Crop residues serve many important functions in agricultural conservation including preserving soil moisture, building soil organic carbon, and preventing erosion. Percent crop residue cover on a ...field surface reflects the outcome of tillage intensity and crop management practices. Previous studies using proximal hyperspectral remote sensing have demonstrated accurate measurement of percent residue cover using residue indices that characterize cellulose and lignin absorption features found between 2100 nm and 2300 nm in the shortwave infrared (SWIR) region of the electromagnetic spectrum. The 2014 launch of the WorldView-3 (WV3) satellite has now provided a space-borne platform for the collection of narrow band SWIR reflectance imagery capable of measuring these cellulose and lignin absorption features. In this study, WorldView-3 SWIR imagery (14 May 2015) was acquired over farmland on the Eastern Shore of Chesapeake Bay (Maryland, USA), was converted to surface reflectance, and eight different SWIR reflectance indices were calculated. On-farm photographic sampling was used to measure percent residue cover at a total of 174 locations in 10 agricultural fields, ranging from plow-till to continuous no-till management, and these in situ measurements were used to develop percent residue cover prediction models from the SWIR indices using both polynomial and linear least squares regressions. Analysis was limited to agricultural fields with minimal green vegetation (Normalized Difference Vegetation Index < 0.3) due to expected interference of vegetation with the SWIR indices. In the resulting residue prediction models, spectrally narrow residue indices including the Shortwave Infrared Normalized Difference Residue Index (SINDRI) and the Lignin Cellulose Absorption Index (LCA) were determined to be more accurate than spectrally broad Landsat-compatible indices such as the Normalized Difference Tillage Index (NDTI), as determined by respective R2 values of 0.94, 0.92, and 0.84 and respective residual mean squared errors (RMSE) of 7.15, 8.40, and 12.00. Additionally, SINDRI and LCA were more resistant to interference from low levels of green vegetation. The model with the highest correlation (2nd order polynomial SINDRI, R2 = 0.94) was used to convert the SWIR imagery into a map of crop residue cover for non-vegetated agricultural fields throughout the imagery extent, describing the distribution of tillage intensity within the farm landscape. WorldView-3 satellite imagery provides spectrally narrow SWIR reflectance measurements that show utility for a robust mapping of crop residue cover.
Depletion of mitochondrial copper, which shifts metabolism from respiration to glycolysis and reduces energy production, is known to be effective against cancer types that depend on oxidative ...phosphorylation. However, existing copper chelators are too toxic or ineffective for cancer treatment. Here we develop a safe, mitochondria-targeted, copper-depleting nanoparticle (CDN) and test it against triple-negative breast cancer (TNBC). We show that CDNs decrease oxygen consumption and oxidative phosphorylation, cause a metabolic switch to glycolysis and reduce ATP production in TNBC cells. This energy deficiency, together with compromised mitochondrial membrane potential and elevated oxidative stress, results in apoptosis. CDNs should be less toxic than existing copper chelators because they favorably deprive copper in the mitochondria in cancer cells instead of systemic depletion. Indeed, we demonstrate low toxicity of CDNs in healthy mice. In three mouse models of TNBC, CDN administration inhibits tumor growth and substantially improves survival. The efficacy and safety of CDNs suggest the potential clinical relevance of this approach.
The adoption rate of winter cover crops (WCCs) as an effective conservation management practice to help reduce agricultural nutrient loads in the Chesapeake Bay (CB) is increasing. However, the WCC ...potential for water quality improvement has not been fully realized at the watershed scale. This study was conducted to evaluate the long-term impact of WCCs on hydrology and NO3-N loads in two adjacent watersheds and to identify key management factors that affect the effectiveness of WCCs using the Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) and statistical methods. Simulation results indicated that WCCs are effective for reducing NO3-N loads and their performance varied based on planting date, species, soil characteristics, and crop rotations. Early-planted WCCs outperformed late-planted WCCs on the reduction of NO3-N loads and early-planted rye (RE) reduced NO3-N loads by ~49.3% compared to the baseline (no WCC). The WCCs were more effective in a watershed dominated by well-drained soils with increased reductions in NO3-N fluxes of ~2.5 kg N·ha-1 delivered to streams and ~10.1 kg N·ha-1 leached into groundwater compared to poorly-drained soils. Well-drained agricultural lands had higher transport of NO3-N in the soil profile and groundwater due to increased N leaching. Poorly-drained agricultural lands had lower NO3-N due to extensive drainage ditches and anaerobic soil conditions promoting denitrification. The performance of WCCs varied by crop rotations (i.e., continuous corn and corn-soybean), with increased N uptake following soybean crops due to the increased soil mineral N availability by mineralization of soybean residue compared to corn residue. The WCCs can reduce N leaching where baseline NO3-N loads are high in well-drained soils and/or when residual and mineralized N availability is high due to the cropping practices. The findings suggested that WCC implementation plans should be established in watersheds according to local edaphic and agronomic characteristics for reducing N leaching.
