Unique Root Research Articles

A patient with probable neuro‐Behçet's disease presenting a unique linear pontine trigeminal root lesion and a linear subcortical white matter lesion

AbstractBackgroundNeuro‐Behçet's disease (NBD) is typically characterized by inflammatory lesions with vasculitis in the brainstem and basal ganglia. Subcortical white matter lesions and linear lesions along the intramedullary trigeminal nerve are rare, and these lesions make NBD difficult to differentiate from other demyelinating diseases, such as multiple sclerosis.Case presentationA 48‐year‐old woman with an 11‐year history of intestinal Behçet's disease was referred to Department of Neurology, Tohoku Medical and Pharmaceutical University Hospital, Sendai, Japan owing to numbness on the left side of her face and oral cavity for 12 days. Neurological examination revealed left facial hypoesthesia. Brain magnetic resonance imaging showed a linearly shaped T2/fluid‐attenuated inversion recovery hyperintense magnetic resonance imaging lesion in the left pons, which corresponded neuroanatomically with the intramedullary trigeminal root. Based on the presumptive diagnosis of NBD, a course of high‐dose intravenous methylprednisolone was administered on the 14th hospital day. Thereafter, the patient's neurological symptoms improved. However, on the 18th hospital day, the patient developed a linear subcortical white matter lesion with vasogenic edema in the right hemisphere that resolved after the re‐administration of high‐dose intravenous methylprednisolone.ConclusionThe case of a patient with NBD presenting with atypical brain lesions is reported. The NBD in this case might have a pathogenetic mechanism that is different from that of typical NBD.

On a Maximum Eigenvalue of Third-Order Pairwise Comparison Matrix in Analytic Hierarchy Process and Convergence of Newton\u2019s Method

Nowadays, the analytic hierarchy process is an established method of multiple criteria decision making in the field of Operations Research. Pairwise comparison matrix plays a crucial role in the analytic hierarchy process. The principal (maximum magnitude) eigenvalue of the pairwise comparison matrix can be utilized for measuring the consistency of the decision maker’s judgment. The simple transformation of the maximum magnitude eigenvalue is known to be Saaty’s consistency index. In this short note, we shed light on the characteristic polynomial of a pairwise comparison matrix of third order. We will show that the only real-number root of the characteristic equation is the maximum magnitude eigenvalue of the third-order pairwise comparison matrix. The unique real-number root appears in the area where it is greater than 3, which is equal to the order of the matrix. By applying usual Newton’s method to the characteristic polynomial of the third-order pairwise comparison matrix, we see that the sequence generated from the initial value of 3 always converges to the maximum magnitude eigenvalue.

Screening of Rice Varieties based on Remodeling of Root Architecture Linked to Enhanced Phosphorus Transporters and Ethylene Signaling for Better Phosphorous Acquisition under Limiting Conditions

Root architectural modifications in response to altered nutrient level can be used as selection marker for better adapted rice varieties. In this study, we screened six local rice varieties commonly grown in Pakistan, using their unique root architecture and several molecular markers to identify best adapted local variety under phosphorus limiting conditions. Our data showed that rice variety with significant changes in its three-dimensional root architecture system (RSA) and enhanced expression of phosphorus transporters (OsPT2, OsPT4 and OsPT6) is the best variety to handle stress as compared to other varieties. Along with development of screening strategy/method, our data provided evidence that phosphorus starvation leads to upregulation of stress hormone ethylene, which regulates root elongation and root hair development therefore facilitating root architecture modification. We then further checked, how to mitigate or enhance phosphorus starvation responses by application of hormones exogenously, our results showed that ethylene application/treatment enhances phosphorus starvation responses, whereas cytokinin on the other hand reverses deficiency effects which implicates hormonal cross talk is key to modulate P-deficiency responses in rice. This study provides an easy and quick method of analysis of root architecture as physiological marker for rice screening and improve crop yield by selecting best adapted variety for P deficient soils. In future, detail study for understanding phytohormone mediated transcriptomic changes in response to nutrient deficiency and in correlation with physiological response will help to select better adapted varieties that will eventually result in increase of rice yield.

Antitumor immunity enhancement through Newcastle viral oncolysate in mice model: A promising method to treat tumors.

