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Fire ecology plays an important roles in germination and establishment of many plant taxa. Smoke inducedgermination and seedling vigor are well documented in many wild, crop, and weedy species. Karrikins(KAR) substances in smoke are reported to be responsible for these effects. However, only a few experimentshave been conducted on different plant-derived smoke effects on particular plant species’ seeds. This studywas conducted to investigate effects of self-derived and other plants biomass-derived smoke on germinationand post-germination processes in maize and its wild relative teosinte. Smoke derived from maize and alegume (Vigna unguiculata ssp. sesquipedalis) foliage burning was exposed to maize variety Guidan 162and teosinte (Zeamexicana (Schrad.) Kuntze). Germination percentage in both maize and teosinte exposedto maize smoke was found to be significantly higher than unexposed and legume smoke exposure, howevergermination in legume smoke exposure was found to slightly higher than control but not significantly so.Shoot length in maize seeds exposed to maize smoke was highest and differed significantly compared tocontrol and legume smoke exposure, while control and legume smoke exposure showed approximatelythe same shoot lengths. Coleoptile and primary root lengths showed nosignificant variation among alltreatments. Similarly, seminal root length didn’t show much variation but legume smoke exposure seedsfound to have the lowest seminal root length. Hence direct exposure to smoke without rinsing in watermay not positively affect the shoot and root length in maize. Further studies should address morphologicaltraits, transcriptome expression, and enzyme activity to clarify effects of self-derived and other plant-derived smoke on different plant species.

Review on microplastic toxicity in agroecosystems is scarce. Thus, we develop a conceptual model (based on literature to date) that describes various microplastic effects using a size-scale. We also classify crops depending on their observed responses, and discuss several conceptual mechanisms of soil functions. The model shows that microplastic effects on crops can be positive, toxic, lethal and no-effect. Predominantly, microfibers in a wide range of sizes can positively affect crops. However, toxic effects of microplastics with/without other pollutants are more common at different sizes. Surprisingly, biodegradable plastic effects are lethal, calling into question their environmental friendliness. No-effect on crops is also possible but less observed. Unlike other crops (e.g., wheat, maize and bean), only onion seems resistant to microplastics. Crop uptake of micro/nanoplastic demands a clear benchmark to ensure food-safety. Furthermore, mixed effects are observed on soil functions. Alternation in soil enzymes and litter decomposition can affect nutrients and organic matter biogeochemistry. Hydrophobicity can be induced by increasing evaporation. Shifts in microbial community structure and activities are inevitable.

Arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) provide benefits to most crop species via enhanced nutrient uptake, increased drought and abiotic stress resistance, and reduced effects of pathogens and pests. Much remains unclear regarding the specific mechanisms influencing these processes, and the critical roles of AMF are often overlooked in planning agroecological systems. There is growing consensus, however, around the important roles AMF play in improving plant resilience and crop yield while also enhancing the functioning of soil microbial communities. Heterogeneous practices across all scales complicate the successful integration of AMF in agroecological systems. AMF symbioses with crops are passive, or stimulated by incorporation of crop wastes in soil, soil inoculation with AMF spores, or the planting inoculated of seeds. Here we suggest that AMF can have highest beneficial impacts in areas with low levels of agrochemical inputs. We argue that areas with intensive agrochemical inputs can also be made more sustainable with AMF enhancements.

Three spare modules of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter were exposed to test beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN in 2017. The detector’s measurements of the energy response and resolution to positive pions and kaons, and protons with energies ranging from 16 to 30 GeV are reported. The results have uncertainties of a few percent. They were compared to the predictions of the Geant4-based simulation program used in ATLAS to estimate the response of the detector to proton-proton events at the Large Hadron Collider. The determinations obtained using experimental and simulated data agree within the uncertainties. Three spare modules of the ATLAS Tile Calorimeter were exposed to test beams from the Super Proton Synchrotron accelerator at CERN in 2017. The measurements of the energy response and resolution of the detector to positive pions and kaons and protons with energy in the range 16 to 30 GeV are reported. The results have uncertainties of few percent. They were compared to the predictions of the Geant4-based simulation program used in ATLAS to estimate the response of the detector to proton-proton events at Large Hadron Collider. The determinations obtained using experimental and simulated data agree within the uncertainties.

