Consistent decrease in conifer embolism resistance from the stem apex to base resulting from axial trends in tracheid and pit traits.

Introduction: Drought-induced embolism formation in conifers is associated with several tracheid and pit traits, which vary in parallel from stem apex to base. We tested whether this axial anatomical variability is associated with a progressive variation in embolism vulnerability along the stem from apex to base. Methods: We assessed the tracheid hydraulic diameter (Dh), mean pit membrane area (PMA) and the xylem pressure at 50% loss of conductivity (P50) on longitudinal stem segments extracted at different distances from the stem apex (DFA) in a Picea abies and an Abies alba tree. Results: In both trees, Dh and PMA scaled with DFA 0.2. P50 varied for more than 3 MPa from the treetop to the stem base, according to a scaling of -P50 with DFA-0.2 . The largest Dh, PMA and P50 variation occurred for DFA<1.5 m. PMA and Dh scaled more than isometrically (exponent b=1.2). Pit traits vary proportionally with tracheid lumen diameter. Discussion and conclusions: Apex-to-base trends in tracheid and pit traits, along with variations in P50, suggest a strong structure-function relationship that is influenced by DFA. Although the effect of DFA on P50 has not been extensively explored previously, we propose that analyzing the relationship between P50 and DFA could be crucial for a comprehensive assessment of embolism vulnerability at the individual level.

Novel N100 area reliably captures aberrant sensory processing and is associated with neurocognition in early psychosis.

BACKGROUND: Despite findings from translational and genetic studies in the event-related potential (ERP) literature, the validity and reliability of P50 suppression as a schizophrenia spectrum endophenotype has been questioned. Here, we aimed to examine sensory registration and gating measures derived from P50 and N100 amplitude, as well as N100 area-a novel approach proposed herein-in early psychosis versus health. METHODS: Individuals at clinical high risk for psychosis (CHR; n = 77), first-episode psychosis (FE; n = 52), and healthy controls (HC; n = 65) were assessed in a paired-click auditory ERP paradigm. Eight CHR converted to psychosis (CHRC) and 39 did not (CHR-NC) by 24 months, while 30 CHR were lost to follow-. Group differences, test-retest reliability, and associations with neurocognitive function were assessed in nine ERP measures. RESULTS: Significant differences were observed in N100 S1 amplitude, S1 area, and area difference between HC and FE, as well as in N100 S1 area between HC and CHR, among the total population. Furthermore, significant differences were found in N100 S1 area between HC and CHR-NC (Cliff's delta, Δ = 0.32), as well as in N100 area difference between HC and CHR-C (Δ = 0.55). Both N100 S1 area and area difference demonstrated moderate to acceptable reliability (intraclass correlation coefficients: 0.61-0.78). Processing speed negatively correlated with both N100 S1 area and area difference, while executive function negatively correlated with N100 S1 area alone in CHR and FE. CONCLUSION: Among the ERP measures studied, N100 area measures may serve as a reliable biomarker of aberrant sensory processing and neurocognition in early psychosis.

Novel hypermorphic variants in IRF2BP2 identified in patients with common variable immunodeficiency and autoimmunity.

The interferon regulatory factor 2 binding protein 2 (IRF2BP2) is a transcriptional regulator, functioning a transcriptional corepressor by interacting with the interferon regulatory factor-2. The ubiquitous expression of IRF2BP2 by diverse cell types and tissues suggests its potential involvement in different cell signalling pathways. Variants inIRF2BP2have been recently identified to cause familial common variable immunodeficiency (CVID) characterized by immune dysregulation. This study investigated three rare novel variants inIRF2BP2, identified in patients with primary antibody deficiency and autoimmunity by whole exome-sequencing (WES). Following transient overexpression of EGFP-fused mutants in HEK293 cells and transfection in Jurkat cell lines, we used fluorescence microscopy, real-time PCR and Western blotting to analyze their effects on IRF2BP2 expression, subcellular localization, nuclear translocation of IRF2, and the transcriptional activation of NFκB1(p50). We found altered IRF2BP2 mRNA and protein expression levels in the mutants compared to the wild type after IRF2BP2 overexpression. In confocal fluorescence microscopy, variants in the C-terminal RING finger domain showed an irregular aggregate formation and distribution instead of the expected nuclear localization compared to the variants in the N-terminal zinc finger domain and their wildtype counterpart. Immunoblotting revealed an impaired IRF2 and NFκB1 (p50) nuclear localization in the mutants compared to the IRF2BP2 wildtype counterpart. LPS stimulation reduced IRF2BP2 mRNA expression in the variants compared to the wild type. Our findings significantly contribute to understanding the clinical significance of IRF2BP2 mutations in the pathogenesis of immunodeficiency and immune dysregulation. We observed impairment of the nuclear translocation of IRF2 and NFκB1 (p50) due to the upregulation of IRF2BP2, potentially affecting specific gene expressions involved in immune regulation.

