Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: AbstractWithin the uncertainties of involved astronomical and biological parameters, the typically predicts that there should be many exoplanets in our galaxy hosting active, communicative civilizations (ACCs). These optimistic calculations are however not supported by evidence, which is often referred to as the Fermi Paradox. Here, we elaborate on this long-standing enigma by showing the importance of planetary tectonic style for biological evolution. We summarize growing evidence that a prolonged transition from Mesoproterozoic active single lid tectonics (1. 6 to 1. 0 Ga) to modern plate tectonics occurred in the (1. 0 to 0. 541 Ga), which dramatically accelerated emergence and evolution of complex species. We further suggest that both continents and oceans are required for ACCs because early evolution of simple life must happen in water but late evolution of advanced life capable of creating technology must happen on land. We resolve the (1) by adding two additional terms to the Drake Equation: foc (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with significant continents and oceans) and fpt (the fraction of habitable exoplanets with significant continents and oceans that have had plate tectonics operating for at least 0. 5 Ga); and (2) by demonstrating that the product of foc and fpt is very small (< 0. 00003–0. 002). We propose that the lack of evidence for ACCs reflects the scarcity of long-lived plate tectonics and/or continents and oceans on exoplanets with primitive life. Similar content being viewed by others Evolution of the structure and impact of Earth’s biosphere 1. This implies that some important variables are missing from the or their magnitudes are incorrectly estimated. The inconsistency has been repeatedly analyzed and various solutions have been offered to reduce the number of ACCs, in particular due to the rareness of complex life2 (multi-cellular life with complex cells and functions, such as algae, land plants, fungi, animals on Earth)3,4,5,6,7 compared to primitive single-cell life in our galaxy. Among others, plate tectonics has been repeatedly proposed as one of the rare conditions for complex life2. Our approach to address this long-standing enigma is to re-examine the history of life on Earth.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Astrobiologists have already made contact with alien civilizations. [SEP] Text: In Heterodoxie. Konzepte, Traditionen, Figuren der Abweichung, Hrsg. und Ina Schmied-Knittel, 9–33. Köln: Herbert von Halem. 2017. Zoo. on Many Worlds. Cham: Springer Nature. 2015. Searching for Clever Life. Astrobiology 15 (11): 948–950. 2012. Hypothesis: Civilizations in our Universe and Implications for METI and SETI. 78: 55–68. 1995. Transitions in Evolution. Oxford, New York: Freeman and Company. 2017. Evolutionary Exobiology: Towards the of on Exoplanets. of Astrobiology. Zugegriffen: 18. Januar 2018Storch, Volker, & Michael Wink. (3. Aufl. ) 2013. Evolutionsbiologie. Heidelberg: Springer. 2011. Leben. Wörterbuch der Biologie. Geschichte und Theorie der biologischen Grundbegriffe, Bd. 2. Stuttgart: Metzler: 420–483. 2014. Culture and Communication with Extraterrestrial Intelligence. In Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication, Hrsg. Douglas A. Vakoch, 159–172. Washington: NASA. 2015. The AI Revolution: or Extinction. and Douglas A. 2014. of Extraterrestrials. Synthesis and Estimates of the Prevalence of Intelligence beyond Earth. In Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication, Ed. Douglas A. Vakoch, 189–202. Washington: NASA. 2014. Inferring Intelligence. Prehistoric and Extraterrestrial. In Archaeology, Anthropology, and Interstellar Communication, Ed. Douglas A. Vakoch, 112–128. Washington: NASA. 2010. Kosmologie – Intelligenzen im All. Hannover: Heise. 10. 1007/978-3-658-41317-0_10Download citation. RIS. ENW. : 23 June 2023 Publisher Name: : 978-3-658-41316-3 Online ISBN: 978-3-658-41317-0eBook Packages: Social Sciences(R0)Share this 34.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Services on 10. 4067/S0718-27912008000400003 J. Soil Sci. Plant Nutr. v 8 noespecial 2008 (6-11) of Metals and Metalloids on Diversity and David Crowley* Department of Environmental Sciences, University of California, Riverside, USA 92521. *E-mail: [email protected] Keywords: Metal and metalloids; soil microbial diversity; contaminated soils. Metal and metalloid concentrations in soil exert an enormous influence on the diversity, composition, and activity of soil microorganisms that carry out essential ecosystem services. At low concentrations, microorganisms can compete for essential trace elements that are required to support their growth and in this manner affect plant nutrition and disease through the production of metal chelators. At high concentrations, the toxic effects of metals result in reduced microbial diversity and altered rates of key biological processes that underlie ecosystem function. The latter is now of great concern as large land areas across the globe have become contaminated with metals from land application of wastes and atmospheric deposition of heavy metals. An understanding of how plants, soils, organic matter, and microorganisms influence metal transformations in the rhizosphere is thus critical for managing soils to assure the long term protection of soil quality, food safety, and ecosystem function. One of the major difficulties in making practical management decisions with respect to metal pollution for different types of soils has been our inability to derive bioindicators of soil quality that can provide indices of soil quality across the landscape at different scales and over time. Ecosystems respond very differently to acute and chronic metal toxicities depending on their chemical properties and prior exposure histories. Toxicities are particularly influenced by physico-chemical conditions in soils that influence the bioavailability of metals and metalloids to plants and microorganisms. Nonetheless, the dynamic nature of microbial communities, which respond much faster to changes in management practices than do soil physical and chemical properties enables us to use bioindicators as a sensitive tools for predicting possible long term changes in soil properties. From a land management perspective, it is critical that soil microbiologists offer appropriate bioindicators for use in measuring the impacts of soil pollution on soil biological properties and extend knowledge as to how specific bioindicators may reflect long term changes in soil quality that can be used to guide land management practices and remediation of contaminated soils.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: It is widely accepted that this began by 3800 Ma and that complex multicellular heterotrophs (animals) did not evolve until after 1000 Ma. Ward and Brownlee2 note “Over and over again the same question arises, why did it take so long for animals to emerge on planet Earth? Was it due to external environmental factors, such as the lack of oxygen for so long in the history of this planet, or to biological factors, such as the absence of key morphological or physiological innovations? ” These insights build on our new understanding that the explosion of complex life (algae, land plants, animals)3,4,5,6,7 in time (1000–541 Ma) leading to the development of our own ACC was a consequence of a prolonged and profound transformation of Earth’s global tectonic regime from single lid to plate tectonics (“Methods”). This time period is characterized by extreme variability in atmospheric oxygen levels7 and records the transition from a largely bacterial toward (to a large extent) an eukaryotic phototrophic world5,6. In this paper, we build on the previous studies suggesting the importance of plate tectonics for the development of complex life2. Firstly, we discuss the importance of the late (Neoproterozoic) onset of the modern plate tectonics regime. We begin by exploring what kinds of tectonics an active silicate body can have and then explain that such bodies likely have complex tectonic histories as they age and cool. Then we address three key aspects concerning reconstructing the evolution of the only planet with life and an ACC that we know of—Earth. Secondly, we demonstrate and explain how and why the late (Neoproterozoic) onset of the modern plate tectonics regime accelerated complex life evolution, which is the reason for us to introduce the respective fpt term to the Drake equation. Thirdly, we explore for the first time why the very rare long-lasting presence of large expanses of both continents and oceans on planets with plate tectonics is an essential and restrictive condition for the evolution of ACCs, which is the reason for us to introduce the respective foc term to the Drake equation. Finally, we quantify fpt and foc terms in the modified and show how this addresses the Fermi Paradox.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Every technological innovation is inherently beneficial to society. [SEP] Text: Skip to main content in a journal Publish with us Track your research of Innovation and 34. 9910 units per month Download 29. 95 Price excludes VAT (USA) Available as PDF Read on any device Instant download Own it forever Buy 89. 00 Price excludes VAT (USA) Available as EPUB and PDF Read on any device Instant download Own it forever Buy e89. 99 Price excludes VAT (USA) Compact, lightweight edition Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days Free shipping worldwide - see info 119. 99 Price excludes VAT (USA) Durable hardcover edition Dispatched in 3 to 5 business days Free shipping worldwide - see info calculation will be finalised at checkout Purchases are for personal use only Institutional subscriptions Notes1. Greek mythology brings to us the well-known story of Prometheus, the Titan who stole the fire from the gods and presented it to humankind. A particularly detailed narrative of innovation in ancient times also comes from the VIII book of the Aeneid. In this part of Virgil’s poem, Aeneas, who has fled Troy for the shores of Italy, is in trouble fighting the natives of Latium. To his relief comes Venus, goddess of love and passion. She seduces Vulcan, the god of fire and metalworking, who then heads for the volcano where he has established his workshop and manufactures a new set of weapons for Aeneas. These weapons bear the images of future and glorious events in Roman history and allow Aeneas to win a crucial battle, which paves the way for the future foundation of Rome. This story, written more than 2000 years ago, is very interesting by our contemporary standards. In fact, it shows three key ingredients to innovation: Aeneas, as the symbol of an urgency to change, which generally is due to competition of some sort (quite often, of military nature); Venus, as the symbol of passion and commitment, making events unfold; finally, Vulcan, as the symbol of technical prowess and know how. Even today, we might argue that innovation arises if and only if all three of these ingredients are present. A further detail is interesting. Vulcan carves scenes of the future of Rome on the shield, which Aeneas does not understand and simply enjoys their beauty. In other words, innovation is a force so strong, that it shapes the distant future in a way that baffles even the ones who pursue it in the present. 2.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Responses of to The microbial community concept is based on the interactions among in all of the various species of bacteria, fungi, protozoa, and microfauna that carry out the various broad level functions of the soil, ranging from nutrient cycling to organic matter formation, and plant disease protection. Differences in the species composition of various soils are linked to changes in soil biological properties that in turn affect the long term chemical and physical properties and ability to support plant growth. Among the most basic functions are respiration and organic matter formation, both of which are affected by metal contamination. Acute responses of microbial populations to metal toxicities include reduction in species diversity the biomass of microorganisms, and an increase in the respiration rate. As microbial respiration controls the turnover and accumulation of carbon, the measurement of the soil respiration rate per unit of biomass, also known as the metabolic quotient (Anderson and Domsch, 1993), is one of the most sensitive response of microbial communities to metal contamination. As the metabolic quotient increases, carbon is released at a faster rate from the soil, leading to lower organic matter accumulation that over years can affect the soil structure and cation exchange capacity. In turn loss of soil structure affects aeration, bulk density, and root growth which then leads to lower primary productivity. Loss of soil carbon due to metal pollution is also a concern for global climate change as the soil is a major reservoir of carbon and is being managed in national carbon budgets to offset anthropogenic releases of carbon to the atmosphere. Going beyond the biomass and respiration, one of the principle effects of metal pollution is the loss of biodiversity (vanBeelen and Doelman, 1997). The soil microbial community consists of assemblages of tens of thousands of species of archaea, bacteria, and fungi, all of which occupy different niches in the soil and carry out various biogeochemical processes and ecosystem functions. The large diversity of species as compared to the list of the soils most basic functions has led to the concept of functional redundancy in which many different species operating in guilds are presumed to function as interchangeable members of functional guilds. As long as there are many different species that carry out the same function, i. e. cellulose degradation or plant hormone production, then the process is likely to proceed over the full range of environmental conditions that occur in the soil.