Drylands represent the planet's largest terrestrial biome and evidence suggests these landscapes have large potential for creating feedbacks to future climate. Recent studies also indicate that dryland ecosystems are responding markedly to climate change. Biological soil crusts (biocrusts). soil surface communities of lichens, mosses, and/or cyanobacteria. comprise up to 70% of dryland cover and help govern fundamental ecosystem functions, including soil stabilization and carbon uptake. Drylands are expected to experience significant changes in temperature and precipitation regimes, and such alterations may impact biocrust communities by promoting rapid mortality of foundational species. In turn, biocrust community shifts affect land surface cover and roughness-changes that can dramatically alter albedo. We tested this hypothesis in a full-factorial warming (+ 4 degrees C above ambient) and altered precipitation (increased frequency of 1.2 mm monsoon-type watering events) experiment on the Colorado Plateau, USA. We quantified changes in shortwave albedo via multi-angle, solar-reflectance measurements. Warming and watering treatments each led to large increases in albedo (> 30%). This increase was driven by biophysical factors related to treatment effects on cyanobacteria cover and soil surface roughness following treatment-induced moss and lichen mortality. A rise in dryland surface albedo may represent a previously unidentified feedback to future climate.

Significant progress in characterization of nanoparticles and biomolecules was enabled by the development of advanced imaging equipment with extreme spatial-resolution and sensitivity. To perform some of these analyses outside of well-resourced laboratories, it is necessary to create robust and cost-effective alternatives to existing high-end laboratory-bound imaging and sensing equipment. Towards this aim, we have designed a holographic on-chip microscope operating at an ultraviolet illumination wavelength (UV) of 266 nm. The increased forward scattering from nanoscale objects at this short wavelength has enabled us to detect individual sub-30 nm nanoparticles over a large field-of- view of > 16 mm(2) using an on-chip imaging platform, where the sample is placed at <= 0.5 mm away from the active area of an opto-electronic sensor-array, without any lenses in between. The strong absorption of this UV wavelength by biomolecules including nucleic acids and proteins has further enabled high-contrast imaging of nanoscopic aggregates of biomolecules, e.g., of enzyme Cu/Zn-superoxide dismutase, abnormal aggregation of which is linked to amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS)-a fatal neurodegenerative disease. This UV-based wide-field computational imaging platform could be valuable for numerous applications in biomedical sciences and environmental monitoring, including disease diagnostics, viral load measurements as well as air-and water-quality assessment.

Rational design of high efficient and low cost electrocatalysts for oxygen evolution reaction (OER) plays an important role in water splitting. Herein, a general gelatin-assisted wet chemistry method is employed to fabricate well-defined iron oxy-hydroxides and transitional metal doped iron oxyhydroxides nanomaterials, which show good catalytic performances for OER. Specifically, the Co-doped iron oxy-hydroxides (Co0.54Fe0.46OOH) show the excellent electrocatalytic performance for OER with an onset potential of 1.52 V, tafel slope of 47 mV/dec and outstanding stability. The ultrahigh oxygen evolution activity and strong durability, with superior performance in comparison to the pure iron oxyhydroxide (FeOOH) catalysts, originate from the branch structure of Co0.54Fe0.46OOH on its surface so as to provide many active edge sites, enhanced mass/ charge transport capability, easy release oxygen gas bubbles, and strong structural stability, which are advantageous for OER. Meanwhile, Co-doping in FeOOH nanostructures constitutes a desirable four-electron pathway for reversible oxygen evolution and reduction, which is potentially useful for rechargeable metal-air batteries, regenerative fuel cells, and other important clean energy devices. This work may provide a new insight into constructing the promising water oxidation catalysts for practical clean energy application.

The ecological success of social insects is frequently ascribed to improvements in task performance due to division of labour amongst workers. While much research has focused on improvements associated with lifetime task specialization, members of colonies can specialize on a given task over shorter time periods. Eusocial bees in particular must collect pollen and nectar rewards to survive, but most workers appear to mix collection of both rewards over their lifetimes. We asked whether bumblebees specialize over timescales shorter than their lifetime. We also explored factors that govern such patterns, and asked whether reward specialists made more foraging bouts than generalists. In particular, we described antennal morphology and size of all foragers in a single colony and related these factors to each forager's complete foraging history, obtained using radio frequency identification (RFID). Only a small proportion of foragers were lifetime specialists; nevertheless, >50% of foragers specialized daily on a given reward. Contrary to expectations, daily and lifetime reward specialists were not better foragers (being neither larger nor making more bouts); larger bees with more antennal olfactory sensilla made more bouts, but were not more specialized. We discuss causes and functions of short and long-term patterns of specialization for bumblebee colonies.

Seizure-driven brain damage in epilepsy accumulates over time, especially in the hippocampus, which can lead to sclerosis, cognitive decline, and death. Excitotoxicity is the prevalent model to explain ictal neurodegeneration. Current labeling technologies cannot distinguish between excitotoxicity and hypoxia, however, because they share common molecular mechanisms. This leaves open the possibility that undetected ischemic hypoxia, due to ictal blood flow restriction, could contribute to neurodegeneration previously ascribed to excitotoxicity. We tested this possibility with Confocal Laser Endomicroscopy (CLE) and novel stereological analyses in several models of epileptic mice. We found a higher number and magnitude of NG2+ mural-cell mediated capillary constrictions in the hippocampus of epileptic mice than in that of normal mice, in addition to spatial coupling between capillary constrictions and oxidative stressed neurons and neurodegeneration. These results reveal a role for hypoxia driven by capillary blood flow restriction in ictal neurodegeneration.

