The massive investment in new jatropha plantations worldwide is not sufficiently based on a profound scientific knowledge of its ecology. In this article, we define the climatic conditions in its ...area of natural distribution by combining the locations of herbarium specimens with corresponding climatic information, and compare these conditions with those in 83 jatropha plantations worldwide.
Most specimens (87%) were found in tropical savannah and monsoon climates (
A
m,
A
w) and in temperate climates without dry season and with hot summer (
C
fa), while very few were found in semi-arid (
B
S) and none in arid climates (
B
W). Ninety-five percent of the specimens grew in areas with a mean annual rainfall above 944 mm year
−1 and an average minimum temperature of the coldest month (
T
min) above 10.5
°C. The mean annual temperature range was 19.3–27.2
°C.
The climatic conditions at the plantations were different from those of the natural distribution specimens for all studied climatic variables, except average maximum temperature in the warmest month. Roughly 40% of the plantations were situated in regions with a drier climate than in 95% of the area of the herbarium specimens, and 28% of the plantations were situated in areas with
T
min below 10.5
°C.
The observed precipitation preferences indicate that jatropha is not common in regions with arid and semi-arid climates. Plantations in arid and semi-arid areas hold the risk of low productivity or irrigation requirement. Plantations in regions with frost risk hold the risk of damage due to frost.
Impaired response inhibition plays a major role in many addictive behaviors. However, in studies using go/no-go tasks, findings regarding the presence of response inhibition deficits in ...nicotine-dependent individuals are mixed. This might be due to differences between studies on a number of task parameters. Here we aimed to identify task conditions under which go/no-go task performance deficits can be observed in smokers and to characterize the nature of such deficits. Sixty-one male students (30 smokers, 31 non-smokers) performed a go/no-go task while independently manipulating three task parameters: (1) percentage no-go trials (50% or 25%), (2) stimulus presentation time (600 ms or 200 ms), and (3) nature of no-go stimuli (cigarette related or cigarette unrelated). Three measures, reaction time on go trials and percentage correct responses on go and no-go trials, served as performance indicators. Under 200-ms but not 600-ms stimulus presentation conditions, the smokers responded faster on go trials and made more errors on both go and no-go trials than the non-smokers did. These differences occurred irrespective of the percentage of no-go trials and nature of no-go stimuli. The accuracy differences disappeared after controlling for the response time differences, suggesting a strong speed-accuracy trade-off. This study contributes to unraveling the conditions under which smokers display impaired inhibition performance and helps to characterize the nature of this impairment. Under task conditions prompting fast responding, smokers are more prone to increase response speed and to make more errors than non-smokers.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
It is essential to develop effective interventions aimed at ameliorating age-related cognitive decline. Previous studies found that effortful encoding benefits episodic memory in older adults. ...However, to date it is unclear whether this benefit is different for individuals with strong versus weak executive functioning (EF). Fifty-one older adults were recruited and divided into low (N = 26) and high (N = 25) functioning groups, based on their EF capacity. All participants performed a semantic and a perceptual incidental encoding task. Each encoding task was performed under four difficulty levels to establish different effort levels. Encoding was followed by a recognition task. Results showed that the high EF group benefitted from increased effort in both tasks. However, the low EF group only showed a beneficial effect under low levels of effort. Results are consistent with the Compensation-Related Utilization of Neural Circuits Hypothesis (CRUNCH) and suggest that future research directed at developing efficient memory strategies to reduce negative cognitive aging effects should take individual cognitive differences among older adults into account, such as differences in EF.
Celotno besedilo
Dostopno za:
DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Previous research on the association between executive functions and creativity has revealed mixed results. Here, we examined which of three components of executive functioning, working memory (WM) ...updating, inhibition, and shifting ability, is most strongly associated with which aspect of creative thinking in a group of young adolescents. Moreover, we assessed the effects of specifically training that function on various measures of creative thinking. In Study 1, 73 13- to 15-year-old adolescents performed tasks measuring information processing speed, WM maintenance, WM updating, inhibition, shifting ability, and convergent and divergent creative thinking. In Study 2, 68 12- to 14-year-old adolescents were randomly assigned to an adaptive WM updating training or active control condition. Before and after training, all children were assessed using a WM updating transfer task and tests of convergent and divergent thinking. Study 1 identified WM updating as most reliable correlate of most of the creative thinking outcome measures. Study 2 revealed training-induced beneficial effects on the WM transfer task and on most of the creative outcome measures. These results, together with the outcome of previous studies, are promising in suggesting the potential of cognitive training programs that specifically target WM updating to enhance aspects of creative thinking.
