Evaluation of Resource Management Options for Smallholder Farms Using an Integrated Modelling Approach

Farm-level analysis of trade-offs between soil fertility management alternatives is required to improve understanding of complex biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making in smallholder farming systems and to identify opportunities for improving resource use efficiency. A farm characterization tool (IMPACT) linked to a generic optimization model (Household) was used to evaluate resource use on farms in contrasting wealth categories. The Household model optimized the net cash income for the farms (accounting for all on-farm and off-farm income, costs of production and expenditure for the households). Alternatives for management of nutrient resource were simulated using other models; APSIM for the crop production and RUMINANT for the livestock component. The output from the simulation models was fed into the Household model and evaluated within the biophysical and socioeconomic boundaries of the farms. Analysis of the performance of a poor farmer by IMPACT indicated a yearly net cash balance of US$-7 per annum (after all needs had been taken care of), mainly due to negative returns from the cropping system. The farmer relied on donated food and fertilizers. The cash balance was negative, even though she also worked for other farmers (i.e. sold labour, about 10 days a month during six months of the crop growing season) to generate income. The net income of the poor farm would be increased to US$81 per annum and the N balance from 7 kg ha-1 yr-1 to 10 kg ha-1 yr-1 by expanding the area allocated to groundnut from the current 5% to 31%. This would, however, generate a huge demand in labour in the current year (extra 46-man days) and reduce the P balance from 0 to -1 kg ha-1 yr-1. Maize could be managed more efficiently on the poor farm by cultivating a smaller, well-managed area. A wealthy farm household with a maize dominated cropping system had a net cash balance of US$210 per annum, mainly from sale of crop products. Under current resource management, the net cash balance could be increased to US$290 per annum by optimization of household energy and protein consumption. The net cash balance for the wealthy farm would be further increased to US$448 per annum, and nutrient balances to 271 kg N ha-1 and 30 kg P ha-1 by expanding the management strategy where maize was grown with a combination of cattle manure and ammonium nitrate fertilizer. To do this, the farmer would need to source more manure (or improve capture and the efficiency with which nutrients are cycled through manure) and invest in 110 man-days extra labour. Expansion of the area grown to groundnut without fertilizer inputs to a third of the farm would reduce net cash balance by US$11 compared with the current crop allocation due to poor groundnut yield. This would also increase labour demand by 155 mandays. Groundnut intensification on the wealthy farm would be more economic and labour effective if a small area was grown with basal fertilizer (7%N, 6%P, 8%K). Despite reducing nutrient balances for the arable plots, feeding groundnut residues to lactating cows increased net cash balance by 12-18% for the current year through increased milk production. The integrated modelling approach was useful for linking biophysical and socio-economic factors influencing decision making on smallholder farms and evaluating trade-offs for resource use in terms of nutrient balances, labour use, food sufficiency and cash balance.Farm Management, Resource /Energy Economics and Policy,

Factors associated with compliance with physical activity recommendations among adolescents in Huesca.

BACKGROUND: Schools have been identified as environments of choice for physical activity promotion. This study examines factors associated with compliance with objectively assessed physical activity recommendations for early adolescents taking part in “Sigue la Huella”, a school-based intervention guided by a social ecological framework and Self-Determination Theory (Deci & Ryan, 2002). METHODS: A total of 200 students (108 boys) aged 12-13 years (M = 12.16; SD = ± 0.51), wore accelerometers during a 7-day period and completed a questionnaire. Participants were considered compliant to the recommendations if their moderate to vigorous physical activity, averaged over 7 days, was =60 minutes a day. RESULTS: 57.4% of boys and 9.9% of girls met recommendations. In a mixed logistic regression model, compliance was higher among boys and students attending private schools, and lower for obese students. Compliance was also associated with higher perceptions of physical competence, higher perceptions of autonomy in physical education, greater importance attached to physical education and less sedentary behavior. CONCLUSIONS: Assessed objectively, gender differences in compliance with physical activity recommendations were greater than expected. Self-Determination Theory emerged as a useful framework to identify motivational factors that can be addressed in school-based physical activity interventions and programs for early adolescents

