Carbon sources and polyethylene glycol on soybean somatic embryo conversion

Somatic embryogenesis is an efficient method for the production of target cells for soybean genetic transformation. However, this method still offers low percentages of plant regeneration, and perhaps is related to the maturation process and high morphological abnormalities of the matured embryos. This study aimed to identify a maturation medium that could contribute to the outcome of more efficient plant regeneration results. Embryogenic clusters, derived from cotyledons of immature seeds of the soybean cultivars Bragg and IAS5, were used as starting material for embryos development. Different maturation media were tested by using 6% maltose, 3% sucrose or 6% sucrose, combined with or without 25 g L-1 of the osmotic regulator polyethylene glycol (PEG-8000). The histodifferentiated embryos were quantified and classified in morphological types. Percentages of converted embryos were analyzed. Cultivar Bragg resulted in higher matured embryo quantities, but lower percentages were obtained for the conversion in comparison to cultivar IAS5. While the addition of PEG did not affect the number of embryos converted into plants, 6% sucrose enhanced the conversion percent significantly.

A New Approach for the Carbon Monoxide (CO) Exposure Diagnosis: Measurement of Total CO in Human Blood Versus Carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO).

The aim of the study is to present the application of a headspace-gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (HS-GC-MS) method for the determination of the carbon monoxide (CO) blood concentration and to compare it with carboxyhemoglobin (HbCO) saturation. In postmortem cases, the HbCO measured by spectrophotometry frequently leads to inaccurate results due to inadequate samples or analyses. The true role of CO intoxication in the death of a person could be misclassified. The estimation of HbCO from HS-GC-MS CO measurements provides helpful information by determining the total CO levels (CO linked to hemoglobin (HbCO) and CO dissociated from hemoglobin). The CO concentrations were converted in HbCO saturation levels to define cutoff blood CO values. CO limits were defined as less than 1 μmol/mL for living persons, less than 1.5 μmol/mL for dead persons without CO exposure, and greater than 3 μmol/mL for dead persons with clear CO poisoning.

An insight into co-operativism

The concept of co-operativism is analysed in this report. As an introduction to the subject, the values that socially friendly businesses work with are mentioned, as well as, the basic differences with regard to capitalist companies. In order to broaden the model, seven basic principles that drive such companies are analysed. Recently, due to the economic crisis, many capitalist companies have changed their way of running the business and have opted for cooperatives. Therefore, the steps they have to follow to become part of this view will be considered. So as to introduce a more critical view, benefits and drawbacks of cooperative companies will be borne in mind. In addition, no theoretical model is complete if real examples are not provided, thus in the final part, four companies will be studied. The first one being a company that has always been part of a group of cooperatives and which has enjoyed positive results all over; the second one, a company that has experienced the benefits of leaving the group; the third one, the cornerstone of such group, whose effort to relaunch the company have failed; and the final one, an acquired company whose future is uncertain due to its parent company's decline. To conclude, the final section is going to be devoted to heighten the problems that cooperatives have and which may have compromised their status as alternative models to capitalism.

L'art. 320 al. 2 CO: une règle compatible avec les dispositions sur la conclusion des contrats?

Le Tribunal fédéral et la doctrine majoritaire interprètent l'art. 320 al. 2 CO comme un cas où l'existence d'un contrat de travail peut être déduite de circonstances de fait indépendantes de tout consensus. Il s'agirait donc là d'une dérogation aux art. 1 ss CO. Dans cette contribution, nous proposons une conception de l'art. 320 al. 2 CO compatible avec le mécanisme ordinaire de conclusion des contrats. En l'occurrence, le contrat de travail serait conclu par actes concluants sur la base d'un accord de droit, c'est-à-dire en appliquant le principe de la confiance. Alors que la lettre et le but de protection de l'art. 320 al. 2 CO semblent plutôt neutres à cet égard, l'histoire et la systématique de cet alinéa plaident clairement en faveur de la conception ici proposée.

