Calibrating and adjusting expectations in life: A grounded theory on how elderly persons with somatic health problems maintain control and balance in life and optimize well-being

Aim: This study aims at exploring the main concern for elderly individuals with somatic health problems and what they do to manage this. Method: In total, 14 individuals (mean = 74.2 years; range = 68–86 years) of both gender including hospitalized and outpatient persons participated in the study. Open interviews were conducted and analyzed according to grounded theory, an inductive theory-generating method. Results: The main concern for the elderly individuals with somatic health problems was identified as their striving to maintain control and balance in life. The analysis ended up in a substantive theory explaining how elderly individuals with somatic disease were calibrating and adjusting their expectations in life in order to adapt to their reduced energy level, health problems, and aging. By adjusting the expectations to their actual abilities, the elderly can maintain a sense of that they still have the control over their lives and create stability. The ongoing adjustment process is facilitated by different strategies and result despite lower expectations in subjective well-being. The facilitating strategies are utilizing the network of important others, enjoying cultural heritage, being occupied with interests, having a mission to fulfill, improving the situation by limiting boundaries and, finally, creating meaning in everyday life. Conclusion: The main concern of the elderly with somatic health problems was to maintain control and balance in life. The emerging theory explains how elderly people with somatic health problems calibrate their expectations of life in order to adjust to reduced energy, health problems, and aging. This process is facilitated by different strategies and result despite lower expectation in subjective well-being

Bottom-Up In Vitro Methods to Assay the Ultrastructural Organization, Membrane Reshaping, and Curvature Sensitivity Behavior of Septins

Membrane remodeling occurs constantly at the plasma membrane and within cellular organelles. To fully dissect the role of the environment (ionic conditions, protein and lipid compositions, membrane curvature) and the different partners associated with specific membrane reshaping processes, we undertake in vitro bottom-up approaches. In recent years, there has been keen interest in revealing the role of septin proteins associated with major diseases. Septins are essential and ubiquitous cytoskeletal proteins that interact with the plasma membrane. They are implicated in cell division, cell motility, neuro-morphogenesis, and spermiogenesis, among other functions. It is, therefore, important to understand how septins interact and organize at membranes to subsequently induce membrane deformations and how they can be sensitive to specific membrane curvatures. This article aims to decipher the interplay between the ultra-structure of septins at a molecular level and the membrane remodeling occurring at a micron scale. To this end, budding yeast, and mammalian septin complexes were recombinantly expressed and purified. A combination of in vitro assays was then used to analyze the self-assembly of septins at the membrane. Supported lipid bilayers (SLBs), giant unilamellar vesicles (GUVs), large unilamellar vesicles (LUVs), and wavy substrates were used to study the interplay between septin self-assembly, membrane reshaping, and membrane curvature.Green Open Access added to TU Delft Institutional Repository ‘You share, we take care!’ – Taverne project https://www.openaccess.nl/en/you-share-we-take-care Otherwise as indicated in the copyright section: the publisher is the copyright holder of this work and the author uses the Dutch legislation to make this work public.BN/Gijsje Koenderink La

Utilização do nitrogênio (15N) residual de coberturas de solo e da uréia pela cultura do milho Utilization of residual nitrogen (15N) from cover crop and urea by corn

