Supporting crop pollinators with floral resources: Network-based phenological matching

The production of diverse and affordable agricultural crop species depends on pollination services provided by bees. Indeed, the proportion of pollinator-dependent crops is increasing globally. Agriculture relies heavily on the domesticated honeybee; the services provided by this single species are under threat and becoming increasingly costly. Importantly, the free pollination services provided by diverse wild bee communities have been shown to be sufficient for high agricultural yields in some systems. However, stable, functional wild bee communities require floral resources, such as pollen and nectar, throughout their active season, not just when crop species are in flower. To target floral provisioning efforts to conserve and support native and managed bee species, we apply network theoretical methods incorporating plant and pollinator phenologies. Using a two-year dataset comprising interactions between bees (superfamily Apoidea, Anthophila) and 25 native perennial plant species in floral provisioning habitat, we identify plant and bee species that provide a key and central role to the stability of the structure of this community. We also examine three specific case studies: how provisioning habitat can provide temporally continuous support for honeybees (Apis mellifera) and bumblebees (Bombus impatiens), and how resource supplementation strategies might be designed for a single genus of important orchard pollinators (Osmia). This framework could be used to provide native bee communities with additional, well-targeted floral resources to ensure that they not only survive, but also thrive. © 2013 The Authors

Covariant canonical quantization of fields and Bohmian mechanics

We propose a manifestly covariant canonical method of field quantization based on the classical De Donder-Weyl covariant canonical formulation of field theory. Owing to covariance, the space and time arguments of fields are treated on an equal footing. To achieve both covariance and consistency with standard noncovariant canonical quantization of fields in Minkowski spacetime, it is necessary to adopt a covariant Bohmian formulation of quantum field theory. A preferred foliation of spacetime emerges dynamically owing to a purely quantum effect. The application to a simple time-reparametrization invariant system and quantum gravity is discussed and compared with the conventional noncovariant Wheeler-DeWitt approach.Comment: 17 pages, revised, to appear in Eur. Phys. J.

Closed-loop DBS triggered by real-time movement and tremor decoding based on thalamic LFPs for essential tremor.

High frequency Deep Brain Stimulation (DBS) targeting the motor thalamus is an effective therapy for essential tremor (ET). However, since tremor mainly affects periods of voluntary movements and sustained postures in ET, conventional continuous stimulation may deliver unnecessary current to the brain. Here we tried to decode movement states based on local field potentials (LFPs) recorded from motor thalamus and zona incerta in real-time to trigger the switching on and off of DBS in three patients with ET. Patient-specific models were first identified using thalamic LFPs recorded while the patient performed movements that tended to trigger tremor in everyday life. During the real-time test, LFPs were continuously recorded to decode movements and tremor, and the detection triggered stimulation. Results show that voluntary movements can be detected with a mean sensitivity ranging from 76.8% to 88.6% and a false positive rate ranging from 16.0% to 23.1% Postural tremor was detected with similar accuracy. The closed-loop DBS triggered by tremor detection suppressed intention tremor by 90.5% with a false positive rate of 20.3%.Clinical Relevance- This is the first study on closed-loop DBS triggered by real-time movement and tremor decoding based solely on thalamic LFPs. The results suggest that responsive DBS based on movement and tremor detection can be achieved without any requirement for external sensors or additional electrocorticography strips

Closed-Loop Deep Brain Stimulation for Essential Tremor Based on Thalamic Local Field Potentials.

BACKGROUND: High-frequency thalamic stimulation is an effective therapy for essential tremor, which mainly affects voluntary movements and/or sustained postures. However, continuous stimulation may deliver unnecessary current to the brain due to the intermittent nature of the tremor. OBJECTIVE: We proposed to close the loop of thalamic stimulation by detecting tremor-provoking movement states using local field potentials recorded from the same electrodes implanted for stimulation, so that the stimulation is only delivered when necessary. METHODS: Eight patients with essential tremor participated in this study. Patient-specific support vector machine classifiers were first trained using data recorded while the patient performed tremor-provoking movements. Then, the trained models were applied in real-time to detect these movements and triggered the delivery of stimulation. RESULTS: Using the proposed method, stimulation was switched on for 80.37 ± 7.06% of the time when tremor-evoking movements were present. In comparison, the stimulation was switched on for 12.71 ± 7.06% of the time when the patients were at rest and tremor-free. Compared with continuous stimulation, a similar amount of tremor suppression was achieved while only delivering 36.62 ± 13.49% of the energy used in continuous stimulation. CONCLUSIONS: The results suggest that responsive thalamic stimulation for essential tremor based on tremor-provoking movement detection can be achieved without any requirement for external sensors or additional electrocorticography strips. Further research is required to investigate whether the decoding model is stable across time and generalizable to the variety of activities patients may engage with in everyday life. © 2021 The Authors. Movement Disorders published by Wiley Periodicals LLC on behalf of International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society