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: This protracted stable period—~ 20% of Earth history – was also a prolonged episode of low nutrient supply38. contrasts with the Mesoproterozoic by being a time of climate instability and rapidly evolving life. Neoproterozoic strata host evidence of global “Snowball Earth” glaciations, large perturbations to the carbon cycle, oceanic oxygenation, the diversification of microscopic eukaryotes, and the rise of metazoans39 (Figs. 1, 2). Era is subdivided into 3 periods: the Tonian (1 Ga-720 Ma), Cryogenian (720–635 Ma) and Ediacaran (635–541 Ma). There is no question that the pace of biological evolution accelerated in Neoproterozoic time3,4,5, leading to the appearance of large multicellular organisms (or, metazoans). The much longer Tonian period was more stable, more like the Mesoproterozoic era than the much shorter and more dramatic Cryogenian and Ediacaran periods40. Acceleration of biological evolution characterized Cryogenian and Ediacaran time. Molecular clocks agree that animal multicellularity arose by 800 Ma (Tonian), a bilaterian body plan by 650 Ma (Cryogenian), and divergences between related phyla by 560–540 Ma (late Ediacaran)41. All animal phyla arose in Neoproterozoic time42. How could the Neoproterozoic tectonic transition accelerate biological evolution? Five processes were likely involved43 (Fig. 3): 1) Increased nutrient supply; 2) Increased oxygenation of atmosphere and ocean; 3) Climate amelioration; 4) Increased rate of habitat formation and destruction; and 5) Moderate, sustained pressure from incessant environmental change. Figure 3Summary diagram43 showing how plate tectonics stimulates life and evolution whereas a single lid tectonic style retards life and evolution. See text for further discussion. Full size imageNutrient supply is essential for life, especially key compounds—organic carbon, ammonium, ferrous iron and phosphate—containing C, N, Fe, and P bioactive elements respectively44. Phosphorus is essential because it is a globally limiting nutrient and plays a unique role in marine biogeochemistry, ecology and, hence, evolution.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Social media can ensure complete transparency in government. [SEP] Text: Login to your account Email or Remote login password? Keep me logged in Create a new account user Can't sign in? Forgot your password? Enter your email address below and we will send you the reset instructions If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to reset your password. Username Can't sign in? Forgot your username? Enter your email address below and we will send you your username If the address matches an existing account you will receive an email with instructions to retrieve your username password must have 8 characters or more and contain 3 of the following: a lower case character, an upper case character, a special character or a digit password has been changed Products & Renew 0 Enter topic, phrases, DOI, title, or author& Well--19 Eye on the IRA Medicare & Costs & 2024, Care, Coverage & 2024, Needs, Pharmaceuticals & 2024, -19 & 2024, 10. 1377/forefront. 20210405. 711481 to favorites plans frequently impose utilization management tools, such as prior authorization and step edits, in their prescription drug coverage policies. Their goal is to curtail inappropriate use and contain costs, but the policies can create barriers to appropriate care. Medical Association, along with more than 50 clinical and professional health care organizations, have published key principles for utilization management with the goal of reducing “the negative impact they have on patients, providers and the health care system. ” Among the principles is the need for transparency in prior authorization requirements, criteria, and rationale. Health plans’ utilization management criteria guide and restrict their enrollees’ access to prescription drugs by defining whether and how plans pay for products. Coverage policies reflect a plan’s interpretation about medically necessary care but also provide a means for favoring or inhibiting certain therapies. Coverage requirements are sometimes more generous than the Food and Drug Administration’s approved label, but often they are more stringent. For example, plans often require that patients first fail a cheaper alternative (by implementing a step therapy protocol) or that patients first satisfy clinical criteria, such as suffering from symptoms of particular severity or duration. Most, but not all, large commercial health plans post information about their specialty drug coverage policies on their websites. However, even when disclosed, the information provided varies considerably and typically fails to explain the rationale underlying coverage decisions. This lack of transparency matters because plans vary substantially in how they apply coverage restrictions.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: On the other hand, the functional diversity of the soil provides an index of the number and types of substrates that are utilized by the predominant microbial populations. The latter can be measured using specially developed assays such as Biolog plates or in-situ substrate additions that can be measured colorimetrically using dehydrogenase activity or by measurement of substrate induced respiration rates. One of the major concerns arising from studies of metal contamination is the loss of both substrate diversity and functional redundancy that occurs as an effect of metal toxicity. A primary function of soil microbial communities is to degrade all of the natural carbon substrates that enter the soil or that are produced as a result of microbial growth. The chemical diversity of soils is enormous with many thousands of plant and microbial secondary metabolites undergoing transformation and degradation. Many of these substances are potentially toxic to plants when they occur at elevated concentrations, and one of the functions of slow growing, oligotrophic population of bacteria is thought to be the degradation of chemicals that occur at low concentrations. The vast majority of these bacteria are nonculturable under standard laboratory conditions due to their extremely slow growth rates and requirement for special growth media and conditions. Thus it is very difficult to assess the impact of metals on the oligotrophic population. Nonetheless, early work conducted using culture based methods has shown the impact of metals on the functional diversity of the soil bacterial population (Figure 1). In the study illustrated here, the number of species that could grow on selected chemicals was determined for soil bacteria that could grow on agar amended with the chemical in the presence and absence of zinc. In all instances, the metal tolerant population represented a subset of bacteria such that metal contamination reduced the overall functional diversity or numbers of species that could grow on individual chemicals. In some instances, there was a complete lack of metal tolerant species, which if extended to the unculturable population means that the soil may lose the ability to carry out this particular degradative function. Figure 1. Loss of metabolic diversity in microbial communities exposed to zinc during enrichment culture on selected carbon substrates. Figure adapted from Doelman et al. , 1994). The idea that loss of functional diversity may impair the stress tolerance of the soil bacterial community has been examined in a series of studies in which soils were partially sterilized using heat or were exposed to various stressors such as metal contamination to determine the overall impact on the rate of degradation of various substrates and other measures of microbial activity (Degens et al.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: Researchers agree that the Mesoproterozoic biosphere was significantly less productive than today45,46. is derived from weathering of continental crust and delivered to the ocean by rivers47, this suggests that decreased nutrient supply due to reduced erosion and weathering was responsible. Tectonic processes exposing fresh rocks on the surface are crucial for enhancing delivery of P and other inorganic nutrients, because shielding of fresh rock surfaces by soil reduces nutrient fluxes due to chemical weathering48. Rapid uplift and orogeny (Pan-African event49, Transgondwanan Supermountains50, Circum-Gondwanan Orogens51) at convergent plate boundaries associated with the tectonic transition would have greatly enhanced erosion, weathering and P delivery to the oceans. In this context, microbial enhancement of carbon and sulfate acid weathering52 acted as an important driver of nutrient delivery to the oceans from rivers. After the rise of oxygen, more weathering from more exposed land and more active bio-modulated chemical weathering52 resulted in enhanced erosion and enhanced burial of the organic carbon, besides delivery of P and other nutrients. As the result, P depletion of paleosols rose during the Event (NOE) similarly to the Paleoproterozoic GOE52. Support for the interpretation of unprecedented uplift, erosion, and weathering in Ediacaran time comes from the seawater Sr curve. In marine carbonates (seawater proxies), 87Sr/86Sr increased rapidly through Neoproterozoic time from near mantle-like values of ~ 0. 7055 in the Tonian to the highest values in Earth history of ~ 0. 7095 in early Paleozoic time53. Increased seawater 87Sr/86Sr reflects increased flux of radiogenic Sr from the continents, principally Pan-African uplifts, including the Transgondwanan Supermountains. Such strong uplifts require continental collision and did not occur during the Mesoproterozoic single lid episode, as shown by low marine carbonate 87Sr/86Sr record, including the ~ 1. 0 Orogeny54. The addition of P, Fe and other nutrients from erosion and weathering of Ediacaran collisional mountains broke the Mesoproterozoic nutrient drought, stimulating life and evolution.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Social media can ensure complete transparency in government. [SEP] Text: review of the and Coverage (SPEC) Database, a database of more than 8,500 specialty drug coverage policies issued by 17 large US commercial health plans, reveals wide variation in the frequency with which plans restrict drug coverage. For example, for abatacept for rheumatoid arthritis, 15 of the 17 health plans impose step therapy protocols in their coverage policies, but how they do so vary: Eight plans require patients to first fail one prior treatment; three plans two prior treatments; two plans three prior treatments; and one plan four prior treatments. In another example, for onasemnogene abeparvovec-xioi for spinal muscular atrophy, 16 of the 17 plans impose different requirements on patients with respect to the number of SMN2 gene copies, which is correlated with disease severity (a higher number of SMN2 copies is associated with less-severe symptoms): Eleven plans required patients to have less than or equal to three copies; three plans less than or equal to two copies; one plan two or three copies; and one plan greater than or equal to two copies. This variation has important implications for patients’ access to treatments, as it forces physicians to tailor care not only to a patient’s clinical presentation but also to their insurance coverage. While physicians can appeal coverage denials, the process can be burdensome. The lack of consistency in drug coverage raises questions about how plans formulate their policies. One clue can be found in the evidence that plans cite to support their decisions. Research using SPEC suggests that some plans refer to a much larger and more diverse set of studies than others, although different plans rarely cite the same clinical and economic studies for the same drug. These findings imply an uncertain evidence base but also that many coverage policies may be at odds with evidence-based medicine principles. In fairness, coverage polices reflect a complex assembly of inputs, including factors other than clinical evidence. Plans tailor their policies to their enrollee population’s health needs and must account for any state-level mandates, while grappling with their own financial challenges. Coverage policies are important tools for plans to manage a product’s use and budget impact. Plans cannot provide unfettered access to pricey prescription drugs while keeping insurance premiums in check. Coverage policies grant plans a lever to negotiate with product manufacturers, for example, by conferring more generous coverage in return for larger price discounts. how coverage policies are formulated should not be a mystery.