Polyurethanes (PU) are integral to many aspects of our daily lives. Due to the extensive use of and difficulties in recycling or reusing PU, it mostly accumulates as waste. Various bacteria and fungi have been reported to degrade PU. We examined the fungus Aspergillus flavus G10 in that regard, after isolating it from the guts of Gryllus bimaculatus, a common cricket species. We observed surficial and chemical changes of PU with atomic force microscopy, scanning electron microscopy, and attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. We measured physical changes as loss in tensile stress, stretching force, and weight of PU after incubations. Fungal hydrolysis of urethane bonds in the polymer backbone was demonstrated by detecting the formation of methylene di-aniline during incubations. Trapped CO2 during incubations equaled 52.6% of PU carbon. Biodegradation of PU was maximal by fungi cultured on a malt extract medium at 25 °C, pH 12, and 14:10 hrs light to dark ratio. Pretreating PU films with UV light or 1% FeSO4 or NaCl solutions further enhanced the rate of biodegradation. A range of techniques are needed to fully characterize the degradation of PU or other plastic polymers and to optimize conditions for their microbial degradation.

Birds’ wings reflect their life histories, suggesting evolutionary selection for wing shapes and moult strategies. Compared to sedentary species, long-distance migrants have narrower wings (for fast, efficient flight); they have fewer feather faults and avoid moulting flight feathers during migration (to optimise flight surface performance). It is unclear whether these patterns apply to species that fly short-intermediate distances, like tropical nomads. We compared wing shape, feather faulting, and flight-feather moult across five finch species from northern Australia with varying mobility: Pictorella Mannikins (Heteromunia pectoralis) and Gouldian Finches (Erythrura gouldiae) are highly mobile, nomadic at regional scales; Long-tailed Finches (Poephila acuticauda) and Double-barred Finches (Taeniopygia bichenovii) are sedentary with local nomadism; Crimson Finches (Neochmia phaeton) are sedentary. More mobile species had narrower wings and higher wing loading than relatively sedentary species, an...

