Overstory influences on light attenuation patterns and understory plant community diversity and composition in southern boreal forests of Quebec

We have characterized overstory light transmission, understory light levels, and plant communities in mixedwood boreal forests of northwestern Quebec with the objective of understanding how overstory light transmission interacts with composition and time since disturbance to influence the diversity and composition of understory vegetation, and, in turn, the further attenuation of light to the forest floor by the understory. Overstory light transmission differed among three forest types (aspen, mixed deciduous-conifer, and old cedar-dominated), with old forests having higher proportions of high light levels than aspen and mixed forests, which were characterized by intermediate light levels. The composition of the understory plant communities in old forests showed the weakest correlation to overstory light transmission, although those forests had the largest range of light transmission. The strongest correlation between characteristics of overstory light transmission and understory communities was found in aspen forests. Species diversity indices were consistently higher in aspen forests but showed weak relationships with overstory light transmission. Light attenuation by the understory vegetation and total height of the understory vegetation were strongly and positively related to overstory light transmission but not forest type. Therefore, light transmission through the overstory influenced the structure and function of understory plants more than their diversity and composition. This is likely due to the strong effect of the upper understory layers, which tend to homogenize light levels at the forest floor regardless of forest type. The understory plant community acts as a filter, thereby reducing light levels at the forest floor to uniformly low levels

Yeast Two-Hybrid: State of the Art

Genome projects are approaching completion and are saturating sequence databases. This paper discusses the role of the two-hybrid system as a generator of hypotheses. Apart from this rather exhaustive, financially and labour intensive procedure, more refined functional studies can be undertaken. Indeed, by making hybrids of two-hybrid systems, customised approaches can be developed in order to attack specific function-related problems. For example, one could set-up a "differential" screen by combining a forward and a reverse approach in a three-hybrid set-up. Another very interesting project is the use of peptide libraries in two-hybrid approaches. This could enable the identification of peptides with very high specificity comparable to "real" antibodies. With the technology available, the only limitation is imagination

Performance of novel VUV-sensitive Silicon Photo-Multipliers for nEXO

Liquid xenon time projection chambers are promising detectors to search for neutrinoless double beta decay (0$\nu \beta \beta$), due to their response uniformity, monolithic sensitive volume, scalability to large target masses, and suitability for extremely low background operations. The nEXO collaboration has designed a tonne-scale time projection chamber that aims to search for 0$\nu \beta \beta$ of \ce{^{136}Xe} with projected half-life sensitivity of $1.35\times 10^{28}$~yr. To reach this sensitivity, the design goal for nEXO is $\leq$1\% energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value ($2458.07\pm 0.31$~keV). Reaching this resolution requires the efficient collection of both the ionization and scintillation produced in the detector. The nEXO design employs Silicon Photo-Multipliers (SiPMs) to detect the vacuum ultra-violet, 175 nm scintillation light of liquid xenon. This paper reports on the characterization of the newest vacuum ultra-violet sensitive Fondazione Bruno Kessler VUVHD3 SiPMs specifically designed for nEXO, as well as new measurements on new test samples of previously characterised Hamamatsu VUV4 Multi Pixel Photon Counters (MPPCs). Various SiPM and MPPC parameters, such as dark noise, gain, direct crosstalk, correlated avalanches and photon detection efficiency were measured as a function of the applied over voltage and wavelength at liquid xenon temperature (163~K). The results from this study are used to provide updated estimates of the achievable energy resolution at the decay $Q$-value for the nEXO design

A Germline Variant at 8q24 Contributes to Familial Clustering of Prostate Cancer in Men of African Ancestry

