Fertilisers for wine grapes : an information package to promote efficient fertiliser practices

https://researchlibrary.agric.wa.gov.au/bulletins/1278/thumbnail.jp

Layers Utilized by an ArcGIS Model to Approximate Commercial Coral and Sponge By-catch in the NAFO Regulatory Area

This report specifically addresses Fisheries Commission Request #16: "Implement and/or further refine the existing GIS simulation/modelling framework, in conjunction with the VMS data supplied by the NAFO Secretariat ...", brought forth in the Fisheries Commission 33rd Annual Meeting Report (NAFO, 2011a). Data layers utilized by the model as well as their various means of construction are described in detail including the generation of NAFO VMS trawl lines. These VMS trawl line data were used to better understand fishing behaviour and also generate a new standard trawl length (13.8 nm) to be utilized by trawl simulations. The justification for utilizing just the Spain/EU research trawl by-catch dataset instead of the combined Canada/Spain/EU dataset for the production of higher resolution sponge and sea pen biomass surfaces is also made. It is demonstrated how this high resolution (5x5 km cell grid) Spain/EU data biomass layer could be utilized with 2000 randomly placed and oriented 13.8 nm simulation trawls to generate by-catch values, organized by thresholds, to capture the distributional extent of high concentration sponge and sea pen areas. This serves as the basis for a kernel density polygon analysis that calculates a commercial sponge and sea pen encounter threshold (Kenchington et al., 2011). Finally, using the Spain/EU only high resolution biomass surface, by-catch output from VMS trawls and their simulated 13.8 nm standard trawl line counterparts are compared

Constraints on Automorphic Forms of Higher Derivative Terms from Compactification

By dimensionally reducing the higher derivative corrections of ten-dimensional IIB theory on a torus we deduce constraints on the E_{n+1} automorphic forms that occur in d=10-n dimensions. In particular we argue that these automorphic forms involve the representation of E_{n+1} with fundamental weight \lambda^{n+1}, which is also the representation to which the string charges in d dimensions belong. We also consider a similar calculation for the reduction of higher derivative terms in eleven-dimensional M-theory.Comment: Minor corrections, to appear in JHE

Spring plankton dynamics in the Eastern Bering Sea, 1971-2050 : mechanisms of interannual variability diagnosed with a numerical model

A new planktonic ecosystem model was constructed for the Eastern Bering Sea based on observations from the 2007-2010 BEST/BSIERP (Bering Ecosystem Study/Bering Sea Integrated Ecosystem Research Program) field program. When run with forcing from a data-assimilative ice-ocean hindcast of 1971-2012, the model performs well against observations of spring bloom time evolution (phytoplankton and microzooplankton biomass, growth and grazing rates, and ratios among new, regenerated, and export production). On the southern middle shelf (57°N, station M2), the model replicates the generally inverse relationship between ice-retreat timing and spring bloom timing known from observations, and the simpler direct relationship between the two that has been observed on the northern middle shelf (62°N, station M8). The relationship between simulated mean primary production and mean temperature in spring (15 February to 15 July) is generally positive, although this was found to be an indirect relationship which does not continue to apply across a future projection of temperature and ice cover in the 2040s. At M2, the leading direct controls on total spring primary production are found to be advective and turbulent nutrient supply, suggesting that mesoscale, wind-driven processes - A dvective transport and storminess - may be crucial to long-term trends in spring primary production in the southeastern Bering Sea, with temperature and ice cover playing only indirect roles. Sensitivity experiments suggest that direct dependence of planktonic growth and metabolic rates on temperature is less significant overall than the other drivers correlated with temperature described above

Why do people fail to turn good intentions into action? : The role of executive control processes in the translation of healthy eating intentions into action in young Scottish adults

Non peer reviewedPublisher PD

Differential regulation of NF-κB activation and function by topoisomerase II inhibitors

