The degradation of signal in silicon sensors is studied under conditions expected at the CERN High-Luminosity LHC. 200 $\mu$m thick n-type silicon sensors are irradiated with protons of different ...energies to fluences of up to $3 \cdot 10^{15}$ neq/cm$^2$. Pulsed red laser light with a wavelength of 672 nm is used to generate electron-hole pairs in the sensors. The induced signals are used to determine the charge collection efficiencies separately for electrons and holes drifting through the sensor. The effective trapping rates are extracted by comparing the results to simulation. The electric field is simulated using Synopsys device simulation assuming two effective defects. The generation and drift of charge carriers are simulated in an independent simulation based on PixelAV. The effective trapping rates are determined from the measured charge collection efficiencies and the simulated and measured time-resolved current pulses are compared. The effective trapping rates determined for both electrons and holes are about 50% smaller than those obtained using standard extrapolations of studies at low fluences and suggests an improved tracker performance over initial expectations.
Bile acids are steroid compounds from the digestive tracts of vertebrates that enter agricultural environments in unusual high amounts with manure. Bacteria degrading bile acids can readily be ...isolated from soils and waters including agricultural areas. Under laboratory conditions, these bacteria transiently release steroid compounds as degradation intermediates into the environment. These compounds include androstadienediones (ADDs), which are C
-steroids with potential hormonal effects. Experiments with Caenorhabditis elegans showed that ADDs derived from bacterial bile acid degradation had effects on its tactile response, reproduction rate, and developmental speed. Additional experiments with a deletion mutant as well as transcriptomic analyses indicated that these effects might be conveyed by the putative testosterone receptor NHR-69. Soil microcosms showed that the natural microflora of agricultural soil is readily induced for bile acid degradation accompanied by the transient release of steroid intermediates. Establishment of a model system with a Pseudomonas strain and C. elegans in sand microcosms indicated transient release of ADDs during the course of bile acid degradation and negative effects on the reproduction rate of the nematode. This proof-of-principle study points at bacterial degradation of manure-derived bile acids as a potential and so-far overlooked risk for invertebrates in agricultural soils.
Deductive reasoning is fundamental to science, human culture, and the solution of problems in daily life. It starts with premises and yields a logically necessary conclusion that is not explicit in ...the premises. Here we investigated the neurocognitive processes underlying logical thinking with event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging. We specifically focused on three temporally separable phases: (1) the premise processing phase, (2) the premise integration phase, and (3) the validation phase in which reasoners decide whether a conclusion logically follows from the premises. We found distinct patterns of cortical activity during these phases, with initial temporo-occipital activation shifting to the prefrontal cortex and then to the parietal cortex during the reasoning process. Activity in these latter regions was specific to reasoning, as it was significantly decreased during matched working memory problems with identical premises and equal working memory load.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background and aims
Given that environmental factors like atmospheric CO
2
, temperature, and water availability will likely change simultaneously, it is difficult to make accurate predictions about ...future crop production. Effects of elevated CO
2
or drought on aboveground plant growth are relatively well studied, while effects on the rhizosphere are rarely dealt with. The present work investigates the root exudation pattern of different osmotic protectants such as ions and sugars of two cultivars of barley grown under different water and CO
2
levels.
Methods
Barley (
Hordeum vulgare
L.) plants were grown in plant containers in climate chambers with an optimal and reduced water supply and two CO
2
concentrations (380 and 550 ppm) and harvested at the stem elongation growth stage and when the inflorescences emerged.
Results
The responses of root exudation to CO
2
enrichment, watering level, and cultivar and their interactions varied with the developmental stage. While K
+
/Na
+
ratio in root exudates remained stable at the stem elongation stage (DC30), it was higher at the booting stage (DC49) in the cv. “Bambina” than in cv. “Golden Promise”. At DC30, in general the exudation of sugars, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and their ratio (SUG/DOC) were lower at eCO
2
compared to ambient CO
2
at normal watering conditions. Under reduced watering conditions, plants exuded on average 55% more sucrose than under well-watered conditions. The modern cv. BA exuded on average 53% more fructose than the older cv.GP. In contrast, at DC49, sucrose, DOC and SUG/DOC exudation were not affected by any factor. At eCO
2
plants exuded on average 39% less fructose than under ambient CO
2
. A water and CO
2
interaction on glucose exudation was found at this stage. Under reduced water conditions, plants growing at ambient CO
2
exuded less glucose but at eCO
2
exuded similar (GP) or even higher (BA) glucose levels than under normal water supply. Although drought and cultivar factors affected the root exudation of barley, the strongest effects in the exudation pattern were caused by CO
2
.