A Newcastle disease virus (NDV) oncolysate has been established as a unique and effective immune-stimulatory root for tumor treatment. Thus, the aim of the current study was to investigate the effects of intratumoral administration of NDV oncolysate on immune response and tumor regression of C57BL/6 mouse model of human papillomavirus (HPV) related transplanted with TC-1 syngeneic cancer cells. To further investigate the mechanism underlying the antitumor response, cytolytic and lymphocyte proliferation responses in splenocytes were measured using lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) release and MTT assays, respectively. In this regard, levels of IL-10, IFN-γ, and IL-4 were measured using ELISA after re-stimulation. The immune responses efficacy was evaluated by in vivo tumor regression assay. The results showed that immunization with the different titers of NDV lysate significantly reduced tumor volume in comparison with a combination of virus lysate and tumor cell lysate. Also, virus lysate could significantly enhance cytotoxic T lymphocyte production and lymphocyte proliferation rates versus tumor cell lysate. Also, our major findings are that the peritumorally injection of NDV oncolysate effectively induces antitumor immune responses through increased levels of IL-4, IFN-γ, and reduction of IL-10. These results indicate that this treatment is a specific, active immune mechanism stimulator, and may prove to be a useful therapeutic for a treatment against cervical cancers and merits further investigation.

On the Roots of the Modified Orbit Polynomial of a Graph

The definition of orbit polynomial is based on the size of orbits of a graph which is OG(x)=∑ix|Oi|, where O1,…,Ok are all orbits of graph G. It is a well-known fact that according to Descartes’ rule of signs, the new polynomial 1−OG(x) has a positive root in (0,1), which is unique and it is a relevant measure of the symmetry of a graph. In the current work, several bounds for the unique and positive zero of modified orbit polynomial 1−OG(x) are investigated. Besides, the relation between the unique positive root of OG in terms of the structure of G is presented.

Network Analyzing by the Aid of Orbit Polynomial

This article aims to be a further contribution to the research on structural complexity networks. Here, we emphasize measures to determine symmetry. The so-called “orbit polynomial” is defined by OG(x)=∑iaixi, where ai is the number of orbits of size i. Furthermore, the graph polynomial 1−OG(x) has a unique positive root in the interval (0,1), which can be considered as a relevant measure of the symmetry of a graph. In the present paper, we studied some properties of the orbit polynomial with respect to the stabilizer elements of each vertex. Furthermore, we constructed graphs with a small number of orbits and characterized some classes of graphs in terms of calculating their orbit polynomials. We studied the symmetry structure of well-known real-world networks in terms of the orbit polynomial.

Evolutionary dynamics of cooperation in the N-person stag hunt game

In this paper, we consider the N-person stag hunt game based on the two-person stag hunt game and assume that the payoff of successful stag hunters is larger than that of hare hunters, which is an important feature of the game, but is often ignored in previous works. We first study the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation for the game in infinite well-mixed populations by using the replicator equation, and find that there always exists only one interior equilibrium which is unstable. We then investigate the game in finite well-mixed populations by applying the Markov process, and observe that the equation of gradient of selection always has a unique interior root, which is consistent with the finding in infinite populations. We finally consider the game in structured populations by means of the pair approximation approach. We accordingly obtain the dynamical equation for weak selection to depict the evolutionary dynamics of cooperation in structured populations, and find that there still exists the case in which there is only one interior unstable equilibrium. Our work unveils the universal characteristics of cooperative dynamics in different scenarios for the N-person stag hunt game.

INFLUENCE OF CONVENTIONAL AND NON-CONVENTIONAL ORGANIC SOURCES AND INDUSTRIAL REFUSE FOR YIELD AND QUALITY ATTRIBUTES OF RADISH

