Association between winter anthocyanin production and drought stress in angiosperm evergreen species

Leaves of many evergreen angiosperm species turn red under high light during winter due to the production of anthocyanin pigments, while leaves of other species remain green. There is currently no explanation for why some evergreen species exhibit winter reddening while others do not. Conditions associated with low leaf water potentials (Ψ) have been shown to induce reddening in many plant species. Because evergreen species differ in susceptibility to water stress during winter, it is hypothesized that species which undergo winter colour change correspond with those that experience/tolerate the most severe daily declines in leaf Ψ during winter. Six angiosperm evergreen species which synthesize anthocyanin in leaves under high light during winter and five species which do not were studied. Field Ψ, pressure/volume curves, and gas exchange measurements were derived in summer (before leaf colour change had occurred) and winter. Consistent with the hypothesis, red-leafed species as a group had significantly lower midday Ψ in winter than green-leafed species, but not during the summer when all the leaves were green. However, some red-leafed species showed midday declines similar to those of green-leafed species, suggesting that low Ψ alone may not induce reddening. Pressure–volume curves also provided some evidence of acclimation to more negative water potentials by red-leafed species during winter (e.g. greater osmotic adjustment and cell wall hardening on average). However, much overlap in these physiological parameters was observed as well between red and green-leafed species, and some of the least drought-acclimated species were red-leafed. No difference was observed in transpiration (E) during winter between red and green-leaved species. When data were combined, only three of the six red-leafed species examined appeared physiologically acclimated to prolonged drought stress, compared to one of the five green-leafed species. This suggests that drought stress alone is not sufficient to explain winter reddening in evergreen angiosperms

Effective balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration of the superior mesenteric vein?inferior vena cava shunt in a patient with hepatic encephalopathy after living donor liver transplantation

Balloon-occluded retrograde transvenous obliteration (BRTO) has become a common and effective procedure for treating hepatic encephalopathy due to a portosystemic shunt related to cirrhosis of the liver. However, this method of treatment has rarely been reported in patients after liver transplantation. Here, we report the case of a 52-year-old patient who underwent living donor liver transplantation (LDLT) due to hepatitis C virus-infected hepatocellular carcinoma that was complicated with portal vein thrombosis and a large portosystemic shunt between the superior mesenteric vein (SMV) and inferior vena cava (IVC). The SMV-IVC shunt was not obliterated during LDLT because there was sufficient portal flow into the graft after reperfusion. However, the patient was postoperatively complicated with encephalopathy due to the portosystemic shunt. BRTO was performed and was demonstrated to have effectively managed the encephalopathy due to the SMV-IVC shunt, while preserving the hepatic function after LDLT

Experimental observations and modelling of radiation asymmetries during N2 seeding in LHD

N2 gas has been seeded in the Large Helical Device (LHD) to reduce the divertor heat load through enhanced radiation. Radiation is observed by two imaging bolometers, viewing the same poloidal cross-section from top and bottom ports, at a location which is 36°toroidally removed from the N2 gas puff nozzle located at the bottom of the machine. During N2 seeding, these measurements both confirm that additional radiation from the outboard side is coming exclusively from the top of the cross-section, indicating up/down asymmetry, which is also reproduced by modelling with EMC3-EIRENE using a half torus model. In addition, a toroidally localized, magnetic field direction-dependent radiation enhancement is observed with N2 seeding, but is not reproducible by the model