Conclusions
This study presents a non-destructive percolation method for the collection of root exudates which can be used to give an insight into the complex interaction between global warming-associated environmental factors that cause yield losses and changes in crop quality and components of the belowground plant metabolism.
Background
Immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICI) substantially improve outcome for patients with cancer. However, the majority of patients develops immune-related adverse events (irAEs), which can be ...persistent and significantly reduce quality of life. Neurological irAEs occur in 1–5% of patients and can induce severe, permanent sequelae or even be fatal. In order to improve the diagnosis and treatment of neurological irAEs and to better understand their pathogenesis, we assessed whether previous neurotropic infections are associated with neurological irAEs.
Methods
Neurotropic infections that might predispose to ICI-induced neurological irAEs were analyzed in 61 melanoma patients from 3 countries, the Netherlands, Australia and Germany, including 24 patients with neurotoxicity and 37 control patients. In total, 14 viral, 6 bacterial, and 1 protozoal infections previously reported to trigger neurological pathologies were assessed using routine serology testing. The Dutch and Australian cohorts (NL) included pre-treatment plasma samples of patients treated with neoadjuvant ICI therapy (OpACIN-neo and PRADO trials; NCT02977052). In the Dutch/Australian cohort a total of 11 patients with neurological irAEs were compared to 27 control patients (patients without neurological irAEs). The German cohort (LMU) consisted of serum samples of 13 patients with neurological irAE and 10 control patients without any documented irAE under ICI therapy.
Results
The association of neurological irAEs with 21 possible preceding infections was assessed by measuring specific antibodies against investigated agents. The seroprevalence of all the tested viral (cytomegalovirus, Epstein-Barr-Virus, varicella-zoster virus, measles, rubella, influenza A and B, human herpes virus 6 and 7, herpes simplex virus 1 and 2, parvovirus B19, hepatitis A and E and human T-lymphotropic virus type 1 and 2), bacterial (
Borrelia burgdorferi
sensu lato
, Campylobacter jejuni, Mycoplasma pneumoniae, Coxiella burnetti, Helicobacter pylori, Yersinia enterocolitica
and
Y. pseudotuberculosis
) and protozoal (
Toxoplasma gondii
) infections was similar for patients who developed neurological irAEs as compared to control patients. Thus, the analysis provided no evidence for an association of described agents tested for seroprevalence with ICI induced neurotoxicity.
Conclusion
Previous viral, bacterial and protozoal neurotropic infections appear not to be associated with the development of neurological irAEs in melanoma patients who underwent therapy with ICI across 3 countries. Further efforts are needed to unravel the factors underlying neurological irAEs in order to identify risk factors for these toxicities, especially with the increasing use of ICI in earlier stage disease.
Background and aims Given that environmental factors like atmospheric CO.sub.2, temperature, and water availability will likely change simultaneously, it is difficult to make accurate predictions ...about future crop production. Effects of elevated CO.sub.2 or drought on aboveground plant growth are relatively well studied, while effects on the rhizosphere are rarely dealt with. The present work investigates the root exudation pattern of different osmotic protectants such as ions and sugars of two cultivars of barley grown under different water and CO.sub.2 levels. Methods Barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) plants were grown in plant containers in climate chambers with an optimal and reduced water supply and two CO.sub.2 concentrations (380 and 550 ppm) and harvested at the stem elongation growth stage and when the inflorescences emerged. Results The responses of root exudation to CO.sub.2 enrichment, watering level, and cultivar and their interactions varied with the developmental stage. While K.sup.+/Na.sup.+ ratio in root exudates remained stable at the stem elongation stage (DC30), it was higher at the booting stage (DC49) in the cv. "Bambina" than in cv. "Golden Promise". At DC30, in general the exudation of sugars, dissolved organic carbon (DOC) and their ratio (SUG/DOC) were lower at eCO.sub.2 compared to ambient CO.sub.2 at normal watering conditions. Under reduced watering conditions, plants exuded on average 55% more sucrose than under well-watered conditions. The modern cv. BA exuded on average 53% more fructose than the older cv.GP. In contrast, at DC49, sucrose, DOC and SUG/DOC exudation were not affected by any factor. At eCO.sub.2 plants exuded on average 39% less fructose than under ambient CO.sub.2. A water and CO.sub.2 interaction on glucose exudation was found at this stage. Under reduced water conditions, plants growing at ambient CO.sub.2 exuded less glucose but at eCO.sub.2 exuded similar (GP) or even higher (BA) glucose levels than under normal water supply. Although drought and cultivar factors affected the root exudation of barley, the strongest effects in the exudation pattern were caused by CO.sub.2. Conclusions This study presents a non-destructive percolation method for the collection of root exudates which can be used to give an insight into the complex interaction between global warming-associated environmental factors that cause yield losses and changes in crop quality and components of the belowground plant metabolism.