Radish is a unique root vegetable cultivated in India for its tender roots, consumed as a salad or cooked vegetable. The soil was collected from Vallampadugai, Chidambaram taluk farmer’s field having sandy loam soil texture, pH 7.0, EC 1.37 dSm-1, (textural class: Typic ustifluvents). A pot experiment was executed out in the pot culture yard of Annamalai University. Organic sources viz., FYM (12.5 and 25 t ha-1), non-conventional organic sources viz., household solid waste compost (12.5 and 25 t ha-1) and industrial refuse viz., rice hull ash (5 and 10 t ha -1) and bagasse ash (5 and 10 t ha-1) with 100% RDF and 75% RDF. There were 9 treatment combinations replicated thrice in CRD. The results showed that maximum root yield (845.9g pot-1) and shoot yield (501.9 g pot -1) were recorded in treatment, receiving 75% RDF + FYM @ 25 t ha-1 (T5). The highest chlorophyll content (1.38 mg g-1), total carbohydrates (4.76%), ascorbic acid (15.9 mg kg-1), and crude protein (0.85%) were registered in T5 (75% RDF+FYM @ 25 t ha-1)

Multifunctional peptide-conjugated nanocarriers for pulp regeneration in a full-length human tooth root

Dental pulp is a highly vascularized tissue, situated in an inextensible environment surrounded by rigid dentinal walls. The pulp receives its blood supply solely from the small apical foramen of a tooth root. Due to the unique anatomy that controls nutrition supply, regeneration of pulp tissue in a full-length tooth root has long been a challenge in regenerative endodontics. In this study, we designed and synthesized a multifunctional peptide-conjugated, pH-sensitive, non-viral gene vector for fast revascularization and pulp regeneration in a full-length human tooth root. The multifunctional peptide was designed to have distinctive features, including a cell-penetrating peptide to enhance cellular uptake, a nuclear localization signal peptide to assist in the translocation of an angiogenic gene into the nucleus, and a fluorescent tryptophan residue to visualize and quantify the transfection efficiency. Furthermore, a pH-sensitive dimethylmaleic anhydride (DMA) was integrated with the multifunctional peptide to enhance the transfected gene complex to escape from endosomes/lysosomes after internalization. In vitro experiments showed that the multifunctional non-viral gene vector significantly increased internalization and gene transfection efficiency as well as reduced cytotoxicity. After dental pulp stem cells (DPSCs) were transfected with the multifunctional gene vector/pVEGF complexes, the expression of VEGF from the DPSCs was upregulated for more than eight folds, which in turn greatly enhanced endothelial cell migration and vascular-like tube formation. Six weeks after implantation, the VEGF-transfected DPSCs accelerated new blood vessel formation and the regenerated pulp tissue occupied most of the area in the canal of a full-length human tooth root. The multifunctional peptide conjugated non-viral gene delivery is a safe and effective approach for regenerative endodontics. Statement of SignificancePulp regeneration in a full-length tooth root canal has long been a challenge in regenerative endodontics. This is due to the unique root anatomy that allows the blood supply of the tooth root only from a small apical foramen (< 1 mm), leading to a severe barrier for revascularization during pulp regeneration. In this work, we designed a multifunctional peptide-conjugated, pH-sensitive, non-viral gene vector to address this challenge. Our work shows that the peptide-conjugated system was an excellent carrier for fast revascularization and pulp tissue regeneration in a full-length toot root. This study will interest the multidisciplinary readership in gene delivery, biomaterials, and dental/craniofacial tissue engineering community.

Implicit and explicit discrete‐time realizations of homogeneous differentiators

AbstractThis article presents explicit and implicit discrete‐time realizations for a class of homogeneous sliding mode‐based differentiators. The proposed approach relies on the method of exact discretization for linear systems with a zero‐order holder. The two discrete‐time schemes present the homogeneity property and, after a finite time, the accuracy of its continuous‐time counterpart, even in the presence of bounded noise. In comparison to the explicit realization, which makes it possible to determine the state of the system later from the state at present, for this case, the implicit method requires finding a solution by solving generalized equations that involve the current state of the system and two support variables. Therefore, this document proves that the polynomial's unique positive root defines the required solution as part of the main results. Hence, it is possible to introduce a non‐anticipative method to implement the implicit discrete‐time realization, including an appropriate root‐finding method for the polynomial. Finally, the simulation results include comparisons between the proposed implicit and explicit discrete methods with other existing schemes. Numerical studies clearly show that the implicit method supersedes the explicit one, consistent with the implicit and explicit time discretization of other continuous‐time algorithms.

