Susceptibility of Highbush Blueberry Cultivars to Phytophthora Root Rot

Phytophthora cinnamomi Rands is a ubiquitous soilborne pathogen associated with root rot in many woody perennial plant species, including highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum). To identify genotypes with resistance to the pathogen, cultivars and advanced selections of highbush blueberry were grown in a greenhouse and either inoculated or not with propagules of P. cinnamomi. Two experiments were conducted, including one with 10 commercially established cultivars and another with seven newly released cultivars, three commercially established cultivars, and three advanced selections of highbush blueberry. Pathogen resistance was based on the shoot and root dry biomass of the inoculated plants relative to the noninoculated plants within each genotype, as well as on the percentage of root infection among the genotypes. Resistant genotypes included four commercially established cultivars, Aurora, Legacy, Liberty, and Reka, and two new cultivars, Overtime and Clockwork. When these genotypes were inoculated, average relative shoot biomass was ≥60% of that of the noninoculated plants, whereas relative root biomass was ≥40%. ‘Star’, as well as two advanced selections (an early- and a late-season type) may also have some degree of resistance, but further investigation is needed. Relative shoot biomass of the susceptible genotypes, on the other hand, ranged from 19% to 53% and relative root biomass ranged from 11% to 26%. The susceptible genotypes included ‘Bluetta’, ‘Bluecrop’, ‘Bluegold’, ‘Blue Ribbon’, ‘Cargo’, ‘Draper’, ‘Duke’, ‘Elliott’, ‘Last Call’, ‘Top Shelf’, and ‘Ventura’. These cultivars are not recommended at sites with conditions conducive to root rot, such as those with clay soils and/or poor drainage.Keywords: Phytophthora cinnamomi, Vaccinium corymbosum, soilborne pathogen, disease resistanc

Irrigation and Fertigation with Drip and Alternative Micro Irrigation Systems in Northern Highbush Blueberry

The use of conventional drip and alternative micro irrigation systems were evaluated for 3 years in six newly planted cultivars (Earliblue, Duke, Draper, Bluecrop, Elliott, and Aurora) of northern highbush blueberry (Vaccinium corymbosum L.). The drip system included two lines of tubing on each side of the row with in-line drip emitters at every 0.45 m. The alternative systems included geotextile tape and microsprinklers. The geotextile tape was placed alongside the plants and dispersed water and nutrients over the entire length. Microsprinklers were installed between every other plant at a height of 1.2 m. Nitrogen was applied by fertigation at annual rates of 100 and 200 kg·ha⁻¹ N by drip, 200 kg·ha⁻¹1 N by geotextile tape, and 280 kg·ha⁻¹ N by microsprinklers. By the end of the first season, plant size, in terms of canopy cover, was greatest with geotextile tape, on average, and lowest with microsprinklers or drip at the lower N rate. The following year, canopy cover was similar with geotextile tape and drip at the higher N rate in each cultivar, and was lowest with microsprinklers in all but ‘Draper’. In most of the cultivars, geotextile tape and drip at the higher N rate resulted in greater leaf N concentrations than microsprinklers or drip at the lower N rate, particularly during the first year after planting. By the third year, yield averaged 3.1–9.1 t·ha⁻¹ among the cultivars, but was similar with geotextile tape and drip at either N rate, and was only lower with microsprinklers. Overall, drip was more cost effective than geotextile tape, and fertigation with 100 kg·ha⁻¹ N by drip was sufficient to maximize early fruit production in each cultivar. Microsprinklers were less effective by comparison and resulted in white salt deposits on the fruitKeywords: microsprinklers, geotextile irrigation system, Phytophthora cinnamomi, nutrient management, root rot, Vaccinium corymbosu

Consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and illegal substances among physicians and medical students in Brandenburg and Saxony (Germany)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Patients regard health care professionals as role models for leading a healthy lifestyle. Health care professionals' own behaviour and attitudes concerning healthy lifestyle have an influence in counselling patients. The aim of this study was to assess consumption of alcohol, cigarettes and illegal substances among physicians and medical students in two German states: Brandenburg and Saxony.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Socio-demographic data and individual risk behaviour was collected by an anonymous self-administered questionnaire. Physicians were approached via mail and students were recruited during tutorials or lectures.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>41.6% of physicians and 60.9% of medical students responded to the questionnaire; more than 50% of the respondents in both groups were females. The majority of respondents consumed alcohol at least once per week; median daily alcohol consumption ranged from 3.88 g/d (female medical students) to 12.6 g/d (male physicians). A significantly higher percentage of men (p < 0.05) reported hazardous or harmful drinking compared to women. A quarter of all participating physicians and one third of all students indicated unhealthy alcohol-drinking behaviour. The majority of physicians (85.7%) and medical students (78.5%) were non-smokers. Both groups contained significantly more female non-smokers (p < 0.05). Use of illegal substances was considerably lower in physicians (5.1%) than medical students (33.0%). Male students indicated a significantly (p < 0.001) higher level of illegal drug-use compared to female students.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>More than one third of the medical students and health care professionals showed problematic alcohol-drinking behaviour. Although the proportion of non-smokers in the investigated sample was higher than in the general population, when compared to the general population, medical students between 18-24 reported higher consumption of illegal substances.</p> <p>These results indicate that methods for educating and promoting healthy lifestyle, particularly with respect to excessive alcohol consumption, tobacco use and abuse of illegal drugs should be considered.</p

Study protocol to investigate the effect of a lifestyle intervention on body weight, psychological health status and risk factors associated with disease recurrence in women recovering from breast cancer treatment