Changes of Dissociative Properties of Hemoglobin in Patients with Chronic Kidney Disease.

Background: The ability of hemoglobin to bind and dissociate oxygen is crucial in delivering oxygen to tissues and is influenced by a range of physiological states, compensatory mechanisms, and pathological conditions. This may be illustrated by the oxyhemoglobin dissociation curve (ODC). The key parameter for evaluating the oxygen affinity to hemoglobin is p50. The aim of this study was to evaluate the impact of hemodialysis on p50 in a group of patients with chronic kidney disease (CKD). An additional goal was to assess the correlation between p50 and the parameters of erythropoiesis, point-of-care testing (POCT), and other laboratory parameters. Methods: One hundred and eighty patients (106 male, 74 female), mean age 62.5 ± 17 years, with CKD stage G4 and G5 were enrolled in this cross-sectional study. Patients were divided into two groups, including 65 hemodialysis (HD) patients and 115 patients not receiving dialysis (non-HD). During the standard procedure of arteriovenous fistula creation, blood samples from the artery (A) and the vein (V) were taken for POCT. The causes of CKD, as well as demographic and comorbidity data, were obtained from medical records and direct interviews. Results: The weekly dose of erythropoietin was higher in HD patients than in non-HD patients (4914 ± 2253 UI vs. 403 ± 798 UI, p < 0.01), but hemoglobin levels did not differ between these groups. In the group of non-HD patients, more advanced metabolic acidosis (MA) was found, compared to the group with HD. In arterial and venosus blood samples, the non-HD group had significantly lower pH, pCO2 and HCO3-. This group had a higher proportion of individuals with MA with HCO3- < 22 mmol/L (42% vs. 24%, p < 0.01). The absolute difference of p50 in arterial and venous blood was determined using the formula Δp50 = (p50-A) - (p50-V). Δp50 was significantly higher in the HD group in comparison to non-HD (0.08 ± 2.05 mmHg vs. -0.66 ± 1.93 mmHg, p = 0,02). There was a negative correlation between pH and the p50 value in arterial (pH-A vs. p50-A, r = -0.56, p < 0.01) and venous blood (pH-V vs. p50-V, r = -0.45, p < 0.01). In non-HD patients, hemoglobin levels correlated negatively with p50 (r = -0.29, p < 0.01), whereas no significant relation was found in HD patients. Conclusions: The ODC in pre-dialysis CKD (non-HD) patients is shifted to the right due to MA, and this is an additional factor influencing erythropoiesis. Hemodialysis restores the natural differences in hemoglobin's dissociation characteristics in the arterial and venous circulation.

The Roles of RhoA/ROCK/NF-κB Pathway in Microglia Polarization Following Ischemic Stroke.

Ischemic stroke is the leading cause of death and disability worldwide. Nevertheless, there still lacks the effective therapies for ischemic stroke. Microglia are resident macrophages of the central nervous system (CNS) and can initiate immune responses and monitor the microenvironment. Microglia are activated and polarize into proinflammatory or anti­inflammatory phenotype in response to various brain injuries, including ischemic stroke. Proinflammatory microglia could generate immunomodulatory mediators, containing cytokines and chemokines, these mediators are closely associated with secondary brain damage following ischemic stroke. On the contrary, anti-inflammatory microglia facilitate recovery following stroke. Regulating the activation and the function of microglia is crucial in exploring the novel treatments for ischemic stroke patients. Accumulating studies have revealed that RhoA/ROCK pathway and NF-κB are famous modulators in the process of microglia activation and polarization. Inhibiting these key modulators can promote the polarization of microglia to anti-inflammatory phenotype. In this review, we aimed to provide a comprehensive overview on the role of RhoA/ROCK pathway and NF-κB in the microglia activation and polarization, reveal the relationship between RhoA/ROCK pathway and NF-κB in the pathological process of ischemic stroke. In addition, we likewise discussed the drug modulators targeting microglia polarization.

