bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025 huggingface dataset:
Weed population responses to weed control practices. II. Residual effects on weed populations, control, andGlycine maxyield
Authors: Buhler Douglas D.
Published: May 2019

Weed populations, weed control with imazethapyr, andGlycine maxyields were affected by a 4-yr history of different weed control practices. A range of chemical and mechanical practices were applied in separate field experiments initiated under high and low weed densities. In the high-density experiment, plots kept weed free for 4 yr averaged 24Setaria faberiplants m−2compared with 200 to 600 plants m−2with the various weed control treatments. In plots with a history of mechanical control, weeds not controlled by imazethapyr reducedG. maxyield by 340 kg ha−1compared with plots that were kept weed free during the same period. In the low-density experiment, weed control history had less effect on weed densities. For example,S. faberidensities ranged from 19 plants m−2for the weed-free plots to 195 plants m−2with mechanical control. Weed control history had little effect on weed control with imazethapyr orG. maxyields in imazethapyr-treated plots. While weed-free conditions for 4 yr greatly reduced weed densities, imazethapyr application still increasedG. maxyields 22% in the low-density experiment and 51% in the high-density experiment. Differences in densities of individual annual broadleaf species also developed in response to weed control history in both experiments.
Seedling growth and leaf surface morphological responses of three rangeland weeds to ultraviolet-B radiation
Authors: Furness Nancy H. , Upadhyaya Mahesh K. , Ormrod Douglas P.
Published: May 2019

The influence of ultraviolet-B (UV-B) radiation on seedling growth and leaf surface characteristics of important rangeland weedsCynoglossum officinaleL. (houndstongue),Centaurea diffusaLam. (diffuse knapweed), andTragopogon pratensisL. (meadow salsify) was investigated in a greenhouse by exposing seedlings to 0, 7, or 11 kJ m−2d−1of biologically effective UV-B radiation. UV-B radiation reduced leaf, stem, and root fresh weights, leaf area, and leaf: shoot ratio and increased shoot dry matter content, specific leaf weight, and leaf greenness ofC. officinaleseedlings. Leaf, stem, and root fresh weight, and leaf area ofC. diffusaseedlings decreased, whereas shoot dry matter content, specific leaf weight, leaf: shoot ratio, and leaf greenness were unaffected.T. pratensisseedlings exposed to UV-B radiation had diminished leaf greenness, but no change was observed in leaf or stem fresh weight, leaf area, or leaf: shoot ratio. Uniseriate trichome abundance inC. officinaleseedlings increased and trichome orientation changed in response to UV-B exposure. UV-B treatments decreased uniseriate trichome abundance inC. diffusa; glandular trichome abundance and the ratio of glandular: uniseriate trichomes were not affected.T. pratensisseedlings showed no change in the amount of epicuticular wax on the adaxial leaf surface in response to UV-B irradiation. Shoot dry weight was not influenced by removal of epicuticular wax prior to UV-B exposure. Results suggest that epicuticular wax is not an important factor in acclimation ofT. pratensisseedlings to UV-B radiation. Susceptibility to UV-B–induced damage was greatest forC. officinaleseedlings and least forT. pratensisseedlings. Modification of plant morphology or reduction in growth induced by enhanced UV-B radiation may influence competitive relationships between rangeland weeds and their associated forage species.
Effects of soil temperature and tuber depth onCyperusspp. control
Authors: Chase Carlene A. , Sinclair Thomas R. , Locascio Salvadore J.
Published: May 2019

Studies were conducted to determine lethal temperatures forCyperus esculentusandCyperus rotundustubers using diurnal oscillations in soil temperature with maxima of 40, 45, 50, and 55 C and a minimum of 26 C. Growth ofCyperusspp. plants was faster at 40 C than at a constant temperature of 26 C. The 45 C treatment delayedCyperusspp. emergence but was not lethal to tubers. Tuber mortality was 100% for bothCyperusspp. with the 50 and 55 C temperature regimes. Soil solarization with thermal-infrared-retentive (TIR) films resulted in higher soil temperatures than with a 30-μm low-density polyethylene (LDPE) clear film. With TIR films, greater proportions of emergedC. rotundusplants were killed by foliar scorching, and 6 wk of soil solarization was more effective at reducingC. rotundusdensity than with the LDPE film. Four weeks after film removal, the lowest level of control was obtained with the LDPE film. ForC. rotundustubers planted 5 and 10 cm deep, 62% control was obtained with the LDPE film, and it decreased to 32% with a 15-cm planting depth. The best residual control was 95 and 92% with the 75-and 100-μm TIR films, respectively. With the TIR films, there was no significant change inC. rotunduscontrol with planting depth.
Modeling germination and shoot-radicle elongation ofAmbrosia artemisiifolia
Authors: Shrestha Anil , Roman Erivelton S. , Thomas A. Gordon , Swanton Clarence J.
Published: May 2019

