performance based design approach for tailored acoustic surfaces

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HPRT Deficiency Coordinately Dysregulates Canonical Wnt and Presenilin-1 Signaling: A Neuro-Developmental Regulatory Role for a Housekeeping Gene?

We have used microarray-based methods of global gene expression together with quantitative PCR and Western blot analysis to identify dysregulation of genes and aberrant cellular processes in human fibroblasts and in SH-SY5Y neuroblastoma cells made HPRT-deficient by transduction with a retrovirus stably expressing an shRNA targeted against HPRT. Analysis of the microarray expression data by Gene ontology (GO) and Gene Set Enrichment Analysis (GSEA) as well as significant pathway analysis by GeneSpring GX10 and Panther Classification System reveal that HPRT deficiency is accompanied by aberrations in a variety of pathways known to regulate neurogenesis or to be implicated in neurodegenerative disease, including the canonical Wnt/β-catenin and the Alzheimer's disease/presenilin signaling pathways. Dysregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway is confirmed by Western blot demonstration of cytosolic sequestration of β-catenin during in vitro differentiation of the SH-SY5Y cells toward the neuronal phenotype. We also demonstrate that two key transcription factor genes known to be regulated by Wnt signaling and to be vital for the generation and function of dopaminergic neurons; i.e., Lmx1a and Engrailed 1, are down-regulated in the HPRT knockdown SH-SY5Y cells. In addition to the Wnt signaling aberration, we found that expression of presenilin-1 shows severely aberrant expression in HPRT-deficient SH-SY5Y cells, reflected by marked deficiency of the 23 kDa C-terminal fragment of presenilin-1 in knockdown cells. Western blot analysis of primary fibroblast cultures from two LND patients also shows dysregulated presenilin-1 expression, including aberrant proteolytic processing of presenilin-1. These demonstrations of dysregulated Wnt signaling and presenilin-1 expression together with impaired expression of dopaminergic transcription factors reveal broad pleitropic neuro-regulatory defects played by HPRT expression and suggest new directions for investigating mechanisms of aberrant neurogenesis and neuropathology in LND and potential new targets for restoration of effective signaling in this neuro-developmental defect

Climate Change and Agriculture in the United States: Effects and Adaptation

This is a report by the USDA as climate change relates to its affect on livestock and agriculture

Strawberry Plant Propagation: Evaluation of Cultivars Using Different Growing Environments and Assessment Approaches

Strawberry branch crown development is often associated with yield and berry size. The propagation rate of strawberry cultivars is key to their establishment and longevity in the industry. However, new cultivars often are released with little indication of these traits. This study aimed to characterize cultivars according to production of crowns, runners, and daughter plants, determine if cultivar plant part propagation would vary according to production system, determine if propagation of daughter plants would vary between field environments and production in tubs in a screenhouse, and determine how well subjective scores for vigor and runner production predict objective data from the same plots. Ten cultivars were grown in an annual plasticulture system for 4 years. Four of these cultivars were also grown in a low-tunnel production system in adjacent fields. Three months after planting, immediately after plot-based subjective rating for plant vigor and runner production was performed, the number of crowns, runners, and daughter plants were counted. The same 10 cultivars were planted each year in tubs of potting mix in a screenhouse. In late fall, all plants were dug from each tub and counted. Four cultivars, Camarosa, Chandler, Flavorfest, and Keepsake, were grown in plasticulture and under low tunnels. Those grown under low tunnels produced 37% more runners and 71% more daughters per plant than those grown in annual plasticulture, with no cultivar × system interaction. There was no evidence of differences between cultivars in terms of the number of daughters per runner (estimates of 1.5–2.6). Therefore, the number of runners determined the number of daughters produced. In plasticulture, ‘Camarosa’, ‘Chandler’, ‘Galletta’, and ‘Sweet Charlie’ produced the most runners, and ‘Allstar’, ‘Earliglow’, and ‘Flavorfest’ produced the fewest runners. Plants grown 6 months in tubs in a screenhouse produced between 4- and 13-fold more daughters per mother plant compared to plants grown 3 months in annual plasticulture. Subjective scores for runner production were well-associated with runner counts, but subjective scores for vigor were not well-associated with counts of crowns or crowns plus runners. The wide range of propagation rates, according to both cultivar and propagation methods, should assist nurseries in estimating propagation rates of these cultivars and encourage breeders to measure propagation rates of new cultivars