Roots of Stylosanthes hamata create macropores in the compact layer of a sandy soil

Abstract The paper presents results of a field experiment designed to investigate the potential use of forage legume Stylosanthes hamata (stylo) to ameliorate the structure of a compact layer in sandy soils of Northeast Thailand. Sandy and acidic soils that are common to Northeast Thailand have restricted agronomic potential due to inherent chemical and physical properties. A compact layer at 20-40 cm reduces root elongation for most crops, thereby restricting the quantity of nutrients and water available for the plant growth. Deep ploughing and subsoiling are costly and have not been shown to be effective in overcoming compaction since these soils are unstable and collapse after the first heavy rainfall event. A three-year study was conducted in order to evaluate the effect of continuous stylo on the porosity of the compact layer and its influence on root elongation and yield of a subsequent maize crop. Continuous stylo was grown for two years in experimental plots and compared to a currently used stylo-maize rotation. Root distribution and macropore density were measured under the two cropping systems. After 24 months of continuous stylo, roots were able to penetrate the compact layer, resulting in a significant improvement in the macroporosity of this layer. The subsequent maize crop developed a deeper and more extensive root system using macropores created after 24 months of continuous stylo when compared to the stylo-maize rotation treatment. This study demonstrates the potential role of Stylosanthes hamata in structural amelioration of sandy compact layers

Use of the interRAI CHESS Scale to Predict Mortality among Persons with Neurological Conditions in Three Care Settings

Background: Persons with certain neurological conditions have higher mortality rates than the population without neurological conditions, but the risk factors for increased mortality within diagnostic groups are less well understood. The interRAI CHESS scale has been shown to be a strong predictor of mortality in the overall population of persons receiving health care in community and institutional settings. This study examines the performance of CHESS as a predictor of mortality among persons with 11 different neurological conditions. Methods: Survival analyses were done with interRAI assessments linked to mortality data among persons in home care (n = 359,940), complex continuing care hospitals/units (n = 88,721), and nursing homes (n = 185,309) in seven Canadian provinces/territories. Results: CHESS was a significant predictor of mortality in all 3 care settings for the 11 neurological diagnostic groups considered after adjusting for age and sex. The distribution of CHESS scores varied between diagnostic groups and within diagnostic groups in different care settings. Conclusions: CHESS is a valid predictor of mortality in neurological populations in community and institutional care. It may prove useful for several clinical, administrative, policy-development, evaluation and research purposes. Because it is routinely gathered as part of normal clinical practice in jurisdictions (like Canada) that have implemented interRAI assessment instruments, CHESS can be derived without additional need for data collection.Public Health Agency of Canada, Project #6271-15-2010/3970773, Ontario Home Care Research and Knowledge Exchange Chair (to JPH) through the Ontario Ministry of Health and Long Term Car

PhOTO Zebrafish: A Transgenic Resource for In Vivo Lineage Tracing during Development and Regeneration

Background: Elucidating the complex cell dynamics (divisions, movement, morphological changes, etc.) underlying embryonic development and adult tissue regeneration requires an efficient means to track cells with high fidelity in space and time. To satisfy this criterion, we developed a transgenic zebrafish line, called PhOTO, that allows photoconvertible optical tracking of nuclear and membrane dynamics in vivo. Methodology: PhOTO zebrafish ubiquitously express targeted blue fluorescent protein (FP) Cerulean and photoconvertible FP Dendra2 fusions, allowing for instantaneous, precise targeting and tracking of any number of cells using Dendra2 photoconversion while simultaneously monitoring global cell behavior and morphology. Expression persists through adulthood, making the PhOTO zebrafish an excellent tool for studying tissue regeneration: after tail fin amputation and photoconversion of a ~100µm stripe along the cut area, marked differences seen in how cells contribute to the new tissue give detailed insight into the dynamic process of regeneration. Photoconverted cells that contributed to the regenerate were separated into three distinct populations corresponding to the extent of cell division 7 days after amputation, and a subset of cells that divided the least were organized into an evenly spaced, linear orientation along the length of the newly regenerating fin. Conclusions/Significance: PhOTO zebrafish have wide applicability for lineage tracing at the systems-level in the early embryo as well as in the adult, making them ideal candidate tools for future research in development, traumatic injury and regeneration, cancer progression, and stem cell behavior

Hand2 elevates cardiomyocyte production during zebrafish heart development and regeneration