The diet of Acorn Woodpeckers (Melanerpes formicivorus) in central coastal California consists of a mixture of high-quality (insects) and low-quality (stored acorns) food during the spring breeding season. We used stable isotope ratios obtained from blood samples to estimate possible differences in the proportion of these items being fed to nestlings and being consumed by breeding adults, as well as the extent to which the diet of nestlings shifts between insects and acorns during the nestling period. Based on both feeding observations and items recovered from nestlings, older nestlings were fed 28% acorns. Using this value as a baseline for the isotope analyses, the diet of breeding adults was estimated to consist of 90% acorns. Based on repeated samples from the same nestlings over time, the estimated proportion of acorns in their diet increased from 19% in 9- to 12-d-old nestlings to 42% in 23- to 26-d-old nestlings. There was a significant correlation between the isotope values of adults and the nestlings they fed, indicating that different groups of Acorn Woodpeckers have significantly different diets. Although important for successful reproduction in this species, stored acorns are not the primary food resource used to feed young. Instead, the availability of stored acorns allows adult Acorn Woodpeckers to provide nestlings with more protein-rich insects while maintaining themselves on relatively protein-poor, low-quality acorns. Differences in the diets of adults and their nestlings are likely widespread among species that feed, at least in part, on low-quality foods, such as fruit and seeds, during the breeding season. SINOPSIS La dieta de Melanerpes formicivorus en la parte central costera de California, consiste de una mezcla de insectos y de bellotas que las aves almacenan durante la epoca reproductiva primaveral. Utilizamos tasas de isotopos estables obtenidos de muestras de sangre para estimar la posible diferencia en la proporcion de los articulos mencionados en la dieta de los adultos y con los cuales se alimentaron a pichones, ademas del cambio entre insectos y bellotas durante el periodo de cria. Basados en observaciones de los articulos con los cuales se alimentaron a pichones y en articulos recuperados de pichones, encontramos que la dieta de los pichones mas viejos era en un 28% bellotas. Usando dicho valor como base para el analisis de isotopos, encontramos que la dieta de los adultos consistia en un 90% de bellotas. Basado en muestras repetidas del mismo pichon, estimamos que la proporcion de bellotas en la dieta de los pichones jovenes incremento de 19% (en pichones de 9–12 dias) a 42% en pichones de edad mas avanzada (23–26 dias). Hubo una correlacion significativa entre los valores de los isotopos en adultos y los pichones que estos alimentaban, lo que indico que diferentes grupos de estas aves tenian significativamente dietas diferentes. Aunque las bellotas son importantes para la reproduccion de los adultos, estas no son la fuente principal de alimento para los pichones. La disponibilidad de bellotas permite que los adultos le puedan proveer a los pichones con una dieta insectivora mas rica en proteinas, mientras que ellos se mantienen en una dieta relativamente pobre en proteinas, al ingerir bellotas de baja calidad. Diferencias en la dieta de adultos y pichones es amplia, particularmente entre especies que se alimentan (al menos en parte), durante la epoca de reproduccion, de alimentos de baja calidad, tales como frutas y semillas.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) is the cause of a serious and often fatal encephalitis. Patients who survive herpes simplex encephalitis (HSE) experience behavioral abnormalities including profound cognitive dysfunctions. We have developed a rat model of acute HSE to investigate the cognitive impairments caused by HSV-1 central nervous system (CNS) infection. Following intranasal inoculation of Lewis rats with a neurovirulent strain of HSV-1, animals shed virus in both ocular and nasal secretions and developed clinical signs of infection, including partial complex motor seizures that eventually generalized. Homogenization assays demonstrated infectious virus in the trigeminal ganglia, olfactory bulbs, and the piriform and entorhinal cortices. Histopathological assessment revealed inflammatory and hemorrhagic lesions in the trigeminal ganglia, olfactory bulbs, amygdala, hippocampus, the piriform and entorhinal cortices, and the spinal trigeminal nuclei. Viral antigens and nucleic acids were also detected within these structures by immunofluorescence microscopy and in situ hybridization, respectively. Viral-induced astrocytic hypertrophy in the CNS was demonstrated by glial fibrillary acidic protein immunoreactivity. Together, these results indicate that HSV-1 has the ability to invade, replicate, and induce site-specific CNS damage in the Lewis rat.

Because many of the features of reactivated herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) central nervous systems (CNS) infections in vivo are incompletely understood, we used an animal model to study the development of the morphological, ultrastructural, radiological and immunological changes which occurred during acute and experimentally reactivated diseases. Rabbits were intranasally inoculated with HSV-1, and their latent trigeminal ganglionic and CNS infections were reactivated by intravenous injection of cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone. Technetium brain scans were performed to localize areas of blood-brain barrier breakdown, and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF) was analysed for IgG content by radial immunodiffusion assays. Nervous system tissues were studied by in situ hybridization and by immunofluorescent, light and electron microscopic techniques. Diffuse uptake of technetium was observed as HSV-1 spread transsynaptically into the brain during the acute phase of infection, and viral antigens and nucleic acids were detected in both the CNS olfactory and trigeminal systems. During latency, viral RNA was detected in the nuclei of neurons within the CNS olfactory cerebral and entorhinal cortices, indicating that HSV-1 became latent within the same CNS structures that were involved during the acute phase of infection. Following drug-induced reactivation, the brain scans revealed a more focal breakdown of the blood-brain barrier, and both neurons and neuronal processes in the entorhinal and olfactory cortices contained viral nucleic acids which correlated with the ultrastructural presence of HSV-1 virions. During the reactivated phase of infection a marked increase in the CSF IgG index occurred without an increase in the CSF: serum albumen ratio indicating a prompt intrathecal response in infected rabbits as compared to controls. To some extent, the CSF IgG index reflected the degree of histopathological damage.