Lianas in tropical dry seasonal forests have a high hydraulic efficiency but not always a higher embolism resistance than lianas in rainforests.

BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Lianas have higher relative abundance and biomass in drier seasonal forests than in rainforests, but whether this difference is associated with their hydraulic strategies is unclear. Here, we investigate whether lianas of seasonally dry forests are safer and more efficient in water transport than rainforest lianas, explaining patterns of liana abundance. METHODS: We measured hydraulic traits on five pairs of congeneric lianas of the tribe Bignonieae in two contrasting forest sites: the wet 'Dense Ombrophilous Forest' in Central Amazonia (~2 dry months) and the drier 'Semideciduous Seasonal Forest' in the inland Atlantic Forest (~6 dry months). We also gathered a broader database, including 197 trees and 58 liana species from different tropical forests, to compare hydraulic safety between habits and forest types. KEY RESULTS: Bignonieae lianas from both forests had high and similar hydraulic efficiency but exhibited variability in resistance to embolism across forest types when phylogenetic relationships were taken into account. Three genera had higher hydraulic safety in the seasonal forest than in the rainforest, but species across both forests had similar positive hydraulic safety margins despite lower predawn water potential values of seasonal forest lianas. We did not find the safety-efficiency trade-off. Merging our results with previously published data revealed a high variability of resistance to embolism in both trees and lianas, independent of forest types. CONCLUSIONS: The high hydraulic efficiency of lianas detected here probably favours their rapid growth across tropical forests, but differences in hydraulic safety highlight that some species are highly vulnerable and may rely on other mechanisms to cope with drought. Future research on the lethal dehydration threshold and the connection between hydraulic resistance strategies and liana abundance could offer further insights into tropical forest dynamics under climatic threats.

Age and sex effects on paired-pulse suppression and prepulse inhibition of auditory evoked potentials.

Responses to a sensory stimulus are inhibited by a preceding stimulus; if the two stimuli are identical, paired-pulse suppression (PPS) occurs; if the preceding stimulus is too weak to reliably elicit the target response, prepulse inhibition (PPI) occurs. PPS and PPI represent excitability changes in neural circuits induced by the first stimulus, but involve different mechanisms and are impaired in different diseases, e.g., impaired PPS in schizophrenia and Alzheimer's disease and impaired PPI in schizophrenia and movement disorders. Therefore, these measures provide information on several inhibitory mechanisms that may have roles in clinical conditions. In the present study, PPS and PPI of the auditory change-related cortical response were examined to establish normative data on healthy subjects (35 females and 32 males, aged 19-70 years). We also investigated the effects of age and sex on PPS and PPI to clarify whether these variables need to be considered as biases. The test response was elicited by an abrupt increase in sound pressure in a continuous sound and was recorded by electroencephalography. In the PPS experiment, the two change stimuli to elicit the cortical response were a 15-dB increase from the background of 65 dB separated by 600 ms. In the PPI experiment, the prepulse and test stimuli were 2- and 10-dB increases, respectively, with an interval of 50 ms. The results obtained showed that sex exerted similar effects on the two measures, with females having stronger test responses and weaker inhibition. On the other hand, age exerted different effects: aging correlated with stronger test responses and weaker inhibition in the PPS experiment, but had no effects in the PPI experiment. The present results suggest age and sex biases in addition to normative data on PPS and PPI of auditory change-related potentials. PPS and PPI, as well as other similar paradigms, such as P50 gating, may have different and common mechanisms. Collectively, they may provide insights into the pathophysiologies of diseases with impaired inhibitory function.

Auditory P50 Sensory Gating Alterations in Major Depressive Disorder and their Relationship to Clinical Symptoms.