γδ T lymphocytes: An effector cell in autoimmunity and infection

γδ T cells are non-conventional lymphocytes which show several properties of innate immune cells. They present a limited TCR repertoire and circulate as cells with a pre-activated phenotype thus being able to generate rapid immune responses. γδ T cells do not recognize classical peptide antigens, their TCRs are non-MHC restricted and they can respond to pathogen-associated molecular patterns and to cytokines in absence of TCR ligands. They also recognize self-molecules induced by stress, which indicate infection and cellular transformation. All these features let γδ T cells act as a first line of defense in sterile and non-sterile inflammation. γδ T cells represent 1-10% of circulating lymphocytes in the adult human peripheral blood, they are widely localized in non-lymphoid tissues and constitute the majority of immune cells in some epithelial surfaces, where they participate in the maintenance of the epithelial barriers. γδ T cells produce a wide range of cytokines that orchestrate the course of immune responses and also exert high cytotoxic activity against infected and transformed cells. In contrast to their beneficial role during infection, γδ T cells are also implicated in the development and progression of autoimmune diseases. Interestingly, several functions of γδ T cells are susceptible to modulation by interaction with other cells. In this review, we give an overview of the γδ T cell participation in infection and autoimmunity. We also revise the underlying mechanisms that modulate γδ T cell function that might provide tools to control pathological immune responses.Fil: Shiromizu, Carolina Maiumi. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; ArgentinaFil: Jancic, Carolina Cristina. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Instituto de Medicina Experimental. Academia Nacional de Medicina de Buenos Aires. Instituto de Medicina Experimental; Argentina. Universidad de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Medicina. Departamento de Microbiología. Cátedra de Microbiología, Parasitología e Inmunología; Argentin

Inhibition of Protein Fibrillation by Hydrogen Sulfide<xref rid="fn1" ref-type="fn">¹</xref>

Amyloid fibrils are misfolded proteins, which are often associated with various neurodegenerative diseases such as Alzheimer’s. The amount of hydrogen sulfide (H2S) is known to be reduced in the brain tissue of people diagnosed with Alzheimer’s disease relative to that of healthy individuals. Hen Egg-White Lysozyme (HEWL) forms typical β-sheet-rich fibrils during 70 minutes at low pH and high temperatures. These results are consistent with the ThT findings that β-sheets structure is also present in myoglobin (Mb), and hemoglobin (Hb) in the presence of 45% TFE. The addition of H2S in the process completely inhibits the formation of amyloid fibrils in HEWL, Mb, and Hb as revealed by several spectroscopic techniques. Non-resonance Raman bands corresponding to disulfide (RSSR) vibrational modes in the 550-500 cm-1 spectral range decreases in intensity and is accompanied by the appearance of a new 490 cm-1 band assigned to the trisulfide group (RSSSR). Intrinsic tryptophan fluorescence shows a partial denaturation of HEWL containing trisulfide bonds. Overall, the Mb and Hb result ties excellent with the HEWL data showing that the presence of H2S during these proteins fibrillation processes protects the α-helical protein structures, preventing the formation of amyloids in these different proteins moieties