Development of Antibody-Coated Magnetite Nanoparticles for Biomarker Immobilization

Magnetic nanoparticles (MNPs) have great potential in biomedical applications because of their magnetic response offers the possibility to direct them to specific areas and target biological entities. Magnetic separation of biomolecules is one of the most important applications of MNPs because their versatility in detecting cancer biomarkers. However, the effectiveness of this method depends on many factors, including the type of functionalization onto MNPs. Therefore, in this study, magnetite nanoparticles have been developed in order to separate the 5′-nucleotidase enzyme (5eNT). The 5eNT is used as a bio-indicator for diagnosing diseases such as hepatic ischaemia, liver tumor, and hepatotoxic drugs damage. Magnetic nanoparticles were covered in a core/shell type with silica, aminosilane, and a double shell of silica-aminosilane. A ScFv (fragment antibody) and anti-CD73 antibody were attached to the coated nanoparticles in order to separate the enzyme. The magnetic separation of this enzyme with fragment antibody was found to be 28% higher than anti-CD73 antibody and the enzyme adsorption was improved with the double shell due to the increased length of the polymeric chain. Magnetite nanoparticles with a double shell (silica-aminosilane) were also found to be more sensitive than magnetite with a single shell in the detection of biomarkers

A boron-coated CCD camera for direct detection of Ultracold Neutrons (UCN)

A new boron-coated CCD camera is described for direct detection of ultracold neutrons (UCN) through the capture reactions $^{10}$B (n,$\alpha$0$\gamma$)$^7$Li (6%) and $^{10}$B(n,$\alpha$1$\gamma$)$^7$Li (94%). The experiments, which extend earlier works using a boron-coated ZnS:Ag scintillator, are based on direct detections of the neutron-capture byproducts in silicon. The high position resolution, energy resolution and particle ID performance of a scientific CCD allows for observation and identification of all the byproducts $\alpha$, $^7$Li and $\gamma$ (electron recoils). A signal-to-noise improvement on the order of 10$^4$ over the indirect method has been achieved. Sub-pixel position resolution of a few microns is demonstrated. The technology can also be used to build UCN detectors with an area on the order of 1 m$^2$. The combination of micrometer scale spatial resolution, few electrons ionization thresholds and large area paves the way to new research avenues including quantum physics of UCN and high-resolution neutron imaging and spectroscopy.Comment: 10 pages, 8 figure

Spina bifida-predisposing heterozygous mutations in Planar Cell Polarity genes and Zic2 reduce bone mass in young mice

Fractures are a common comorbidity in children with the neural tube defect (NTD) spina bifida. Mutations in the Wnt/planar cell polarity (PCP) pathway contribute to NTDs in humans and mice, but whether this pathway independently determines bone mass is poorly understood. Here, we first confirmed that core Wnt/PCP components are expressed in osteoblasts and osteoclasts in vitro. In vivo, we performed detailed µCT comparisons of bone structure in tibiae from young male mice heterozygous for NTD-associated mutations versus WT littermates. PCP signalling disruption caused by Vangl2 (Vangl2Lp/+) or Celsr1 (Celsr1Crsh/+) mutations significantly reduced trabecular bone mass and distal tibial cortical thickness. NTD-associated mutations in non-PCP transcription factors were also investigated. Pax3 mutation (Pax3Sp2H/+) had minimal effects on bone mass. Zic2 mutation (Zic2Ku/+) significantly altered the position of the tibia/fibula junction and diminished cortical bone in the proximal tibia. Beyond these genes, we bioinformatically documented the known extent of shared genetic networks between NTDs and bone properties. 46 genes involved in neural tube closure are annotated with bone-related ontologies. These findings document shared genetic networks between spina bifida risk and bone structure, including PCP components and Zic2. Genetic variants which predispose to spina bifida may therefore independently diminish bone mass

Effect of the inclusion of Bacillus spp. in growing–finishing pigs’ diets: a meta-analysis

