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Dehydration has many deleterious effects on cognitive and physical performance as well as physiological function, in the context of sports, industrial work, clinical rehabilitation, and military applications. Because sweat loss and electrolyte loss vary across individuals, conventional sweat testing strategies using absorbent patch techniques are employed in laboratory settings to characterize sweat biomarkers; however, these techniques are not suitable for remote environments. Here, an updated wearable microfluidic sweat testing system targeted for recreational athletes is presented that includes a microfluidic patch accommodating a broad range of sweating rates, and a smartphone app incorporating digital image processing algorithms to enable real‐time analysis under different lighting conditions and patch orientations. Expansive field trials (n = 148 subjects) show significant correlations between the microfluidic patch and standard absorbent patch in measuring sweating rate and sweat chloride concentration during recreational exercise. This validation study demonstrates the applicability of the microfluidic patch and software platform for field testing in recreational athletes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wearable monitoring systems provide valuable insights about the state of wellness, performance, and progression of diseases. Although conventional wearable systems have been effective in measuring a few key biophysical markers, they offer limited insights into biochemical activity and are otherwise cumbersome in ambulatory modes of use, relying on wired connections, mechanical straps, and bulky electronics. Recent advances in skin‐interfaced microfluidics, stretchable/flexible electronics, and mechanics have created new wearable systems with capabilities in real‐time, noninvasive analysis of sweat biochemistry in combination with biophysical metrics. Here, the latest technologies in multifunctional sweat sensing systems are presented with a focus on novel microfluidic designs, fully‐integrated wireless electrochemical sensors, and hybrid biochemical/biophysical sensing capabilities, creating real‐time physiological insights. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Grazed pastures are susceptible to N loss from urine/manure additions, which increases eutrophication, affecting the global N cycle. Plant secondary metabolites (PSM), such as condensed tannins (CT) and terpenes, influence silviculture soil dynamics by generally decreasing N mineralization. We investigated whether cattle‐grazed pastures of non‐traditional grass and legume forage monoculture strips including CT‐containing sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia Scop.) and tall fescue (TF) [Schedonorus arundinaceus (Schreb.) Dumort.] influenced soil dynamics compared with traditional grass and legume forage monoculture strips of alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.), without tannins, and TF. Throughout the study, CT in sainfoin averaged 58.9 g kg−1 whereas alfalfa saponins averaged 5.7 g kg−1. We observed greater soil microbial respiration (p =.01) in TF strips than legume strips, indicating greater microbial activity, and between legumes we found greater soil NO3 (p =.01) in alfalfa than in sainfoin, although aboveground biomass and N differences were negligible. We also conducted a laboratory soil‐feces incubation study to determine if feces from cattle foraging diets of legumes with or without CT influenced soil dynamics. Both feces treatments showed lower NO3 (p <.001) than without feces, suggesting microbial inhibition. Dehydrogenase activity (DHEA) was lower (p =.03) in sainfoin than alfalfa feces, suggesting CT from sainfoin inhibit DHEA. To our knowledge this study is the first considering whether CT‐containing sainfoin and saponin‐containing alfalfa influence soil dynamics by assessing general differences in soil parameters. More research is needed to determine whether specific PSM mitigate N loss in pasture systems by slowing N mineralization. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Neurofilament light chain (NfL) in blood is a promising new biomarker for neurogenerative disease1 and clinical progression in presymptomatic Alzheimer disease2. Well established standardization of assays and collection methods are necessary before acceptance for clinical use. Data supporting equivalence of plasma and serum NfL testing are not yet widely published. In this study, we compared three blood collection specimen types, two for plasma and one for serum. Method: Matched serum, heparin‐treated plasma, and EDTA‐treated plasma from 40 individual donors were acquired. NfL concentration was determined using an automated immunoassay developed at Siemens Healthcare Laboratory, LLC3. Sample equivalence was analyzed with Deming regression. Result: All two way comparisons resulted in strong correlation: NfL concentrations in serum and lithium heparin plasma (slope=1.004, R=0.971), serum and K2EDTA plasma (slope=1.065, R=0.961), and lithium