Drought stress conditions modify source–sink relations, thereby influencing plant growth, adaptive responses, and consequently crop yield. Invertases are key metabolic enzymes regulating sink ...activity through the hydrolytic cleavage of sucrose into hexose monomers, thus playing a crucial role in plant growth and development. However, the physiological role of invertases during adaptation to abiotic stress conditions is not yet fully understood. Here it is shown that plant adaptation to drought stress can be markedly improved in tomato (Solanum lycopersicum L.) by overexpression of the cell wall invertase (cwInv) gene CIN1 from Chenopodium rubrum. CIN1 overexpression limited stomatal conductance under normal watering regimes, leading to reduced water consumption during the drought period, while photosynthetic activity was maintained. This caused a strong increase in water use efficiency (up to 50%), markedly improving water stress adaptation through an efficient physiological strategy of dehydration avoidance. Drought stress strongly reduced cwInv activity and induced its proteinaceous inhibitor in the leaves of the wild-type plants. However, the CIN1-overexpressing plants registered 3- to 6-fold higher cwInv activity in all analysed conditions. Surprisingly, the enhanced invertase activity did not result in increased hexose concentrations due to the activation of the metabolic carbohydrate fluxes, as reflected by the maintenance of the activity of key enzymes of primary metabolism and increased levels of sugar-phosphate intermediates under water deprivation. The induced sink metabolism in the leaves explained the maintenance of photosynthetic activity, delayed senescence, and increased source activity under drought stress. Moreover, CIN1 plants also presented a better control of production of reactive oxygen species and sustained membrane protection. Those metabolic changes conferred by CIN1 overexpression were accompanied by increases in the concentrations of the senescence-delaying hormone trans-zeatin and decreases in the senescence-inducing ethylene precursor 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylic acid (ACC) in the leaves. Thus, cwInv critically functions at the integration point of metabolic, hormonal, and stress signals, providing a novel strategy to overcome drought-induced limitations to crop yield, without negatively affecting plant fitness under optimal growth conditions.
Objectives This study sought to investigate the clinical impact of the use of intravascular ultrasound (IVUS) during revascularization of patients with left main coronary artery (LM) disease with ...drug-eluting stents (DES). Background Whether the use of IVUS during the procedure adds a clinical benefit remains unclear. There is only 1 previous observational study, with relevant limitations, supporting the value of this strategy. Methods We performed a patient-level pooled analysis of 4 registries of patients with LM disease treated with DES in Spain. A propensity score-matching method was used to obtain matched pairs of patients with and without IVUS guidance. Results A total of 1,670 patients were included, and 505 patients (30.2%) underwent DES implantation under IVUS guidance (IVUS group). By means of the matching method, 505 patients without the use of IVUS during revascularization were selected (no-IVUS group). Survival free of cardiac death, myocardial infarction, and target lesion revascularization at 3 years was 88.7% in the IVUS group and 83.6% in the no-IVUS group (p = 0.04) for the overall population, and 90% and 80.7%, respectively (p = 0.03), for the subgroups with distal LM lesions. The incidence of definite and probable thrombosis was significantly lower in the IVUS group (0.6% vs. 2.2%; p = 0.04). Finally, IVUS-guided revascularization was identified as an independent predictor for major adverse events in the overall population (hazard ratio: 0.70, 95% confidence interval: 0.52 to 0.99; p = 0.04) and in the subgroup with distal lesions (hazard ratio: 0.54, 95% confidence interval: 0.34 to 0.90; p = 0.02). Conclusions The results of this pooled analysis show an association of IVUS guidance during percutaneous coronary intervention with better outcomes in patients with LM disease undergoing revascularization with DES.
Previous research has documented significant variation in the prevalence of posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) depending on the type of traumatic experience (TE) and history of TE exposure, but the ...relatively small sample sizes in these studies resulted in a number of unresolved basic questions.
To examine disaggregated associations of type of TE history with PTSD in a large cross-national community epidemiologic data set.
The World Health Organization World Mental Health surveys assessed 29 TE types (lifetime exposure, age at first exposure) with DSM-IV PTSD that was associated with 1 randomly selected TE exposure (the random TE) for each respondent. Surveys were administered in 20 countries (n = 34 676 respondents) from 2001 to 2012. Data were analyzed from October 1, 2015, to September 1, 2016.
Prevalence of PTSD assessed with the Composite International Diagnostic Interview.
