bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Universal stress protein‐like gene from mulberry enhances abiotic stress tolerance in Escherichia coli and transgenic tobacco cells
Authors: Dhanyalakshmi K. H. , Nataraja K. N. 
Published: July 2021

Abstract

Universal stress proteins (USPs) are a conserved group of proteins initially identified and characterized in bacteria. USPs are induced under multiple stresses, and are important for stress acclimation. We cloned a USP‐like gene designated as MaUSP1‐like from mulberry and expressed in bacteria and tobacco to examine its relevance in abiotic stress tolerance.

Escherichia coli and tobacco cells expressing MaUSP1‐like gene were exposed to different abiotic stresses, and cell survival and growth was recorded to assess the stress effects.

MaUSP1‐like gene conferred tolerance to E. coli cells under NaCl‐induced salt stress, PEG8000‐induced desiccation stress, cadmium chloride‐induced heavy metal stress, and heat stress. Overexpression of MaUSP1‐like sustained cell division and growth in tobacco cells under salt stress.

The results demonstrate that MaUSP1‐like gene is capable of conferring cellular level tolerance in both prokaryotic and eukaryotic systems, under abiotic stress. The finding opened up an option to argue that maintenance of cellular level tolerance is crucial for sustenance of growth under stress and cellular level tolerance can be improved by overexpressing genes like USPs.
Targeted mutagenesis in Nicotiana tabacum ADF gene using shockwave‐mediated ribonucleoprotein delivery increases osmotic stress tolerance
Authors: Augustine Sruthy Maria , Cherian Anoop Vadakan , Seiling Kerstin , Di Fiore Stefano , Raven Nicole , Commandeur Ulrich , Schillberg Stefan 
Published: July 2021

