Prefrontal dimension change-related activation differs for visual search in sparse and dense displays.

Changes of the target-defining feature dimension have previously been shown to elicit anterior prefrontal activation increases. In the majority of studies, this change-related activation was observed in the left lateral frontopolar cortex. In at least one study, however, right anterior prefrontal activation was observed.

Identification of a drought stress response module in tomato plants commonly induced by fungal endophytes that confer increased drought tolerance.

Global climate change exacerbates abiotic stresses, as drought, heat, and salt stresses are anticipated to increase significantly in the coming years. Plants coexist with a diverse range of microorganisms. Multiple inter-organismic relationships are known to confer benefits to plants, including growth promotion and enhanced tolerance to abiotic stresses.

Differential patch-leaving behavior during probabilistic foraging in humans and gerbils.

Foraging confronts animals, including humans, with the need to balance exploration and exploitation: exploiting a resource until it depletes and then deciding when to move to a new location for more resources. Research across various species has identified rules for when to leave a depleting patch, influenced by environmental factors like patch quality. Here we compare human and gerbil patch-leaving behavior through two analogous tasks: a visual search for humans and a physical foraging task for gerbils, both involving patches with randomly varying initial rewards that decreased exponentially.

Behavioral Bias for Exploration Is Associated with Enhanced Signaling in the Lateral and Medial Frontopolar Cortex.

Should we keep doing what we know works for us, or should we risk trying something new as it could work even better? The exploration-exploitation dilemma is ubiquitous in daily life decision-making, and balancing between the two is crucial for adaptive behavior. Yet, we only have started to unravel the neurocognitive mechanisms that help us to find this balance in practice. Analyzing BOLD signals of healthy young adults during virtual foraging, we could show that a behavioral tendency for prolonged exploitation was associated with weakened signaling during exploration in central node points of the frontoparietal attention network, plus the frontopolar cortex.

Saccadic re-referencing training with gaze-contingent FRL-'fixation': Effects of scotoma type and size adaptation.

Foveal vision loss makes the fovea as saccadic reference point maladaptive. Training programs have been proposed that shift the saccadic reference point from the fovea to an extrafoveal location, just outside the area of vision loss. We used a visual search task to train normal-sighted participants to fixate target items with a predetermined 'forced retinal location' (FRL) adjacent to a simulated central scotoma.

Expression of a large coding sequence: Gene therapy vectors for Ataxia Telangiectasia.

Ataxia telangiectasia is a monogenetic disorder caused by mutations in the ATM gene. Its encoded protein kinase ATM plays a fundamental role in DNA repair of double strand breaks (DSBs). Impaired function of this kinase leads to a multisystemic disorder including immunodeficiency, progressive cerebellar degeneration, radiation sensitivity, dilated blood vessels, premature aging and a predisposition to cancer.

The Root-Colonizing Endophyte Supports Nitrogen-Starved Seedlings with Nitrogen Metabolites.

The root-colonizing endophytic fungus promotes the root and shoot growth of its host plants. We show that the growth promotion of leaves is abolished when the seedlings are grown on media with nitrogen (N) limitation. The fungus neither stimulated the total N content nor did it promote NO uptake from agar plates to the leaves of the host under N-sufficient or N-limiting conditions.

Efficient versus inefficient visual search as training for saccadic re-referencing to an extrafoveal location.

Central vision loss is one of the leading causes of visual impairment in the elderly and its frequency is increasing. Without formal training, patients adopt an unaffected region of the retina as a new fixation location, a preferred retinal locus (PRL). However, learning to use the PRL as a reference location for saccades, that is, saccadic re-referencing, is protracted and time-consuming.

Ethylene and Jasmonates Signaling Network Mediating Secondary Metabolites under Abiotic Stress.

Plants are sessile organisms that face environmental threats throughout their life cycle, but increasing global warming poses an even more existential threat. Despite these unfavorable circumstances, plants try to adapt by developing a variety of strategies coordinated by plant hormones, resulting in a stress-specific phenotype. In this context, ethylene and jasmonates (JAs) present a fascinating case of synergism and antagonism.

Do Opposites Attract? Auxin-Abscisic Acid Crosstalk: New Perspectives.

Plants are constantly exposed to a variety of different environmental stresses, including drought, salinity, and elevated temperatures. These stress cues are assumed to intensify in the future driven by the global climate change scenario which we are currently experiencing. These stressors have largely detrimental effects on plant growth and development and, therefore, put global food security in jeopardy.

A gaze-contingent saccadic re-referencing training with simulated central vision loss.