Among the 34 676 respondents (55.4% SE, 0.6% men and 44.6% SE, 0.6% women; mean SE age, 43.7 0.2 years), lifetime TE exposure was reported by a weighted 70.3% of respondents (mean SE number of exposures, 4.5 0.04 among respondents with any TE). Weighted (by TE frequency) prevalence of PTSD associated with random TEs was 4.0%. Odds ratios (ORs) of PTSD were elevated for TEs involving sexual violence (2.7; 95% CI, 2.0-3.8) and witnessing atrocities (4.2; 95% CI, 1.0-17.8). Prior exposure to some, but not all, same-type TEs was associated with increased vulnerability (eg, physical assault; OR, 3.2; 95% CI, 1.3-7.9) or resilience (eg, participation in sectarian violence; OR, 0.3; 95% CI, 0.1-0.9) to PTSD after the random TE. The finding of earlier studies that more general history of TE exposure was associated with increased vulnerability to PTSD across the full range of random TE types was replicated, but this generalized vulnerability was limited to prior TEs involving violence, including participation in organized violence (OR, 1.3; 95% CI, 1.0-1.6), experience of physical violence (OR, 1.4; 95% CI, 1.2-1.7), rape (OR, 2.5; 95% CI, 1.7-3.8), and other sexual assault (OR, 1.6; 95% CI, 1.1-2.3).
The World Mental Health survey findings advance understanding of the extent to which PTSD risk varies with the type of TE and history of TE exposure. Previous findings about the elevated PTSD risk associated with TEs involving assaultive violence was refined by showing agreement only for repeated occurrences. Some types of prior TE exposures are associated with increased resilience rather than increased vulnerability, connecting the literature on TE history with the literature on resilience after adversity. These results are valuable in providing an empirical rationale for more focused investigations of these specifications in future studies.
Zernike polynomials are commonly used to represent the wavefront phase on circular optical apertures, since they form a complete and orthonormal basis on the unit circle. Here, we present a ...generalization of this Zernike basis for a variety of important optical apertures. On the contrary to ad hoc solutions, most of them based on the Gram-Schmidt orthonormalization method, here we apply the diffeomorphism (mapping that has a differentiable inverse mapping) that transforms the unit circle into an angular sector of an elliptical annulus. In this way, other apertures, such as ellipses, rings, angular sectors, etc. are also included as particular cases. This generalization, based on in-plane warping of the basis functions, provides a unique solution and what is more important, it guarantees a reasonable level of invariance of the mathematical properties and the physical meaning of the initial basis functions. Both, the general form and the explicit expressions for most common, elliptical and annular apertures are provided.
Spain could be a potential area in Europe for the development and spread of emerging diseases from the tropics due to its geoclimatic characteristics, but there is little information on infectious ...diseases imported by travelers. The aim of this article was to analyze clinical-epidemiological characteristics of infectious diseases imported by Spanish travelers from the tropics.
A retrospective descriptive study of 2,982 travelers seeking medical advice who return ill from the tropics was conducted. Demographic data, details of travel (destination, type, and duration), preventive measures, clinical syndromes, and diagnoses were analyzed.
Nearly half (46.5%) the travelers had traveled to sub-Saharan Africa; 46.5% reported a stay exceeding 1 month (and almost a quarter more than 6 months). Following pre-travel advice, 69.1% received at least one vaccine and 35.5% took malarial chemoprophylaxis with variations according to geographical area of travel. In all, 58.8% of this took chemoprophylaxis correctly. Most common syndromes were fever 1,028 (34.5%), diarrhea 872 (29.3%), and cutaneous syndrome 684 (22.9%). Most frequent diagnoses were traveler's diarrhea (17.2%), malaria (17%), and intestinal parasites (10.4%). The three main syndromes in travelers to the Caribbean-Central America, Indian subcontinent-Southeast Asia, and other areas were diarrhea, fever, and cutaneous syndrome (p < 0.05); in sub-Saharan Africa were fever, cutaneous syndrome, and diarrhea (p < 0.05); and in South America were cutaneous syndrome, diarrhea, and fever (p < 0.05). Travelers to sub-Saharan Africa showed a higher frequency of malaria, rickettsiosis, filariasis, and schistosomiasis (p < 0.05); those to South America showed cutaneous larva migrants, other ectoparasitosis, and cutaneous/mucocutaneous leishmaniasis; and those to the Indian subcontinent-Southeast Asia showed intestinal parasitosis, arboviriasis, and enteric fever (p < 0.05).
