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Understanding the influence of vegetation types on soil particle-size distribution (PSD) is essential to evaluate the effects of sediment control by vegetation restoration. In this work, we studied the effects of different vegetation types, including bare land, meadow, shrub and forest on soil PSD in Jiangjiagou gully, Yunnan province, China. A total of 60 soil samples were collected and analyzed for soil particle size distribution using the laser diffraction method. Fractal theory was used to calculate multifractal parameters. The volume fraction of silt particles in shrub and forest is significantly higher than that in bare land, meadow, whereas the total volume fraction of sand particles in bare land and meadow exceed that in shrub and forest. The soil particle size distribution along soil layers has no significant difference in each vegetation type. The volumetric fractal dimension is significantly higher in forest and shrub than in bare land and grassland, but there is no significant difference between forest and shrub. In addition, soil erosion resistance exhibits significant differences of forest > shrub > grassland > bare land. Multifractal parameters are highest in bare land except for multifractal spectrum values (f (αmax) and f (αmin)) and the maximum value of singularity index (αmin). All generalized dimensions spectra curves of the PSD are sigmoidal, whereas the singular spectrum function shows an asymmetric upward convex curve. Furthermore, soil erosion resistance has significant relationships with multifractal parameters. Our results suggest that multifractal parameters of the soil PSD can predict its anti-ability to erosion. This study also provides an important insight for the evaluation of soil structure improvement and the effects of erosion control by vegetation restoration in dry-hot valley areas.

Neurotrophic herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) establishes lifelong latent infection in humans. Accumulating studies indicate that HSV-1, a risk factor of neurodegenerative diseases, exacerbates the sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). The analysis of viral genetic materials via genomic sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the current approach used for the detection of HSV-1; however, this approach is limited because of its difficulty in detecting both latent and lytic phases of the HSV-1 life cycle in infected hosts. RNAscope, a novel in situ RNA hybridization assay, enables visualized detection of multiple RNA targets on tissue sections. Here, we developed a fluorescent multiplex RNAscope assay in combination with immunofluorescence to detect neuronal HSV-1 transcripts in various types of mouse brain samples and human brain tissues. Specifically, the RNA probes were designed to separately recognize two transcripts in the same brain section: (1) the HSV-1 latency-associated transcript (LAT) and (2) the lytic-associated transcript, the tegument protein gene of the unique long region 37 (UL37). As a result, both LAT and UL37 signals were detectable in neurons in the hippocampus and trigeminal ganglia (TG). The quantifications of HSV-1 transcripts in the TG and CNS neurons are correlated with the viral loads during lytic and latent infection. Collectively, the development of combinational detection of neuronal HSV-1 transcripts in mouse brains can serve as a valuable tool to visualize HSV-1 infection phases in various types of samples from AD patients and facilitate our understanding of the infectious origin of neurodegeneration and dementia.

The Supreme Court seeks to promote orderly and effective voting through the Purcell principle, which prohibits district courts from altering election rules via injunctions on the eve of an election. Applying this principle, a court considers only the proximity of the upcoming election. The underlying rationale of the Purcell principle is to avoid possible voter confusion and election chaos caused by lastminute changes. While these are legitimate concerns, the rigid Purcell principle has led courts to blindly reject any changes proposed shortly before the election--even when the changes are necessary for an orderly, effective election. This Note identifies the drawbacks of the Purcell principle and argues for its abolition. In other words, courts should cease applying the Purcell principle and return to the Winter preliminary injunction standard, which requires courts to weigh plaintiffs' likelihood of success on the merits, any irreparable harm to parties, the balance of equities, and the public interest. The Purcell principle is ambiguous in three key ways: whether it is a stand-alone rule or a subfactor; how close the election has to be for the principle to apply; and whether it applies to appellate decisions in addition to district courts' orders. The consistent failure of the judiciary to clarify the principle in the hundreds of Purcell cases generated by the COVID-19 pandemic demonstrates that revising Purcell is impracticable. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kaposi's sarcoma-associated herpesvirus (KSHV) has latent and lytic replication phases, both of which contribute to the development of KSHV-induced malignancies. Among numerous factors identified to regulate KSHV life cycle, oxidative stress, caused by imbalanced clearing and production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), has been shown to robustly disrupt KSHV latency and induce viral lytic replication. In this study, we identify an important role of antioxidant defense factor forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) in KSHV lifecycle. Either chemical inhibition of the FoxO1 function or knockdown of FoxO1 expression led to the increase of intracellular ROS level that was subsequently sufficient to disrupt KSHV latency and induce viral lytic reactivation. On the other hand, treatment with N-acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), an oxygen free radical scavenger, led to the reduction of FoxO1 inhibition-induced ROS level and ultimately the attenuation of KSHV lytic reactivation. These findings reveal that FoxO1 plays a critical role in keeping KSHV latency in check by maintaining intracellular redox balance. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We examined the perception of hedonic attributes (flavor, texture, appearance, color, and size) to describe food likeness (FL) and acceptability (FA) of meals among 191 elders (mean age=77y): 50 Chinese (CH), 54 Africa-Americans (AA), 50 Whites (WH) and 37 Hispanics (HI), all participants of a home delivered meals program in Massachusetts. We also assessed diet quality with summary scores based on macro- and micronutrient intakes. Significantly less AAs and CHs accepted the flavor (56% in both groups; P<0.001) and the texture (59% & 60%; P<0.001) of the delivered meals, compared to WHs (90% in both attributes). FL and FA were both associated with ethnicity but not with diet quality. Flavor was the only attribute associated with FL (P<0.05). Study subjects based their evaluation of meals in cultural factors and food attributes but not on the quality of their diets. Flavor, in particular, should be treated as an important factor when designing food programs for the elderly, as this attribute is directly associated with improvements in food intakes of frail elders. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article examines several major voting rights cases in the U.S. from the last 30 years covering issues from partisan gerrymandering to vote dilution claims and access issues under section 2 of the Voting Rights Act (VRA). Topics include the constitutional and statutory bases for the right to vote, an analysis of U.S. Supreme Court cases to show how each case operates to curtail the right to a meaningful vote for all citizens, and an explanation of the Court's voting rights jurisprudence.