Patients with central vision loss (CVL) adopt an eccentric retinal location for fixation, a preferred retinal location (PRL), to compensate for vision loss at the fovea. Although most patients with CVL are able to rapidly use a PRL instead of the fovea, saccadic re-referencing to a PRL develops slowly. Without re-referencing, saccades land the saccade target in the scotoma.

Right-dominant contextual cueing for global configuration cues, but not local position cues.

Contextual cueing can depend on global configuration or local item position. We investigated the role of these two kinds of cues in the lateralization of contextual cueing effects. Cueing by item position was tested by recombining two previously learned displays, keeping the individual item locations intact, but destroying the global configuration.

Cost-effective micro-CT system for non-destructive testing of titanium 3D printed medical components.

Micro-CT imaging can be used as an effective method for non-destructive testing (NDT) of metal 3D printed parts-including titanium biomedical components fabricated using laser powder-bed-fusion (LPBF). Unfortunately, the cost of commercially available micro-CT scanners renders routine NDT for biomedical applications prohibitively expensive. This study describes the design, manufacturing, and implementation of a cost-effective scanner tailored for NDT of medium-size titanium 3D printed biomedical components.

Environmental interference of plant-microbe interactions.

Environmental stresses can compromise the interactions of plants with beneficial microbes. In the present review, experimental results showing that stresses negatively affect the abundance and/or functionality of plant beneficial microbes are summarized. It is proposed that the environmental interference of these plant-microbe interactions is explained by the stress-mediated induction of plant signalling pathways associated with defence hormones and reactive oxygen species.

Improvement in the physiological and biochemical performance of strawberries under drought stress through symbiosis with Antarctic fungal endophytes.

Strawberry is one of the most widely consumed fruit, but this crop is highly susceptible to drought, a condition strongly associated with climate change, causing economic losses due to the lower product quality. In this context, plant root-associated fungi emerge as a new and novel strategy to improve crop performance under water-deficiency stress. This study aimed to investigate the supplementation of two Antarctic vascular plant-associated fungal endophytes, and , in strawberry plants to develop an efficient, effective, and ecologically sustainable approach for the improvement of plant performance under drought stress.

Dosimetric Evaluation of Commercially Available Flat vs. Self-Produced 3D-Conformal Silicone Boluses for the Head and Neck Region.

Background: Boluses are routinely used in radiotherapy to modify surface doses. Nevertheless, considerable dose discrepancies may occur in some cases due to fit inaccuracy of commercially available standard flat boluses. Moreover, due to the simple geometric design of conventional boluses, also surrounding healthy skin areas may be unintentionally covered, resulting in the unwanted dose buildup.

The calcium sensor CBL7 is required for Serendipita indica-induced growth stimulation in Arabidopsis thaliana, controlling defense against the endophyte and K homoeostasis in the symbiosis.

Calcium is an important second messenger in plants. The activation of Ca signalling cascades is critical in the activation of adaptive processes in response to environmental stimuli. Root colonization by the growth promoting endophyte Serendipita indica involves the increase of cytosolic Ca levels in Arabidopsis thaliana.

Working memory and active sampling of the environment: Medial temporal contributions.

Working memory (WM) refers to the ability to maintain and actively process information-either derived from perception or long-term memory (LTM)-for intelligent thought and action. This chapter focuses on the contributions of the temporal lobe, particularly medial temporal lobe (MTL) to WM. First, neuropsychological evidence for the involvement of MTL in WM maintenance is reviewed, arguing for a crucial role in the case of retaining complex relational bindings between memorized features.

High-dynamic-range micro-CT for nondestructive testing of titanium 3D-printed medical components.

Industrial microcomputed tomography (micro-CT) scanners are suitable for nondestructive testing (NDT) of metal, 3D-printed medical components. Typically, these scanners are equipped with high-energy sources that require heavy shielding and costly infrastructure to operate safely, making routine NDT of medical components prohibitively expensive. Alternatively, fixed-current, low-cost x-ray units could be implemented to perform CT-based NDT of 3D-printed medical parts in a subset of cases, if there is sufficient x-ray transmission for the CT reconstruction.

The Indole-3-Acetamide-Induced Transcription Factor MYB74 Decreases Plant Growth and Contributes to the Control of Osmotic Stress Responses.

The accumulation of the auxin precursor indole-3-acetamide (IAM) in the mutant has recently been reported to reduce plant growth and to trigger abiotic stress responses in . The observed response includes the induction of abscisic acid (ABA) biosynthesis through the promotion of expression. The mechanism by which plant growth is limited, however, remained largely unclear.