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Symbiotic associations between green algae (Chlorophyta) and fungi give rise to morphologically and eco-physiologically distinct entities, or so-called, lichens. In one of the most peculiar of these associations, the partners are species of the macroscopic genus Prasiola ( Trebouxiophyceae ) and the ascomycete Mastodia tessellata ( Verrucariaceae ). This is the only known case of a lichen symbiosis involving a foliose green alga. Despite intense research targeted at understanding the biology of this particular association, little is known about the genetic variability of its symbionts. This study focuses on the photobiont partner of this lichen and was designed to explore and compare its genetic diversity along a latitudinal axis from Alaska to Antarctica. Molecular sequence data were generated for three loci: two nuclear markers ( nrITS , RPL10A ) and one plastid-encoded marker ( tufA ). The usefulness of the Prasiola nrITS and RPL10A data was examined at the species and intraspecific levels. We used the population assignment tests implemented in BAPS and STRUCTURE and two algorithmic species delimitation procedures (ABGD, GMYC) to generate species boundary discovery hypotheses, which were subsequently tested using Bayes factors. Population genetic differentiation and structure were also assessed through fixation indices, polymorphism statistics and haplotype networks. Based on the results of the species validation method, we propose that at least two species of Prasiola associate with the lichen-forming fungus Mastodia tessellata . Of these, P. borealis is broadly distributed in Alaska, Tierra del Fuego and the Antarctic Peninsula, whereas the second, undescribed, species is restricted to the Antarctic Peninsula. We detected significant phylogeographic substructure in P. borealis , including greater haplotype diversity in the Tierra del Fuego populations. Our findings provide new data that will be useful to unravel the cryptic diversity and phylogeographic patterns of the green alga partners of lichens. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pressure perturbation calorimetry (PPC) is an efficient technique to study the volumetric properties of biomolecules in solution. In PPC, the coefficient of thermal expansion of the partial volume of the biomolecule is deduced from the heat consumed or produced after small isothermal pressure-jumps. The expansion coefficient strongly depends on the interaction of the biomolecule with the solvent or cosolvent as well as on its packing and internal dynamic properties. This technique, complemented with molecular acoustics and densimetry, provides valuable insights into the basic thermodynamic properties of solvation and volume effects accompanying interactions, reactions and phase transitions of biomolecular systems. After outlining the principles of the technique, we present representative examples on protein folding, including effects of cosolvents and crowding, together with a discussion of the interpretation, and further applications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Chronic subjective tinnitus is an auditory phantom phenomenon characterized by abnormal neuronal synchrony in the central auditory system. As recently shown in a proof of concept clinical trial, acoustic coordinated reset (CR) neuromodulation causes a significant relief of tinnitus symptoms combined with a significant decrease of pathological oscillatory activity in a network comprising auditory and non-auditory brain areas. The objective of the present study was to analyze whether CR therapy caused an alteration of the effective connectivity in a tinnitus related network of localized EEG brain sources. To determine which connections matter, in a first step, we considered a larger network of brain sources previously associated with tinnitus. To that network we applied a data-driven approach, combining empirical mode decomposition and partial directed coherence analysis, in patients with bilateral tinnitus before and after 12weeks of CR therapy as well as in healthy controls. To increase the signal-to-noise ratio, we focused on the good responders, classified by a reliable-change-index (RCI). Prior to CR therapy and compared to the healthy controls, the good responders showed a significantly increased connectivity between the left primary cortex auditory cortex and the posterior cingulate cortex in the gamma and delta bands together with a significantly decreased effective connectivity between the right primary auditory cortex and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex in the alpha band. Intriguingly, after 12weeks of CR therapy most of the pathological interactions were gone, so that the connectivity patterns of good responders and healthy controls became statistically indistinguishable. In addition, we used dynamic causal modeling (DCM) to examine the types of interactions which were altered by CR therapy. Our DCM results show that CR therapy specifically counteracted the imbalance of excitation and inhibition. CR significantly weakened the excitatory connection between posterior cingulate cortex and primary auditory cortex and significantly strengthened inhibitory connections between auditory cortices and the dorsolateral prefrontal cortex. The overall impact of CR therapy on the entire tinnitus-related network showed up as a qualitative transformation of its spectral response, in terms of a drastic change of the shape of its averaged transfer function. Based on our findings we hypothesize that CR therapy restores a silence based cognitive auditory comparator function of the posterior cingulate cortex. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: Density ρ, speed of sound u, and viscosity η of the binary systems 2-methyl-1-propanol+hexadecane and 2-methyl-1-propanol+squalane (2,6,10,15,19,23-hexamethyltetracosane) have been measured over the entire range of composition at T =(298.15, 303.15, and 308.15)K and atmospheric pressure using a vibrating tube densimeter and sound analyzer Anton Paar model DSA-5000 and Ubbelohde suspended level viscometer. Excess molar volume , excess molar isentropic compressibility , and deviations of the speed of sound uD from their ideal values uid and excess thermal expansion coefficient αE were evaluated from the experimental results obtained. These derived properties were fitted to variable-degree polynomials. Further, the Extended Real Associated Solution (ERAS) model has been applied to for the present binary mixtures along with (2-methyl-1-propanol+hexane,+octane and+decane) and the findings are compared with the experimental results. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: The acoustic spectrum of cavities can be identified using integral equation formulations. Because of the transcendental dependence on frequency of the Green function, difficulties arise in calculating acoustic frequencies and modes of vibration when the Kirchhoff–Helmholtz boundary-integral operator is applied. This trouble is circumvented by the present, nonstandard, integral formulation that, by using the fundamental solution of the Laplace operator, allows the identification of acoustic spectra of cavities through solution of a standard eigenvalue problem. This formulation is compared both with that based on the Kirchhoff–Helmholtz operator and with an alternative integral approach introduced in the past that, akin to the one used here, analyzes cavity acoustics in terms of an eigenvalue problem. The numerical investigation deals both with a simple box-shaped cavity and with cavities related to applications of aeronautical interest. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]