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In this work, the Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR) and Terahertz time domain spectra (THz-TDS) were employed to study Pu’er white tea with different oxidation levels by changing the withering time. The strongest absorption peak of 3359 cm-1 in FTIR spectra comes from the proteins and polysaccharides. Several intensity ratios of the characteristic absorption peaks with different oxidation levels were analyzed. The white tea with different oxidation levels can be distinguished from the absorbance of THz-TDS in the range of 0.5–1.5 THz. The refractive index calculated from THz-TDS was between 1.42 and 1.44. Principal component analysis (PCA) using FTIR absorbance data showed that the scattered points of PC1 and PC2 can be well distributed in different districts. Hierarchical cluster analysis (HCA) helped to carry out the clustering results of different white tea samples. The sample with overoxidation level can be distinguished by PCA and HCA using THz-TDS absorbance data. Therefore, FTIR might be a convenient, fast, and nondestructive strategy for identifying white tea with different oxidation levels. THz-TDS combined with some software algorithms can be applied to distinguish the different oxidation-processed tea.

Trade plays an important role in economic growth. Thence, a smooth cross-border transaction between Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore provides a significant implication in international trade. Currently, cross-border transactions face several issues during the crossing of borders between countries and, specifically, happens during the transactions of cargo. A very rigid documentation process within the custom clearance and theresulting severe congestion will affect the trade flow in this particular zone. Inconsistency of freight transaction documents at the cross-border also makes the transaction procedure more complicated and affects the performance of the manufacturer’s competitiveness. Thus, this paper explores the current issues at the borders involving Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore. This paper also initiates to figure out the challenges and some key success factors in modelling efficiency for cross-border transactions amongst these countries. A qualitative approach has been adapted to answer the proposed research questions. The initial results stressed that congestion, thorough and repetitious documentation procedures, involvement of many documents, as well as the time-consuming clearance of documents are key issues encountered during cross-border freight movement. This situation has caused several issues such as delays in freight delivery, losses in tax collection due to delays, reluctance to share information, and effects on the competitiveness of the freight supply chain. Development in infrastructure, information sharing, regulations, logistics performance, and customs clearance procedure can overcome the problems during cross-border Thailand-Malaysia-Singapore activities. The model outcome is expected to be smoother for the administrative process during customs clearance and it is expected to be able to efficiently reduce costs.

Recent genetic progress has shown many causative/risk genes linked to Parkinson's disease (PD), mainly in patients of European ancestry. The study aimed to investigate the PD-related genes and determine the mutational spectrum of early-onset PD in ethnic Chinese.In this study, whole-exome sequencing and/or gene dosage analysis were performed in 704 early-onset PD (EOPD) patients (onset age ≤45 years) and 1866 controls. Twenty-six PD-related genes and 20 other genes linked to neurodegenerative and lysosome diseases were analysed.Eighty-two (11.6%, 82/704) EOPD patients carrying rare pathogenic/likely pathogenic variants in PD-related genes were identified. The mutation frequency in autosomal recessive inheritance EOPD (42.9%, 27/63) was much higher than that in autosomal dominant inheritance EOPD (0.9%, 12/110) or sporadic EOPD (8.1%, 43/531). Bi-allelic mutations in PRKN were the most frequent, accounting for 5.1% of EOPD cases. Three common pathogenic variants, p.A53V in SNCA, p.G284R in PRKN and p.P53Afs*38 in CHCHD2, occur exclusively in Asians. The putative damaging variants from GBA, PRKN, DJ1, PLA2G6 and GCH1 contributed to the collective risk for EOPD. Notably, the protein-truncating variants in CHCHD2 were enriched in EOPD, especially for p.P53Afs*38, which was also found in three patients from an independent cohort of patients with late-onset PD (n = 1300). Functional experiments confirmed that truncated CHCHD2 variants cause loss of function and are linked to mitochondrial dysfunction.Our study reveals that the genetic spectrum of EOPD in Chinese, which may help develop genetic scanning strategies, provided more evidence supporting CHCHD2 in PD.

