Aquaculture Extension Capacity in the USDA North-Central Region: Results from a Survey

We surveyed Agriculture and Natural Resources Extension staff across the USDA North-Central Region about aquaculture programming. Overall, 47%, 35%, and 15% of respondents indicated that stakeholders had contacted them about aquaponics, finfish aquaculture, and shrimp aquaculture, respectively. Approximately 8% of respondents indicated that they offered aquaculture or aquaponics programming; 45% and 55% indicated that they did not offer aquaculture and aquaponics programming, respectively, but were interested in offering it. These results indicate that there is interest in increasing Extension capacity in fish farming either by hiring new staff or through train-the-trainer models

Useful to Usable: Developing Usable Climate Science for Agriculture

The Useful to Usable (U2U) project was a six-year research and extension project funded by the United States Department of Agriculture to provide both useful and usable climate information for the agricultural (corn) sector in the Midwestern United States. The project adopted an extensive co-production of knowledge and decision-making approach that involved intense iteration with potential end-users, including farmers and a variety of pro- fessional agricultural advisors, through focus groups and surveys, feedback at outreach events, and frequent informal interactions to develop both decision support tools and delivery mechanisms that met stakeholder needs. This overview paper for this special issue illustrates some key ways that the co-production process informed the overall project. Subsequent papers in the special issue span the different objectives of the U2U project, including social, climate, and agronomic sciences. A brief overview of these papers is pre- sented here

Tissue factor-positive monocytes in children with sickle cell disease: correlation with biomarkers of haemolysis

Tissue Factor (TF) initiates thrombin generation, and whole blood TF (WBTF) is elevated in sickle cell disease (SCD). We sought to identify the presence of TF-positive monocytes in SCD and their relationship with the other coagulation markers including WBTF, microparticle-associated TF, thrombin-antithrombin (TAT) complexes and D-dimer. Whether major SCD-related pathobiological processes, including haemolysis, inflammation and endothelial activation, contribute to the coagulation abnormalities was also studied. The cohort comprised children with SCD (18 HbSS, 12 HbSC, mean age 3.6 years). We demonstrated elevated levels of TF-positive monocytes in HbSS, which correlated with WBTF, TAT and D-Dimer (p=0.02 to p=0.0003). While TF-positive monocytes, WBTF, TAT and D-dimer correlated with several biomarkers of haemolysis, inflammation and endothelial activation in univariate analyses, in multiple regression models the haemolytic markers (reticulocytes and lactate dehydrogenase) contributed exclusively to the association with all four coagulant markers evaluated. The demonstration that haemolysis is the predominant operative pathology in the associated perturbations of coagulation in HbSS at a young age provides additional evidence for the early use of therapeutic agents, such as hydroxycarbamide to reduce the haemolytic component of this disease

Ground deformation analysis at Campi Flegrei (Southern Italy) by CGPS and tide-gauge network

Campi Flegrei caldera is located 15 km west of the city of Naples, within the central-southern sector of a large graben called Campanian Plain. It is an active volcanic area marked by a quasi-circular caldera depression, formed by a huge ignimbritic eruption occurred about 37000 years ago. This caldera was generated by several collapses produced by strong explosive eruptions (the last eruption, occurred in 1538, built an about 130 m spatter cone called Mt. Nuovo). Campi Flegrei area periodically experiences significant deformation episodes, with uplift phenomena up to more than 3.5 m in 15 years (from 1970 to 1984), which caused during 1983-84 the temporary evacuation of about 40000 people from the ancient part of Pozzuoli town. The deformation field obtainable by CGPS and tidegauge stations plays an important role for the modelling and interpretation of volcanic phenomena, as well as for forecasting purposes. The structural complexity of the Campi Flegrei area, together with the evidence of a strong interaction between magmatic chamber and shallow geothermal system, calls for a detailed characterization of the substructure and of magma-water interaction processes. The incoming experiment of deep drilling, down to about 4 km, will give detailed structural and physical constraints able to resolve the intrinsic ambiguities of geophysical data and in particular geodetic ones. In this poster we describe the recent ground deformations at Campi Flegrei area by means of GPS technique and tide gauge stations, discussing the possible interpretations also in light of further constraints likely coming from the next CFDDP (Campi Flegrei Deep Drilling) deep drilling experiment

An intron variant of the GLI family zinc finger 3 (GLI3) gene differentiates resistance training-induced muscle fiber hypertrophy in younger men

