Organic Diets Reduce Exposure to Organophosphate Pesticides

To determine whether consuming a largely organic diet reduces OP pesticide exposure in adults, a prospective, randomised, single-blinded, crossover, biomonitoring study was performed. The study involved 13 Australian adults who consumed a largely (>80%) organic diet or a largely conventional diet for 7 days and were then crossed over to the alternate diet for a further 7 days. Urinary levels of six dialkylphosphate (DAP) metabolites produced from OP pesticides, were analysed in first-morning voids collected on day 8 of each phase using GC-MS/MS, with limits of detection at 0.11-0.51 μg/L. Results, which were creatinine corrected to account for urine dilution or concentration, revealed that consumption of organic food for 7 days resulted in a statistically significant reduction in urinary OP metabolites. The mean total DAP results in the organic phase were 89% lower than in the conventional phase (M=0.032 and 0.294 respectively, p=.013). There was a significant 96% reduction in urinary dimethyl DAPs in the organic vs. conventional phase (M=0.011 and 0.252 respectively, p=.005), and a 49% reduction in diethyl DAPs which was not significant (M=0.021 and 0.042 respectively, p=.170). Overall the consumption of organic food resulted in a statistically significant reduction total DAPs and total dimethyl DAPs in urine indicating reduced exposure to organophosphate pesticides. Large scale studies are now required to confirm these results and determine their clinical relevance

BLR: Beacon-Less Routing Algorithm for Mobile Ad-Hoc Networks

Routing of packets in a mobile ad-hoc network with a large number... this paper is a routing protocol that makes use of location information to reduce routing overhead. However, unlike other position-based routing protocols, BLR does not require nodes to periodically broadcast Hello-messages (called beaconing), and thus avoids drawbacks such as extensive use of scarce battery-power, interferences with regular data transmission, and performance degradation. BLR selects a forwarding node in a distributed manner among all its neighboring nodes with having information neither about their positions nor even about their existence. Data packets are broadcasted and the protocol takes care that just one of the receiving nodes forwards the packet. Optimized forwarding is achieved by applying a concept of Dynamic Forwarding Delay (DFD). Consequently, the node which computes the shortest forwarding delay relays the packet first. This forwarding is detected by the other nodes and suppresses them to relay the same packet any further. Analytical results and simulation experiments indicate that BLR provides efficient and robust routing in highly dynamic mobile ad-hoc networks

A Modular Multilevel Matrix Converter for High Speed Drive Applications

The Modular Multilevel Matrix Converter (M3C) performs a direct three-phase AC to AC power conversion and is highly suitable for medium voltage high power drive applications. One area of application are high speed drives such as compressors. However, additional balancing power components which reduce the output power capability of the M3C when input and output frequencies are similar occur. This paper analytically examines the operation behavior and power capability in these operation points in order to assess whether the M3C can generate these additional components without oversizing the converter\u27s components. Subsequently, the theoretical evaluation is verified by a laboratory scaled prototype with a rated power of 15 kW

New risks and opportunities for food security: scenario analyses for 2015 and 2050