Three Legionella -like strains, designed km488T, km489 and km521, were isolated from freshwater samples in China. Cells were Gram-stain-negative, rod-shaped and non-spore-forming. Growth was observed on BCYEα agar, but not on BCYEα agar without l-cysteine, chocolate agar with PolyViteX or Columbia blood agar. The major fatty acids (>5 %) of strains km488T, km489 and km521 were C16 : 0, anteiso-C15 : 0, iso-C16 : 0 and anteiso-C17 : 0. The mip gene sequences (574 nt) showed the isolates were almost identical with more than 99.7 % sequence similarities, and closely matched to L. gormanii ATCC 33297T with 95.4–95.6 % sequence similarities. Phylogenetic analyses based on concatenated gene (16S rRNA, mip, rpoB and rnpB) sequences indicated that the isolates formed a distinct cluster along with L. gormanii within the genus Legionella . Matrix-assisted laser desorption ionization time-of-flight analyses also demonstrated a clear separation between the isolates and other closely and distantly related Legionella species. DNA–DNA hybridization studies demonstrated that the isolates were closely related (92.0 –95.0 % DNA-DNA relatedness) but differentiated from their phylogenetic neighbours (

Lifetime is a main factor restraining the application of low-power Hall thruster. Magnetic shielding configuration is regarded as a promising method to prolong the lifespan of Hall thruster. Aiming to demonstrate the feasibility and effectiveness of magnetic shielding configuration applying on low-power Hall thruster, a 60-mm diameter Hall thruster in partial magnetic shielding configuration was designated. Both the numerical and experimental methods were used to investigate the discharge characteristics of the Hall thruster and help understand the mechanism behind. The maximum anode efficiency was achieved as high as 29.7% with 1.7 mg•s–1 anode mass flow and 320 V discharge voltage. To evaluate the effectiveness of the magnetic shielding used for low-power Hall thruster, a 2000 h lifetime test has been carried out and the results indicate that the erosion rate has been decreased below 0.2 μm•h–1.

The discharge characteristics of hollow cathode directly affect the performance of thruster. In order to obtain the plasma parameters of the 20 A emission current hollow cathode, COMSOL software is used to simulate the potential distribution, neutral fluid distribution and plasma parameters of the cathode, then the test is carried out to verify the simulations. The results show that the fluid velocity in the emitter region is about 20 ms–1 and is uniform in the radial direction. The electron density throughout the cathode discharge zone is almost uniform within the range of 1.09 × 1020 ~ 1.2 × 1020 m–3. The electron temperature increased from 2.8 to 4.9 eV throughout the cathode discharge zone. The electron collision frequency is in the order of 1023 Hz. The test results show that the electron temperature is increased from 2.4 to 5.2 eV from outlet of the emitter region to the plume region, and which presents an opposite trend to the electron density. There is a small error between the test results and the simulation results, and this error is mainly caused by the flow boundary setting.

AIM To compare uncut Roux-en-Y (U-RY) gastrojejunostomy with Roux-en-Y (RY) gastrojejunostomy after distal gastrectomy (DG) for gastric cancer. METHODS A literature search was conducted in Pubmed, Embase, Web of Science, Cochrane Library, Science Direct, Chinese National Knowledge Infrastructure, Wanfang, and China Science and Technology Journal Database to identify studies comparing U-RY with RY after DG for gastric cancer until the end of December 2017. Pooled odds ratio or weighted mean difference with 95% confidence interval was calculated using either fixed- or random-effects models. Perioperative outcomes such as operative time, intraoperative blood loss, and hospital stay; postoperative complications such as anastomotic bleeding, stricture and ulcer, reflux gastritis/esophagitis, delayed gastric emptying, and Roux stasis syndrome; and postoperative nutritional status (serum hemoglobin, total protein, and albumin levels) were the main outcomes assessed. Meta-analyses were performed using RevMan 5.3 software. RESULTS Two randomized controlled trials and four nonrandomized observational clinical studies involving 403 and 488 patients, respectively, were included. The results of the meta-analysis showed that operative time [weighted mean difference (WMD): -12.95; 95%CI: -22.29 to -3.61; P = 0.007] and incidence of reflux gastritis/esophagitis (OR: 0.40; 95%CI: 0.20-0.80; P = 0.009), delayed gastric emptying (OR: 0.29; 95%CI: 0.14-0.61; P = 0.001), and Roux stasis syndrome (OR: 0.14; 95%CI: 0.04-0.50; P = 0.002) were reduced; and the level of serum albumin (WMD: 0.71; 95%CI: 0.24-1.19; P = 0.003) was increased in patients undergoing U-RY reconstruction compared with those undergoing RY reconstruction. No differences were found with respect to intraoperative blood loss, hospital stay, anastomotic bleeding, anastomotic stricture, anastomotic ulcer, the levels of serum hemoglobin, and serum total protein. CONCLUSION U-RY reconstruction has some clinical advantages over RY reconstruction after DG.