Cognitive deficits in depression are pervasive and include impairments in attention and higher-order functions but the degree to which low-level sensory processes are affected is unclear. The present work examined event-related potential (P50 and N100) features of auditory sensory gating (i.e., the ability to inhibit P50/N100 responses to redundant stimuli) and their relationship to depressive symptoms, including ruminations and dysfunctional attitudes. In 18 patients with major depressive disorder (MDD) and 18 healthy volunteers, auditory sensory gating was measured using a paired-stimulus paradigm yielding ratio (rP50, rN100) and difference (dP50, dN100) gating indices, which reflected amplitude reductions from first (S1) to second (S2) stimulus. Patients with MDD exhibited diminished rP50 and dP50 gating scores and delayed S1-N100 latencies compared to healthy volunteers. These measures were positively associated with ruminative thoughts, negative attitudes and degree of depression. Study findings implicate aberrant sensory processing in depressed patients that is related to severity of maladaptive thinking.

Influence of GABAA and GABAB receptor activation on auditory sensory gating and its association with anxiety in healthy volunteers.

BACKGROUND: Dysfunctional sensory gating in anxiety disorders, indexed by the failure to inhibit the P50 event-related potential (ERP) to repeated stimuli, has been linked to deficits in the major inhibitory neurotransmitter γ-aminobutyric acid (GABA). AIMS/METHODS: This study, conducted in 30 healthy volunteers, examined the acute effects of GABAA (lorazepam: 1 mg) and GABAB receptor (baclofen: 10 mg) agonists on P50 measures of auditory sensory gating within a paired-stimulus (S1-S2) paradigm and assessed changes in gating in relation to self-ratings of anxiety. RESULTS: Compared to placebo, lorazepam reduced ERP indices of sensory gating by attenuating response to S1. Although not directly impacting P50 inhibition, baclofen-induced changes in gating (relative to placebo) were negatively correlated with trait but not state anxiety. CONCLUSIONS: These preliminary findings support the involvement of GABA in sensory gating and tentatively suggest a role for GABAB receptor signaling in anxiety-associated gating dysregulation.

Assessing vulnerability to embolism and hydraulic safety margins in reed-like Restionaceae.

The African Restionaceae (Poales), the dominant graminoid layer in the megadiverse Cape Floristic Region of South Africa, are distributed across a wide range of moisture availability, yet currently there is very little known about the underlying hydraulics of this group. We tested two methods for measuring culm vulnerability to embolism, the optical and pneumatic methods, in three species of Cannomois ranging in habitat from semi-riparian (Cannomois virgata) to dryland (Cannomois parviflora and C. congesta). Estimates of culm xylem vulnerability were coupled with measures of turgor loss point (ΨTLP) and minimum field water potential (ΨMD) to assess hydraulic safety margins. The optical and pneumatic methods produced similar estimates of P50, but differed for P12 and P88. All three species were quite vulnerable to embolism, with P50 of -1.9 MPa (C. virgata), -2.3 MPa (C. congesta), and -2.4 MPa (C. parviflora). Estimates of P50, ΨTLP and ΨMD aligned with habitat moisture stress, with highest values found in the semi-riparian C. virgata. Consistent differences in P50, ΨMD and ΨTLP between species resulted in consistent hydraulic safety margins across species of 0.96 ± 0.1 MPa between ΨMD and P50, with onset of embolism occurring 0.43 ± 0.04 MPa after ΨTLP for all three species. Our study demonstrates that restio occupancy of dry environments involves more than the evolution of highly resistant xylem, suggesting that other aspects of water relations are key to understanding trait-environment relationships in this group.

A large deletion in a non-coding regulatory region leads to NFKB1 haploinsufficiency in two adult siblings.

Mutations in NFkB pathway genes can cause inborn errors of immunity (IEI), with NFKB1 haploinsufficiency being a significant etiology for common variable immunodeficiency (CVID). Indeed, mutations in NFKB1 are found in 4 to 5% of in European and United States CVID cohorts, respectively; CVID representing almost » of IEI patients in European countries registries. This case study presents a 49-year-old patient with respiratory infections, chronic diarrhea, immune thrombocytopenia, hypogammaglobulinemia, and secondary lymphoma. Comprehensive genetic analysis, including high-throughput sequencing of 300 IEI-related genes and copy number variation analysis, identified a critical 2.6-kb deletion spanning the first untranslated exon and its upstream region. The region's importance was confirmed through genetic markers indicative of enhancers and promoters. The deletion was also found in the patient's brother, who displayed similar but milder symptoms. Functional analysis supported haploinsufficiency with reduced mRNA and protein expression in both patients. This case underscores the significance of copy number variation (CNV) analysis and targeting noncoding exons within custom gene panels, emphasizing the broader genomic approaches needed in medical genetics.

