Nuclear factors NF-YC3 and NF-YBs positively regulate arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis in tomato.

The involvement of nuclear factor Y (NF-Y) in transcriptional reprogramming during arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis has been demonstrated in several plant species. However, a comprehensive picture is lacking. We showed that the spatial expression of NF-YC3 was observed in cortical cells containing arbuscules via the cis-regulatory element GCC boxes. Moreover, the NF-YC3 promoter was transactivated by the combination of CYCLOPS and autoactive calcium and calmodulin-dependent kinase (CCaMK) via GCC boxes. Knockdown of NF-YC3 significantly reduced the abundance of all intraradical fungal structures and affected arbuscule size. BCP1, SbtM1, and WRI5a, whose expression associated with NF-YC3 levels, might be downstream of NF-YC3. NF-YC3 interacted with NF-YB3a, NF-YB5c, or NF-YB3b, in yeast (Saccharomyces cerevisiae) and in planta, and interacted with NF-YA3a in yeast. Spatial expression of 3 NF-YBs was observed in all cell layers of roots under both mock and mycorrhizal conditions. Simultaneous knockdown of 3 NF-YBs, but not individually, reduced the fungal colonization level, suggesting that there might be functional redundancy of NF-YBs to regulate AM symbiosis. Collectively, our data suggest that NF-YC3 and NF-YBs positively regulate AM symbiosis in tomato, and arbuscule-related NF-YC3 may be an important downstream gene of the common symbiosis signaling pathway.

Improving Patient Safety in the X-ray Inspection Process with EfficientNet-Based Medical Assistance System.

Patient safety is a paramount concern in the medical field, and advancements in deep learning and Artificial Intelligence (AI) have opened up new possibilities for improving healthcare practices. While AI has shown promise in assisting doctors with early symptom detection from medical images, there is a critical need to prioritize patient safety by enhancing existing processes. To enhance patient safety, this study focuses on improving the medical operation process during X-ray examinations. In this study, we utilize EfficientNet for classifying the 49 categories of pre-X-ray images. To enhance the accuracy even further, we introduce two novel Neural Network architectures. The classification results are then compared with the doctor's order to ensure consistency and minimize discrepancies. To evaluate the effectiveness of the proposed models, a comprehensive dataset comprising 49 different categories and over 12,000 training and testing sheets was collected from Taichung Veterans General Hospital. The research demonstrates a significant improvement in accuracy, surpassing a 4% enhancement compared to previous studies.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal symbiosis enhances tomato lateral root formation by modulating CEP2 peptide expression.

Plant lateral root (LR) growth usually is stimulated by arbuscular mycorrhizal (AM) symbiosis. However, the molecular mechanism is still unclear. We used gene expression analysis, peptide treatment and virus-induced gene alteration assays to demonstrate that C-terminally encoded peptide (CEP2) expression in tomato was downregulated during AM symbiosis to mitigate its negative effect on LR formation through an auxin-related pathway. We showed that enhanced LR density and downregulated CEP2 expression were observed during mycorrhizal symbiosis. Synthetic CEP2 peptide treatment reduced LR density and impaired the expression of genes involved in indole-3-butyric acid (IBA, the precursor of IAA) to IAA conversion, auxin polar transport and the LR-related signaling pathway; however, application of IBA or synthetic auxin 1-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) to the roots may rescue both defective LR formation and reduced gene expression. CEP receptor 1 (CEPR1) might be the receptor of CEP2 because its knockdown plants did not respond to CEP2 treatment. Most importantly, the LR density of CEP2 overexpression or knockdown plants could not be further increased by AM inoculation, suggesting that CEP2 was critical for AM-induced LR formation. These results indicated that AM symbiosis may regulate root development by modulating CEP2, which affects the auxin-related pathway.

Drag force on a rigid spheroidal particle in a cylinder filled with Carreau fluid.

