459 research outputs found

    Trifolium mutabile as new species of annual legume for mediterranean climate zone: First evidences on forage biomass, nitrogen fixation and nutritional characteristics of different accessions

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    The present study evaluated the forage production, nitrogen fixation and the qualitative characteristics of different accessions of Trifolium mutabile, a new species of annual clover, collected in southern Italy. Forage traits were assessed by harvesting plants at the vegetative stage (stem elongation) and the subsequent regrowth at the flowering stage (inflorescence emergence-main shoot). From results, significant differences were found among the accessions of T. mutabile in terms of forage biomass production (from 5.1 to 8.2 t ha−1 dry matter), capacity of nitrogen fixation (58.2–76.8% Ndfa) and forage nutritional characteristics. Besides the high forage yield, the investigated accessions showed favourable values of production and quality, representing also worthy germplasm for selection programs as well as the application for possible plant cultivar registration. Moreover, it is interesting to underline that T. mutabile may represent a valuable alternative to commonly cultivated annual clover species due to its prolonged vegetative cycle. However, further investigations are needed to assess the self-reseeding capacity of T. mutabile when utilized as pasture species

    Motivation and needs of informal physics practitioners

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    Physicists engage with the public to varying degrees at different stages of their careers. However, their public engagement covers many activities, events, and audiences, making their motivations and professional development needs not well understood. As part of ongoing efforts to build and support community in the informal physics space, we conducted interviews with physicists with a range of different experiences in public engagement. We use personas methodology and self-determination theory to articulate their public engagement motivation, challenges, and needs. We present our set of three personas: the physicist who engages in informal physics for self-reflection, the physicist who wants to spark interest and understanding in physics, and the physicist who wants to provide diverse role models to younger students and inspire them to pursue a STEM career. Needs covered a range of resources including science communication training, community building among informal physics practitioners, and mechanisms to recognize, elevate and value informal physics. By bringing user-centered design methodology to a new topical area of physics education research, we expand our understanding of motivations and needs of practitioners in physics public engagement. Therefore, departments, organizations and institutions could draw upon the personas developed to consider the ways to better support physicists in their respective environment.Comment: 9 pages; preliminary portions of some of this analysis appeared in PERC 2022; submitted to PhysRevPE

    Update on acute disseminated encephalomyelitis in children and adolescents

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    Acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) is an immune-mediated, inflammatory demyelinating disease of the central nervous system (CNS) that usually affects children and young adults after an infection or vaccination. The presence of several conditions mimicking ADEM, added to the lack of specific biomarkers, makes diagnosis potentially hard. Prompt diagnosis is necessary to start adequate treatment to improve the clinical course and long-term outcome. Because of its heterogeneity in both clinical presentation and course, challenges remain in establishing the most appropriate therapeutic approach in each patient. The aim of this review is to provide an update on management of this disease with a focus on acute treatment and to give suggestions for future research. We showed that there are currently no guidelines that help clinicians manage ADEM and therapeutic decisions are often made on a case-by-case basis. Further studies are necessary to identify clinical, laboratory, and instrumental criteria that could be correlated with outcomes and guide clinicians in choosing when and what treatment should be given in each case

    Effects of weed control practices on plant diversity in a homogenous olive-dominated landscape (South-east of Italy)

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    Olive groves represent an important economic, agro-ecological, and cultural resource in the Mediterranean Basin. Weed management plays a fundamental role in their sustainable management. The aim of this work was to characterize and assess the plant diversity associated with different weed control practices, in a homogeneous olive-dominated landscape in the South-East of Italy. Sixty-five vegetation plots were sampled in orchards treated with different weed control practices: mowing, tillage, and use of chemical herbicides. The multi-response permutation procedure was used to test the hypothesis of no difference among the treatments. The relationships between plots were visualized by means of non-metric multidimensional scaling ordination. A generalized linear mixed model was used to analyze the relationships between weed control practices and life forms, chorotypes, and diversity indexes. The results showed that the three weed control practices determined slightly different plant communities. Chemically weeded orchards showed an impoverished floristic composition and the lowest diversity, whereas mowing and tillage yielded similar values. These latter two treatments differed for the percentages of hemicryptophytes and therophytes. Moreover, different from other studies, we did not find plant species of particular concern for biodiversity conservation. We hypothesize that this result is due to the monotonous structure of the agro-landscape we investigated, where natural elements are almost lacking. From this point of view, a correct management of agro-districts should consider both the agronomic practices at the level of the individual olive groves and the structure of the agro-landscape

    Drazepinone, a trisubstituted tetrahydronaphthofuroazepinone with herbicidal activity produced by Drechslera siccans

