Role of dissolved nitrate and phosphate in isolates of Mesodinium rubrum and toxin-producing Dinophysis acuminata

Mesodinium rubrum (as prey) is a critical component, in addition to light, for growth and toxin production by the mixotrophic dinoflagellate Dinophysis acuminata. Little is known, however, about the role that dissolved inorganic nutrients play in this predator-prey relationship and system toxicity. A series of experiments were conducted to investigate the possible uptake of dissolved nitrate and phosphate by (1) D. acuminata starved of prey, (2) D. acuminata feeding on M. rubrum, and (3) M. rubrum grown in nutritionally modified medium. All single-clone or mixed cultures were monitored for dissolved and particulate nutrient levels over the growth cycle, as well as for growth rate, biomass, and toxin production when appropriate. Dinophysis acuminata did not utilize dissolved nitrate or phosphate in the medium under nutrient-enriched or nutrientreduced regimes, in the absence or presence of prey, or during any growth phase monitored. Changes in particulate phosphorus and nitrogen in D. acuminata were instead strongly influenced by the consumption of M. rubrum prey, and these levels quickly stabilized once prey were no longer available. Mesodinium rubrum, in contrast, rapidly assimilated dissolved nitrate and phosphate, with maximum uptake rates of 1.38 pmol N cell(-1) d(-1) and 1.63 pmol P cell(-1) d(-1), respectively. While D. acuminata did not benefit directly from the dissolved nitrate and phosphate, its growth (0.37 +/- 0.01 d(-1)) and toxin production rates for okadaic acid, dinophysistoxin-1 and pectenotoxin-2 (0.1, 0.9 and 2.6 pg cell(-1) d(-1), respectively) were directly coupled to prey availability. These results suggest that while dissolved nitrate and phosphate do not have a direct effect on toxin production or retention by D. acuminata, these nutrient pools contribute to prey growth and biomass, thereby indirectly influencing D. acuminata blooms and overall toxins in the system

Between-days intra-rater reliability with a hand held myotonometer to quantify muscle tone in the acute stroke population

A myotonometer can objectively quantify changes in muscle tone. The between-days intra-rater reliability in a ward setting for the acute stroke population remains unknown. This study aimed to investigate the device’s between-days intra-rater reliability when used in a ward setting for acute stroke participants. Muscle tone of biceps brachii, brachioradialis, rectus femoris, and tibialis anterior was recorded in the ward at bedside by one physiotherapist on two consecutive days. This study included participants who were within 1 month of their first stroke occurrence. Participants who were medically unstable or who suffered from brain stem injury were excluded. Reliability was assessed by the intraclass correlation coefficient (ICC), standard error of measurement (SEM), smallest real difference (SRD), and the Bland-Altman limits of agreement. The results indicated excellent between-days intra-rater reliability (ICC > 0.75). SEM and SRD show small differences between measurements. The Bland-Altman analysis indicated a tendency of overestimation of the rectus femoris. MyotonPRO demonstrated acceptable reliability when used in a ward setting in those patients with acute stroke. However, results should be interpreted with caution, due to the limitations of the study and the varying level of consistency observed between different muscles

A combination of metabolites predicts adherence to the Mediterranean diet pattern and its associations with insulin sensitivity and lipid homeostasis in the general population: The Fenland Study, United Kingdom

BACKGROUND: Cardiometabolic benefits of the Mediterranean diet have been recognized, but underlying mechanisms are not fully understood. OBJECTIVES: We aimed to investigate how the Mediterranean diet could influence circulating metabolites and how the metabolites could mediate the associations of the diet with cardiometabolic risk factors. METHODS: Among 10,806 participants (58.9% women, mean age = 48.4 y) in the Fenland Study (2004-2015) in the United Kingdom, we assessed dietary consumption with FFQs and conducted a targeted metabolomics assay for 175 plasma metabolites (acylcarnitines, amines, sphingolipids, and phospholipids). We examined cross-sectional associations of the Mediterranean diet score (MDS) and its major components with each metabolite, modeling multivariable-adjusted linear regression. We used the regression estimates to summarize metabolites associated with the MDS into a metabolite score as a marker of the diet. Subsequently, we assessed how much metabolite subclasses and the metabolite score would mediate the associations of the MDS with circulating lipids, homeostasis model assessment of insulin resistance (HOMA-IR), and other metabolic factors by comparing regression estimates upon adjustment for the metabolites. RESULTS: Sixty-six metabolites were significantly associated with the MDS (P ≤ 0.003, corrected for false discovery rate) (Spearman correlations, r: -0.28 to +0.28). The metabolite score was moderately correlated with the MDS (r = 0.43). Of MDS components, consumption of nuts, cereals, and meats contributed to variations in acylcarnitines; fruits, to amino acids and amines; and fish, to phospholipids. The metabolite score was estimated to explain 37.2% of the inverse association of the MDS with HOMA-IR (P for mediation < 0.05). The associations of the MDS with cardiometabolic factors were estimated to be mediated by acylcarnitines, sphingolipids, and phospholipids. CONCLUSIONS: Multiple metabolites relate to the Mediterranean diet in a healthy general British population and highlight the potential to identify a set of biomarkers for an overall diet. The associations may involve pathways of phospholipid metabolism, carnitine metabolism, and development of insulin resistance and dyslipidemia