Geralmente, grande parte do N de fertilizantes minerais e de plantas de cobertura de solo não é aproveitada pelo milho no cultivo imediato à aplicação, o qual pode ser absorvido pelas culturas cultivadas subseqüentemente. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar o aproveitamento pelo milho do N residual da uréia, da crotalária (Crotalaria juncea) e do milheto (Pennisetum americanum) marcados com 15N, aplicados ao milho cultivado em sistema plantio direto, no ano agrícola anterior, num Latossolo Vermelho distroférrico no Cerrado. O estudo foi desenvolvido na fazenda experimental da Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira-UNESP, Selvíria (MS), em áreas distintas. O delineamento experimental foi de blocos ao acaso com 15 tratamentos e quatro repetições, aplicados ao milho em 2001/02 e 2002/03. Os tratamentos foram dispostos em esquema fatorial 3 x 5, compreendendo a combinação de três coberturas de solo: crotalária juncea, milheto e vegetação espontânea (pousio), e cinco doses de N-uréia: 0, 30, 80, 130 e 180 kg ha-1. Após a colheita do milho, as duas áreas permaneceram em pousio nas entressafras e, em seguida, cultivadas novamente com milho, safras 2002/03 (experimento 1) e 2003/04 (experimento 2), utilizando adubação similar em todas as parcelas, para distinguir o efeito do N residual. O aproveitamento médio do N residual da parte aérea do milheto e da crotalária pelo milho foi inferior a 3,5 e 3 %, respectivamente, da quantidade inicial. A quantidade de N residual da uréia absorvida pelo milho aumentou de forma quadrática, no experimento 1, e linear, no experimento 2, em relação à dose de N aplicada, sendo o aproveitamento desta inferior a 3 %. As coberturas de solo não influenciaram o aproveitamento pelo milho do N residual da uréia, e vice-versa.<br>The majority of N from mineral fertilizers and cover crops is usually not used by the very next corn crop, but can be absorbed by follow-up crops. The objective of this study was to evaluate the use of residual nitrogen from urea, sunnhemp (Crotalaria juncea) and millet (Pennisetum americanum) labeled with 15N, applied to no-tillage corn in the previous growing season, in a Red Latosol of the Cerrado. The study was conducted in an experimental farm of the Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Ilha Solteira, in Selvíria county (MS), Brazil, in different areas. The experiment had a randomized complete block design, with 15 treatments and four replications. Treatments were applied to corn crop in the 2001/02 and 2003/04 growing seasons. Theey were distributed in a 3 x 5 factorial layout, representing the combination of three cover crops: sunnhemp, millet and spontaneous vegetation (fallow) and five N rates (as urea): 0, 30, 80, 130, and 180 kg ha-1 of N. After corn harvest, the two areas were fallowed in the dry season and were followed by corn crop in the 2002/03 (experiment 1) and 2003/04 (experiment 2) growing seasons, using the same fertilizer rate on all plots to distinguish the residual effect of N sources. The average use of residual N from the millet and sunnhemp residues (above-ground part) by corn crop was less than 3.5 and 3 %, respectively, of the initial amount. The corn uptake of residual N from urea increased in a quadratic manner in experiment 1 and linearly in experiment Two as a response to the applied N rates, and the recover was below 3 %. The cover crop type did not affect the use of residual N of urea by corn, and vice-versa

Aproveitamento do nitrogênio (15N) da crotalária e do milheto pelo milho sob plantio direto em Latossolo Vermelho de Cerrado Utilization of nitrogen (15N) from sun hemp and millet by corn crop under no-tillage in Red Latosol of Cerrado

O cultivo de adubos verdes na entressafra altera a dinâmica e a recuperação do nitrogênio pelo milho no sistema solo-planta. O objetivo deste trabalho foi avaliar a eficiência de utilização do N da crotalária (Crotalaria juncea) e do milheto (Pennisetum americanum), marcados com 15N, pelo milho cultivado sob diferentes doses de N em plantio direto, num Latossolo Vermelho de Cerrado. O estudo foi desenvolvido na fazenda experimental da Faculdade de Engenharia de Ilha Solteira-UNESP, Selvíria-MS, nos anos agrícolas 2001/02 e 2002/03. O delineamento experimental foi o de blocos casualizados, com 15 tratamentos e quatro repetições, dispostos em esquema fatorial 5 x 3, constituídos pela combinação de cinco doses de N (0, 30, 80, 130 e 180kg ha-1), na forma de uréia, aplicadas no estádio quatro folhas, e três sistemas de cobertura do solo: crotalária, milheto e o solo em pousio entressafra. O N inorgânico promoveu um efeito sinérgico na quantidade de N absorvida e no aproveitamento pelo milho do N da crotalária e do milheto. A crotalária, na média dos dois anos agrícolas, proporcionou, no milho cultivado sem a aplicação de N, um efeito equivalente à aplicação de 56,0 e 73,0kg ha-1 de N-uréia, comparado ao do milho cultivado sobre solo em pousio e em sucessão ao milheto, respectivamente. A produtividade de grãos aumentou de forma quadrática em função das doses de N, nos dois anos agrícolas.<br>The cultivation of green manure in the fallow ground alter the dynamics and the recovery of the nitrogen by corn in the soil-plant system. The objective of this work was to evaluate the utilization of nitrogen (15N) from sun hemp and millet by corn grown under different N rates in no-tillage in Red Latosol of Cerrado. The research was carried in the Experimental Farm of Faculty of Engineering, Sao Paulo State University (UNESP), Ilha Solteira, located in Selvíria-MS, Brazil, during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 growing season. The experimental design was randomized complete blocks, with 15 treatments and four replications in a factorial 5 x 3, constituted by the combination of five N rates (0, 30, 80, 130 and 180kg ha-1), as urea, applied at four leaf stage; and three preceding cover crops: sun hemp, millet and fallow ground. The inorganic N promoted a synergic effect on the amount of absorbed N and utilization of sun hemp and millet N by the corn crop. The sun hemp, in average for two growing season, provided in the corn cultivated without the application of N an equivalent effect of the application of 56.0 and 73.0kg ha-1 as urea, compared to the corn grown in fallow soil and in succession to millet, respectively. The grain yield increased in a quadratic way in function of the N rates, in the two growing season