A model was developed in which reactivation of latent infections with herpes simplex virus type 1 was induced in trigeminal ganglia and central nervous system olfactory centers of rabbits by administration of cyclophosphamide and dexamethasone. Latent infections were reactivated at a significantly higher frequency in rabbits infected with a highly virulent strain of virus than in those infected with a strain of lower neurovirulence. Electroencephalographic abnormalities that were largely confined to the posterior lateral cerebral hemispheres and corresponding inflammatory lesions were seen in rabbits acutely infected with the highly virulent strain, whereas no brain electrical abnormalities and only mild inflammatory lesions were seen in rabbits acutely infected with the strain of low neurovirulence. Reactivation of the highly neurovirulent strain produced focal brain necrosis restricted to the temporal lobes, which was similar to the disease produced in humans and which correlated with progressive worsening of brain electrical abnormalities.

When foliage is exposed to rainwater the resulting solutions can be enriched or diluted with respect to certain ionic species. In the case of enrichment, it is difficult to estimate what proportion of ions has been derived from internal tissue pools versus those deposited from the atmosphere. This distinction is critical in interpreting whole-canopy interactions with rainwater, or in estimating dry deposition by leaf rinse methods. This research tested the relative importance of ion migration to surfaces of Abies balsamea (L.) Mill. during dry, interstorm periods. X-ray analysis of needles attached to living trees exposed only to filtered air for 28 days showed that this contribution was relatively small. Most of the excess ions collected in initial rinses or throughfall are derived from dry deposition during interstorm periods.

Herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) strains vary widely with regard to neurovirulence, but their tropism for specific central nervous system structures and their ability to induce seizures are poorly defined. We have used the clonally related +GC and −GC strains of HSV-1 to define the pathophysiological basis of neurovirulence in a rabbit model. Following intranasal inoculation, +GC infection was nearly uniformly fatal while -GC infection was asymptomatic. The +GC infected animals developed electroencephalographic (EEG) abnormalities which preceded severe motor seizures. Tropism of the +GC strain for specific CNS nerve centers and the expression of viral antigens within them correlated with its virulence. Although both viruses invaded and replicated within the brain, +GC replicated to slightly higher titers and expressed more abundant viral antigen than -GC. The relatively less efficient replication of — GC appeared to correlate with its temperature-sensitive phenotype in vitro. Both +GC and −GC antigens were found in cerebral cortical layers IV–VI, and in several central nervous system trigeminal and olfactory system structures. However, +GC spread more completely throughout the brain to involve the amygdala, nucleus accumbens, several brainstem nuclei and the locus ceruleus. The +GC antigens were also found in cerebral cortical layer I of animals that developed seizures. These results indicate that the ability of HSV-1 to induce electrophysiologic brain abnormalities is associated with its ability to replicate within specific brain nerve centers.

A noninvasive photodynamic method has been developed to produce focal brain necrosis using porphyrin activated in vivo with laser light. After peripheral injection of the photosensitive porphyrin derivative, Photofrin I, mice were irradiated on the posterior lateral aspect of the head through the intact depilated scalp with 632 nm argon-dye laser light. Animals were studied at one, two and seven days after irradiation. Blood-brain barrier damage was detected by the intravenous injection of Evans blue, horseradish peroxidase and heterologous immunoglobulins. At one and two days after irradiation, the lesions were characterized by extravasation of immunoglobulin and Evans blue, and by edema, ischemia and infiltration by monocytes. On the seventh day after irradiation, the lesion was smaller than it had been two days after irradiation, and had reactive changes at its edges and coagulative necrosis at its center. Extravasation of Evans blue and immunoglobulin was markedly reduced by the seventh day after irradiation, but uptake of horseradish peroxidase by macrophages located at the periphery of the lesion was evident.