Laboratory studies were conducted to describe germination and seedling elongation ofAmbrosia artemisiifoliaL. (common ragweed) seed. The germination process was tested for the interaction of temperature and water potential across eight thermo-periods (7.5, 12.5, 17.5, 22.5, 27.5, 32.5, 37.5, and 42.5 C) and 12 water potentials (0, −0.03, −0.06, −0.1, −0.2, −0.4, −0.6, −0.9, −1.2, −1.5, −1.8, and −2.1 mPa). The rate of seedling shoot and radicle elongation was described as a function of temperature and tested for eight day: night temperature treatments (10: 5, 15 : 10, 20 : 15, 25 : 20, 30 : 25, 35 : 30, 40 : 35, and 45 : 40 C). The rate of germination was mathematically modeled by a Weibull function. Probit analysis was used to determine the cardinal temperatures (base, optimum, and maximum) and base water potential (αb). The base temperature (Tb), optimum temperature (Topt), maximum temperature (Tmax), and αbforA. artemisiifoliagermination were estimated as 3.6, 30.9, and 40 C and −0.8 mPa, respectively. The rates of shoot and radicle elongation were described by regression models. TheTb,Topt, andTmaxfor shoot and radicle elongation were estimated as 7.7 and 5.1, 29.5 and 31.4, and 43.0 and 44.3 C, respectively. A mathematical model describing the process ofA. artemisiifoliaseed germination in terms of hydrothermal time (θHT) was derived. The θHTmodel described the phenology ofA. artemisiifoliaseed germination using a single curve generated from the relationship of temperature and water potential. This model can help in predicting germination and emergence ofA. artemisiifoliaunder field conditions.
Influence of environmental factors on germination and emergence ofPueraria lobata
Authors: Susko David J. , Mueller J. Paul , Spears Janet F.
Published: May 2019

Laboratory and greenhouse studies were conducted to determine the effect of several environmental factors on seed germination and seedling emergence of the invasive weedPueraria lobata(kudzu). Germination occurred over a range of alternating temperatures from 15/6 to 35/25 C. Seed germinated equally well in alternating light/darkness and continuous darkness. At all temperature regimes, percentage germination was much greater for hand-scarified seed (95 to 100%) than for nonscarified seed (7 to 17%), indicating thatP. lobataseed possesses physical dormancy. Germination exceeded 51% in solutions with pH 5 to 9. Maximum germination (99%) was observed in distilled water at pH 5.4. Germination was greatly reduced in solutions with osmotic potentials below −0.4 MPa (28% at −0.6 MPa, and 13% at −0.9 MPa); no germination was observed at −1.3 MPa. Percentage emergence was greater than 45% at burial depths in soil of 0.5 to 10 cm, with maximal emergence (72 to 85%) at depths of 0.5 to 4 cm. Seed sown on the soil surface had low seedling emergence (< 13%). No seedlings emerged when seed was exposed to flooding for 7 d or more.Pueraria lobataseed is capable of germinating in a variety of climatic and edaphic conditions, but flooding may severely limit establishment of stands by seed.
Isoxaben and BAS 479 14H retention/loss from peat substrate of nursery plants
Authors: Rouchaud Jean , Neus Olivier , Van Labeke Marie C. , Cools Karoliene , Bulcke Robert
Published: May 2019

Weed management for nursery ornamental plants requires several applications of preemergence herbicides to control recurring weed emergence and to counter chemical dissipation and leaching losses. Herbicide losses from plant containers in runoff water may pose risks to surface and groundwater supplies. Sphagnum peat is a frequently used rooting medium. Limited information exists on the fate of herbicides applied to peat. The leaching of two commonly used chemicals in Europe by the containerized ornamental plant industry, isoxaben and BAS 479 14H, was measured. Herbicides were applied to 1-yr-old conifers (Juniperus communis, cv. Repanda [common juniper]) grown in pots containing sphagnum peat. The isoxaben-treated pots were placed on 1- by 1-m lysimeters that were buried in the center of replicate field plots. Pots were also placed in subirrigated sandbeds to determine herbicide dissipation and movement in irrigation water. With overhead irrigation, isoxaben had a half-life of 2 mo in the 0- to 5-cm depth of the peat container. More than 96% of applied isoxaben was recovered in the 0- to 5-cm depth. Less than 4% of the amount applied was found in the 5- to 10-cm depth, and none was detected in the 10- to 15-cm depth. No isoxaben residues were detected in water percolating through the field lysimeters. In subirrigated sandbeds, no isoxaben was detected in the water rising by capillary tension. Most of the applied isoxaben was found in the 0- to 5-cm layer of the peat container, where its half-life was also 2 mo. Similar results were observed in containers treated with BAS 479 14H, which had a half-life of 1.2 mo. The high organic matter content of the peat medium strongly sorbed both isoxaben and BAS 479 14H, and these herbicides remained primarily in the near-surface zone of the peat containers. No significant herbicide leaching or loss from the containers was found when subirrigated or irrigated by sprinkler.
Future atmospheric carbon dioxide may increase tolerance to glyphosate
Authors: Ziska Lewis H. , Teasdale John R. , Bunce James A.
Published: May 2019

