with unknown function. Some of these proteins were analyzed by RT-qPCR to corroborate the proteomic data. Clade 6 and clade 8 strains showed enhanced transcription of 10 out of 12 genes compared to EDL933. These results may provide new insights in E. coli O157:H7 mechanisms of pathogenesis.Inst. de BiotecnologíaFil: Amigo, Natalia. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Qi, Zhang. Guangdong ‘Academy of Agricultural Sciences. AGRO-Biological Gene Research Center; ChinaFil: Amadio, Ariel. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Estación Experimental Agropecuaria Rafaela; ArgentinaFil: Qunjie, Zhang. Guangdong ‘Academy of Agricultural Sciences. AGRO-Biological Gene Research Center; ChinaFil: Marques da Silva, Wanderson. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Zhongjian, Chen. Guangdong ‘Academy of Agricultural Sciences. AGRO-Biological Gene Research Center; ChinaFil: Larzabal, Mariano. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; ArgentinaFil: Jinlong, Bei. Guangdong ‘Academy of Agricultural Sciences. AGRO-Biological Gene Research Center; ChinaFil: Cataldi, Angel Adrian. Instituto Nacional de Tecnología Agropecuaria (INTA). Instituto de Biotecnología; Argentin

Sensory, somatomotor and internal mentation networks emerge dynamically in the resting brain with internal mentation predominating in older age

Age-related changes in the brain are associated with a decline in functional flexibility. Intrinsic functional flexibility is evident in the brain's dynamic ability to switch between alternative spatiotemporal states during resting state. However, the relationship between brain connectivity states, associated psychological functions during resting state, and the changes in normal aging remain poorly understood. In this study, we analyzed resting-state functional magnetic resonance imaging (rsfMRI) data from the Human Connectome Project (HCP; N = 812) and the UK Biobank (UKB; N = 6,716). Using signed community clustering to identify distinct states of dynamic functional connectivity, and text-mining of a large existing literature for functional annotation of each state, our findings from the HCP dataset indicated that the resting brain spontaneously transitions between three functionally specialized states: sensory, somatomotor, and internal mentation networks. The occurrence, transition-rate, and persistence-time parameters for each state were correlated with behavioural scores using canonical correlation analysis. We estimated the same brain states and parameters in the UKB dataset, subdivided into three distinct age ranges: 50–55, 56–67, and 68–78 years. We found that the internal mentation network was more frequently expressed in people aged 71 and older, whereas people younger than 55 more frequently expressed sensory and somatomotor networks. Furthermore, analysis of the functional entropy — a measure of uncertainty of functional connectivity — also supported this finding across the three age ranges. Our study demonstrates that dynamic functional connectivity analysis can expose the time-varying patterns of transition between functionally specialized brain states, which are strongly tied to increasing age

Overexpressed Proteins in Hypervirulent Clade 8 and Clade 6 Strains of <i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7 Compared to <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O157:H7 EDL933 Clade 3 Strain

<div><p><i>Escherichia coli</i> O157:H7 is responsible for severe diarrhea and hemolytic uremic syndrome (HUS), and predominantly affects children under 5 years. The major virulence traits are Shiga toxins, necessary to develop HUS and the Type III Secretion System (T3SS) through which bacteria translocate effector proteins directly into the host cell. By SNPs typing, <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O157:H7 was separated into nine different clades. Clade 8 and clade 6 strains were more frequently associated with severe disease and HUS. In this study, we aimed to identify differentially expressed proteins in two strains of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O157:H7 (clade 8 and clade 6), obtained from cattle and compared them with the well characterized reference EDL933 strain (clade 3). Clade 8 and clade 6 strains show enhanced pathogenicity in a mouse model and virulence-related properties. Proteins were extracted and analyzed using the TMT-6plex labeling strategy associated with two dimensional liquid chromatography and mass spectrometry in tandem. We detected 2241 proteins in the cell extract and 1787 proteins in the culture supernatants. Attention was focused on the proteins related to virulence, overexpressed in clade 6 and 8 strains compared to EDL933 strain. The proteins relevant overexpressed in clade 8 strain were the curli protein CsgC, a transcriptional activator (PchE), phage proteins, Stx2, FlgM and FlgD, a dienelactone hydrolase, CheW and CheY, and the SPATE protease EspP. For clade 6 strain, a high overexpression of phage proteins was detected, mostly from Stx2 encoding phage, including Stx2, flagellin and the protease TagA, EDL933_p0016, dienelactone hydrolase, and Haemolysin A, amongst others with unknown function. Some of these proteins were analyzed by RT-qPCR to corroborate the proteomic data. Clade 6 and clade 8 strains showed enhanced transcription of 10 out of 12 genes compared to EDL933. These results may provide new insights in <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O157:H7 mechanisms of pathogenesis.</p></div

Comparison of the differential (clade 6/8 strain vs. EDL933) gene expression ratios of selected genes of <i>E</i>. <i>coli</i> O157:H7, obtained by RT-qPCR of RNA from bacteria grown in vitro.

<p>The bars indicate the fold change of Rafaela II (clade 8)/EDL933 or 7.1 Anguil (clade 6)/EDL933 for three independent biological replicates, for triplicate, and the error bars indicate the standard deviations. The values of gene expression in clade 8 or clade 6 strain were significantly different of those in EDL933, as determined by fgStatistic software(* p value < 0.05).</p