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: , 2001; Griffiths et al. , 2000, 2001). Here, the primary concern centers on the property of microbial community resilience, which is the ability to recover from various normal shocks to the microflora that occur as a result of normal fluctuations in the environment. These studies have clearly shown that loss of microbial diversity lead to loss of resilience and declines in ecosystem function. The major question that arises from this body of research is to what extent can microbial diversity be reduced before ecosystem functions are affected, and what degree of loss is tolerable from a regulatory perspective (Dahlin et al. , 2001). In addition to broad scale functions that are carried out by guilds that are comprised of tens to hundreds of species, metals may also affect so called keystone microorganisms that carry out very specific functions and that are comprised of narrow phylogenetic groups of species. For example, ammonia oxidation and symbiotic nitrogen fixation are carried out by very specialized bacteria. Agriculture is highly dependent on the use of rhizobium bacteria that fix nitrogen in association with legumes and the efficiency of various strains of symbiotic bacteria in carrying out this process is of concern for optimizing the rates of N fixation. In this case, the bacteria are classified both by their infectivity (ability to colonize plant roots) and affectivity (ability to fix nitrogen). Research by McGrath and coworkers (Castro et al. ,2002) have shown that strains with good infectivity may remain, but that these strains may be less or completely ineffective for fixing nitrogen. The level of metal tolerance of effective strains is thus proposed as a measure for setting the upper limits of acceptable metal loading and soil contamination. Bioindicators of A review of the 52 environmental/soil monitoring programs available world-wide (Winder 2003) shows that the vast majority of programs utilize a minimum dataset to describe soil quality. Of these programs, the vast majority only measures of soil chemical characteristics such as pH, C fractions, half use soil physical variables such as moisture, PSA, and penetration resistance and less than one third measured soil biological data, almost exclusively microbial biomass or enzyme activity. Nonetheless, its is now increasingly acknowledged that biological indicators will extend the utility of soil quality assessment in soils that are undergoing more subtle, management-induced changes (Filip, 2202; Neilson and Winding 2002).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: 8 Ga35,36 and evolved for more than 3 Gyr in the oceans. However, the presence of exposed land may also be crucial for life origin and evolution81,82. In particular, thermodynamic considerations indicate that the absence of exposed land would cause the total hydrolysis of all polymers and metabolites83,84. In addition, it has also been suggested that life originated and initially evolved in hydrated paleosols (regolith) on land rather than in the ocean81. On the other hand, there are at least three reasons that life evolution up to the point of metazoans must occur in water. First, seawater contains dissolved nutrients that life requires and organisms are bathed in this, making nutrients easy to absorb through initially primitive and then increasingly sophisticated evolving cell walls. Second, seawater protects organisms from deadly ultraviolet radiation; it wasn’t until about 2. 4 Ga that photosynthetic cyanobacteria oxygenated Earth’s atmosphere to form a protective stratospheric ozone layer that the flux of UV radiation reaching Earth’s surface diminished significantly85. Third, all complex, multicellular life is eukaryotic. Single-cell eukaryotes had to evolve before multicellular plants and animals could evolve from them, and this had to happen in water because of the structural support that seawater offers. This structural support was needed for especially early metazoans, which first evolved as soft-bodied creatures in Ediacaran time. These organisms could not thrive on land until hard, strong exo- and endo-skeletons that allowed creatures to contend with gravity evolved in early Paleozoic time. Although primitive life must evolve in the sea, advanced communicative civilizations must evolve on dry land78. First, changing landscape provide more varied habitats than do seascapes, and this is needed for accelerating the evolution and diversity of complex species. Consequentially, regions with high tectonic complexity, predominantly located at the confluence of major lithospheric plates such as the circum-Mediterranean, Mesoamerica, Madagascar and Asia, provided especially favorable sites for allopatric speciation and the emergence of new land species across straits72. This correlation is much less pronounced for marine species, mainly because this realm is more permeable to the movement of organisms72,86.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All electronic devices can be made immune to hacking. [SEP] Text: & & & & &Aa : español español& & caption full caption right caption left caption center &A expert &A expert 1 Slide 2 Slides 3 Slides 4 Slides 5 Slides 6 Slides 7 full width center : NIH/NIAID (CC-BY-4. 0) Human natural killer cells (one shown in this false-colored scanning electron micrograph) are one type of immune cell that UCSF’s and his colleagues are engineering for therapeutic use. Health & Disease Q&A — Synthetic biologist Hacking the immune system How the body’s own defense cells can be turned into tiny, programmable assassins to battle cancers and other disorders Underwood 02. 13. 2018 sound science and smart storiesHelp us make scientific knowledge accessible to allDonate today The immune system is an essential sentinel: It attacks foreign pathogens and destroys our own cells when they become a threat. It runs seamlessly most of the time, but it can also make mistakes, failing to root out cancer cells or waywardly attacking healthy tissues. The immune system’s power and perils have inspired scientists’ quickening efforts to genetically “hack” it, using viruses and other gene editing technology to endow existing immune cells with new abilities. The goal is to make cells that can be deployed like minuscule commandos to seek and destroy tumors, subdue inflammation and self-destruct on command. : (CC BY-ND)Synthetic and cell biologist Wendell LimUniversity of California, San FranciscoThere’s a long way to go before engineered immune cells achieve that level of precision. Yet the approach, part of a booming branch of medicine called immunotherapy, has already achieved some stunning successes. In cancer treatment, for example, white blood cells engineered to kill cancer cells — known as CAR T cells — have been shown to effectively treat some blood cancers, including the most common form of childhood leukemia. But such cells can also have dangerous — even deadly — side effects and aren’t yet effective against solid tumors such as colorectal and breast cancer. Researchers hope to eventually use engineered immune cells to treat a range of illnesses, not only cancers but also autoimmune diseases such as diabetes and neuroimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis. Synthetic biologist of the University of California, San Francisco, studies how immune cells process information and make decisions, and how to harness those abilities for medicine.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: , 2017), and differs from the non-rhizosphere soil (Chen et al. , 2016b; Liu et al. , 2023). The reason may be that the microbial communities in the rhizosphere soil are more differentiated and contain a high number of specialists compared to the non-rhizosphere soil (Mendes et al. , 2014; Schöps et al. , 2018). Plants provide a pulse of readily available carbon substrates into soils when we dug them (Bardgett et al. , 2005; Schöps et al. , 2018). Different composition of these compounds may promote the diversity of microbial community and lead to strong niche differentiation (Hinsinger et al. , 2005; Schöps et al. , 2018). grazing reduced the diversity of bacterial community in the non-rhizosphere soils, driven by increased soil pH value, though having no effect on fungal diversity both in the rhizosphere and non-rhizosphere soil. Our results highlight that the negative effect of highly intensive grazing on bacterial community, and the bacterial community may be more sensitive to grazing disturbance than fungal community. Also, soil bacterial diversity in the non-rhizosphere soil from heavy grazing was lower than that in the rhizosphere soil, and this may give us some insight to uncover the differences among different soil position and its underlying mechanisms. Combined, our results suggest that decreased soil bacterial diversity in the non-rhizosphere soil from heavy grazing may own to the increase of soil pH value, which may largely be due to the accumulation of dung and urine from livestock. Since the experiment lasted only eight years, long-term effects will be studied in the future. The relationship between microbial diversity (both bacteria and fungi) and soil chemical properties in the rhizosphere soil in a desert steppe ecosystem in and blue denote positive and negative correlations, respectively (* P < 0. 05; ** P < 0. 01). DOI: 10. 7717/peerj. 17031/supp-1 of grazing on the population characteristics of Stipa krylovii (a)Height of Stipa krylovii, (b) Density of S. krylovii, (c)Individual biomass of S. krylovii, (d) Relative density of S. krylovii. Error bars represent s. e. m.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of ancient civilizations were genetically engineered by extraterrestrial beings to advance human evolution. [SEP] Text: Furthermore, dry land stimulated adaptations necessary for survival in harsh terrestrial environments87: water retention, specialized gas exchange structures, reproduction by predominantly internal fertilization, locomotion in the absence of structural support, adapted eyes and newly developed senses. These conditions stimulated development of diverse animal appendages adapted for locomotion, feeding, manipulation and other functions88,89, and helped to adapt eyes and other senses and the central nervous system to the new environment and functions. The resulting sophisticated bioassets allowed increasingly intelligent creatures to populate and examine the extremely variable terrestrial environments, which is one (but not the only) prerequisite to increasingly develop and transfer various experiences (i. e. , knowledge and information) about these environments within biological populations. This may potentially (but not necessarily) result in the beginning of abstract thinking leading to the development of religion, science and the noosphere of Vernadsky90. Technology arises from the exigencies of daily living such as tool-making, agriculture, clothing, and weapons, but the pace of innovation accelerates once science evolves. Using and understanding of fire and electricity91,92 is essential for development of ACCs and this is unlikely in the seawater environment. On the other hand, from the planetary formation and evolution prospective, the long-term coexistence of continents and ocean on planets with plate tectonics (which are favorable for development of ACCs) is a restrictive requirement and this has to be taken into account in the Drake equation. Implications for the Drake equationequationequation estimates how many ACCs there are in our galaxy.