Biofuel Co-Product Uses for Pavement Geo-Materials Stabilization, TR-582, 2010

The production and use of biofuels has increased in the present context of sustainable development. Biofuel production from plant biomass produces not only biofuel or ethanol but also co-products containing lignin, modified lignin, and lignin derivatives. This research investigated the utilization of lignin-containing biofuel co-products (BCPs) in pavement soil stabilization as a new application area. Laboratory tests were conducted to evaluate the performance and the moisture susceptibility of two types of BCP-treated soil samples compared to the performance of untreated and traditional stabilizer-treated (fly ash) soil samples. The two types of BCPs investigated were (1) a liquid type with higher lignin content (co-product A) and (b) a powder type with lower lignin content (co-product B). Various additive combinations (co-product A and fly ash, co-products A and B, etc.) were also evaluated as alternatives to stand-alone co-products. Test results indicate that BCPs are effective in stabilizing the Iowa Class 10 soil classified as CL or A-6(8) and have excellent resistance to moisture degradation. Strengths and moisture resistance in comparison to traditional additives (fly ash) could be obtained through the use of combined additives (co-product A + fly ash; co-product A + co-product B). Utilizing BCPs as a soil stabilizer appears to be one of the many viable answers to the profitability of the bio-based products and the bioenergy business. Future research is needed to evaluate the freeze-thaw durability and for resilient modulus characterization of BCP-modified layers for a variety of pavement subgrade and base soil types. In addition, the long-term performance of these BCPs should be evaluated under actual field conditions and traffic loadings. Innovative uses of BCP in pavement-related applications could not only provide additional revenue streams to improve the economics of biorefineries, but could also serve to establish green road infrastructures.

De Novo Production of Metabolites by Fungal Co-culture of Trichophyton rubrum and Bionectria ochroleuca.

The co-cultivation of fungi has recently been described as a promising strategy to induce the production of novel metabolites through possible gene activation. A large screening of fungal co-cultures in solid media has identified an unusual long-distance growth inhibition between Trichophyton rubrum and Bionectria ochroleuca. To study metabolite induction in this particular fungal interaction, differential LC-MS-based metabolomics was performed on pure strain cultures and on their co-cultures. The comparison of the resulting fingerprints highlighted five de novo induced compounds, which were purified using software-oriented semipreparative HPLC-MS. One metabolite was successfully identified as 4″-hydroxysulfoxy-2,2″-dimethylthielavin P (a substituted trimer of 3,5-dimethylorsellinic acid). The nonsulfated form, as well as three other related compounds, were found in the pure strain culture of B. ochroleuca.

A structural MRI study of motor conversion disorder: evidence of reduction in thalamic volume.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate potential abnormalities in subcortical brain structures in conversion disorder (CD) compared with controls using a region of interest (ROI) approach. METHODS: Fourteen patients with motor CD were compared with 31 healthy controls using high-resolution MRI scans with an ROI approach focusing on the basal ganglia, thalamus and amygdala. Brain volumes were measured using Freesurfer, a validated segmentation algorithm. RESULTS: Significantly smaller left thalamic volumes were found in patients compared with controls when corrected for intracranial volume. These reductions did not vary with handedness, laterality, duration or severity of symptoms. CONCLUSIONS: These differences may reflect a primary disease process in this area or be secondary effects of the disorder, for example, resulting from limb disuse. Larger, longitudinal structural imaging studies will be required to confirm the findings and explore whether they are primary or secondary to CD.

Caracterização de genótipos de tomateiro resistentes a begomovírus por marcador molecular co-dominante ligado ao gene Ty-1

O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar genótipos de tomateiro, quanto à resistência a begomovírus, e caracterizar, por meio do marcador molecular SSR-47, híbridos de tomate de mesa portadores do alelo de resistência ao begomovírus Ty-1, com potencial comercial. Os 24 híbridos experimentais, heterozigotos no loco Ty-1, depois de infectados via enxertia, apresentaram sintomas intermediários, em comparação aos identificados pelas linhagens homozigotas Ty-1/Ty-1 e pelos genótipos suscetíveis Ty-1+/Ty-1+, o que indica a dominância incompleta do alelo Ty-1. Esses híbridos foram considerados como parcialmente tolerantes a begomovírus. Os híbridos experimentais TEX-246, TEX-261, TEX-253, TEX-256, TEX-262, TEX-252, TEX-251 e TEX-268 aliaram médias elevadas de produção total e de massa média dos frutos; e os híbridos TEX-246, TEX-253, TEX-256, TEX-262 e TEX-252 apresentaram valores elevados também para meia-vida da firmeza e foram, portanto, considerados competitivos em comparação aos padrões comerciais usados como testemunhas. O marcador molecular SSR-47 foi eficiente em caracterizar genótipos portadores do alelo Ty-1. A infecção do begomovírus, induzida via enxertia, manifestou sintomas, nos genótipos testados, condizentes com os resultados obtidos com o marcador molecular SSR-47.

Thermostatistical description of small systems in nonequilibrium conditions: Energy conversion and harvesting

Hysteresis cycles are very important features of energy conversion and harvesting devices, such as batteries. The efficiency of these may be strongly affected by the physical size of the system. Here, we show that in systems which are small enough, the existence of physical boundaries which produce nonhomogeneities of the interaction potential gives rise to inflections and barriers in the associated free energy. This in turn brings on irreversible processes which can be triggered under suitable external conditions imposed by a heat bath. As an example, by controlling the temperature, the state of a small system may be impelled to oscillate between two different structural configurations or aggregation states avoiding equilibrium coexistence and therefore dissipating energy. This cyclical behavior associated with a hysteresis cycle may be prototypical of energy conversion, storage, or generating nanodevices, as exemplified by Li-ion insertion batteries.