IκBζ is a dual-use coactivator of NF-κB and POU transcription factors.

OCA-B, OCA-T1, and OCA-T2 belong to a family of coactivators that bind to POU transcription factors (TFs) to regulate gene expression in immune cells. Here, we identify IκBζ (encoded by the NFKBIZ gene) as an additional coactivator of POU TFs. Although originally discovered as an inducible regulator of NF-κB, we show here that IκBζ shares a microhomology with OCA proteins and uses this segment to bind to POU TFs and octamer-motif-containing DNA. Our functional experiments suggest that IκBζ requires its interaction with POU TFs to coactivate immune-related genes. This finding is reinforced by epigenomic analysis of MYD88L265P-mutant lymphoma cells, which revealed colocalization of IκBζ with the POU TF OCT2 and NF-κB:p50 at hundreds of DNA elements harboring octamer and κB motifs. These results suggest that IκBζ is a transcriptional coactivator that can amplify and integrate the output of NF-κB and POU TFs at inducible genes in immune cells.

Leaf thermotolerance of Hevea brasiliensis clones: intra- versus interclonal variation and relationships with other functional traits.

Land surface temperature is predicted to increase by 0.2 °C per decade due to climate change, although with considerable regional variability, and heatwaves are predicted to increase markedly in the future. These changes will affect where crops can be grown in the future. Understanding the thermal limits of plant physiological functioning and how flexible such limits are is thus important. Here, we report on the measurements of a core foliar thermotolerance trait, T50, defined as the temperature at which the maximum quantum yield (Fv/Fm) of photosystem II declines by 50%, across nine different Malaysian Hevea brasiliensis clones. We explore the relative importance of interclonal versus intraclonal variation in T50 as well as its association with leaf and hydraulic traits. We find very low variation in T50 within individual clones (mean intraclonal coefficient of variation (CoV) of 1.26%) and little variation across clones (interclonal CoV of 2.1%). The interclonal variation in T50 was lower than for all other functional traits considered. The T50 was negatively related to leaf mass per area and leaf dry matter content, but it was not related to hydraulic traits such as embolism resistance (P50) or hydraulic safety margins (HSM50). The range of T50 observed (42.9-46.2 °C) is well above the current maximum air temperatures Tmax,obs (T50 - Tmax,obs >5.8 °C), suggesting that H. brasiliensis is likely thermally safe in this south-east Asian region of Malaysia.

Knockdown of ADAMDEC1 ameliorates ox-LDL-induced endothelial cell injury and atherosclerosis progression.

This study was designed to investigate the role of a disintegrin and metalloproteinase domain-like protein decysin 1 (ADAMDEC-1) in atherosclerosis (AS). The Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) database was utilized to identify differentially expressed genes (DEGs) between carotid atheroma plaque and carotid tissue adjacent atheroma plaque obtained from AS patients. Gene functional enrichment analysis was conducted on DEGs using Gene Ontology (GO) and the Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG). QRT-PCR was employed to quantify mRNAs expression. AS animal model was established using ApoE-/- mice; serum triglyceride (TG), low-density lipoprotein cholesterol (LDL-C), and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol (HDL-C) levels were detected. Aortic sinus atherosclerotic lesions were observed using H&E staining and Oil Red O staining. ADAMDEC-1 was silenced using small interfering RNAs (siRNAs) in human vascular smooth muscle cells (HVSMCs). Cell proliferation, migration, and cell cycle progression were detected by cell count kit-8 (CCK8), 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine (EDU), wound scratch healing assay, transwell assay, and flow cytometry, respectively. Western blot was used to evaluate various protein expression levels. Our results showed that ADAMDEC-1 was highly expressed in the serum of AS patients, consistent with the in silico results. The elevated TG, LDL-C, and HDL-C levels along with H&E and Oil Red O staining confirmed the successful establishment of the AS mouse model. ADAMDEC-1 expression was also elevated in AS mice. ADAMDEC-1 knockdown in HVSMCs suppressed cell proliferation, inhibited the expression of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and reduced the levels of matrix metalloproteinases (MMP2 and MMP9) proteins. Protein-protein interaction (PPI) analysis indicated that ADAMDEC-1 was associated with CXCL9, CCR5, TNF-α, TNFR1, and NF-κB-p50. The expression levels of CXCL9, CCR5, TNF-α, TNFR1, and NF-κB-p50 increased, while ADAMDEC-1 knockdown attenuated the expression of these proteins. Our study findings substantiate that ADAMDEC-1 may represent a novel target for AS.