Endocytic processes are critical for cellular entry of several viruses; however, the role of endocytosis in cellular trafficking of viruses beyond virus entry is only partially understood. Here, we utilized two laboratory strains (AD169 and Towne) of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV), which are known to use cell membrane fusion rather than endocytosis to enter fibroblasts, in order to study a post-entry role of endocytosis in HCMV life cycle. Upon pharmacological inhibition of dynamin-2 or clathrin terminal domain (TD) ligand association, these strains entered the cells successfully based on the expression of immediate early viral protein. However, both the inhibitors significantly reduced the growth rates and final virus yields of viruses without inhibiting the expression of early to late viral proteins. Clathrin accumulated in the cytoplasmic virus assembly compartment (vAC) of infected cells co-localizing with virus tegument protein pp150 and the formation of vAC was compromised upon endocytic inhibition. Transmission electron micrographs (TEM) of infected cells treated with endocytosis inhibitors showed intact nuclear stages of nucleocapsid assembly but the cytoplasmic virus maturation was greatly compromised. Thus, the data presented here implicate endocytic pathways in HCMV maturation and egress.

The radar cross section of an object is an important electromagnetic property that is often measured in anechoic chambers. However, for very large and complex structures such as ships or sea and land clutters, this common approach is not practical. The use of computer simulations is also not viable since it would take many years of computational time to model and predict the radar characteristics of such large objects. We have now devised a new scaling technique to overcome these difficulties, and make accurate measurements of the radar cross section of large items. In this article we demonstrate that by reducing the scale of the model by a factor 100,000, and using near infrared wavelength, the radar cross section can be determined in a tabletop setup. The accuracy of the method is compared to simulations, and an example of measurement is provided on a 1mm highly detailed model of a ship. The advantages of this scaling approach is its versatility, and the possibility to perform fast, convenient, and inexpensive measurements.

Respiratory diseases such as asthma, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), and lung infections have critical consequences on mortality and morbidity in humans. The aims of the present study were to examine the mechanisms by which CXCL12 affects MUC1 transcription and airway inflammation, which depend on activator of G-protein signaling (AGS) 3 and to identify specific molecules that suppress CXCL12-induced airway inflammation by acting on G-protein-coupled receptors. Herein, AGS3 suppresses CXCL12-mediated upregulation of MUC1 and TNF alpha by regulating G(alpha i). We found that the G-protein regulatory (GPR) motif peptide in AGS3 binds to G(alpha i) and downregulates MUC1 expression; in contrast, this motif upregulates TNF alpha expression. Mutated GPR Q34A peptide increased the expression of MUC1 and TGF beta but decreased the expression of TNF alpha and IL-6. Moreover, CXCR4-induced dendritic extensions in 2D and 3D matrix cultures were inhibited by the GPR Q34A peptide compared with a wild-type GPR peptide. The GPR Q34A peptide also inhibited CXCL12-induced morphological changes and inflammatory cell infiltration in the mouse lung, and production of inflammatory cytokines in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid and the lungs. Our data indicate that the GPR motif of AGS3 is critical for regulating MUC1/Muc1 expression and cytokine production in the inflammatory microenvironment.

Insomnia is common in children, and is associated with decreased school performance and increased psychopathology. Although adult insomnia is linked to worsened health-related quality of life (HRQOL), there is insufficient data evaluating insomnia and HRQOL in children. We examined the HRQOL and health associations of insomnia in a longitudinal cohort of 194 children (96 girls, age at study start 8.7 +/- 1.6 years, age at data analysis 15.0 +/- 1.8 years) over 7 years. International Classification of Sleep Disorders, second edition (ICSD2) derived insomnia was seen intermittently in 27% of children, and was persistent in 4%. Children reporting ICSD2-derived insomnia had lower HRQOL. Additionally, the presence of insomnia was associated with an increased risk of reporting a new medical condition (intermittent insomnia odds ratio 5.9 [95% CI 1.3-26.7, p = 0.04], persistent insomnia odds ratio 8 [95% CI 2.3-27.7, p = 0.001]). Persistent ICSD2-derived insomnia was associated with an increased risk of reporting a new medication (odds ratio 4.9 (95% CI 1.0-23.6), p = 0.049), and reporting a new psychiatric medication (odds ratio 13.7, 95% CI: 2.6-73.5, p = 0.002). These associations were present even after adjusting for socioeconomic factors and the presence of obstructive sleep apnea. Insomnia in children is associated with worsened HRQOL and health outcomes.

Animal personality, defined as consistent differences between individuals in behavior, has been the subject of hundreds if not thousands of papers. However, little work explores the fitness consequences of variation in behavior within individuals, or intraindividual variability (IIV). We probe the effects of behavioral IIV on predator-prey interaction outcomes in beach-dwelling jumping spiders (Terralonus californicus). Prior studies have found that spiders with higher body condition (body mass relative to size) behave more variably. Thus, we hypothesized that jumping spider activity level IIV would relate positively to foraging performance. To address this, we tested for associations between activity IIV, average activity level, and two measures of foraging success in laboratory mesocosms: change in spider mass and the number of prey killed. Activity IIV positively correlated with the mass that spiders gained from prey, but not with the number of prey killed. This suggests that spiders with high IIV consumed a greater proportion of their prey or used less energy. Interestingly, average activity level (personality) predicted neither metric of foraging success, indicating that behavioral IIV can predict metrics of success that personality does not. Therefore, our findings suggest that IIV should be considered alongside personality in studies of predator-prey interactions.