Trichocomaceae in bark survive high temperatures and fire

Fifty-six species in the Trichocomaceae were recovered from bark of trees and shrubs from hot arid and temperate regions, and following one fire in a temperate region of Australia. Fungi were recovered from dry bark after incubation for up to 1 h at up to 105 degrees C. Fourteen species also regenerated on agar after their conidia were heated for 1 h at 105 degrees C. Anamorphic species were commonly recovered and widespread. Teleomorphic species were only recovered after heating the bark. In addition, anamorphic fungi were recovered from one plant species following a natural fire. The results support the view that both anamorphic and teleomorphic fungi may tolerate extreme temperatures in their environment while dry.     

Sampling uncertainty versus method uncertainty: A general framework with applications to omics biomarker selection

Uncertainty is a crucial issue in statistics which can be considered from different points of view. One type of uncertainty, typically referred to as sampling uncertainty, arises through the variability of results obtained when the same analysis strategy is applied to different samples. Another type of uncertainty arises through the variability of results obtained when using the same sample but different analysis strategies addressing the same research question. We denote this latter type of uncertainty as method uncertainty. It results from all the choices to be made for an analysis, for example, decisions related to data preparation, method choice, or model selection. In medical sciences, a large part of omics research is focused on the identification of molecular biomarkers, which can either be performed through ranking or by selection from among a large number of candidates. In this paper, we introduce a general resampling-based framework to quantify and compare sampling and method uncertainty. For illustration, we apply this framework to different scenarios related to the selection and ranking of omics biomarkers in the context of acute myeloid leukemia: variable selection in multivariable regression using different types of omics markers, the ranking of biomarkers according to their predictive performance, and the identification of differentially expressed genes from RNA-seq data. For all three scenarios, our findings suggest highly unstable results when the same analysis strategy is applied to two independent samples, indicating high sampling uncertainty and a comparatively smaller, but non-negligible method uncertainty, which strongly depends on the methods being compared.     

The ion channel,TRPM2, contributes to the pathogenesis of radiodermatitis

Radiation and Environmental Biophysics - Radiodermatitis is a painful side effect for cancer patients undergoing radiotherapy. Irradiation of the skin causes inflammation and breakdown of the...     

Plasmon-Enhanced Second Harmonic Generation: from Individual Antennas to Extended Arrays

We analyze the emission yield of the second harmonic generation (SHG) from dense ordered arrays of L-shaped Au nanoantennas within a well-defined collection angle and compare it to that of the isolated nanostructures designed with the same geometrical parameters. Thanks to the high antenna surface density, arrays display one order of magnitude higher SHG yield per unit surface with respect to isolated nanoantennas. The difference in the collected nonlinear signals becomes even more pronounced by reducing the collection angle, because of the efficient angular filtering that can be attained in dense arrays around the zero order. Albeit this key-enabling feature allows envisioning application of these platforms to nonlinear sensing, a normalization of the SHG yield to the number of excited antennas in the array reveals a reduced nonlinear emission from each individual antenna element. We explain this potential drawback in terms of resonance broadening, commonly observed in densely packed arrays, and angular filtering of the single antenna emission pattern provided by the array 0th order.