AbstractDNA‐free genome editing involves the direct introduction of ribonucleoprotein (RNP) complexes into cells, but this strategy has rarely been successful in plants. In the present study, we describe a new technique for the introduction of RNPs into plant cells involving the generation of cavitation bubbles using a pulsed laser. The resulting shockwave achieves the efficient transfection of walled cells in tissue explants by creating transient membrane pores. RNP‐containing cells were rapidly identified by fluorescence microscopy, followed by regeneration and the screening of mutant plants by high‐resolution melt analysis. We used this technique in Nicotiana tabacum to target the endogenous phytoene desaturase (PDS) and actin depolymerizing factor (ADF) genes. Genome‐edited plants were produced with an efficiency of 35.2% for PDS and 16.5% for ADF. Further we evaluated the physiological, cellular and molecular effects of ADF mutations in T2 mutant plants under drought and salinity stress. The results suggest that ADF acts as a key regulator of osmotic stress tolerance in plants.
Critical phosphorus requirements of Trifolium species: The importance of root morphology and root acclimation in response to phosphorus stress
Authors: Becquer Adeline , Haling Rebecca E. , Warren Anne , Alden Hull Rowan , Stefanski Adam , Richardson Alan E. , Ryan Megan H. , Kidd Daniel R. , Lambers Hans , Sandral Graeme A. , Simpson Richard J. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractDifferences in root morphology and acclimation to low‐phosphorus (P) soil were examined among eight legume species from the Trifolium Section Tricocephalum to understand how these root attributes determine P acquisition. Ornithopus sativus was included as a highly P‐efficient benchmark species. Plants were grown as microswards in pots with five rates of P supplied in a topsoil layer to mimic uneven P distribution within a field soil profile. Topsoil and subsoil roots were harvested separately to enable measurement of the nutrient‐foraging responses. Critical P requirement (lowest P supply for maximum yield) varied over a threefold range, reflecting differences in root morphology and acclimation of nutrient‐foraging roots to P stress. Among the species, there was a 3.2‐fold range in root length density, a 1.7‐fold range in specific root length, and a 2.1‐fold range in root hair length. O. sativus had the lowest critical P requirement, displayed a high root length density, the highest specific root length, and the longest root hairs. Acquisition of P from P‐deficient soil was facilitated by development of a large root hair cylinder (i.e. a large root–soil interface). This, in turn, was determined by the intrinsic root morphology attributes of each genotype, and the plasticity of its root morphology response to internal P stress. Root acclimation in low‐P soil by all species was mostly associated with preferential allocation of mass to nutrient‐foraging roots. Only O. sativus and four of the Trifolium species adjusted specific root length beneficially, and only O. sativus increased its root hair length in low‐P soil.
Punctuated equilibrium in multilevel contexts: How federal and state level forces feedback into shaping the local policy agenda in Mexico
Authors: Meza Oliver 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe article uses the punctuated equilibrium theory to explain changes in the local policy agenda of municipal governments. It focuses onfeedback(negative and positive) as a key concept that associates intergovernmental institutions in a federalist system of governance and the budgetary punctuations and change in the municipal policy agenda. I analyze a 17‐year period of decentralization process along a generalized structural equation multinomial model. Findings show that decentralized resources, from state and federal governments, affect the municipal's local policy agenda. Such effects are conditional to an overall institutional setting, thus, providing additional insights into the contingency of institutional friction shaping feedback and policy change.
Igneous rocks related to porphyry Cu‐Au mineralization at the Dizon mine, Philippines
Authors: Midea William P. , Hattori Keiko , Valera Gabriel Theophilus V. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractThe Dizon Au‐rich porphyry Cu deposit, 0.67 Mt Cu and 174 t Au, is hosted by diorite and andesite porphyry intrusions, dated at ~2.5 Ma. Amphibole and Fe‐Ti oxides in relatively unaltered rocks were used to evaluate the magma conditions of intrusions. Parental magma for diorite porphyry was ~950°C at a depth of ~15 km, whereas the parental magmas for the andesite porphyry had lower temperatures, 760–820°C at a depth of ~5 km. The deposit formed at the locus of multiple intrusions, with evidence for injections of hot mafic magmas, including destabilization texture of plagioclase phenocrysts. Parental magmas at Dizon were oxidized, above FMQ + 2.0, and water‐rich, >5 wt%, comparable to conditions of many large porphyry deposits elsewhere in the world. The occurrence of thick opacitic bands of amphibole in the diorite porphyry at Dizon reflects the release of aqueous fluids from the magma; such magmatic fluids were likely responsible for magmatic hydrothermal mineralization of the Dizon porphyry deposit. Subduction of the Scarborough Seamount caused a compressive regime in the overlying plate, which likely contributed to favourable tectonic conditions for mineralization.
Women's Education, Spousal Agreement on Future Fertility Intentions, and Contraceptive Use in Pakistan
Authors: Bashir Saima , Guzzo Karen 
Published: July 2021

