Ectomycorrhizal fungal resources of Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region: above ground macrofungi and belowground ectomycorrhizae

New Forests - Desertification and land use pressures reduced forest cover in Inner Mongolia by 3% between 1992 and 2001. These forests primarily form symbioses with ectomycorrhizal fungi, and...     

Moisture-dependent elastic characteristics of walnut and cherry wood by means of mechanical and ultrasonic test incorporating three different ultrasound data evaluation techniques

Ultrasonic testing is a non-destructive testing method of choice for estimating the anisotropic elastic properties of wood materials. This method is reliable for estimating the Young’s and shear moduli. However, its applicability to Poisson’s ratios remains uncertain. On the other hand, despite their destructive nature, mechanical tests allow a direct measurement of all elastic properties including the Poisson’s ratios. In some cases (e.g. when assessing cultural heritage objects), destructive testing may not be an option. In this work, two types of hardwood walnut (Juglans regia L.) and cherry (Prunus avium L.), which often appear on cultural heritage objects, were tested using both ultrasonic and mechanical testing methods under four different moisture conditions below fibre saturation point. The results show that a higher moisture condition leads to a decrease in material elasticity. For walnut wood, their longitudinal Young’s modulus (\(E_{\rm L}\)) was reduced by 679 MPa under the compression load for a one per cent increase in moisture content. Moreover, three ultrasound data evaluation techniques, which differ in the way they incorporate the Poisson’s ratios (full stiffness inversion, simplified uncorrected, and simplified corrected), were used to estimate the Young’s moduli (E). The main goal is to obtain reliable material parameters using the ultrasound test. As a result, it is concluded that the chosen data evaluation method influences the accuracy of the calculated E. In a certain case, the simplified-corrected method, which requires only one specimen type, gave a closer agreement to mechanical tests (e.g. \(\Delta E_{\rm T}=6\,\%\) deviation on mechanical results). In another case, the full-stiffness-inversion method, which requires four specimen types, gave the best estimation (e.g. \(\Delta E_{\rm L}=2\,\%\)). In this corresponding direction, the simplified-corrected method can only partially reduce the overestimation of the simplified uncorrected from \(\Delta E_{\rm L}=47\) to 32 %. The variation of E produced by different evaluation procedures is due to the different correction factor values, which is a consequence of the variation in \(\nu\).     

Evaluation of aluminum tolerance of three barley cultivars by two short-term screening methods and field experiments

Productivity of cereal crops growing in acid soils of Southern Chile have adversely being affected by acidification and aluminum phytotoxicity. For overcoming such constraints, farmers need to apply heavy amounts of lime and/or use AI-tolerant plants especially with AI-sensitive crops, as barley is. The objectives of this study were to determine the degree of Al tolerance of . three barley cultivars commonly grown in volcanic soils by using two shortterm screening methods and to relate their rankings with field experiments. Additionally, the amounts of citric and malic acids exuded from roots were determined for studying the mechanism involved in Al tolerance. Relative root length (RRL) was the criterion used to evaluate Al tolerance both in nutrient solution and in soil-based culture and yield for field experiments. Results showed a close relationship between the RRL values obtained with the three barley cultivars by applying the two short-term screening methods. Barley yields obtained in field experiments carried out in two soils differing in Al contents agreed well with the ranking observed in the laboratory suggesting that the short-term screening methods could be a useful tool for knowing Al tolerance of cereals habitually cropped in our acidic volcanic soils. Citric and malic acids were detected mainly in the exudates from the most AI-tolerant barley which could indicate a chelation mechanism implied in such a tolerance.     

Reducing endogenous tau ameliorates amyloid beta-induced deficits in an Alzheimer's disease mouse model

Many potential treatments for Alzheimer's disease target amyloid-beta peptides (Abeta), which are widely presumed to cause the disease. The microtubule-associated protein tau is also involved in the disease, but it is unclear whether treatments aimed at tau could block Abeta-induced cognitive impairments. Here, we found that reducing endogenous tau levels prevented behavioral deficits in transgenic mice expressing human amyloid precursor protein, without altering their high Abeta levels. Tau reduction also protected both transgenic and nontransgenic mice against excitotoxicity. Thus, tau reduction can block Abeta- and excitotoxin-induced neuronal dysfunction and may represent an effective strategy for treating Alzheimer's disease and related conditions.