Achieving a good life time in a vertical-organic-diode gas sensor.

In this study, we investigate the keys to obtain a sensitive ammonia sensor with high air stability by using a low-cost polythiophene diode with a vertical channel and a porous top electrode. Poly(3-hexylthiophene) (P3HT) and air-stable poly(5,5'-bis(3-dodecyl-2-thienyl)-2,2'-bithiophene) (PQT-12) are both evaluated as the active sensing layer. Two-dimensional current simulation reveals that the proposed device exhibits numerous connected vertical nanometer junctions (VNJ). Due to the de-doping reaction between ammonia molecules and the bulk current flowing through the vertical channel, both PQT-12 and P3HT VNJ-diodes exhibit detection limits of 50-ppb ammonia. The P3HT VNJ-diode, however, becomes unstable after being stored in air for two days. On the contrary, the PQT-12 VNJ-diode keeps an almost unchanged response to 50-ppb ammonia after being stored in air for 25 days. The improved storage lifetime of an organic-semiconductor-based gas sensor in air is successfully demonstrated.

Perturbation of tonoplast sucrose transport alters carbohydrate utilization for seasonal growth and defense metabolism in coppiced poplar.

Nonstructural carbohydrate reserves of stems and roots underpin overall tree fitness and productivity under short-rotation management practices such as coppicing for bioenergy. While sucrose and starch comprise the predominant stem carbohydrate reserves of Populus, utilization for fitness and agricultural productivity is understood primarily in terms of starch turnover. The tonoplast sucrose transport protein SUT4 modulates sucrose export from source leaves to distant sinks during photoautotrophic growth, but the possibility of its involvement in remobilizing carbohydrates from storage organs during heterotrophic growth has not been explored. Here, we used PtaSUT4-knockout mutants of Populus tremula × P. alba (INRA 717-1B4) in winter (cool) and summer (warm) glasshouse coppicing experiments to assess SUT4 involvement in reserve utilization. Conditions preceding and supporting summer sprouting were considered favorable for growth, while those preceding and supporting cool temperature sprouting were suboptimal akin to conditions associated with coppicing as generally practiced. Epicormic bud emergence was delayed in sut4 mutants following lower temperature 'winter' but not summer coppicing. Winter xylem hexose increases were observed in control but not in sut4 stumps after coppicing. The magnitude of starch and sucrose reserve depletion was similar in control and sut4 stumps during the winter and did not explain the sprouting and xylem hexose differences. However, winter maintenance costs appeared higher in sut4 based partly on Krebs cycle intermediate levels. In control plants, bark accrual of abundant defense metabolites, including salicinoids and condensed tannins, was higher in summer than in winter, but this increase of summer defense allocations was attenuated in sut4 mutants. Temperature-sensitive trade-offs between growth and other priorities may therefore depend on SUT4 in Populus.

The diversity of salicylic acid biosynthesis and defense signaling in plants: Knowledge gaps and future opportunities.

The phytohormone salicylic acid (SA) is known to regulate plant immunity against pathogens. Plants synthesize SA via the isochorismate synthase (ICS) pathway or the phenylalanine ammonia-lyase (PAL) pathway. The ICS pathway has been fully characterized using Arabidopsis thaliana, a model plant that exhibits pathogen-inducible SA accumulation. Many species including Populus (poplar) depend instead on the partially understood PAL pathway for constitutive as well as pathogen-stimulated SA synthesis. Diversity of SA-mediated defense is also evident in SA accumulation, redox regulation, and interplay with other hormones like jasmonic acid. This review highlights the contrast between Arabidopsis and poplar, discusses potential drivers of SA diversity in plant defenses, and offers future research directions.

Multiplex Editing of the Nucleoredoxin1 Tandem Array in Poplar: From Small Indels to Translocations and Complex Inversions.

The CRISPR-Cas9 system has been deployed for precision mutagenesis in an ever-growing number of species, including agricultural crops and forest trees. Its application to closely linked genes with extremely high sequence similarities has been less explored. In this study, we used CRISPR-Cas9 to mutagenize a tandem array of seven Nucleoredoxin1 (NRX1) genes spanning ∼100 kb in Populus tremula × Populus alba. We demonstrated efficient multiplex editing with one single guide RNA in 42 transgenic lines. The mutation profiles ranged from small insertions and deletions and local deletions in individual genes to large genomic dropouts and rearrangements spanning tandem genes. We also detected complex rearrangements including translocations and inversions resulting from multiple cleavage and repair events. Target capture sequencing was instrumental for unbiased assessments of repair outcomes to reconstruct unusual mutant alleles. The work highlights the power of CRISPR-Cas9 for multiplex editing of tandemly duplicated genes to generate diverse mutants with structural and copy number variations to aid future functional characterization.

Adult-onset autosomal dominant myoclonic epilepsy: report of a family with an overlooked epileptic syndrome.

