The \u3csup\u3e18\u3c/sup\u3eO-Signal Transfer from Water Vapour to Leaf Water and Assimilates Varies Among Plant Species and Growth Forms

The 18O signature of atmospheric water vapour (δ18OV) is known to be transferred via leaf water to assimilates. It remains, however, unclear how the 18O‐signal transfer differs among plant species and growth forms. We performed a 9‐hr greenhouse fog experiment (relative humidity ≥ 98%) with 18O‐depleted water vapour (−106.7‰) on 140 plant species of eight different growth forms during daytime. We quantified the 18O‐signal transfer by calculating the mean residence time of O in leaf water (MRTLW) and sugars (MRTSugars) and related it to leaf traits and physiological drivers. MRTLW increased with leaf succulence and thickness, varying between 1.4 and 10.8 hr. MRTSugars was shorter in C3 and C4 plants than in crassulacean acid metabolism (CAM) plants and highly variable among species and growth forms; MRTSugars was shortest for grasses and aquatic plants, intermediate for broadleaf trees, shrubs, and herbs, and longest for conifers, epiphytes, and succulents. Sucrose was more sensitive to δ18OV variations than other assimilates. Our comprehensive study shows that plant species and growth forms vary strongly in their sensitivity to δ18OV variations, which is important for the interpretation of δ18O values in plant organic material and compounds and thus for the reconstruction of climatic conditions and plant functional responses

Immunoregulatory effects of AFP domains on monocyte-derived dendritic cell function

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Alpha-fetoprotein (AFP) is a tumor-associated glycoprotein that functions in regulation of both ontogenic and oncogenic growth. Recent study showed that AFP can induce apoptosis or impair monocyte-derived dendritic cell (MDDC) function. However, it is still unclear which AFP domain (D-AFP) plays major role in this function.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>As expected monocytes cultured in the presence of Granulocyte Macrophage-Colony Stimulating Factor (GM-CSF) and Interleukin-4 (IL-4) developed into MDDC. Up-regulation of HLA-DR and CD11c as well as loss of CD14 molecules could be observed. Full length AFP (FL-AFP), domain 2 AFP (D2-AFP) and D3-AFP, but not D1-AFP, significantly inhibited the expression of HLA-DR^high/CD11c^highand CD80⁺/CD86^highmolecules. In contrast, CD83 expression was substantially down-regulated in all samples. Expression of CD40 was significantly suppressed by FL-AFP but not by any D-AFPs. Finally, both FL-AFP and D-AFP impaired the MDDC ability to secrete IL-12 (p70).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>D2- and D3- but not D1-AFP extensively suppresses the MDDC function. All the recombinant AFP proteins impaired the ability of MDDC to secrete IL-12.</p

70-річчя члена-кореспондента НАН України В.П. Моторного

28 липня виповнилося 70 років видатному математику членові-кореспондентові НАН України Віталію Павловичу Моторному

The Effect of Sugar-Free Versus Sugar-Sweetened Beverages on Satiety, Liking and Wanting: An 18 Month Randomized Double-Blind Trial in Children

BACKGROUND: Substituting sugar-free for sugar-sweetened beverages reduces weight gain. A possible explanation is that sugar-containing and sugar-free beverages cause the same degree of satiety. However, this has not been tested in long-term trials. METHODS: We randomized 203 children aged 7-11 years to receive 250 mL per day of an artificially sweetened sugar-free beverage or a similarly looking and tasting sugar-sweetened beverage. We measured satiety on a 5-point scale by questionnaire at 0, 6, 12 and 18 months. We calculated the change in satiety from before intake to 1 minute after intake and 15 minutes after intake. We then calculated the odds ratio that satiety increased by 1 point in the sugar-group versus the sugar-free group. We also investigated how much the children liked and wanted the beverages. RESULTS: 146 children or 72% completed the study. We found no statistically significant difference in satiety between the sugar-free and sugar-sweetened group; the adjusted odds ratio for a 1 point increase in satiety in the sugar group versus the sugar-free group was 0.77 at 1 minute (95% confidence interval, 0.46 to 1.29), and 1.44 at 15 minutes after intake (95% CI, 0.86 to 2.40). The sugar-group liked and wanted their beverage slightly more than the sugar-free group, adjusted odds ratio 1.63 (95% CI 1.05 to 2.54) and 1.65 (95% CI 1.07 to 2.55), respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Sugar-sweetened and sugar-free beverages produced similar satiety. Therefore when children are given sugar-free instead of sugar-containing drinks they might not make up the missing calories from other sources. This may explain our previous observation that children in the sugar-free group accumulated less body fat than those in the sugar group.<br /