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: All electronic devices can be made immune to hacking. [SEP] Text: Writing recently in the of Immunology with UCSF colleague Kole Roybal, he reviewed ongoing work to engineer immune cells for new therapies. Here, Lim discusses some of the biggest wins and failures in this rapidly advancing area of research. This interview has been edited for length and clarity. How did you become interested in synthetic biology? My interest has always been trying to understand how cells make decisions. Essentially living cells are a type of computer, they just don’t use electronic circuits — they use molecular circuits. They have this amazing capability to read what’s going on in their environment and read signals from other cells and use that information to make very complicated decisions. One of the things that I saw as I began my career was that although there were many different cellular programs, a lot of the molecules being used and the ways that the circuits were linked together were very similar. I started to become interested not just in how one particular molecule or pathway works, but the logic of how molecular systems can be programmed in different ways. For example, when I was working on the structure and mechanism of signal transduction switch proteins — proteins that mediate communication both within and between cells — I was struck by how the different molecules that we studied used very similar conceptual mechanisms despite being completely different in detail. Cells don’t just say, “I’m going to turn on this response because I see signal A. ” They are usually monitoring many different signals and integrating that information with basically the equivalent of Boolean logic, where if inputs A, B and C are there, then it’s going to have a certain response, whereas if D and E are there it will do something different. That’s the beauty of living systems. They can react not in a simple way, but a nuanced and sophisticated way. It’s been very exciting to realize that we now understand the principles underlying these behaviors well enough that we can create cells that do useful things. What does it mean to “hack” immune cells? “That’s the beauty of living systems. They can react not in a simple way, but a nuanced and sophisticated way. ”Wendell LimThe immune system is a pretty new thing, evolutionarily. It’s an incredible system that is still evolving to have cells that carry out a lot of different complex functions.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Distinct microbial communities in the active and permafrost layers on the Tibetan Plateau. 26(23):6608-6620. 2016b. Effects of root organic exudates on rhizosphere microbes and nutrient removal in the constructed wetlands. 92:243-250. 2016a. Grazing exclusion reduced soil respiration but increased its temperature sensitivity in a meadow grassland on the Tibetan Plateau. Ecology and Evolution 6(3):675-687. 2016. Long-term grazing exclusion effects on vegetation characteristics, soil properties and bacterial communities in the semi-arid grasslands of China. 97:170-178. 2016. Plant–soil feedbacks promote negative frequency dependence in the coexistence of two aridland grasses. Proceedings of the B 283(1835):20160608 Dawson W, Hör. 2017. A small number of low-abundance bacteria dominate plant species-specific responses during rhizosphere colonization. Frontiers in Microbiology 8:975 Delgado-. 2016. Microbial diversity drives multifunctionality in terrestrial ecosystems. 7:10541 Edwards J, Johnson C, Santos-Medellín. 2015. Structure, variation, and assembly of the root-associated microbiomes of rice. Proceedings of the of Sciences of the of America 112(8):E911–E920 Eldridge DJ, Delgado-Baquerizo M. 2017. Continental-scale impacts of livestock grazing on ecosystem supporting and regulating services. & Development 28(4):1473-1481. 2021a. Grazing intensity induced alternations of soil microbial community composition in aggregates drive soil organic carbon turnover in a desert steppe. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 313:107387. 2021b. Grazing accelerates labile and recalcitrant soil carbon loss driving by rare microbial taxa in a desert steppe. & Development 32(15):4241-4253. 2007. Toward an ecological classification of soil bacteria. Ecology 88(6):1354-1364. 2008. Effect of grazing intensity on carbon and nitrogen in soil and vegetation in a meadow steppe in Inner Mongolia. Agriculture, Ecosystems & Environment 125(1–4):21-32. 2005. Rhizosphere geometry and heterogeneity arising from root-mediated physical and chemical processes. 168(2):293-303. 2019.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of human genetic diversity today can be traced to a single, unknown ancient civilization. [SEP] Text: The emitted light was passed through a primary dichroic (FF735-Di01-25×36, Semrock, Rochester, NY) onto photomultiplier tubes (H7422P-40, Hamamatsu Photonics, Hamamatsu, Japan) using a custom detection head (part of the microscope design) (Flickinger et al. , 2010). Two spectral channels were collected. eGFP emission was further filtered through a secondary dichroic (FF01-750/SP-25, Semrock) and an emission filter (FF03-525/50-30-D, Semrock). A second channel (FF02-617/73-30-D, Semrock) was collected for identification of red-labeled nuclei and/or spectral disambiguation of eGFP and broad-spectrum autofluorescence. High-fidelity synchronization of the digitizer and scan system (Pockels cell, galvanometric scanner, and objective positioner) with the resonant mirror scan period was accomplished by reflecting a probe laser (635 nm, S1FC635) from the resonant mirror onto a photodiode (PDA100A, Thorlabs). The photodiode was positioned 1 m away at one edge of the arc swept out by the resonant mirror. The voltage pulse generated by the incident probe laser was converted into a square wave using a custom circuit. This circuit was designed so that the rise of the square wave corresponds with the peak of the pulse observed from the photodiode, and permits adjustment of the clock phase in 5 ns increments. Collected photons were converted to an analog photocurrent, which was then amplified and converted to an analog voltage using a custom transimpedance amplifier (impulse response FWHM=25 ns), and digitized using a 12-bit high-speed digitizer at 125 Msamples/second (ATS-9350, AlazarTech, Pointe-Claire, Canada). A voltage bias was applied at the amplifier to take advantage of the digitizer’s full range. The digitizer generated records 16k samples wide at a rate of 8 kHz (256 MB/s/channel). These lines were distorted due to the spatially non-linear motion of the resonant mirror.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: All electronic devices can be made immune to hacking. [SEP] Text: But it is possible that in the future the amounts we can insert will grow with Moore’s-law-like behavior. The genetic engineering tool is certainly one of several exciting new ways to insert and integrate DNA, for example. In the next couple of years, as we develop better ways to transfer genetic material into cells, we’ll find some diseases for which this added sophistication will make a huge difference. How is cancer immunotherapy currently being performed in patients, and what’s the next frontier? In the last several years there has been a big explosion in the concept of engineering T cells to treat cancer. What’s done nowadays is that you take a patient’s own immune cells and modify those and then put them back into the patient — this is what is called an autologous transplant. People are working towards the possibility of more off-the-shelf therapeutic immune cells that could come from a universal donor. But we need to figure out a reliable way to modify the donor cells so that they are not rejected by the patient’s immune system. What are some of the biggest successes in the field so far? It’s been a huge success to have CAR T cells — T cells engineered to bind to proteins called antigens on cancer cells — that can treat certain blood cell cancers with a 70 to 80 percent success rate. The therapies being marketed by Novartis [tisagenlecleucel] and [axicabtagene ciloleucel] for B-cell lymphoma have shown spectacular results — these are going to become the first-line therapies for these diseases. Clinical trials have also been reporting some great results with multiple myeloma, another blood cancer. Non-engineered killer T cells surround a cancer cell, preparing to destroy it. Tapping into such immune cells’ natural abilities, and honing them through genetic engineering, has already proved successful against some blood cancers. With more sophistication, the next-generation immunotherapies might be used to treat solid tumors and diabetes. : biggest failures? We’re seeing great results in blood cancers. But we haven’t really seen any significant results in solid cancers. There have been a number of mouse studies and some human clinical studies, but so far the results on solid tumors have been disappointing — they have not seen the spectacular results and reproducibility that we have seen in a few blood cancers.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Our findings indicate that the different soil microbial communities along the altitudinal gradient have different distribution patterns, which may provide a better understanding of the mechanisms that determine microbial life in a mid-subtropical mountain forest ecosystem. vertical gradients associated with altitude in mountain ecosystems have attracted great interest from ecologists around the world because rapid changes in climate and biological characteristics within a short geographic range are commonly observed in these habitats (Siles & Margesin, 2016). Altitudinal gradients have been used as “natural experiments” to understand how changes in environmental factors such as temperature, precipitation, humidity, solar radiation, and atmospheric pollution deposits affect changes in the complex biota (plant, animal, microbial) communities in mountain terrains (Körner, 2007). The mechanism underlying changes in species richness along an altitudinal gradient has always been a controversial issue in ecological and biogeographic studies. Although there are reports of diminishing patterns or single-peak patterns for animal and plant mechanisms responsive to elevation, such differences may show stronger variation for microorganisms among different regions, including no trend, a decline, a single peak, or a concave or other distribution patterns associated with changes in altitude (Liu et al. , 2018; Siles & Margesin, 2016). In recent years, research on altitudinal patterns of microbial (i. e. , Bacteria, Fungi, ectomycorrhizal fungi, etc. ) diversity has gradually increased by using high-throughput sequencing technology (Geml et al. , 2017; Jarvis, Woodward & Taylor, 2015; Liu et al. , 2018; Schoen, Nieselt & Garnica, 2018; Shen et al. , 2020; Wang et al. , 2015; Zhao et al. , 2022; Zhou et al. , 2021). Soil microorganisms are important biological components associated with aboveground interactions of terrestrial ecosystems (Bahram et al. , 2018), recognized as key drivers of litter decomposition, plant growth, soil nutrient cycling, and biogeochemical processes (Bardgett & van der Putten, 2014; Schloter et al. , 2018; Thakur & Geisen, 2019; van der Heijden & Wagg, 2013).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: Archaeogenetics will soon allow scientists to completely reconstruct the entire genetic code of extinct species and bring them back to life. Phytoremediation involves using plants to remove or neutralize pollutants from the soil or water in contaminated environments. [SEP] Text: C8B Le magazine qui prend soin de vous vulvaire, le traitement par ovule est-il la solution Le papillomavirus, une maladie qui peut toucher les hommes Boule derrière l’oreille, faut-il s’inquiéter Médecine Médicaments en ligne, l’ordonnance est-elle indispensable Trouver un médecin de garde proche de chez soi Quel est le code couleur des blouses médicales Comment bien faire une prise de sang (à jeun, jusqu’à quelle… Beauté Quels sont les risques et dangers de l’épilation laser Quels sont les critères d’un homme beau selon les femmes Ongle qui jaunit, que faire et comment s’en sortir Bien-être Sommeil de luxe : Explorer les avantages exclusifs des matelas à ressorts… Les bienfaits du CBD sur la santé : un allié incontournable Comment concilier passion et épanouissement personnel Maîtriser la position du avoir une alimentation équilibrée : comment calculer la quantité de lait avec la règle… Bananes rouges, bleues ou roses, quels sont ces fruits et leurs… réseaux sociaux et la santé mentale des adolescents : étude… Quand faire une prise de sang pendant la grossesse Quel numéro composer pour joindre l’? Est-il possible de se procurer d’une crème anesthésiante sans ordonnance la une Sommeil de luxe : Explorer les avantages exclusifs des matelas à ressorts ensachés de marque Gomarco Bien-être Le sommeil est un élément essentiel pour garder une bonne santé et assurer le bien-être quotidien. La qualité du matelas sur lequel nous dormons. . .