AbstractIn less egalitarian countries such as Pakistan, reproductive behaviors are gendered, with couples often disagreeing about their fertility goals. However, the dramatic changes in women's empowerment and messaging around reproductive behaviors in Pakistan in recent years may have affected how women's own characteristics and their concordance with their spouse on fertility goals are linked to contraception. Using matched couple data from two cycles of the Pakistan Demographic Health Survey (1990–1991 and 2017–2018), this paper examines the relative influence of husbands’ and wives’ fertility preferences, as well as women's education, on contraceptive use using linear probability models. Disagreement between couples declined modestly, by about four percentage points, over time. When disagreement about future fertility intentions occurs, wife's fertility preferences are more strongly related to contraceptive behavior, and this association has not changed over time. Although contraceptive use is positively associated with education, the link between women's education and contraceptive use has weakened over time due to increased use among uneducated women. Pakistani women's own fertility preferences are reflected in their contraceptive behavior, and contraceptive use is increasing among all women, even less educated women. Diffusion processes are likely at play, though more work is needed to identify these processes and potential barriers to contraceptive use.
Design, Synthesis, and Experiment of Foot-Driven Lower Limb Rehabilitation Mechanisms
Authors: Yu Chennan , Ye Jun , Jia Jiangming , Zhao Xiong , Chen Zhiwei , Chen Jianneng 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
A foot-driven rehabilitation mechanism is suitable for home healthcare due to its advantages of simplicity, effectiveness, small size, and low price. However, most of the existing studies on lower limb rehabilitation movement only consider the trajectory of the ankle joint and ignore the influence of its posture angle, which makes it difficult to ensure the rotation requirements of the ankle joint and achieve a better rehabilitation effect. Aiming at the shortcomings of the current research, this article proposes a new single degree-of-freedom (DOF) configuration that uses a noncircular gear train to constrain the three revolute joints (3R) open-chain linkage and expounds its dimensional synthesis method. Then, a parameter optimization model of the mechanism is established, and the genetic algorithm is used to optimize the mechanism parameters. According to the eight groups of key poses and position points of the ankle joint and the toe, the different configurations of the rehabilitation mechanism are synthesized and compared, and it is concluded that the newly proposed 3R open-chain noncircular gear-linkage mechanism exhibits better performance. Finally, combined with the requirements of rehabilitation training, a lower limb rehabilitation training device is designed based on this new configuration, and a prototype is developed and tested. The test results show that the device can meet the requirements of the key position points and posture angles of the ankle joint and the toe and verify the correctness of the proposed dimensional synthesis and optimization methods.
Staged formation of the supergiant Olympic Dam uranium deposit, Australia
Authors: Ehrig Kathy , Kamenetsky Vadim S. , McPhie Jocelyn , Macmillan Edeltraud , Thompson Jay , Kamenetsky Maya , Maas Roland 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
The origins of many supergiant ore deposits remain unresolved because the factors responsible for such extreme metal enrichments are not understood. One factor of critical importance is the timing of mineralization. However, timing information is commonly confounded by the difficulty of dating ore minerals. The world's largest uranium resource at Olympic Dam, South Australia, is exceptional because the high abundance of U allows U-Pb dating of ore minerals. The Olympic Dam U(-Cu-Au-Ag) ore deposit is hosted in ca. 1.59 Ga rocks, and the consensus has been that the supergiant deposit formed at the same time. We argue that, in fact, two stages of mineralization were involved. Paired in situ U-Pb and trace element analyses of texturally distinct uraninite populations show that the supergiant size and highest-U-grade zones are the result of U addition at 0.7–0.5 Ga, at least one billion years after initial formation. This conclusion is supported by a remarkable clustering of thousands of radiogenic 207Pb/206Pb model ages of Cu sulfide grains at this time. Upgrading of the original ca. 1.59 Ga U deposit to its present size at 0.7–0.5 Ga may have resulted from perturbation of regional fluid flow triggered by global climatic (deglaciation) and tectonic (breakup of Rodinia) events.
Magnetostratigraphy across the end-Permian mass extinction event from the Meishan sections, southeastern China
Authors: Zhang Min , Qin Hua-Feng , He Kuang , Hou Yi-Fei , Zheng Quan-Feng , Deng Cheng-Long , He Yan , Shen Shu-Zhong , Zhu Ri-Xiang , Pan Yong-Xin 
Published: July 2021