BMI Development of Normal Weight and Overweight Children in the PIAMA Study

Background: There is evidence that rapid weight gain during the first year of life is associated with overweight later in life. However, results from studies exploring other critical periods for the development of overweight are inconsistent. Objective: The objective was to investigate BMI development to assess at what ages essential differences between normal weight and overweight children occur, and to assess which age intervals the most strongly influence the risk of overweight at 8 years of age. Methods: Longitudinal weight and height data

Soluble CD40 ligand and prolactin levels in migraine patients during interictal period

The relationship of migraine with cardiovascular diseases has been clarified by many studies, and currently, migraine is suggested to be a systematic vasculopathy. Inflammation, thrombosis and impaired vascular reactivity are the underlying pathophysiological mechanisms of the vasculopathy. In the present study, we aimed to investigate the relationship between prolactin levels and subclinical atherosclerosis risk factors such as soluble CD40 ligand (sCD40L) and high-sensitivity CRP (hsCRP) in migraine patients during interictal period. Fifty female migraine patients and age-matched 25 female control cases were enrolled in the study. Migraine diagnosis was settled according to the ICHD-II diagnostic criteria. A questionnaire was completed about the existence of vascular risk factors. Serum samples were used to measure sCD40L, hsCRP and prolactin levels. No difference was found between the prolactin levels of the migraine patients and the controls. The sCD40L levels were significantly higher in migraine patients (p < 0.001). High-sensitivity CRP levels showed no difference between the groups. There was no correlation between prolactin, sCD40L, and hs-CRP levels in migraine patients. We consider that the migraine patients are prone to subclinical atherosclerosis, but this tendency is independent of prolactin levels

Effects of Data Quality Vetoes on a Search for Compact Binary Coalescences in Advanced LIGO's First Observing Run

The first observing run of Advanced LIGO spanned 4 months, from September 12, 2015 to January 19, 2016, during which gravitational waves were directly detected from two binary black hole systems, namely GW150914 and GW151226. Confident detection of gravitational waves requires an understanding of instrumental transients and artifacts that can reduce the sensitivity of a search. Studies of the quality of the detector data yield insights into the cause of instrumental artifacts and data quality vetoes specific to a search are produced to mitigate the effects of problematic data. In this paper, the systematic removal of noisy data from analysis time is shown to improve the sensitivity of searches for compact binary coalescences. The output of the PyCBC pipeline, which is a python-based code package used to search for gravitational wave signals from compact binary coalescences, is used as a metric for improvement. GW150914 was a loud enough signal that removing noisy data did not improve its significance. However, the removal of data with excess noise decreased the false alarm rate of GW151226 by more than two orders of magnitude, from 1 in 770 years to less than 1 in 186000 years.Comment: 27 pages, 13 figures, published versio

Supplement: "Localization and broadband follow-up of the gravitational-wave transient GW150914" (2016, ApJL, 826, L13)

This Supplement provides supporting material for Abbott et al. (2016a). We briefly summarize past electromagnetic (EM) follow-up efforts as well as the organization and policy of the current EM follow-up program. We compare the four probability sky maps produced for the gravitational-wave transient GW150914, and provide additional details of the EM follow-up observations that were performed in the different bands

Search of the Orion spur for continuous gravitational waves using a loosely coherent algorithm on data from LIGO interferometers

We report results of a wideband search for periodic gravitational waves from isolated neutron stars within the Orion spur towards both the inner and outer regions of our Galaxy. As gravitational waves interact very weakly with matter, the search is unimpeded by dust and concentrations of stars. One search disk (A) is 6.87° in diameter and centered on 20h10m54.71s+33°33′25.29′′, and the other (B) is 7.45° in diameter and centered on 8h35m20.61s-46°49′25.151′′. We explored the frequency range of 50-1500 Hz and frequency derivative from 0 to -5×10-9 Hz/s. A multistage, loosely coherent search program allowed probing more deeply than before in these two regions, while increasing coherence length with every stage. Rigorous follow-up parameters have winnowed the initial coincidence set to only 70 candidates, to be examined manually. None of those 70 candidates proved to be consistent with an isolated gravitational-wave emitter, and 95% confidence level upper limits were placed on continuous-wave strain amplitudes. Near 169 Hz we achieve our lowest 95% C.L. upper limit on the worst-case linearly polarized strain amplitude h0 of 6.3×10-25, while at the high end of our frequency range we achieve a worst-case upper limit of 3.4×10-24 for all polarizations and sky locations. © 2016 American Physical Society