Legumes considered as one of the most important crops worldwide. Due to high price as a PDO product, commercial products of "Fava Santorinis" are often subjected to adulterations from other legume products coming from other Lathyrus or Vicia and Pisum species. Using plant DNA barcoding regions (trnL and rpoC) coupled with High Resolution Melting (Bar-HRM) we have developed a method allowing us ...

The western Pacific subtropical high (WPSH) has a significant effect on droughts, heat waves, and tropical cyclone tracks over East Asia and the northwest Pacific. The WPSH has intensified during the past three decades, but its causes are not yet well understood. Here we show that the Pacific Decadal Oscillation (PDO) is responsible for the long-term changes in the WPSH through the meridional s...

A novel cellular homing/chemokine delivery system was developed, in which electrospun polydioxanone (PDO) scaffolds infused with Monocyte Chemotactic Protein-1 (MCP-1) were fabricated and examined for their potential to influence macrophage infiltration/adherence and for their potential to provide extended chemokine release. Over the course of 120 hours, MCP-1 released into supernatant peaked a...

Conversion of 3-hydroxypropionate (3HP) from 1,3-propanediol (PDO) was improved by expressing dehydratase gene (dhaT) and aldehyde dehydrogenase gene (aldD) of Pseudomonas putida KT2442 under the promoter of phaCAB operon from Ralstonia eutropha H16. Expression of these genes in Aeromonas hydrophila 4AK4 produced up to 21 g/L 3HP in a fermentation process. To synthesize homopolymer poly(3-hydro...

Repeated observations in the North Pacific subtropical gyre near Hawaii reveal pronounced freshening (--0.15 psu) and cooling (--0.5øC) of the upper thermocline from 1991 through 1997. The freshening appears progressively later on deeper isopycnals consistent with subduction of surface salinity anomalies at higher latitudes and subsequent southward advection. Winter rainfall anomalies in the ce...

BACKGROUND Imbalance in cofactors causing the accumulation of intermediates in biosynthesis pathways is a frequently occurring problem in metabolic engineering when optimizing a production pathway in a microorganism. In our previous study, a single knock-out Citrobacter werkmanii ∆dhaD was constructed for improved 1,3-propanediol (PDO) production. Instead of an enhanced PDO concentration on thi...

We used temperature programmed reaction spectroscopy (TPRS) and molecular beam reflectivity measurements to investigate the initial dissociation of n-butane isotopologues on PdO(101) and determine kinetic parameters governing the selectivity of initial C-H(D) bond cleavage. We observe differences in the reactivity of the n-butane isotopologues on PdO(101) due to kinetic isotope effects, and fin...

Epidemics of lathyrism, a neurological syndrome of spastic paraparesis, have occurred during severe droughts in Europe, Asia, and Africa for millenia. Causation is linked to exposure to β-N-oxalyl-L-α,β-diaminopropionic acid (β-L-ODAP), a neurotoxin in Lathyrus sativus. Lathyrism shares neurological features with konzo, a syndrome of predominantly spastic paraparesis which occurs during drought...

Cholecystokinin (CCK) has been suggested to be a contributory mediator in acute pancreatitis (AP). The aim of the present study was to assess the role of CCK in the development of oxidative stress at different stages of AP induced by pancreatic duct obstruction (PDO) in rats, using L364,718 (a potent CCK-receptor antagonist) to block CCK action. Intra-acinar oxygen free radical (OFR) generation...

A linear inverse model (LIM) is used to predict Pacific (30°S–60°N) sea surface temperature anomalies (SSTAs), including the Pacific decadal oscillation (PDO). The LIM is derived from the observed simultaneous and lagged covariance statistics of 3-month running mean Pacific SSTA for the years 1951–2000. The model forecasts exhibit significant skill over much of the Pacific for two to three seas...