We tested whether the efficacy of chemical weed control might change as atmospheric CO2concentration [CO2] increases by determining if tolerance to a widely used, phloem mobile, postemergence herbicide, glyphosate, was altered by a doubling of [CO2]. Tolerance was determined by following the growth ofAmaranthus retroflexusL. (redroot pigweed), a C4species, andChenopodium albumL. (common lambsquarters), a C3species, grown at near ambient (360 μmol mol−1) and twice ambient (720 μmol mol−1) [CO2] for 14 d following glyphosate application at rates of 0.00 (control), 0.112 kg ai ha−1(0.1 X the commercial rate), and 1.12 kg ai ha−1(1.0 X the commercial rate) in four separate trials. Irrespective of [CO2], growth of the C4species,A. retroflexus, was significantly reduced and was eliminated altogether at glyphosate application rates of 0.112 and 1.12 kg ai ha−1, respectively However, in contrast to the ambient [CO2] treatment, an application rate of 0.112 kg ai ha−1had no effect on growth, and a 1.12-kg ai ha−1rate reduced but did not eliminate growth in elevated [CO2]-grownC. album.Although glyphosate tolerant does increase with plant size at the time of application, differences in glyphosate tolerance between CO2treatments inC. albumcannot be explained by size alone. These data indicate that rising atmospheric [CO2] could increase glyphosate tolerance in a C3weedy species. Changes in herbicide tolerance at elevated [CO2] could limit chemical weed control efficacy and increase weed–crop competition.
COGNITIVE CORRUPTION AND DELIBERATIVE DEMOCRACY
Authors: Blau Adrian
Published: May 2019

This essay defends deliberative democracy by reviving a largely forgotten idea of corruption, which I call “cognitive corruption”—the distortion of judgment. I analyze different versions of this idea in the work of Machiavelli, Hobbes, Bentham, and Mill. Historical analysis also helps me rethink orthodox notions of corruption in two ways: I define corruption in terms of public duty rather than public office, and I argue that corruption can be both by and for political parties. In deliberative democracy, citizens can take off their party hats and may be more influenced by the force of the better argument than in party democracy.
CORRUPTION IN ADVERSARIAL SYSTEMS: THE CASE OF DEMOCRACY
Authors: Weinstock Daniel M.
Published: May 2019

In this essay I argue that adversarial institutional systems, such as multi-party democracy, present a distinctive risk of institutional corruption, one that is particularly difficult to counteract. Institutional corruption often results not from individual malfeasance, but from perverse incentives that make it the case that agents within an institutional framework have rival institutional interests that risk pitting individual advantage against the functioning of the institution in question. Sometimes, these perverse incentives are only contingently related to the central animating logic of an institution. In these cases, immunizing institutions from the risk of corruption is not a theoretically difficult exercise. In other cases, institutions generate perverse or rival incentives in virtue of some central feature of the institution’s design, one that is also responsible for some of the institution’s more positive traits. In multi-party democratic systems, partisanship risks giving rise to too close an identification of the partisan’s interest with that of the party, to the detriment of the democratic system as a whole. But partisanship is also necessary to the functioning of such a system. Creating bulwarks that allow the positive aspects of partisanship to manifest themselves, while offsetting the aspects of partisanship through which individual advantage of democratic agents is linked too closely to party success, is a central task for the theory and practice of the institutional design of democracy.
“DISMEMBERING THE HUMAN CHARACTER”: ADAM FERGUSON’S CONCEPTION OF CORRUPTION
Authors: Fleischacker Samuel
Published: May 2019

This essay lays out three kinds of corruption—personal, structural, and civic—stressing the differences among these phenomena. It then explores civic corruption via the work of the eighteenth-century Scottish thinker Adam Ferguson. Civic corruption occurs when the citizens of a republic lose interest in defending their shared institutions, and pursue their private wealth alone; avoiding it, according to Ferguson, requires placing limits on these private pursuits and getting citizens to participate in the public realm instead. By way of a comparison with Ferguson’s contemporary and friend Adam Smith—who agreed with Ferguson on many issues, although not on what was corrupting about the acquisition of wealth—the essay argues that Ferguson, for all his emphasis on participatory government, was a liberal, not a collectivist. With that in mind, the essay endorses many of Ferguson’s suggestions from a liberal perspective, and argues that, to preserve liberal republics, it is often necessary to expand what governments do, so as to maintain the commitment of citizens to their public institutions. This prescriptive implication brings out sharply how civic corruption differs from personal corruption, which may best be limited by shrinking the role of government, rather than expanding it.
THE CORRUPTION OF POLITICS
Authors: Philp Mark
Published: May 2019

This essay challenges conceptions of political corruption that rely on standards external to politics and explores an understanding of corruption as something that is part of the internal policing of politics. The essay draws attention to the multiple, conflicting ideas and principles that contribute to our understanding of corruption but argues that these often generate over-moralized and over-generalized claims and can become corrosive of the compromises and procedures that are central to political rule. The essay shows that recent accounts of political corruption often have highly attenuated understandings of “politics” and are over-expansive in their normative commitments, and argues that how we understand and talk about the corruption of politics is of major significance for the stability and effectiveness of the political orders of Western societies.
ON THE CONTINGENT VICE OF CORRUPTION
Authors: Munger Michael C.
Published: May 2019

This essay develops a notion of “functional corruption,” adapted from sociology, to note that the harm of corruption appears to be contingent. In a system of dysfunctional institutions, corruption can improve the efficiency and speed of allocative mechanisms of the bureaucracy, possibly quite substantially. The problem is that this “short run” benefit locks in the long run harm of corruption by making institutions much more difficult to reform. In particular, a nation with bad institutions but without bureaucracy may be much more open to reform than a nation with similarly bad institutions but with “efficiently corrupt” bureaucrats. The idea of a “long run” is developed using the North, Wallis, and Weingast conception of open access orders. Corrupt systems are likely to be locked into closed access orders indefinitely, even though everyone knows there are better institutions available.
THE CONTRIBUTION OF PSYCHOSOCIAL AND BIOGRAPHICAL VARIABLES TO HERITAGE LANGUAGE LEARNERS’ LINGUISTIC KNOWLEDGE OF SPANISH
Authors: Torres Julio , Estremera Ricardo , Mohamed Sherez
Published: May 2019

