» . . . Pode-Shakked et al. now identify NCAMþALDH1þ cells as WT CSC . . . « 19th century the ‘embryonal rest’ theory proposed that cancers originate from cells that resemble those from an early embryo (for a highly recomendable review and historic overview of the CSC field; see Nguyen et al, 2012). The CSC model that eventually emerged from this has several attractive aspects for the descripti...

Background and AimsCleavers (Galium aparine) is a fast-growing herbaceous annual with a semi-self-supporting, scrambling-ascending growth habit. Mature plants often use upright species for support. It is common in hedgerows and on waste ground. This study aims to characterize the mechanical behaviour of the stem and roots of cleavers and relate this to the arrangement of structural tissue, the ...

Introduction: During the last decade, advances in tissue engineering and stem cell-based tooth regeneration have provided realistic and attractive means of replacing lost or damaged teeth. The first adult stem cells isolated from dental tissues were dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs). When transplanted with hydroxyl apatite/tri calcium phosphate (HA/TCP) powder, they formed a dentin-like structure...

BACKGROUND AND AIMS Aerenchyma provides a low-resistance O(2) transport pathway that enhances plant survival during soil flooding. When in flooded soil, soybean produces aerenchyma and hypertrophic stem lenticels. The aims of this study were to investigate O(2) dynamics in stem aerenchyma and evaluate O(2) supply via stem lenticels to the roots of soybean during soil flooding. METHODS Oxygen ...

Coal mining and related industry can increase heavy metals (HMs) concentrations in soil, atmosphere and wheat, thereby posing metal-associated human health risk via food ingestion.  In this study, 58 samples of soil, wheat, and dust were collected from Xuzhou coal mine eastern China, six kinds of HMs Pb, Cd, Cu, Zn, As and Cr were studied for their spatial distribution in wheat, enrichment in d...

The present investigation was carried out to determine the antioxidant properties in methanolic extract of leaves, stem, fruit and roots of Physalis angulata (L). The antioxidant assay was carried out using free radicals DPPH, superoxide, nitric oxide, hydrogen peroxide and hydroxyl radical. Among the extracts tested fruit and leaf extracts were found to be significant in their antioxidant prop...

Evidence is increasing to suggest that a major activity of roots is to redistribute soil water. Roots in hydraulic contact with soil generally either absorb or lose water, depending on the direction of the gradient in water potential between root and soil. This leads to phenomena such as "hydraulic lift" where dry upper soil layers drive water transfer from deep moist layers to the shallow rhiz...

Tall peas var. Alaska and dwarf peas var. Progress No. 9 were grafted onto their own roots or reciprocally grafted to determine the rootstock effect on the growth of the stem. In all cases the grafted stems grew the same as their ungrafted controls regardless of which rootstock they were grown on. When similarly grafted plants were supplied with gibberellic acid, good graft unions did not inhib...