Rainfall and throughfall (TF) at four canopy levels were collected sequentially during four storms in a subalpine balsam fir forest on Mount Moosilauke, New Hampshire. The chemical compositions of throughfall (TF) and “net TF” (rainfall concentrations subtracted from TF concentrations) were compared with precipitation chemistry, amounts and intensities. Net TF fluxes of ammonium, nitrate, hydrogen, potassium and sulfate ions were influenced by concentration gradients between TF and the canopy. For ions taken up by the canopy, there was less uptake at lower rainfall concentrations, and for those released, there was less loss at higher rainfall concentrations. For all these ions, the effect of concentration gradients between surface water and canopy component internal pools was also suggested by the fact that most of the release (or uptake for ammonium and nitrate) occurred on components located high in the canopy. On these components, concentration differences between TF and canopy component internal pools should be greatest. Next TF concentrations of ammonium and nitrate approached zero with cumulative precipitation, indicating that the mechanisms through which the canopy takes up these ions became saturated. Diffusion driven by concentration gradients between TF at canopy surfaces and the interiors of foliage and other canopy components is consistent with these observations. Hydrogen and potassium ions were released to TF water from canopy component surfaces. These losses from canopy components declined with cumulative precipitation, apparently by depletion of internal sources of ions. Sulfate ions were also apparently always released by this canopy to throughfall, and sulfate is the only ion considered in this study which showed a positive effect of rainfall intensity on the magnitude of ionic release from canopy components.

The effect of heat and microwave denaturation of small volumes of double-stranded plasmid DNA has been compared. Samples of intact plasmid DNA had plasmid DNA linearized by digestion with EcoRI were conventionally denatured in a boiling water bath or denatured by 2450 MHz of microwave energy for 0-300 s. Heat denaturation for periods longer than 120 s caused breakdown of linearized plasmid DNA; however, microwave denaturation for 10-300 s caused no apparent degradation of linearized DNA. Breakdown of DNA forms II and III was noted in plasmid DNA subjected to 300 s of either heat or microwave denaturation but breakdown of forms II and III occurred more quickly with heat than with microwave treatment. Microwave treatment was also found to be better than heat to denature 32P-labeled DNA probes subsequently used to detect homologous DNA samples immobilized on nitrocellulose filters. A microwave-treated 32P-labeled DNA probe was able to hybridize to DNA samples 20 times more dilute than a heat-treated 32P-labeled DNA probe. Depending on the form of DNA to be analyzed, these results indicate that small volumes of DNA solutions and radiolabeled DNA probes can be effectively denatured in a conventional microwave oven.

The ATLAS experiment at CERN plans to upgrade its Inner Tracking System for the High-Luminosity LHC in 2026. After the ALPIDE monolithic sensor for the ALICE ITS was successfully implemented in a 180 nm CMOS Imaging Sensor technology, the process was modified to combine full sensor depletion with a low sensor capacitance (≈ 2.5fF), for increased radiation tolerance and low analog power consumption. Efficiency and charge collection time were measured with comparisons before and after irradiation. This paper summarises the measurements and the ATLAS-specific development towards full-reticle size CMOS sensors and modules in this modified technology. The ATLAS experiment at CERN plans to upgrade its Inner Tracking System for the High-Luminosity LHC in 2026. After the ALPIDE monolithic sensor for the ALICE ITS was successfully implemented in a 180 nm CMOS Imaging Sensor technology, the process was modified to combine full sensor depletion with a low sensor capacitance ($\approx$ 2.5fF), for increased radiation tolerance and low analog power consumption. Efficiency and charge collection time were measured with comparisons before and after irradiation. This paper summarises the measurements and the ATLAS-specific development towards full-reticle size CMOS sensors and modules in this modified technology.