heparin plasma and K2EDTA plasma (slope=1.059, R=0.979). Conclusion: Individual to individual variability was noted to be higher in plasma than with serum. With a well‐optimized automated immunoassay, NfL concentrations in plasma and serum were equivalent. References: (1) Zetterberg, H., Burnham, S.C. Blood‐based molecular biomarkers for Alzheimer's disease. Mol Brain 12, 26 (2019) doi:10.1186/s13041‐019‐0448‐1. (2) Preische O, et al, Serum neurofilament dynamics predicts neurodegeneration and clinical progression in presymptomatic Alzheimer's disease, Nat Med. 2019 Feb;25(2):277‐283. doi: 10.1038/s41591‐018‐0304‐3. (3) Plavina, et al, Development of a Sensitive Serum Neurofilament Light Assay on Siemens Routine Immunoassay Platforms, poster presentation, ECTRIMS, 2019. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Isolation of PinmIII cDNA homologues from white spruce tissues required a rigorous RNA extraction protocol developed following assessment of three previously reported conifer RNA extraction protocols. Total RNA was extracted via several purification steps designed to minimize binding of phenolics to nucleic acids and was then subjected to caesium chloride ultra-centrifugation. This procedure produced consistently high-quality, intact RNA from both needles and roots with spectrophotometric ratios of approximately 2.0 for both 260/280 nm and 260/230 nm. Total RNA was obtained from the roots of cold-hardened white spruce seedlings for cDNA library construction. More than 2 million recombinant phage particles were generated from 5 µg of a poly(A)+RNA fraction, and ca. 1.3 million cDNA particles were amplified for storage. Approximately 500,000 primary recombinant clones were screened with an heterologous PinmIII cDNA sequence yielding a unique clone, picg1, that was very similar to members of the PR10 gene family. Copyright © 2003 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: The phenylpropanoid enzyme 4-coumarate:coenzyme A ligase (4CL) participates in the biosynthesis of a wide range of secondary products with specialized function and tissue distribution in plants. The parsley 4CL1 promoter directs a complex tissue- and cell-specific pattern of reporter gene expression in transgenic tobacco, consistent with the distribution of phenylpropanoid products and sites of 4CL expression in tobacco vegetative and floral organs. We generated mutants in a 4CL1 promoter element previously implicated as a site for protein–DNA complex formation to analyze its role in vivo4CL1 promoter surrounding the FP56 element is the site for formation of two large protein–DNA complexes, and that an intact FP56 element is required for formation of these complexes. Finally, the detergent deoxycholate was used to investigate the role of protein–protein interactions in FP56 complex formation. Our data suggest that the FP56 cis-element plays a central role in transcriptional activation from the 4CL1 promoter, and that its role may be to nucleate formation of a large protein complex on the promoter. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The induction of freezing tolerance by abscisic acid (ABA) or cold treatment in suspension cultured cells of Solanum commersonii was studied. Both ABA (50-100 μM) at 23°C and low temperature (4°C) increased freezing tolerance in cultured Solanum commersonii cells from a Cr50 (freezing temperature at which 50% cells were killed) of -5°C (control) to -1 1.5°C in 2 days.. Cold-induced freezing tolerance reached its maximum at 2 days. and remained constant throughout the cold acclimation period of 11 days. The freezing tolerance induced by ABA, however, showed a rapid decline 2 to 5 days after initiation of ABA treatments. Addition of ABA (100 RM) to the culture medium at the inception of low temperature treatment did not enhance freezing tolerance of the cells beyond the level attainable by either treatment singly. Po1y(A+)-RNA was isolated from the respective treatments, translated in a rabbit reticulocyte lysate cell free system, and the translation products were resolved by two dimensional polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (2D-PAGE). Analysis of the in vitro translated products revealed changes. in the abundance of approximately 26 products (encoding for polypeptides with M1 of 14 to 69 kDa and pI of 4.90 to 6.60) in ABA-treated cells 12 h after treatment. and' 20 (encoding for polypeptides with Mr of 12 to 69 kDa, with pl of 4.80 to 6.42) in cells exposed to 4°C for 12 h. There were only 5 novel translation products observed when the ABA-treated cells reached the highest level of freezing tolerance (2 days. after the initiation of ABA treatment). Changes in translatable RNA populations during the induction of freezing tolerance in cells treated with either ABA or low temperature are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article presents a case study of a 68 year old man with a medical history of plaques over the axillary and inguinal regions, who was diagnosed with Corynebacterium minutissimum infection suggesting erythrasma after bacterial culture.