Rising CO2 concentrations associated with drought stress is likely to influence not only aboveground growth, but also belowground plant processes. Little is known about root exudation being ...influenced by elements of climate change. Therefore, this study wanted to clarify whether barley root exudation responds to drought and CO2 enrichment and whether this reaction differs between an old and a recently released malting barley cultivar. Barley plants were grown in pots filled with sand in controlled climate chambers at ambient (380 ppm) or elevated (550 ppm) atmospheric CO2 and a normal or reduced water supply. Root exudation patterns were examined at the stem elongation growth stage and when the inflorescences emerged. At both dates, root exudates were analyzed for different compounds such as total free amino acids, proline, potassium, and some phytohormones. Elevated CO2 decreased the concentrations in root exudates of some compounds such as total free amino acids, proline, and abscisic acid. Moreover, reduced water supply increased proline, potassium, electric conductivity, and hormone concentrations. In general, the modern cultivar showed higher concentrations of proline and abscisic acid than the old one, but the cultivars responded differentially under elevated CO2. Plant developmental stage had also an impact on the root exudation patterns of barley. Generally, we observed significant effects of CO2 enrichment, watering levels, and, to a lesser extent, cultivar on root exudation. However, we did not find any mitigation of the adverse effects of drought by elevated CO2. Understanding the multitude of relationships within the rhizosphere is an important aspect that has to be taken into consideration in the context of crop performance and carbon balance under conditions of climate change.
The goal of this study was to investigate the neurocognitive processes of mental imagery in deductive reasoning. Behavioral studies yielded four sorts of verbal relations: (1) visuospatial relations ...that are easy to envisage both visually and spatially; (2) visual relations that are easy to envisage visually but hard to envisage spatially; (3) spatial relations that are hard to envisage visually but easy to envisage spatially; and (4) control relations that are hard to envisage both visually and spatially. In three experiments, visual relations slowed the process of reasoning in comparison with control relations, whereas visuospatial and spatial relations yielded inferences comparable to those of control relations. An experiment using functional magnetic resonance imaging showed that in the absence of any correlated visual input (problems were presented acoustically via headphones), all types of reasoning problems evoked activity in the left middle temporal gyrus, in the right superior parietal cortex, and bilaterally in the precuneus. In the prefrontal cortex, increased activity was found in the middle and inferior frontal gyri. However, only the problems based on visual relations also activated areas of the visual association cortex corresponding to V2. The results indicate that cortical activity during reasoning depends on the nature of verbal relations. All relations elicit mental models that underlie reasoning, but visual relations in addition elicit visual images. This account resolves inconsistencies in the previous literature.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Interest in nitrogen inputs via atmospheric deposition to agricultural ecosystems has increased recently, especially on the North China Plain because of extremely intensive agricultural systems and ...rapid urbanization in this region. Nitrogen deposition may make a significant contribution to crop N requirements but may also impose a considerable nutrient burden on the environment in general. We quantified total N deposition at two locations, Dongbeiwang near Beijing and Quzhou in Hebei province, over a two-year period from 2005 to 2007 using an 15 N tracer method, the integrated total N input (ITNI) system. Total airborne N inputs to a maize–wheat rotation system at both locations ranged from 99 to 117 kg N·ha −1 ·yr −1 , with higher N deposition during the maize season (57–66 kg N/ha) than the wheat season (42–51 kg N/ha). Plant available N from deposition for maize and wheat was about 52 kg N·ha −1 ·yr −1 , accounting for 50% of the total N deposition or 31% of total N uptake by the two crop species. In addition, a correction factor was derived for the maize season to adjust values obtained from small pots (0.057 m 2 ) compared with field trays (0.98 m 2 ) because of higher plant density in the pots. The results indicate that atmospheric N deposition is a very important N input and must be taken into account when calculating nutrient budgets in very intensively managed agricultural ecosystems.
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