A facial beauty analysis toward attractiveness assessment application is presented.A geometric facial beauty score function is proposed for facial aesthetic perceptron.A semi-supervised learning with Hessian graph and random projection is proposed.A novel geometric facial beauty (GFB) database is provided in this paper. Facial beauty analysis has been an emerging subject of multimedia and biometrics. This paper aims at exploring the essence of facial beauty from the viewpoint of geometric characteristic toward an interactive attractiveness assessment (IAA) application. As a result, a geometric facial beauty analysis method is proposed from the perspective of machine learning. Due to the troublesome and subjective beauty labeling, the accurately labeled data scarcity is caused, and result in very few labeled data. Additionally, facial beauty is related to several typical features such as texture, color, etc., which, however, can be easily deformed by make-up. For addressing these issues, a semi-supervised facial beauty analysis framework that is characterized by feeding geometric feature into the intelligent attractiveness assessment system is proposed. For experimental study, we have established a geometric facial beauty (GFB) dataset including Asian male and female faces. Moreover, an existing multi-modal beauty (M2B) database including western and eastern female faces is also tested. Experiments demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed method. Some new perspectives on the essence of beauty and the topic of facial aesthetic are revealed. The impact of this work lies in that it will attract more researchers in related areas for beauty exploration by using intelligent algorithms. Also, the significance lies in that it should well promote the diversity of expert and intelligent systems in addressing such challenging facial aesthetic perception and rating issue.

Chronic pancreatitis (CP) is a kind of pancreatic disease with irreversible morphological changes, can lead to impaired endocrine and exocrine function of the inflammatory process. CP simultaneously accompanied with bile duct stricture (BDS) is a rare condition. At present, the treatment of CP tend to be individualized by the surgeons.Here, we reported the case of a plastic stent inserted two times into the main pancreatic duct and common bile duct. During the last 5 years, the patient hospitalized several times due to recurrent abdominal pain, till Partington-Rochelle pancreatojejunostomy(PRP) procedure combined with cholangioenterostomy was treated without complications. After 4 years of follow-up, the patient showed abnormal glucose metabolism without the need for additional enzymes, and he was in good condition without pain. Partington-Rochelle procedure combined with cholangioenterostomy provided a promising result of pancreatitis with BDS endoscopic papillary and stent failure

By combined process of hot dip aluminum and micro–arc oxidation, a multilayer composite coating was obtained on the surface of 20 steel plates. The micro-hardness, morphology, residual stress and thermal-shocking performance of the coating were investigated by HVS-1000 micro-hardness instrument, SEM, X-350 stress instrument and etc. The results showed that the micro-hardness of the coating appeared hard-soft-hard from surface to inner, the effective thermal-shock times of the coating was 130, its residual stress of the coating was 181.7 MPa after hot shock 80 times.

Automobile braking system is an important guarantee for automobile driving safety, and improving automobile braking performance is an important task in automobile development. ESP system can effectively reduce the accident rate and improve driving safety. This paper systematically introduces the development of vehicle stability control technology from four aspects: dynamic modeling, state observation, control strategy and industrialization. It mainly introduces the state observation and control strategy.