Abstract
The end-Permian mass extinction (EPME) has been recorded as the most severe biodiversity crisis in Earth's history, although the timing of the marine and terrestrial extinctions remains debatable. We present a new high-resolution magnetostratigraphic succession across the EPME and the Permian-Triassic boundary (PTB) from the Meishan sections in southeastern China, which contain the global boundary stratotype section and point (GSSP) for the base of the Triassic (also the Induan Stage) and the base of the Changhsingian Stage. We identified five normal and five reverse magnetozones, including MS1n to MS5n and MS1r to MS5r, from oldest to youngest, in the Changhsingian and Induan Stages. The Induan Stage was determined to consist of two polarity intervals, where the upper one is reverse (MS5r), and the lower one is normal (MS5n). The Changhsingian Stage is dominated by normal polarity, intercalated with four short-term reverse magnetozones (MS1r to MS4r). Consequently, the PTB and the Wuchiapingian-Changhsingian boundary are clearly located in MS5n and MS1n, respectively. These new magnetostratigraphic results provide a potential reference geomagnetic polarity pattern with which to refine the geomagnetic polarity time scale for the EPME and the Permian-Triassic transition.
Precession-driven climate cycles and time scale prior to the Hirnantian glacial maximum
Authors: Sinnesael M. , McLaughlin P.I. , Desrochers A. , Mauviel A. , De Weirdt J. , Claeys P. , Vandenbroucke T.R.A. 
Published: July 2021

AbstractPaleozoic astrochronologies are limited by uncertainties in past astronomical configurations and the availability of complete stratigraphic sections with precise, independent age control. We show it is possible to reconstruct a robust Paleozoic ~104-yr-resolution astrochronology in the well-preserved and thick Upper Ordovician reference record of Anticosti Island (Canada). The clear imprint of astronomical cycles, including ~18 k.y. precession, potential obliquity, and short and long eccentricity, constrains the entire Vauréal Formation (~1 km thick) to only ~3 m.y. in total, representing ~10 times higher accumulation rates than previously suggested. This ~104 yr resolution represents an order of magnitude increase in the current standard temporal resolution for the Katian and even allows for the detection of sub-Milankovitch climate-scale variability. The loss of a clear precession signal in the uppermost Vauréal Formation might be related to contemporaneous global cooling prior to the Hirnantian glacial maximum as indicated by the δ18O record. Complementary to the study of cyclostratigraphy of longer and often simplified records, it is important to recognize stratigraphic hiatuses and complexities on the ~104 yr scale to achieve robust sub-eccentricity-scale Paleozoic astrochronologies.
Association between type 2 diabetes and chronic low back pain in general practices in Germany
Authors: Jacob Louis , Rathmann Wolfgang , Koyanagi Ai , Haro Josep Maria , Kostev Karel 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionThere are conflicting results on the association between type 2 diabetes and chronic low back pain (CLBP). Therefore, the goal was to investigate the relationship between type 2 diabetes and CLBP in individuals followed in general practices in Germany.Research design and methodsAdults diagnosed for the first time with type 2 diabetes in 809 general practices in Germany between 2005 and 2018 (index date) were included. Adults without type 2 diabetes were matched (1:1) to those with type 2 diabetes by sex, age, index year, and the annual number of medical consultations (index date: a randomly selected visit date). The association between type 2 diabetes and the 10-year incidence of CLBP was analyzed in conditional Cox regression models adjusted for a wide range of comorbidities, including hypertension, lipid metabolism disorders, and obesity.ResultsThere were 139 002 individuals included in this study (women: 58.0%; mean (SD) age 62.5 (13.4) years). There was a positive association between type 2 diabetes and the incidence of CLBP in the overall sample (HR=1.23, 95% CI: 1.13 to 1.35). Sex-stratified analyses showed a higher risk of CLBP in women (HR=1.68, 95% CI: 1.43 to 1.90) and a lower risk in men with than in their counterparts without type 2 diabetes (HR=0.83, 95% CI: 0.71 to 0.97).ConclusionsNewly diagnosed type 2 diabetes was associated with an increased risk of CLBP. There were important sex differences in the type 2 diabetes-CLBP relationship, and more research is warranted to investigate the underlying factors explaining these differences.
The impacts of government reimbursement negotiation on targeted anticancer medication price, volume and spending in China