BACKGROUND: While many common chemotherapeutic drugs and other inducers of DNA-damage result in both NF-κB nuclear translocation and DNA-binding, we have previously observed that, depending on the precise stimulus, there is great diversity of the function of NF-κB. In particular, we found that treatment of U-2 OS osteosarcoma cells with the anthracycine daunorubicin or with ultraviolet (UV-C) light resulted in a form of NF-κB that repressed rather than induced NF-κB reporter plasmids and the expression of specific anti-apoptotic genes. Anthracyclines such as daunorubicin can induce DNA-damage though inhibiting topoisomerase II, intercalating with DNA and undergoing redox cycling to produce oxygen free radicals. In this study we have investigated other anthracyclines, doxorubicin and aclarubicin, as well as the anthracenedione mitoxantrone together with the topoisomerase II inhibitor ICRF-193, which all possess differing characteristics, to determine which of these features is specifically required to induce both NF-κB DNA-binding and transcriptional repression in U-2 OS cells. RESULTS: The use of mitoxantrone, which does not undergo redox cycling, and the reducing agent epigallocatechingallate (EGCG) demonstrated that oxygen free radical production is not required for induction of NF-κB DNA-binding and transcriptional repression by these agents and UV-C. In addition, the use of aclarubicin, which does not directly inhibit topoisomerase II and ICRF-193, which inhibits topoisomerase II but does not intercalate into DNA, demonstrated that topoisomerase II inhibition is not sufficient to induce the repressor form of NF-κB. CONCLUSION: Induction of NF-κB DNA-binding and transcriptional repression by topoisomerase II inhibitors was found to correlate with an ability to intercalate into DNA. Although data from our and other laboratories indicates that topoisomerase II inhibition and oxygen free radicals do regulate NF-κB, they are not required for the particular ability of NF-κB to repress rather than activate transcription. Together with our previous data, these results demonstrate that the nature of the NF-κB response is context dependent. In a clinical setting such effects could profoundly influence the response to chemotherapy and suggest that new methods of analyzing NF-κB function could have both diagnostic and prognostic value

A cluster randomized controlled trial of the effectiveness and cost-effectiveness of Intermediate Care Clinics for Diabetes (ICCD) : study protocol for a randomized controlled trial

Background World-wide healthcare systems are faced with an epidemic of type 2 diabetes. In the United Kingdom, clinical care is primarily provided by general practitioners (GPs) rather than hospital specialists. Intermediate care clinics for diabetes (ICCD) potentially provide a model for supporting GPs in their care of people with poorly controlled type 2 diabetes and in their management of cardiovascular risk factors. This study aims to (1) compare patients with type 2 diabetes registered with practices that have access to an ICCD service with those that have access only to usual hospital care; (2) assess the cost-effectiveness of the intervention; and (3) explore the views and experiences of patients, health professionals and other stakeholders. Methods/Design This two-arm cluster randomized controlled trial (with integral economic evaluation and qualitative study) is set in general practices in three UK Primary Care Trusts. Practices are randomized to one of two groups with patients referred to either an ICCD (intervention) or to hospital care (control). Intervention group: GP practices in the intervention arm have the opportunity to refer patients to an ICCD - a multidisciplinary team led by a specialist nurse and a diabetologist. Patients are reviewed and managed in the ICCD for a short period with a goal of improving diabetes and cardiovascular risk factor control and are then referred back to practice. or Control group: Standard GP care, with referral to secondary care as required, but no access to ICCD. Participants are adults aged 18 years or older who have type 2 diabetes that is difficult for their GPs to control. The primary outcome is the proportion of participants reaching three risk factor targets: HbA1c (≤7.0%); blood pressure (<140/80); and cholesterol (<4 mmol/l), at the end of the 18-month intervention period. The main secondary outcomes are the proportion of participants reaching individual risk factor targets and the overall 10-year risks for coronary heart disease(CHD) and stroke assessed by the United Kingdom Prospective Diabetes Study (UKPDS) risk engine. Other secondary outcomes include body mass index and waist circumference, use of medication, reported smoking, emotional adjustment, patient satisfaction and views on continuity, costs and health related quality of life. We aimed to randomize 50 practices and recruit 2,555 patients

IMPLEmenting a clinical practice guideline for acute low back pain evidence-based manageMENT in general practice (IMPLEMENT) : cluster randomised controlled trial study protocol