Avian haemosporidian persistence and co-infection in great tits at the individual level.

BACKGROUND: Many studies have tracked the distribution and persistence of avian haemosporidian communities across space and time at the population level, but few studies have investigated these aspects of infection at the individual level over time. Important aspects of parasite infection at the individual level can be missed if only trends at the population level are studied. This study aimed to determine how persistent Haemosporida are in great tit individuals recaptured over several years, whether parasitaemia differed by parasite lineage (mitochondrial cytochrome b haplotype) and how co-infection (i.e. concurrent infection with multiple genera of parasites) affects parasitaemia and body mass. METHODS: Parasite prevalence was determined by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), quantitative PCR were used to assess parasitaemia and sequencing was employed to determine the identity of the lineages using the MalAvi database. RESULTS: Haemosporidian prevalence was high over sampled years with 98% of 55 recaptured individuals showing infection in at least one year of capture. Eighty-two percent of all positive individuals suffered co-infection, with an overall haemosporidian lineage diversity of seventeen. Plasmodium and Haemoproteus parasites were found to be highly persistent, with lineages from these genera consistently found in individuals across years and with no differences in individual parasitaemia being recorded at subsequent captures. Conversely, Leucocytozoon parasites showed higher turnover with regard to lineage changes or transitions in infection status (infected vs non-infected) across years. Parasitaemia was found to be lineage specific and there was no relationship between Plasmodium parasitaemia or host body condition and the presence of Leucocytozoon parasites. CONCLUSIONS: The findings of this study suggest that different genera of haemosporidian parasites interact differently with their host and other co-infecting parasites, influencing parasite persistence most likely through inter-parasite competition or host-parasite immune interactions. Even-though co-infections do not seem to result in increased virulence (higher parasitaemia or poorer host body condition), further investigation into infection potential of these parasites, both individually and as co-infections, is necessary.

Detection of metabolite induction in fungal co-cultures on solid media by high-throughput differential ultra-high pressure liquid chromatography-time-of-flight mass spectrometry fingerprinting.

Access to new biological sources is a key element of natural product research. A particularly large number of biologically active molecules have been found to originate from microorganisms. Very recently, the use of fungal co-culture to activate the silent genes involved in metabolite biosynthesis was found to be a successful method for the induction of new compounds. However, the detection and identification of the induced metabolites in the confrontation zone where fungi interact remain very challenging. To tackle this issue, a high-throughput UHPLC-TOF-MS-based metabolomic approach has been developed for the screening of fungal co-cultures in solid media at the petri dish level. The metabolites that were overexpressed because of fungal interactions were highlighted by comparing the LC-MS data obtained from the co-cultures and their corresponding mono-cultures. This comparison was achieved by subjecting automatically generated peak lists to statistical treatments. This strategy has been applied to more than 600 co-culture experiments that mainly involved fungal strains from the Fusarium genera, although experiments were also completed with a selection of several other filamentous fungi. This strategy was found to provide satisfactory repeatability and was used to detect the biomarkers of fungal induction in a large panel of filamentous fungi. This study demonstrates that co-culture results in consistent induction of potentially new metabolites.

Co- and posttranslational modification of the alpha(1B)-adrenergic receptor: effects on receptor expression and function.

We have characterized the maturation, co- and posttranslational modifications, and functional properties of the alpha(1B)-adrenergic receptor (AR) expressed in different mammalian cells transfected using conventional approaches or the Semliki Forest virus system. We found that the alpha(1B)-AR undergoes N-linked glycosylation as demonstrated by its sensitivity to endoglycosidases and by the effect of tunicamycin on receptor maturation. Pulse-chase labeling experiments in BHK-21 cells demonstrate that the alpha(1B)-AR is synthesized as a 70 kDa core glycosylated precursor that is converted to the 90 kDa mature form of the receptor with a half-time of approximately 2 h. N-Linked glycosylation of the alpha(1B)-AR occurs at four asparagines on the N-terminus of the receptor. Mutations of the N-linked glycosylation sites did not have a significant effect on receptor function or expression. Surprisingly, receptor mutants lacking N-linked glycosylation migrated as heterogeneous bands in SDS-PAGE. Our findings demonstrate that N-linked glycosylation and phosphorylation, but not palmitoylation or O-linked glycosylation, contribute to the structural heterogeneity of the alpha(1B)-AR as it is observed in SDS-PAGE. The modifications found are similar in the different mammalian expression systems explored. Our findings indicate that the Semliki Forest virus system can provide large amounts of functional and fully glycosylated alpha(1B)-AR protein suitable for biochemical and structural studies. The results of this study contribute to elucidate the basic steps involved in the processing of G protein-coupled receptors as well as to optimize strategies for their overexpression.