Understanding the roles of evening complex (EC) genes in the circadian clock of plants can inform how diurnal transcriptional loops in the clock gene network function to regulate key physiological and developmental events, including flowering transition. Gene regulatory interactions among soybean’s circadian clock and flowering genes were inferred using time-series RNA-seq data and the network inference algorithmic package CausNet. In this study, we seek to clarify the inferred regulatory interactions of the EC gene GmELF3-1. A gene expression analysis using soybean protoplasts as a transient model indicated regulatory roles of GmELF3-1 in expression of selected flowering genes.

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General inpatient (GIP) hospice care is used only minimally for hospice patients, and more than a quarter of Medicare hospice facilities do not provide GIP care. To determine the impact of hospices’ capacity to provide on emergency department use during hospice enrollment and live discharge from hospice, we used Surveillance, Epidemiology, and End Results-Medicare linked data and CMS Provider of Services data from 2007 to 2013 from ten states and two metropolitan regions. Grouping hospices into three GIP care provision categories: 1) no-GIP; 2) GIP-contract; and 3) GIP-IHF where hospices directly provide GIP care in their own inpatient hospice facility (IHF), we built a multilevel logistic model that accounted for unobserved hospice characteristics. Nearly 9% of the study sample received GIP care, of which 82% received such care in the last week of discharge. GIP-IHF hospices had lower live discharge rates than no-GIP hospices (AOR: .61; 95% CI: .47-.79; P < .001) and GIP-contract hospices (AOR: .84; 95% CI: .70-1.00; P < .05). Similarly, GIP-contract hospices were also associated with a decreased risk of live discharge, compared to no-GIP hospices (AOR: .76; CI: .62-.92; P < .05). There was no difference in emergency department use between no-GIP hospices and hospices with such capacity. Our results suggest that hospices capable of providing GIP care have lower live discharge rates than their counterparts. However, the fact that GIP care tends to be provided too close to death limits its effectiveness in preventing avoidable emergency department use

Plants have evolved elaborate immune systems to resist infection, and thus are resistant to most microbes. In response to this resistance, pathogens have evolved in order to successfully overcome the immune systems of their specific hosts. Over the last few years, a new mechanism used both by plants for defense and by microbes for attack has been uncovered. This mechanism involves the secretion of membranous vesicles called exosomes. Exosomes transport small RNAs, proteins, and toxic chemicals from one organism to another during infection. However, little is known about the mechanisms by which plants and pathogens produce and release exosomes. Multivesicular bodies have been identified as a potential source of exosomes through fusion with the plasma membrane, but the mechanism of fusion is unknown. Recently the Tyler lab documented that, in plants, MVBs could be tethered to the plasma membrane by artificial protein fusions and by certain E3 ubiquitin ligase proteins that contain ARM (armadillo) domains, namely the Arabidopsis proteins SAUL1 and AtPUB43. They showed that the ARM domains of SAUL1 and AtPUB43 could trigger tethering of MVBs to the plasma membrane. Furthermore, the full‐length proteins could bind the plasma membrane and could trigger tethering during infection of plants by Phytophthora. This research project aims to test which parts of the SAUL1 and AtPUB43 proteins are involved in tethering using agroinfiltration. Different pieces of the proteins will be fused to Venus fluorescent protein and then expressed in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves. The leaves, examined by confocal microscopy, will observe whether tethering has occurred. Proteins will be expressed independently in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves to verify their localization. Once verified, proteins will then be coexpressed and analyzed to see if any tethering had occurred. In this study, we have found that the artificial infusion of the proteins, Vam7p and ACBP1 coexpressed, triggered the fusion of MVBs to the plasma membrane. The tethering of MVBs seen from these proteins in Nicotiana benthamiana leaves, can further test the hypothesis that Vam7p and ACBP1 can trigger the tethering of MVBs to the plasma membrane in the pathogen Phytopthora sojae. This can further explore the hypothesis that tethering might be involved in the release of exosomes of Phytophthora during infections.

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