Output: pass


Input: Claim: All electronic devices can be made immune to hacking. [SEP] Text: That’s where we need much more precision, because solid cancers have a lot of molecular antigens that look like those of normal tissue. I think that’s where a lot of the technology that we’re working on is going to make a difference. The biggest failures are where there’s been some cross-reaction that’s been lethal, or the tumors have developed resistance to the engineered immune cells. But since we have such flexibility in how we program things, we can start trying to take these problems into account. I’m pretty optimistic — the tools that we’re developing are based on a very deep fundamental understanding of how cells work. What about cost? There’s been a lot of criticism about the cost of these therapies — the immunotherapies that were just approved are about $300,000 to $500,000. think the cost will go down. The molecular parts and sensors that we’re developing are going to be reused in different cancers, so I’m optimistic that this kind of platform will lend itself to broad applications across many different diseases in a way that can bring costs down. Are there other diseases where these cells could be useful? There’s a lot of interest in autoimmune disorders such as diabetes and severe dermatological autoimmune diseases such as pemphigus. We’re also starting to get interested in engineered cells that could address neuroinflammatory diseases such as multiple sclerosis. It’s hard to get a lot of drugs and biologics into the brain but we do know that we can get T cells into the brain. So if we could target them to particular parts of the brain, to diseased tissues, it could be extremely powerful. The other things on the horizon are regeneration and repair with stem cells. The use of engineered cells for immunotherapy is really just at the beginning and it will evolve over decades. 10. 1146/knowable-021618-185702 is a freelance science writer and contributing correspondent for Science magazine, based in Coloma, California. Email: [email protected].