The boundary effect on the drag acting on a rigid particle is investigated by considering a spheroid on the axis of a cylinder filled with a Carreau fluid. The result of numerical simulation reveals that the ratio (drag coefficient in Carreau fluid/drag coefficient in Newtonian fluid) has a maximum as the ratio (semiaxis in radial direction/radius of cylinder) varies. The presence of a wall has the effect of enhancing the convective motion in the rear part of a particle, and therefore, the formation of wakes. The influence of the shape of a particle on the drag force acting on it can be decreased either by increasing the shear-thinning effect of the fluid or by increasing the Reynolds number. The Reynolds number at which flow separation occurs is found to increase roughly linearly with the increase in the power-law exponent of the Carreau fluid.

Moving of a nonhomogeneous, porous floc normal to a rigid plate.

The boundary effect on the moving of a porous, nonhomogeneous, spherical floc normal to a rigid plate is analyzed theoretically for the case of low to medium Reynolds number. In particular, the drag force acting on the floc under various conditions is evaluated. A two-layer structure is adopted to simulate the nonhomogeneous nature of a floc. We show that if a floc is away from the plate, the streamlines surrounding the floc are distorted, but the degree of distortion becomes less significant if the floc is near the plate. The modified drag coefficient of a porous floc is orders of magnitude smaller than that of the corresponding rigid particle. For a fixed volume-averaged permeability, the effect of the presence of the plate on the behavior of a nonhomogeneous floc is more significant than that of a homogeneous floc, and this effect depends largely on the structure of a floc. The nonhomogeneous structure of a floc leads to a positive deviation from a Stokes-law-like correlation in the modified drag coefficient, and the smaller the volume-averaged permeability of a floc the greater the deviation. The presence of the plate has the effect of reducing this deviation. The nonhomogeneous structure of a floc on its modified drag coefficient is pronounced when it is close to a boundary.

Drag force on a porous, non-homogeneous spheroidal floc in a uniform flow field.

The force acting on a porous spheroidal floc having a nonhomogeneous structure in a uniform flow field is evaluated theoretically. Here, the floc is simulated by an entity having a two-layer type of structure, and its porous nature is mimicked by varying the relative magnitudes of the permeabilities of its inner and outer layers. The results of numerical simulation reveal that, for the same volume-averaged permeability, the drag coefficient of a spheroidal floc with a nonhomogeneous structure is much larger than that of a floc with a homogeneous structure for both prolate and oblate spheroids. This is true regardless of the relative magnitudes of the permeability of the inner layer and that of the outer layer. While the drag coefficient of a homogeneous prolate is the same as that of a homogeneous oblate the drag coefficient of a nonhomogeneous prolate is larger than that of a nonhomogeneous oblate. For the same volume-averaged size, the more nonhomogeneous the structure of a spheroidal floc the easier for the relation between the drag coefficient and the Reynolds number to deviate from a Stokes-law-like relation. For a fixed volume-averaged permeability, the effective drag coefficient increases with the increase in the ratio (polar radius of inner layer/polar radius of floc), regardless of whether its inner layer is less permeable than its outer layer or not.

Boundary effect on the drag force on a nonhomogeneous floc.

The boundary effect on the drag force acting on a spherical floc having a nonhomogeneous structure is examined by considering a spherical floc at the centerline of a cylindrical tube. The floc is simulated by an entity having a two-layer structure, and its porous nature mimicked by varying the relative magnitude of the permeability of its inner and outer layers. The results of numerical simulation reveal that the tube wall has the effect of compressing the streamlines and vorticity contours. Also, as in the case of a rigid entity, the wake in the rear region of a floc, which arises from the convective motion of the fluid, is depressed. For fixed volume-averaged permeability, the influence of the tube wall on the behavior of a heterogeneous floc is more significant than that on the behavior of a homogeneous floc, and the influence varies with the structure of the former. The heterogeneous structure of a floc leads to a deviation in the modified drag coefficient-Reynolds number relation from a Stokes-law-like correlation. The smaller the average permeability of a floc the greater the deviation, but the presence of the tube wall has the effect of reducing the deviation.