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    When grown in a minimal-defined medium, a strain of Drechslera siccans, a pathogenic fungus isolated from seeds of Lolium perenne, produced phytotoxic metabolites. This strain is one of the best toxin producers among several grass pathogenic fungal strains collected and tested to find phytotoxins to be used as natural herbicides of monocot weeds. From the culture filtrates of D. siccans, we isolated a new phytotoxic trisubstituted naphthofuroazepinone, named drazepinone, and characterised it as a 3,5,12a-trimethyl-2,5,5a,12a-tetrahydro- 1H-naphtho[2′,3′:4,5]furo[2,3-b]azepin-2-one. Assayed at 2 μg μl-1 solution the novel metabolite proved to have broad-spectrum herbicidal properties, without antibacterial and antifungal activities, and low zootoxic activity. Its original chemical structure and the interesting biological properties make drazepinone a potential natural herbicide. © 2005 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved

    Comparison between two treatment protocols with recombinant Human Erythropoietin (rHuEpo) in the treatment of late anemia in neonates with Rh-Isoimmunization

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    Objectve. The Rh-hemolytic disease can lead to a late anemia by hemolytic and hyporigenerative mechanism. We compared the effectiveness of rHuEPO in two care protocols that differ for doses of rHuEPO administrated and for timing of administration. Methods. A cohort of 14 neonates was investigated. The neonates were treated with two different protocols. Protocol A: a dose of 200 U/kg/day of rHuEpo administered subcutaneously starting from the end of the second week of life; Protocol B: a dose of 400 U/kg/day of rHuEpo administered subcutaneously starting from the end of the first week of life. Results. The hematocrit values in the protocol A group decreased during treatment (32,5% vs 25,2%), whereas the hematocrit value in protocol B group remained almost stable (38,7% vs 42,8%). The mean numbers of platelets remained stable in both groups while neutrophils increased in protocol A group and decreased in protocol B (p<0,05). Reticulocyte count increased during treatment in both groups, although only in protocol B group it was statistically significative (p<0,05). Conclusions. Our results suggest a similar efficacy between the two treatment protocols. Increasing doses of rHuEPO do not seem enhancing their effectiveness and the incidence of side effects

    La pasión por la lengua: Vincenzo Consolo (homenaje por sus 75 años)

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    In occasione del 75º compleanno di Vincenzo Consolo, questo libro offre una raccolta monografica degli studi e dei saggi dei più grandi specialisti su Consolo (Renzo Cremante, Giulio Ferroni, Cesare Segre, Salvatore C. Trovato fra gli altri) riunitisi a Valencia nel mese di aprile del 2008, per le Giornate Internazionali di Studio dedicate a Vincenzo Consolo: La pasión por la lengua: Vincenzo Consolo (Homenaje por sus 75 años). Arricchisce il volume il servizio fotografico degli atti accademici

    ESTRO-ACROP guideline on surface guided radiation therapy

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    Surface guidance systems enable patient positioning and motion monitoring without using ionising radiation. Surface Guided Radiation Therapy (SGRT) has therefore been widely adopted in radiation therapy in recent years, but guidelines on workflows and specific quality assurance (QA) are lacking. This ESTRO-ACROP guideline aims to give recommendations concerning SGRT roles and responsibilities and highlights common challenges and potential errors. Comprehensive guidelines for procurement, acceptance, commissioning, and QA of SGRT systems installed on computed tomography (CT) simulators, C-arm linacs, closed-bore linacs, and particle therapy treatment systems are presented that will help move to a consensus among SGRT users and facilitate a safe and efficient implementation and clinical application of SGRT. Keywords: ACROP; ESTRO; Guideline; SGRT; Surface guided radiation therapy

    Comparison between two treatment protocols with recombinant Human Erythropoietin (rHuEpo) in the treatment of late anemia in neonates with Rh-Isoimmunization

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    Objectve. The Rh-hemolytic disease can lead to a late anemia by hemolytic and hyporigenerative mechanism. We compared the effectiveness of rHuEPO in two care protocols that differ for doses of rHuEPO administrated and for timing of administration. Methods. A cohort of 14 neonates was investigated. The neonates were treated with two different protocols. Protocol A: a dose of 200 U/kg/day of rHuEpo administered subcutaneously starting from the end of the second week of life; Protocol B: a dose of 400 U/kg/day of rHuEpo administered subcutaneously starting from the end of the first week of life. Results. The hematocrit values in the protocol A group decreased during treatment (32,5% vs 25,2%), whereas the hematocrit value in protocol B group remained almost stable (38,7% vs 42,8%). The mean numbers of platelets remained stable in both groups while neutrophils increased in protocol A group and decreased in protocol B (p<0,05). Reticulocyte count increased during treatment in both groups, although only in protocol B group it was statistically significative (p<0,05). Conclusions. Our results suggest a similar efficacy between the two treatment protocols. Increasing doses of rHuEPO do not seem enhancing their effectiveness and the incidence of side effects
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