2019
As water becomes a limited and costly resource, water conservation practices in turf grass management will become a necessity. Deficit irrigation (DI) is a common agricultural practice that enables reduction of water expense with minor yield loss. Plant growth regulators (PGRs) restrict plant growth and consequently affect evapotranspiration (ET) rate, soil water depletion and plant tolerance to drought. Our studies evaluated the physiological effects of the PGRs paclobutrazol (Pac) and uniconazole (Uni) in the warm weather turf grass Zoysia japonica under DI in field conditions. Our studies demonstrated that Pac and Uni reduced plant ET rate in greenhouse and field experiments. Uni, was more potent at a low concentration (25 mg L −1 ) than Pac, with greater effect on reducing ET rates, plant vertical growth and biomass accumulation while enhancing tissue chlorophyll content. Under field conditions, both Pac and Uni lowered ET and clipping biomass and raised chlorophyll levels at DI. Additionally, results suggested that Uni increased leaf concentration of abscisic acid (ABA). We conclude that PGR application to the Zoysia turf grass simultaneously improved the clipping management and lowered turf grass water requirement, while maintaining high leaf appearance under deficit irrigation conditions. © 2019, Springer Nature B.V.
The evolutionary route from plant tissue culture (IAPTC) to plant biotechnology (IAPB). Plant biotechnology is an evolutionary scientific process, formulated and maintained by our accumulated cultural-societal knowledge and the invention of new technologies (Altman and Mesoudi submitted). It emerged thousands of years ago when wheat, rice, chickpeas, potatoes, and coffee (and other plants) were first domesticated; when grains were fermented by yeasts to produce bread; and when grape juice, barley, and tubers fermentation resulted in wine, alcohol, and beer. The modern era of plant biotechnology started in the beginning of the twentieth century and is associated with the ability to grow plant cells and tissues in vitro, to regenerate and clone new plants and, later, to modify their genetic characteristics by molecular breeding, including molecular marker-assisted selection (MAS), genetic modification (GM), and, more recently, genome editing. Additional novel procedures will most probably follow in the future. © 2019, The Society for In Vitro Biology.
O. Barkai, Puig, S. , Lev, S. , Title, B. , Katz, B. , Eli-Berchoer, L. , Gutstein, H.B. , ו Binshtok, A.M.. 2019.
“Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Activates Nociceptive Neurons By Inhibiting M-Current And Contributes To Inflammatory Pain”. Pain, 160, 6, Pp. 1281-1296. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001523.
Publisher's Version Endogenous inflammatory mediators contribute to the pathogenesis of pain by acting on nociceptors, specialized sensory neurons that detect noxious stimuli. Here, we describe a new factor mediating inflammatory pain. We show that platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF)-BB applied in vitro causes repetitive firing of dissociated nociceptor-like rat dorsal root ganglion neurons and decreased their threshold for action potential generation. Injection of PDGF-BB into the paw produced nocifensive behavior in rats and led to thermal and mechanical pain hypersensitivity. We further detailed the biophysical mechanisms of these PDGF-BB effects and show that PDGF receptor-induced inhibition of nociceptive M-current underlies PDGF-BB-mediated nociceptive hyperexcitability. Moreover, in vivo sequestration of PDGF or inhibition of the PDGF receptor attenuates acute formalin-induced inflammatory pain. Our discovery of a new pain-facilitating proinflammatory mediator, which by inhibiting M-current activates nociceptive neurons and thus contributes to inflammatory pain, improves our understanding of inflammatory pain pathophysiology and may have important clinical implications for pain treatment. © 2019 International Association for the Study of Pain.
Omer Barkai, Puig, Stephanie , Lev, Shaya , Title, Ben , Katz, Ben , Eli-Berchoer, Luba , Gutstein, Howard B. , ו Binshtok, Alexander M.. 2019.
“Platelet-Derived Growth Factor Activates Nociceptive Neurons By Inhibiting M-Current And Contributes To Inflammatory Pain”. Pain, 160, 6, Pp. 1281–1296. doi:10.1097/j.pain.0000000000001523.
