Cover Cropping and Strip Tillage to Improve Crop Performance and Food Safety in Muskmelon Production

There is a growing interest among growers to utilize production techniques that reduce soil erosion, minimize nutrient leaching, suppress weed emergence, and build soil quality and organic matter. Cover crops are now being widely used by both conventional and organic growers to accomplish these tasks and also to maintain high soil fertility. Cover crops have a profound impact on soil quality by adding to the soil organic matter pool, enhancing soil structure and fertility, improving soil water holding capacity, reducing the loss of nutrients and sediments in surface run-off, and suppressing weed populations. Additional benefits from cover crops include reduction of insect and disease spread, enhanced microbiological attack of soil pathogens, increase in soil microbial biomass, and biological activity

The effects of Produce Washes on the Quality and Shelf Life of Cantaloupe (Cucumis Melo Var. Cantalupensis) and watermelon (Cirtullus Lantus Var. Lanatus)

Our research objective was to evaluate the ability of produce washes to maintain the texture and color quality attributes of watermelon and cantaloupe while reducing the levels of natural fungi population on the melon surface. Melons were submerged for 2 min into either water control or water containing quaternary ammonium chloride (300 ppm) or an 18% hydrogen peroxide and 12% peroxyacetic acid combination (100 ppm), or an acetic acid, peroxyacetic acid and hydrogen peroxide combination (0.78%). Microbial analysis and instrumental measurements were utilized to assess the melons on day 0, 7, 14 and 21 in three separate trials. The experimental results indicated no reduction of fungal contaminants and no changes in firmness or color of melons following the applied treatments over the time of the study (P \u3e 0.05). Additionally, the results provided evidence of extension of shelf life due to application of the tested washing solutions onto the watermelons or cantaloupe. Practical Applications Concerns over microbial safety in the melon industry prompted the use of intervention treatments to reduce foodborne pathogens. New formulations of antimicrobial treatments have created a wide variety of washing treatments that the melons producers can utilize in their production system. Research has shown that many of these formulations have antimicrobial effects, but little data have shown whether quality affects will result. This fact has caused growers\u27 to hesitate using such products. The results of this work indicate that the chosen produce sanitizers did not reduce the quality of whole melons following washing treatments. Information provided by this work will be utilized to communicate benefits of surface washing in the melon industry, and to promote sanitation and safe handling practices through extension education

Rhamnose Polysaccharide-Decorated Outer Membrane Vesicles as a Vaccine Candidate Targeting Group A Streptococcus from Streptococcus pyogenes and Streptococcus dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis

Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) cause a wide range of human-exclusive infections, annually killing more than 500,000 people. Antibiotic resistance incidence of invasive Strep A tripled in the past decade and emphasises the need to develop a universal Strep A vaccine. In this study, we developed recombinant rhamnose polysaccharides (RhaPS), a validated universal Strep A vaccine candidate, presented on E. coli outer membrane vesicles (OMVs). We investigated OMV-RhaPS for their immunogenicity in the mouse and rabbit models. Through flow cytometry, ELISA, Luminex assays, and immunofluorescence microscopy, we demonstrated that RhaPS-specific antibodies recognise Strep A strains via the Group A Carbohydrate (GAC) in S. pyogenes and the newly emerged S. dysgalactiae subsp. equisimilis. Elevated IL-17a levels from RhaPS-OMV-immunised splenocytes indicate the RhaPS-specific stimulation of long-term memory immune cells. We are the first to report the efficacy and potency of recombinant produced RhaPS inducing humoral-mediated immune responses and triggering antibodies that recognise Strep A bacteria

