Hormone and antioxidant responses of <i>Lilium</i> Oriental hybrids ‘Sorbonne’ bulblets to humic acid treatments <i>in vitro</i>

<p>The lily cultivar introduction is a very long process and bulblet development a limiting element in the entire cycle. The aim of the present study was to acquire a highly synchronized model system to gain insight into the bulbing process. Subsequently, this system was implemented to quantify the efficacy of humic acid applications to evaluate the hypothesized positive effect on bulblet growth. Based on weight, bulblet production was promoted with low humic acid concentration treatment (0.2 mg/L, LHA), showing 0.47 g weight and 11.68 mm diameter, while inhibitory effects were observed with increased doses. LHA significantly decreased the gibberellic acid content, and a pronounced phytohormone balance (promotive/inhibitive) was observed, which might be beneficial for the translocation of assimilates from the shoot to sink organs (bulblets). Intriguingly, LHA increased superoxide dismutase, peroxidase, ascorbate peroxidase, catalase, and glutathione reductase activities compared with the control during the early development stages, implicating a possible role for elimination of reactive oxygen species, thereby favouring cell expansion. In conclusion, we initially reported the effects of HA on the development of bulbous plants, showing that a relatively low dose markedly increased the bulblets size via positive GA and antioxidant responses. However, the mechanism of action needs further evaluation.</p

Spectroscopic Investigation of Iron Substitution in EuCoO₃: Related Impact on the Catalytic Properties in the High-Temperature N₂O Decomposition

This study is dedicated to a combined spectroscopic approach for investigating bulk versus surface reconstructions that originated during high-temperature catalytic applications on EuCo_1–<i>x</i>Fe_<i>x</i>O₃ and to their related impact on the catalytic properties. By way of illustration, the decomposition of nitrous oxide (N₂O) has been selected as a case study achieved in complex feed gas composition in the presence of NO_<i>x</i> and water vapor, which can speed up surface and bulk modifications at 900 °C with related impact on the reactivity of N-containing species. Particular attention was paid to the appearance of Co²⁺ species in different stages of the preparation, especially after reaction. While XPS cannot discriminate the nature of those species without any ambiguity, the combination of Mössbauer and photoluminescence spectroscopy can help in understanding changes in the local environment of europium, iron, and cobalt. The impact of those surface changes on the kinetic parameters of the decomposition of N₂O has been examined

Determining Critical Nutrient Thresholds Needed to Control Harmful Cyanobacterial Blooms in Eutrophic Lake Taihu, China

Nutrient overenrichment has led to dramatic increases in harmful cyanobacterial blooms, creating serious threats to drinking water supplies, ecological and economic sustainability of freshwater ecosystems. Nutrient-cyanobacterial bloom interactions were examined in eutrophic Lake Taihu, China. In situ microcosm nutrient dilution bioassays and mesocosm nutrient addition experiments were conducted to determine nitrogen (N) and phosphorus (P) concentration and load thresholds needed to control cyanobacterial bloom formation. Blooms were dominated by toxic, non N₂ fixing <i>Microcystis</i> spp, from May to December. Dilution bioassays showed seasonality in nutrient limitation, with P-availability controlling prebloom spring conditions and N-availability controlling summer-fall blooms. Nutrient dilution and enrichment bioassays indicated that total nitrogen (TN) and total phosphorus (TP) concentration thresholds should be targeted at below 0.80 mg L^–1 and 0.05 mg L^–1, respectively, to limit intrinsic growth rates of <i>Microcystis</i> dominated blooms. Based on estimates of nutrient loading and observed stoichiometry of phytoplankton biomass, 61–71% TN and 20–46% TP reduction are necessary to bring Taihu’s phytoplankton biomass to “acceptable” sub-bloom conditions of less than 20 μg L^–1 chlorophyll <i>a</i>

Quantum Wires and Waveguides Formed in Graphene by Strain

Confinement of electrons in graphene to make devices has proven to be a challenging task. Electrostatic methods fail because of Klein tunneling, while etching into nanoribbons requires extreme control of edge terminations, and bottom-up approaches are limited in size to a few nanometers. Fortunately, its mechanical flexibility raises the possibility of using strain to alter graphene’s properties and create novel straintronic devices. Here, we report transport studies of nanowires created by linearly-shaped strained regions resulting from individual folds formed by layer transfer onto hexagonal boron nitride. Conductance measurements across the folds reveal Coulomb blockade signatures, indicating confined charges within these structures, which act as quantum dots. Along folds, we observe sharp features in traverse resistivity measurements, attributed to an amplification of the dot conductance modulations by a resistance bridge incorporating the device. Our data indicates ballistic transport up to ∼1 μm along the folds. Calculations using the Dirac model including strain are consistent with measured bound state energies and predict the existence of valley-polarized currents. Our results show that graphene folds can act as straintronic quantum wires