BNIP3 is an atypical BH3-only member of the BCL-2 family of proteins with reported pro-death as well as pro-autophagic and cytoprotective functions, depending on the type of stress and cellular ...context. In line with this, the role of BNIP3 in cancer is highly controversial and increased BNIP3 levels in cancer patients have been linked with both good as well as poor prognosis. In this study, using small hairpin RNA (shRNA) lentiviral transduction to stably knockdown BNIP3 (BNIP3-shRNA) expression levels in melanoma cells, we show that BNIP3 supports cancer cell survival and long-term clonogenic growth. Although BNIP3-shRNA increased mitochondrial mass and baseline levels of reactive oxygen species production, which are features associated with aggressive cancer cell behavior, it also prevented cell migration and completely abolished the ability to form a tubular-like network on matrigel, a hallmark of vasculogenic mimicry (VM). We found that this attenuated aggressive behavior of these melanoma cells was underscored by severe changes in cell morphology and remodeling of the actin cytoskeleton associated with loss of BNIP3. Indeed, BNIP3-silenced melanoma cells displayed enhanced formation of actin stress fibers and membrane ruffles, while lamellopodial protrusions and filopodia, tight junctions and adherens junctions were reduced. Moreover, loss of BNIP3 resulted in re-organization of focal adhesion sites associated with increased levels of phosphorylated focal adhesion kinase. Remarkably, BNIP3 silencing led to a drop of the protein levels of the integrin-associated protein CD47 and its downstream signaling effectors Rac1 and Cdc42. These observations underscore that BNIP3 is required to maintain steady-state levels of intracellular complexes orchestrating the plasticity of the actin cytoskeleton, which is integral to cell migration and other vital processes stimulating cancer progression. All together these results unveil an unprecedented pro-tumorigenic role of BNIP3 driving melanoma cell's aggressive features, like migration and VM.
Twin studies yield valuable insights into the sources of variation, covariation and causation in human traits. The ABCD Study® (abcdstudy.org) was designed to take advantage of four universities ...known for their twin research, neuroimaging, population-based sampling, and expertise in genetic epidemiology so that representative twin studies could be performed. In this paper we use the twin data to: (i) provide initial estimates of heritability for the wide range of phenotypes assessed in the ABCD Study using a consistent direct variance estimation approach, assuring that both data and methodology are sound; and (ii) provide an online resource for researchers that can serve as a reference point for future behavior genetic studies of this publicly available dataset. Data were analyzed from 772 pairs of twins aged 9–10 years at study inception, with zygosity determined using genotypic data, recruited and assessed at four twin hub sites. The online tool provides twin correlations and both standardized and unstandardized estimates of additive genetic, and environmental variation for 14,500 continuously distributed phenotypic features, including: structural and functional neuroimaging, neurocognition, personality, psychopathology, substance use propensity, physical, and environmental trait variables. The estimates were obtained using an unconstrained variance approach, so they can be incorporated directly into meta-analyses without upwardly biasing aggregate estimates. The results indicated broad consistency with prior literature where available and provided novel estimates for phenotypes without prior twin studies or those assessed at different ages. Effects of site, self-identified race/ethnicity, age and sex were statistically controlled. Results from genetic modeling of all 53,172 continuous variables, including 38,672 functional MRI variables, will be accessible via the user-friendly open-access web interface we have established, and will be updated as new data are released from the ABCD Study. This paper provides an overview of the initial results from the twin study embedded within the ABCD Study, an introduction to the primary research domains in the ABCD study and twin methodology, and an evaluation of the initial findings with a focus on data quality and suitability for future behavior genetic studies using the ABCD dataset. The broad introductory material is provided in recognition of the multidisciplinary appeal of the ABCD Study. While this paper focuses on univariate analyses, we emphasize the opportunities for multivariate, developmental and causal analyses, as well as those evaluating heterogeneity by key moderators such as sex, demographic factors and genetic background.
In a greenhouse experiment we applied three levels of drought stress and monitored growth variables and biomass production of
Jatropha curcas seedlings propagated from three seed accessions. We ...determined biomass allocation, allometric relationships and plant traits. Well-watered
J. curcas seedlings grew 0.81
±
0.15
cm day
−1 in length and produced 1.49
±
0.31
g dry biomass day
−1. Under medium stress (40% plant available water) the plants maintained a similar stem shape, although they grew at lower rate (stem length: 0.28
±
0.11
cm day
−1; dry biomass production: 0.64
±
0.18
g day
−1). Seedlings under extreme drought stress (no irrigation) stopped growing, started shedding leaves and showed shrinking stem diameter from the 12th day after the start of the drought treatment. The drought treatment did not influence the wood density (0.26
g
cm
−3). The root/shoot ratio of the wet treatment was 0.27, which is low compared to other tropical trees. Both the biomass allocation and root/shoot were significantly influenced by drought. Plants of the different accessions were uniform in biomass production and plant traits. The allometric relationship predicting total aboveground biomass (
B) with the stem diameter (
D) (
B
=
0.029
×
D
2.33;
R
2
=
0.89) fits well in universal scaling models in which the exponent is expected to converge to ∼2.67 at plant maturity. Based on a small validation data set from mature
J. curcas individuals this hypothesis could be confirmed. A second regression model predicts the total leaf area (
LA) as a function of stem diameter (
LA
=
2.03
×
D
2.41;
R
2
=
0.95). The estimated transpiration crop coefficient
K
cb
ranged from 0.51 to 0.60 for the well-watered plants.