Using a portable manipulator to take out the recovery crucible from the rare earth redox bath, its reliability is one of the bottlenecks restricting production automation. According to the production process of praseodymium and neodymium alloy, determine the mechanism design, and analyze the force to determine the motor selection. The manipulator model is established in the SolidWorks environment, the communication interface is compatible, and the adams software is imported to conduct dynamic simulation analysis of the manipulator mechanism. The manipulator opens and closes smoothly, and the output clamping force meets the theoretical value requirements. The motor is selected to meet the requirements of use.

Background: Glaucoma is a progressive optic neuropathy characterized by degeneration of neurons due to loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). High intraocular pressure (HIOP), the main risk factor, causes the optic nerve damage. However, the precise mechanism of HIOP-induced RGC death is not yet completely understood. This study was conducted to determine apoptosis of RGC-5 cells induced by elevated hydrostatic pressures, explore whether laminin is associated with apoptosis under pressure, whether laminin can protect RGCs from apoptosis and affirm the mechanism that regulates the process of RGCs survival. Methods: RGC-5 cells were exposed to 0, 20, 40, and 60 mmHg in a pressurized incubator for 6, 12, and 24 h, respectively. The effect of elevated hydrostatic pressure on RGC-5 cells was measured by Annexin V-fluorescein isothiocyanate/propidium iodide staining, 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, and Western blotting of cleaved caspase-3 protein. Location and expression of laminin were detected by immunofluorescence. The expression of β1-integrin, phosphorylation of focal adhesion kinase (FAK) and protein kinase B (PKB, or AKT) were investigated with real-time polymerase chain reaction and Western blotting analysis. Results: Elevated hydrostatic pressure induced apoptosis in cultured RGC-5 cells. Pressure with 40 mmHg for 24 h induced a maximum apoptosis. Laminin was declined in RGC-5 cells after exposing to 40 mmHg for 24 h. After pretreating with laminin, RGC-5 cells survived from elevated pressure. Furthermore, β1-integrin and phosphorylation of FAK and AKT were increased compared to 40 mmHg group. Conclusions: The data show apoptosis tendency of RGC-5 cells with elevated hydrostatic pressure. Laminin can protect RGC-5 cells against high pressure via β1-integrin/FAK/AKT signaling pathway. These results suggest that the decreased laminin of RGC-5 cells might be responsible for apoptosis induced by elevated hydrostatic pressure, and laminin or activating β1-integrin/FAK/AKT pathway might be potential treatments to prevent RGC loss in glaucomatous optic neuropathy.

A new in-fiber Mach-Zehnder interferometer (MZI) based on lateral-offset and peanut shape structure is proposed and demonstrated for the measure of curvature and liquid level. The sensor consists of lateral-offset structure and peanut shape structure. A section of single mode fiber (SMF) is spliced between them. A part of core mode in the single mode fiber is excited to cladding modes by lateral-offset. The cladding modes are re-coupled to the core mode by peanut-shape structure and get interference with the core mode. A high-quality interference spectrum with a fringe visibility of about 12 dB is observed. The effective refractive indices of cladding mode would change with the external environment parameters, which further bring about a shift of the interference fringes. The liquid level or curvature can be measured by record the shift of the valley, because the shift of the valley shows a linear dependence with the variation of the liquid level or curvature theoretically. In the water level experiment, the water level changes from 1.00 to 5.00 cm and the wavelength valley shows a red shift. The sensitivity of the MZI with a length of 6.10 cm is -0.68 nm·cm-1. In the curvature experiment, the curvature changes from 0.3 to 1.2 and the wavelength valley shows a blue shift. The sensitivity of the MZI with a length of 2.10 cm is 22.47 nm·m. The lateral-offset structure and peanut shape structure are spliced to fabricate the MZI. The sensitivity of the MZI is high, especially in the curvature measurement, it is higher than that of other fiber curvature sensors. Moreover the MZI presented in this paper has advantages of low cost and easy fabrication, which can be a potential application in the liquid level and curvature measurement.