Embryonic heart formation requires the production of an appropriate number of cardiomyocytes; likewise, cardiac regeneration following injury relies upon the recovery of lost cardiomyocytes. The basic helix-loop-helix (bHLH) transcription factor Hand2 has been implicated in promoting cardiomyocyte formation. It is unclear, however, whether Hand2 plays an instructive or permissive role during this process. Here, we find that overexpression of hand2 in the early zebrafish embryo is able to enhance cardiomyocyte production, resulting in an enlarged heart with a striking increase in the size of the outflow tract. Our evidence indicates that these increases are dependent on the interactions of Hand2 in multimeric complexes and are independent of direct DNA binding by Hand2. Proliferation assays reveal that hand2 can impact cardiomyocyte production by promoting division of late-differentiating cardiac progenitors within the second heart field. Additionally, our data suggest that hand2 can influence cardiomyocyte production by altering the patterning of the anterior lateral plate mesoderm, potentially favoring formation of the first heart field at the expense of hematopoietic and vascular lineages. The potency of hand2 during embryonic cardiogenesis suggested that hand2 could also impact cardiac regeneration in adult zebrafish; indeed, we find that overexpression of hand2 can augment the regenerative proliferation of cardiomyocytes in response to injury. Together, our studies demonstrate that hand2 can drive cardiomyocyte production in multiple contexts and through multiple mechanisms. These results contribute to our understanding of the potential origins of congenital heart disease and inform future strategies in regenerative medicine

Loads scheduling for demand response in energy communities

peer reviewedThis paper focuses on optimizing the collective self-consumption rate in energy communities by scheduling members’ loads. The community remains connected to the public grid and comprises prosumers, traditional consumers, and distributed storage units. Prosumers can exchange their energy with the public grid or other members. The proposed strategy aims at implementing a Demand Side Management program taking advantage of controllable loads’ characteristics. A MILP formulation of the problem allows, on the one hand, to give the optimal planning for electrical devices’ operations. On the other hand, it provides optimal solutions for managing the storage units, peer-to-peer exchanges, and interactions with the public grid to minimize the energy flows from the public grid over time. However, this MILP only allows for solving small problem instances. Thus, we develop a column generation-based heuristic for large problem instances. Our numerical experiments based on real data collected in the south of France show that joining an energy community saves money on energy bills and reduces the total energy drawn from the primary grid by at least 15%

Anticipating the prevalence of avian influenza subtypes H9 and H5 in live-bird markets.

An ability to forecast the prevalence of specific subtypes of avian influenza viruses (AIV) in live-bird markets would facilitate greatly the implementation of preventative measures designed to minimize poultry losses and human exposure. The minimum requirement for developing predictive quantitative tools is surveillance data of AIV prevalence sampled frequently over several years. Recently, a 4-year time series of monthly sampling of hemagglutinin subtypes 1–13 in ducks, chickens and quail in live-bird markets in southern China has become available. We used these data to investigate whether a simple statistical model, based solely on historical data (variables such as the number of positive samples in host X of subtype Y time t months ago), could accurately predict prevalence of H5 and H9 subtypes in chickens. We also examined the role of ducks and quail in predicting prevalence in chickens within the market setting because between-species transmission is thought to occur within markets but has not been measured. Our best statistical models performed remarkably well at predicting future prevalence (pseudo-R2 = 0.57 for H9 and 0.49 for H5), especially considering the multi-host, multi-subtype nature of AIVs. We did not find prevalence of H5/H9 in ducks or quail to be predictors of prevalence in chickens within the Chinese markets. Our results suggest surveillance protocols that could enable more accurate and timely predictive statistical models. We also discuss which data should be collected to allow the development of mechanistic models.published_or_final_versio

Human heme oxygenase-1 deficiency: A lesson on serendipity in the discovery of the novel disease

金沢大学大学院医学系研究科血管病態制御学The first case of human heme oxygenase (HO)-1 deficiency was reported by Yachie et al. at our laboratory in the Department of Pediatrics, Angiogenesis and Vascular Development, Kanazawa University Graduate School of Medical Science, in 1999. In the present paper I would like to review this novel disease. Our studies into HO-1 deficiency were called by us \u27Kanazawa version Project X\u27. From the story of our successful discovery we have learned that serendipity is a very important spiritual factor. Serendipity is the making of fortunate and unexpected discoveries by chance (from its possession by the heroes in the Persian fairy tale The Three Princes of Serendip). © 2007 Blackwell Publishing Asia