We examined the association between genotype and resistance training-induced changes (12 wk) in dual x-ray energy absorptiometry (DXA)-derived lean soft tissue mass (LSTM) as well as muscle fiber cross-sectional area (fCSA; vastus lateralis; n = 109; age = 22 ± 2 y, BMI = 24.7 ± 3.1 kg/m2). Over 315 000 genetic polymorphisms were interrogated from muscle using DNA microarrays. First, a targeted investigation was performed where single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNP) identified from a systematic literature review were related to changes in LSTM and fCSA. Next, genome-wide association (GWA) studies were performed to reveal associations between novel SNP targets with pre- to post-training change scores in mean fCSA and LSTM. Our targeted investigation revealed no genotype-by-time interactions for 12 common polymorphisms regarding the change in mean fCSA or change in LSTM. Our first GWA study indicated no SNP were associated with the change in LSTM. However, the second GWA study indicated two SNP exceeded the significance level with the change in mean fCSA (P = 6.9 × 10–7 for rs4675569, 1.7 × 10–6 for rs10263647). While the former target is not annotated (chr2:205936846 (GRCh38.p12)), the latter target (chr7:41971865 (GRCh38.p12)) is an intron variant of the GLI Family Zinc Finger 3 (GLI3) gene. Follow-up analyses indicated fCSA increases were greater in the T/C and C/C GLI3 genotypes than the T/T GLI3 genotype (P \u3c.05). Data from the Auburn cohort also revealed participants with the T/C and C/C genotypes exhibited increases in satellite cell number with training (P \u3c.05), whereas T/T participants did not. Additionally, those with the T/C and C/C genotypes achieved myonuclear addition in response to training (P \u3c.05), whereas the T/T participants did not. In summary, this is the first GWA study to examine how polymorphisms associate with the change in hypertrophy measures following resistance training. Future studies are needed to determine if the GLI3 variant differentiates hypertrophic responses to resistance training given the potential link between this gene and satellite cell physiology

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: power-spectrum analysis of the final data set and cosmological implications

We present a power-spectrum analysis of the final 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS), employing a direct Fourier method. The sample used comprises 221 414 galaxies with measured redshifts. We investigate in detail the modelling of the sample selection, improving on previous treatments in a number of respects. A new angular mask is derived, based on revisions to the photometric calibration. The redshift selection function is determined by dividing the survey according to rest-frame colour, and deducing a self-consistent treatment of k-corrections and evolution for each population. The covariance matrix for the power-spectrum estimates is determined using two different approaches to the construction of mock surveys, which are used to demonstrate that the input cosmological model can be correctly recovered. We discuss in detail the possible differences between the galaxy and mass power spectra, and treat these using simulations, analytic models and a hybrid empirical approach. Based on these investigations, we are confident that the 2dFGRS power spectrum can be used to infer the matter content of the universe. On large scales, our estimated power spectrum shows evidence for the ‘baryon oscillations' that are predicted in cold dark matter (CDM) models. Fitting to a CDM model, assuming a primordial ns= 1 spectrum, h= 0.72 and negligible neutrino mass, the preferred parameters are Ωmh= 0.168 ± 0.016 and a baryon fraction Ωb/Ωm= 0.185 ± 0.046 (1σ errors). The value of Ωmh is 1σ lower than the 0.20 ± 0.03 in our 2001 analysis of the partially complete 2dFGRS. This shift is largely due to the signal from the newly sampled regions of space, rather than the refinements in the treatment of observational selection. This analysis therefore implies a density significantly below the standard Ωm= 0.3: in combination with cosmic microwave background (CMB) data from the Wilkinson Microwave Anisotropy Probe (WMAP), we infer Ωm= 0.231 ± 0.02

The 2dF Galaxy Redshift Survey: correlation with the ROSAT-ESO flux-limited X-ray galaxy cluster survey

The ROSAT-European Southern Observatory (ESO) flux-limited X-ray (REFLEX) galaxy cluster survey and the Two-degree Field Galaxy Redshift Survey (2dFGRS), respectively, comprise the largest, homogeneous X-ray selected cluster catalogue and completed galaxy redshift survey. In this work, we combine these two outstanding data sets in order to study the effect of the large-scale cluster environment, as traced by X-ray luminosity, on the properties of the cluster member galaxies. We measure the LX−σr relation from the correlated data set and find it to be consistent with recent results found in the literature. Using a sample of 19 clusters with LX≥ 0.36 × 1044 erg s−1 in the 0.1-2.4 keV band, and 49 clusters with lower X-ray luminosity, we find that the fraction of early spectral type (η=−1.4), passively evolving galaxies is significantly higher in the high-LX sample within R200. We extend the investigation to include composite bJ cluster luminosity functions, and find that the characteristic magnitude of the Schechter-function fit to the early-type luminosity function is fainter for the high-LX sample compared to the low-LX sample (ΔM*= 0.58 ± 0.14). This seems to be driven by a deficit of such galaxies with MbJ∼−21. In contrast, we find no significant differences between the luminosity functions of star-forming, late-type galaxies. We believe these results are consistent with a scenario in which the high-LX clusters are more dynamically evolved systems than the low-LX cluster