Suchergebnisse

The dynamics and persistence of proteinaceous compounds during pedogenesis are major mechanisms of soil formation and determinants of organic matter (OM) turnover. We investigated the accumulation patterns of proteinogenic amino acids associated with minerals dominated by permanently negative charges (primary silica minerals) and related these to vegetative and belowground microbial succession during soil ecosystem development. Positively-charged amino acids (arginine, lysine, histidine), extracted from whole soil pool using 6 M HCl, showed clear patterns of accumulation, increasing similar to 65% during 4010 years of development, while negatively charged amino acids (glutamic acid, aspartic acid) decreased similar to 13%. In the mineral associated sub-pool, positively charged amino acids were approximately similar to 431% more enriched, while negatively charged amino acids were similar to 38% depleted as compared to the whole soil pool. The multivariate ordination of soil bacterial community structure based on a 16s ribosomal RNA gene analysis and that of the aboveground plant community structure predicted 71% (p < 0.0001) and 66% (p < 0.0001) of the amino acid dynamics, respectively, during soil ecosystem development. Ala-rich Actinobacteria abundance declined with the year of development, concomitant with the decrease of Ala content in soil (r(2) = 0.82, p = 0.0019). His-rich Acidobacteria and His in soil both increased with the year of development (r(2) = 0.92, p = 0.0022). In support of the main hypothesis, the relative distribution of proteinogenic amino acids changed during pedogenesis with evidence indicating that biological communities and minerals play roles as source and sink of OM in soil, respectively. ; United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Foundational Programs [2011-03815] ; This research was funded by the United States Department of Agriculture National Institute of Food and Agriculture Foundational Programs (grant# 2011-03815). We thank Drs. Brian D. Strahm, Richard F. Helm, Richard E. Veilleux, Richard Rodrigues, Ms. Kerri Mills, and Hua Xiao for insightful suggestions and comments on this work. We acknowledge Dr. Shankar G. Shanmugam for collecting soil samples from Lake Michigan chronosequence, Dr. Madhavi L. Kakumanu for the density fractionation of soils, and Dr. Chao Shang for technical advice on the HPLC instrumentation. We also thank the technical staffs at the National Synchrotron Light Sources, Brookhaven National Laboratory. ; Public domain authored by a U.S. government employee

AbstractThe authors address the effects of money gain and loss on individually perceived value as predicted by prospect theory in a time gain‐and‐loss context. Three experiments were conducted. Experiment 1 results support the prospect theory concept of value function. According to Experiment 2 results, the amount of money involved exerted different impacts on individual perceptions—specifically, study participants preferred gaining $1 on one occasion to gaining 50 cents over two occasions and preferred losing $1 one time to losing 50 cents twice. Further, the combined results indicate that the study participants held different perceptions of the value of "short time" versus "little money"—that is, they preferred saving an extra 2 minutes on one occasion to saving 1 minute on two occasions and preferred waiting an extra 1 minute two times to waiting an extra 2 minutes one time. Copyright © 2014 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Nan-bo Liu,1,* Jun-hua Zhang,2,* Yu-fan Liu,1,* Jun Li,3,* Zhen-zhong Zhang,1 Ji-wei Li,1 Wen-yue Liu,1 Chen Huang,1,4 Tao Shen,5 Cheng-wei Gu,6 Dong-yun Gao,7 Xia Wu,8 Xu Wu1 1Department of Thoracic Surgery, 2Department of Anesthesiology, Nanfang Hospital, Southern Medical University, 3Department of Thoracic Surgery, The Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou, 4Department of Thoracic Surgery, Fujian Provincial Hospital, Fuzhou, 5Department of Thoracic Surgery, Jiangmen Central Hospital, Jiangmen, 6Department of Thoracic Surgery, The First Affiliated Hospital of Xinxiang Medical University, Xinxiang, 7Department of Oncology, Dongtai People's Hospital, Dongtai, 8Department of Breast Cancer, Affiliated Hospital, Academy of Military Medical Sciences, Beijing, People's Republic of China *These authors contributed equally to this work Objective: The disheveled, Egl-10, and pleckstrin (DEP) domain containing mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-interacting protein (DEPTOR) is a binding protein containing mTOR complex 1 (mTORC1), mTOR complex 2 (mTORC2), and an endogenous mTOR inhibitor. DEPTOR shows abnormal expressions in numerous types of solid tumors. However, how DEPTOR is expressed in esophageal squamous cell carcinoma (ESCC) remains elusive. Methods: The expression of DEPTOR in 220 cases of ESCC and non-cancerous adjacent tissues was detected by immunohistochemistry. DEPTOR levels in ESCC and paired normal tissue were quantified using reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction and Western blot analysis to verify the immunohistochemical results. The relationship between DEPTOR expression and the clinicopathological features of ESCC was analyzed based on the results of immunohistochemistry. Finally, we analyzed the relationship between DEPTOR expression and the prognosis of patients with ESCC. Results: Immunohistochemical staining showed that the expression rate of DEPTOR in ESCC tissues was significantly increased. DEPTOR mRNA and protein expression was significantly higher in ESCC tissues than in normal adjacent esophageal squamous tissues. High DEPTOR expression was significantly correlated with regional lymph node status in the TNM stage of patients with ESCC. Kaplan–Meier survival curves showed that the rate of overall survival was significantly lower in patients with high DEPTOR expression than in those with low DEPTOR expression. Additionally, high DEPTOR expression was an independent prognostic predictor for ESCC patients. Conclusion: High DEPTOR expression is an independent prognostic biomarker indicating a worse prognosis for patients with ESCC. Keywords: DEPTOR, ESCC, prognosis

In the context of stalling progress against malaria, resistance of mosquitoes to insecticides, and residual transmission, mass drug administration (MDA) of ivermectin, an endectocide used for neglected tropical diseases (NTDs), has emerged as a promising complementary vector control method. Ivermectin reduces the life span of Anopheles mosquitoes that feed on treated humans and/or livestock, potentially decreasing malaria parasite transmission when administered at the community level. Following the publication by WHO of the preferred product characteristics for endectocides as vector control tools, this roadmap provides a comprehensive view of processes needed to make ivermectin available as a vector control tool by 2024 with a completely novel mechanism of action. The roadmap covers various aspects, which include 1) the definition of optimal dosage/regimens for ivermectin MDA in both humans and livestock, 2) the risk of resistance to the drug and environmental impact, 3) ethical issues, 4) political and community engagement, 5) translation of evidence into policy, and 6) operational aspects of large-scale deployment of the drug, all in the context of a drug given as a prevention tool acting at the community level. The roadmap reflects the insights of a multidisciplinary group of global health experts who worked together to elucidate the path to inclusion of ivermectin in the toolbox against malaria, to address residual transmission, counteract insecticide resistance, and contribute to the end of this deadly disease.