Collaborating with Extension Master Gardeners to Evaluate Tomato Cultivars

This is a compilation of 30 research trial reports from four land-grant universities in the Midwestern United States. Crops include cantaloupe, pickling cucumber, pepper, potato, pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini, sweet corn, tomato, and watermelon. Somecrops were evaluated in high tunnels or hoophouses. Most trials evaluated different cultivars or varieties. One report addressed plant spacing for sweet corn and one addressed soil block for production of tomato seedlings. A list of vegetable seed sources and a list of other online sources of vegetable trial reports are also included

Hot Pepper Cultivar Evaluation Using Extension Master Gardeners

This is a compilation of 21 research trial reports from four land-grant universities in the Midwestern United States. Crops include cantaloupe, pickling cucumber, pepper, potato, pumpkin, summer squash and zucchini, sweet corn, tomato, and watermelon. Somecrops were evaluated in high tunnels or hoophouses. Most trials evaluated different cultivars or varieties. One report addressed plant spacing for sweet corn and one addressed soil block for production of tomato seedlings. A list of vegetable seed sources and a list of other online sources of vegetable trial reports are also included

Interaction between src family kinases and rho-kinase in agonist-induced Ca2+-sensitization of rat pulmonary artery

Aims: We investigated the role of src family kinases (srcFK) in agonist-mediated Ca2+-sensitization in pulmonary artery and whether this involves interaction with the rho/rho-kinase pathway. Methods and results: Intra-pulmonary arteries (IPAs) and cultured pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells (PASMC) were obtained from rat. Expression of srcFK was determined at the mRNA and protein levels. Ca2+-sensitization was induced by prostaglandin F(2 alpha) (PGF(2 alpha)) in alpha-toxin-permeabilized IPAs. Phosphorylation of the regulatory subunit of myosin phosphatase (MYPT-1) and of myosin light-chain-20 (MLC20) and translocation of rho-kinase in response to PGF(2 alpha) were also determined. Nine srcFK were expressed at the mRNA level, including src, fyn, and yes, and PGF(2 alpha) enhanced phosphorylation of three srcFK proteins at tyr-416. In alpha-toxin-permeabilized IPAs, PGF(2 alpha) enhanced the Ca2+-induced contraction (pCa 6.9) approximately three-fold. This enhancement was inhibited by the srcFK blockers SU6656 and PP2 and by the rho-kinase inhibitor Y27632. Y27632, but not SU6656 or PP2, also inhibited the underlying pCa 6.9 contraction. PGF(2 alpha) enhanced phosphorylation of MYPT-1 at thr-697 and thr-855 and of MLC20 at ser-19. This enhancement, but not the underlying basal phosphorylation, was inhibited by SU6656. Y27632 suppressed both basal and PGF(2 alpha)-mediated phosphorylation. The effects of SU6656 and Y27632, on both contraction and MYPT-1 and MLC20 phosphorylation, were not additive. PGF(2 alpha) triggered translocation of rho-kinase in PASMC, and this was inhibited by SU6656. Conclusions: srcFK are activated by PGF(2 alpha) in the rat pulmonary artery and may contribute to Ca2+-sensitization and contraction via rho-kinase translocation and phosphorylation of MYPT-1

Persistent socioeconomic and racial and ethnic disparities in pathogen burden in the United States, 1999-2014

The disproportionate burden of prevalent, persistent pathogens among disadvantaged groups may contribute to socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in long-term health. We assessed if the social patterning of pathogen burden changed over 16 years in a U.S.-representative sample. Data came from 17 660 National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey participants. Pathogen burden was quantified by summing the number of positive serologies for cytomegalovirus, herpes simplex virus-1, HSV-2, human papillomavirus and Toxoplasma gondii and dividing by the number of pathogens tested, giving a percent-seropositive for each participant. We examined sex- and age-adjusted mean pathogen burdens from 1999-2014, stratified by race/ethnicity and SES (poverty-to-income ratio (PIR); educational attainment). Those with a PIR 3.5, with no change over time. Educational disparities were even greater and showed some evidence of increasing over time, with the mean pathogen burden among those with less than a high school education approximately twice that of those who completed more than high school. Non-Hispanic Black, Mexican American and other Hispanic participants had a mean pathogen burden 1.3-1.9 times non-Hispanic Whites. We demonstrate that socioeconomic and racial/ethnic disparities in pathogen burden have persisted across 16 years, with little evidence that the gap is closing

Experimental study of masonry wall exposed to blast loading

The challenge of protecting the nation against the attack of terrorism has raised the importance to explore the understanding of building materials against the explosion. Unlike most of the building materials, brick masonry materials offer relatively small resistance against blast loading. In this research, a brick masonry wall was exposed to varying blast load at different scaled distances. Six tests with different amounts of explosives at various distances were carried out. Pressure time history, acceleration time history and strain at specific location were measured. The parameters measured from experimental pressure time history and acceleration time history is compared with those determined by ConWep to establish the correlations between experimental determined records and ConWep values. The experimental results were also compared with some researchers. These correlations may assist in understanding the behaviour of masonry structures subjected to explosive loading

