Agricultural productivity relies on synthetic nitrogen fertilizers, yet half of that reactive nitrogen is lost to the environment. There is an urgent need for alternative nitrogen solutions to reduce the water pollution, ozone depletion, atmospheric particulate formation, and global greenhouse gas emissions associated with synthetic nitrogen fertilizer use. One such solution is biological nitrogen fixation (BNF), a component of the complex natural nitrogen cycle.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe cranial meninges have been shown to play a pivotal role in traumatic brain injury mechanopathology. However, while the mechanical response of the brain and its many subregions have been studied extensively, the meninges have conventionally been overlooked. This paper presents the first comparative mechanical analysis of human dura mater, falx cerebri and superior sagittal sinus tissues.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFPlants depend upon beneficial interactions between roots and root-associated microorganisms for growth promotion, disease suppression, and nutrient availability. This includes the ability of free-living diazotrophic bacteria to supply nitrogen, an ecological role that has been long underappreciated in modern agriculture for efficient crop production systems. Long-term ecological studies in legume-rhizobia interactions have shown that elevated nitrogen inputs can lead to the evolution of less cooperative nitrogen-fixing mutualists.
View Article and Find Full Text PDFThe 2016 World Health Organization Classification of Tumours of the Central Nervous System Tumours represents the most significant update to neuro-oncological tumour classification to date, compared with previous updates. This update reflects the substantial advances in molecular and genetic understanding of both adult and childhood brain tumours which have occurred in recent years. These advances have meant that an increasing array of molecular tests are required to definitively classify a tumour, allowing for a more precise integrated pathological diagnosis, but at the expense of a more challenging pathology workup.
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