Background Breast cancer survivors often encounter physiological and psychological problems related to their diagnosis and treatment that can influence long-term prognosis. The aim of this research is to investigate the effects of a lifestyle intervention on body weight and psychological well-being in women recovering from breast cancer treatment, and to determine the relationship between changes in these variables and biomarkers associated with disease recurrence and survival. Methods/design Following ethical approval, a total of 100 patients will be randomly assigned to a lifestyle intervention (incorporating dietary energy restriction in conjunction with aerobic exercise training) or normal care control group. Patients randomised to the dietary and exercise intervention will be given individualised healthy eating dietary advice and written information and attend moderate intensity aerobic exercise sessions on three to five days per week for a period of 24 weeks. The aim of this strategy is to induce a steady weight loss of up to 0.5 Kg each week. In addition, the overall quality of the diet will be examined with a view to (i) reducing the dietary intake of fat to ~25% of the total calories, (ii) eating at least 5 portions of fruit and vegetables a day, (iii) increasing the intake of fibre and reducing refined carbohydrates, and (iv) taking moderate amounts of alcohol. Outcome measures will include body weight and body composition, psychological health status (stress and depression), cardiorespiratory fitness and quality of life. In addition, biomarkers associated with disease recurrence, including stress hormones, estrogen status, inflammatory markers and indices of innate and adaptive immune function will be monitored. Discussion This research will provide valuable information on the effectiveness of a practical, easily implemented lifestyle intervention for evoking positive effects on body weight and psychological well-being, two important factors that can influence long-term prognosis in breast cancer survivors. However, the added value of the study is that it will also evaluate the effects of the lifestyle intervention on a range of biomarkers associated with disease recurrence and survival. Considered together, the results should improve our understanding of the potential role that lifestyle-modifiable factors could play in saving or prolonging lives

Patterns of wood carbon dioxide efflux across a 2,000-m elevation transect in an Andean moist forest

During a 1-year measurement period, we recorded the CO2 efflux from stems (RS) and coarse woody roots (RR) of 13–20 common tree species at three study sites at 1,050, 1,890 and 3,050 m a.s.l. in an Andean moist forest. The objective of this work was to study elevation changes of woody tissue CO2 efflux and the relationship to climate variation, site characteristics and growth. Furthermore, we aim to provide insights into important respiration–productivity relationships of a little studied tropical vegetation type. We expected RS and RR to vary with dry and humid season conditions. We further expected RS to vary more than RR due to a more stable soil than air temperature regime. Seasonal variation in woody tissue CO2 efflux was indeed mainly attributable to stems. At the same time, temperature played only a small role in triggering variations in RS. At stand level, the ratio of C release (g C m−2 ground area year−1) between stems and roots varied from 4:1 at 1,050 m to 1:1 at 3,050 m, indicating the increasing prevalence of root activity at high elevations. The fraction of growth respiration from total respiration varied between 10 (3,050 m) and 14% (1,050 m) for stems and between 5 (1,050 m) and 30% (3,050 m) for roots. Our results show that respiratory activity and hence productivity is not driven by low temperatures towards higher elevations in this tropical montane forest. We suggest that future studies should examine the limitation of carbohydrate supply from leaves as a driver for the changes in respiratory activity with elevation

the adoption of climate smart agriculture the role of information and insurance under climate change

Climate change adds to the existing challenges in improving crop productivity and welfare for smallholder agricultural households by affecting the mean and variability of weather conditions and the frequency of extreme weather events. In the face of such growing uncertainty, agricultural practices of small landholders need to be adapted to better manage the changing risk structures. Since government risk management programs may complement or substitute for farmer adaptation, this chapter examines how a range of institutional interventions might assist, obstruct, channel, or change smallholder agricultural adaptation to climate change. Taken together, our results underscore the importance of the informational role of the agriculture extension, suggest that insurance can lead to significant changes in farmer planting and land management decisions, and show how information about changing conditions and insurance can be complimentary in driving changes in farmer behavior

Model-driven engineering of an openCypher engine: using graph queries to compile graph queries

Graph database systems are increasingly adapted for storing and processing heterogeneous network-like datasets. Many challenging applications with near real-time requirements - such as financial fraud detection, on-the-fly model validation and root cause analysis - can be formalised as graph problems and tackled with graph databases efficiently. However, as no standard graph query language has yet emerged, users are subjected to the possibility of vendor lock-in. The openCypher group aims to define an open specification for a declarative graph query language. However, creating an openCypher-compatible query engine requires significant research and engineering efforts. Meanwhile, model-driven language workbenches support the creation of domain-specific languages by providing high-level tools to create parsers, editors and compilers. In this paper, we present an approach to build a compiler and optimizer for openCypher using model-driven technologies, which allows developers to define declarative optimization rules

A global classroom? evaluating the effectiveness of global virtual collaboration as a teaching tool in management education

We evaluate the effectiveness of global virtual student collaboration projects in international management education.Over 6,000 students from nearly 80 universities in 43 countries worked in global virtual teams for 2 months as part of their international management courses.Multisource longitudinal data were collected, including student and instructor feedback, course evaluations, assessment of changes in knowledge, attitudes, and behaviors following the experiential project, and various indicators of individual and team performance.Drawing on experiential learning, social learning, and intergroup contact theories, the effectiveness of the experiential global virtual teambased approach in international management education was evaluated at the levels of reactions, learning, attitudes, behaviors, and performance.The findings show positive outcomes at each level, but also reveal challenges and limitations of using global virtual team projects for learning and education. Implications for international management education and suggestions for future research are discussed