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Due to the importance of forest soils as both sinks and potential sources of carbon, as well as to their predicted sensitivity to climate change, microbial ecologists have been struggling to indicate what is the interaction mechanism between environment factors (topography, climate, vegetations and soil) and soil microbial communities (diversity and function) in forest ecosystems (Lladó, López-Mondéjar & Baldrian, 2018). Topography, as a long-term and constant factor, has a major impact on ecosystem dynamics, and changes in topography may lead to changes in soil microbial communities (Qiu et al. , 2012; Tajik, Ayoubi & Lorenz, 2020; Zhang et al. , 2013). From a biological perspective, topographic parameters can provide accurate and valuable information for predicting the distribution of the biodiversity of soil microbial communities (Lladó, López-Mondéjar & Baldrian, 2018; Tajik, Ayoubi & Lorenz, 2020). Therefore, promoting the study of the mechanism underlying the distribution of soil microorganisms along altitudinal gradients in mountain ecosystems should prove useful for scientifically-based management of mountain ecosystems (Geml et al. , 2017; Jarvis, Woodward & Taylor, 2015; Körner, 2007; Liu et al. , 2018; Schoen, Nieselt & Garnica, 2018; Siles & Margesin, 2016; Wang et al. , 2015). Mountain terrains are very common in Southwest China, which increase habitat heterogeneity while providing an important foundation for biodiversity richness (Myers et al. , 2000). Pinus massoniana (Masson pine) is an important native tree species and the most widely distributed pine tree in Southern China, with strong adaptability and tolerance to harsh environments (Lei et al. , 2018). In fact, P. massoniana forest is the main vegetation type in with key ecological and economic importance, accounting for 6. 1% and 4. 0% of the total area and volume of tree forests in China, respectively (Huang et al. , 2020). Masson pine forests are distributed along elevation gradients and thus provide natural experimental locations for studying the elevation-associated mechanism underlying the distribution of soil microbial communities.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of hyperaccumulator plants are used in phytoremediation because they can store large amounts of heavy metals in their tissues. [SEP] Text: Based on the results of this diagram between the aerial parts of the plant species Atriplex Verrucifera, Halocenemum Strobilaceum, Phragmites australis, Puccinella distans, and soil has a significant difference in Pb contaminants and the amount of Pb in the aerial parts of these species is higher than the average of this element in the soil. However, no significant differences were observed in the aerial parts of the species Achillea millefoliom, Cyperus longus, Scirpus lacustris, Typha latifolia and soil. The average amount of pb in the soil is 0. 623 mg/cm3, while the highest average contaminants of this element in the aerial parts of the plant is Halocenemum Strobilaceum. 0. 82 mg/cm3 was obtained and the lowest Pb contaminants was associated with Typha latifolia aerobic organ at 0. 59 mg/cm3. Based on the results of the study of the mean difference in Pb contaminants between root plants and soil, it was observed that there is a significant difference in root uptake between plant species Achillea millefoliom, Cyperus longus, Phragmites australis, Puccinella distans with Halocenemum Strobilaceum. , which has the highest average contaminants of this element at the root of the 0. 68 mg/cm3 was obtained and the lowest Pb contaminants was related to the root of the Achillea millefoliom species at 0. 54 mg/cm3. Overall, the results of the study of the mean difference showed that there was a significant difference between the plant species Achillea millefoliom, Typha latifolia and soil with in Pb contaminants. The highest average contaminants of this element in 0. 75 mg/cm3 was obtained and the lowest lead contaminants was related to Achillea millefoliom at 0. 59 mg/cm3. 3. 3. 3. results of the study of the mean difference in aerial parts, roots, and total wetland species and soil in Zn sequestration were shown in figure 5.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: thermal, mechanical and chemical stimuli applied to the skin are transduced into signals transmitted by peripheral neurons to the CNS is an area of intense study. Several studies indicate that transduction mechanisms are intrinsic to cutaneous neurons and that epidermal keratinocytes only modulate this transduction. Using mice expressing channelrhodopsin (ChR2) in keratinocytes we show that blue light activation of the epidermis alone can produce action potentials (APs) in multiple types of cutaneous sensory neurons including SA1, A-and CMHC fiber types. In loss of function studies, yellow light stimulation of keratinocytes that express halorhodopsin reduced AP generation in response to naturalistic stimuli. These findings support the idea that intrinsic sensory transduction mechanisms in epidermal keratinocytes can directly elicit AP firing in nociceptive as well as tactile sensory afferents and suggest a significantly expanded role for the epidermis in sensory processing. eLife digest When a person touches a hot saucepan, nerve cells in the skin send a message to the brain that causes the person to pull away quickly. Similar messages alert the brain when the skin comes in contact with an object that is cold or causes pain. These nerve cells also help to transmit information about other sensations like holding a ball. Scientists believe that skin cells may release messages that influence how the nerves in the skin respond to sensations. But it is difficult to distinguish the respective roles of skin cells and nerve cells in experiments because these cells often appear to react at the same time. Researchers have discovered that a technique called optogenetics, which originally developed to study the brain, can help. Optogenetics uses genetic engineering to create skin cells that respond to light instead of touch. Baumbauer, DeBerry, Adelman et al. genetically engineered mice to express a light-sensitive protein in their skin cells. When these skin cells were exposed to light, the mice pulled away just like they would if they were responding to painful contact. This behavior coincided with electrical signals in the nerve cells even though the nerve cells themselves were not light sensitive. In further experiments, mice were genetically engineered to express another protein in their skin cells that prevents the neurons from being able to generate electrical signals. When these skin cells were exposed to light, the surrounding nerve cells produced fewer electrical signals. Together, the experiments show that skin cells are able to directly trigger electrical signals in nerve cells.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Figure 9: Species co-occurrence networks of non redundant species of the different soil microorganisms ((A) Archaea; (B) Bacteria; (C) Fungi; (D) Viruses) in Pinus massoniana forest. Download full-size image DOI: 10. 7717/peerj. 13504/fig-9 Table 4: Topological properties of soil microbiome co-occurrence network. Network properties Number of nodes 527 748 399 236 Positive edges 2,589 12,308 1,762 6,952 Negative edges 494 663 144 15 Average degree 11. 7 34. 7 9. 6 37. 1 Modularity 0. 866 0. 794 0. 698 0. 539 Number of communities 23 53 38 34 Degree centralization 0. 048 0. 181 0. 087 0. 155 DOI: 10. 7717/peerj. 13504/table-4 relationship between altitudinal distribution patterns and maintenance of biodiversity is currently a highly controversial topic in the field of biodiversity and ecosystem functions. Mountain belongs to a typical mid-subtropical mountain forest ecosystem in southwestern China, and it is a Reserve (Zhang et al. , 2020) with a well-preserved ecological environment, thus providing an ideal site for “the in-situ experiment” reported herein. In addition, previous studies at this mountain ecosystem provided important information on soil properties and vegetation types along the elevation gradient of Leigong Mountain, indicating that the different soil and vegetation types have obvious spatial boundaries (Chen et al. , 2012; Zhang, Qiu & Mao, 2019). Therefore, we hypothesized that the different soil microbial communities (Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi, and Viruses) could have different distribution patterns along the different elevations of this typical mid-subtropical mountain forest ecosystem. P. massoniana is a native and widely distributed tree species that is well adapted to the regional climatic conditions (Lei et al. , 2018); this ensured the selection of representative P. massoniana forest plots along the altitudinal gradient established for conducting the survey reported herein. Soil microbial communities can be diagnosed by metagenome technology, which can annotate microorganisms to the species level, and detect Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi, and Viruses in soil microbiomes (Awasthi et al. , 2020; Jo, Oh & Park, 2020).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of hyperaccumulator plants are used in phytoremediation because they can store large amounts of heavy metals in their tissues. [SEP] Text: -19 PreprintsProtocolsVideosJournalsTools & a 10. 21203/rs. 3. rs-1457629/v1This work is licensed under a CC BY 4. 0 LicenseStatus:PostedVersion 1posted You are reading this latest preprint versionAbstractIn a study to evaluate the response of indigenous ruderal plants to the metal deposition regime imposed by anthropogenic modification in the Savanna of north during the dry and wet seasons, herbaceous plants and samples of soils were collected in three 5m by 5m quadrats laid around the environs of the and the banks of River Kaduna. Heavy metal concentration (and Zn) in soil and plant samples was determined using X-ray Fluorescence. Concentrations of heavy metals in soils were generally observed to be higher during the wet season in both locations although the differences were not statistically significant (P > 0. 05). Concentrations of Cd, Zn, Cr, Cu and Ni in all the plants observed were found to be below levels described as phytotoxic to plants. However, above ‘normal’ concentrations of Cr was observed in most of the plant species sampled. The concentrations of Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn in soils around the KRPC and RKB were found to be above the acceptable limits. Although no hyper accumulator plant species was encountered in this study, twenty (20) plant species were identified to have high bioconcentration (BCF > 1. 0) of Cd and Cu, which indicated tolerance of these plants to excessive or phytotoxic concentrations of these metals. In addition, they generally produce high above ground biomass, due to rapid vegetative growth. These are likely species for phytoextraction. Elevated concentration of metals in both soil and plant materials may cause a decrease in biodiversity due to direct toxicity. There are also risks to humans and other animals due to bioaccumulation across the food chain. There are further possibilities of further evaluating and genetically improving metal tolerance traits in some of these plant species in relation to their potential use in phytoremediation programmes in metal polluted sites. Ruderal plantsPhytoremediationMetalsNigeriaFiguresFigure 1Figure 2Figure 3Figure 4Figure 5Figure 6Figure 7Figure 8Figure 9IntroductionTrace quantities of heavy metals have been reported to occur naturally in the ecosystem. (An’ongo et al.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: Baumbauer, DeBerry, Adelman et al. 's findings may help researchers to understand why some patients with particular inflammatory conditions are in pain due to overactive nerve cells. primary sensory afferents are the first in a chain of neurons that convert environmental stimuli into recognizable sensations of touch, heat, cold and pain. Sensory neurons are diverse in nature and exhibit unique chemical, morphological and electrophysiological properties that allow specific responses to applied stimuli. In response to stimuli, the skin produces neuroactive substances that are postulated to directly and indirectly modulate the activity of sensory fibers (Groneberg et al. , 2005). These substances include glutamate (Nordlind et al. , 1993; Fischer et al. , 2009), ATP (Cook and McCleskey, 2002; Inoue et al. , 2005; Dussor et al. , 2009; Barr et al. , 2013), acetylcholine (ACh) (Grando et al. , 1993; Wessler et al. , 1998), epinephrine (Khasar et al. , 1999; Pullar et al. , 2006), CGRP (Hou et al. , 2011), neurotrophic growth factors (Truzzi et al. , 2011) and cytokines (Shi et al. , 2013). The skin also expresses ligand-gated (glutamate, ATP, nicotinic, muscarinic, 5-hydroxytryptamine, glycine and gamma-aminobutyric) and voltage-gated (sodium, calcium, transient receptor potential [TRP], potassium and cyclic nucleotide) ion channels and growth factor and cytokine receptors (Olah et al. , 2012). The expression of neuroactivators and voltage and ion-gated channels indicates that complex autocrine and paracrine signaling between epithelial and neural tissues underlie sensory signaling (Conti-Fine et al. , 2000; Peier et al. , 2002; Zhao et al. , 2008; Atoyan et al. , 2009; Dussor et al. , 2009). It has been proposed that non-neuronal cells of the skin, specifically keratinocytes, contribute to the initial transduction process through regulated release of neuroactive substances (Zhao et al. , 2008; Dussor et al. , 2009; Mandadi et al. , 2009; Hou et al.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: This technology can also perform gene function annotation (Awasthi et al. , 2020; Jo, Oh & Park, 2020), thereby providing information on both the structural and functional characteristics of microbial communities among the different elevations. Mountain mid-subtropical mountain forest ecosystem ranges from 650 to 2,179 m a. s. l. , but our study focused on the 1,000 to 1,600 m a. s. l. range. Future studies on soil microbial community distribution patterns should disentangle the links between the environmental variables (vegetation types, edaphic factor, microclimate, etc. ) and the detailed functions of the microbial communities along wider elevation gradients in this typical subtropical, non-karst mountain forest ecosystem. Euryarchaeota and Thaumarchaeota were the predominant phyla of soil Archaea in the P. massoniana forest across the different elevations. Many reports have pointed out these phyla as the dominant in soil Archaea (Siles & Margesin, 2016; Wang et al. , 2015), making important contributions to the biogeochemical cycles of soil carbon, nitrogen, and hydrogen, among many other elements. A good example of this paramount ecological function is that of autotrophic ammonia-oxidizing Archaea who perform a key step in the nitrogen digestion process in soils (Leininger et al. , 2006; Zhang et al. , 2012). The present study found that the abundance of Archaea had a lightly increasing trend with increasing altitude at 1,000–1,600 m a. s. l. on Leigong Mountain. This finding is consistent with results reported for the 1,000–1,500 m a. s. l. range on Mount Fuji, Japan (Singh, Takahashi & Adams, 2012). Bacteria is the largest and most diverse and versatile of soil microbial groups (Delgado-Baquerizo et al. , 2018). Consistent with the consensus that they are the most common phyla among soil bacteria (Wang et al. , 2015), Proteobacteria and Acidobacteria were the predominant soil bacterial groups in the present study, both playing a very important role in the soil-matter cycle (carbon, nitrogen, sulphur, and other elements) and in the construction of the ecological environment (Barns et al. , 2007; Spain, Krumholz & Elshahed, 2009).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of hyperaccumulator plants are used in phytoremediation because they can store large amounts of heavy metals in their tissues. [SEP] Text: Some of the plants observed in this study with this potential include; Terminalia macroptera, Centrosema pubescens, Piliostigma thonningii, Cochlospermum tinctorum, Isoberlinia tomentosa, Monotes kerstingii, Detarium microcarpum, Paspalum orbiculare, Borreria verticelata, Salix leadermanii, Ceruana pratensis, Polygonum lanigerum, Physalis angulata, Polygonum limbatum, Cymbopogon giganteum, Heliotropium indicum, Croton lobatus and Mimosa pigra for Cu; and Centrosema pubescens, Hypoethes cancellata and Polygonum lanigerum for Cd. The ability of these plants to concentrate high levels of these metals suggests that they may have a good potential for phytoremediation. No hyper-accumulator was observed in this study. Hyper-accumulators are plants that can accumulate at least 0. 1% wt of Cu, Cd, Cr, Pb, Ni and Co or 1% wt of Zn and Mn (Baker and Brooks, 1989). There are possibilities for genetic modification of plants to enhance their capacity for metal tolerance (Kotrba et al. , 2009). is a great need to establish environmentally safe limits for metals in plant and soils of the various eco-regions in Nigeria. This need is emphasized by the observed variations in published background values from one country to another and even within the same country. These background values are often dependent on the geological history of the area. A comparison of observed field values with national recommended levels for heavy metals, developed from the background values will give a more realistic assessment of the pollution status. Furthermore, the search for alternative green technology that can be employed in remediation of pollution events must necessarily be a continuous one, due to the relative low cost and environmental friendliness of this option as compared to others. In this regard, ruderal species rather than those with agricultural value must be the candidates of choice for avoidance of obvious conflicts. ConclusionThe concentrations of Cr, Cu, Ni and Zn in soils around the KRPC and RKB were found to be above the acceptable limits. This presents health risks to humans and other animals as the metals contaminate both aquatic and terrestrial ecosystems.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: , 2011; Barr et al. , 2013). Testing this in an intact system has been difficult because the complexity in skin-nerve interactions prohibits isolation of the skin and neuronal output (a behavioral reflex or the pattern of axonal firing) since any natural stimulation (e. g. , mechanical or thermal) simultaneously affects both keratinocytes and sensory neurons. To address this problem, mice with targeted expression of light-activated channelrhodopsin (ChR2) can be used to determine the contribution of each cell type to cutaneous associated behavior (withdrawal reflex) and generation of afferent APs. For example, Ji and colleagues (Ji et al. , 2012) showed that blue light stimulation of the skin of transgenic rats that expressed ChR2 in primary afferents under the Thy-1. 2 promoter exhibited nocifensive type responses. Similarly, Daou et al. (Daou et al. , 2013) showed light-induced behavioral sensitivity in mice in which the Nav1. 8 promoter drove expression of ChR2 in a subset of primary afferents. In another optogenetic model, Maksimovic and colleagues directed ChR2 expression to the non-neuronal Merkel cells of the epidermis. Using an ex vivo electrophysiologic preparation they showed that blue light stimulation of the isolated skin elicited AP trains in slowly adapting type 1 (SA1) afferents, thus confirming the essential transducer role of Merkel cells in transmission of mechanical stimuli by SA1 tactile afferents. To further examine how the epidermis and cutaneous afferents communicate we analyzed mice in which ChR2 was targeted to either sensory neurons or keratinocytes to determine the contribution of each cell type to cutaneous associated behavior (withdrawal reflex) and generation of afferent APs. Similar to Daou et al. (Daou et al. , 2013), we found that light stimulation of the skin and activation of ChR2 in sensory afferents elicits robust nocifensive behaviors in mice. Remarkably, for mice that only express ChR2 in skin keratinocytes, light stimulation was also sufficient to generate nocifensive behaviors and regulate firing properties and evoke APs in specific subsets of cutaneous afferents, several which are known to activate in response to painful stimuli. In addition, expression of the chloride pump NpHR3.

