Low-molecular-weight organic acids exuded by Mangrove (Kandelia candel (L.) Druce) roots and their effect on cadmium species change in the rhizosphere

Cadmium (Cd) accumulation has been found in large areas of estuaries due to emissions from municipal waste incinerators, car exhausts, residues from metalliferous mining and the smelting industry, and the use of sludge or urban composts, pesticides and fertilizers. In these areas, mangroves have been observed to possess a tolerance to high levels of Cd and it is hypothesized that low-molecular-weight organic acids (LMWOAs) produced at the soil-root interface (rhizosphere) may play an important role in the availability of Cd to these plants. Changes in both LMWOAs and Cd bioavailability, directly or indirectly related to the Cd stress were studied in the laboratory. A rhizobox technique was used for 6 months under growth in air-conditioned greenhouse with natural illumination and the relative humidity of 85%, the temperature ranging from 26 to 32 degrees C, in increasing Cd concentration stress conditions (0, 5, 10, 20, 30, 40 and 50 ppm). Six-month-old Kandelia candel (L.) Druce seedlings which grown in the rhizoboxes were selected to examine their root exudates. The results showed that monocarboxylic acids (formic, acetic, lactic, butyric and propionic acids), and di- and tricarbonxylic acids (maleic, fumaric, citric and L-tartaric acids) were found in root exudates. Citric, lactic and acetic acids being dominant took up 76.85-97.87% of the total LMWOAs in root exudations. Fumaric acid was only found where mangroves were growing on 20 ppm Cd. Root exudates reduced pH by 0.2-0.5 pH units in the rhizosphere compare to the bulk soil. The proportion of exchangeable Cd and Cd bound to carbonate had a positive correlation to total LMWOAs in the rhizosphere soil. Root exudates induced changes in soil Cd species under control conditions, consisting of lower exchangeable Cd compared with increasing stress. Results indicate that the measurement of LMWOAs may be included as early biomarkers in a plant bioassay to assess the phytotoxicity of Cd-contaminated soils on mangrove plants. (C) 2007 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved

Expression, purification, and characterization of a novel Ca2+- and phospholipid-binding protein annexin B2

Annexin B2 (AnxB2) is a novel member of the annexin family of Ca2+- and phospholipid-binding proteins from Cysticercus cellulosae. To obtain highly pure AnxB2 with an easy and inexpensive purification approach, its cDNA was cloned into the prokaryotic expression vector pJLA503 and the translation initiation codon was immediately under the control of the inducible bacteriophage λ promoters PR and PL. After induction by shifting temperature, large amounts of non-fusion protein were produced in Escherichia coli in a soluble form. Then a novel purification method based on Ca2+-dependent phosphatidylserine (PS)-binding activity was established, whereby the purity of AnxB2 was increased to 98.7%. Western blot analysis showed that recombinant AnxB2 was specifically recognized by serum of pigs infected with cysticercosis. In vitro test showed that, the recombinant AnxB2 had anticoagulant activity and platelet binding activity. The expression, purification, and initial characterization of AnxB2 set an important stage for further characterization of the protein

A role of periaqueductal grey NR2B-containing NMDA receptor in mediating persistent inflammatory pain

The midbrain periaqueductal grey (PAG) is a structure known for its roles in pain transmission and modulation. Noxious stimuli potentiate the glutamate synaptic transmission and enhance glutamate NMDA receptor expression in the PAG. However, little is known about roles of NMDA receptor subunits in the PAG in processing the persistent inflammatory pain. The present study was undertaken to investigate NR2A- and NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in the PAG and their modulation to the peripheral painful inflammation. Noxious stimuli induced by hind-paw injection of complete Freund's adjuvant (CFA) caused up-regulation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in the PAG, while NR2A-containing NMDA receptors were not altered. Whole-cell patch-clamp recordings revealed that NMDA receptor mediated mEPSCs were increased significantly in the PAG synapse during the chronic phases of inflammatory pain in mice. PAG local infusion of Ro 25-6981, an NR2B antagonist, notably prolonged the paw withdrawal latency to thermal radian heat stimuli bilaterally in rats. Hyperoside (Hyp), one of the flavonoids compound isolated from Rhododendron ponticum L., significantly reversed up-regulation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in the PAG and exhibited analgesic activities against persistent inflammatory stimuli in mice. Our findings provide strong evidence that up-regulation of NR2B-containing NMDA receptors in the PAG involves in the modulation to the peripheral persistent inflammatory pain