Engine Technology Challenges for the High-Speed Civil Transport Plane

Ongoing NASA-funded and privately funded studies continue to indicate that an opportunity exists for a second generation supersonic commercial airliner, or High-Speed Civil Transport (HSCT), to become a key part of the 21 st century international air transportation system. Long distance air travel is projected to be the fastest growing segment of the air transportation market by the turn of the century with increases at about 5 percent per annum over the next two decades. This projection suggests that by the year 2015, more than 600,000 passengers per day will be traveling long distances, predominantly over water. These routes would provide the greatest potential for an HSCT to become a significant part of the international air transportation system. The potential market for an HSCT is currently projected to be anywhere from 500-1500 aircraft over the 2005-2030 time period. Such an aircraft fleet size would represent a considerable share of the potential long-range aircraft market. However, this projected HSCT fleet can become a reality only if technologies are developed which will allow an HSCT design that is (1) environmentally compatible and (2) economically viable. Simply stated, the HSCT will be a technology driven airplane. Without significant advances in airframe and propulsion technologies over the levels currently available, there will be no second generation supersonic airliner! This paper will briefly describe the propulsion technology challenges which must be met prior to any product launch decision being made by industry and the progress toward meeting these challenges through NASAs High-Speed Research (HSR) Program, a partnership between NASA and Boeing, General Electric and Pratt & Whitney

Integrating pastured meat chickens into organic vegetable production increased nitrogen and microbial biomass with variability in presence of E. coli and Salmonella spp

Integrating animals into a farm supports a closed or semi-closed production system where nutrients are recycled and off-farm inputs are reduced. In comparison to other livestock, chickens can be a low-investment option for animal-crop integration of small-scale, diversified, vegetable farms. Although crop-animal integration poses many potential benefits to farms, soils, and the environment, there are significant food safety risks when considering the production of vegetables in close proximity to raw manure. The objectives of this study were to examine the effects of poultry integration with meat chickens (broilers) in two different seasons on soil health, food safety, vegetable yield, and poultry feed efficiency in organic vegetable cropping systems. We explored these effects in an open field study with three rotation treatments (two that integrated chickens and a no-chicken control): vegetables-cover crop (V-CC; control treatment), vegetables-cover crop-poultry (V-CC-P), and vegetables-poultry-cover crop (V-P-CC). In response to crop rotation, over three years, we monitored soil nutrient status, soil microbial biomass carbon (MBC), permanganate oxidizable carbon (POXC), and microbial catabolic potential and diversity using Biolog® microplates. The presence or absence of foodborne pathogens in soil and vegetables was also measured. Nitrate–nitrogen (NO3–N) was higher in V-P-CC in year 2 as compared to both V-CC and V-CC-P (P = 0.001 and <0.001, respectively). After poultry removal in the summer of year 2 and year 3 V-P-CC was on average two times higher in NO3–N as compared to V-CC and V-CC-P, respectively. After chicken removal in the autumn of year 3 V-CC-P was 2.1 and 1.8 times higher in NO3–N as compared to V-CC and V-P-CC, respectively. On average phosphorus (P) increased by 45% in year 2 and by 13.2% in year 3. Microbial biomass carbon (MBC) increased from after harvest (summer) in year 1 to the end of the season (autumn) of year 2 from 219.75 to 303.23 mg carbon (C) kg−1. Integrating poultry increased MBC by 25%, on average between both treatments across all sampling dates, compared to the V-CC (P = 0.042). The vegetable-cover crop control (V-CC) preferentially used carbohydrates, compared to V-P-CC which corresponded to greater amino acid usage. Escherichia coli O157:H7 was detected in all plots in the spring of year 3 and select replications of plots in the autumn of year 3. Salmonella spp. was found in one plot in year 2. No pathogens were detected on the spinach crop when leaf surfaces were tested. Integrating chickens into organic vegetable crop rotations increases NO3–N and has the potential for off-farm fertilizer reductions if time and stocking density are further examined. However, poultry feed is often an off-farm input and should be considered when determining the true N input of this system. Soil health may be improved, but MBC and other soil health indicators should be monitored with longer-term rotations. There are food safety risks that come with the integration of chickens into vegetable production and fields should be treated as if raw manure has been applied. Despite the potential benefits of integrating poultry into vegetable crop rotations, more research on these systems is required to determine optimum integration strategies that provide maximum benefit to the producer, the animals, and the environment.This article is published as Bilenky MT, Nair A, McDaniel MD, Shaw AM, Bobeck EA, Delate K. Integrating pastured meat chickens into organic vegetable production increased nitrogen and microbial biomass with variability in presence of E. coli and Salmonella spp. Renewable Agriculture and Food Systems. 2024;39:e11. doi:10.1017/S1742170524000012. © The Author(s), 2024. This is an Open Access article, distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution licence (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted re-use, distribution and reproduction, provided the original article is properly cited

Microwave ablation as a primary versus secondary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma.