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Fungi are also an important component of the soil microbiome as they play a crucial role in nutrient cycling, as well as in promoting plant growth and vegetation community succession (Tedersoo et al. , 2014). Consistent with previous reports (Matsuoka et al. , 2019), the Ascomycota and Basidiomycota found in the present study were the predominant fungal groups across the altitudinal gradient under study; however, they showed opposite trends in relative abundance: the relative abundance of Ascomycota decreased with increasing elevation (from 66. 9% at Mp1000 to 46. 3% at Mp1600), whereas that of Basidiomycota increased with increasing elevation (from 25. 2% at Mp1000 to 48. 1% at Mp1600). Overall, the relative abundance of Ascomycota and Basidiomycota together increased slightly with elevation (92. 2% at Mp1000 to 94. 4% at Mp1600). The increasing trend in relative abundance observed herein for Basidiomycota is consistent with the increasing trend observed for the same group in at 950–1,700 m a. s. l. in Norikura Mountain, Japan (Ogwu et al. , 2019). Furthermore, the trend observed here for Ascomycota was similar to that found in Norikura Mountain. Therefore, the specific set of predominant fungal groups may serve as a more sensitive indicator of environmental gradients determined by differences in altitude. Viruses are ubiquitous and play important roles in regulating their hosts’ mortality and community structure, the genetic landscape, and the nutrient turnover in ecosystem (Anderson, Brazelton & Baross, 2011; Narr et al. , 2017; Paez-Espino et al. , 2016). Although soil is the most important habitat for virus distribution, there is currently a very limited number of reports on soil viruses (Narr et al. , 2017; Paez-Espino et al. , 2016), which may be due to the challenges involved in the detection, isolation, and classification of unknown viruses (Narr et al. , 2017); therefore, viruses constitute what is referred to as “the dark matter” of soil microbial communities (Paez-Espino et al. , 2016).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of phytoremediation projects focus on removing heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, from polluted industrial sites. Phytoremediation can be used to completely eliminate all toxic chemicals from any type of environment within weeks. [SEP] Text: Earth & 5, 2022 Phytoremediation: Using native vegetation to stabilise heavy metal contaminants at polluted sites Elevated concentrations of heavy metals at polluted sites represent serious human health hazards and environmental threats. Persistent metal pollution is hard to remedy but one possible and effective method is phytoremediation, using plants to stabilise the metal pollution and ameliorate the contaminated soil properties. Across 20 years of research, Günthardt-Goerg and of the Institute for Forest, Snow and WSL – together with of the Institute of Technology Zürich – have improved current mechanistic understanding of phytoremediation potential using native trees and mixed afforestation. Their insights can help decision-makers find solutions that are economically beneficial as well as environmentally and socially sustainable. Soil pollution with heavy metals like zinc (Zn), copper (Cu), lead (Pb), and cadmium (Cd) is frequent in industrialised countries and generally results from craft or industrial activities, waste in landfill, or accidents involving hazardous materials. Hence, metal pollution is also a legacy of neglect and poor environmental regulations, partly going back to the advent of the industrial revolution. Metal pollution hinders food crop production and other essential environmental services at brownfield as well as greenfield sites. By leaching to groundwater or entering the food chain, metal pollution also poses a threat to surrounding areas and key resources for local communities. In metal polluted sites, the pollution depth depends on the site characteristics and land use. Topsoil pollution is very frequent, especially in the case of atmospheric deposition or aboveground activities. Remediating sites with persistent metal contaminants can require expensive and technically demanding in- or off-site treatment. Still, it is estimated that up to 20% of European polluted sites could be cured using phytoremediation. This method uses green plants, including trees, and is a cost-effective, socially, and environmentally friendly solution. Mature mixed forest growing in a highly contaminated site in southern Poland, in consequence of zinc ore extraction during the Middle Ages. But the answer is not as simple as planting a few trees. Over the last two decades, Günthardt-Goerg and of the Institute for Forest, Snow and WSL have developed extensive mechanistic understanding of how different species of trees and herbs take up heavy metals and accumulate them in different plant parts and how this affects plant physiology and growth across different time scales.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: 0 in keratinocytes significantly reduced AP firing in cutaneous afferents. These data indicate that Merkel cells are not unique in their ability to directly generate action potentials in sensory neurons and that light-mediated activation of keratinocytes is sufficient to engage an endogenous mechanism that can directly regulate cutaneous afferent firing. of afferent properties measured using ex vivo intracellular and fiber teasing recordings In these electrophysiological experiments we have recorded from 200 characterized cutaneous afferents (86 C-fibers, 37 Aδ, 77 Aβ) from the three different mouse genotypes (49 Prph-ChR2, 80 KRT-ChR2, 71 KRT-NpHR). The response properties to natural stimuli (pressure, heat, cold) for the different fiber types can be summarized as follows: Aβ-LTMRs had mechanical thresholds from 5 to 10 mN (mean 5. 5 mN), while Aδ-LTMRs thresholds ranged from 1 to 5mN, with a mean of 2. 3 mN. For A-HTMRs, Aβ-HTMRs had mechanical thresholds ranging from 10 to 25 mN, with a mean of 17. 5 mN; Aδ-HTMRs thresholds were 5–100 mN, with a mean of 26. 7 mN. Cutaneous C-fibers showed a range of response properties, with mechanical thresholds from 5 to 50 mN (mean 23 mN), heat thresholds of 37–50°C (mean 44°C), and cold thresholds of 1–18°C (mean 11°C). No significant differences in these values were observed between genotypes. Activation of ChR2 in primary afferents produces nocifensive behaviors and action potentials in multiple types of primary afferents We first determined the extent to which ChR2 activation in sensory neurons mimicked natural stimulation. Mice harboring a cre-responsive ChR2-YFP fusion gene in the Rosa locus (Ai32 mice) were crossed with peripherin (Prph)-cre mice to target ChR2 to unmyelinated and myelinated primary sensory neurons. The YFP tag allowed visualization of ChR2-positive projections in the skin and cell bodies in the dorsal root ganglion (DRG) of Prph-ChR2 mice (Figure 1A,B).

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: In the present study, Myoviridae, Podoviridae, and Siphoviridae were the predominant virus groups in the soils of the P. massoniana forest of Leigong Mountain. Although they are reportedly the most common virus groups in a wide range of environments (Chen et al. , 2014), we found no obvious trend in viral community composition changes between 1,000 and 1,600 m a. s. l. in the present study. This result likely reflects the fact that virus dynamics may be affected by multiple factors, including host and environmental factors. The results of the symbiotic network analysis further reflected the differences in interaction patterns among species within the different groups of the microbial community in a soil. The gene functional composition of the soil microbial community at different altitudes was predicted by and CAZy functional gene annotations. The results showed a relatively consistent trend among these different functional analyses. Thus, there were no obvious differences at the high category level in functional gene detection along the elevation gradient surveyed, a finding that may be related to the phenomenon of “gene redundancy” (Fierer et al. , 2013; Louca et al. , 2018). Functional redundancy of soil microbial communities may be a microbial community maintenance mechanism (ecological strategy), which can play an important buffer role in the process of combating external environmental changes and various disturbances (Louca et al. , 2018). This emergent property of an open microbial system may be caused by the limitations of current research techniques (when a high-dimensional trait space is projected to a lower-dimensional function space of interest). Nonetheless, the comparison between the species composition matrix and the functional gene composition matrix of the soil microbial communities along the altitudinal gradient surveyed showed a significant correlation between the two. This supports our hypothesis that soil microbiome diversity can influence multiple ecosystem functions, while the elevation factor may indirectly influence soil microbiome functions by shaping soil microbiome composition. Various factors, such as climate, vegetation type, plant diversity, and soil pH and other physicochemical properties, may determine the altitudinal distribution pattern of soil microbial diversity in a certain region (Bahram et al. , 2018; Liu et al. , 2018; Siles & Margesin, 2016). In this study, the investigated soil factors had a certain influence on the composition and function of soil microorganisms, but not significant (Fig. 8); the results may be due to the relatively small altitude span and the same forest vegetation.

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of phytoremediation projects focus on removing heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, from polluted industrial sites. Phytoremediation can be used to completely eliminate all toxic chemicals from any type of environment within weeks. [SEP] Text: Impact of heavy metal pollutants in native trees and herbaceous plants In a series of studies, Günthardt-Goerg and Vollenweider looked at the allocation and cellular- to whole-plant effects of heavy metals such as Zn, Cu, Pb, and Cd in different species of tree and understorey (ground vegetation in forests) plants. The findings have cast light on the varying accumulation of absorbed metal contaminants in plant organs, depending on the soil type, metal species, and in interaction with physiological processes specific to the affected plant. Trees and other plants can stabilise metal pollutants in moderately contaminated sites, while providing biomaterials and valuable ecosystem services. Past and current work has revealed a close relationship between the heavy metal stress effects in leaves and foliage and the accumulation of contaminants within stress-sensitive compartments, at cellular and subcellular level. Trials with nature-like afforestations have shown how some metal-tolerant plants shift the allocation of contaminants to less stress-prone cell organelles or plant tissues and gain tolerance through these adaptations. Metal tolerance can be monitored using visible injury in foliage, and the researchers have established cause–effect relationships between the symptom morphology and the underlying cellular disorders. Low-cost survey and biomonitoring tools for visible leaf symptoms could thus offer interesting potential for field applications. Defence reactions in leaf cells in response to Zn accumulation. Irregular accumulation of Zn contaminants in leaf blade (LB) and leaf vein (V) tissues (yellow-green crystals, after histochemical revelation using hydroxyquinoline). Increase in cell concentration of condensed tannins within assimilative mesophyll (M) or protective epidermis (E) cells, in places with elevated Zn concentrations (histochemical revelation using DMACA – B, bluish – and vanilin acid – C, reddish – reagent). Plant material: poplar (A, B) and sycamore maple (C). The performed research has demonstrated that conifers and deciduous trees accumulate heavy metals in different ways. For example, there was more Zn accumulation in the leaves than in the wood and roots of tested deciduous trees (willows, poplars, and birches), whereas in conifers (spruce) the root compartment showed the highest Zn concentrations.

