Effects of Harvesting Equipment on Soil Compaction in Sugarcane Farms

This study was performed in a cane field in Iran to investigate the effects of harvesting equipment on soil compaction. The study was conducted in a factorial experiment based on the completely randomized blocks design having three replications. Two models of bins, three travel speeds and two tyre inflation pressures were imposed as main plots, subplots and subsubplots respectively. Results showed that harvester traffic significantly increased soil compaction in the 0-20 cm depth profile; however the difference of soil cone indexes before and after bin traffic was not statistically significant. Other than 0-10 cm and 30-40 cm depth profiles, other layers of soil were significantly affected by exerted treatments. Compaction effect of Shaker bin was lower compared to HEPCO bin because of wider tyres and lesser tread height. By decreasing tyre inflation pressure from 240 to 290 kPa, soil compaction effects of bin traffic decreased. Results also showed that the effect of travel speed treatment mostly appeared in toper layers of soil whereas the effects of bin type and inflation pressure treatments mostly appeared in deeper layers of soil

Antioxidant status, immune system, blood metabolites and carcass characteristic of broiler chickens fed turmeric rhizome powder under heat stress

This experiment was conducted to evaluate the effects of dietary turmeric rhizome powder (TP) on performance, blood metabolite, immune system, antioxidant status, and relative weight of organs in pre and post heat stressed broilers. Two hundred and sixty-four (264) day-old male Arian broiler chicks were randomly allotted to three dietary treatments containing 0, 0.4 or 0.8% turmeric powder. Each diet was fed to four replicates of 22 birds each. Heat stress was applied for 5 h (33°C) from 28 to 42 days. Two birds from each replicate were randomly selected and blood samples were taken to collect the serum, plasma and whole blood. These were slaughtered to determine the relative weight of organs pre (28 days PHS) and after heat stress (42 days AHS). TP did not affect feed intake, body weight, feed conversion ratio (FCR), production index, and protein and energy efficiency ratio of broilers. Blood cholesterol and low density lipoprotein (LDL) decreased and blood high density lipoprotein (HDL) increased when fed TP in PHS and AHS birds. TP did not affect serum triglyceride, protein, antibody production against sheep red blood cell (SRBC), IgG, IgM and Newcastle vaccination (ND) in PHS and AHS. TP suppressed the enzyme activity of lactate dehydrogenase (LDH), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alanine aminotransferase (ALT), and alkaline phosphatase (ALP) of heat stressed birds. The enzyme activity of creatine kinase (CK) in AHS and superoxide dismutase (S OD) in PHS were not affected by TP diets. TP diets increased blood activity of glutathione peroxidase (GPx) and SOD and decreased blood thiobarbituric acid reactive substances (TBARS) index. The H:L ratio, relative weight of bursa of fabircus and abdominal fat decreased in birds fed TP diets. TP diets did not alter percentage of bone Ash, and P of heat stress broilers; however, it increased bone Ca of heat stressed broilers. It can be concluded that the supplementation of TP to diets, decreased the activity of dehydrogenase enzyme, stressor index, and improved the antioxidant status without affecting performance and the immune system of heat stressed broilers.Key words: Turmeric powder, immune and antioxidant system, blood metabolite, broiler

Comparison of yolk fatty acid content, blood and egg cholesterol of hens fed diets containing palm olein oil and kilka fish oil

The purpose of this study was to compare the effects of dietary palm olein oil (POO) and Kilka fish oil (KFO) on yolk fatty acid content, ratio of fatty acids (FAs), antibody titre, and blood and yolk cholesterol of laying hens. One hundred White Hy-Line 26-wk-old (W-36) hens were allotted to 6 dietary treatments containing 0, 1.5, 3 and 4.5% POO or 2 and 4% KFO. The FAs and cholesterol content of yolk were measured at the end of three consecutive days of each period. Results reveal that the oleic acid increased and palmitic acid decreased (P<0.05) when hens were fed diets containing POO. The KFO diets reduced the blood cholesterol, yolk linoleic acid and yolk ω-6 FA (P<0.05), whereas the blood cholesterol increased by the supplementation of POO to dietary treatments. The yolk long chain polyunsaturated ω-3 FAs [Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and docosahexaenoic acid (DHA)] increased as KFO was increased in diets (P<0.001). The diets supplementation of KFO and POO thus, showed a decrease and an increase in the ratio of ω-6/ ω-3 FAs (P<0.05), respectively. It is concluded that supplementation of KFO to the dietary treatment may improve deposition of ω-3 FAs; however, the POO supplementation may improve deposition of ω-9 FAs without alteration of yolk cholesterol.Key words: Palm olein oil (POO), Kilka fish oil (KFO), hens, egg omega-9 and omega-3 fatty acid

Linear response of heat conductivity of normal-superfluid interface of a polarized Fermi gas to orbital magnetic field

