Management factors affecting faba bean yield

Faba bean yields are often lower than they could be if appropriate interventions were taken. We surveyed literature on quantitative impacts of management choices related to region of adaptation, soil and water management, nitrogen nutrition and pollination. At least six adaptation classes can be resolved, differing in autumn vs spring sowing and maturity time. The crop is very responsive to alleviation of drought, soil compaction, soil acidity and waterlogging. The crops dependence on bee-mediated pollination is well known, but there are no guidelines on the adequacy of pollination in a commercial crop. Recognition of stress symptoms and the application of appropriate inputs can enable farmers to greatly increase crop yields

Management factors affecting faba bean yield

Faba bean yields are often lower than they could be if appropriate interventions were taken. We surveyed literature on quantitative impacts of management choices related to region of adaptation, soil and water management, nitrogen nutrition and pollination. At least six adaptation classes can be resolved, differing in autumn vs spring sowing and maturity time. The crop is very responsive to alleviation of drought, soil compaction, soil acidity and waterlogging. The crops dependence on bee-mediated pollination is well known, but there are no guidelines on the adequacy of pollination in a commercial crop. Recognition of stress symptoms and the application of appropriate inputs can enable farmers to greatly increase crop yields

A high prevalence of cumulative trauma disorders in Iranian instrumentalists

BACKGROUND: Cumulative trauma disorders (CTDs) are common in musicians and their prevalence has been the subject of a number of studies in most western countries. Such studies are scarce in developing countries despite the possibility that CTDs may have a different prevalence in these countries, especially when considering traditional musical instruments and different methods of playing. Although not formally studied before, according to our experience the prevalence of CTDs seemed to be high among Iranian instrumentalists. We proposed this study to determine the prevalence of CTDs in amateur music students playing one of the two traditional Iranian instruments: Daf and Setar. METHODS: In a prospective cross sectional study, we interviewed and examined the students of three music training centers in Iran. Seventy eight instrumentalists, who were playing Daf or Setar and twelve students who had not started playing yet were regarded as case and control groups respectively. Some of them also underwent electrodiagnostic studies. RESULTS: Forty-seven percent (17 of 36) of the Setar players and 57% (24 of 42) of the Daf players and fifty-three percent (41 of 78) of the instrumentalists as a whole had CTDs. None of them had carpal tunnel syndrome. CONCLUSIONS: Our study revealed that the prevalence of CTDs in Iranian instrumentalists was unusually high. In addition to age, other variables may be contributory. This needs to be further studied

Weatherability and Leach Resistance of Wood Impregnated with Nano-Zinc Oxide

Southern pine specimens vacuum-treated with nano-zinc oxide (nano-ZnO) dispersions were evaluated for leach resistance and UV protection. Virtually, no leaching occurred in any of the nano-ZnO–treated specimens in a laboratory leach test, even at the highest retention of 13 kg/m3. However, specimens treated with high concentrations of nano-ZnO showed 58–65% chemical depletion after 12 months of outdoor exposure. Protection from UV damage after 12 months exposure is visibly obvious on both exposed and unexposed surfaces compared to untreated controls. Graying was markedly diminished, although checking occurred in all specimens. Nano-zinc oxide treatment at a concentration of 2.5% or greater provided substantial resistance to water absorption following 12 months of outdoor exposure compared to untreated and unweathered southern pine. We conclude that nano-zinc oxide can be utilized in new wood preservative formulations to impart resistance to leaching, water absorption and UV damage of wood

Time preferences and risk aversion: tests on domain differences

The design and evaluation of environmental policy requires the incorporation of time and risk elements as many environmental outcomes extend over long time periods and involve a large degree of uncertainty. Understanding how individuals discount and evaluate risks with respect to environmental outcomes is a prime component in designing effective environmental policy to address issues of environmental sustainability, such as climate change. Our objective in this study is to investigate whether subjects' time preferences and risk aversion across the monetary domain and the environmental domain differ. Crucially, our experimental design is incentivized: in the monetary domain, time preferences and risk aversion are elicited with real monetary payoffs, whereas in the environmental domain, we elicit time preferences and risk aversion using real (bee-friendly) plants. We find that subjects' time preferences are not significantly different across the monetary and environmental domains. In contrast, subjects' risk aversion is significantly different across the two domains. More specifically, subjects (men and women) exhibit a higher degree of risk aversion in the environmental domain relative to the monetary domain. Finally, we corroborate earlier results, which document that women are more risk averse than men in the monetary domain. We show this finding to, also, hold in the environmental domain

Identification of chemokine receptors as potential modulators of endocrine resistance in oestrogen receptor–positive breast cancers

Introduction Endocrine therapies target oestrogenic stimulation of breast cancer (BC) growth, but resistance remains problematic. Our aims in this study were (1) to identify genes most strongly associated with resistance to endocrine therapy by intersecting global gene transcription data from patients treated presurgically with the aromatase inhibitor anastrazole with those from MCF7 cells adapted to long-term oestrogen deprivation (LTED) (2) to assess the clinical value of selected genes in public clinical data sets and (3) to determine the impact of targeting these genes with novel agents. Methods Gene expression and Ki67 data were available from 69 postmenopausal women with oestrogen receptor–positive (ER+) early BC, at baseline and 2 weeks after anastrazole treatment, and from cell lines adapted to LTED. The functional consequences of target genes on proliferation, ER-mediated transcription and downstream cell signalling were assessed. Results By intersecting genes predictive of a poor change in Ki67 with those upregulated in LTED cells, we identified 32 genes strongly correlated with poor antiproliferative response that were associated with inflammation and/or immunity. In a panel of LTED cell lines, C-X-C chemokine receptor type 7 (CXCR7) and CXCR4 were upregulated compared to their wild types (wt), and CXCR7, but not CXCR4, was associated with reduced relapse-free survival in patients with ER+ BC. The CXCR4 small interfering RNA variant (siCXCR4) had no specific effect on the proliferation of wt-SUM44, wt-MCF7 and their LTED derivatives. In contrast, siCXCR7, as well as CCX733, a CXCR7 antagonist, specifically suppressed the proliferation of MCF7-LTED cells. siCXCR7 suppressed proteins associated with G1/S transition and inhibited ER transactivation in MCF7-LTED, but not wt-MCF7, by impeding association between ER and proline-, glutamic acid– and leucine-rich protein 1, an ER coactivator. Conclusions These data highlight CXCR7 as a potential therapeutic target warranting clinical investigation in endocrine-resistant BC