Impact of saflufenacil and glyphosate-based herbicides on the morphoanatomical and development of Enterolobium contortisiliquum (Vell.) Morong (Fabaceae): new insights into a non-target tropical tree species.

The unregulated use and improper management of herbicides can cause negative effects on non-target species and promote changes in biological communities. Therefore, the current study is aimed at understanding morphoanatomical responses and effects on seedling development induced by the herbicides glyphosate and saflufenacil in Enterolobium contortisiliquum, a non-target tropical species. The plants were cultivated in a greenhouse and subjected to herbicides at doses of 0, 160, 480, and 1440 g a.

Mapping the IscR regulon sheds light on the regulation of iron homeostasis in .

The role of the iron-sulfur [Fe-S] cluster transcriptional regulator IscR in maintaining [Fe-S] homeostasis in bacteria is still poorly characterized in many groups. and other Alphaproteobacteria have a single operon encoding [Fe-S] cluster biosynthesis enzymes. We showed that the expression of this operon increases in iron starvation, but not in oxidative stress, and is controlled mainly by IscR.

Associative Bacteria and Arbuscular Mycorrhizal Fungus Increase Drought Tolerance in Maize ( L.) through Morphoanatomical, Physiological, and Biochemical Changes.

Water deficiency has been recognized as a major abiotic stress that causes losses in maize crops around the world. The maize crop is very important due to the range of products that are derived from this plant. A potential way to reduce the damages caused by water deficiency in maize crops is through the association with plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) and arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF).

The DEAD-box RNA helicase RhlB is required for efficient RNA processing at low temperature in .

One of the most important control points in gene regulation is RNA stability, which determines the half-life of a transcript from its transcription until its degradation. Bacteria have evolved a sophisticated multi-enzymatic complex, the RNA degradosome, which is dedicated mostly to RNA turnover. The combined activity of RNase E and the other RNA degradosome enzymes provides an efficient pipeline for the complete degradation of RNAs.

Fock-space approach to stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered models.

We investigate the stochastic susceptible-infected-recovered (SIR) model of infectious disease dynamics in the Fock-space approach. In contrast to conventional SIR models based on ordinary differential equations for the subpopulation sizes of S, I, and R individuals, the stochastic SIR model is driven by a master equation governing the transition probabilities among the system's states defined by SIR occupation numbers. In the Fock-space approach the master equation is recast in the form of a real-valued Schrödinger-type equation with a second quantization Hamiltonian-like operator describing the infection and recovery processes.

Cold Regulation of Genes Encoding Ion Transport Systems in the Oligotrophic Bacterium Caulobacter crescentus.

In this study, we characterize the response of the free-living oligotrophic alphaproteobacterium Caulobacter crescentus to low temperatures by global transcriptomic analysis. Our results showed that 656 genes were upregulated and 619 were downregulated at least 2-fold after a temperature downshift. The identified differentially expressed genes (DEG) belong to several functional categories, notably inorganic ion transport and metabolism, and a subset of these genes had their expression confirmed by reverse transcription quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR).

Ultrafast convergent power-balance model for Raman random fiber laser with half-open cavity.

The power-relevant features of Raman random fiber laser (RRFL), such as lasing threshold, slope efficiency, and power distribution, are among the most critical parameters to characterize its operation status. In this work, focusing on the power features of the half-open cavity RRFL, an ultrafast convergent power-balance model is proposed, which highlights the physical essence of the most common RRFL type and sharply reduces the computation workload. By transforming the time-consuming serial calculation to a parallel one, the calculation efficiency can be improved by more than 100 times.

Isolation and Synthesis of Veranamine, an Antidepressant Lead from the Marine Sponge .

The natural product veranamine was isolated from the marine sponge . It contains a unique heterocyclic scaffold and demonstrates in vivo antidepressant activity and selective affinity for 5HT2B and sigma-1 receptors. The first total synthesis of veranamine is reported.

Occurrence of oxidative stress in dairy cows seropositives for Brucella abortus.

Bovine brucellosis is an important zoonotic disease caused by the bacterium Brucella abortus that leads to economic losses due to animal discard and commercial restrictions. Since positive animals for brucellosis are culled, little is known about the pathogenesis of this disease. Therefore, the aims of this study were to evaluate possible changes in the activity of deaminase adenosine (ADA) and the oxidative stress in cows seropositives for brucellosis (Experiment I), and to evaluate the seroprevalence of B.