Objectives
Executive functioning (EF) is a key topic in neuropsychology. A multitude of underlying processes and constructs have been suggested to explain EF, which are measured by at least as many ...different neuropsychological tests. However, these tests often refer to summary statistics to quantify the construct under study, failing to capture the dynamic nature of EF. An alternative to these summary statistics is a time‐series approach that quantifies all the available temporal information.
Methods
We used recurrence quantification analysis (RQA) to quantify the characteristics of any temporal pattern in random number generation data and we compared RQA to the traditional and static analysis of random number sequences.
Results
The traditional measures yield inconsistent results with increasing sequences length, both for computer‐generated and human‐generated sequences, whereas the RQA measures do not.
Conclusion
The results suggest that a time‐series approach does a better job at modelling what is happening on different time‐scales, and, therefore, is better at explaining how EF is changing in the course of the random number generation task. We argue that it is likely that these findings also apply to other neuropsychological EF tests, and that a time‐series approach is an important addition to the study of EF.
is the second most devastating foliar pathogen of potato crops worldwide, causing premature defoliation of the plants. This disease is currently prevented through the regular application of ...detrimental crop protection products and is guided by early warnings based on weather predictions and visual observations by farmers. To reduce the use of crop protection products, without additional production losses, it would be beneficial to be able to automatically detect
in potato fields. In recent years, the potential of deep learning in precision agriculture is receiving increasing research attention. Convolutional Neural Networks (CNNs) are currently the state of the art, but also come with challenges, especially regarding in-field robustness. This stems from the fact that they are often trained on datasets that are limited in size or have been recorded in controlled environments, not necessarily representative of real-world settings. We collected a dataset consisting of ultra-high-resolution modified RGB UAV-imagery of both symptomatic and non-symptomatic potato crops in the field during various years and disease stages to cover the great variability in agricultural data. We developed a convolutional neural network to perform in-field detection of
, defined as a binary classification problem. Our model achieves a similar accuracy as several state-of-the-art models for disease detection, but has a much lower inference time, which enhances its practical applicability. By using training data of three consecutive growing seasons (2019, 2020 and 2021) and test data of an independent fourth year (2022), an F1 score of 0.93 is achieved. Furthermore, we evaluate how different properties of the dataset such as its size and class imbalance impact the obtained accuracy.
Gene amplification is an important mechanism for oncogene activation, a crucial step in carcinogenesis. Compared to female breast cancer, little is known on the genetic makeup of male breast cancer, ...because large series are lacking. Copy number changes of 21 breast cancer related genes were studied in 110 male breast cancers using multiplex ligation-dependent probe amplification. A ratio of >1.3 was regarded indicative for gene copy number gain and a ratio >2.0 for gene amplification. Data were correlated with clinicopathological features, prognosis and 17 genes were compared with a group of female breast cancers. Gene copy number gain of
CCND1
,
TRAF4
,
CDC6
and
MTDH
was seen in >40 % of the male breast cancer cases, with also frequent amplification. The number of genes with copy number gain and several single genes were associated with high grade, but only CCND1 amplification was an independent predictor of adverse survival in Cox regression (
p
= 0.015; hazard ratio 3.0). In unsupervised hierarchical clustering a distinctive group of male breast cancer with poor prognosis (
p
= 0.009; hazard ratio 3.4) was identified, characterized by frequent CCND1,
MTDH
,
CDC6
,
ADAM9
,
TRAF4
and
MYC
copy number gain. Compared to female breast cancers,
EGFR
(
p
= 0.005) and
CCND1
(
p
= 0.041) copy number gain was more often seen in male breast cancer, while copy number gain of
EMSY
(
p
= 0.004) and
CPD
(
p
= 0.001) and amplification in general was less frequent. In conclusion, several female breast cancer genes also seem to be important in male breast carcinogenesis. However, there are also clear differences in copy number changes between male and female breast cancers, pointing toward differences in carcinogenesis between male and female breast cancer and emphasizing the importance of identifying biomarkers and therapeutic agents based on research in male breast cancer. In addition
CCND1
amplification seems to be an independent prognosticator in male breast cancer.
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