DYNAMICS OF ORGANIC MATTER UNDER THE AFFORESTATION OF THE FORMER AGRICULTURAL SOD-PODZOLIC SOILS

The dynamics of the organic matter of the chronosequence of sod-podzolic soils in the process of reforestation has been investigated using the granulo-densitometric fractionation.The objects of research were sod-podzolic soils of the chronosequence of abandoned areas, including the main stages of the development of secondary succession: from overgrowing by grass vegetation to zonal spruce forests of the specially protected natural territory of the Central Forest State Natural Biosphere Reserve. In the first 20–25 years after the reduction of agrocenosis, degradation changes of the humus state of sod-podzolic soils were observed, due to the lack of agrotechnological treatments and the lack of fresh organic matter (OM) of cultivated plants. It is shown that only after 50 years functioning in the reservoir regime, the qualitative and quantitative indicators of organic matter of sod-podzolic soils begin to approach those of spruce forests of different species composition over 100 years old. This is manifested in an increase in the amount of discrete OM, the level of carbon accumulation of this fraction of OM in the soil and the value of its share in the total carbon accumulation in the soil

Effect of sitagliptin on cardiovascular outcomes in type 2 diabetes

BACKGROUND: Data are lacking on the long-term effect on cardiovascular events of adding sitagliptin, a dipeptidyl peptidase 4 inhibitor, to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes and cardiovascular disease. METHODS: In this randomized, double-blind study, we assigned 14,671 patients to add either sitagliptin or placebo to their existing therapy. Open-label use of antihyperglycemic therapy was encouraged as required, aimed at reaching individually appropriate glycemic targets in all patients. To determine whether sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo, we used a relative risk of 1.3 as the marginal upper boundary. The primary cardiovascular outcome was a composite of cardiovascular death, nonfatal myocardial infarction, nonfatal stroke, or hospitalization for unstable angina. RESULTS: During a median follow-up of 3.0 years, there was a small difference in glycated hemoglobin levels (least-squares mean difference for sitagliptin vs. placebo, -0.29 percentage points; 95% confidence interval [CI], -0.32 to -0.27). Overall, the primary outcome occurred in 839 patients in the sitagliptin group (11.4%; 4.06 per 100 person-years) and 851 patients in the placebo group (11.6%; 4.17 per 100 person-years). Sitagliptin was noninferior to placebo for the primary composite cardiovascular outcome (hazard ratio, 0.98; 95% CI, 0.88 to 1.09; P<0.001). Rates of hospitalization for heart failure did not differ between the two groups (hazard ratio, 1.00; 95% CI, 0.83 to 1.20; P = 0.98). There were no significant between-group differences in rates of acute pancreatitis (P = 0.07) or pancreatic cancer (P = 0.32). CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes and established cardiovascular disease, adding sitagliptin to usual care did not appear to increase the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events, hospitalization for heart failure, or other adverse events

Effects of Once-Weekly Exenatide on Cardiovascular Outcomes in Type 2 Diabetes.

Abstract BACKGROUND: The cardiovascular effects of adding once-weekly treatment with exenatide to usual care in patients with type 2 diabetes are unknown. METHODS: We randomly assigned patients with type 2 diabetes, with or without previous cardiovascular disease, to receive subcutaneous injections of extended-release exenatide at a dose of 2 mg or matching placebo once weekly. The primary composite outcome was the first occurrence of death from cardiovascular causes, nonfatal myocardial infarction, or nonfatal stroke. The coprimary hypotheses were that exenatide, administered once weekly, would be noninferior to placebo with respect to safety and superior to placebo with respect to efficacy. RESULTS: In all, 14,752 patients (of whom 10,782 [73.1%] had previous cardiovascular disease) were followed for a median of 3.2 years (interquartile range, 2.2 to 4.4). A primary composite outcome event occurred in 839 of 7356 patients (11.4%; 3.7 events per 100 person-years) in the exenatide group and in 905 of 7396 patients (12.2%; 4.0 events per 100 person-years) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.91; 95% confidence interval [CI], 0.83 to 1.00), with the intention-to-treat analysis indicating that exenatide, administered once weekly, was noninferior to placebo with respect to safety (P<0.001 for noninferiority) but was not superior to placebo with respect to efficacy (P=0.06 for superiority). The rates of death from cardiovascular causes, fatal or nonfatal myocardial infarction, fatal or nonfatal stroke, hospitalization for heart failure, and hospitalization for acute coronary syndrome, and the incidence of acute pancreatitis, pancreatic cancer, medullary thyroid carcinoma, and serious adverse events did not differ significantly between the two groups. CONCLUSIONS: Among patients with type 2 diabetes with or without previous cardiovascular disease, the incidence of major adverse cardiovascular events did not differ significantly between patients who received exenatide and those who received placebo. (Funded by Amylin Pharmaceuticals; EXSCEL ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT01144338 .)

“Contextualizing dispersoid evolution within the microstructure of MA956 using ion irradiation”

Determining the microstructure evolution of oxide dispersion-strengthened (ODS) alloys is important for predicting the safety and structural integrity of fast reactors. In particular, understanding the co-evolution of dispersoids with the dislocation loops and network is critical for a comprehensive understanding of the microstructure response to radiation. Ion irradiations were performed on oxide dispersion strengthened MA956 with 5 MeV Fe++ ions from 400 to 500 °C at doses ranging from 50 to 200 dpa. Characterization was performed primarily with scanning transmission electron microscopy and energy-dispersive x-ray spectroscopy to investigate the Y-Al-O dispersoids, voids and dislocations. Regardless of temperature, the dispersoids increased in diameter and decreased in number density, which was attributed to an Ostwald coarsening mechanism supported by calculations of the radiation enhanced diffusion and ballistic dissolution. MA956 demonstrated excellent void swelling resistance and did not form voids except at 450 °C, 200 dpa where voids nucleated upon dispersoids. The dislocation loop diameter was highest at 500 °C followed by 400 °C then 450 °C while number density tended to decrease with dose. The dislocation behavior was explained as a function of the evolving defect kinetics, utilizing rate theory to calculate point defect concentrations and the increasing diffusivity of vacancies. At 400 °C, the interstitials had high enough diffusivity to nucleate new loops but vacancies remained relatively immobile. At 450 °C, vacancies are able to annihilate interstitials due to non-negligible mutual recombination causing the decreased number density of loops. At 500 °C, vacancy and interstitials are both mobile where the interstitials coalesce to form larger loops and vacancies provide a pathway for solutes diffusing to and from dispersoids

Artificial hybridization of Japanese and European eel (Anguilla japonica x A. anguilla) by using cryopreserved sperm from freshwater reared males

Eggs of Japanese eel (Anguilla anguilla) were fertilized with cryopreserved sperm of European eel (A. anguilla) obtained from fish reared and matured in freshwater conditions. A new genomic PCR-RFLP marker was developed to distinguish the two species and detect maternally and paternally derived DNA fragments to genetically verify the hybrid nature of the offspring