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International Journal of Molecular... Apr 2024, also known as Chinese mahogany, is a high-quality and fast-growing wood species with a high economic value. The wood properties of of different provenances vary...
, also known as Chinese mahogany, is a high-quality and fast-growing wood species with a high economic value. The wood properties of of different provenances vary significantly. In this study, we conducted comprehensive transcriptome and metabolome analyses of red and non-red wood cores of different provenances to compare their wood properties and explore the differential metabolites and genes that govern the variation in their wood properties. Through combined analyses, three differential genes and two metabolites were identified that are possibly related to lignin synthesis. The lignin content in wood cores from of different provenances shows significant variation following systematic measurement and comparisons. The gene Tci09G002190, one of the three differential genes, was identified as a member of the (Cinnamyl alcohol dehydrogenase) gene family of , which is associated with lignin synthesis. Our data provide insights into the determinants of the wood properties in , providing a solid foundation for research into the subsequent mechanisms of the formation of wood.
Topics: Wood; Metabolome; Transcriptome; Lignin; Gene Expression Regulation, Plant; Gene Expression Profiling; Plant Proteins; Alcohol Oxidoreductases
PubMed: 38674126
DOI: 10.3390/ijms25084541 -
BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) Apr 2024
Topics: Tobacco Industry; Humans; Education, Medical, Continuing; Conflict of Interest
PubMed: 38670579
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.q950 -
The New Phytologist Jul 2024Contemporary climate change will push many tree species into conditions that are outside their current climate envelopes. Using the Eucalyptus genus as a model, we...
Contemporary climate change will push many tree species into conditions that are outside their current climate envelopes. Using the Eucalyptus genus as a model, we addressed whether species with narrower geographical distributions show constrained ability to cope with warming relative to species with wider distributions, and whether this ability differs among species from tropical and temperate climates. We grew seedlings of widely and narrowly distributed Eucalyptus species from temperate and tropical Australia in a glasshouse under two temperature regimes: the summer temperature at seed origin and +3.5°C. We measured physical traits and leaf-level gas exchange to assess warming influences on growth rates, allocation patterns, and physiological acclimation capacity. Warming generally stimulated growth, such that higher relative growth rates early in development placed seedlings on a trajectory of greater mass accumulation. The growth enhancement under warming was larger among widely than narrowly distributed species and among temperate rather than tropical provenances. The differential growth enhancement was primarily attributable to leaf area production and adjustments of specific leaf area. Our results suggest that tree species, including those with climate envelopes that will be exceeded by contemporary climate warming, possess capacity to physiologically acclimate but may have varying ability to adjust morphology.
Topics: Eucalyptus; Plant Leaves; Species Specificity; Climate Change; Temperature; Seedlings; Acclimatization; Australia; Geography
PubMed: 38666344
DOI: 10.1111/nph.19774 -
Micron (Oxford, England : 1993) Jul 2024Microtextures imprinted on the surface of quartz grains provide in-depth information on the environmental conditions and sedimentary processes that affected the study...
Microtextures imprinted on the surface of quartz grains provide in-depth information on the environmental conditions and sedimentary processes that affected the study sediments. Microtextural analyses are therefore widely used in the provenance studies of sediments. In order to minimize the subjectivity of microtextural recognition, we propose a new software, called DeepGrain (source codes are available at https://github.com/deepgrains/deepgrain), for the automatic identification of microtextures on the surface of quartz grains using the DeepLabV3 model with applied improving techniques. The approach provides an accuracy of 99 % of the area of the tested grains and 63 % of the mechanical features on the surfaces of the tested grains. The inference of a single SEM image of quartz grain took an average of 3.10 sec, leading to a significant reduction in the analysis time of a single grain.
PubMed: 38663276
DOI: 10.1016/j.micron.2024.103638 -
PeerJ. Computer Science 2024The robust development of the blockchain distributed ledger, the Internet of Things (IoT), and fog computing-enabled connected devices and nodes has changed our...