Novel critical point drying (CPD) based preparation and transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of protein specific molecularly imprinted polymers (HydroMIPs)

We report the transmission electron microscopy (TEM) imaging of a hydrogel-based molecularly imprinted polymer (HydroMIP) specific to the template molecule bovine haemoglobin (BHb). A novel critical point drying based sample preparation technique was employed to prepare the molecularly imprinted polymer (MIP) samples in a manner that would facilitate the use of TEM to image the imprinted cavities, and provide an appropriate degree of both magnification and resolution to image polymer architecture in the <10 nm range. For the first time, polymer structure has been detailed that clearly displays molecularly imprinted cavities, ranging from 5-50 nm in size, that correlate (in terms of size) with the protein molecule employed as the imprinting template. The modified critical point drying sample preparation technique used may potentially play a key role in the imaging of all molecularly imprinted polymers, particularly those prepared in the aqueous phase

Silicon Atomic Quantum Dots Enable Beyond-CMOS Electronics

We review our recent efforts in building atom-scale quantum-dot cellular automata circuits on a silicon surface. Our building block consists of silicon dangling bond on a H-Si(001) surface, which has been shown to act as a quantum dot. First the fabrication, experimental imaging, and charging character of the dangling bond are discussed. We then show how precise assemblies of such dots can be created to form artificial molecules. Such complex structures can be used as systems with custom optical properties, circuit elements for quantum-dot cellular automata, and quantum computing. Considerations on macro-to-atom connections are discussed.Comment: 28 pages, 19 figure

Developmental changes in the role of different metalinguistic awareness skills in Chinese reading acquisition from preschool to third grade

Copyright @ 2014 Wei et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.The present study investigated the relationship between Chinese reading skills and metalinguistic awareness skills such as phonological, morphological, and orthographic awareness for 101 Preschool, 94 Grade-1, 98 Grade-2, and 98 Grade-3 children from two primary schools in Mainland China. The aim of the study was to examine how each of these metalinguistic awareness skills would exert their influence on the success of reading in Chinese with age. The results showed that all three metalinguistic awareness skills significantly predicted reading success. It further revealed that orthographic awareness played a dominant role in the early stages of reading acquisition, and its influence decreased with age, while the opposite was true for the contribution of morphological awareness. The results were in stark contrast with studies in English, where phonological awareness is typically shown as the single most potent metalinguistic awareness factor in literacy acquisition. In order to account for the current data, a three-stage model of reading acquisition in Chinese is discussed.National Natural Science Foundation of China and Knowledge Innovation Program of the Chinese Academy of Sciences

NLSP Gluino Search at the Tevatron and early LHC

We investigate the collider phenomenology of gluino-bino co-annihilation scenario both at the Tevatron and 7 TeV LHC. This scenario can be realized, for example, in a class of realistic supersymmetric models with non-universal gaugino masses and t-b-\tau Yukawa unification. The NLSP gluino and LSP bino should be nearly degenerate in mass, so that the typical gluino search channels involving leptons or hard jets are not available. Consequently, the gluino can be lighter than various bounds on its mass from direct searches. We propose a new search for NLSP gluino involving multi-b final states, arising from the three-body decay \tilde{g}-> b\bar{b}\tilde{\chi}_1^0. We identify two realistic models with gluino mass of around 300 GeV for which the three-body decay is dominant, and show that a 4.5 \sigma observation sensitivity can be achieved at the Tevatron with an integrated luminosity of 10 fb^{-1}. For the 7 TeV LHC with 50 pb^{-1} of integrated luminosity, the number of signal events for the two models is O(10), to be compared with negligible SM background event.Comment: 14 pages, 4 figures and 3 tables, minor modifications made and accepted for publication in JHE