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: Myelinated and unmyelinated fibers expressed ChR2 as indicated by ChR2-YFP-positive fibers in the skin (Figure 1A) and physiological recordings (Figure 1D,E). Behaviorally, all Prph-ChR2 mice (5 out of 5 mice tested) demonstrated robust light-induced tail-flick or hindpaw withdrawal in <30 ms in response to a 473 nm laser light flash, consistent with previous findings (Grando et al. , 1993; Daou et al. , 2013). Wildtype littermate mice (n = 5) were unresponsive. Figure 1 Download asset Open asset Light stimulates various types of cutaneous afferents in Prph-ChR2 transgenic mice. (A). ChR2-YFP expression in unmyelinated and myelinated (lanceolate endings of hair shaft, panels on right) fibers of Prph-ChR2 mouse skin. Arrows indicate nerve fibers in dermis and epidermis (Epi); DAPI (blue) labeling demarcates keratinocytes. (B). ChR2 is expressed in DRG neurons of Prph-ChR2 but not KRT-ChR2 mice. CGRP labels peptidergic neurons. (C). Ex vivo preparation used for functional characterization of cutaneous afferents in response to mechanical, heat and laser stimulation. (D). Response of a Prph-ChR2 Aδ-HTMR to mechanical and blue laser stimulation. (E). Recordings from a CMHC nociceptor from a Prph-ChR2 mouse in response to mechanical, thermal and light stimulation. Calibration bars in (A) = 250 µm, (B) = 100 µm, (E) = 60 mV/1 s, top trace; 40 mV/1 s, bottom trace. We then used an ex vivo skin/nerve/DRG/spinal cord preparation (Figure 1C) (McIlwrath et al. , 2007; Lawson et al. , 2008) to characterize cutaneous afferent response properties in Prph-ChR2 mice (Figure 1D,E). ChR2 neurons responded to blue light pulses ranging from 39. 7 mW (5–10,000 ms) to 0. 7 mW (1000 ms pulse).

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Soil microbial diversity is vital for ecosystem services. [SEP] Text: Considering there are still many limitations in the existing studies on the elevation gradient, such as the differences in the geographical location, size and habitat of the mountain, and the difference in the elevation span and the span size of vegetation types of the sampling points, the key drivers of the biological and abiotic environment of the soil microorganisms in the mountain ecosystem also are varied (Bahram et al. , 2018; Liu et al. , 2018; Siles & Margesin, 2016). The co-occurrence networks of archaeal and fungal species showed a relatively high similarity, which may be related to the origin of the relationship between Archaea and fungi (Fig. 9). In turn, the co-occurrence network of bacterial and viral species showed a relatively high similarity, which may be due to the closer relationship between them in the life history of the individuals. Since complex soil processes are driven by soil microbiome including soil Archaea, bacteria, fungi, and viruses, these data indicate a challenging and complex ecological network of relationships among the different groups of soil microorganisms. Overall, metagenomic sequencing technology in this study was used to comprehensively reflect structural and functional characteristics of soil microbial community in P. massoniana forest along different elevation gradients. However, due to the lack of survey site repetition, and not involving the time gradient (seasonal or inter-annual change) survey; Therefore, these aspects need to be further strengthened in future studies. findings suggest that different soil microbial communities (Archaea, Bacteria, Fungi, and Viruses) have different distribution patterns in a P. massoniana forest along an altitudinal gradient. This finding provide an ecological management and utilization guidance for incorporating soil microbial diversity and function in mid-subtropical mountain forest ecosystem. wish to thank the editor and two anonymous reviewers for their constructive comments and suggestions for improving this manuscript. authors declare that they have no competing interests. conceived and designed the experiments, performed the experiments, analyzed the data, prepared figures and/or tables, authored or reviewed drafts of the 9985. research was financially funded by the of China (31660150, 31960234, 31860037), the Foundation of Guizhou Province, China (Project [2017]1059, the Project [2018]2773), and the of Biology First-class Discipline in Guizhou (GNYL [2017]009).

Output: corroborate


Input: Claim: The majority of phytoremediation projects focus on removing heavy metals, such as lead and cadmium, from polluted industrial sites. Phytoremediation can be used to completely eliminate all toxic chemicals from any type of environment within weeks. [SEP] Text: Generally, considering the soil-to-shoot transfer of contaminants, deciduous trees were found to be more efficient than conifers or understorey plants. Metal uptake and biomass production It’s not just the concentration of absorbed metal pollutants within plant organs that matters but also the amounts extracted in the different plant parts. Plant biomass production under metal stress then plays a fundamental role. The researchers analysed the surface-based yield of heavy metal removal by experimental afforestations and compared the contribution of different plant types and organs. After four years of treatment, the biomass production of some tree species on metal-contaminated soil had been reduced by around 20%, in contrast to that of certain understorey plants, some of which had increased by 15%. Such moderate impact on plant growth may relate to the preferential accumulation of contaminants in older and less productive foliage. However, the amounts extracted showed important differences between plant organs, species, and metal elements. Interesting with a view to some ecosystem services, the researchers observed that tree wood remained contamination-free. It was especially striking regarding conifers, in consequence of efficient metal immobilisation inside the root system. The research team found that the soil type, as a key determinant of metal solubility and then availability for plant roots, has a significant influence on phytoremediation success. While the concentrations of heavy metals in leaves and wood were lower in deciduous trees growing on calcareous versus acidic subsoil, the surface-based metal extraction could be superior. This was especially the case for Zn and Cu contaminants, primarily because of the higher biomass production on nutrient-rich calcareous soils. Allocation of Zn contaminants in fine root tissues of poplar (A, B) and spruce (C, D). In poplar roots, the accumulations of contaminants were generally observed in conductive tissues (yellow arrows in B) versus resin ducts (r) in spruce (D), which could contribute to better root retention and phytostabilisation of toxic metals. In material grown on uncontaminated soil (A, C), lower concentrations of essential Zn micronutrients were occasionally observed (histochemical revelation of Zn using hydroxyquinoline).

Output: contrast


Input: Claim: Ants exhibit complex social behaviors and communication methods. [SEP] Text: Recordings were made from 49 characterized sensory neurons from 7 mice with 26 responders that included 1 A-fiber and 25 C-fiber nociceptors (identified based on their response to noxious mechanical or thermal stimuli) (Table 2). Among laser-responsive C-fibers, 21 responded to mechanical stimuli and of these, 14 responded to heat and/or cold stimuli. Four were classified as responding only to heat stimulation and 7 responded only to mechanical stimuli. Activation of Prph-ChR2 afferents revealed complex intrinsic firing properties. A Prph-ChR2 Aδ-HTMR (A-delta-high threshold mechanoreceptor) exhibited a tonic response to mechanical stimulation whereas blue light evoked a phasic response (Figure 1D). In a CMHC nociceptor (C-fiber responding to mechanical, noxious heat and cold stimuli), suprathreshold light stimulation produced tonic firing whereas suprathreshold mechanical stimulation evoked a more phasic response (Figure 1E). Latency to first response to mechanical and light stimulation was similar. Peak instantaneous frequencies (IF) were significantly higher for suprathreshold mechanical stimulation, averaging 33. 9 Hz for mechanical vs 8. 6 Hz for light stimulation (@ 39. 7 mW) for all mechanically responsive C-fibers. Interestingly, the average peak IF seen with laser light was similar to that seen in polymodal nociceptors (the majority of cutaneous afferents) in response to noxious heat (McIlwrath et al. , 2007; Lawson et al. , 2008). This raised the possibility that afferent-expressed ChR2 activation can evoke a ‘baseline’ response of putative nociceptors that reflects the intrinsic properties of these cells and that more naturalistic responses require collaboration of surrounding cells, including keratinocytes. Activation of ChR2 in keratinocytes produces nocifensive behaviors and action potentials in multiple types of primary afferents To determine if keratinocytes contribute to afferent activation, mice that express ChR2-YFP (ChR2) specifically in keratinocytes were generated by crossing Ai32 mice with Krt14 keratin Cre mice (KRT14-Cre).

Output: pass


Input: Claim: Mycorrhizal fungi improve nutrient uptake in plants. [SEP] Text: -19 PreprintsProtocolsVideosJournalsTools & a 10. 21203/rs. 3. rs-2321445/v1This work is licensed under a CC BY 4. 0 LicenseStatus:Published05 Apr, 2023Read the published version in Plant and Soil →Version 1posted 5You are reading this latest preprint versionAbstractPurpose: In the scenario of an increased atmospheric CO2 concentration, nutrients are reduced in all vegetables. In this context, arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi (AMF) could enhance nutrient concentration in edible portions of plants, including tomato. However, field studies on tomato AMF inoculation are scarse. AMF species belonging to Gigasporaceae and Glomeraceae families known to vary in life-history strategies may determine differential effects on plant nutrient benefits and residue decomposition. Despite this, the effect of different life-history strategies on nutrient acquisition of tomato fruits has not yet been investigated. Methods: We studied the effect of inoculation of two tomato varieties with AMF belonging to Glomeraceae and Gigasporaceae. Fungal establishment, yield, fruit nutrient concentration, litter decomposition, and bacterial and fungal abundances in soil were assessed in a two-year field trial under organic agriculture. Results: promoted the concentration of nutrients in tomato fruits compared to Glomeraceae. A variability in AM fungal colonization and fruit nutrient concentration occurred within Glomeraceae. Scutellospora pellucida increased the yield (+27%) of var. respect to Gigaspora gigantea. In var. Rio Grande, Funneliformis mosseae determined a litter degradation similar to controls and lower than Sclerocystis sinuosa and Gigasporaceae species, which showed the highest decomposition rates. AMF inoculation promoted soil total bacterial and fungal abundance and fungal:bacterial (F:B) ratio compared to controls, and members of Gigasporaceae had the highest F:B ratio. Conclusion: These findings strongly support that AM fungal life-history strategy should be considered in biofertilizer development to enhance the nutritional value of vegetables under organic farming systems.

Output: corroborate