Vanadium pentoxide (V2O5) microstructures were synthesized by calcining acidtreated NH4VO3 at 773 K in air, which were used as heterogeneous catalysts for the synthesis of diphenyl carbonate (DPC) by the transesterification of dimethyl carbonate (DMC) with phenol. The effects of the types of acid and the transesterification reaction time on catalytic activities were investigated. Under the conditions of reaction temperature of 453 K, a catalyst amount of 0.2% (molar ratio to phenol), molar ratio of DMC/phenol of 1:2 and a reaction time of 13 h, the maximum conversion of DMC and total yields of methyl phenyl carbonate (MPC) and DPC were 23.23 and 23.44%, respectively. The selectivity to the transesterification was nearly 100%. The plausible mechanism of the transesterification catalyzed by the V2O5 microstructures was also probed preliminarily. X-ray diffraction (XRD) and field-emission scanning electron microscopy (FE-SEM) characteristics of the catalyst samples had been recorded.

AIM: To investigate the effect of activating transcription factor-3 (ATF3)-deletion on apoptosis of cultured retinal ganglion cells (RGCs). METHODS: Three ATF3 siRNA (ATF3-rat-651, ATF3-rat-319, ATF3-rat-520) were constructed, and were transiently transfected into RGC-5 cells. Quantitative real-time polymerase chain reaction (PCR) was used to examine ATF3 expression and the most effective ATF3 siRNA was selected for further studies. Flow cytometry was applied to investigate the effects of ATF3 deletion on RGC-5 apoptosis under elevated hydrostatic pressure. Quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot were performed to validate differentially expressed genes and proteins in ATF3-knockdown RGC-5 cells. RESULTS: ATF3 specific siRNA effectively down-regulated ATF3 expression and significantly inhibited cell apoptosis in RGC-5 cells. Quantitative real-time PCR and Western blot confirmed that ATF3 knockdown remarkably decreased Jun-B and increased c-Jun at both mRNA and protein levels in RGC-5 cells. CONCLUSION: ATF/cAMP-response element-binding family of transcription factors may be involved in the development of glaucoma and could be novel treatment targets for glaucoma.

Background Appendiceal mucinous adenocarcinoma is an extremely rare disease in clinical practice. Here, we report a case of unprecedented size that occupied the entire abdomen of a man. Case presentation A 49-year-old Chinese Han man presented with symptoms of abdominal distension. During a computed tomography imaging examination, a cystic-solid mass that occupied his entire abdominal cavity was detected. During exploratory laparotomy, an appendiceal tumor in his abdominal-pelvic cavity measuring 27.6 × 14.2 cm was found, and he underwent tumor resection. The pathology of the tumor identified a well-differentiated appendiceal mucinous adenocarcinoma with mucin infiltrating into the soft tissue of the lump edge and omentum tissue. After surgery, our patient accepted intraperitoneal infusion chemotherapy. At present, he has had no recurrence for 15 months. Conclusions To the best of our knowledge, the present case is the largest appendiceal mucinous adenocarcinoma reported. Surgical tumor resection is the preferred treatment for appendiceal mucinous adenocarcinoma. This is supplemented by chemotherapy which can further prolong survival.

Induces the operating principle of the induced radiation unit and studies the uniformity of indoor temperature distribution in the space and time, comfort and dewing condensation based on the PMV-PPD thermal comfort evaluation system. Through data collation and results analysis, obtains thermal comfort superiority and energy-saving potential of the reduced radiation air conditioning. The results show that the temperature distribution in the room stalled by the reduced radiation units is uniform, without sense of temperature difference and ventilation, providing an ultra-comfortable environment and that the indoor setting temperature can be up to 27°C on the premise of meeting comfort requirement. At the same time, air supply of low temperature can be achieved without condensation, reflecting the energy-saving potential of the system. These provide a reference for design of the induced radiation air conditioning system and further study.