Individual differences (IDs) largely contribute to success in adult second language attainment (e.g., Dörnyei, 2006). Heritage language (HL) studies have also explored the role of IDs, namely psychosocial variables, and biographical factors with an adult HL learner population. However, the specific contribution of these variables to HL learners' performance on linguistic tests that differ in degree of explicitness and modality remains unknown. Therefore, the current study tested 103 adult HL learners of Spanish who completed a spoken elicited imitation task (EIT) and a written untimed grammaticality judgment task (UGJT) that elicited their knowledge of vulnerable morphosyntactic structures in HL bilingual acquisition. To investigate the contribution of individual learner factors on their performance, participants completed a few questionnaires. Mixed-effects regression models revealed that sequential bilingual status, willingness to communicate, generation and motivation contributed significantly, but yet differentially to participants' performance on grammatical and ungrammatical items of the EIT and UGJT.
Whole genome sequencing for improved understanding of Mycobacterium tuberculosis transmission in a remote circumpolar region
Authors: Guthrie J. L. , Strudwick L. , Roberts B. , Allen M. , McFadzen J. , Roth D. , Jorgensen D. , Rodrigues M. , Tang P. , Hanley B. , Johnston J. , Cook V. J. , Gardy J. L.
Published: May 2019

Few studies have used genomic epidemiology to understand tuberculosis (TB) transmission in rural and remote settings – regions often unique in history, geography and demographics. To improve our understanding of TB transmission dynamics in Yukon Territory (YT), a circumpolar Canadian territory, we conducted a retrospective analysis in which we combined epidemiological data collected through routine contact investigations with clinical and laboratory results. Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolates from all culture-confirmed TB cases in YT (2005–2014) were genotyped using 24-locus Mycobacterial Interspersed Repetitive Units-Variable Number of Tandem Repeats (MIRU-VNTR) and compared to each other and to those from the neighbouring province of British Columbia (BC). Whole genome sequencing (WGS) of genotypically clustered isolates revealed three sustained transmission networks within YT, two of which also involved BC isolates. While each network had distinct characteristics, all had at least one individual acting as the probable source of three or more culture-positive cases. Overall, WGS revealed that TB transmission dynamics in YT are distinct from patterns of spread in other, more remote Northern Canadian regions, and that the combination of WGS and epidemiological data can provide actionable information to local public health teams.
Demand Satisfaction as a Framework for Understanding Intermittent Water Supply Systems
Authors: Taylor David D. J. , Slocum Alexander H. , Whittle Andrew J.
Published: May 2019

Nearly one billion people worldwide receive water through piped networks that are not continually pressurized and operate intermittently. The prevalence and persistence of these Intermittent Water Supplies (IWS) is surprising as this mode of operation induces water contamination and customer equity issues. Shortages of source water, customers' water demand, and leaking pipes are frequently cited as necessitating IWS. We propose a framework for understanding the persistence and operation of IWS. The supply system is represented by an average customer and a spatially averaged leakage rate. With this macroscopic hydraulic model, we relate customer demand satisfaction, source water availability, customer demand, and leakage. While this approach ignores the complexities of network topology, we find that the model approximates real systems well (calibrating to four intermittent reference networks achieved R2>0.94). The calibrated model is robust to moderate changes in demand and leakage (maintaining R2>0.83). Using the model, we show that the tipping point between satisfied demand and unsatisfied demand is a local optimum for utilities, which may explain the persistence of IWS. Beyond this point, the volume received by customers does not increase, but utilities must supply more water to the network. The generality of the proposed model enables its use when regulating and upgrading IWS. We demonstrate the latter by critiquing a performance‐based contract that was intended to improve an intermittent supply in India. Demand satisfaction has profound implications for hydraulics and human welfare. We propose the degree of demand satisfaction as a metric for evaluating IWS and for tracking the United Nations Sustainable Development Goal 6.1.
GNER: A Generative Model for Geological Named Entity Recognition Without Labeled Data Using Deep Learning
Authors: Qiu Qinjun , Xie Zhong , Wu Liang , Tao Liufeng
Published: May 2019

A variety of detailed data about geological topics and geoscience knowledge are buried in the geoscience literature and rarely used. Named entity recognition (NER) provides both opportunities and challenges to leverage this wealth of data in the geoscience literature for data analysis and further information extraction. Existing NER models and techniques are mainly based on rule‐based and supervised approaches, and developing such systems requires a costly manual effort. In this paper, we first design a generic stepwise framework for domain‐specific NER. Following this framework, domain‐specific entities and domain‐general words are collected and selected as seed terms. Normalization and grouping processes are then applied to these seed terms for further analysis. A random extraction algorithm based on a unigram language model is used to generate a large‐scale training data set consisting of probabilistically labeled pseudosentences. Each generated sentence is then used as input to the self‐training and learning algorithm. Experimental results on two constructed data sets demonstrate that the proposed model effectively recognizes and identifies geological named entities.
The Controlling Factors of Atmospheric Formaldehyde (HCHO) in Amazon as Seen From Satellite
Authors: Zhang Yuxiang , Li Rui , Min Qilong , Bo Haixu , Fu Yuyun , Wang Yipu , Gao Zongting
Published: May 2019

