Functions of Natural Levees on the Control of Inundation Waters in the Ara River Basin

Source: ICHE Conference Archive - https://mdi-de.baw.de/icheArchiv

Phylogenetic footprint of the plant clock system in angiosperms: evolutionary processes of Pseudo-Response Regulators

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Plant circadian clocks regulate many photoperiodic and diurnal responses that are conserved among plant species. The plant circadian clock system has been uncovered in the model plant, <it>Arabidopsis thaliana</it>, using genetics and systems biology approaches. However, it is still not clear how the clock system had been organized in the evolutionary history of plants. We recently revealed the molecular phylogeny of <it>LHY/CCA1 </it>genes, one of the essential components of the clock system. The aims of this study are to reconstruct the phylogenetic relationships of angiosperm clock-associated <it>PRR </it>genes, the partner of the <it>LHY/CCA1 </it>genes, and to clarify the evolutionary history of the plant clock system in angiosperm lineages.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In the present study, to investigate the molecular phylogeny of <it>PRR </it>genes, we performed two approaches: reconstruction of phylogenetic trees and examination of syntenic relationships. Phylogenetic analyses revealed that <it>PRR </it>genes had diverged into three clades prior to the speciation of monocots and eudicots. Furthermore, copy numbers of <it>PRR </it>genes have been independently increased in monocots and eudicots as a result of ancient chromosomal duplication events.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Based on the molecular phylogenies of both <it>PRR </it>genes and <it>LHY/CCA1 </it>genes, we inferred the evolutionary process of the plant clock system in angiosperms. This scenario provides evolutionary information that a common ancestor of monocots and eudicots had retained the basic components required for reconstructing a clock system and that the plant circadian clock may have become a more elaborate mechanism after the speciation of monocots and eudicots because of the gene expansion that resulted from polyploidy events.</p

Network evaluation from the consistency of the graph structure with the measured data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>A knowledge-based network, which is constructed by extracting as many relationships identified by experimental studies as possible and then superimposing them, is one of the promising approaches to investigate the associations between biological molecules. However, the molecular relationships change dynamically, depending on the conditions in a living cell, which suggests implicitly that all of the relationships in the knowledge-based network do not always exist. Here, we propose a novel method to estimate the consistency of a given network with the measured data: i) the network is quantified into a log-likelihood from the measured data, based on the Gaussian network, and ii) the probability of the likelihood corresponding to the measured data, named the graph consistency probability (<it>GCP</it>), is estimated based on the generalized extreme value distribution.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The plausibility and the performance of the present procedure are illustrated by various graphs with simulated data, and with two types of actual gene regulatory networks in <it>Escherichia coli</it>: the SOS DNA repair system with the corresponding data measured by fluorescence, and a set of 29 networks with data measured under anaerobic conditions by microarray. In the simulation study, the procedure for estimating <it>GCP </it>is illustrated by a simple network, and the robustness of the method is scrutinized in terms of various aspects: dimensions of sampling data, parameters in the simulation study, magnitudes of data noise, and variations of network structures.</p> <p>In the actual networks, the former example revealed that our method operates well for an actual network with a size similar to those of the simulated networks, and the latter example illustrated that our method can select the activated network candidates consistent with the actual data measured under specific conditions, among the many network candidates.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The present method shows the possibility of bridging between the static network from the literature and the corresponding measurements, and thus will shed light on the network structure variations in terms of the changes in molecular interaction mechanisms that occur in response to the environment in a living cell.</p

The Role of Autophagy in Maintaining Pregnancy

Autophagy is an evolutionarily conserved process in eukaryotes by which cytoplasmic cargo sequestered inside double-membrane vesicles is delivered to the lysosome for degradation. In early pregnancy, trophoblasts and the fetus experience hypoxic and low-nutrient conditions; nevertheless, extravillous trophoblasts (EVTs) invade the uterine myometrium up to one-third of its depth and migrate along the lumina of spiral arterioles, replacing the maternal endothelial lining. An enhancement of autophagy induced by physiological hypoxia takes part in the invasion and vascular remodeling in EVTs. On the other hand, soluble endoglin, which increased in sera in preeclamptic cases, suppresses EVT-invasion or -vascular remodeling by inhibiting autophagy In vitro. In addition, a substance selectively degraded by autophagy, p62/SQSTM1, accumulates in EVT cells in preeclamptic placental biopsy samples showing impaired autophagy in vivo. Thus, alternation of autophagy could affect fates of mothers and babies. Recently increasing evidence of modulating autophagy has accumulated during pregnancy. In this chapter, we introduce the role of autophagy in embryogenesis, implantation, and maintaining pregnancy

A rarefied gas flow around a rotating sphere: diverging profiles of gradients of macroscopic quantities

The steady behaviour of a rarefied gas around a rotating sphere is studied numerically on the basis of the linearised ellipsoidal statistical model of the Boltzmann equation, also known as the ES model, and the Maxwell diffuse–specular boundary condition. It is demonstrated numerically that the normal derivative of the circumferential component of the flow velocity and that of the heat flux diverge on the boundary with a rate s⁻¹/² , where s is the normal distance from the boundary. Further, it is demonstrated that the diverging term is proportional to the magnitude of the jump discontinuity of the velocity distribution function on the boundary, which originates from the mismatch of the incoming and outgoing data on the boundary. The moment of force exerted on the sphere is also obtained for a wide range of the Knudsen number and for various values of the accommodation coefficient

Risk factors for cognitive dysfunction after coronary artery bypass graft surgery in patients with type 2 diabetes

ObjectivesThe mechanisms of postoperative cognitive dysfunction in patients with diabetes after coronary artery bypass grafting are not fully understood. We sought to determine which type 2 diabetes–related factors contributed to postoperative cognitive dysfunction at 7 days and 6 months after coronary artery bypass grafting.MethodsOne hundred eighty patients with type 2 diabetes who were scheduled for elective coronary artery bypass grafting were studied. As a control group, 100 patients without diabetes mellitus matched for age, sex, and educational level were examined. Hemodynamic parameters (arterial and jugular venous blood gas values) were measured during cardiopulmonary bypass. All patients underwent a battery of neurologic and neuropsychologic tests the day before surgery, 7 days after surgery, and 6 months after surgery.ResultsAge (odds ratio 1.5, 95% confidence interval 1.3-1.8, P = .03), presence of hypertension (odds ratio 1.8, 95% confidence interval 1.3-2.0, P = .01), jugular venous oxygen saturation less than 50% time (odds ratio 1.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.0, P = .045), presence of ascending aorta atherosclerosis (odds ratio 1.5, 95% confidence interval 1.1-2.6, P = .01), diabetic retinopathy (odds ratio 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.3-3.0, P = .01), and insulin therapy (odds ratio 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.3-3.0, P = .05), were associated with cognitive impairment at 7 days. Insulin therapy (odds ratio 2.0, 95% confidence interval 1.3-3.8, P = .01), diabetic retinopathy (odds ratio 1.3, 95% confidence interval 1.2-2.9, P < .01), and hemoglobin A1c (odds ratio 1.9, 95% confidence interval 1.3-3.1, P = .047) were associated with cognitive impairment at 6 postoperative months.ConclusionsInsulin therapy, diabetic retinopathy, and hemoglobin A1c were factors in cognitive impairment at 7 days and 6 months after coronary artery bypass grafting in patients with type 2 diabetes