Calibrating sprayers and spreaders for athletic fields and golf courses (2000)

This guide will discuss the calibration of hand-held pump-up or knapsack sprayers, large self-propelled or pull-behind sprayers, drop spreaders and rotary-type spreaders.New 5/00/7M

Calibrating sprayers and spreaders for athletic fields and golf courses

Reviewed by Manoj Chhetri (MU Extension Horticulture Field Specialist)"Calibrating sprayers and spreaders is one of the most important steps in proper application of pesticides for turf pest control. Without knowing how much spray or granular product is being applied by a sprayer or spreader, an applicator cannot confidently control a pest with maximum efficacy. The desired level of control will not be achieved if too little spray solution is applied, and this results in the need for a second application and additional cost in time and money. Applying too much spray solution may cause turf injury or present certain environmental hazards. This guide will discuss the calibration of hand-held pump-up or knapsack sprayers, large self-propelled or pull-behind sprayers, drop spreaders and rotary-type spreaders."--Page 1.Brad S. Fresenburg and Erik H. Ervin (Department of Horticulture)New 5/00/7M.Includes bibliographical reference

Respostas de enzimas antioxidantes a bioestimulantes em plantas de milho e de soja sob estresse hídrico

Water stress is one of the most important environmental factors inducing physiological changes in plants, such as decrease in the water potential of the cells, the stomatal closure; and the development of oxidative processes mediated by reactive oxygen species (ROS). Antioxidant enzymes superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT), and ascorbate peroxidase (APX) are efficient scavengers of ROS. The aim of this research was to examine how the application of biostimulant based on humic substances and aminoacids may affect activity levels of SOD, CAT, and APX of maize and soybean plants under well-watered or drought stress conditions. Pots (4.5 L) were filled with a Typic Hapludult soil where the biostimulants doses were applied. It was taken leaf samples in order to analyze SOD, CAT, and APX activities in plants. SOD and APX activity levels were increased by application of biostimulant 1 in maize subjected to stress. Catalase activity was not enhanced in plants by using the biostimulants. The composition of the biostimulants was not able to enhance stress tolerance in maize and soybean plants subjected to water stress.O estresse hídrico é um dos mais importantes fatores ambientais que induz mudanças fisiológicas, como diminuição do potencial de água na célula, o fechamento dos estômatos e o desenvolvimento de processos oxidativos mediante a formação das espécies reativas de oxigênio (ROS). As enzimas antioxidantes superóxido dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) e ascorbato peroxidase (APX) são eficientes eliminadores das ROS. O objetivo deste estudo foi examinar como a aplicação de bioestimulantes com substâncias húmicas e aminoácidos em sua composição afeta os níveis de SOD, CAT e APX nos tecidos das folhas de plantas de milho e de soja cultivadas com ou sem estresse hídrico. Amostras de um Argissolo foram colocadas em vasos (4,5 L) onde foram adicionadas as doses dos bioestimulantes. Foram retiradas amostras de folhas para análise da atividade da SOD, CAT e APX nas plantas. A SOD e APX aumentaram nas plantas de milho com a aplicação do bioestimulante 1. A atividade da CAT não aumentou nas plantas com a aplicação dos bioestimulantes. As composições dos bioestimulantes não possibilitaram aumento na resistência ao estresse hídrico em plantas de milho e de soja submetidas ao estresse hídricoCoordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Loci influencing blood pressure identified using a cardiovascular gene-centric array

Blood pressure (BP) is a heritable determinant of risk for cardiovascular disease (CVD). To investigate genetic associations with systolic BP (SBP), diastolic BP (DBP), mean arterial pressure (MAP) and pulse pressure (PP), we genotyped 50 000 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) that capture variation in 2100 candidate genes for cardiovascular phenotypes in 61 619 individuals of European ancestry from cohort studies in the USA and Europe. We identified novel associations between rs347591 and SBP (chromosome 3p25.3, in an intron of HRH1) and between rs2169137 and DBP (chromosome1q32.1 in an intron of MDM4) and between rs2014408 and SBP (chromosome 11p15 in an intron of SOX6), previously reported to be associated with MAP. We also confirmed 10 previously known loci associated with SBP, DBP, MAP or PP (ADRB1, ATP2B1, SH2B3/ATXN2, CSK, CYP17A1, FURIN, HFE, LSP1, MTHFR, SOX6) at array-wide significance (P 2.4 10(6)). We then replicated these associations in an independent set of 65 886 individuals of European ancestry. The findings from expression QTL (eQTL) analysis showed associations of SNPs in the MDM4 region with MDM4 expression. We did not find any evidence of association of the two novel SNPs in MDM4 and HRH1 with sequelae of high BP including coronary artery disease (CAD), left ventricular hypertrophy (LVH) or stroke. In summary, we identified two novel loci associated with BP and confirmed multiple previously reported associations. Our findings extend our understanding of genes involved in BP regulation, some of which may eventually provide new targets for therapeutic intervention.</p

New genetic loci link adipose and insulin biology to body fat distribution.