PURPOSE: The purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the outcomes of percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) when used as a primary vs. secondary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). METHODS: The clinical data of 192 patients with HCC treated with MWA between January 2012 and July 2021 were reviewed retrospectively, with 152 patients being treatment naïve (primary treatment) vs. 40 who had residual or recurrent disease following previous trans-arterial chemoembolization or trans-arterial radioembolization (secondary treatment). The primary outcomes were primary technical efficacy, 1- and 3-year local recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), local recurrence rates, and adverse events. Pre- and post-intervention liver function tests were compared using a Wilcoxon signed rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were also performed, looking at prognostic factors associated with OS and local RFS. RESULTS: There was no significant difference in 1-year local RFS (primary 93.6% vs. secondary 93.7; CONCLUSION: Microwave ablation is safe and effective as a secondary treatment for patients with HCC in a clinical salvage scenario and should be utilized more frequently

Microwave ablation as a primary versus secondary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma

PURPOSEThe purpose of this study was to analyze and compare the outcomes of percutaneous microwave ablation (MWA) when used as a primary vs. secondary treatment for hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC).METHODSThe clinical data of 192 patients with HCC treated with MWA between January 2012 and July 2021 were reviewed retrospectively, with 152 patients being treatment naïve (primary treatment) vs. 40 who had residual or recurrent disease following previous trans-arterial chemoembolization or trans-arterial radioembolization (secondary treatment). The primary outcomes were primary technical efficacy, 1- and 3-year local recurrence-free survival (RFS) and overall survival (OS), local recurrence rates, and adverse events. Pre- and post-intervention liver function tests were compared using a Wilcoxon signed rank test. Univariate and multivariate analyses were also performed, looking at prognostic factors associated with OS and local RFS.RESULTSThere was no significant difference in 1-year local RFS (primary 93.6% vs. secondary 93.7; P = 0.97) and 3-year local RFS (primary 80.6% vs. secondary 86.5%; P = 0.37) rates. There was no significant difference in 1-year OS (primary 82.4% vs. secondary 86.6%; P = 0.51) and 3-year OS (primary 68.3% vs. secondary 77.4%; P = 0.25) between the two groups. The local recurrence rate (primary 9.8% vs. secondary 14.6%; P = 0.37), primary technical efficacy (primary 96.2% vs. secondary 95%; P = 0.73), and adverse events (primary 8.0% vs. secondary 11.6%; P = 0.45) were also similar between the two groups.CONCLUSIONMicrowave ablation is safe and effective as a secondary treatment for patients with HCC in a clinical salvage scenario and should be utilized more frequently

Recent Perspectives in Radiation-Mediated DNA Damage and Repair: Role of NHEJ and Alternative Pathways

Radiation is one of the causative agents for the induction of DNA damage in biological systems. There is various possibility of radiation exposure that might be natural, man-made, intentional, or non-intentional. Published literature indicates that radiation mediated cell death is primarily due to DNA damage that could be a single-strand break, double-strand breaks, base modification, DNA protein cross-links. The double-strand breaks are lethal damage due to the breakage of both strands of DNA. Mammalian cells are equipped with strong DNA repair pathways that cover all types of DNA damage. One of the predominant pathways that operate DNA repair is a non-homologous end-joining pathway (NHEJ) that has various integrated molecules that sense, detect, mediate, and repair the double-strand breaks. Even after a well-coordinated mechanism, there is a strong possibility of mutation due to the flexible nature in joining the DNA strands. There are alternatives to NHEJ pathways that can repair DNA damage. These pathways are alternative NHEJ pathways and single-strand annealing pathways that also displayed a role in DNA repair. These pathways are not studied extensively, and many reports are showing the relevance of these pathways in human diseases. The chapter will very briefly cover the radiation, DNA repair, and Alternative repair pathways in the mammalian system. The chapter will help the readers to understand the basic and applied knowledge of radiation mediated DNA damage and its repair in the context of extensively studied NHEJ pathways and unexplored alternative NHEJ pathways