This meta-analysis determined the effect of Bacillus spp. on growth performance of growing–finishing pigs and then assessed causes for the heterogeneity of responses detected using meta-regression. A database of 22 articles published from 2000 to 2020 was identified, and 9 articles fitted the selection criteria and were integrated in the final database. Statistical analysis was performed to analyze the effect size for ADG, average daily feed intake (ADFI), and F:G ratio using a standardized means difference (SMD) at a 95% confidence interval. A meta-regression analysis was used to investigate the cause of heterogeneity, using the individual SMD for each study assessment as the outcome and the associated SE as the measure of variance. Dietary Bacillus spp. supplementation had no effect on ADFI (SMD: −0.052, p = 0.138) and numerically increased ADG (SMD: 0.113, p = 0.081) and reduced the F:G ratio SMD: −0.127, p < 0.001). Meta-regression outcomes suggested that the number of animals per group was an essential component promoting heterogeneity in ADG. Overall, the inclusion of Bacillus spp. (median 486 mg/d) in growing–finishing pigs can increase ADG and can decrease the F:G ratio

Modeling complex metabolic reactions, ecological systems, and financial and legal networks with MIANN models based on Markov-Wiener node descriptors

[Abstract] The use of numerical parameters in Complex Network analysis is expanding to new fields of application. At a molecular level, we can use them to describe the molecular structure of chemical entities, protein interactions, or metabolic networks. However, the applications are not restricted to the world of molecules and can be extended to the study of macroscopic nonliving systems, organisms, or even legal or social networks. On the other hand, the development of the field of Artificial Intelligence has led to the formulation of computational algorithms whose design is based on the structure and functioning of networks of biological neurons. These algorithms, called Artificial Neural Networks (ANNs), can be useful for the study of complex networks, since the numerical parameters that encode information of the network (for example centralities/node descriptors) can be used as inputs for the ANNs. The Wiener index (W) is a graph invariant widely used in chemoinformatics to quantify the molecular structure of drugs and to study complex networks. In this work, we explore for the first time the possibility of using Markov chains to calculate analogues of node distance numbers/W to describe complex networks from the point of view of their nodes. These parameters are called Markov-Wiener node descriptors of order kth (Wk). Please, note that these descriptors are not related to Markov-Wiener stochastic processes. Here, we calculated the Wk(i) values for a very high number of nodes (>100,000) in more than 100 different complex networks using the software MI-NODES. These networks were grouped according to the field of application. Molecular networks include the Metabolic Reaction Networks (MRNs) of 40 different organisms. In addition, we analyzed other biological and legal and social networks. These include the Interaction Web Database Biological Networks (IWDBNs), with 75 food webs or ecological systems and the Spanish Financial Law Network (SFLN). The calculated Wk(i) values were used as inputs for different ANNs in order to discriminate correct node connectivity patterns from incorrect random patterns. The MIANN models obtained present good values of Sensitivity/Specificity (%): MRNs (78/78), IWDBNs (90/88), and SFLN (86/84). These preliminary results are very promising from the point of view of a first exploratory study and suggest that the use of these models could be extended to the high-throughput re-evaluation of connectivity in known complex networks (collation)

Effect of replacing soybean meal (Glycine max) with sesame meal (Sesamum indicum) on productive traits, carcass characteristics, and gross profit margin in fattening lamb's diets.

The objective of this study was to determine the effect of replacing soybean meal (Glycine max) with sesame meal (Sesamum indicum) on productive traits, carcass characteristics, and gross profit margin (GMP) in fattening lamb's diets. For this, 42 Katahdin lambs were divided into three treatments in duplicate: basal diet + soybean meal (100S), basal diet + sesame meal/soybean meal (50/50SA), and basal diet + sesame meal (100A). Dry matter intake, daily weight gain (DWG), total kg gained (KgT), feed conversion (FC), and feed efficiency (FE) were evaluated; upon reaching the weight for sale, the animals were slaughtered, and hot carcass weight (HCW) was evaluated. The results were analyzed with a completely randomized design with repeated measures. Regarding time, no differences were found between treatments, for DWG (0.171 ± 0.006 kg/d), FC (6.7 ± 0.55), FE (0.175 ± 0.02), KgT (2.86 ± 0.13 kg), HCW (50.97 ± 0.79 kg), as well as for chest depth (26.96 ± 0.33 cm), leg width (20.63 ± 0.028 cm), leg diameter (60.7 ± 0.44 cm), and ribs width (24.05 ± 0.14 cm). GPM was 16.50%, 18.63%, and 19.97% for 100S, 50/50SA, and 100A, respectively. Overall, in fatting lamb diets, replacing soybean meal with sesame meal by either 50% or 100% substitution could be a feasible feeding strategy as in both cases, gross profit was increased, and no negative effects were found for productive traits and carcass quality