Body fat distribution is a heritable trait and a well-established predictor of adverse metabolic outcomes, independent of overall adiposity. To increase our understanding of the genetic basis of body fat distribution and its molecular links to cardiometabolic traits, here we conduct genome-wide association meta-analyses of traits related to waist and hip circumferences in up to 224,459 individuals. We identify 49 loci (33 new) associated with waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for body mass index (BMI), and an additional 19 loci newly associated with related waist and hip circumference measures (P < 5 × 10(-8)). In total, 20 of the 49 waist-to-hip ratio adjusted for BMI loci show significant sexual dimorphism, 19 of which display a stronger effect in women. The identified loci were enriched for genes expressed in adipose tissue and for putative regulatory elements in adipocytes. Pathway analyses implicated adipogenesis, angiogenesis, transcriptional regulation and insulin resistance as processes affecting fat distribution, providing insight into potential pathophysiological mechanisms

Large expert-curated database for benchmarking document similarity detection in biomedical literature search

Document recommendation systems for locating relevant literature have mostly relied on methods developed a decade ago. This is largely due to the lack of a large offline gold-standard benchmark of relevant documents that cover a variety of research fields such that newly developed literature search techniques can be compared, improved and translated into practice. To overcome this bottleneck, we have established the RElevant LIterature SearcH consortium consisting of more than 1500 scientists from 84 countries, who have collectively annotated the relevance of over 180 000 PubMed-listed articles with regard to their respective seed (input) article/s. The majority of annotations were contributed by highly experienced, original authors of the seed articles. The collected data cover 76% of all unique PubMed Medical Subject Headings descriptors. No systematic biases were observed across different experience levels, research fields or time spent on annotations. More importantly, annotations of the same document pairs contributed by different scientists were highly concordant. We further show that the three representative baseline methods used to generate recommended articles for evaluation (Okapi Best Matching 25, Term Frequency-Inverse Document Frequency and PubMed Related Articles) had similar overall performances. Additionally, we found that these methods each tend to produce distinct collections of recommended articles, suggesting that a hybrid method may be required to completely capture all relevant articles. The established database server located at https://relishdb.ict.griffith.edu.au is freely available for the downloading of annotation data and the blind testing of new methods. We expect that this benchmark will be useful for stimulating the development of new powerful techniques for title and title/abstract-based search engines for relevant articles in biomedical research.Peer reviewe

Large-scale genome-wide analysis identifies genetic variants associated with cardiac structure and function

BACKGROUND: Understanding the genetic architecture of cardiac structure and function may help to prevent and treat heart disease. This investigation sought to identify common genetic variations associated with inter-individual variability in cardiac structure and function. METHODS: A GWAS meta-analysis of echocardiographic traits was performed, including 46,533 individuals from 30 studies (EchoGen consortium). The analysis included 16 traits of left ventricular (LV) structure, and systolic and diastolic function. RESULTS: The discovery analysis included 21 cohorts for structural and systolic function traits (n = 32,212) and 17 cohorts for diastolic function traits (n = 21,852). Replication was performed in 5 cohorts (n = 14,321) and 6 cohorts (n = 16,308), respectively. Besides 5 previously reported loci, the combined meta-analysis identified 10 additional genome-wide significant SNPs: rs12541595 near MTSS1 and rs10774625 in ATXN2 for LV end-diastolic internal dimension; rs806322 near KCNRG, rs4765663 in CACNA1C, rs6702619 near PALMD, rs7127129 in TMEM16A, rs11207426 near FGGY, rs17608766 in GOSR2, and rs17696696 in CFDP1 for aortic root diameter; and rs12440869 in IQCH for Doppler transmitral A-wave peak velocity. Findings were in part validated in other cohorts and in GWAS of related disease traits. The genetic loci showed associations with putative signaling pathways, and with gene expression in whole blood, monocytes, and myocardial tissue. CONCLUSION: The additional genetic loci identified in this large meta-analysis of cardiac structure and function provide insights into the underlying genetic architecture of cardiac structure and warrant follow-up in future functional studies. FUNDING: For detailed information per study, see Acknowledgments.This work was supported by a grant from the US National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (N01-HL-25195; R01HL 093328 to RSV), a MAIFOR grant from the University Medical Center Mainz, Germany (to PSW), the Center for Translational Vascular Biology (CTVB) of the Johannes Gutenberg-University of Mainz, and the Federal Ministry of Research and Education, Germany (BMBF 01EO1003 to PSW). This work was also supported by the research project Greifswald Approach to Individualized Medicine (GANI_MED). GANI_MED was funded by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research and the Ministry of Cultural Affairs of the Federal State of Mecklenburg, West Pomerania (contract 03IS2061A). We thank all study participants, and the colleagues and coworkers from all cohorts and sites who were involved in the generation of data or in the analysis. We especially thank Andrew Johnson (FHS) for generation of the gene annotation database used for analysis. We thank the German Center for Cardiovascular Research (DZHK e.V.) for supporting the analysis and publication of this project. RSV is a member of the Scientific Advisory Board of the DZHK. Data on CAD and MI were contributed by CARDIoGRAMplusC4D investigators. See Supplemental Acknowledgments for consortium details. PSW, JFF, AS, AT, TZ, RSV, and MD had full access to all of the data in the study and take responsibility for the integrity of the data and the accuracy of the data analysis

