BACKGROUND AND AIMS: Gluconacetobacter diazotrophicus is a plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) that colonizes several plant species. Here, we studied the internal colonization of Arabidopsis ...thaliana tissues by G. diazotrophicus and analyzed its effects on physiology, growth, and activation of plant immune system during such association. METHODS: A. thaliana seedlings were inoculated with G. diazotrophicus and grown in substrate for 50 days. Effects on plant growth were estimated by quantifying number of leaves, leaf area, and fresh and dry weight. Endophytic bacterial population was determined by colony-forming unit (CFU), and its location in plant tissues was assayed by epifluorescence microscopy of red fluorescent protein-labeled bacterium. Whole canopy gas exchange (photosynthesis and transpiration) was determined using a portable photosynthesis system. RESULTS: G. diazotrophicus efficiently promoted A. thaliana plant growth at 50 days after inoculation. Inoculated plants showed higher whole canopy photosynthesis, lower whole plant transpiration, and increased water-use efficiency. The bacterium colonized preferentially root xylem. The inoculation of plants defective in systemic acquired resistance (SAR)-associated defense revealed that plant immune system plays an important role during the early association stages. CONCLUSIONS: G. diazotrophicus endophytically colonizes A. thaliana roots, promotes plant growth, and increases whole canopy photosynthesis. Our results indicate that A. thaliana is useful for molecular studies of the mechanisms involved in the interaction between plants and PGPB, especially those involving G. diazotrophicus.
Patients with refractory severe aplastic anemia (SAA) who lack a matched sibling or unrelated donor need new therapeutic approaches. Hematopoietic SCT (HSCT) using mismatched or haploidentical ...related donors has been used in the past, but was associated with a significant risk of GVHD and mortality. Recently, the use of post-transplant cyclophosphamide (Cy) has been shown to be an effective strategy to prevent GVHD in recipients of haploidentical HSCT, but the majority of reports have focused on patients with hematology malignancies. We describe the outcome of 16 patients who underwent haploidentical transplantation using a reduced-intensity conditioning regimen with post-transplant Cy. Stem cell sources were BM (N=13) or PBSCs (N=3). The rate of neutrophil engraftment was 94% and of platelet engraftment was 75%. Two patients had secondary graft failure and were successfully salvaged with another transplant. Three patients developed acute GVHD being grades 2-4 in two. Five patients have died and the 1-year OS was 67.1% (95% confidence interval: 36.5-86.4%). In our small series, the use of a reduced-intensity conditioning with post-transplant Cy in haploidentical BMT was associated with high rates of engraftment and low risk of GVHD in patients with relapsed/refractory SAA.
One of the least understood aspects in atmospheric chemistry is how urban emissions influence the formation of natural organic aerosols, which affect Earth's energy budget. The Amazon rainforest, ...during its wet season, is one of the few remaining places on Earth where atmospheric chemistry transitions between preindustrial and urban-influenced conditions. Here, we integrate insights from several laboratory measurements and simulate the formation of secondary organic aerosols (SOA) in the Amazon using a high-resolution chemical transport model. Simulations show that emissions of nitrogen-oxides from Manaus, a city of ~2 million people, greatly enhance production of biogenic SOA by 60-200% on average with peak enhancements of 400%, through the increased oxidation of gas-phase organic carbon emitted by the forests. Simulated enhancements agree with aircraft measurements, and are much larger than those reported over other locations. The implication is that increasing anthropogenic emissions in the future might substantially enhance biogenic SOA in pristine locations like the Amazon.