Correction: Phenotypic heterogeneity promotes adaptive evolution.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.1371/journal.pbio.

Phenotypic heterogeneity promotes adaptive evolution.

Genetically identical cells frequently display substantial heterogeneity in gene expression, cellular morphology and physiology. It has been suggested that by rapidly generating a subpopulation with novel phenotypic traits, phenotypic heterogeneity (or plasticity) accelerates the rate of adaptive evolution in populations facing extreme environmental challenges. This issue is important as cell-to-cell phenotypic heterogeneity may initiate key steps in microbial evolution of drug resistance and cancer progression.

Bovine leptospirosis: Prevalence, associated risk factors for infection and their cause-effect relation.

Leptospirosis is a cosmopolitan infectious disease that causes severe reproductive disorders in cattle, especially those related to abortion. This disease has rodents as main reservoirs; however, cattle are responsible for maintenance of the disease. Thus, the aim of this study was to identify the factors associated with infection and cause-effect relation of leptospirosis in dairy herds from Southern of Brazil.

Monostotic fibrous dysplasia of the metacarpal: a case report.

Fibrous dysplasia is a bone disease characterized by abnormal differentiation of fibrous tissue in the bones; it is often asymptomatic. It may affect one bone (monostotic) or several bones (polyostotic). The monostotic form primarily affects the ribs, but hardly ever affects the hand.

Lévy flights between absorbing boundaries: Revisiting the survival probability and the shift from the exponential to the Sparre-Andersen limit behavior.

We revisit the problem of calculating the survival probability of Lévy flights in a finite interval with absorbing boundaries. Our approach is based on the master equation for discrete Lévy fliers, previously considered to treat the semi-infinite domain. We argue that, although the semi-infinite case can be treated exactly due to Wiener-Hopf factorization, the approximation involved in the problem with the finite interval is actually fairly good.

The Fungus Candida albicans Tolerates Ambiguity at Multiple Codons.

The ascomycete Candida albicans is a normal resident of the gastrointestinal tract of humans and other warm-blooded animals. It occurs in a broad range of body sites and has high capacity to survive and proliferate in adverse environments with drastic changes in oxygen, carbon dioxide, pH, osmolarity, nutrients, and temperature. Its biology is unique due to flexible reassignment of the leucine CUG codon to serine and synthesis of statistical proteins.

Conserved and highly expressed tRNA derived fragments in zebrafish.

Background: Small non-coding RNAs (sncRNAs) are a class of transcripts implicated in several eukaryotic regulatory mechanisms, namely gene silencing and chromatin regulation. Despite significant progress in their identification by next generation sequencing (NGS) we are still far from understanding their full diversity and functional repertoire.

Results: Here we report the identification of tRNA derived fragments (tRFs) by NGS of the sncRNA fraction of zebrafish.

Role of the endocannabinoid system in the neuroendocrine responses to inflammation.

A few years ago the endocannabinoid system has been recognized as a major neuromodulatory system whose main functions are to exert and maintain the body homeostasis. Several different endocannabinoids are synthesized in a broad class of cell types, including those in the brain and the immune system; they bind to cannabinoid G-protein-coupled receptors, having profound effects on a variety of behavioral, neuroendocrine and autonomic functions. The coordinated neural, immune, behavioral and endocrine responses to inflammation are orchestrated to provide an important defense against infections and help homeostasis restoration in the body.

Kyphectomy in meningomyelocele children: surgical technique, risk analysis, and improvement of kyphosis.

Purpose: Kyphosis is a major complication of spina bifida, causing skin ulcers and osteomyelitis. This study examined the clinical and surgical characteristics of eight patients who underwent surgery, as well as improvement of their postoperative kyphosis angulations.

Method: The authors reviewed eight cases submitted to surgery between 2006 and 2010.

Allorecognition of an HLA-A*01 aberrant allele by an HLA identical family member carrying the HLA-A*0101 allele.

We identified and characterized an HLA-A1 aberrant allele (A*0118N) resulting from a novel molecular mechanism; this allele was present in an unusually informative family with a near identical parental HLA haplotype (c d) differing only by one nucleotide substitution in one HLA-A allele, A*0118N, of the maternal HLA haplotype (c) and not of the paternal HLA haplotype (a). Although serologic HLA typing showed a "blank," DNA molecular HLA typing detected a HLA-A*0118N allele. Sequence based typing identified the substitution of guanine by cytosine at the nucleotide position 215, which resulted in the replacement of arginine by proline at position 48 of the HLA-A1 H chain.