Association of P50 with social function, but not with cognition in patients with first-episode schizophrenia.

Functional deficits including cognitive impairment and social dysfunction are the core symptoms of schizophrenia (SCZ), and sensory gating (SG) deficits may be involved in the pathological mechanism of functional deficits in SCZ. This study was to investigate the relationship between defective P50 inhibition and functional deficits in first-episode drug naïve (FEDN) SCZ patients. A total of 95 FEDN SCZ patients and 53 healthy controls (HC) were recruited. The Chinese version of UCSD Performance-Based Skills (UPSA), MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB), and EEG system were used to assess the social function, cognitive performance, and P50 inhibition, respectively. The MCCB total score and eight domain scores were significantly lower in patients with FEDN SCZ than those in HC (all p < 0.05). The UPSA total score and financial skills scores were also significantly lower in SCZ patients than that in the HC (all p < 0.05). Compared with HC, patients with FEDF SCZ had a higher P50 ratio (all p < 0.05). There was no correlation between P50 components and MCCB scores in patients with FEDF SCZ. However, there was only a correlation between the P50 ratio and UPSA financial skills, communication skills, or total score in patients (all p < 0.05). Defective P50 inhibition in FEDN SCZ patients may be associated with social dysfunction but not cognitive impairment, suggesting that the social dysfunction and cognitive impairment of patients with FEDN SCZ may have different pathogenic mechanisms.

Predictions about prosody facilitate lexical access: Evidence from P50/N100 and MMN components.

Research into the neural foundation of perception asserts a model where top-down predictions modulate the bottom-up processing of sensory input. Despite becoming increasingly influential in cognitive neuroscience, the precise account of this predictive coding framework remains debated. In this study, we aim to contribute to this debate by investigating how predictions about prosody facilitate speech perception, and to shed light especially on lexical access influenced by simultaneous predictions in different domains, inter alia, prosodic and semantic. Using a passive auditory oddball paradigm, we examined neural responses to prosodic changes, leading to a semantic change as in Dutch nouns canon ['kaːnɔn] 'canon' vs kanon [kaː'nɔn] 'cannon', and used acoustically identical pseudowords as controls. Results from twenty-eight native speakers of Dutch (age range 18-32 years) indicated an enhanced P50/N100 complex to prosodic change in pseudowords as well as an MMN response to both words and pseudowords. The enhanced P50/N100 response to pseudowords is claimed to indicate that all relevant auditory information is still processed by the brain, whereas the reduced response to words might reflect the suppression of information that has already been encoded. The MMN response to pseudowords and words, on the other hand, is best justified by the unification of previously established prosodic representations with sensory and semantic input respectively. This pattern of results is in line with the predictive coding framework acting on multiple levels and is of crucial importance to indicate that predictions about linguistic prosodic information are utilized by the brain as early as 50 ms.

Primed Tactile Stimulus Processing during Sleep.

The aim was to investigate how the primed and unprimed non-painful tactile stimuli during sleep would be processed. A total of 22 healthy subjects (19.55 ± 1.10 years) were randomly divided into two groups. The same stimuli were applied to both groups, but the study group (SG) received them twice (daytime and sleep), whereas the control group (CG) received them only during sleep. A 40-channel PSG and a pneumatic tactile stimulator unit were used. Evoked potential components of the CZ electrode were examined in four sleep stages (N1, N2, N3, and REM). The Mann-Whitney U test was used for group comparison, and the Wilcoxon test was used for in-group evaluations. The P50 and N300 response components were observed in all sleep stages in both groups. P50 decreased as sleep deepened in the SG. The N300 increased as sleep deepened and started to decrease again in the REM stage. Moreover, in N1, the amplitudes of P200-N300 and N300-P450 in the SG were significantly greater than those in the CG. The fact that P50 was observed even in N3 indicates that bottom-up sensory processing continues during sleep. Moreover, the central processing of primed and unprimed stimuli exhibited dynamic differences. Furthermore, an increase in N300 amplitude suggests suppressive processes to facilitate and maintain sleep.

Rapid leaf xylem acclimation diminishes the chances of embolism in grapevines.

