Winter and Spring Cereal Production in the Maritimes

Organic producers have expressed an interest in diversifying their crop rotations through the inclusion of winter cereals. Winter cereals have many potential benefits, as they provide soil cover over the winter months, can often out-compete weeds in the spring and can be harvested earlier than other cereal crops. This study aimed to evaluate the effect of management history on the performance of winter cereals versus spring cereals

Management Practices for Control of European Wireworms in Canada

Significant losses in crop yield, quality and marketability have been attributed to wireworms, a pest of growing concern and widening distribution in Nova Scotia and across Canada. While the Maritime Provinces harbour indigenous wireworm species, three species introduced to North America from European ship ballast cause the lion's share of damage. The destructive larvae of these three species, Agriotes lineatus, A. obscurus, and A. sputator, persist in the soil for several years, feeding on the roots of host plants and causing significant reductions in the yield and quality of economically important crops. Root crops such as potatoes and carrots are particularly susceptible because damage (holes produced by feeding larvae) to the new tubers and carrots can appreciably reduce quality, yield and storability. To control this pest, the adult must be deterred from entering and depositing eggs in the field, the larvae must be deterred from attacking the cash crop and/or the larvae themselves must be controlled. This is a difficult challenge due to the lifecycle, feeding preferences and movement habits of the wireworm

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Self-Association of CaMKII-Delta in Low ATP/Low pH Conditions

poster abstractCalcium-Calmodulin Dependent Protein Kinase II (CaMKII), an enzyme critical for brain function and involved in learning and memory, becomes inactive and aggregates following ischemic insult such as seen with stroke or traumatic brain injury. The Hudmon Lab’s working model is that loss of CaMKII signaling exacerbates glutamate excitotoxicity, in turn inducing astrocytes to release neurotoxic levels of ATP, causing secondary cell death. CaMKII can autophosphorylate resulting in autonomous activity, and research by Hudmon Lab reveals that CaMKII will inactivate and self-associate when activating under low pH and low ATP conditions. CaMKII is coded by four genes, and for this study we focus on the alpha and delta isoforms. Alpha is found primarily in neurons and readily aggregates under conditions mimicking ischemic stress. However, delta is primarily expressed in astrocytes and its response to ischemic stress is uncharted territory. We ask how CaMKII delta self-associates under autophosphorylation conditions mimicking ischemic stress (low pH, low ATP) and how it differs from CaMKII alpha self-association. We use real-time light scattering and sedimentation assay to elucidate the time-course of delta aggregation as well as the kinase’s sensitivity to differing pH and ATP concentrations. Light scattering suggests that alpha and delta have a similar aggregation profile, but also that delta has reduced light scattering over time. Sedimentation analysis suggests delta truly does aggregate under these conditions and that it undergoes a molecular weight shift, indicative of autophosphorylation-induced inactivation. In future studies, we plan to investigate delta’s kinase activity under aggregation conditions, perform the same experiments detailed here on the gamma isoform, and investigate delta and gamma aggregation directly in astrocytes. If we can understand how all the isoforms of CaMKII aggregate, it may prove to be a novel research topic for therapies aimed at neuroprotection in victims of ischemic insults

Pratiques de gestion pour le contrôle de la larve de taupin Européenne au Canada

Des pertes considérables du rendement, de la qualité et de la commercialité des cultures ont été attribuées à la larve de taupin, un ravageur qui préoccupe sans cesse davantage et dont la distribution progresse en Nouvelle-Écosse et partout au Canda. Alors que les Maritimes abritent des espèces indigènes de la larve de taupin, trois espèces introduites en Amérique du Nord par les eaux de ballast des navires européens causent la majeure partie des dommages. La larve destructrice de ces trois espèces, Agriotes lineatus, A. obscurus, et A. sputator, demeure dans le sol pendant de nombreuses années, se nourrit des racines des plantes hôtes et réduit considérablement le rendement et la qualité de cultures importantes au plan économique. Les plantes cultivées pour les tubercules ou la racine, comme les pommes de terre et les carottes, sont particulièrement vulnérables parce que les dégâts (les trous produits par les larves qui se nourrissent) aux jeunes tubercules et carottes peuvent réduire considérablement la qualité, le rendement et la facilité d’entreposage

Production de cérérales d'hiver et de printemps dans les Maritimes

Des producteurs d’aliments biologiques souhaitent étendre la rotation de leurs cultures en ajoutant les céréales d’hiver à leur production. Les céréales d’hiver peuvent offrir bien des avantages : elles peuvent servir de couverture de sol durant les mois d’hiver, faire concurrence aux mauvaises herbes au printemps et être récoltées plus tôt par rapport à d’autres types de céréales. La présente étude vise à évaluer l’incidence de l’historique de gestion de cultures sur le rendement des céréales d’hiver par rapport aux céréales du printemps

Peak Performance for Student-Athletes

The academic advisors, working with a sport psychologist, selected freshman football players as the target group for their first attempt at reinforcing the use of psycho-educational techniques across the athletic and academic dimensions. Subsequently, the football coaching staff was asked to identify three major psychological constructs they believed would lead to optimal performance in football for the forthcoming season. Based on the coaches' rankings of the perceived importance of specific constructs for athletic success, the prioritized list included goal-setting, stress management, and visualization (imagery), respectively. These constructs were then used as the focal points for a 15-week class designed to demonstrate similarities between concepts used during football practices and games and academic situation. Samples of comparable patterns were game/test, practice/homework, pregame jitters/pretest anxiety, work as a team/study in groups, and review plays in your mind/mentally rehearse important point to remember. It was hoped that academic appeal and enthusiasm could be generated for student-athletes by relying on their high motivation toward athletics. Fifteen freshman football players participated in the project. The group met four days a week for 30 minutes per day prior to a designated study-hall period. Athletic and academic pre-posttest measures were obtained using goal-setting contracts, competitive stress inventories (Sports Competition Anxiety Test-SCAT; Competitive State Anxiety Inventory-2 with cognitive, somatic, and confidence subscales-CSAI-2), confidence questionnaires (Trait-State Confidence Inventory-TSCI), and self-reports of vividness and controllability during visualization (Vealey, 1986). The same sports tests were used to evaluate academic traits by substituting academic words and phrases for the sport-related terminology. Additionally, grade point averages for fall and spring semesters were obtained. After conducting this year-long exploratory program, two conclusions were reached. First a reduction of anxiety in sport and academic settings occurred for freshman football athletes at the end of two semesters, and secondly, student-athletes preferred personal-social topics over performance-enhancement topics