The forest biomaterials initiative at Michigan Tech and across Michigan

The first statewide effort for a broad, cradle-to-cradle perspective of forest biomaterials originated at the MTU School of Forest Resources in 2012 and held a statewide meeting in Traverse City in 2013. The biomaterials initiative is currently a MTU university wide initiative, and is proceeding with development of educational and research programs that are envisioned to span most schools and colleges at MTU. Because of the work done in Traverse City and subsequent meetings, the Michigan Forest Biomaterials Institute (MiFBI) has evolved into an independent nonprofit with an expansive mission to enhance quality of life in Michigan by fostering sustainable forests, communities, and economies through innovative and responsible production, use, and recycling of forest biomaterials –in short, to lead the State of Michigan into the forest bioeconomy.https://digitalcommons.mtu.edu/techtalks/1005/thumbnail.jp

Pitx2 is an upstream activator of extraocular myogenesis and survival

AbstractThe transcription factors required to initiate myogenesis in branchial arch- and somite-derived muscles are known, but the comparable upstream factors required during extraocular muscle development have not been identified. We show Pax7 is dispensable for extraocular muscle formation, whereas Pitx2 is cell-autonomously required to prevent apoptosis of the extraocular muscle primordia. The survival requirement for Pitx2 is stage-dependent and ends following stable activation of genes for the muscle regulatory factors (e.g. Myf5, MyoD), which is reduced in the absence of Pitx2. Further, PITX2 binds and activates transcription of the Myf5 and MyoD promoters, indicating these genes are direct targets. Collectively, these data demonstrate that PITX2 is required at several steps in the development of extraocular muscles, acting first as an anti-apoptotic factor in pre-myogenic mesoderm, and subsequently to activate the myogenic program in these cells. Thus, Pitx2 is the first demonstrated upstream activator of myogenesis in the extraocular muscles

Forest stand structure and pattern of old-growth Western Hemlock/Douglas-Fir and mixed-conifer forests

With fire suppression, many western forests are expected to have fewer gaps and higher stem density of shade-tolerant species as light competition becomes a more significant influence on stand pattern and composition. We compared species composition, structure, spatial pattern, and environmental factors such as light and soil moisture between two old-growth forests: Pacific Northwest western hemlock/Douglas-fir at the Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility exhibiting gap-phase replacement and southern Sierra Nevada mixed conifer at the Teakettle Experimental Forest after 135 years without a fire. We hypothesized that fire suppression at Teakettle would create a current tree composition and distribution more like Wind River where light is an important influence on stand dynamics. Wind River has nearly continuous canopy cover and a high foliage volume that severely reduces understory light and stratifies the canopy composition by shade tolerance. Large trees are regularly spaced from 0 to 15 m and shade-tolerant and intolerant species are “repelled.” In contrast, Teakettle’s canopy cover is discontinuous, foliage volume is one-fifth that of Wind River, and understory light is 15 times higher. Trees at Teakettle are significantly clustered in groups containing a mix of shade-tolerant and -intolerant species, separated by large gaps. Although Teakettle’s gaps have higher moisture and a thinner litter layer than tree groups, regeneration in gaps is scarce. Fire suppression has increased stem density at Teakettle but it has not filled in gaps, stratified the canopy by shade tolerance, or produced a composition consistent with patterns at Wind River. Teakettle’s distinctly clustered stem distribution may result from a minimum canopy cover threshold needed for tree establishment. If high temperatures produced by direct sunlight inhibit stem patterns, traditional stand management that reduces canopy cover to release regeneration should be applied with caution in the southern Sierra Nevada. FOR. SCI. 50(3):299–311.Keywords: Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, Shade tolerance, Spatial pattern, Canopy cover, Forest gaps, Ripley's K analysis, Stand dynamics, Teakettle Experimental ForestKeywords: Wind River Canopy Crane Research Facility, Shade tolerance, Spatial pattern, Canopy cover, Forest gaps, Ripley's K analysis, Stand dynamics, Teakettle Experimental Fores

Intra-individual variability of eGFR trajectories in early diabetic kidney disease and lack of performance of prognostic biomarkers

Studies reporting on biomarkers aiming to predict adverse renal outcomes in patients with type 2 diabetes and kidney disease (DKD) conventionally define a surrogate endpoint either as a percentage of decrease of eGFR (e.g. ≥ 30%) or an absolute decline (e.g. ≥ 5 ml/min/year). The application of those study results in clinical practise however relies on the assumption of a linear and intra-individually stable progression of DKD. We studied 860 patients of the PROVALID study and 178 of an independent population with a relatively preserved eGFR at baseline and at least 5 years of follow up. Individuals with a detrimental prognosis were identified using various thresholds of a percentage or absolute decline of eGFR after each year of follow up. Next, we determined how many of the patients met the same criteria at other points in time. Interindividual eGFR decline was highly variable but in addition intra-individual eGFR trajectories also were frequently non-linear. For example, of all subjects reaching an endpoint defined as a decrease of eGFR by ≥ 30% between baseline and 3 years of follow up, only 60.3 and 45.2% lost at least the same amount between baseline and year 4 or 5. The results were similar when only patients on stable medication or subpopulations based on baseline eGFR or albuminuria status were analyzed or an eGFR decline of ≥ 5 ml/min/1.73m2/year was used. Identification of reliable biomarkers predicting adverse prognosis is a strong clinical need given the large interindividual variability of DKD progression. However, it is conceptually challenging in early DKD because of non-linear intra-individual eGFR trajectories. As a result, the performance of a prognostic biomarker may be accurate after a specific time of follow-up in a single population only