The aim of this study was to characterize the normality of the fetal circulatory system through the time between ventricular systoles of the ductus venosus in the three gestational trimesters in ...healthy fetuses using nonlinear methods of the complexity of the signal. A prospective cohort study was conducted at the Instituto de Medicina Integral Prof. Fernando Figueira (IMIP) from December 2019 to May 2020. Pregnant women between 11 and 14 weeks, with intrauterine pregnancy and healthy fetus were included. Patients with multiple gestation, positive screening for congenital malformation, including heart disease, and under 18 years of age were excluded. Doppler velocimetry ultrasonography of the ductus venosus was performed between the 11th and 14th weeks, 20th and 24th weeks, and 28th and 32nd weeks of gestation, and then the sound signal was extracted and segmented from the videos. To compare the means between the gestational trimesters of the approximate entropy (ApEn) and Lempel-Ziv complexity (CLZ) of the time between ventricular systoles, the Friedman test was used, with a significance level of 5%. No statistically significant difference was found between the 1st, 2nd, and 3rd trimesters regarding the mean ApEn (P=0.281) and CLZ (P=0.595) of the time between ventricular systoles of the ductus venosus. Ductus venosus systolic time was not sensitive to differentiate fetal cardiovascular dynamics between gestational trimesters. This study pioneered the characterization of cardiovascular normality by nonlinear parameters of the fetal ductus venosus in all three trimesters. Key words: Entropy; Doppler effect; Heart diseases; Ultrasonography; Fetal heart
This paper evaluates the contributions of the emissions from mobile, stationary and biogenic sources on air pollution in the Amazon rainforest by using the Weather Research and Forecasting with ...Chemistry (WRF-Chem) model. The analyzed air pollutants were CO, NOx, SO2, O3, PM2. 5, PM10 and volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Five scenarios were defined in order to evaluate the emissions by biogenic, mobile and stationary sources, as well as a future scenario to assess the potential air quality impact of doubled anthropogenic emissions. The stationary sources explain the highest concentrations for all air pollutants evaluated, except for CO, for which the mobile sources are predominant. The anthropogenic sources considered resulted an increasing in the spatial peak-temporal average concentrations of pollutants in 3 to 2780 times in relation to those with only biogenic sources. The future scenario showed an increase in the range of 3 to 62 % in average concentrations and 45 to 109 % in peak concentrations depending on the pollutant. In addition, the spatial distributions of the scenarios has shown that the air pollution plume from the city of Manaus is predominantly transported west and southwest, and it can reach hundreds of kilometers in length.
The Observations and Modeling of the Green Ocean Amazon (GoAmazon2014/5) Experiment was carried out in the environs of Manaus, Brazil, in the central region of the Amazon basin for 2 years from ...1 January 2014 through 31 December 2015. The experiment focused on the complex interactions among vegetation, atmospheric chemistry, and aerosol production on the one hand and their connections to aerosols, clouds, and precipitation on the other. The objective was to understand and quantify these linked processes, first under natural conditions to obtain a baseline and second when altered by the effects of human activities. To this end, the pollution plume from the Manaus metropolis, superimposed on the background conditions of the central Amazon basin, served as a natural laboratory. The present paper, as the introduction to the special issue of GoAmazon2014/5, presents the context and motivation of the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment. The nine research sites, including the characteristics and instrumentation of each site, are presented. The sites range from time point zero (T0) upwind of the pollution, to T1 in the midst of the pollution, to T2 just downwind of the pollution, to T3 furthest downwind of the pollution (70 km). In addition to the ground sites, a low-altitude G-159 Gulfstream I (G-1) observed the atmospheric boundary layer and low clouds, and a high-altitude Gulfstream G550 (HALO) operated in the free troposphere. During the 2-year experiment, two Intensive Operating Periods (IOP1 and IOP2) also took place that included additional specialized research instrumentation at the ground sites as well as flights of the two aircraft. GoAmazon2014/5 IOP1 was carried out from 1 February to 31 March 2014 in the wet season. GoAmazon2014/5 IOP2 was conducted from 15 August to 15 October 2014 in the dry season. The G-1 aircraft flew during both IOP1 and IOP2, and the HALO aircraft flew during IOP2. In the context of the Amazon basin, the two IOPs also correspond to the clean and biomass burning seasons, respectively. The Manaus plume is present year-round, and it is transported by prevailing northeasterly and easterly winds in the wet and dry seasons, respectively. This introduction also organizes information relevant to many papers in the special issue. Information is provided on the vehicle fleet, power plants, and industrial activities of Manaus. The mesoscale and synoptic meteorologies relevant to the two IOPs are presented. Regional and long-range transport of emissions during the two IOPs is discussed based on satellite observations across South America and Africa. Fire locations throughout the airshed are detailed. In conjunction with the context and motivation of GoAmazon2014/5 as presented in this introduction, research articles including thematic overview articles are anticipated in this special issue to describe the detailed results and findings of the GoAmazon2014/5 Experiment.