OBJECTIVE: Myoclonic epilepsy is a common epileptic syndrome with high genetic contribution. We described a pedigree in which 10 individuals presented with a non-progressive, adult-onset myoclonic epilepsy. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The pedigree was constructed and analyzed. Six affected members were studied with clinical grounds, mental status, neurophysiology, video-electroencephalographic (EEG), brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) and mutational analysis of GABRA1 (GABRA1A, which endoces the alpha1 subunit of the gamma-aminobutyric acid receptor subtype A). Clinical and EEG data were collected from six unaffected members. RESULTS: Autosomal dominant hereditary was shown. The age of seizure onset was approximately 40. All the individuals had myoclonic seizures and a normal cognitive level. Bilateral symmetric jerks of the shoulders, arms or legs featured the myoclonic seizure. Ictally, the consciousness was not affected. The ictal EEG demonstrated bilateral spikes-and-waves. The occurrence of myoclonic seizures was not associated with sleepiness. Rare generalized tonic-clonic seizures occurred in two individuals. No absence or accompanying involuntary movements were observed. A lower dose of valproic acid (200-500 mg/D) (clonazepam 0.5 mg/D in a patient) was required to stop the myoclonic seizures. CONCLUSIONS: The clinical features of late adult-onset autosomal dominant myoclonic epilepsy are similar to juvenile myoclonic epilepsy (JME), which is a common generalized epileptic syndrome with a significant hereditary component. But the age of onset, rare association of other seizure patterns, and non-relation of seizure onset to sleepiness suggest that this may be a distinct familial epileptic syndrome different from recognized familial myoclonic epilepsies.

Selection history modulates the effects of dual mechanisms on flanker interference.

The limit of processing capacity and the effectiveness of top-down control are 2 mechanisms that underlie distractor interference in a flanker task. The current study investigates how the interblock selection history shaped by the target number and the predictability of distractor location may modulate the effects of these 2 mechanisms on flanker interference. Experiment 1 showed that the distractor compatibility effect was eliminated when the task array contained 4 or 5 identical targets, which reflected the capacity limit. The target number and distractor location's predictability (Experiment 2) or location predictability and target-distractor proximity (Experiment 3) were manipulated across blocks, while compatibility varied within blocks, with control efficacy underlying the effects of distractor location (predictability and proximity). The interblock selection history was induced by task order, beginning with 2 or 4 targets in Experiment 2 and with a distractor at a fixed or an unpredictable location in Experiment 3. Effects of interblock selection history were found when the intertrial context did not promote an incentive for altering the processing mode. When the incentive for enacting top-down control is high, intertrial contextual factors influence flanker interference. Contextual factors related to the target number and distractor location modulate flanker interference at multiple levels.

Applications of nonparametric adaptive methods for simple reaction time experiments.

Adaptive methods are commonly used in psychophysical research for detection and discrimination (see Leek, 2001; Treutwein, 1995, for reviews). In recent years, researchers have investigated via simulations some asymptotic and small-sample properties of two nonparametric adaptive methods-namely, the fixed-step-size up-down (García-Pérez, 1998, 2001) and the (accelerated) stochastic approximation (Faes et al., 2007). In the present article, we extend both methods to the simple reaction time (RT) situation for the measure of signal intensities that elicit certain (fixed) RT percentiles. We focus on extending the following four methods: the stochastic approximation of Robbins and Monro (1951), its accelerated version of Kesten (1958), the transformed up-down of Wetherill (1963), and the "biased coin design" of Durham and Flournoy (1994, 1995). In all simulations, we assume that the RT is Weibull distributed and that there is a linear relationship between the mean RT and its standard deviation. The convergences of the asymptotic and small-sample properties for different starting values, step sizes, and response criteria are systematically investigated.

Effect of multiple subpial transection on patients with uncontrolled atypical infantile spasms.

We report a favorable outcome of multiple sub-pial transaction (MST) in two patients who had intractable atypical infantile spasms preceded by partial seizures, without any lateralized magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) abnormalities.

Up-regulated caveolin-1 accentuates the metastasis capability of lung adenocarcinoma by inducing filopodia formation.

Caveolin-1, a 21- to 24-kd integral membrane protein, is primarily implicated as a tumor suppressor gene. Transformed cells normally contain reduced or no caveolin-1. Re-expression of caveolin-1 is found in advanced human and mouse prostate adenocarcinomas. To explore its potential role in tumorigenesis and tumor progression of human lung cancers, we used the well-characterized cell line (CL) series of lung adenocarcinoma cells with increasing cellular invasiveness to show that expression of caveolin-1 mRNA and protein was up-regulated with enhanced invasion/metastatic capability of CL cells. Reintroducing the caveolin-1 gene into the less invasive, caveolin-1-negative CL cells enhanced their invasive capability at least by twofold, as revealed by an in vitro chamber invasion assay. Thus, a correlation exists for both constitutive and induced expression of caveolin-1 in CL cells. Immunohistochemical examination of caveolin-1 was performed in 95 specimens obtained retrospectively from patients who had lung adenocarcinoma either with (35 patients) or without (60 patients) ipsilateral hilar/peribronchial tumor-metastasized lymph nodes. Caveolin-1 immunoreactivity was either totally absent or just barely detectable in a few lung adenocarcinoma cells from cases diagnosed as lung adenocarcinoma without regional lymph node metastasis. In contrast, increased caveolin-1 immunoreactivity both in number and intensity was detected in primary lung adenocarcinoma cells as well as in cancer cells that metastasized to regional lymph nodes from the cases diagnosed as advanced lung adenocarcinoma with nodal metastases. Multivariate analysis considering caveolin-1 immunoreactivity in addition to the established prognostic parameters such as pT stage, pN in these patients confirmed that caveolin-1 is an independent functional predictor of poor survival. We further revealed that up-regulated caveolin-1 in CL cells is necessary for mediating filopodia formation, which may enhance the invasive ability of lung adenocarcinoma cells.