With the industrial development, the problems of oil & gas resource consumption, environmental pollution and demand increase have become rising. Environmental pollution which leads to global warming and climate change comes from the contamination of water, air and soil from man-made waste. The advancement in science and technology for environmental protection will play a key role to ensure the improvement of environmental quality, and will contribute to the development of a healthy society. The programs of environmental research have been implemented, including promoting cleaner production of oil & gas resources, accelerating the process of oil & gas recovery, establishing the guarantee mechanism of the oil & gas field environment recovery, developing clean energy vehicles, improving the production quality and discharge standard of motor gasoline and vigorously developing clean energy. In addition, producing approaches and mechanism of the pollution are presented in the paper.

Sensory neurons are distinguished by distinct signaling networks and receptive characteristics. Thus, sensory neuron types can be defined by linking transcriptome-based neuron typing with the sensory phenotypes. Here we classify somatosensory neurons of the mouse dorsal root ganglion (DRG) by high-coverage single-cell RNA-sequencing (10 950 ± 1 218 genes per neuron) and neuron size-based hierarchical clustering. Moreover, single DRG neurons responding to cutaneous stimuli are recorded using an in vivo whole-cell patch clamp technique and classified by neuron-type genetic markers. Small diameter DRG neurons are classified into one type of low-threshold mechanoreceptor and five types of mechanoheat nociceptors (MHNs). Each of the MHN types is further categorized into two subtypes. Large DRG neurons are categorized into four types, including neurexophilin 1-expressing MHNs and mechanical nociceptors (MNs) expressing BAI1-associated protein 2-like 1 (Baiap2l1). Mechanoreceptors expressing trafficking protein particle complex 3-like and Baiap2l1-marked MNs are subdivided into two subtypes each. These results provide a new system for cataloging somatosensory neurons and their transcriptome databases.

The epoxy resins were toughened with reactive core-shell nanoparticles(CSNPs) with butyl acrylate (BA) as the core and methyl methacrylate (MMA) copolymerizing with glycidyl methacrylate (GMA) as the shell. The chemical structure of the CSNPs was characterized by FT-IR. The morphology of toughened epoxy networks were analyzed by SEM and TEM, and their adhesion properties were also detected. The results show that mixing methods and CSNP concentration have great influence on the morphology and adhesion properties of the toughened epoxy networks. CSNPs are uniformly dispersed in the epoxy resins by the grinding method. The modified epoxy networks obtained from the modified epoxy networks prepared by the grinding method(MEPN2) with 10 wt% CSNPs show the best adhesion properties, and the increase in maximum peel strength, 25°C sheer strength and 150°C sheer strength of the modified epoxy networks is 401.3% , 46.9% and 27.6% respectively over the unmodified epoxy networks due to the small-scale coagulations of CSNPs.

Different Zinc tungstate (ZnWO4) nanostructures were controllably synthesized via facile hydrothermal method in the presence of surfactant polyethylene glycol 20000 (PEG-20000). During the synthesis, cheap and simple inorganic salts were used as precursors. The shape and size of ZnWO4nano/microstructures can be well controlled by the dosage of surfactant, the pH value of reaction system and other hydrothermal parameters. Apart from structural and morphological characterizations of the ZnWO4nano/microstructures, the composition and the photoluminescent (PL) properties of typical samples have also been investigated by powder X-ray diffraction pattern and fluorescence spectrophotometer, respectively. The results indicated that all the products of ZnWO4with different morphologies exhibited the only blue peak at 506 nm with an excitation wavelength at 253 nm.