Publisher's Version Negativity bias suggests that the attribution of blame to governments, for alleged or actual policy failures, is disproportionately pertinent for their popularity. However, when citizens attribute blame for adverse consequences of a policy, does it make a difference which policy was it, and who was the political agent that adopted the policy? We posit that the level of blame citizens attribute to political agents for policy failures depends on three policy-oriented considerations: (1) the distance between a citizen’s ideal policy and the agent’s established policy position; (2) the distance between a citizen’s ideal policy and the agent’s concrete policy choice; and (3) the distance between the agent’s established policy position and her concrete policy choice. The inherent relationship between these three policy-oriented considerations renders their integration in one model a theoretical and methodological imperative. The model provides novel observable predictions regarding the conditions under which each of the three policy-oriented factors will produce either pronounced or subtle observable effects on blame attribution. We test the model’s predictions in two survey experiments, in Israel and in Germany. The results of both experiments are highly consistent with the model’s predictions. These finding offer an important contribution by specifying the ways in which individual-level preferences interact with politicians’ policy reputations and policy choices to shape blame attribution. Our model entails unintuitive revisions to several strands of the literature, and in the “Discussion” section we provide tentative support for the applicability of this model to other political judgments beyond blame attribution.
Jessica R Ray, Shabtai, Itamar A, Teixidó, Marc , Mishael, Yael G. , ו Sedlak, David L. 2019.
“Polymer-Clay Composite Geomedia For Sorptive Removal Of Trace Organic Compounds And Metals In Urban Stormwater”. Water Research, 157, Pp. 454 - 462. .
Publisher's Version Can mutations in cytochrome P450 3A4 (CYP3A4), the major food- and drug-metabolizing enzyme, serve as biomarkers for personalized precise medicine? Classical genetic studies provide only limited data regarding the frequencies of CYP3A4 mutations and their role in food-drug interactions. Here, in an analysis of one large database of 141,456 individuals, we found 856 SNPs (single nucleotide polymorphism), of which 312 are missense mutations, far more than the previously reported dozens. Analyzing the data further, it is demonstrated that the frequency of mutations differs among ethnic groups. Hierarchical clustering divided the mutations into seven groups, each corresponding to a specific ethnicity. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first comprehensive analysis of CYP3A4 allele frequencies in distinct ethnic groups. We suggest ethnicity based classification of CYP3A4 SNPs as the first step towards precise diet and medicine. Understanding which and when polymorphism might have clinical significance is a tremendously complex task. Using a modeling approach, we could predict changes in the binding poses of ligands in the active site of single variants. These changes might imply clinical effects of the overlooked protein-altering CYP3A4 mutations, by modifying drug metabolism and FDI. It may be concluded that dietary habits, and hence FDI, are matters of ethnicity. Consequently, ethnic-related polymorphism in CYP3A4 and diet may be one underlying mechanism of response to medical regimes. The approaches presented here have the power to highlight mutations of clinical relevance in any gene of interest, thus to complement the arsenal of classic genetic screening tools.
Background:Streptococcus mutans (S. mutans) and Candida albicans (C. albicans) are two major contributors to dental caries. They have a symbiotic relationship, allowing them to create an enhanced biofilm. Our goal was to examine whether two natural polyphenols (Padma hepaten (PH) and a polyphenol extraction from green tea (PPFGT)) could inhibit the caries-inducing properties of S. mutans and C. albicans. Methods: Co-species biofilms of S. mutans and C. albicans were grown in the presence of PH and PPFGT. Biofilm formation was tested spectrophotometrically. Exopolysaccharides (EPS) secretion was quantified using confocal scanning laser microscopy. Biofilm development was also tested on orthodontic surfaces (Essix) to assess biofilm inhibition ability on such an orthodontic appliance. Results: PPFGT and PH dose-dependently inhibited biofilm formation without affecting the planktonic growth. We found a significant reduction in biofilm total biomass using 0.625 mg/mL PPFGT and 0.16 mg/mL PH. A concentration of 0.31 mg/mL PPFGT and 0.16 mg/mL PH inhibited the total cell growth by 54% and EPS secretion by 81%. A reduction in biofilm formation and EPS secretion was also observed on orthodontic PVC surfaces. Conclusions: The polyphenolic extractions PPFGT and PH have an inhibitory effect on S. mutans and C. albicans biofilm formation and EPS secretion.