To understand the relative importance of biogenic emission, biomass burning emission on volatile organic compounds in Amazon, the spatial and temporal correlations between atmospheric column‐integrated formaldehyde (HCHO) and fire count, vegetation hydrological states index, surface solar radiation flux, near‐surface air temperature are studied using synergized satellite products and reanalysis data. A recently developed microwave‐based vegetation index (emissivity difference vegetation index, EDVI) with high temporal resolution is used for the linkages between vegetation and HCHO at daily scale with and without fire contaminations. At large regional scale, EDVI shows highest spatial correlation with HCHO indicating the important controlling effect of biogenic emission. In given subregions with frequent fires, the temporal variations of monthly HCHO show much stronger correlations with fire count. The temporal correlations between monthly HCHO and EDVI are vague and even negative in some subregions. Radiation and temperature show stable positive temporal correlations with HCHO, particularly in areas with few fires. After excluding the samples contaminated by fires, the daily temporal correlation between vegetation (EDVI) and HCHO becomes significant and positive in most areas except the northern rainforest with weak temporal variations of EDVI. We proposed a bilinear model of biogenic‐emission‐induced HCHO (B‐HCHO) using radiation and EDVI as inputs. The bias between modeled long‐term mean B‐HCHO and satellite observation is less than 20%. And the daily time series of modeled B‐HCHO matches observations as well. It is the first time to provide satellite observational evidences of the relative importance of biogenic emission and biomass burning emission on HCHO, the proxy of atmospheric volatile organic compounds concentration.
Satellite‐Based Assessment of Local Environment Change by Wind Farms in China
Authors: Wu Xiao‐lin , Zhang Li‐xiao , Zhao Chuanfeng , Gegen Tana , Zheng Cai‐wang , Shi Xiao‐qin , Geng Jing , Letu Husi
Published: May 2019

As a widely used renewable energy, migrating to wind power can help reduce air pollution and CO2 emissions. However, the construction of wind farms could have certain impacts on the local ecology and meteorology. Based on satellite observations along with the ERA‐Interim reanalysis meteorology, this study examines the difference of vegetation characteristics, local wind speed, and surface temperature between the wind power regions and adjacent comparison areas in XilinGol. It shows that the construction of wind farms results in significant differences (p = 0.01) of normalized difference vegetation index values in the study areas compared to the adjacent areas in summer. The construction of the wind farms in study area has considerable influence on the change of local vegetation growth and related meteorological variables. It reduces the fraction of grassland, disrupts the wind field when speed are less than 4 m/s, and changes the spatial pattern of temperature during daytime and nighttime. However, the influence decreases with time after the installment of wind turbines. This study suggests that it is necessary to assess the impact of renewable energy construction on ecological environment and local climate, particularly for the short‐term period after its installment.
Pore‐Scale Explanation of the Archie's Cementation Exponent: Microstructure, Electrical Anisotropy, and Numerical Experiments
Authors: Yue Wenzheng
Published: May 2019

Electrical anisotropy of rock is a key parameter in geophysical research. In this paper, digital rocks were constructed by aligning elliptic grains to create samples with anisotropic pore connectivities. Lattice gas automata are used to research electrical transport properties for revealing the anisotropy and physical meaning of Archie's cementation exponent. Simulated results indicate that the relationship between formation factor and porosity is of anisotropy with the exponent corresponding to the change rate of pore complexity with porosity, instead of pore complexity itself, confirming previous theoretical studies. Besides, the results reveal that anisotropy of pore structure is a main factor leading to the anisotropic relation. Under the effects of fracture, there is a U‐shape transition zone over a range of porosity for anisotropy exponent. Moreover, the simulated data are in good agreement with the laboratory experiments, which can further verify the validity of the results.
miR-340-FHL2 axis inhibits cell growth and metastasis in ovarian cancer
Authors: Huang Zheng , Li Qiuxia , Luo Kaili , Zhang Qinkai , Geng Jingwen , Zhou Xunzhu , Xu Yesha , Qian Mengyao , Zhang Jian-an , Ji Liying , Wu Jianmin
Published: May 2019

Although increasing evidence indicated that deregulation of microRNAs (miRNAs) contributed to tumor initiation and progression, but little is known about the biological role of miR-340 in ovarian cancer (OC). In this study, we found that miR-340 expression was downregulated in OC tissues compared with its expression in normal ovarian epithelium and endometrium, and treatment with 5-aza-2′-deoxycytidine (5-Aza-dC) or trichostatin A (TSA) increased miR-340 expression in OC cells. In addition, ectopic miR-340 expression inhibited OC cell growth and metastasis in vitro and in vivo. Four and a half LIM domains protein 2 (FHL2) was confirmed as a direct target of miR-340 and silencing FHL2 mimicked the effects of miR-340 in OC cells. Further mechanistic study showed that miR-340 inhibited the Wnt/β-catenin pathway by targeting FHL2, as well as downstream cell cycle and epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) signals in OC cells. Moreover, the greatest association between miR-340 and FHL2 was found in 481 ovarian serous cystadenocarcinoma tissues via pan-cancer analysis. Finally, we revealed that lower miR-340 or higher FHL2 was associated with poor OC patient outcomes. Our findings indicate that the miR-340-FHL2 axis regulates Wnt/β-catenin signaling and is involved in tumorigenesis in OC. Therefore, manipulating the expression of miR-340 or its target genes is a potential strategy in OC therapy.
Author Correction: Clustering and climate associations of Kawasaki Disease in San Diego County suggest environmental triggers
Authors: Rypdal Martin , Rypdal Veronika , Burney Jennifer A. , Cayan Daniel , Bainto Emelia , Skochko Shannon , Tremoulet Adriana H. , Creamean Jessie , Shimizu Chisato , Kim Jihoon , Burns Jane C.
Published: May 2019