Polycyclic aromatic hydrocarbon (PAH) polluted sites caused by abandoned coking plants have attracted great attentions. This study investigated the feasibility of using methyl-beta-cyclodextrin (MCD) solution to enhance ex situ soil washing for extracting PAHs. Treatment with elevated temperature (50 degrees C) in combination with ultrasonication (35 kHz, 30 min) at 100 g x L(-1) was effective. It was found that 96.7% +/- 2.4% of 3-ring PAH, 89.7% +/- 3.2% of 4-ring PAH, 76.3% +/- 2.2% of 5 (+6)-ring PAH and 91.3% +/- 3.1% of total PAHs were removed from soil after five successive washing cycles. The desorption kinetics of PAHs from contaminated soil was determined before and after successive washings. The 400 h Tenax extraction of PAHs from soil was decreasing gradually with increasing washing times. Furthermore, the F(r), F(sl), k(r), k(sl) and k(vl) were significantly lower than those of CK (P0.01). Therefore, considering the removal efficiency and potential environmental risk after soil )ashing, successive washing three times was selected as a reasonable parameter. These results have practical implications for site risk assessment and cleanup strategies.

The persistent bloom of the brown tide alga Aureoumbra lagunensis has been reported in coastal embayments along southern Texas, but the molecular mechanisms that sustain such algal bloom are unknown. We compared the proteome and physiological parameters of A. lagunensis grown in phosphate (P)-depleted, P- and nitrogen (N)-depleted, and nutrient-replete cultures. For the proteomic analysis, samples from three conditions were subjected to two-dimensional electrophoresis and tandem mass spectrometry analysis. Because of the paucity of genomic resources in this species, a de novo cross-species protein search was used to identify the differentially expressed proteins, which revealed their involvement in several key biological processes, such as chlorophyll synthesis, antioxidative protection, and protein degradation, suggesting that A. lagunensis may adopt intracellular nutrient compensation, extracellular organic nutrient regeneration, and damage protection to thrive in P-depleted environments. A highly abundant P limitation-specific protein, tentatively identified as a putative alkaline phosphatase, was further characterized by enzyme activity assay on nondenaturing gel and confocal microscopy, which confirmed that this protein has alkaline phosphatase activity, is a cytoplasmic protein, and is closely associated with the cell membrane. The abundance, location, and functional expression of this alkaline phosphatase all indicate the importance of organic P utilization for A. lagunensis under P limitation and the possible role of this alkaline phosphatase in regenerating phosphate from extra- or intracellular organic phosphorus.

The neighborhood structure of a pixel in an image can be described more accurately by its two principal curvatures than its gradient or mean curvature-based estimation. Based on this idea, we propose a novel method - minimum principal curvature-driven diffusion, in which the two principal curvatures are used in a curvature-driven diffusion equation for image filtering. The main advantage of the proposed method over the existing methods is that it preserves not only conventional structures, such as edges, but also some fine structures such as ridges or thin lines.

Cold acclimation improves freezing tolerance in plants. In higher plants, many advances have been made toward identifying the signaling and regulatory pathways that direct the low-temperature stress response; however, similar insights have not yet been gained for simple nonvascular plants, such as bryophytes. To elucidate the pathways that regulate cold acclimation in bryophytes, we used two PCR-based differential screening techniques, cDNA amplified fragment length polymorphism (cDNA-AFLP) and suppression subtractive hybridization (SSH), to isolate 510 ESTs that are differentially expressed during cold acclimation in Physcomitrella patens. We used realtime RT-PCR to further analyze expression of 29 of these transcripts during cold acclimation. Our results show that cold acclimation in the bryophyte Physcomitrella patens is not only largely similar to higher plants but also displays distinct differences, suggests significant alteration during the evolution of land plants.

Arabidopsis thaliana contains five identified blue light photoreceptors and at least one unidentified blue/UV-A light photoreceptor. Cryptochromes (CRY1 and CRY2) modulate photomorphological processes, flowering time, and circadian timing while phototrophins (PHOT1 and PHOT2) modulate phototropism, chloroplast movement, and stomatal opening. Flavins are the chromophores and absorb in the blue and UV-A range. Considerable information is known about the structure and mode of action of these photoreceptors. The moss Physcomitrella patens contains two identified cryptochromes (CRY1a and CRY1b) which modulate side branch formation and auxin metabolism. Blue light-induced chloroplast movement was mediated by four phototropins. Transduction of the blue/UV-A stimulus does involve calcium signaling in moss cells.