Cell surface proteins are excellent targets for diagnostic and therapeutic interventions. By using bioinformatics tools, we generated a catalog of 3,702 transmembrane proteins located at the surface ...of human cells (human cell surfaceome). We explored the genetic diversity of the human cell surfaceome at different levels, including the distribution of polymorphisms, conservation among eukaryotic species, and patterns of gene expression. By integrating expression information from a variety of sources, we were able to identify surfaceome genes with a restricted expression in normal tissues and/or differential expression in tumors, important characteristics for putative tumor targets. A high-throughput and efficient quantitative real-time PCR approach was used to validate 593 surfaceome genes selected on the basis of their expression pattern in normal and tumor samples. A number of candidates were identified as potential diagnostic and therapeutic targets for colorectal tumors and glioblastoma. Several candidate genes were also identified as coding for cell surface cancer/testis antigens. The human cell surfaceome will serve as a reference for further studies aimed at characterizing tumor targets at the surface of human cells.
In this paper, Ricci-inverse gravity is investigated. It is an alternative theory of gravity that introduces into the Einstein–Hilbert action an anti-curvature scalar that is obtained from the ...anti-curvature tensor which is the inverse of the Ricci tensor. An axially symmetric spacetime with causality violation is studied. Two classes of the model are discussed. Different sources of matter are considered. Then a direct relation between the content of matter and causality violation is shown. Our results confirm that Ricci-inverse gravity allows the existence of Closed Time-like Curves (CTCs) that lead to the violation of causality. Furthermore, a comparison is made between the results of general relativity and Ricci-inverse gravity. Other spacetimes, such as Gödel and Gödel-type universes, which are exact solutions of general relativity and allow for causality violations, are also explored in Ricci-inverse gravity framework.
The Amazon Basin plays key role in atmospheric chemistry, biodiversity and climate change. In this study we applied nanoelectrospray (nanoESI) ultra-high-resolution mass spectrometry (UHRMS) for the ...analysis of the organic fraction of PM2.5 aerosol samples collected during dry and wet seasons at a site in central Amazonia receiving background air masses, biomass burning and urban pollution. Comprehensive mass spectral data evaluation methods (e.g. Kendrick mass defect, Van Krevelen diagrams, carbon oxidation state and aromaticity equivalent) were used to identify compound classes and mass distributions of the detected species. Nitrogen- and/or sulfur-containing organic species contributed up to 60 % of the total identified number of formulae. A large number of molecular formulae in organic aerosol (OA) were attributed to later-generation nitrogen- and sulfur-containing oxidation products, suggesting that OA composition is affected by biomass burning and other, potentially anthropogenic, sources. Isoprene-derived organosulfate (IEPOX-OS) was found to be the most dominant ion in most of the analysed samples and strongly followed the concentration trends of the gas-phase anthropogenic tracers confirming its mixed anthropogenic–biogenic origin. The presence of oxidised aromatic and nitro-aromatic compounds in the samples suggested a strong influence from biomass burning especially during the dry period. Aerosol samples from the dry period and under enhanced biomass burning conditions contained a large number of molecules with high carbon oxidation state and an increased number of aromatic compounds compared to that from the wet period. The results of this work demonstrate that the studied site is influenced not only by biogenic emissions from the forest but also by biomass burning and potentially other anthropogenic emissions from the neighbouring urban environments.
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