Submillisecond-response polymer network liquid crystal phase modulators at 1.06-mu m wavelength

A fast-response and scattering-free polymer network liquid crystal (PNLC) light modulator is demonstrated at lambda = 1.06 mu m wavelength. A decay time of 117 mu s for 2 pi phase modulation is obtained at 70 degrees C, which is similar to 650 x faster than that of the host nematic LCs. The major tradeoff is the increased operating voltage. Potential applications include spatial light modulators and adaptive optics

Demographic strategies of a dominant tree species in response to logging in a degraded subtropical forest in Southeast China

International audienceAbstractKey messageThe demography of pioneer tree species (Pinus massonianaLamb.) is significantly affected by logging in Southeast China. Logging negatively affects the population growth rate ofP. massoniana, which facilitates the growth of individual trees but has no effect on reproduction probability. The survival and growth of seedlings contribute the most to population growth.ContextSubtropical forest degradation caused by unreasonable disturbances is closely related to anthropogenic activities in Southeast China, and the frequent small-scale logging activity by local people was the dominated disturbance regime in forests in this region over the past several decades.AimsThe objective of this study is to evaluate the demographic consequences of logging on Pinus massoniana, a pioneer tree species, at individual level (survival, growth, and fecundity) and population level (the population growth rate and size distribution) over short-term period.MethodsThe size of tree individuals was combined with vital rates using various modeling approaches based on demographic data from three annual censuses. The integral projection model (IPM) was constructed and used to conduct comparative demographic analyses.ResultsLogging negatively affected the population growth rate: from a slight expansion before logging to a moderate decline after logging. This study found a significant reduction in seedling recruitment after logging, and plant growth and mortality were slightly enhanced. The survival of seedlings greatly contributes to population growth rate compared to other life stages for both periods (before and after logging) while its relative importance decreases after logging. Seedling growth is also important to population growth, and its relative importance increased after logging. Shrinkage and fecundity have a minimal contribution effect on the population growth rate.ConclusionGrowing plants in a nursery with a similar demography to P. massoniana could be beneficial for pioneer species regeneration in that this will improve the survival rate and growth of small individuals after logging

P-153: High Birefringence Fluoro-terphenyls for Thin-cell-gap LCDs

Abstrac

Analysis for sources of atmospheric α- and γ-HCH in gas and particle-associated phase in Dalian, China by multiple regression

Atmospheric concentrations of α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes were measured once a week in Dalian throughout 2008, using a high-volume air sampler, to estimate diurnal, monthly and seasonal variations. Multiple regression analysis was used to estimate the impact of selected meteorological conditions on atmospheric concentrations of hexachlorocyclohexanes and to identify the potential source regions. Overall, α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes were mainly associated with the gas phase, with an annual mean gas-phase concentration of 36±30 and 10±9.8pgm-3 respectively. On the other hand, mean particle (PM10) associated concentrations throughout the year were 1.9±2.4 and 0.46±0.43pgm-3 respectively. Gas-phase concentration of α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes peaked in the autumn season whereas highest concentrations in the particle phase were measured in spring. Ratio of α-/γ-isomer ranged from 3.7 to 7.4 in the gas phase which was close to the ratio in technical hexachlorocyclohexanes (5-7). In the particle-associated phase this ratio ranged from 1.2 to 3.8, with the exception of daytime samples in spring (up to 16) and summer seasons (up to 14) and this exception could be due to the isomerization from γ- to α- in ambient air, at least partly resulted from the impact of sunlight. Regression analysis showed that, at the sampling site, concentrations of α- and γ-hexachlorocyclohexanes in the gas phase were both elevated with increasing temperature and wind speed, whereas in the particle-associated phase their concentrations tended to remain stable

Prognostic implications and interaction of L1 methylation and p53 expression statuses in advanced gastric cancer

Background TP53 is frequently mutated across various tissue types of cancers. In normal cells, long interspersed nuclear element-1 (LINE-1, L1) is mostly repressed by DNA methylation in its 5′ untranslated region but is activated by DNA demethylation process during tumorigenesis. p53 is indispensable for maintaining genomic stability and plays its role in controlling genomic stability by repressing retrotransposon activity. However, it is unclear whether p53 regulates expression or methylation of L1 differently depending on the mutational status of TP53. Four hundred ninety cases of advanced gastric cancer (AGC) were analyzed for their statuses in p53 expression and L1 methylation using immunohistochemistry and pyrosequencing, respectively. Whether L1 methylation and expression statuses were differently affected by types of TP53 mutants was analyzed in gastric cancer cell line. Results By p53 immunohistochemistry, tumors were classified into 4 groups according to the intensity and extent of stained tumor nuclei. L1 methylation level was significantly higher in p53 expression group 1 than in the other groups in which L1 methylation level was similar (P <  0.001). Although L1 methylation and p53 expression statuses were associated with patient survival, multivariate analysis revealed that L1 methylation was an independent prognostic parameter. In in vitro analysis of AGS cells with the introduction of wild type or mutant types of TP53, L1 methylation level and activity were different depending on types of TP53 mutation. Conclusions Findings suggest that L1 methylation level is affected by TP53 mutation status; although, L1 methylation status was an independent prognostic parameter in patients with AGC. Further study is required to elucidate the mechanism of how wild type or mutant p53 affects L1 activity and methylation status of L1 CpG island.This work was supported by a grant from the National Research Foundation (NRF) funded by the Korean Ministry of Science, ICT and Future Planning (2016M3A9B6026921), and a grant from the Korea Health Technology R&D Project through the Korea Health Industry Development Institute funded by the Korean Ministry of Health and Welfare (HI14C1277)

A non-canonical retina-ipRGCs-SCN-PVT visual pathway for mediating contagious itch behavior

Contagious itch behavior informs conspecifics of adverse environment and is crucial for the survival of social animals. Gastrin-releasing peptide (GRP) and its receptor (GRPR) in the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN) of the hypothalamus mediates contagious itch behavior in mice. Here, we show that intrinsically photosensitive retina ganglion cells (ipRGCs) convey visual itch information, independently of melanopsin, from the retina to GRP neurons via PACAP-PAC1R signaling. Moreover, GRPR neurons relay itch information to the paraventricular nucleus of the thalamus (PVT). Surprisingly, neither the visual cortex nor superior colliculus is involved in contagious itch. In vivo calcium imaging and extracellular recordings reveal contagious itch-specific neural dynamics of GRPR neurons. Thus, we propose that the retina-ipRGC-SCN-PVT pathway constitutes a previously unknown visual pathway that probably evolved for motion vision that encodes salient environmental cues and enables animals to imitate behaviors of conspecifics as an anticipatory mechanism to cope with adverse conditions

International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

P-132: High Birefringence Dual-frequency Liquid Crystals

We have developed a new class of positive Δε and high Δn isothiocyanato phenyl-tolane compounds for making dual frequency liquid crystal (DFLC) mixtures. A DFLC mixture based on these compounds exhibits Δn∼0.39 at λ=633 nm. Potential application for fast-response 2D/3D switchable display is emphasized