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.
Comparative mode of action of the antimicrobial peptide melimine and its derivative Mel4 against Pseudomonas aeruginosa
Authors: Yasir Muhammad , Dutta Debarun , Willcox Mark D. P.
Published: May 2019

Melimine and Mel4 are chimeric cationic peptides with broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity. They have been shown to be highly biocompatible in animal models and human clinical trials. The current study examined the mechanism of action of these two antimicrobial peptides against P. aeruginosa. The effect of the peptides of endotoxin neutralization, and their interactions with cytoplasmic membranes using DiSC(3)-5 and Sytox green, Syto-9 and PI dyes were analysed. Release of ATP and DNA/RNA were determined using ATP luminescence and increase in OD260 nm. The bacteriolytic ability of the peptides was determined by measuring decreases in OD620 nm. Both the peptides neutralized LPS suggesting their interaction with lipid A. Cytoplasmic membrane was disrupted within 30 seconds, which correlated with reductions in cellular viability. At 2 minutes melimine or Mel4, released 75% and 36% cellular ATP respectively (P < 0.001). Membrane permeabilization started 5 minutes with simultaneous release of DNA/RNA. Flow cytometry demonstrated 52% and 18% bacteria were stained with PI after 30 minutes. Overall, melimine showed higher capacity for membrane disruption compared to Mel4 (P < 0.001). The findings of this study have been summarized as a timeline of bactericidal activity, suggesting that the peptides permeabilized P. aeruginosa within 5 minutes, started lysis within 2 hours of exposure.
Investigation on potential associations of oxidatively generated DNA/RNA damage with lung, colorectal, breast, prostate and total cancer incidence
Authors: Gào Xīn , Holleczek Bernd , Cuk Katarina , Zhang Yan , Anusruti Ankita , Xuan Yang , Xu Yiwei , Brenner Hermann , Schöttker Ben
Published: May 2019

Oxidative stress has been linked to cancer development in previous studies. However, the association between pre-diagnostic oxidatively generated DNA/RNA damage levels and incident cancer has rarely been investigated. Urinary oxidized guanine/guanosine (OxGua) concentrations, including 8-hydroxy-2′-deoxyguanosine, were assessed in 8,793 older adults in a population-based German cohort. 1,540 incident cancer cases, including 207 lung, 196 colorectal, 218 breast and 245 prostate cancer cases were diagnosed during over 14 years of follow-up. Associations of OxGua levels with cancer outcomes were not observed in the total population in multi-variable adjusted Cox regression models. However, in subgroup analyses, colorectal cancer incidence increased by 8%, 9% and 8% with one standard deviation increase in OxGua levels among current non-smokers, female and non-obese participants, respectively. Additionally, among non-smokers, overall and prostate cancer incidences statistically significantly increased by 5% and 13% per 1 standard deviation increase in OxGua levels, respectively. In contrast, OxGua levels were inversely associated with the risk of prostate cancer among current smokers. However, none of the subgroup analyses had p-values below a threshold for statistical significance after correction for multiple testing. Thus, results need to be validated in further studies. There might be a pattern that oxidatively generated DNA/RNA damage is a weak cancer risk factor in the absence of other strong risk factors, such as smoking, obesity and male sex.
Association between IL-37 gene polymorphisms and risk of HBV-related liver disease in a Saudi Arabian population
Authors: Al-Anazi Mashael R. , Matou-Nasri Sabine , Al-Qahtani Arwa A. , Alghamdi Jahad , Abdo Ayman A. , Sanai Faisal M. , Al-Hamoudi Waleed K. , Alswat Khalid A. , Al-Ashgar Hamad I. , Khan Mohammed Q. , Albenmousa Ali , Shamsi Monis B. , Alanazi Salah K. , Dela Cruz Damian , Bohol Marie Fe F. , Al-Ahdal Mohammed N. , Al-Qahtani Ahmed A.
Published: May 2019

Interleukin-37 (IL-37) has recently been recognized as a strong anti-inflammatory cytokine having anti-tumor activity against hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) in hepatitis B virus (HBV)-infected patients. HCC is a typical inflammation-related cancer, and genetic variations within the IL-37 gene may be associated with the risk of HBV infection. Identification of the allelic patterns that genetically have a high disease risk is essential for the development of preventive diagnostics for HBV-mediated liver disease pathogenesis. In this study, we aimed to investigate the association between single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) within the IL-37 gene and disease sequelae associated with HBV infection. We genotyped ten IL-37 SNPs in 1274 patients infected with HBV and 599 healthy controls from a Saudi Arabian population. Among the selected SNPs, two SNPs (rs2723175 and rs2708973) were strongly associated with HBV infection, and six SNPs (rs2723176, rs2723175, rs2723186, rs364030, rs28947200, rs4392270) were associated with HBV clearance, comparing healthy controls and HBV infected-patients respectively. A suggestive association of rs4849133 was identified with active HBV surface antigen (HBsAg) carrier and HBV-related liver disease progression. In conclusion, our findings suggest that variations at the IL-37 gene may be useful as genetic predictive risk factors for HBV infection and HBV-mediated liver disease progression in the Saudi Arabian population.
Behavioural Response to the Environmental Changes of Various Types in Lister-Hooded Male Rats
Authors: Pisula Wojciech , Modlinska Klaudia , Chrzanowska Anna
Published: May 2019