Primitive sets of words

Given a (finite or infinite) subset X of the free monoid A⁎ over a finite alphabet A, the rank of X is the minimal cardinality of a set F such that X⊆F⁎. We say that a submonoid M generated by k elements of A⁎ is k-maximal if there does not exist another submonoid generated by at most k words containing M. We call a set X⊆A⁎primitive if it is the basis of a |X|-maximal submonoid. This definition encompasses the notion of primitive word — in fact, {w} is a primitive set if and only if w is a primitive word. By definition, for any set X, there exists a primitive set Y such that X⊆Y⁎. We therefore call Y a primitive root of X. As a main result, we prove that if a set has rank 2, then it has a unique primitive root. To obtain this result, we prove that the intersection of two 2-maximal submonoids is either the empty word or a submonoid generated by one single primitive word.For a single word w, we say that the set {x,y} is a bi-root of w if w can be written as a concatenation of copies of x and y and {x,y} is a primitive set. We prove that every primitive word w has at most one bi-root {x,y} such that |x|+|y|<|w|. That is, the bi-root of a word is unique provided the word is sufficiently long with respect to the size (sum of lengths) of the root.Our results are also compared to previous approaches that investigate pseudo-repetitions, where a morphic involutive function θ is defined on A⁎. In this setting, the notions of θ-power, θ-primitive and θ-root are defined, and it is shown that any word has a unique θ-primitive root. This result can be obtained with our approach by showing that a word w is θ-primitive if and only if {w,θ(w)} is a primitive set.

Baring the roots of nodulation.

Root nodules that form on legumes, such as garden pea and soybean, are the salient feature of symbiosis with nitrogen-fixing soil bacteria. It is now shown that formation of these unique lateral root organs necessitates co-option of elements mediating radial root patterning.

INSIDER TRADING WITH TEMPORARY PRICE IMPACT

We model an informed agent with information about the future value of an asset trying to maximize profits when the agent’s trades are subjected to a transaction cost as well as a market maker tasked with setting fair transaction prices. In a single auction model, equilibrium is characterized by the unique root of a particular polynomial. Analysis of this polynomial with small levels of risk-aversion and transaction costs reveal a dimensionless parameter which captures several orders of asymptotic accuracy of the equilibrium behavior. In a continuous time analogue of the single auction model, incorporation of a transaction costs allows the informed agent’s optimal trading strategy to be obtained in feedback form. Linear equilibrium is characterized by the unique solution to a system of two ordinary differential equations, of which one is forward in time and one is backward. When transaction costs are in effect, the price set by the market maker in equilibrium is not fully revealing of the informed agent’s private signal, leaving an information gap at the end of the trading interval. When considering vanishing transaction costs, the equilibrium trading strategy and pricing rules converge to their frictionless counterparts.

Nonlocal phase field approach for modeling damage in brittle materials

In this work, we present a nonlocal phase field model for damage in brittle materials. We define a non-conservative order parameter for representing the damage. The Helmholtz free energy functional of the Ginzburg-Landau type that incorporates a new degradation function for the elastic strain energy is considered. The hypothesis of strain equivalence and strain energy equivalence from continuum damage mechanics are adopted to predict the evolution of damage. A conjugate force to damage is derived for both these hypothesis to arrive at a damage criterion. The strong interrelation between phase field models and gradient damage models has been brought out. The solution of the nonlinear system of coupled equation is achieved by a change in the modified Arc-length method and considering a staggered approach. In this approach a linearization of the Crisfield Arc-length quadratic equation for calculation of load increment factor results in an unique root. Numerical examples are presented to demonstrate the usefulness of the proposed damage model.

Posthatching developmental studies on the tongue and laryngeal entrance of the common quail (Coturnix coturnix, Linnaeus, 1758) in different five age-stages.