Major earthquakes cause serious damage to ecosystem structure and function through their huge destructive force and subsequent geohazards. Understanding the characteristics of post-earthquake land use change is of great interest to assess the effects of ecological restoration in earthquake-affected areas. However, little is known about the consequences of land use change on a small scale due to incomplete, non-comprehensive, and sparse research data. Here, we used remote-sensing images to study the land use change characteristics of the Longxi River before and after the Wenchuan earthquake by calculating the land use dynamics degree, transition matrix, and gravity center of the Longxi River Basin from 2005 to 2015. The Wenchuan earthquake disaster did not affect the main dominance of forests. Grassland, the second dominant land type, was replaced by geohazard-induced unutilized land after the earthquake. Compared with pre-earthquake in 2005, the areas of cultivated land, forest, grassland, and water area decreased, while those of construction land and unutilized land increased in 2015. The single land use dynamic degree and spatial dynamic change degree show the highest transition intensity of other land use types to unutilized land between 2005 and 2009. However, the degrees of all land use types decreased between 2009 and 2015. Both banks of the lower reach of the Longxi River had high and developing comprehensive indexes of land use degrees during the study period. The gravity centers of grassland, construction land, water, and cultivated land changed from north to south, while forest and unutilized land had the opposite pattern. Our results provide useful information for ecological restoration, ecological security, and soil-erosion control in earthquake-affected areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Neurotrophic herpes simplex virus type 1 (HSV-1) establishes lifelong latent infection in humans. Accumulating studies indicate that HSV-1, a risk factor of neurodegenerative diseases, exacerbates the sporadic Alzheimer's disease (AD). The analysis of viral genetic materials via genomic sequencing and quantitative PCR (qPCR) is the current approach used for the detection of HSV-1; however, this approach is limited because of its difficulty in detecting both latent and lytic phases of the HSV-1 life cycle in infected hosts. RNAscope, a novel in situ RNA hybridization assay, enables visualized detection of multiple RNA targets on tissue sections. Here, we developed a fluorescent multiplex RNAscope assay in combination with immunofluorescence to detect neuronal HSV-1 transcripts in various types of mouse brain samples and human brain tissues. Specifically, the RNA probes were designed to separately recognize two transcripts in the same brain section: (1) the HSV-1 latency-associated transcript (LAT) and (2) the lytic-associated transcript, the tegument protein gene of the unique long region 37 (UL37). As a result, both LAT and UL37 signals were detectable in neurons in the hippocampus and trigeminal ganglia (TG). The quantifications of HSV-1 transcripts in the TG and CNS neurons are correlated with the viral loads during lytic and latent infection. Collectively, the development of combinational detection of neuronal HSV-1 transcripts in mouse brains can serve as a valuable tool to visualize HSV-1 infection phases in various types of samples from AD patients and facilitate our understanding of the infectious origin of neurodegeneration and dementia. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A novel method for human action recognition using a deep learning network with features optimized using particle swarm optimization is proposed. The binary histogram, Harris corner points and wavelet coefficients are the features extracted from the spatiotemporal volume of the video sequence. In order to reduce the computational complexity of the system, the feature space is reduced by particle swarm optimization technique with the multi-objective fitness function. Finally, the performance of the system is evaluated using deep learning neural network (DLNN). Two autoencoders are trained independently and the knowledge embedded in the autoencoders are transferred to the proposed DLNN for human action recognition. The proposed framework achieves an average recognition rate of 91% on UT interaction set 1, 88% on UT interaction set 2, 91% on SBU interaction dataset and 94% on Weizmann dataset. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

NOTE CONTENTS INTRODUCTION 1464 1. ROOTS OF THE CURRENT CRISIS 1469 A. The Coming Wave of Vote Denial 1469 B. The Purcell Problem 1475 C. Section 3: The Voting Rights [...], Since the 2020 election cycle, two significant developments have affected voting-rights litigation. On one hand, states have ramped up their efforts to restrict access to the polls, passing a host of laws that threaten to depress turnout and deter voters, particularly members of racial, ethnic, and language minorities. At the same time, the Supreme Court&apos;s increasingly broad use of the Purcell Principle to stay lower-court injunctions has made it harder for advocates to put a stop to vote denial before it can sway elections. It also creates harmful incentives for states to delay and obstruct litigation in hopes that if courts ultimately rule against them, it will be too late for advocates to secure a remedy. Given these developments, Section 3 of the Voting Rights Act may be one of the last tools available to defend the franchise in an election year. This Note makes two observations about Section 3 that may help reinvigorate its use. First, Section 3 authorizes courts to impose preclearance based on any constitutional violation, not just those that allege intentional racial discrimination. Second, because Section 3 preclearance may be imposed following any "equitable relief," not just injunctions, it may be based on a declaratory judgment alone. This allows lower courts to bail offending jurisdictions into preclearance even when Purcell means it is too close to an election to issue an injunction. A credible threat of Section 3 preclearance would deter states from manipulating the Purcell window to restrict voting rights and prevent states that do unconstitutionally burden the right to vote from becoming repeat offenders down the road.