The animal preference for complexity is most clearly demonstrated when the environmental change takes the form of an increase in complexity. Therefore, one of the potential difficulties in interpretation is that the preference for perceptual novelty may be confounded with the change in environmental complexity. In this study, the environmental complexity was controlled by manipulating with tunnels inside the experimental chamber. Adding new tunnels triggered a very profound change in behaviour, which was demonstrated by the animals’ prolonged stay in the proximity of the novel objects, sniffing, touching, and climbing on top of the tunnels. The removal of the tunnels from the test arena turned out to have the least influence on behaviour compared to the other manipulations used in this study. The reduction of complexity of the tunnels had a moderate effect on rat behavior. Tunnels are important elements in the rats’ environment, since they provide various possibilities for hiding, resting or moving inside the tunnel. They may be treated as a good example of affordances in rat-environment interactions. The results of this study may therefore serve as a basis for constructing a modified theory of animal curiosity which could incorporate the concept of ecological psychology.
Author Correction: The evolution of 17O-excess in surface water of the arid environment during recharge and evaporation
Authors: Surma J. , Assonov S. , Herwartz D. , Voigt C. , Staubwasser M.
Published: May 2019

A correction to this article has been published and is linked from the HTML and PDF versions of this paper. The error has not been fixed in the paper.
Lattice Discontinuities of 1T-TaS2 across First Order Charge Density Wave Phase Transitions
Authors: Wang Wen , Dietzel Dirk , Schirmeisen André
Published: May 2019

Transition metal dichalcogenides are lamellar materials which can exhibit unique and remarkable electronic behavior due to effects of electron-electron and electron-phonon coupling. Among these materials, 1T-tantalum disulfide (1T-TaS2) has spurred considerable interest, due to its multiple first order phase transitions between different charge density wave (CDW) states. In general, the basic effects of charge density wave formation in 1T-TaS2 can be attributed to in plane re-orientation of Ta-atoms during the phase transitions. Only in recent years, an increasing number of studies has also emphasized the role of interlayer interaction and stacking order as a crucial aspect to understand the specific electronic behavior of 1T-TaS2, especially for technological systems with a finite number of layers. Obviously, continuously monitoring the out of plane expansion of the sample can provide direct inside into the rearrangement of the layer structure during the phase transition. In this letter, we therefore investigate the c-axis lattice discontinuities of 1T-TaS2 by atomic force microscopy (AFM) method under ultra-high vacuum conditions. We find that the c-axis lattice experiences a sudden contraction across the nearly-commensurate CDW (NC-CDW) phase to commensurate CDW (C-CDW) phase transition during cooling, while an expansion is found during the transition from the C-CDW phase to a triclinic CDW phase during heating. Thereby our measurements reveal, how higher order C-CDW phase can favor a more dense stacking. Additionally, our measurements also show subtler effects like e.g. two expansion peaks at the start of the transitions, which can provide further insight into the mechanisms at the onset of CDW phase transitions.
Exploring the mechanism of “Rare Earth” texture evolution in a lean Mg–Zn–Ca alloy
Authors: Guan Dikai , Liu Xingguang , Gao Junheng , Ma Le , Wynne Bradley P. , Rainforth W. Mark
Published: May 2019

The entire recrystallisation sequence and associated crystallographic texture evolution of Mg-0.8Zn-0.2Ca (wt.%) alloy was tracked using a quasi-in-situ electron backscatter diffraction (EBSD) method. Characteristic “Rare Earth” (RE) texture was formed, originating mainly from double twins and twinning-related shear bands consisting of compression and double twins. The RE textures appeared during the nucleation stage and were preserved during the relative uniform grain growth period because of solute segregation and concurrent precipitation although the alloying element content was very low. Ca and Zn co-segregated along grain boundaries with no evidence that segregation was preferred along special types of grain boundaries. The interactions between deformation microstructures, concurrent precipitation, solute drag, grain growth and texture evolution are discussed in detail. All the results indicate that Ca performs a similar role to that of RE elements in forming RE texture.
Multi-context blind source separation by error-gated Hebbian rule
Authors: Isomura Takuya , Toyoizumi Taro
Published: May 2019

Animals need to adjust their inferences according to the context they are in. This is required for the multi-context blind source separation (BSS) task, where an agent needs to infer hidden sources from their context-dependent mixtures. The agent is expected to invert this mixing process for all contexts. Here, we show that a neural network that implements the error-gated Hebbian rule (EGHR) with sufficiently redundant sensory inputs can successfully learn this task. After training, the network can perform the multi-context BSS without further updating synapses, by retaining memories of all experienced contexts. This demonstrates an attractive use of the EGHR for dimensionality reduction by extracting low-dimensional sources across contexts. Finally, if there is a common feature shared across contexts, the EGHR can extract it and generalize the task to even inexperienced contexts. The results highlight the utility of the EGHR as a model for perceptual adaptation in animals.
Mechanical and electrical properties of MCMB/Chopped carbon fiber composite with different bead size
Authors: Im Ui-Su , Kim Jiyoung , Lee Byung-Rok , Peck Dong-Hyun , Jung Doo-Hwan
Published: May 2019

