Priorities for sustainable turfgrass management: a research and industry perspective

This paper provides a brief review and assessment of the key environmental, regulatory and technical issues facing the turfgrass sector with specific reference to the European context. It considers the range of externalities or ‘drivers for change' facing the industry, and the challenges and opportunities available for promoting and achieving more sustainable turfgrass management within the sports, landscape and amenity sectors. The analysis confirms that there are a number of key areas where a concerted research and industrial effort is required. These include responding to the pressures from government demands for greater environmental regulation, the increasing pressure on natural resources (notably water, energy and land), the emerging role of turf management in supporting ecosystem services and enhancing biodiversity, the continued need to promote integrated pest management, and the looming challenges posed by a changing climate, and urgent need to adapt. Whilst many of these externalities appear to be risks to the sports turf industry, there will also be significant opportunities, for those where the labour, energy and agronomic costs are minimized and where the drive to adopt a multifunctional approach to sportsturf management is embraced

Heritage branding orientation: The case of Ach. Brito and the dynamics between corporate and product heritage brands

The notion of heritage branding orientation is introduced and explicated. Heritage branding orientation is designated as embracing both product and corporate brands and differs from corporate heritage brand orientation which has an explicit corporate focus. Empirical insights are drawn from an in-depth and longitudinal case study of Ach. Brito, a celebrated Portuguese manufacturer of soaps and toiletries. This study shows how, by the pursuance of a strategy derived from a heritage branding orientation Ach. Brito – after a prolonged period of decline – achieved a dramatic strategic turnaround. The findings reveal how institutional heritage can be a strategic resource via its adoption and activation at both the product and corporate levels. Moreover, the study showed how the bi-lateral interplay between product and corporate brand levels can be mutually reinforcing. In instrumental terms, the study shows how heritage can be activated and articulated in different ways. For instance, it can re-position both product and/or corporate brands; it can be meaningfully informed by product brand heritage and shape corporate heritage; and can be of strategic importance to both medium-sized and small enterprises

Nanoparticle Diffusion Measures Bulk Clot Permeability

A clot's function is to achieve hemostasis by resisting fluid flow. Permeability is the measurement of a clot's hemostatic potential. It is sensitive to a wide range of biochemical parameters and pathologies. In this work, we consider the hydrodynamic phenomenon that reduces the mobility of fluid near the fiber surfaces. This no-slip boundary condition both defines the gel's permeability and suppresses nanoparticle diffusion in gel interstices. Here we report that, unlike previous work where steric effects also hindered diffusion, our system—nanoparticles in fibrin gel—was subject exclusively to hydrodynamic diffusion suppression. This result enabled an automated, high-throughput permeability assay that used small clot volumes. Permeability was derived from nanoparticle diffusion using the effective medium theory, and showed one-to-one correlation with measured permeability. This technique measured permeability without quantifying gel structure, and may therefore prove useful for characterizing similar materials (e.g., extracellular matrix) where structure is uncontrolled during polymerization and difficult to measure subsequently. We also report that PEGylation reduced, but did not eliminate, the population of immobile particles. We studied the forces required to pull stuck PEG particles free to confirm that the attachment is a result of neither covalent nor strong electrostatic binding, and discuss the relevance of this force scale to particle transport through physiological clots

Effects of MASP-1 of the Complement System on Activation of Coagulation Factors and Plasma Clot Formation

BACKGROUND: Numerous interactions between the coagulation and complement systems have been shown. Recently, links between coagulation and mannan-binding lectin-associated serine protease-1 (MASP-1) of the complement lectin pathway have been proposed. Our aim was to investigate MASP-1 activation of factor XIII (FXIII), fibrinogen, prothrombin, and thrombin-activatable fibrinolysis inhibitor (TAFI) in plasma-based systems, and to analyse effects of MASP-1 on plasma clot formation, structure and lysis. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: We used a FXIII incorporation assay and specific assays to measure the activation products prothrombin fragment F1+2, fibrinopeptide A (FPA), and activated TAFI (TAFIa). Clot formation and lysis were assessed by turbidimetric assay. Clot structure was studied by scanning electron microscopy. MASP-1 activated FXIII and, contrary to thrombin, induced FXIII activity faster in the Val34 than the Leu34 variant. MASP-1-dependent generation of F1+2, FPA and TAFIa showed a dose-dependent response in normal citrated plasma (NCP), albeit MASP-1 was much less efficient than FXa or thrombin. MASP-1 activation of prothrombin and TAFI cleavage were confirmed in purified systems. No FPA generation was observed in prothrombin-depleted plasma. MASP-1 induced clot formation in NCP, affected clot structure, and prolonged clot lysis. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: We show that MASP-1 interacts with plasma clot formation on different levels and influences fibrin structure. Although MASP-1-induced fibrin formation is thrombin-dependent, MASP-1 directly activates prothrombin, FXIII and TAFI. We suggest that MASP-1, in concerted action with other complement and coagulation proteins, may play a role in fibrin clot formation

Pre-operative radiographic evaluation of lower third molars with computed tomography

OBJECTIVES: To report radiographic findings of examinations with computed tomography (CT) of impacted lower third molars with an intimate relation to the mandibular canal and to investigate how findings of a dark band across the roots of the lower third molar on panoramic views correspond to the CT findings. METHODS: CT images of 90 lower third molars (64 patients, mean age 34.6 years) in which plain radiography was insufficient to allow determination of the precise anatomical relations were reviewed retrospectively. Panoramic views of 88 teeth existed; these images were interpreted independent of the CT examinations with respect to presence of a dark band across the roots. RESULTS: In 31% of the CT images, the course of the mandibular canal was buccal, in 33% lingual, in 26% inferior, and in 10% inter-radicular. The tooth was in contact with the mandibular canal in 94% and with the lingual cortex in 86%. In 23%, grooving of the root by the canal was judged to be present. In 63% of the cases where a dark band across the roots was observed on panoramic radiographs, CT revealed grooving of the root. CONCLUSIONS: Pre-operative CT of lower third molars is motivated in selected cases when plain radiography is inconclusive. The finding of a dark band across the roots on panoramic radiographs is an indicator of grooving of the tooth by the canal and justifies a pre-operative CT examination. The absence of dark bands on panoramic views does not exclude grooving of the roots