The effect of electroporation parameters on the reversible permeabilization of cells in Thai basil leaves and, specifically, cells on the leaf surface was investigated, as electroporation of stomatal guard cells decreases drying times. Various combinations of PEF and MEF parameters were applied. The effect of these parameters on the electroporation of the leaf surface was assessed with microscopic

Many animal species use tools, but human technical engagement is more complex. We argue that there is coevolution between technical engagement (the manufacturing and use of tools) and advanced forms of causal cognition in the human (Homo) lineage. As an analytic tool, we present a classification of different forms of causal thinking. Human causal thinking has become detached from space and time, s

In this article, Roybon and colleagues developed a protocol to efficiently and rapidly generate hippocampus neurons from human induced pluripotent stem cells, which they used to model Alzheimer disease and develop a gene therapy approach to modulate the expression of genes involved in synaptic transmission.

BACKGROUND: Iodine has been suggested to protect against breast cancer, but there are no epidemiologic studies on individual risk. An interesting finding is that in areas where the exposure to both selenium and iodine are high (e.g., Japan), the risk of breast cancer is lower than in areas where selenium is high and iodine low (e.g., United States), or in areas where both are low (e.g., Northern E

Lunds kommuns klimatpolitiska råd bildades hösten 2018 med uppdrag att utvärdera hur Lunds kommuns samlade politik är förenlig med de klimatmål somantagits av kommunfullmäktige. Rådet, som består av forskare från Lunds universitet (LU) och SLU Alnarp, har sammantaget en bred tvär- och mångvetenskaplig kompetens och en gedigen erfarenhet av samverkan med samhället. Samarbetet mellan Lunds kommun oc

OBJECTIVE: The authors examined the association between alcohol use disorder (AUD) and risk of suicide, before and after accounting for psychiatric comorbidity, and assessed the extent to which the observed association is due to a potentially causal mechanism or genetic and familial environmental confounding factors that increase risk for both. METHODS: Longitudinal population-wide Swedish medical

Differences in pancreatic islet susceptibility during type 1 diabetes development may be explained by interislet variations. This study aimed to investigate if heterogeneities in vascular support and metabolic activity in rat and human islets may explain why some islets are attacked earlier than other islets. In rats, highly blood perfused islets were identified by injection of microspheres into t

A major challenge to plant growth and survival are changes in temperature and diminishing water supply. During acute temperature and water stress, plants often express stress proteins, such as dehydrins, which are intrinsically disordered hydrophilic proteins. In this article, we investigated how the dehydrin Lti30 from Arabidopsis thaliana stabilizes membrane systems that are exposed to large cha

BACKGROUND: The four-kallikrein (4K) panel has been demonstrated to improve prediction of aggressive prostate cancer compared with prostate-specific antigen (PSA) among men with moderately elevated PSA levels. However, the development and testing of the 4K panel has been conducted primarily in White men, with limited data in African Americans and no studies in other racial and ethnic groups. METHO

BACKGROUND: Surgery for total colonic aganglionosis (TCA) is designed to preserve continence and achieve satisfactory quality of life. This study evaluated a comprehensive group of clinical and social outcomes.METHODS: An international multicentre study from eight Nordic hospitals involving examination of case records and a patient-reported questionnaire survey of all patients born with TCA betwee

Land and climate interact in complex ways through changes in forcing and multiple biophysical and biogeochemical feedbacks across different spatial and temporal scales. This chapter assesses climate impacts on land and land impacts on climate, the human contributions to these changes, as well as land-based adaptation and mitigation response options to combat projected climate changes.

Class-C operation is leveraged to implement a K-band CMOS voltage-controlled oscillator (VCO) where the upconversion of 1/f current noise from the cross-coupled transistors in the oscillator core is robustly contained at a very low level. Implemented in a bulk 28-nm CMOS technology, the 12%-tuning-range VCO shows a phase noise as low as -112 dBc/Hz at 1-MHz offset (-86 dBc/Hz at 100 kHz offset) fr

BACKGROUND: Maternal status of long-chain PUFAs (LC-PUFAs) may be related to fetal growth. Maternal fish consumption exposes the mother to the neurotoxicant methylmercury (MeHg), which, in contrast, may restrict fetal growth. OBJECTIVE: Our aim was to examine relations between maternal LC-PUFA status at 28 wk and birth outcomes (birth weight, length, and head circumference), controlling for MeHg e

Blood mononuclear cells obtained from 17 newly diagnosed insulin-dependent diabetic (IDDM) patients treated with insulin for 5-7 days were assessed for the number of spontaneous and pokeweed mitogen (PWM)-stimulated immunoglobulin-secreting cells in a reverse haemolytic plaque assay. The spontaneous in vitro immunoglobulin secretion was evanescent and decreased in individual patients within 1-4 mo

The genetic control of insulin-dependent diabetes as well as of other autoimmune endocrine disorders have not been defined. These disorders are often said to run in families but the mode of inheritance is not understood. A most intriguing aspect of insulin-dependent diabetes is its close association with the HLA-DR specificities 3 and/or 4. More than 90% of all caucasian IDDM have either one or bo

An antiserum (R2) was raised in a rabbit against dispersed Sprague Dawley rat islet cells. The R2 antiserum contains islet cell surface antibodies, which mediate complement-dependent cytotoxicity against islet cells resulting in a block of glucose induced insulin release. Immunoprecipitation and gel electrophoretic analysis showed that R2 specifically recognizes an Mr 40 000 glycoprotein present i