Recombinant production platform for Group A Streptococcus glycoconjugate vaccines

Group A Streptococcus (Strep A) is a human-exclusive bacterial pathogen killing annually more than 500,000 patients, and no current licensed vaccine exists. Strep A bacteria are highly diverse, but all produce an essential, abundant, and conserved surface carbohydrate, the Group A Carbohydrate, which contains a rhamnose polysaccharide (RhaPS) backbone. RhaPS is a validated universal vaccine candidate in a glycoconjugate prepared by chemical conjugation of the native carbohydrate to a carrier protein. We engineered the Group A Carbohydrate biosynthesis pathway to enable recombinant production using the industry standard route to couple RhaPS to selected carrier proteins within Escherichia coli cells. The structural integrity of the produced recombinant glycoconjugate vaccines was confirmed by Nuclear Magnetic Resonance (NMR) spectroscopy and mass spectrometry. Purified RhaPS glycoconjugates elicited carbohydrate-specific antibodies in mice and rabbits and bound to the surface of multiple Strep A strains of diverse M-types, confirming the recombinantly produced RhaPS glycoconjugates as valuable vaccine candidates

A peer-support lifestyle intervention for preventing type 2 diabetes in India: A cluster-randomized controlled trial of the Kerala Diabetes Prevention Program.

BACKGROUND: The major efficacy trials on diabetes prevention have used resource-intensive approaches to identify high-risk individuals and deliver lifestyle interventions. Such strategies are not feasible for wider implementation in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs). We aimed to evaluate the effectiveness of a peer-support lifestyle intervention in preventing type 2 diabetes among high-risk individuals identified on the basis of a simple diabetes risk score. METHODS AND FINDINGS: The Kerala Diabetes Prevention Program was a cluster-randomized controlled trial conducted in 60 polling areas (clusters) of Neyyattinkara taluk (subdistrict) in Trivandrum district, Kerala state, India. Participants (age 30-60 years) were those with an Indian Diabetes Risk Score (IDRS) ≥60 and were free of diabetes on an oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT). A total of 1,007 participants (47.2% female) were enrolled (507 in the control group and 500 in the intervention group). Participants from intervention clusters participated in a 12-month community-based peer-support program comprising 15 group sessions (12 of which were led by trained lay peer leaders) and a range of community activities to support lifestyle change. Participants from control clusters received an education booklet with lifestyle change advice. The primary outcome was the incidence of diabetes at 24 months, diagnosed by an annual OGTT. Secondary outcomes were behavioral, clinical, and biochemical characteristics and health-related quality of life (HRQoL). A total of 964 (95.7%) participants were followed up at 24 months. Baseline characteristics of clusters and participants were similar between the study groups. After a median follow-up of 24 months, diabetes developed in 17.1% (79/463) of control participants and 14.9% (68/456) of intervention participants (relative risk [RR] 0.88, 95% CI 0.66-1.16, p = 0.36). At 24 months, compared with the control group, intervention participants had a greater reduction in IDRS score (mean difference: -1.50 points, p = 0.022) and alcohol use (RR 0.77, p = 0.018) and a greater increase in fruit and vegetable intake (≥5 servings/day) (RR 1.83, p = 0.008) and physical functioning score of the HRQoL scale (mean difference: 3.9 score, p = 0.016). The cost of delivering the peer-support intervention was US$22.5 per participant. There were no adverse events related to the intervention. We did not adjust for multiple comparisons, which may have increased the overall type I error rate. CONCLUSIONS: A low-cost community-based peer-support lifestyle intervention resulted in a nonsignificant reduction in diabetes incidence in this high-risk population at 24 months. However, there were significant improvements in some cardiovascular risk factors and physical functioning score of the HRQoL scale. TRIAL REGISTRATION: Australia and New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN12611000262909