The present study represents the first trial to characterize the ultrastructural of five ages of Coturnix coturnix. Lingual nail had membrane that differ in number among five studied ages. Filiform papillary system had four caudally directed papillae types; small (apex, rostral, and median part of body in 1 day, body in 10 and 20 days), long (apex and rostral part of body in 10 days, tip and two lateral area in 20, 30, 40-days, lateral border in 1 and 10 days, two lateral area of body in 40 days), broad (median area of body in 20, 30, 40 days). Scales on the ventral surface of apex, mound. Lingual sulci on the apex and body without reaching tip in 10, 20, 30, 40-days while, in 1 day the body had ridge caudally. Three papillae on posterior part of lateral border of body. W-shape crest had papillae on its median part while, its lateral part had two giant papillae on each side. Dorsal giant papillae terminated caudally with six processes, while ventral papillae terminated caudally with three processes. The unique root appearance, at 1 day had four papillae while in 10-day, it had one papilla however in 20, 30, 40 days, it had T-shaped ridge. Mound had one longitudinal row on each side of cleft and two transverse papillary rows at its caudal border and additional row at 40-days. Our findings exposed unique structural and functional characterizations of lingual and laryngeal entrance that reflected with feeding behavior.

Unraveling hydrogen sulfide-promoted lateral root development and growth in mangrove plant Kandelia obovata: insight into regulatory mechanism by TMT-based quantitative proteomic approaches.

Mangroves are the main intertidal ecosystems with varieties of root types along the tropical and subtropical coastlines around the world. The typical characteristics of mangrove habitats, including the abundant organic matter and nutrients, as well as the strong reductive environment, are favor for the production of hydrogen sulfide (H2S). H2S, as a pivotal signaling molecule, has been evidenced in a wide variety of plant physiological and developmental processes. However, whether H2S functions in the mangrove root system establishment is not clear yet. Here, we reported the possible role of H2S in regulation of Kandelia obovata root development and growth by tandem mass tag (TMT)-based quantitative proteomic approaches coupled with bioinformatic methods. The results showed that H2S could induce the root morphogenesis of K. obovata in a dose-dependent manner. The proteomic results successfully identified 8075 proteins, and 697 were determined as differentially expressed proteins. Based on the functional enrichment analysis, we demonstrated that H2S could promote the lateral root development and growth by predominantly regulating the proteins associated with carbohydrate metabolism, sulfur metabolism, glutathione metabolism and other antioxidant associated proteins. In addition, transcriptional regulation and brassinosteroid signal transduction associated proteins also act as important roles in lateral root development. The protein-protein interaction analysis further unravels a complicated regulation network of carbohydrate metabolism, cellular redox homeostasis, protein metabolism, secondary metabolism, and amino acid metabolism in H2S-promoted root development and growth of K. obovata. Overall, our results revealed that H2S could contribute to the morphogenesis of the unique root system of mangrove plant K. obovata, and play a positive role in the adaption of mangrove plants to intertidal habitats.

The African Church’s application of anointing oil: An expression of Christian spirituality or a display of fetish ancestral religion?

The content of Christian spirituality that made waves since the inception of the early church soon took on different contours as the faith got adapted to different gentile contexts. The expression of this faith, along with its liturgical symbolism and sacramental observances, is still gaining momentum in African Christianity. The emerging practice of the use of ‘anointing oil’ in its religious expression is receiving more attention than the Christ of the Gospel. In this article, we argue that against its primitive intent, the use of the ‘anointing oil’ by the African Church is a mere display of fetish ancestral religion that expresses its unique African traditional religious root rather than a true expression of Christian spirituality. Our thesis is framed on the basis that the manner in which some African churches apply the purported ‘anointing oil’ is discriminatory vis-à-vis its ancient understanding and purpose. In our attempt to address this damaging practice to true Christian spirituality, also standing as a huge challenge for pastoral theology, we undertook a careful historical–theological analysis of the extant biblical data and its contextual interpretation vis-à-vis its distortion today. We concluded that what pastoral theologians have to deal with within the Christian community in Africa is offering the right biblical perspective against the distorted mode of the application of the contemporary purported ‘anointing oil’ that is falsely projecting the Christian faith and belief in a bad light. Contribution: The application of the anointing oil in contemporary Christian religion in Africa is, to say the least, not an inherent textually prescribed requisite criterion for Christian spirituality, but merely an outburst of fetish ancestral religious worldview that stands contra the hermeneutics of the biblical text and its ancient tradition. That no Old Testament prophet, not even Jesus nor Paul, mentioned the subject, makes its contemporary application textually and theologically suspect, and therefore, heretically infectious for the spiritual health of the community of faith. These insights sit quite well with the textual hermeneutics within the mainline transdisciplinary religious and multidisplinary theological perspective of this journal.