Background: Evidence generated from reliable research is not frequently implemented into clinical practice. Evidence-based clinical practice guidelines are a potential vehicle to achieve this. A recent systematic review of implementation strategies of guideline dissemination concluded that there was a lack of evidence regarding effective strategies to promote the uptake of guidelines. Recommendations from this review, and other studies, have suggested the use of interventions that are theoretically based because these may be more effective than those that are not. An evidencebased clinical practice guideline for the management of acute low back pain was recently developed in Australia. This provides an opportunity to develop and test a theory-based implementation intervention for a condition which is common, has a high burden, and for which there is an evidence-practice gap in the primary care setting. Aim: This study aims to test the effectiveness of a theory-based intervention for implementing a clinical practice guideline for acute low back pain in general practice in Victoria, Australia. Specifically, our primary objectives are to establish if the intervention is effective in reducing the percentage of patients who are referred for a plain x-ray, and improving mean level of disability for patients three months post-consultation. Methods/Design: This study protocol describes the details of a cluster randomised controlled trial. Ninety-two general practices (clusters), which include at least one consenting general practitioner, will be randomised to an intervention or control arm using restricted randomisation. Patients aged 18 years or older who visit a participating practitioner for acute non-specific low back pain of less than three months duration will be eligible for inclusion. An average of twenty-five patients per general practice will be recruited, providing a total of 2,300 patient participants. General practitioners in the control arm will receive access to the guideline using the existing dissemination strategy. Practitioners in the intervention arm will be invited to participate in facilitated face-to-face workshops that have been underpinned by behavioural theory. Investigators (not involved in the delivery of the intervention), patients, outcome assessors and the study statistician will be blinded to group allocation. Trial registration: Australian New Zealand Clinical Trials Registry ACTRN012606000098538 (date registered 14/03/2006).The trial is funded by the NHMRC by way of a Primary Health Care Project Grant (334060). JF has 50% of her time funded by the Chief Scientist Office3/2006). of the Scottish Government Health Directorate and 50% by the University of Aberdeen. PK is supported by a NHMRC Health Professional Fellowship (384366) and RB by a NHMRC Practitioner Fellowship (334010). JG holds a Canada Research Chair in Health Knowledge Transfer and Uptake. All other authors are funded by their own institutions

Report of Working Group on Widely Distributed Stocks (WGWIDE).

As a consequence of the impact of the COVID pandemic on international travel which prevented the traditional meeting from taking place, the Working Group on Widely Distributed Stocks (WGWIDE) met online via WebEx hosted by ICES. Prior to the 2020 meeting, the generic ToRs for species and regional working groups were re-prioritised by ACOM to allow the WG to focus primarily on those ToRs most applicable to the provision of advice. WGWIDE reports on the status and considerations for management of Northeast Atlantic mackerel, blue whiting, Western and North Sea horse mackerel, Northeast Atlantic boarfish, Norwegian springspawning herring, striped red mullet (Subareas 6, 8 and Divisions 7.a-c, e-k and 9.a), and red gurnard (Subareas 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, and 8) stocks. Northeast Atlantic (NEA) Mackerel. This stock is highly migratory and widely distributed throughout the Northeast Atlantic with significant fisheries is most ICES subareas. A diverse range of fleets from smaller artisanal, handline vessels to large (100m+) factory freezer vessels and modern RSW trawlers and purse seiners take part in what is one of the most valuable European fisheries. The assessment conducted in 2020 is an update assessment, based on the configuration agreed during the most recent inter-benchmark exercise in 2019 and incorporates the most recent data available from sampling of the commercial catch in 2019, the final 2019 egg survey SSB estimate, an updated recruitment index and tagging time series along with 2020 survey data from the IESSNS swept area survey. Advice is given based on stock reference points which were updated during a management strategy evaluation carried out in 2020. Following a strong increase from 2007 to 2014, SSB has been declining although it remains well above MSY Btrigger. Fishing mortality has been below FMSY since 2016. There have been a number of large year classes since 2001 with above average recruitment over much of the most recent decade. Blue Whiting. This pelagic gadoid is widely distributed in the eastern part of the North Atlantic. The 2020 update assessment followed the protocol from the most recent inter-benchmark in 2016 and used preliminary catch data from 2020. Due to the cancellation of the 2020 acoustic survey, this data was not available. The effect on the assessment was minimal and limited to increases in uncertainty of the terminal year estimates. The SSB continues to decrease from the most recent maximum in 2017 mainly due to below average recruitment since 2017, although it remains above MSY Btrigger. Fishing mortality has been above FMSY since 2014. Norwegian Spring Spawning Herring. This is one of the largest herring stocks in the world. It is highly migratory, spawning along the Norwegian coast and feeding throughout much of the Norwegian Sea. The 2020 assessment is based on an implementation of the XSAM assessment model introduced at the benchmark in 2016. This years’ assessment indicates that the stock is continuing to decline from the peak in 2008 of 7Mt to just above MSY Btrigger due to successive years of average or below average recruitment. Catch advice for 2021 is given on the basis of the agreed management plan and represents a substantial increase over the 2020 advice due to an upward revision in the estimate of the 2016 year-class which is considered to be the most significant year-class since 2004