Increased international travel is a key factor for the development and spread of emerging pathogens. Information on these diseases is essential to establish early warning mechanisms and action plans. Spain represents a unique setting for this.
Background/Objectives.— Histamine has been implicated in the pathogenesis of migraine. In the CNS, histamine is almost exclusively metabolized by the polymorphic enzyme histamine N‐methyltransferase ...(HNMT). The HNMT gene (chromosome 2q22.1), shows diverse single nucleotide polymorphisms. One of these, located in exon 4 C314T, causes the amino acid substitution Thr105Ile, related to decreased enzyme activity. The aim of this study was to investigate the possible association between HNMT polymorphism and the risk for migraine.
Methods.— We studied the frequency of the HNMT genotypes and allelic variantes in 197 patients with migraine and 245 healthy controls using a PCR‐RLFP method.
Results.— The frequencies of the HNMT genotypes and allelic variants did not differ significantly between migraine patients and controls, and were unrelated with the age of onset of migraine attacks, gender, personal history of allergic diseases, family history of migraine, or presence of aura.
Conclusion.— The results of the present study suggest that HNMT polymorphism in not related with the risk for migraine.
•CFD estimation of pressure drop of perforated plates with chamfered thin orifices.•Different chamfer geometric features evaluated.•Calculation validated against reduced scale experiments.
Perforated ...plates with thin orifices is one of the options under considerations to be used in the debris filtering bottom end pieces for the next generation of fuel assemblies for the Brazilian nuclear plants. The increase in pressure drop can be drastically reduced by optimizing the chamfer geometries. This paper describes the development and validation of a procedure devised to use Computational Fluid Dynamics (CFD) to accurately estimate the pressure drop of water flow through perforated plates with chamfered thin orifices. The procedure comprises a scaled down calculation domain, grid configuration and a set of numerical solution parameters. The validation was performed against experiments with a set of plates with different chamfer geometric features like position (inlet, outlet and both sides), angles and sizes. Three turbulence models were evaluated with the standard k–ɛ giving the best result. For the range of parameters evaluated here the pressure drop decrease of a two sided chamfer plate can be estimated as a sum of both inlet and outlet chamfers individually. In both cases the pressure drop decreases rapidly for small chamfers and more slowly for larger chamfers. In the flat regions the chamfer angle has little influence at the inlet and is more important at outlet
Phylogenetic diversity enhances ecosystem functioning but restoration ecology has not taken advantage of this knowledge. We propose plant facilitation as a mechanism to promote phylogenetic diversity ...in restoration practices. We planted three functionally different species (Gypsophila struthium, Sedum album, and Limonium sucronicum) in a degraded gypsum ecosystem in Spain and found that after 7 years, the species with nurse traits (G. struthium) survived longer and facilitated the establishment of new species forming phylogenetically diverse neighborhoods. These facilitation‐driven phylodiverse communities may potentially produce a cascade of benefits on ecosystem functioning.
Background and Objectives: Medical and public recognition of “long-COVID or post-COVID syndrome”, as well as its impact on the quality of life (QoL), is required to better address the disease burden. ...Objectives: We aimed to describe the persistence of COVID-19 symptoms and QoL among patients at three and twelve months after their discharge from the hospital. Materials and Methods: We conducted an observational, prospective, and longitudinal analytic study from September 2021 to April 2022. To measure QoL, we used a validated version of the 36-item Short-Form Health Survey (SF-36). Results: We included 68 patients in the study. A total of 54 (79.4%) patients reported at least one persistent symptom at three months vs. 52 (76.4%) at twelve months (p = 0.804). Some persistent symptoms (myalgia, alopecia, and cough) decreased significantly at twelve months (50% vs. 30.9%, 29.4% vs. 13.2%, and 23.5% vs. 7.4%; respectively, p = 0.007); in contrast, other persistent symptoms (sleep–wake and memory disorders) were more frequent (5.9% vs. 32.4% and 4.4% vs. 20.6%; respectively, p = ≤0.001). Regarding QoL, a statistically significant improvement was observed in some scores over time, p = ≤0.037. At twelve months, dyspnea, myalgia, and depression were risk factors associated with a poor physical component summary (PCS), p = ≤0.027, whereas anxiety, depression, and fatigue were associated with a poor mental component summary (MCS), p = ≤0.015. Conclusion: As the proportion of persistent symptoms at twelve months is high, we suggest that patients must continue under long-term follow up to reclassify, diagnose, and treat new onset symptoms/diseases.
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