The motion of trees in the wind : a data synthesis

Interactions between wind and trees control energy exchanges between the atmosphere and forest canopies. This energy exchange can lead to the widespread damage of trees, and wind is a key disturbance agent in many of the world’s forests. However, most research on this topic has focused on conifer plantations, where risk management is economically important, rather than broadleaf forests, which dominate the forest carbon cycle. This study brings together tree motion time-series data to systematically evaluate the factors influencing tree responses to wind loading, including data from both broadleaf and coniferous trees in forests and open environments. Wefoundthatthetwomostdescriptive features of tree motion were (a) the fundamental frequency, which is a measure of the speed at which a tree sways and is strongly related to tree height, and (b) the slope of the power spectrum, which is related to the efficiency of energy transfer from wind to trees. Intriguingly, the slope of the power spectrum was found to remain constant from medium to high wind speeds for all trees in this study. This suggests that, contrary to some predictions, damping or amplification mechanisms do not change dramatically at high wind speeds, and therefore wind damage risk is related, relatively simply, to wind speed. Conifers from forests were distinct from broadleaves in terms of their response to wind loading. Specifically, the fundamental frequency of forest conifers was related to their size according to the cantilever beam model (i.e. vertically distributed mass), whereas broadleaves were better approximated by the simple pendulum model (i.e. dominated by the crown). Forest conifers also had a steeper slope of the power spectrum. We interpret these finding as being strongly related to tree architecture; i.e. conifers generally have a simple shape due to their apical dominance, whereas broadleaves exhibit a much wider range of architectures with more dominant crowns

p38-γ–dependent gene silencing restricts entry into the myogenic differentiation program

The regenerative capacity of muscle is regulated by p38-γ, which phosphorylates MyoD and leads to formation of a complex that represses myogenin transcription

Abeta42-Induced Neurodegeneration via an Age-Dependent Autophagic-Lysosomal Injury in Drosophila

The mechanism of widespread neuronal death occurring in Alzheimer's disease (AD) remains enigmatic even after extensive investigation during the last two decades. Amyloid beta 42 peptide (Aβ1–42) is believed to play a causative role in the development of AD. Here we expressed human Aβ1–42 and amyloid beta 40 (Aβ1–40) in Drosophila neurons. Aβ1–42 but not Aβ1–40 causes an extensive accumulation of autophagic vesicles that become increasingly dysfunctional with age. Aβ1–42-induced impairment of the degradative function, as well as the structural integrity, of post-lysosomal autophagic vesicles triggers a neurodegenerative cascade that can be enhanced by autophagy activation or partially rescued by autophagy inhibition. Compromise and leakage from post-lysosomal vesicles result in cytosolic acidification, additional damage to membranes and organelles, and erosive destruction of cytoplasm leading to eventual neuron death. Neuronal autophagy initially appears to play a pro-survival role that changes in an age-dependent way to a pro-death role in the context of Aβ1–42 expression. Our in vivo observations provide a mechanistic understanding for the differential neurotoxicity of Aβ1–42 and Aβ1–40, and reveal an Aβ1–42-induced death execution pathway mediated by an age-dependent autophagic-lysosomal injury

Relations of climate and radial increment of western hemlock in an old-growth Douglas-fir forest in southern Washington

The objective of this study was to examine the association of western hemlock (Tsuga heterophylla) growth to climate across structural levels in an old-growth forest. The canopy vertical gradient was sectioned into six 10-m height classes with western hemlock growth examined in the top five levels. All trees in a 4.0 ha plot (n = 645), greater than 15cm diameter at breast height (DBH) were cored for the recent 20-year growth record. Growth chronologies representing each height class were correlated to 10 climatic variables. The 40-50m height class exhibited the highest correlations to climate and the 10-20m height class exhibited the lowest. When moving averages of 3 and 5 years were applied to the growth index and climatic variables, the correlations of height class one (10-20m) became the strongest suggesting that growth of canopy dominants is determined by short term climatic conditions while understory growth was influenced by longer term climatic conditions. Understory growth at the 5-year temporal scale was strongly (-0.6 > R < -0.8) and negatively correlated to temperature while its correlation to precipitation was strongly positive. The annual depth of snow at the 5-year time scale was the only climatic variable to affect growth similarly for all height classes, indicating consecutive years of deep snow had a negative impact upon western hemlock productivity. Understanding effects of canopy structure upon the relationships between climate and tree growth can improve interpretation of past climatic conditions and stand dynamics from long tree cores. The climatic signal for stand chronologies that experienced suppression or competition could be adjusted for typical changes that occur with tree ascension to canopy dominance. Current uses of universal climate-growth relationships in forest ecosystems (e.g., gap family models), especially in structurally diverse old-growth stands, provide a questionable picture of forest growth and dynamic

Tree hardening and adaptation to wind: look forward

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