The carbonization and graphitization of carbon/carbon (C/C) composites prepared from mesocarbon microbeads (MCMB) and chopped carbon fiber (CCF) have been studied with a wide range of temperatures, CCF contents and MCMB sizes. Three different sizes of MCMB were prepared with coal tar pitch at three temperatures, 420, 430 and 440 °C, and identified as about 12.8, 16.0 and 20.1 µm, respectively. Each size of MCMB was mixed with CCFs at ratios of 2, 4, 6 and 8 wt. % and formed into block shape. After carbonization at 1200 °C, carbonized C/C blocks (CCBs) were graphitized at 2000, 2400 and 2800 °C. The CCB prepared with CCF content of 2 wt. % and an MCMB size of 16.0 µm exhibited the highest flexural strength of about 151 MPa. The graphitized C/C block (GCB) with CCF content of 2 wt. %, which was graphitized at 2000 °C showed the highest flexural strength of about 159 MPa.
Temperature and oxygen adsorption coupling effects upon the surface tension of liquid metals
Authors: Gheribi Aïmen E. , Chartrand Patrice
Published: May 2019

An accurate knowledge of the surface tension of liquid metals is critical for many theoretical and practical applications, especially in the current context of emerging growth of nanotechnology. The surface tension and its temperature dependence are drastically influenced by the level of impurities in the metal such as oxygen, sulphur or carbon. For this reason, experimental surface tension data of metals reported in literature are scattered. Strictly speaking, when referring to the surface tension of liquid metals, both variables temperature and oxygen content must be specified. There exists no clear formalism describing the coupling effect temperature and the oxygen content upon the surface tension of liquid metals. The aim of this work is to fill this gap. A thermodynamically self-consistent formulation for the surface tension of liquid metals and semiconductors as a function of temperature and oxygen content is established. According to the proposed formalism, a reliable expression for the surface tension of pure and oxygen saturated metals is then derived. The proposed model is found to be in good agreement with available experimental data, showing a good predictive capability. Aluminium is chosen and thoroughly evaluated as a case study, due to its very high sensitivity to oxygen level. Its surface tension is explicitly formulated as a function of temperature and oxygen content.
Galactosyl carbohydrate residues on hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells are essential for homing and engraftment to the bone marrow
Authors: Takagaki Soichiro , Yamashita Rieko , Hashimoto Noriyoshi , Sugihara Kazushi , Kanari Kanako , Tabata Keisuke , Nishie Toshikazu , Oka Shogo , Miyanishi Masanori , Naruse Chie , Asano Masahide
Published: May 2019

The role of carbohydrate chains in leukocyte migration to inflamed sites during inflammation and trafficking to the lymph nodes under physiological conditions has been extensively characterized. Here, we report that carbohydrate chains also mediate the homing and engraftment of hematopoietic stem/progenitor cells (HSPCs) to the bone marrow (BM). In particular, we found that transplanted BM cells deficient in β-1,4-galactosyltransferase-1 (β4GalT-1) could not support survival in mice exposed to a lethal dose of irradiation. BM cells obtained from mice deficient in β4GalT-1 showed normal colony-forming activity and hematopoietic stem cell numbers. However, colony-forming cells were markedly rare in the BM of recipient mice 24 h after transplantation of β4GalT-1-deficient BM cells, suggesting that β4GalT-1 deficiency severely impairs homing. Similarly, BM cells with a point mutation in the UDP-N-acetylglucosamine 2-epimerase/N-acetylmannosamine kinase gene, encoding a key enzyme in sialic acid biosynthesis, showed mildly impaired homing and engraftment abilities. These results imply that the galactosyl, but not sialyl residues in glycoproteins, are essential for the homing and engraftment of HSPCs to the BM. These findings suggest the possibility of modifying carbohydrate structures on the surface of HSPCs to improve their homing and engraftment to the BM in clinical application.
Facile tuning of the mechanical properties of a biocompatible soft material
Authors: Vigolo Daniele , Ramakrishna Shivaprakash N. , deMello Andrew J.
Published: May 2019

Herein, we introduce a method to locally modify the mechanical properties of a soft, biocompatible material through the exploitation of the effects induced by the presence of a local temperature gradient. In our hypotheses, this induces a concentration gradient in an aqueous sodium alginate solution containing calcium carbonate particles confined within a microfluidic channel. The concentration gradient is then fixed by forming a stable calcium alginate hydrogel. The process responsible for the hydrogel formation is initiated by diffusing an acidic oil solution through a permeable membrane in a 2-layer microfluidic device, thus reducing the pH and freeing calcium ions. We characterize the gradient of mechanical properties using atomic force microscopy nanoindentation measurements for a variety of material compositions and thermal conditions. Significantly, our novel approach enables the creation of steep gradients in mechanical properties (typically between 10–100 kPa/mm) on small scales, which will be of significant use in a range of tissue engineering and cell mechanosensing studies.