Differential Role of Human Choline Kinase α and β Enzymes in Lipid Metabolism: Implications in Cancer Onset and Treatment

11 pages, 6 figures, 1 table.Background The Kennedy pathway generates phosphocoline and phosphoethanolamine through its two branches. Choline Kinase (ChoK) is the first enzyme of the Kennedy branch of synthesis of 1phosphocholine, the major component of the plasma membrane. ChoK family of proteins is composed by ChoKα and ChoKβ isoforms, the first one with two different variants of splicing. Recently ChoKα has been implicated in the carcinogenic process, since it is over-expressed in a variety of human cancers. However, no evidence for a role of ChoKβ in carcinogenesis has been reported. Methodology/Principal Findings Here we compare the in vitro and in vivo properties of ChoKα1 and ChoKβ in lipid metabolism, and their potential role in carcinogenesis. Both ChoKα1 and ChoKβ showed choline and ethanolamine kinase activities when assayed in cell extracts, though with different affinity for their substrates. However, they behave differentially when overexpressed in whole cells. Whereas ChoKβ display an ethanolamine kinase role, ChoKα1 present a dual choline/ethanolamine kinase role, suggesting the involvement of each ChoK isoform in distinct biochemical pathways under in vivo conditions. In addition, while overexpression of ChoKα1 is oncogenic when overexpressed in HEK293T or MDCK cells, ChoKβ overexpression is not sufficient to induce in vitro cell transformation nor in vivo tumor growth. Furthermore, a significant upregulation of ChoKα1 mRNA levels in a panel of breast and lung cancer cell lines was found, but no changes in ChoKβ mRNA levels were observed. Finally, MN58b, a previously described potent inhibitor of ChoK with in vivo antitumoral activity, shows more than 20-fold higher efficiency towards ChoKα1 than ChoKβ. Conclusion/Significance This study represents the first evidence of the distinct metabolic role of ChoKα and ChoKβ isoforms, suggesting different physiological roles and implications in human carcinogenesis. These findings constitute a step forward in the design of an antitumoral strategy based on ChoK inhibition.This work has been supported by grants to JCL from Comunidad de Madrid (GR-SAL-0821-2004), Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (SAF2008-03750, RD06/0020/0016), Fundación Mutua Madrileña, and by a grant to ARM from Fundación Mutua Madrileña.Peer reviewe

HIV Risks and Seroprevalence Among Mexican American Injection Drug Users in California

Latinos in the United States are an ethnically diverse group disproportionately affected by HIV/AIDS. We describe HIV seroprevalence, HIV risk behaviors and utilization of health services among Mexican American injection drug users (IDUs) in California (n = 286) and compare them to White (n = 830) and African American (n = 314) IDUs. Study participants were recruited from syringe exchange programs (n = 24) in California. HIV seroprevalence among Mexican Americans (0.5%) was dramatically lower than Whites (5%) and African Americans (8%). Mexican Americans reported fewer sex-related risks than Whites and African Americans though injection-related risks remained high. Compared to Whites, Mexican Americans were more likely to participate in drug treatment during a 6 month period (AOR 1.5, 95% CI 1.1, 2.0) but less likely to receive any health care (AOR 0.6, 95% CI 0.5, 0.8). Exploring cultural and structural factors among Mexican American IDUs may offer new insights into how to maintain low rates of HIV seroprevalence and reduce barriers to health care utilization