Genetic associations at 53 loci highlight cell types and biological pathways relevant for kidney function.

Reduced glomerular filtration rate defines chronic kidney disease and is associated with cardiovascular and all-cause mortality. We conducted a meta-analysis of genome-wide association studies for estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR), combining data across 133,413 individuals with replication in up to 42,166 individuals. We identify 24 new and confirm 29 previously identified loci. Of these 53 loci, 19 associate with eGFR among individuals with diabetes. Using bioinformatics, we show that identified genes at eGFR loci are enriched for expression in kidney tissues and in pathways relevant for kidney development and transmembrane transporter activity, kidney structure, and regulation of glucose metabolism. Chromatin state mapping and DNase I hypersensitivity analyses across adult tissues demonstrate preferential mapping of associated variants to regulatory regions in kidney but not extra-renal tissues. These findings suggest that genetic determinants of eGFR are mediated largely through direct effects within the kidney and highlight important cell types and biological pathways

Centrality evolution of the charged-particle pseudorapidity density over a broad pseudorapidity range in Pb-Pb collisions at root s(NN)=2.76TeV

Peer reviewe

Performance of Kentucky bluegrass, tall fescue, and buffalograss under line source irrigation

1995 Spring.Includes bibliographical references.Increasing demand for the scarce water resources of the semi-arid western United States, coupled with the highly visible practice of landscape irrigation, has fostered increased concern regarding turfgrass water conservation. Accordingly, the objectives of this research were to determine the relative performance of Kentucky bluegrass (Poa pratensis L.), turf-type tall fescue (Festuca arundinacea Schreb.), and buffalograss [Buchloe dactyloides (Nutt.) Engelm.] under increasing levels of water stress; to examine the effects of differential tillage depth of a previously compacted soil at sod establishment on rooting characteristics and subsequent drought resistance; and to compare this study's findings concerning the irrigation required to maintain acceptable turfgrass quality with irrigation requirements predicted by the weather station estimated evapotranspiration (ET)-models used by Denver and other Colorado communities. The effects of irrigation amount, turfgrass type, and tillage depth at sod establishment on rooting characteristics, water use, visual quality and leaf firing, and canopy temperatures were investigated at Fort Collins, CO, on a Nunn clay loam (Aridic Argiustoll, fine, montmorillonitic, mesic) soil. A line source irrigation system was used to apply five irrigation treatments based on percent replacement of reference ET. In 1993, irrigation treatments at the following levels were applied every three days: 80%, 70%, 60%, 45%, and 20% of reference ET. In 1994, the irrigation treatments were 95%, 85%, 75%, 60%, and 35% of reference ET. Five turfgrass types and two tillage depths at sod establishment were arranged in four randomized complete blocks. The five turfgrass types were: 'Nustar' Kentucky bluegrass, a turf type tall fescue/Kentucky bluegrass mix, a turf type tall fescue blend, '609' buffalograss, and 'Prairie' buffalograss. The two tillage depths were ~2.5 and ~15.0. In both 1993 and 1994 no effect of tillage treatment was measured for any of the parameters sampled. At the end of both years, the tall fescue blend had more total root density (down to 90 cm) than Kentucky bluegrass. Consequently, the tall fescue extracted greater amounts of soil moisture from deep in the soil (30-90 cm). These results were reflected in significantly higher quality ratings, lower leaf firing ratings, and lower canopy temperatures as irrigation level decreased for the tall fescue blend relative to the Kentucky bluegrass. Buffalograss quality was not significantly affected by any of the irrigation treatments in either year, a confirmation of its reported superior drought resistance. Results indicate that buffalograss avoids drought better than turf type tall fescue and that turf type tall fescue avoids drought better than Kentucky bluegrass. It is concluded that acceptable turfgrass quality can be maintained in Colorado by irrigating these three turfs every three days by adjusting alfalfa reference ET's with an irrigation coefficient of 0. 70 for Kentucky bluegrass, 0.60 for turf type tall fescue, and 0.30 for buffalograss