Additional file 1 of The C-terminus of the oncoprotein TGAT is necessary for plasma membrane association and efficient RhoA-mediated signaling

Figure S1 Sequence alignment of TGAT and p63RhoGEF. Protein sequence alignment of the DH domain of human p63RhoGEF and the complete protein sequence TGAT. (PNG 100 kb

Additional file 2 of The C-terminus of the oncoprotein TGAT is necessary for plasma membrane association and efficient RhoA-mediated signaling

Figure S2 The localization of YFP-TGAT is hardly affected by the treatment with 2-BP. Confocal images of cells expressing YFP-TGAT and GAP43-CFP. The GAP43 fusion is used to monitor the palmitoylation status of proteins in cells. In untreated cells GAP43 is located at the plasma membrane due to palmitoylation. Overnight treatment with 60 ΟM 2-BP inhibits palmitoylation of GAP43, which is reflected by the cytoplasmic localization. In contrast to GAP43, the localization of YFP-TGAT is hardly affected by the treatment with 2-BP. (PNG 963 kb

Layer Polarizability and Easy-Axis Quantum Hall Ferromagnetism in Bilayer Graphene

We report magnetotransport measurements of graphene bilayers at large perpendicular electric displacement fields, up to ∼1.5 V/nm, where we observe crossings between Landau levels with different orbital quantum numbers. The displacement fields at the studied crossings are primarily determined by energy shifts originating from the Landau level layer polarizability or polarization. Despite decreasing Landau level spacing with energy, successive crossings occur at larger displacement fields, resulting from decreasing polarizability with orbital quantum number. For particular crossings we observe resistivity hysteresis in displacement field, indicating the presence of a first-order transition between states exhibiting easy-axis quantum Hall ferromagnetism

DS_10.1177_0022034518774783 – Supplemental material for Comparison of Intraoral Bone Regeneration with Iliac and Alveolar BMSCs

<p>Supplemental material, DS_10.1177_0022034518774783 for Comparison of Intraoral Bone Regeneration with Iliac and Alveolar BMSCs by F. Wang, Y. Zhou, J. Zhou, M. Xu, W. Zheng, W. Huang, W. Zhou, Y. Shen, K. Zhao, Y. Wu and D. Zou in Journal of Dental Research</p

Hierarchical Nanoparticle Ensembles Synthesized by Liquid Phase Directed Self-Assembly

A liquid metal filament supported on a dielectric substrate was directed to fragment into an ordered, mesoscale particle ensemble. Imposing an undulated surface perturbation on the filament forced the development of a single unstable mode from the otherwise disperse, multimodal Rayleigh–Plateau instability. The imposed mode paved the way for a hierarchical spatial fragmentation of the filament into particles, previously seen only at much larger scales. Ultimately, nanoparticle radius control is demonstrated using a micrometer scale switch

Large Positive Thermal Expansion and Small Band Gap in Double-ReO₃‑Type Compound NaSbF₆

Double-ReO₃-type structure compound NaSbF₆ undergoes a low-temperature rhombohedral to high-temperature cubic phase between 303 and 323 K, as revealed by temperature-dependent X-ray diffractions. Although many double-ReO₃-type fluorides exhibit either low thermal expansion or negative thermal expansion (NTE), NaSbF₆ exhibits positive thermal expansion (PTE) with a large volumetric coefficient of thermal expansion, α_v = 62 ppm/K, in its cubic phase. Raman spectroscopy reveals that the low-frequency transverse vibration of fluorine atoms is stiffened in NaSbF₆, compared with the typical NTE compound CaZrF₆ with the same structure. The related weak contraction associated with the polyhedral rocking would be overcome by the notable elongation of the Na–F bond length on heating, thus leading to the large volumetric PTE. Unlike ScF₃ and CaZrF₆ which are insulators with a wide band gap, a relative small band gap of 3.76 eV was observed in NaSbF₆. The small band gap can be attributed to the hybridization between the Sb 5s and F 2p orbitals