Multibeam Maser Survey of methanol and excited OH in the Magellanic clouds: new detections and maser abundance estimates

‘The definitive version is available at www.blackwell-synergy.com.’ Copyright Blackwell Publishing DOI: 10.1111/j.1365-2966.2008.12888.xPeer reviewe

Putative ammonia-oxidizing Crenarchaeota in suboxic waters of the Black Sea : a basin-wide ecological study using 16S ribosomal and functional genes and membrane lipids

Author Posting. © Blackwell, 2007. This is the author's version of the work. It is posted here by permission of Blackwell for personal use, not for redistribution. The definitive version was published in Environmental Microbiology 9 (2007): 1001-1016, doi:10.1111/j.1462-2920.2006.01227.x.Within the upper 400 m at western, central, and eastern stations in the world’s largest stratified basin, the Black Sea, we studied the qualitative and quantitative distribution of putative nitrifying Archaea based on their genetic markers (16S rDNA, amoA encoding for the alfa-subunit of archaeal ammonia monooxygenase), and crenarchaeol, the specific glycerol diphytanyl glycerol tetraether (GDGT) of pelagic Crenarchaeota within the Group I.1a. Marine Crenarchaeota were the most abundant Archaea (up to 98% of the total archaeal 16S rDNA copies) in the suboxic layers with oxygen levels as low as 1 μM including layers where previously anammox bacteria were described (Kuypers et al., 2003). Different marine crenarchaeotal phylotypes (both 16S rDNA and amoA) were found at the upper part of the suboxic zone as compared to the base of the suboxic zone and the upper 15-30 m of the anoxic waters with prevailing sulfide concentrations of up to 30 μM. Crenarchaeol concentrations were higher in the sulfidic chemocline as compared to the suboxic zone. These results indicate an abundance of putative nitrifying Archaea at very low oxygen levels within the Black Sea and might form an important source of nitrite for the anammox reaction.This work was supported by a grant from the Netherlands Organization for Scientific Research (VENI Innovational Research Grant nr. 813.13.001 to MJLC), an U. S. National Science Foundation grant OCE0117824 to SGW and the Spinoza award to JSSD, which we greatly acknowledge

Lack of association between KIR and HLA-C type and susceptibility to idiopathic bronchiectasis

SummaryIntroductionIdiopathic bronchiectasis is a poorly defined disease characterised by persistent inflammation, infection and progressive lung damage. Natural killer (NK) cells provide a major defense against infection, through the interaction of their surface receptors, including the activating and inhibitory killer immunoglobulin-like receptors (KIR), and human leukocyte antigens (HLA) class I molecules. Homozygosity for HLA-C has been shown in a single study to confer increased genetic susceptibility to idiopathic bronchiectasis. We aimed to assess whether the KIR and HLA repertoire, alone or in combination, may influence the risk of developing idiopathic bronchiectasis, in an independent replication study.MethodsIn this prospective, observational, case-control association study, 79 idiopathic bronchiectasis patients diagnosed following extensive aetiological investigation were compared with 98 anonymous, healthy, age, sex and ethnically-matched controls attending blood donor sessions in the same geographical location. DNA extraction was performed according to standardised techniques. Determination of presence or absence of KIR genes was performed by a sequence specific oligonucleotide probe method. Allele frequencies for the proposed KIR, HLA-B and HLA-C risk alleles both individually and in combinations were compared.ResultsWe found no significant differences in allele frequency between the idiopathic bronchiectasis and control samples, whether considering HLA-C group homozygosity alone or in combination with the KIR type.DiscussionOur results do not show an association between HLA-C and KIR and therefore do not confirm previous positive findings. This may be explained by the lower frequency of HLA-C1 group homozygosity in the control population of the previous study (27.2%), compared to 42.3% in our study, which is consistent with the genetic profiling of control groups across the UK. The previous positive association study may therefore have been driven by an anomalous control group. Further larger prospective multicentre replication studies are needed to determine if an association exists

The JCMT Legacy Survey of the Gould Belt: a first look at Orion B with HARP

‘The definitive version is available at www3.interscience.wiley.com '. Copyright Royal Astronomical Society.The Gould Belt Legacy Survey will survey nearby star-forming regions (within 500 pc), using Heterodyne Array Receiver Programme (HARP), Submillimetre Common-User Bolometer Array 2 and Polarimeter 2 on the James Clerk Maxwell Telescope. This paper describes the initial data obtained using HARP to observe 12CO, 13CO and C18O J= 3 → 2 towards two regions in Orion B, NGC 2024 and NGC 2071. We describe the physical characteristics of the two clouds, calculating temperatures and opacities utilizing all the three isotopologues. We find good agreement between temperatures calculated from CO and from dust emission in the dense, energetic regions. We determine the mass and energetics of the clouds, and of the high-velocity material seen in 12CO emission, and compare the relative energetics of the high- and low-velocity material in the two clouds. We present a clumpfind analysis of the 13CO condensations. The slope of the condensation mass functions, at the high-mass ends, is similar to the slope of the initial mass function.Peer reviewe