Adventitious root formation of kiwifruit in relation to sampling date, IBA and Agrobacterium rubi inoculation

During the winters of 2001 and 2002, the effects of three strain of Agrobacterium rubi (A1, A16 and A18), a range of IBA concentrations (0, 2000, 4000 and 6000 ppm) alone and in combination with three strains of Agrobacterium rubi and date of cutting collection on the rooting of hardwood stem cuttings of kiwifruit cv. Hayward were evaluated. Treatments of hardwood stem cuttings of kiwifruit cv. Hayward with the bacteria, IBA and IBA plus bacteria were found to promote rooting. Highest rooting percentage was obtained from cuttings treated with 4000 ppm IBA plus A18 in cv. Hayward in both years. Higher rooting percentages were observed when shoots were collected in February rather than in January.     

Phylogenetic relationships of the Cretaceous frog Beelzebufo from Madagascar and the placement of fossil constraints based on temporal and phylogenetic evidence

The placement of fossil calibrations is ideally based on the phylogenetic analysis of extinct taxa. Another source of information is the temporal variance for a given clade implied by a particular constraint when combined with other, well-supported calibrations. For example, the frog Beelzebufo ampinga from the Cretaceous of Madagascar has been hypothesized to be a crown-group member of the New World subfamily Ceratophryinae, which would support a Late Cretaceous connection with South America. However, phylogenetic analyses and molecular divergence time estimates based on other fossils do not support this placement. We derive a metric, Δt, to quantify temporal divergence among chronograms and find that errors resulting from mis-specified calibrations are localized when additional nodes throughout the tree are properly calibrated. The use of temporal information from molecular data can further assist in testing phylogenetic hypotheses regarding the placement of extinct taxa.     

Reliability of a new virtual reality test to measure cervicocephalic kinaesthesia

The aim of this study was to investigate the cervicocephalic kinaesthesia of healthy subjects for gender and age effects and its reliability in a new virtual reality test procedure. 57 healthy subjects (30 male, 27 females; 18-64 years) were immersed into a virtual 3D scene via a headmounted display, which generated specific head movements. The joint repositioning error was determined in a static and dynamic test at the times T0, T1 (T0 + 10 minutes) and T2 (T0 + 24 hours). The intrasession reliability (T0-T1) and the intersession reliability (T0-T2) were analysed. In both tests no gender- or age-specific effects were found. In the overall group the means of the static test were 6.2°-6.9° and of the dynamic test were 4.5°-4.9°. The intratest difference in the static test was -0.16° and the intertest difference was 0.47°. The intratest difference in the dynamic test was 0.42° and the intertest difference was 0.37°. The static and dynamic test was reproducible in healthy subjects, with minor deviations, irrespective of gender and age. The smaller interindividual differences in the dynamic test could be beneficial in the comparison of healthy individuals and individuals with cervical spine disorders.     

Estimation of uncertainties in X-ray refinement results by use of perturbed structures

The uncertainties in the refined parameters for a 1.5-A X-ray structure of carbon-monoxy (FeII) myoglobin are estimated by combining energy minimization with least-squares refinement against the X-ray data. The energy minimizations, done without reference to the X-ray data, provide perturbed structures which are used to restart conventional X-ray refinement. The resulting refined structures have the same, or better, R-factor and stereochemical parameters as the original X-ray structure, but deviate from it by 0.13 A rms for the backbone atoms and 0.31 A rms for the sidechain atoms. Atoms interacting with a disordered sidechain, Arg 45 CD3, are observed to have larger positional uncertainties. The uncertainty in the B-factors, within the isotropic harmonic motion approximation, is estimated to be 15%. The resulting X-ray structures are more consistent with the energy parameters used in simulations.     

Impact of apolipoprotein A1- or lecithin:cholesterol acyltransferase-deficiency on white adipose tissue metabolic activity and glucose homeostasis in mice

High density lipoprotein (HDL) has attracted the attention of biomedical community due to its well-documented role in atheroprotection. HDL has also been recently implicated in the regulation of islets of Langerhans secretory function and in the etiology of peripheral insulin sensitivity. Indeed, data from numerous studies strongly indicate that the functions of pancreatic β-cells, skeletal muscles and adipose tissue could benefit from improved HDL functionality. To better understand how changes in HDL structure may affect diet-induced obesity and type 2 diabetes we aimed at investigating the impact of Apoa1 or Lcat deficiency, two key proteins of peripheral HDL metabolic pathway, on these pathological conditions in mouse models. We report that universal deletion of apoa1 or lcat expression in mice fed western-type diet results in increased sensitivity to body-weight gain compared to control C57BL/6 group. These changes in mouse genome correlate with discrete effects on white adipose tissue (WAT) metabolic activation and plasma glucose homeostasis. Apoa1-deficiency results in reduced WAT mitochondrial non-shivering thermogenesis. Lcat-deficiency causes a concerted reduction in both WAT oxidative phosphorylation and non-shivering thermogenesis, rendering lcat^?/? mice the most sensitive to weight gain out of the three strains tested, followed by apoa1^?/? mice. Nevertheless, only apoa1^?/? mice show disturbed plasma glucose homeostasis due to dysfunctional glucose-stimulated insulin secretion in pancreatic β-islets and insulin resistant skeletal muscles. Our analyses show that both apoa1^?/? and lcat^?/? mice fed high-fat diet have no measurable Apoa1 levels in their plasma, suggesting no direct involvement of Apoa1 in the observed phenotypic differences among groups.