Analysis on water use strategies of natural poplar in Hunshandake Sandy Land, China

AbstractThe past decades have witnessed the increasingly severe desertification and high sandstorm frequency in Hunshandake desert, China, which evokes extensive concern regarding the ecological and environmental effects on natural plant fields. Herein, natural poplars in this area are studied in this work to analyze the water use efficiency (WUE), water absorption source (WAS), water consumption of poplar, and water use strategy (WUS). The results show that the intrinsically high WUE of poplar can be enhanced under water stress status. The 0–100 cm soil water or underground water constitutes the main WAS. Poplar uses deep soil water or underground water when there is insufficient precipitation in rainy season, which, however, turns to use easily‐absorbed precipitation water after rainfall and lives through the growing period by switching water absorption positions. The unique dimorphic root system, adjustable WUE, and adjustable WUS make poplar able to maximally use limited water resource, which is also the main strategy for its survival in arid and semi‐arid areas. The combined analyses help us to get insight into the survivability and adaptive ability of plants as well as to regulate the limited water resource. This work may pave a way for ecological community restoration and ecologically environmental improvement.

Dispersion–current adjoint functions for monitoring accidental sources in 3D transport equations

ABSTRACT The paper deals with the identification of multiple unknown time-dependent point sources occurring in 3D dispersion–advection–reaction equations. Based on the developed appropriate adjoint functions, we establish a constructive identifiability result depending on the flow nature that yields guidelines leading to a quasi-direct detection–identification method. In practice, assuming to be available within a monitored domain some interfaces subdividing it into suspected sections, the developed method goes throughout the entire domain to detect the presence of all active sources. If an activity is detected within a suspected section, the method identifies the total amount discharged in this section and determines whether it is done by a single or multiple unknown occurring sources. Moreover, it localizes the sought position of a detected source as the unique root of a dispersion–current vector function defined from the developed adjoint functions. Application to different types of flow and some numerical experiments on the surface water pollution are presented.

Remodeling of Root Growth Under Combined Arsenic and Hypoxia Stress Is Linked to Nutrient Deprivation.

Root architecture responds to environmental stress. Stress-induced metabolic and nutritional changes affect the endogenous root development program. Transcriptional and translational changes realize the switch between stem cell proliferation and cell differentiation, lateral root or root hair formation and root functionality for stress acclimation. The current work explores the effects of stress combination of arsenic toxicity (As) and hypoxia (Hpx) on root development in Arabidopsis thaliana. As revealed previously, combined As and Hpx treatment leads to severe nutritional disorder evident from deregulation of root transcriptome and plant mineral contents. Both As and Hpx were identified to pose stress-specific constraints on root development that lead to unique root growth phenotype under their combination. Besides inhibition of root apical meristem (RAM) activity under all stresses, As induced lateral root growth while root hair density and lengths were strongly increased by Hpx and HpxAs-treatments.A dual stimulation of phosphate (Pi)-starvation response was observed for HpxAs-treated plant roots; however, the response under HpxAs aligned more with Hpx than As. Transcriptional evidence along with biochemical data suggests involvement of PHOSPHATE STARVATION RESPONSE 1; PHR1-dependent systemic signaling. Pi metabolism-related transcripts in close association with cellular iron homeostasis modulate root development under HpxAs. Early redox potential changes in meristematic cells, differential ROS accumulation in root hair zone cell layers and strong deregulation of NADPH oxidases, NADPH-dependent oxidoreductases and peroxidases signify a role of redox and ROS signaling in root architecture remodeling under HpxAs. Differential aquaporin expression suggests transmembrane ROS transport to regulate root hair induction and growth. Reorganization of energy metabolism through NO-dependent alternate oxidase, lactate fermentation, and phosphofructokinase seems crucial under HpxAs. TOR and SnRK-signaling network components were potentially involved in control of sustainable utilization of available energy reserves for root hair growth under combined stress as well as recovery on reaeration. Findings are discussed in context of combined stress-induced signaling in regulation of root development in contrast to As and Hpx alone.