A role for jasmonates in the release of dormancy by cold stratification in wheat

Hydration at low temperatures, commonly referred to as cold stratification, is widely used for releasing dormancy and triggering germination in a wide range of species including wheat. However, the molecular mechanism that underlies its effect on germination has largely remained unknown. Our previous studies showed that methyl-jasmonate, a derivative of jasmonic acid (JA), promotes dormancy release in wheat. In this study, we found that cold-stimulated germination of dormant grains correlated with a transient increase in JA content and expression of JA biosynthesis genes in the dormant embryos after transfer to 20 (o)C. The induction of JA production was dependent on the extent of cold imbibition and precedes germination. Blocking JA biosynthesis with acetylsalicylic acid (ASA) inhibited the cold-stimulated germination in a dose-dependent manner. In addition, we have explored the relationship between JA and abscisic acid (ABA), a well-known dormancy promoter, in cold regulation of dormancy. We found an inverse relationship between JA and ABA content in dormant wheat embryos following stratification. ABA content decreased rapidly in response to stratification, and the decrease was reversed by addition of ASA. Our results indicate that the action of JA on cold-stratified grains is mediated by suppression of two key ABA biosynthesis genes, TaNCED1 and TaNCED2.This project was funded by a CSIRO Office of the Chief Executive PDF scheme

The impact of dimethylformamide on the synthesis of graphene quantum dots derived from graphene oxide

Graphene quantum dots (GQDs) have garnered immense interest in recent years due to their unique optical, electrical, and chemical properties, making them promising candidates for various applications in optoelectronics, bioimaging, and sensing. However, enhancing the control over the size, surface chemistry, and optical properties of GQDs remains a significant challenge. In this study, a novel recipe was proposed to successfully synthesize various GQDs via a typical solvothermal process, which has proven to be a versatile and scalable approach. In addition to the main ingredient – graphene oxide suspension, dimethylformamide (DMF) and hydrogen peroxide serving as a cutting agent were added to the reaction mixture. This synthesis method was found to be more promising than the reference one in which DMF was replaced by double distilled water. Through systematic experimentation, we demonstrated that the addition of DMF enables the successful GQD production over a wider range of reaction times; hence, the UV absorption band and photoluminescence properties of GQDs can be better adjusted. The dependence of photoluminescence on the excitation wavelength was observed in the as-prepared materials as they were excited with a range of wavelengths from 360 to 480 nm. The obtained insights not only advance our understanding of GQD synthesis but also open up avenues for tailoring their properties for specific applications

Corrigendum to The impact of dimethylformamide on the synthesis of graphene quantum dots derived from graphene oxide

The original article, “Khuong T. Truong, Thach H. Pham, Khai V. Tran. The impact of dimethylformamide on the synthesis of graphene quantum dots derived from graphene oxide. Chimica Techno Acta. 2023;10(4):202310405”, is available at: https://doi.org/10.15826/chimtech.2023.10.4.0

Excitation spectroscopy of single quantum dots at tunable positive, neutral and negative charge states

We present a comprehensive study of the optical transitions and selection rules of variably charged single self-assembled InAs/GaAs quantum dots. We apply high resolution polarization sensitive photoluminescence excitation spectroscopy to the same quantum dot for three different charge states: neutral and negatively or positively charged by one additional electron or hole. From the detailed analysis of the excitation spectra, a full understanding of the single-carrier energy levels and the interactions between carriers in these levels is extracted for the first time.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figure

Co-Morbidity of Pituitary Adenoma and Frontal Convexity Meningioma: A Case Report and Review of the Literature

Instruction: The current study reports a woman with pituitary adenoma and frontal convexity meningioma that was detected accidentially. To the best of our knowledge, this case is considered as a rare clinical scenario.Case presentation: A 37 years old woman suffering from amenorrhea and galactorrhea had her detail investigation showed hyperprolactinemia. The patient was diagnosed with a prolactinoma, and a frontal convexity meningioma was discovered on MRI. The prolactinoma controlled with Bromocriptine therapy, while the meningioma monitored through medical observation. After two months of pharmaceutical medication, her symptoms improved with the decrease in serum prolactin.Conclusion: Thanks to sophisticated MRI techniques, meningioma and prolactinoma were incidentally detected. It should be noted that co-morbidity of prolactinoma and meningioma is very rare. The mechanism of the association between these two familiar types of intracranial tumors has not yet been clarified, which indicates the need for further studies to offer possible targeted treatment for patients.Keyword: Meningiomas; Prolactinomas; Pituitary adenomas

Crossing Symmetry Violation of Unitarized Pion-Pion Amplitude in the Resonance Region

Pion-pion scattering amplitude obtained from one-loop Chiral Perturbation Theory (ChPT) is crossing symmetric, however the corresponding partial wave amplitudes do not respect exact unitarity relation. There are different approaches to get unitarized partial wave amplitudes from ChPT. Here we consider the inverse amplitude method (IAM) that is often used to fit pion-pion phase shifts to experimental data, by adjusting free parameters. We measure the amount of crossing symmetry violation (CSV) in this case and we show that crossing symmetry is badly violated by the IAM unitarized ChPT amplitude in the resonance region. Important CSV also occurs when all free parameters are set equal to zero.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figure

Does your robot know? Enhancing children's information retrieval through spoken conversation with responsible robots

In this paper, we identify challenges in children's current information retrieval process, and propose conversational robots as an opportunity to ease this process in a responsible way. Tools children currently use in this process, such as search engines on a computer or voice agents, do not always meet their specific needs. The conversational robot we propose maintains context, asks clarifying questions, and gives suggestions in order to better meet children's needs. Since children are often too trusting of robots, we propose to have the robot measure, monitor and adapt to the trust the child has in the robot. This way, we hope to induce a critical attitude with the children during their information retrieval process.Comment: IR4Children'21 workshop at SIGIR 2021 - http://www.fab4.science/IR4C