The robust development of the blockchain distributed ledger, the Internet of Things (IoT), and fog computing-enabled connected devices and nodes has changed our lifestyle nowadays. Due to this, the increased rate of device sales and utilization increases the demand for edge computing technology with collaborative procedures. However, there is a well-established paradigm designed to optimize various distinct quality-of-service requirements, including bandwidth, latency, transmission power, delay, duty cycle, throughput, response, and edge sense, and bring computation and data storage closer to the devices and edges, along with ledger security and privacy during transmission. In this article, we present a systematic review of blockchain Hyperledger enabling fog and edge computing, which integrates as an outsourcing computation over the serverless consortium network environment. The main objective of this article is to classify recently published articles and survey reports on the current status in the domain of edge distributed computing and outsourcing computation, such as fog and edge. In addition, we proposed a blockchain-Hyperledger Sawtooth-enabled serverless edge-based distributed outsourcing computation architecture. This theoretical architecture-based solution delivers robust data security in terms of integrity, transparency, provenance, and privacy-protected preservation in the immutable storage to store the outsourcing computational ledgers. This article also highlights the changes between the proposed taxonomy and the current system based on distinct parameters, such as system security and privacy. Finally, a few open research issues and limitations with promising future directions are listed for future research work.
PubMed: 38660154
DOI: 10.7717/peerj-cs.1933 -
The Lancet. Digital Health Jun 2024With the rapid growth of interest in and use of large language models (LLMs) across various industries, we are facing some crucial and profound ethical concerns,... (Review)
Review
With the rapid growth of interest in and use of large language models (LLMs) across various industries, we are facing some crucial and profound ethical concerns, especially in the medical field. The unique technical architecture and purported emergent abilities of LLMs differentiate them substantially from other artificial intelligence (AI) models and natural language processing techniques used, necessitating a nuanced understanding of LLM ethics. In this Viewpoint, we highlight ethical concerns stemming from the perspectives of users, developers, and regulators, notably focusing on data privacy and rights of use, data provenance, intellectual property contamination, and broad applications and plasticity of LLMs. A comprehensive framework and mitigating strategies will be imperative for the responsible integration of LLMs into medical practice, ensuring alignment with ethical principles and safeguarding against potential societal risks.
Topics: Humans; Artificial Intelligence; Natural Language Processing; Intellectual Property
PubMed: 38658283
DOI: 10.1016/S2589-7500(24)00061-X -
BMJ (Clinical Research Ed.) Apr 2024
Topics: Humans; Canada; Insurance, Pharmaceutical Services; COVID-19
PubMed: 38649176
DOI: 10.1136/bmj.q887 -
Frontiers in Plant Science 2024Information about the resistance and adaptive potential of tree species and provenances is needed to select suitable planting material in times of rapidly changing...
Information about the resistance and adaptive potential of tree species and provenances is needed to select suitable planting material in times of rapidly changing climate conditions. In this study, we evaluate growth responses to climatic fluctuations and extreme events for 12 provenances of northern red oak ( L.) that were tested across three trial sites with distinct environmental conditions in Germany. Six provenances each were sourced from the natural distribution in North America and from introduced stands in Germany. We collected increment cores of 16 trees per provenance and site. Dendroecological methods were used to compare provenance performance and establish climate-growth relationships to identify the main growth limiting factors. To evaluate the provenance response to extreme drought and frost events, three site-specific drought years were selected according to the Standardized Precipitation Evapotranspiration Index (SPEI) and 2010 as a year with an extreme late frost event. Resistance indices for these years were calculated and assessed in relation to overall growth performance. We observed a high variation in growth and in the climate sensitivity between sites depending on the prevailing climatic conditions, as well as a high intra-specific variation. Overall, summer drought and low temperatures in the early growing season appear to constrain the growth of red oak. The resistance of provenances within sites and extreme years showed considerable rank changes and interaction effects. We did not find a trade-off between growth and resistance to late frost, namely, fast growing provenances had a high frost hardiness. Further, there was no evidence for a trade-off between growth and drought hardiness. Still, responses to drought or late frost differ between provenances, pointing to dissimilar adaptive strategies. Provenances from introduced (i.e. German) stands represent suitable seed sources, as they combine a higher growth and frost hardiness compared to their North American counterparts. Drought hardiness was slightly higher in the slow-growing provenances. The results provide a better understanding of the variable adaptive strategies between provenances and help to select suitable planting material for adaptive forest management.
