A role for stomata in regulating water use efficiency in Populus x euramericana and characterization of a related gene, PdERECTA

The physiological mechanism of water use efficiency (WUE) remains elucidated, especially in poplar. We studied WUEi (instantaneous leaf transpiration efficiency), WUEL (ratio of unused biomass and water), carbon isotope composition (δ13C), photosynthetic rates (Pn), stomatal density and stomatal conductance (Gs) in three different, randomly chosen Populus×euramericana clones: DN-2 (Populus × euramericana), R-270 (Populus×euramericana) and NE-19 (Populus nigra × (Populus×euramericana)) under well-watered conditions. The clones had great differences in WUEL, WUEi, δ13C, stomatal density and Gs. We concluded that, stomatal control was a key factor leading to Pn and WUEi differences and ultimately inducing WUEL and δ13C differences. δ13C is therefore, a good indicator to use when evaluating WUEL in Populus×euramericana. We also went further to clone the ERECTA gene, which regulates plant transpiration efficiency in Arabidopsis from Populus×euramericana. Real-time polymerase chain reaction amplification (PCR) analysis revealed that, PdERECTA may play the same role in Populus×euramericana as it does in Arabidopsis.Key words: Carbon isotope composition, Populus×euramericana, PdERECTA gene, stomata, water use efficiency

Cross-Task Transfer for Geotagged Audiovisual Aerial Scene Recognition

Aerial scene recognition is a fundamental task in remote sensing and has recently received increased interest. While the visual information from overhead images with powerful models and efficient algorithms yields considerable performance on scene recognition, it still suffers from the variation of ground objects, lighting conditions etc. Inspired by the multi-channel perception theory in cognition science, in this paper, for improving the performance on the aerial scene recognition, we explore a novel audiovisual aerial scene recognition task using both images and sounds as input. Based on an observation that some specific sound events are more likely to be heard at a given geographic location, we propose to exploit the knowledge from the sound events to improve the performance on the aerial scene recognition. For this purpose, we have constructed a new dataset named AuDio Visual Aerial sceNe reCognition datasEt (ADVANCE). With the help of this dataset, we evaluate three proposed approaches for transferring the sound event knowledge to the aerial scene recognition task in a multimodal learning framework, and show the benefit of exploiting the audio information for the aerial scene recognition. The source code is publicly available for reproducibility purposes.Comment: ECCV 202

Durability Design Based on Serviceability Stage for Corroded Reinforced Concrete Structures

After analyzing such factors as the structural durability failure state, environmental load and resistance, the durability limit state equation considering steel corrosion initiation, concrete cover cracking and maximum corrosion-induced damage value is established to meet its durability service life requirements under chloride environment. For three different durability limit states, the design theory of reliability, the partial factors of variables for load and resistance are introduced to reflect the target reliability requirements of structural durability, and subsequently the partial factors expression form of structural durability design is established. According to the principle of the same reliability level for partial factors design and probability design, the determination method of partial factors for resistance and the values of resistance partial factors under different durability limit states are presented

Crosstalk between astrocytic CXCL12 and microglial CXCR4 contributes to the development of neuropathic pain

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Central administration of C-x-C chemokine receptor type 4 antagonist alleviates the development and maintenance of peripheral neuropathic pain in mice

Aim To explore the roles of C-X-C chemokine receptor type 4 (CXCR4) in spinal processing of neuropathic pain at the central nervous system (CNS). Methods Peripheral neuropathic pain (PNP) induced by partial sciatic nerve ligation (pSNL) model was assessed in mice. Effects of a single intrathecal (central) administration of AMD3100 (intrathecal AMD3100), a CXCR4 antagonist, on pain behavior and pain-related spinal pathways and molecules in the L3-L5 spinal cord segment was studied compare to saline treatment. Results Rotarod test showed that intrathecal AMD3100 did not impair mice motor function. In pSNL-induced mice, intrathecal AMD3100 delayed the development of mechanical allodynia and reversed the established mechanical allodynia in a dose-dependent way. Moreover, intrathecal AMD3100 downregulated the activation of JNK1 and p38 pathways and the protein expression of p65 as assessed by western blotting. Real-time PCR test also demonstrated that substance P mRNA was decreased, while adrenomedullin and intercellular adhesion molecule mRNA was increased following AMD3100 treatment. Conclusion Our results suggest that central (spinal) CXCR4 is involved in the development and maintenance of PNP and the regulation of multiple spinal molecular events under pain condition, implicating that CXCR4 would potentially be a therapeutic target for chronic neuropathic pain.published_or_final_versio

Bayesian network approach to fault diagnosis of a hydroelectric generation system

This study focuses on the fault diagnosis of a hydroelectric generation system with hydraulic-mechanical-electric structures. To achieve this analysis, a methodology combining Bayesian network approach and fault diagnosis expert system is presented, which enables the time-based maintenance to transform to the condition-based maintenance. First, fault types and the associated fault characteristics of the generation system are extensively analyzed to establish a precise Bayesian network. Then, the Noisy-Or modeling approach is used to implement the fault diagnosis expert system, which not only reduces node computations without severe information loss but also eliminates the data dependency. Some typical applications are proposed to fully show the methodology capability of the fault diagnosis of the hydroelectric generation system

MG53 anchored by dysferlin to cell membrane reduces hepatocyte apoptosis which induced by ischaemia/reperfusion injury in vivo and in vitro

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An overview of the current status of CMB observations

In this paper we briefly review the current status of the Cosmic Microwave Background (CMB) observations, summarising the latest results obtained from CMB experiments, both in intensity and polarization, and the constraints imposed on the cosmological parameters. We also present a summary of current and future CMB experiments, with a special focus on the quest for the CMB B-mode polarization.Comment: Latest CMB results have been included. References added. To appear in "Highlights of Spanish Astrophysics V", Proceedings of the VIII Scientific Meeting of the Spanish Astronomical Society (SEA) held in Santander, 7-11 July, 200

Quantitative principles of cis-translational control by general mRNA sequence features in eukaryotes.

BackgroundGeneral translational cis-elements are present in the mRNAs of all genes and affect the recruitment, assembly, and progress of preinitiation complexes and the ribosome under many physiological states. These elements include mRNA folding, upstream open reading frames, specific nucleotides flanking the initiating AUG codon, protein coding sequence length, and codon usage. The quantitative contributions of these sequence features and how and why they coordinate to control translation rates are not well understood.ResultsHere, we show that these sequence features specify 42-81% of the variance in translation rates in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, Schizosaccharomyces pombe, Arabidopsis thaliana, Mus musculus, and Homo sapiens. We establish that control by RNA secondary structure is chiefly mediated by highly folded 25-60 nucleotide segments within mRNA 5' regions, that changes in tri-nucleotide frequencies between highly and poorly translated 5' regions are correlated between all species, and that control by distinct biochemical processes is extensively correlated as is regulation by a single process acting in different parts of the same mRNA.ConclusionsOur work shows that general features control a much larger fraction of the variance in translation rates than previously realized. We provide a more detailed and accurate understanding of the aspects of RNA structure that directs translation in diverse eukaryotes. In addition, we note that the strongly correlated regulation between and within cis-control features will cause more even densities of translational complexes along each mRNA and therefore more efficient use of the translation machinery by the cell