Application of next generation sequencing to CEPH cell lines to discover variants associated with FDA approved chemotherapeutics

After publication of this work [1], it has come to our attention that there is an error in the author list of the initial version of this manuscript; rather than Ernest J Lam, the second author of the manuscript should be listed as Ernest T Lam

Robust radiative cooling via surface phonon coupling-enhanced emissivity from SiO2 micropillar arrays

Silicon dioxide (SiO2) is a prominent candidate for radiative cooling applications due to its low absorption in solar wavelengths (0.25-2.5 µm) and exceptional stability. However, its bulk phonon-polariton band results in a strong reflection peak in the atmospheric transparency window (8-13 µm), making it difficult to meet the requirements for sub-ambient passive radiative cooling. Herein, we demonstrate that SiO2 micropillar arrays can effectively suppress infrared reflection at 8-13 µm and enhance the infrared emissivity by optimizing the micropillar array structure. We created a pattern with a height, spacing, and diameter of approximately 1.45 µm, 0.15 µm, and 0.35 µm, respectively, on top of a bulk SiO2 substrate using reactive ion etching. The resulting surface phonon coupling of the micropillar array led to an increase in the thermal emissivity from 0.79 to 0.94. Outdoor tests show that the SiO2 cooler with an optimized micropillar array can generate an average temperature drop of 5.5 °C throughout the daytime underneath an irradiance of 843.1 W/m^2 at noon. Furthermore, the micropillar arrays endow the SiO2 cooler with remarkable hydrophobic properties, attributed to the formation of F/C compounds introduced during the etching process. Finally, we also replicated the micropillar pattern onto the surface of industrial optical solar reflectors (OSRs), demonstrating similar emissivity and hydrophobicity enhancements. Our findings revealed an effective strategy for modifying the thermal management features of durable SiO2 layers, which can be harnessed to cool OSRs and other similar sky-facing devices

Speciation changes of cadmium in mangrove (Kandelia candel (L.)) rhizosphere sediments

The speciation distribution of cadmium (Cd) in mangrove (Kandelia candel (L.) Druce) rhizosphere sediment was investigated after different contents of Cd being loaded. The study results indicated that root induced changes of Cd bioavailability in the rhizosphere. Exchangeable and carbonate bound Cd in the rhizosphere sediments were lower than these in the bulk sediments, whilst an increase in Fe-Mn oxides bound and O.M/sulfide bound fractions occurred in the rhizosphere sediment. Increased levels of Cd in sediments resulted in higher Cd concentrations in mangrove plants, and the order of accumulation was: roots > hypocotyls > stems and leaves

lp-Recovery of the Most Significant Subspace among Multiple Subspaces with Outliers

We assume data sampled from a mixture of d-dimensional linear subspaces with spherically symmetric distributions within each subspace and an additional outlier component with spherically symmetric distribution within the ambient space (for simplicity we may assume that all distributions are uniform on their corresponding unit spheres). We also assume mixture weights for the different components. We say that one of the underlying subspaces of the model is most significant if its mixture weight is higher than the sum of the mixture weights of all other subspaces. We study the recovery of the most significant subspace by minimizing the lp-averaged distances of data points from d-dimensional subspaces, where p>0. Unlike other lp minimization problems, this minimization is non-convex for all p>0 and thus requires different methods for its analysis. We show that if 0<p<=1, then for any fraction of outliers the most significant subspace can be recovered by lp minimization with overwhelming probability (which depends on the generating distribution and its parameters). We show that when adding small noise around the underlying subspaces the most significant subspace can be nearly recovered by lp minimization for any 0<p<=1 with an error proportional to the noise level. On the other hand, if p>1 and there is more than one underlying subspace, then with overwhelming probability the most significant subspace cannot be recovered or nearly recovered. This last result does not require spherically symmetric outliers.Comment: This is a revised version of the part of 1002.1994 that deals with single subspace recovery. V3: Improved estimates (in particular for Lemma 3.1 and for estimates relying on it), asymptotic dependence of probabilities and constants on D and d and further clarifications; for simplicity it assumes uniform distributions on spheres. V4: minor revision for the published versio