Using perturbed Bogoliubov equations, we study the linear response to a weak orbital magnetic field of the heat conductivity of the normal-superfluid interface of a polarized Fermi gas at sufficiently low temperature. We consider the various scattering regions of the BCS regime and analytically obtain the transmission coefficients and the heat conductivity across the interface in an arbitrary weak orbital field. For a definite choice of the field, we consider various values of the scattering length in the BCS range and numerically obtain the allowed values of the average and species-imbalance chemical potentials. Thus, taking Andreev reflection into account, we describe how the heat conductivity is affected by the field and the species imbalance. In particular, we show that the additional heat conductivity due to the orbital field increases with the species imbalance, which is more noticeable at higher temperatures. Our results indicate how the heat conductivity may be controlled, which is relevant to sensitive magnetic field sensors/regulators at the interface.Comment: To appear in Physica B (2011

Dependence of interface conductivity on relevant physical parameters in polarized Fermi mixtures

We consider a mass-asymmetric polarized Fermi system in the presence of Hartree-Fock (HF) potentials. We concentrate on the BCS regime with various interaction strengths and numerically obtain the allowed values of the chemical and HF potentials, as well as the mass ratio. The functional dependence of the heat conductivity of the N-SF interface on relevant physical parameters, namely the temperature, the mass ratio, and the interaction strength, is obtained. In particular, we show that the interface conductivity starts to drop with decreasing temperature at the temperature, $T_{\text{m}}$, where the mean kinetic energy of the particles is just sufficient to overcome the SF gap. We obtain $T_{\text{m}}$ as a function of the mass ratio and the interaction strength. The variation of the heat conductivity, at fixed temperature, with the HF potentials and the imbalance chemical potential is also obtained. Finally, because the range of relevant temperatures increases for larger values of the mass ratio, we consider the $^6\text{Li}$-$^{40}\text{K}$ mixture separately by taking the temperature dependence of the pair potential into account.Comment: To appear in Physica C (2012

Interleukin 6 in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases: a personal memoir

In this review, the author discusses the research that led to the identification and characterization of interleukin 6 (IL-6), including his own experience isolating IL-6, and the roles this cytokine has on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The cDNAs encoding B-cell stimulatory factor 2 (BSF-2), interferon (IFN)-β2 and a 26-kDa protein were independently cloned in 1986, which in turn led to the identification of each. To resolve the confusing nomenclature, these identical molecules were named IL-6. Characterization of IL-6 revealed a multifunctional cytokine that is involved in not only immune responses but also hematopoiesis, inflammation, and bone metabolism. Moreover, IL-6 makes significant contributions to such autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Interleukin 6 in autoimmune and inflammatory diseases: a personal memoir

In this review, the author discusses the research that led to the identification and characterization of interleukin 6 (IL-6), including his own experience isolating IL-6, and the roles this cytokine has on autoimmune and inflammatory diseases. The cDNAs encoding B-cell stimulatory factor 2 (BSF-2), interferon (IFN)-β2 and a 26-kDa protein were independently cloned in 1986, which in turn led to the identification of each. To resolve the confusing nomenclature, these identical molecules were named IL-6. Characterization of IL-6 revealed a multifunctional cytokine that is involved in not only immune responses but also hematopoiesis, inflammation, and bone metabolism. Moreover, IL-6 makes significant contributions to such autoimmune and inflammatory diseases as rheumatoid arthritis (RA)

Recurrence of Type 1 Diabetes After Simultaneous Pancreas-Kidney Transplantation, Despite Immunosuppression, Is Associated With Autoantibodies and Pathogenic Autoreactive CD4 T-Cells

ObjectiveTo investigate if recurrent autoimmunity explained hyperglycemia and C-peptide loss in three immunosuppressed simultaneous pancreas-kidney (SPK) transplant recipients.Research design and methodsWe monitored autoantibodies and autoreactive T-cells (using tetramers) and performed biopsy. The function of autoreactive T-cells was studied with in vitro and in vivo assays.ResultsAutoantibodies were present pretransplant and persisted on follow-up in one patient. They appeared years after transplantation but before the development of hyperglycemia in the remaining patients. Pancreas transplant biopsies were taken within approximately 1 year from hyperglycemia recurrence and revealed beta-cell loss and insulitis. We studied autoreactive T-cells from the time of biopsy and repeatedly demonstrated their presence on further follow-up, together with autoantibodies. Treatment with T-cell-directed therapies (thymoglobulin and daclizumab, all patients), alone or with the addition of B-cell-directed therapy (rituximab, two patients), nonspecifically depleted T-cells and was associated with C-peptide secretion for >1 year. Autoreactive T-cells with the same autoantigen specificity and conserved T-cell receptor later reappeared with further C-peptide loss over the next 2 years. Purified autoreactive CD4 T-cells from two patients were cotransplanted with HLA-mismatched human islets into immunodeficient mice. Grafts showed beta-cell loss in mice receiving autoreactive T-cells but not control T-cells.ConclusionsWe demonstrate the cardinal features of recurrent autoimmunity in three such patients, including the reappearance of CD4 T-cells capable of mediating beta-cell destruction. Markers of autoimmunity can help diagnose this underappreciated cause of graft loss. Immune monitoring during therapy showed that autoimmunity was not resolved by the immunosuppressive agents used