Flora alóctona de la cordillera de los Pirineos: catalogación y análisis

Póster presentado en el III Simposio Anual de Botánica Española celebrado en el Institut Botànic de Barcelona, Barcelona, 25-26 de noviembre de 2022En el marco del proyecto transfronterizo FLORAPYR AVANCE, con participación de equipos de botánicos de las dos vertientes de los Pirineos, se ha elaborado un catálogo completo y actualizado de la flora alóctona de la cordillera. Sobre este catálogo se han analizado una serie de aspectos ecológicos y biogeográficos, y también se han establecido los principales patrones de distribución geográfica de las plantas alóctonas que se encuentran en los Pirineos. En estos momentos, el número de taxones alóctonos conocidos en los Pirineos es de 615, pertenecientes a 99 familias, en sus cerca de 50.000 km2 de extensión; se trata de una cifra sustancialmente mayor a la de los Alpes (509 taxones en unos 170.000 km2). Esta diferencia sería atribuible, entre otros factores, a la mayor proximidad de zonas muy pobladas (áreas metropolitanas de Barcelona y de Toulouse, y litoral catalán). Los géneros más diversos de la flora alóctona pirenaica son Amaranthus (13 taxones), Solanum (10), y Erigeron y Prunus (9). Aproximadamente un tercio de los taxones proceden del continente americano, mientras que la cuenca mediterránea y la zona paleártico-occidental suman conjuntamente otro tercio. La principal vía de introducción es la jardinería (57,2%), seguida de la agricultura y el comercio, mientras que la silvicultura es marginal. La mayoría de los taxones exóticos son terófitos (hierbas anuales), mientras que el resto de formas biológicas están menos representadas. La flora alóctona no se encuentra distribuida uniformemente por los Pirineos; las áreas geográficas con más taxones son las más orientales (que son también las más antropizadas). Todo ello nos lleva a considerar a los Pirineos como un hotspot de flora alóctona y a remarcar la necesidad de implantar estrategias de prevención y control para evitar la expansión de estas plantas por el territorio y reducir el impacto sobre las especies y ecosistemas autóctonos

Highly Active Microbial Phosphoantigen Induces Rapid yet Sustained MEK/Erk- and PI-3K/Akt-Mediated Signal Transduction in Anti-Tumor Human γδ T-Cells

BACKGROUND: The unique responsiveness of Vgamma9Vdelta2 T-cells, the major gammadelta subset of human peripheral blood, to non-peptidic prenyl pyrophosphate antigens constitutes the basis of current gammadelta T-cell-based cancer immunotherapy strategies. However, the molecular mechanisms responsible for phosphoantigen-mediated activation of human gammadelta T-cells remain unclear. In particular, previous reports have described a very slow kinetics of activation of T-cell receptor (TCR)-associated signal transduction pathways by isopentenyl pyrophosphate and bromohydrin pyrophosphate, seemingly incompatible with direct binding of these antigens to the Vgamma9Vdelta2 TCR. Here we have studied the most potent natural phosphoantigen yet identified, (E)-4-hydroxy-3-methyl-but-2-enyl pyrophosphate (HMB-PP), produced by Eubacteria and Protozoa, and examined its gammadelta T-cell activation and anti-tumor properties. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We have performed a comparative study between HMB-PP and the anti-CD3epsilon monoclonal antibody OKT3, used as a reference inducer of bona fide TCR signaling, and followed multiple cellular and molecular gammadelta T-cell activation events. We show that HMB-PP activates MEK/Erk and PI-3K/Akt pathways as rapidly as OKT3, and induces an almost identical transcriptional profile in Vgamma9(+) T-cells. Moreover, MEK/Erk and PI-3K/Akt activities are indispensable for the cellular effects of HMB-PP, including gammadelta T-cell activation, proliferation and anti-tumor cytotoxicity, which are also abolished upon antibody blockade of the Vgamma9(+) TCR Surprisingly, HMB-PP treatment does not induce down-modulation of surface TCR levels, and thereby sustains gammadelta T-cell activation upon re-stimulation. This ultimately translates in potent human gammadelta T-cell anti-tumor function both in vitro and in vivo upon transplantation of human leukemia cells into lymphopenic mice, CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: The development of efficient cancer immunotherapy strategies critically depends on our capacity to maximize anti-tumor effector T-cell responses. By characterizing the intracellular mechanisms of HMB-PP-mediated activation of the highly cytotoxic Vgamma9(+) T-cell subset, our data strongly support the usage of this microbial antigen in novel cancer clinical trials

Beta-triggered adaptive deep brain stimulation during reaching movement in Parkinson's disease.