The hydrogen isotopes deuterium (D) and tritium (T) have become essential tools in chemistry, biology and medicine
. Beyond their widespread use in spectroscopy, mass spectrometry and mechanistic and ...pharmacokinetic studies, there has been considerable interest in incorporating deuterium into drug molecules
. Deutetrabenazine, a deuterated drug that is promising for the treatment of Huntington's disease
, was recently approved by the United States' Food and Drug Administration. The deuterium kinetic isotope effect, which compares the rate of a chemical reaction for a compound with that for its deuterated counterpart, can be substantial
. The strategic replacement of hydrogen with deuterium can affect both the rate of metabolism and the distribution of metabolites for a compound
, improving the efficacy and safety of a drug. The pharmacokinetics of a deuterated compound depends on the location(s) of deuterium. Although methods are available for deuterium incorporation at both early and late stages of the synthesis of a drug
, these processes are often unselective and the stereoisotopic purity can be difficult to measure
. Here we describe the preparation of stereoselectively deuterated building blocks for pharmaceutical research. As a proof of concept, we demonstrate a four-step conversion of benzene to cyclohexene with varying degrees of deuterium incorporation, via binding to a tungsten complex. Using different combinations of deuterated and proteated acid and hydride reagents, the deuterated positions on the cyclohexene ring can be controlled precisely. In total, 52 unique stereoisotopomers of cyclohexene are available, in the form of ten different isotopologues. This concept can be extended to prepare discrete stereoisotopomers of functionalized cyclohexenes. Such systematic methods for the preparation of pharmacologically active compounds as discrete stereoisotopomers could improve the pharmacological and toxicological properties of drugs and provide mechanistic information related to their distribution and metabolism in the body.
Fusarium oxysporum is one of the most abundant and diverse fungal species found in soils and includes nonpathogenic, endophytic, and pathogenic strains affecting a broad range of plant and animal ...hosts. Conidiation is the major mode of reproduction in many filamentous fungi, but the regulation of this process is largely unknown. Lysine acetylation (Kac) is an evolutionarily conserved and widespread posttranslational modification implicated in regulation of multiple metabolic processes. A total of 62 upregulated and 49 downregulated Kac proteins were identified in sporulating mycelia versus nonsporulating mycelia of F. oxysporum. Diverse cellular proteins, including glycolytic enzymes, ribosomal proteins, and endoplasmic reticulum–resident molecular chaperones, were differentially acetylated in the sporulation process. Altered Kac levels of three endoplasmic reticulum–resident molecular chaperones, PDIK70, HSP70K604, and HSP40K32 were identified that with important roles in F. oxysporum conidiation. Specifically, K70 acetylation (K70ac) was found to be crucial for maintaining stability and activity of protein disulphide isomerase and the K604ac of HSP70 and K32ac of HSP40 suppressed the detoxification ability of these heat shock proteins, resulting in higher levels of protein aggregation. During conidial formation, an increased level of PDIK70ac and decreased levels of HSP70K604ac and HSP40K32ac contributed to the proper processing of unfolded proteins and eliminated protein aggregation, which is beneficial for dramatic cell biological remodeling during conidiation in F. oxysporum.
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•Importance and levels of acetylation in conidiation of Fusarium oxysporum.•Protein folding was regulated by acetylation during conidiation.•Acetylation modulates activities of ER-resident molecular chaperones.
The present work assessed the importance and levels of acetylation modification in conidial formation of Fusarium oxysporum, demonstrating a critical regulatory role for acetylation in protein biosynthesis and folding during the sporulation process. Acetylation was shown to be modulating the biochemical activities of three endoplasmic reticulum–resident molecular chaperones in F. oxysporum, resulting in a lower level of protein aggregation, which is beneficial for dramatic cell biological remodeling during conidiation.
Myc and Ras are two of the most commonly activated oncogenes in tumorigenesis. Together and independently they regulate many cancer hallmarks including proliferation, apoptosis, and self-renewal. ...Recently, they were shown to cooperate to regulate host tumor microenvironment programs including host immune responses. But, is their partnership always cooperative or do they have distinguishable functions? Here, we provide one perspective that Myc and Ras cooperation depends on the genetic evolution of a particular cancer. This in turn, dictates when they cooperate via overlapping and identifiably distinct cellular- and host immune-dependent mechanisms that are cancer type specific.