Although men of African ancestry have a high risk of prostate cancer (PCa), no genes or mutations have been identified that contribute to familial clustering of PCa in this population. We investigated whether the African ancestry–specific PCa risk variant at 8q24, rs72725854, is enriched in men with a PCa family history in 9052 cases, 143 cases from high-risk families, and 8595 controls of African ancestry. We found the risk allele to be significantly associated with earlier age at diagnosis, more aggressive disease, and enriched in men with a PCa family history (32% of high-risk familial cases carried the variant vs 23% of cases without a family history and 12% of controls). For cases with two or more first-degree relatives with PCa who had at least one family member diagnosed at age <60 yr, the odds ratios for TA heterozygotes and TT homozygotes were 3.92 (95% confidence interval [CI] = 2.13–7.22) and 33.41 (95% CI = 10.86–102.84), respectively. Among men with a PCa family history, the absolute risk by age 60 yr reached 21% (95% CI = 17–25%) for TA heterozygotes and 38% (95% CI = 13–65%) for TT homozygotes. We estimate that in men of African ancestry, rs72725854 accounts for 32% of the total familial risk explained by all known PCa risk variants. Patient summary: We found that rs72725854, an African ancestry–specific risk variant, is more common in men with a family history of prostate cancer and in those diagnosed with prostate cancer at younger ages. Men of African ancestry may benefit from the knowledge of their carrier status for this genetic risk variant to guide decisions about prostate cancer screening. © 2020 The AuthorsThe African ancestry–specific prostate cancer risk variant at 8q24, rs72725854, is enriched in men diagnosed at younger ages and men with a prostate cancer family history. Carriers of this risk allele would benefit from regular and earlier prostate cancer screening

Generation of micro- and nano-bubbles in water by dissociation of gas hydrates

Gas hydrate crystals have a structure in which one molecule is enclathrated in a cage of water molecules. When such a crystal dissociates in water, each enclathrated molecule, generally vapor at standard temperature and pressure, directly dissolves into the water. After the solution is supersaturated, excess gas molecules from further dissociation start forming small bubbles called micro- and nano-bubbles (MNBs). However, it is difficult to identify such small bubbles dispersed in liquid because they are smaller than a microscope's optical resolution. To confirm the formation of MNBs after gas hydrate dissociation, we used a transmission electron microscope (TEM) to analyze freeze-fracture replicas of CH4-hydrate dissociation solution. The TEM images indicate the existence of MNBs in the solution, with a number concentration similar to that from a commercially supplied generator. Raman spectroscopic measurements on the CH4-hydrate dissociated solution were then used to confirm that the MNBs contain CH4 vapor, and to estimate experimentally the inner pressure of the CH4 MNBs. These results suggest that the dissociation of gas hydrate crystals in water is a simple, effective method to obtain MNB solution. We then discuss how such MNBs may play a key role in the memory effect of gas-hydrate recrystallization

Contrasting response to Pleistocene climate change by ground-living and arboreal Mandarina snails from the oceanic Hahajima archipelago

While the genetic impact of Pleistocene climate change on temperate species has been well characterized, especially in Europe and North America, an effect on the diversification of species on oceanic islands has been less well studied. This is perhaps a surprising observation given the traditional and continuing contribution of island species (e.g. Darwin's finches, Partula snails, Lord Howe Island palms) to understand speciation. Here, we combine mitochondrial and microsatellite data from the ground-living and arboreal Mandarina snails of the oceanic, subtropical Hahajima archipelago (Ogasawara, colloquially ‘Galápagos of the Orient’) to enable a comparative approach to understand the impact of the Pleistocene glaciations on their phylogeography. Prior work suggested that several narrowly divergent, ground-living species pairs of Mandarina populations on the outlying islands, as well as the low-lying southern and central parts of Hahajima, probably underwent bottlenecks and subsequent expansions during the recent Pleistocene. Here, the most striking finding is that largely arboreal species have deeply divergent, geographically restricted mitochondrial lineages, in contrast to a census size that is at least an order of magnitude lower than ground-living snails. As populations of both types are highly polymorphic at microsatellite loci, the systematic difference at the mitochondrial locus probably indicates a contrasting effect of the Pleistocene climate cycles on the two groups. We speculate that this may have partly come about owing to a reduced efficacy of natural selection on the more greatly structured populations of arboreal snails. If so, then a prediction is that the genome of other snails, or other species with limited mobility, will show a similar response to the Pleistocene climate cycles