Subthalamic nucleus (STN) beta-triggered adaptive deep brain stimulation (ADBS) has been shown to provide clinical improvement comparable to conventional continuous DBS (CDBS) with less energy delivered to the brain and less stimulation induced side-effects. However, several questions remain unanswered. First, there is a normal physiological reduction of STN beta band power just prior to and during voluntary movement. ADBS systems will therefore reduce or cease stimulation during movement in people with Parkinson's disease (PD) and could therefore compromise motor performance compared to CDBS. Second, beta power was smoothed and estimated over a time period of 400 ms in most previous ADBS studies, but a shorter smoothing period could have the advantage of being more sensitive to changes in beta power which could enhance motor performance. In this study, we addressed these two questions by evaluating the effectiveness of STN beta-triggered ADBS using a standard 400 ms and a shorter 200 ms smoothing window during reaching movements. Results from 13 people with PD showed that reducing the smoothing window for quantifying beta did lead to shortened beta burst durations by increasing the number of beta bursts shorter than 200 ms and more frequent switching on/off of the stimulator but had no behavioural effects. Both ADBS and CDBS improved motor performance to an equivalent extent compared to no DBS. Secondary analysis revealed that there were independent effects of a decrease in beta power and an increase in gamma power in predicting faster movement speed, while a decrease in beta event related desynchronization (ERD) predicted quicker movement initiation. CDBS suppressed both beta and gamma more than ADBS, whereas beta ERD was reduced to a similar level during CDBS and ADBS compared with no DBS, which together explained the achieved similar performance improvement in reaching movements during CDBS and ADBS. In addition, ADBS significantly improved tremor compared with no DBS but was not as effective as CDBS. These results suggest that STN beta-triggered ADBS is effective in improving motor performance during reaching movements in people with PD, and that shortening of the smoothing window does not result in any additional behavioural benefit. When developing ADBS systems for PD, it might not be necessary to track very fast beta dynamics; combining beta, gamma, and information from motor decoding might be more beneficial with additional biomarkers needed for optimal treatment of tremor

The VANDELS ESO public spectroscopic survey: Observations and first data release

This paper describes the observations and the first data release (DR1) of the ESO public spectroscopic survey “VANDELS, a deep VIMOS survey of the CANDELS CDFS and UDS fields”. The main targets of VANDELS are star-forming galaxies at redshift 2.4 < z < 5.5, an epoch when the Universe had not yet reached 20% of its current age, and massive passive galaxies in the range 1 < z < 2.5. By adopting a strategy of ultra-long exposure times, ranging from a minimum of 20 h to a maximum of 80 h per source, VANDELS is specifically designed to be the deepest-ever spectroscopic survey of the high-redshift Universe. Exploiting the red sensitivity of the refurbished VIMOS spectrograph, the survey is obtaining ultra-deep optical spectroscopy covering the wavelength range 4800–10 000 Å with a sufficiently high signal-to-noise ratio to investigate the astrophysics of high-redshift galaxy evolution via detailed absorption line studies of well-defined samples of high-redshift galaxies. VANDELS-DR1 is the release of all medium-resolution spectroscopic data obtained during the first season of observations, on a 0.2 square degree area centered around the CANDELS-CDFS (Chandra deep-field south) and CANDELS-UDS (ultra-deep survey) areas. It includes data for all galaxies for which the total (or half of the total) scheduled integration time was completed. The DR1 contains 879 individual objects, approximately half in each of the two fields, that have a measured redshift, with the highest reliable redshifts reaching zspec ~ 6. In DR1 we include fully wavelength-calibrated and flux-calibrated 1D spectra, the associated error spectrum and sky spectrum, and the associated wavelength-calibrated 2D spectra. We also provide a catalog with the essential galaxy parameters, including spectroscopic redshifts and redshift quality flags measured by the collaboration. We present the survey layout and observations, the data reduction and redshift measurement procedure, and the general properties of the VANDELS-DR1 sample. In particular, we discuss the spectroscopic redshift distribution and the accuracy of the photometricredshifts for each individual target category, and we provide some examples of data products for the various target typesand the different quality flags. All VANDELS-DR1 data are publicly available and can be retrieved from the ESO archive. Two further data releases are foreseen in the next two years, and a final data release is currently scheduled for June 2020, which will include an improved rereduction of the entire spectroscopic data set