Analyzes audio recordings of interwar Hebrew plays, providing a new model for the use of sound in theater studies.
Possessed Voices tells the intriguing story of a largely unknown collection of audio recordings, a valuable tool for understanding historical theater, which preserve performances of modernist interwar Hebrew plays. Seldom used in scholarship, Ruthie Abeliovich focuses on four recordings: a 1931 recording of The Eternal Jew (1919), a 1965 recording of The Dybbuk (1922), a 1961 radio play of The Golem (1925), and a 1952 radio play of Yaakov and Rachel (1928). Abeliovich traces the spoken language of modernist Hebrew theater as grounded in multiple modalities of expressive practices, including spoken Hebrew, Jewish liturgical sensibilities supplemented by Yiddish intonation and other vernacular accents, and in relation to prevalent theatrical forms. The book shows how these performances provided Jewish immigrants from Europe with a venue for lamenting the decline of their home communities and for connecting their memories to the present. Analyzing sonic material against the backdrop of its artistic, cultural, and ideological contexts, Abeliovich develops a critical framework for the study of sound as a discipline in its own right in theater scholarship.
“The author’s focus on historicizing and analyzing sound recordings and radio plays as a means to tackle the pervasive ephemerality problem in theater studies is a novel and valuable approach that represents a significant intervention in the field. These types of sources have had scant attention in theater studies to date, but Abeliovich makes a compelling argument that they belong at the center.” — Debra Caplan, author of Yiddish Empire: The Vilna Troupe, Jewish Theater, and the Art of Itinerancy
The Bayesian posterior probability of the true state is stochastically dominated by that same posterior under the probability law of the true state. This generalizes to notions of "optimism" about posterior probabilities.
Eran Blacher, Bashiardes, Stavros , Shapiro, Hagit , Rothschild, Daphna , Mor, Uria , Dori-Bachash, Mally , Kleimeyer, Christian , Moresi, Claudia , Harnik, Yotam , Zur, Maya , ו others, . 2019.
“Potential Roles Of Gut Microbiome And Metabolites In Modulating Als In Mice”. Nature, 572, Pp. 474–480.
Microemulsions are widely studied as potential ocular drug delivery vehicles. In the present study we show the versatility of possible use microemulsions as ocular delivery vehicle. The ME is loaded with a hydrophilic drug, riboflavin phosphate (RFP) and a lipophilic, docosahexaenoic acid in triglyceride form (TG-DHA), each sep. These drugs treat keratoconus and dry eye syndrome, resp. The advantage of using ME loaded with RFP is in overcoming eye epithelium debridement during collagen crosslinking therapy for treatment of keratoconus. ME loaded with lipophilic TG-DHA provides convenient dosage in liq. aq. form of administration of highly lipophilic TG-DHA, which is known as a protective mol. in dry eye syndrome. The capability of RFP-loaded MEs was demonstrated in terms of improvement of biomech. strength of the rabbit cornea, as a result of successful penetration of RFP through the intact epithelium. TG-DHA-loaded microemulsion applied topically onto an eye with induced dry eye syndrome showed the significant relief of the dry eye condition. [on SciFinder(R)]
The stories here come from twenty-six different ethnic communities, according to the IFA classification. There are twenty-two Jewish communities: Afghanistan (2 stories), Belarus (2), Bulgaria (1), Ethiopia (1), Georgia (1), Germany (1), Greece (1), India (1), Iran (2), Iraq (3), Iraqi Kurdistan (1), Israel (2), Israel, Ashkenazi (3), Israel, Sephardi (2), Lithuania (1), Morocco (7), Poland (6), Romania (2), Tunisia (2), Yemen (2), and Yugoslavia, Sephardi (1). There are also four non-Jewish groups: Bedouin (2), Druze (2), Muslim Arab (4), and Christian Arab (1).