Authors: Zhang Yichen , Wushouer Haishaerjiang , Han Sheng , Fu Mengyuan , Guan Xiaodong , Shi Luwen , Wagner Anita 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionNew targeted therapies have changed cancer treatment in the past decades. However, high prices of targeted anticancer medications have increased economic burden for both patients and health insurance systems. In July 2017, China implemented combined medication price negotiation and mandatory reimbursement policies for 15 targeted anticancer medications. This study assesses effects of the policy on hospital procurement prices, volumes and spending.MethodsUsing a quasi-experimental interrupted time series design, we analysed procurement data from the Chinese Medical Economic Information of 789 public hospitals in 30 provinces between January 2016 and September 2018. The intervention group consisted of 15 targeted anticancer medications with negotiated prices in 2017. The comparison group consisted of six targeted anticancer medications without negotiated prices by 2018. The effective date of the policy was September 2017.ResultsAfter the implementation of the 2017 medication price negotiation and reimbursement policy, cost per defined daily dose (DDD) of the 15 targeted anticancer medications dropped US$71.21 on average from an average US$169.24/DDD before (p=0.000). Compared with what would have happened without the intervention, cost/DDD of price-negotiated medications decreased by 48.9% (p=0.000), procurement volumes increased by 143.0% (p=0.000) and hospital medication spending decreased by 6.9% (p=0.146).ConclusionsThe 2017 medication price negotiation and reimbursement policy decreased targeted medication procurement costs per DDD, increased volumes procured and at least temporarily contained spending. These changes should result in better access to and affordability of targeted anticancer medications in China.
Effect of needle type on plane block spread in a cadaveric porcine model
Authors: Hughey Scott , Cole J , Booth G J , Gliniecki R , Stedjelarsen E 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionPlane blocks are an increasingly common type of regional anaesthesia technique in the perioperative period. Increased spread of local anaesthesia during plane blocks is thought to be related to an increased area of pain coverage. This study sought to assess differences in injectate spread comparing Tuohy needles with standard insulated stimulating block needles.Methods10 Yorkshire-Cross porcine cadavers were used in this study. Immediately following euthanasia, the cadavers underwent bilateral ultrasound-guided transversus abdominis plane (TAP) block injection with radiopaque contrast dye, with one side placed with a 20 g Tuohy needle, and the other side with a 20 g insulated stimulating block needle. Injectate spread was assessed using plain film X-ray and area of spread was measured to compare differences.ResultsAll 10 animals underwent successful ultrasound-guided TAP block placement. In all 10 animals, the area of contrast spread was greater with the Tuohy than stimulating needle. Wilcoxon signed-rank test was used to analyse the difference between the groups. The average difference between the two sides was 33.02% (p=0.002).ConclusionsThis is the first study to demonstrate differences in injectate spread with different needle types. This suggests enhanced spread with Tuohy needle compared with standard block needle, and may encourage its use during plane blocks.
Factors associated with low back pain in air force fighter pilots: a cross-sectional study
Authors: Gomes Sâmara Raquel Alves , Mendes P R F , Costa L D O , Bulhões L C C , Borges D T , Macedo Ld B , Brasileiro J 
Published: July 2021

IntroductionLow back pain in military pilots is a frequent condition which constantly leads to absences from work, decreased concentration and performance during flight, as well as changes in work functions.MethodsThis is a cross-sectional analytical study including 28 fighter pilots who underwent an evaluation comprising muscle strength and fatigue resistance, trunk mobility and application of questionnaires to identify associated clinical factors.ResultsIt was observed that 68% of the pilots reported low back pain with an average pain intensity of 3.7 at numerical pain scale in the last week. No significant differences were observed regarding the range of motion and trunk muscle strength when pilots with low back pain were compared with asymptomatic pilots. However, lateral right trunk muscle (mean difference=16, 95% CI 0.6 to 33.0]) and lateral left trunk muscle (mean difference=22, 95% CI 1 to 44) fatigue sooner in pilots with low back pain when the two groups were compared (p=0.04 for both).ConclusionThere was a high rate of low back pain complaints among fighter pilots. There was also a significant reduction in fatigue resistance of the lateral trunk muscles in symptomatic pilots when compared with asymptomatic pilots. These factors must be considered in the physical training of this population.