PubMed: 38645393
DOI: 10.3389/fpls.2024.1374498 -
Environmental Research Jul 2024The widespread application of rare earth elements (REEs) in contemporary industries and agriculture, has caused emerging contaminant accumulation in aquatic...
The widespread application of rare earth elements (REEs) in contemporary industries and agriculture, has caused emerging contaminant accumulation in aquatic environments. However, there is a limited scope of risk assessments, particularly in relation to human health associated with REEs. This study investigated the provenance, and contamination levels of REEs, further evaluating their environmental and human health risks in river sediments from an agricultural basin. The concentrations of REEs ranged from 30.5 to 347.7 mg/kg, with showing an upward trend from headwater to downstream. The positive matrix factorization (PMF) model identified natural and anthropogenic input, especially from agricultural activities, as the primary source of REEs in Mun River sediments. The contamination assessment by the geoaccumulation index (I-geo) and pollution load index (PLI) confirmed that almost individual REEs in the samples were slightly to moderately polluted. The potential ecological risk index (PERI) showed mild to moderate risks in Mun River sediment. Regular fertilization poses pollution and ecological risks to agricultural areas, manifesting as an enrichment of light REEs in river sediments. Nevertheless, Monte Carlo simulations estimated the average daily doses of total REEs from sediments to be 0.24 μg/kg/day for adults and 0.95 μg/kg/day for children, comfortably below established human health thresholds. However, the risk of REE exposure appears to be higher in children, and sensitivity analyses suggested that REE concentration contributed more to health risks, whether the adults or children. Thus, concerns regarding REE contamination and risks should be raised considering the wide distribution of agricultural regions, and further attention is warranted to assess the health risks associated with other routes of REE exposure.
Topics: Metals, Rare Earth; Rivers; Thailand; Humans; Water Pollutants, Chemical; Geologic Sediments; Risk Assessment; Environmental Monitoring; Environmental Exposure
PubMed: 38643820
DOI: 10.1016/j.envres.2024.118968 -
Environmental Pollution (Barking, Essex... May 2024The knowledge of major sources, sinks, and the burial fate of various pollutants added to modern aquatic ecosystems under changing environmental conditions is limited...
The knowledge of major sources, sinks, and the burial fate of various pollutants added to modern aquatic ecosystems under changing environmental conditions is limited but crucial for our sustainability. In this context, the spatial distributions and causative factors of organic matter (OM) and heavy metal accumulations have been explored in modern lacustrine sediments of a large urbanized and protected wetland (ULB: Upper Lake Bhopal) in Central India. For this purpose, geochemical properties, in particular, stable isotopes (δC and δN) were measured in the ULB surficial sediments (core depth ∼0-1 cm; n = 19), and additionally collected riverbed sediments (n = 2) and atmospheric free-fall dust samples (n = 3) from the lake periphery. The major and trace element data indicate widespread mafic sediment provenance and nearly dysoxic lacustrine conditions. The riverine supply of soil OM from cropped lands and the lake productivity (algae, largely sustained by nutrients from sewage and agricultural runoff) are the major OM sources to the western and eastern lake portions, respectively. The fractional contribution from autochthonous TOC (∼0.19-0.95, mean ∼0.62) predominates that of allochthonous TOC (∼0.05-0.81, mean ∼0.38). Whereas, atmospheric dust deposition is a primary anthropogenic source of heavy metals (Pb and Zn). The lake productivity rather than soil OM or any mineral sorbent is found responsible for the anthropogenic enrichments of Pb and Zn in the ULB surficial sediments, especially on the eastern ULB portion under high anthropogenic pressure. Therefore, the settled OM (primarily autochthonous) being oxidizable acts as a temporary but major sink of anthropogenic heavy metals in modern lacustrine sediments, which are vulnerable to heavy metal efflux to the water column by sediment diagenesis.
Topics: Geologic Sediments; Metals, Heavy; Environmental Monitoring; Lakes; Water Pollutants, Chemical; India; Wetlands; Carbon Isotopes; Nitrogen Isotopes
PubMed: 38631445
DOI: 10.1016/j.envpol.2024.123964