"Given the number of undernourished people in the developing world and the increasingly complex risks to food security, policymakers are faced with an enormous agenda. Freeing people from hunger will require more and better-targeted investments, innovations, and policy actions, driven by a keen understanding of the dynamic risks and forces that shape the factors affecting people's access to food and the links with nutrition. The International Food Policy Research Institute's (IFPRI's) International Model for Policy Analysis of Agricultural Commodities and Trade (IMPACT) provides insight into the management of these risks through appropriate policy actions. By projecting future global food scenarios to 2050, IMPACT explores the potential implications of policy action and inaction in several main risk areas as well as the effects on child malnutrition in the developing world, commodity prices, demand, cereal yields, production, and net trade. In the progressive policy actions scenario, which assumes increased investment in rural development, health, education, and agricultural research and development, developing country governments and the international community are able to dramatically reduce the number of food-insecure people, leading to a worldwide decline in hunger. Under these conditions, Latin America and China are able to virtually eliminate child malnutrition by 2050. Bolstered by the development and dissemination of improved technologies and better infrastructure, crop production and yields increase in developing countries. Notably, the bulk of the growth in production is driven by yield increases rather than by expanding land area. Spurred by growth in the agricultural sector, average incomes in developing countries increase. Rising incomes bolster demand for high-value agricultural products, such as meat, dairy, and fruits and vegetables; global livestock production more than doubles, for example. Average per capita calorie supplies for developing countries exceed 3,400 per day, well in excess of minimum requirements. The policy failure scenario assumes greater political discord and more extensive agricultural protectionism, together with the failure of policies to deal with food emergencies related to conflict. Slow growth and trade restrictions lead to stagnation in average per capita calorie availability, which remains only slightly above minimum requirements until after 2030, when availability increases. In addition, crucial investments in agriculture, rural development, and poverty reduction are forgone or displaced. Because of limited investment in agricultural research and technology, this scenario has a high level of crop area expansion as a result of relatively rapid population growth and slim yield improvements in developing countries. This scenario also results in flat maize prices, declining per capita cereal demand, falling beef prices, and relatively flat meat demand. As a result of the policies in this scenario, the number of malnourished children in developing countries rises between 1997 and 2015, after which there are only modest declines. In the technology and natural resource management failure scenario, yield growth falls even more than under the preceding scenario, forcing farmers to move into marginal producing areas, which causes a more rapid expansion of cereal area into less productive land that does not compensate for the yield shortfalls (and causes environmental degradation). As a result, cereal prices rise substantially through 2030 and then fall off only gradually. Beef and other meat prices, which are affected by the price of feed, follow a similar pattern. Developing-country per capita calorie availability is essentially unchanged over 1997–2050 and remains at a barely adequate average level. Given unequal access to the food that is available, millions of people actually consume less than the minimum. The occurrence of child undernourishment is even higher than under the policy failure scenario in all developing-country regions. Overall, the technology and natural resource management failure scenario results in the worst impact on food security and child malnourishment in the developing world. The progressive policy scenario outlines several of the most crucial positive steps. National governments and the international community must assume a new focus on agricultural growth and rural development, along with increasing their investments in education, social services, and health. Policies to encourage synergistic growth in the nonfarm sectors are also needed to spur broad-based economic growth. Underpinning these strategies and research agendas must be a firm commitment to reducing hunger and improving the welfare of the world's undernourished people." From Authors' Executive SummaryImpact model, Caloric intake, Safety nets,

Discrimination between FRET and non-FRET quenching in a photochromic CdSe quantum dot/dithienylethene dye system

A photochromic Förster resonance energy transfer (FRET) system was employed to disentangle the fluorescence quenching mechanisms in quantum dot/photochromic dye hybrids. In the off-state of the dye the main quenching mechanism is FRET whereas the moderate quenching in the on-state is due to non-FRET pathways opened up upon assembly

Probabilistic tractography in the ventrolateral thalamic nucleus: cerebellar and pallidal connections

The ventrolateral thalamic nucleus (VL), as part of the ‘motor thalamus’, is main relay station of cerebellar and pallidal projections. It comprises anterior (VLa) and posterior (VLpd and VLpv) subnuclei. Though the fibre architecture of cerebellar and pallidal projections to of the VL nucleus has already been focus in a numerous amount of in vitro studies mainly in animals, probabilistic tractography now offers the possibility of an in vivo comparison in healthy humans. In this study we performed a (a) qualitative and (b) quantitative examination of VL-cerebellar and VL-pallidal pathways and compared the probability distributions between both projection fields in the VL after an (I) atlas-based and (II) manual-based segmentation procedure. Both procedures led to high congruent results of cerebellar and pallidal connectivity distributions: the maximum of pallidal projections was located in anterior and medial parts of the VL nucleus, whereas cerebellar connectivity was more located in lateral and posterior parts. The median connectivity for cerebellar connections in both approaches (manual and atlas-based segmentation) was VLa > VLpv > VLpd, whereas the pallidal median connectivity was VLa ~ VLpv > VLpd in the atlas-based approach and VLpv > VLa > VLpd in the manual approach.Peer reviewe

Conductance fluctuations and boundary conditions

The conductance fluctuations for various types for two-- and three--dimensional disordered systems with hard wall and periodic boundary conditions are studied, all the way from the ballistic (metallic) regime to the localized regime. It is shown that the universal conductance fluctuations (UCF) depend on the boundary conditions. The same holds for the metal to insulator transition. The conditions for observing the UCF are also given.Comment: 4 pages RevTeX, 5 figures include