Under most conditions tight stomatal regulation in grapevines (Vitis vinifera) avoids xylem embolism. The current study evaluated grapevine responses to challenging scenarios that might lead to leaf embolism and consequential leaf damage. We hypothesized that embolism would occur if the vines experienced low xylem water potential (Ψx) shortly after bud break or later in the season under a combination of extreme drought and heat. We subjected vines to two potentially dangerous environments: (i) withholding irrigation from a vineyard grown in a heatwave-prone environment, and (ii) subjecting potted vines to terminal drought 1 month after bud break. In the field experiment, a heatwave at the beginning of August resulted in leaf temperatures over 45 °C. However, effective stomatal response maintained the xylem water potential (Ψx) well above the embolism threshold, and no leaf desiccation was observed. In the pot experiment, leaves of well-watered vines in May were relatively vulnerable to embolism with 50% embolism (P50) at -1.8 MPa. However, when exposed to drought, these leaves acclimated their leaf P50 by 0.65 MPa in less than a week and before reaching embolism values. When dried to embolizing Ψx, the leaf damage proportion matched (percentage-wise) the leaf embolism level. Our findings indicate that embolism and leaf damage are usually avoided by the grapevines' efficient stomatal regulation and rapid acclimation of their xylem vulnerability.

Sex difference in association between cognitive and P50 deficits in patients with chronic schizophrenia.

A large number of studies have reported that sensory gating disorders represented by P50 inhibition may be involved in the pathophysiological process of schizophrenia. However, few studies have explored the relationship between sensory gating disorders and cognitive dysfunction in patients with schizophrenia. This study aimed to explore sex differences in the relationship between cognitive and P50 deficits in patients with chronic schizophrenia, which has not been reported. A total of 183 chronic schizophrenia patients (128 males and 55 females) and 166 healthy controls (76 males and 90 females) participated in this study. The MATRICS Consensus Cognitive Battery (MCCB) was measured for cognitive function and P50 components for the sensory gating in all participants. The Positive and Negative Syndrome Scales (PANSS) was used to assess the psychopathological symptoms in patients. Female patients performed significantly better than male patients in several cognitive domains of MCCB (all p < 0.01). There were no significant differences in P50 components between male and female patients (all p > 0.05). Further analysis showed that in female patients, latency of S2 was negatively correlated with reasoning and problem-solving domain of MCCB (p < 0.05), and P50 ratio was negatively correlated with social cognition domain of MCCB (p < 0.05). In male patients, there was no any correlation between P50 and cognitive domains of MCCB. Our results suggest that there is a sex difference in the association between P50 deficiency and cognitive impairment in Chinese Han patients with schizophrenia.

DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit binds to the transactivation domain 1 of NF-κB p65.

Nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) is a transcriptional factor that binds to the ∼10-base-pair κB motif on target genes and acts as an inflammatory regulator. Since dysregulation of NF-κB is thought to be related to various diseases, it would be very important to elucidate its post-translational modifications and binding partners in detail and to deeply understand mechanisms of the NF-κB dysregulation. NF-κB p65 is known to interact with the basic transcription factor TFIID subunit hTAFII31/TAF9 through the ФXXФФ (Ф, hydrophobic amino acid; X, any amino acid) motif in a similar fashion to p53. MDM2 is known to inhibit p53 from binding to hTAFII31/TAF9 by masking p53's ФXXФФ motif. Here, as can be rationalized from this observation, we searched for novel nuclear proteins that interact with the transactivation domain 1 (TA1) of NF-κB p65 containing a ФXXФФ motif. We prepared a GST-tagged polypeptide, GST-p65532-550, from Phe532-Ser550 of the TA1 domain and found various U937 cell nuclear proteins that bound to GST-p65532-550. The largest bound protein the size of ∼400 kDa was subjected to mass spectrometric analysis and found to be DNA-dependent protein kinase catalytic subunit (DNA-PKcs). An immunoprecipitation experiment with an antibody against p65 and nuclear extracts from TNF-α-treated A549 cells suggested that NF-κB p65 indeed binds to DNA-PKcs in human cells. Furthermore, binding assays with a series of His-tagged DNA-PKcs fragments suggested that DNA-PKcs can bind to NF-κB p65 through the interaction of the TA1 domain with the region 541-750 in the N-HEAT domain or the region 2485-2576 in the M-HEAT domain.