Enhanced Avidity Maturation of Antibody to Human Immunodeficiency Virus Envelope: DNA Vaccination with gp120-C3d Fusion Proteins

DNA vaccination can elicit both humoral and cellular immune responses and can confer protection against several pathogens. However, DNA vaccines expressing the envelope (Env) protein of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) have been relatively ineffective at generating high titer, long-lasting, neutralizing antibodies in a variety of animal models. In this study, we report that fusion of Env and the complement component, C3d, in a DNA vaccine, enhances the titers of antibody to Env. Plasmids were generated that expressed a secreted form of Env (sgp120) from three isolates of HIV and these same forms fused to three tandem copies of the murine homologue of C3d (sgp120-3C3d). Analyses of titers and avidity maturation of the raised antibody indicated that immunizations with each of the sgp120-3C3d-expressing DNAs accelerated both the onset and the avidity maturation of antibody to Env. Originally published AIDS Research and Human Retroviruses, Vol. 17, No. 9, June 200

Multiple order-up-to policy for mitigating bullwhip effect in supply chain network

This paper proposes a multiple order-up-to policy based inventory replenishment scheme to mitigate the bullwhip effect in a multi-stage supply chain scenario, where various transportation modes are available between the supply chain (SC) participants. The proposed policy is similar to the fixed order-up-to policy approach where replenishment decision “how much to order” is made periodically on the basis of the predecided order-up-to inventory level. In the proposed policy, optimal multiple order-up-to levels are assigned to each SC participants, which provides decision making reference point for deciding the transportation related order quantity. Subsequently, a mathematical model is established to define optimal multiple order-up-to levels for each SC participants that aims to maximize overall profit from the SC network. In parallel, the model ensures the control over supply chain pipeline inventory, high satisfaction of customer demand and enables timely utilization of available transportation modes. Findings from the various numerical datasets including stochastic customer demand and lead times validate that—the proposed optimal multiple order-up-to policy based inventory replenishment scheme can be a viable alternative for mitigating the bullwhip effect and well-coordinated SC. Moreover, determining the multiple order-up-to levels is a NP hard combinatorial optimization problem. It is found that the implementation of new emerging optimization algorithm named bacterial foraging algorithm (BFA) has presented superior optimization performances. The robustness and applicability of the BFA algorithm are further validated statistically by employing the percentage heuristic gap and two-way ANOVA analysis

Impact of metabolic comorbidity on the association between body mass index and heatlh-related quality of life: a Scotland-wide cross-sectional study of 5,608 participants

&lt;p/&gt;Background: The prevalence of obesity is rising in Scotland and globally. Overall, obesity is associated with increased morbidity, mortality and reduced health-related quality of life. Studies suggest that "healthy obesity" (obesity without metabolic comorbidity) may not be associated with morbidity or mortality. Its impact on health-related quality of life is unknown. &lt;p/&gt;Methods: We extracted data from the Scottish Health Survey on self-reported health-related quality of life, body mass index (BMI), demographic information and comorbidity. SF-12 responses were converted into an overall health utility score. Linear regression analyses were used to explore the association between BMI and health utility, stratified by the presence or absence of metabolic comorbidity (diabetes, hypertension, hypercholesterolemia or cardiovascular disease), and adjusted for potential confounders (age, sex and deprivation quintile). &lt;p/&gt;Results: Of the 5,608 individuals, 3,744 (66.8%) were either overweight or obese and 921 (16.4%) had metabolic comorbidity. There was an inverted U-shaped relationship whereby health utility was highest among overweight individuals and fell with increasing BMI. There was a significant interaction with metabolic comorbidity (p = 0.007). Individuals with metabolic comorbidty had lower utility scores and a steeper decline in utility with increasing BMI (morbidly obese, adjusted coefficient: -0.064, 95% CI -0.115, -0.012, p = 0.015 for metabolic comorbidity versus -0.042, 95% CI -0.067, -0.018, p = 0.001 for no metabolic comorbidity). &lt;p/&gt;Conclusions: The adverse impact of obesity on health-related quality of life is greater among individuals with metabolic comorbidity. However, increased BMI is associated with reduced health-related quality of life even in the absence of metabolic comorbidity, casting doubt on the notion of "healthy obesity"