New diagnostic tools that can detect malaria parasites in conjunction with other diagnostic parameters are urgently required. In this study, Attenuated Total Reflection Fourier transform infrared ...(ATR-FTIR) spectroscopy in combination with Partial Least Square Discriminant Analysis (PLS-DA) and Partial Least Square Regression (PLS-R) have been applied as a point-of-care test for identifying malaria parasites, blood glucose, and urea levels in whole blood samples from thick blood films on glass slides. The specificity for the PLS-DA was found to be 98% for parasitemia levels >0.5%, but a rather low sensitivity of 70% was achieved because of the small number of negative samples in the model. In PLS-R the Root Mean Square Error of Cross Validation (RMSECV) for parasite concentration (0–5%) was 0.58%. Similarly, for glucose (0–400 mg/dL) and urea (0–250 mg/dL) spiked samples, relative RMSECVs were 16% and 17%, respectively. The method reported here is the first example of multianalyte/disease diagnosis using ATR-FTIR spectroscopy, which in this case, enabled the simultaneous quantification of glucose and urea analytes along with malaria parasitemia quantification using one spectrum obtained from a single drop of blood on a glass microscope slide.
Winter cover crops such as barley, rye, and wheat help to improve soil structure by increasing porosity, aggregate stability, and organic matter, while reducing the loss of agricultural nutrients and ...sediments into waterways. The environmental performance of cover crops is affected by choice of species, planting date, planting method, nutrient inputs, temperature, and precipitation. The Maryland Department of Agriculture (MDA) oversees an agricultural cost-share program that provides farmers with funding to cover costs associated with planting winter cover crops, and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS) and the U.S. Department of Agriculture-Agricultural Research Service (USDA-ARS) have partnered with the MDA to develop satellite remote sensing techniques for measuring cover crop performance. The MDA has developed the capacity to digitize field boundaries for all fields enrolled in their cover crop programs (>26,000 fields per year) to support a remote sensing performance analysis at a statewide scal,e and has requested assistance with the associated imagery processing from the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). Using the Google Earth Engine (GEE) cloud computing platform, scripts were developed to process Landsat 5/7/8 and Harmonized Sentinel-2 imagery to measure winter cover crop performance. We calibrated cover crop performance models using linear regression between satellite vegetation indices and USGS / USDA-ARS field sampling data collected on Maryland farms between 2006 and 2012 (1298 samples). Satellite-derived Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) values showed significant correlation with the natural logarithm of cover crop biomass (p ≤0.01, R2 = 0.56) and with observed percent vegetative ground cover (p ≤0.01, R2 = 0.68). The GEE scripts were used to composite seasonal maximum NDVI values for each enrolled cover crop field and calculate performance metrics for the winter and spring seasons of three enrollment years (2014–15, 2015–16, and 2017–18) for four Maryland counties. Results from winter 2017–18 demonstrate that rye and barley fields had higher biomass than wheat fields, and that early planting, along with planting methods that increase seed-soil contact, increased performance. The processing capabilities of GEE will support the MDA in scaling up remote sensing performance analysis statewide, providing information to evaluate the environmental outcomes associated with various agronomic management strategies. The tool can be modified for different seasonal cutoffs, utilize new sensors to capture phenology in winter and spring, and scale to larger regions for use in adaptive management of winter cover crops planted for environmental benefit.
This project was supported by the USGS Land Change Science Program within the Land Resources Mission Area, the USDA Choptank River Conservation Effects Assessment Project (CEAP), the USDA Lower Chesapeake Bay Long Term Agricultural Research (LTAR) Project; the Maryland Department of Agriculture; and the NASA DEVELOP National Program.
Combining satellite Earth observation measures of wintertime vegetation with cost-share enrollment data to map winter cover crop performance on Maryland farms: example data from a collaborating farm. Display omitted
•Google Earth Engine script facilitates winter cover crop remote sensing analysis.•Cost-share program data combined with harmonized Landsat and Sentinel imagery.•Seasonal analysis of cover crop performance (biomass, vegetative cover).•Results showed different performance for various agronomic management strategies•Informs adaptive management of cover crop cost-share incentive programs.
Recent findings show that even the brief inactivation of a single oncogene might be sufficient to result in the sustained loss of a neoplastic phenotype. It is therefore possible that the targeted ...inactivation of oncogenes could be a specific and effective treatment for cancer. So why does oncogene inactivation cause tumour regression and will this be a generally successful approach for the treatment of human neoplasia?
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