Effect of 12 Weeks Aerobic Exercises Verses Antidepressant Medication in Young Adult Males Diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder

This study intends to compare the effectiveness of a combination of 12 weeks of aerobic exercises and antidepressant medication with 12 weeks of antidepressant medication alone. 100 young adult males between the age group 18-39, diagnosed with major depressive disorder under the ICD 10 criteria ,were recruited for the study.50 subjects each were randomly assigned into either an experimental or a control group ,after baseline data were procured using the 17- item Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS17). The experimental group underwent 12 weeks of aerobic exercises along with their regular antidepressant medication and the control group had only antidepressant medication as intervention. Our objective was to investigate weather the mean change in (HDRS17) scores from baseline was greater after 12 weeks of aerobic exercise when compared with antidepressant medication alone. This study concluded that combination of aerobic exercise along with antidepressant medication is more effective than antidepressant medication alone in the treatment of major depressive disorders in young adult males. Key words - major depressive disorder, aerobic exercise, antidepressants, 17- item Hamilton depression rating scal

Effect of varying levels of soybean oil on performance, hematology and serum biochemical indices of laying hens

The study was carried out to determine the effects of soybean oil on performance, hematology and serum biochemical of laying birds. One hundred fifty (150) Isa Brown laying hens at 20 weeks of age were used and the study lasted for 10 weeks in a completely randomized design. The hens were randomly allotted to five dietary treatments namelyT1 (0% Soybean oil), T2 (2.5% Soybean oil), T3 (5% Soybean oil), T4 (7.5% Soybean oil) and T5 (10% Soybean oil). The treatments had 3 replicates with 10 birds each. Weekly body weight, feed consumption, daily egg production and egg weight were measured to determine performance. Blood samples were also collected by the 10th week of the trial for haematological and biochemical serum analyses. The results of the study showed no significant difference (P>0.05) on weight gain/loss, final weight and egg weight, but there was significant difference (P<0.05) in egg production and Feed Efficiency. PCV, Hb, RBC, WBC, Platelets, Neutrophils and Lymphocytes were significantly different (P<0.05). Chloride, Bicarbonate, Total Protein and Conjugated Bilirubin also showed significant differences (P<0.05). The study, therefore showed that the use of soybean oil affected egg production and feed efficiency and thus, it can be concluded that soybean oil at 10% inclusion level will increase egg production and also positively affect the RBC and Hb, and therefore, it is recommended to be included in layers’ diets. Keywords: Soybean oil; Performance; Haematology; Laying hen

A Comparative Study to Evaluate the Effectiveness of Resisted Exercises Verses Antidepressant Medication in Young Adult Males Diagnosed with Major Depressive Disorder

This study aims to compare the effectiveness of a combination of 12 weeks resisted exercises programme and antidepressant medication with 12 weeks of antidepressant medication alone.100 young adult males between the age range 18-39 years  diagnosed with major depressive disorder using the ICD 10 criteria, were recruited for the study. 50 Subjects each were randomly assigned into either an experimental or a control group after baseline data was obtained, using the 17- item Hamilton depression rating scale (HDRS17). The experimental group underwent 12 weeks of resisted exercises along with their regular antidepressant medication and the control group had only antidepressant medication as intervention. Our objective was to investigate whether the mean change in (HDRS17) scores from baseline was greater after 12 weeks of resisted exercise when compared with antidepressant medication alone. This study concluded that combination of resisted exercise along with antidepressant medication is more effective than antidepressant medication alone in the treatment of major depressive disorders in young adult males. Key words - major depressive disorder, resisted exercise, antidepressants, 17- item Hamilton depression rating scal

A Financial Data Mining Model for Extracting Customer Behavior

Facing the problem of variation and chaotic behavior of customers, the lack of sufficient information is a challenge to many business organizations. Human analysts lacking an understanding of the hidden patterns in business data, thus, can miss corporate business opportunities. In order to embrace all business opportunities, enhance the competitiveness, discovery of hidden knowledge, unexpected patterns and useful rules from large databases have provided a feasible solution for several decades. While there is a wide range of financial analysis products existing in the financial market, how to customize the investment portfolio for the customer is still a challenge to many financial institutions. This paper aims at developing an intelligent Financial Data Mining Model (FDMM) for extracting customer behavior in the financial industry, so as to increase the availability of decision support data and hence increase customer satisfaction. The proposed financial model first clusters the customers into several sectors, and then finds the correlation among these sectors. It is noted that better customer segmentation can increase the ability to identify targeted customers, therefore extracting useful rules for specific clusters can provide an insight into customers’ buying behavior and marketing implications. To validate the feasibility of the proposed model, a simple dataset is collected from a financial company in Hong Kong. The simulation experiments show that the proposed method not only can improve the workflow of a financial company, but also deepen understanding of investment behavior. Thus, a corporation is able to customize the most suitable products and services for customers on the basis of the rules extracted

Short-term Wind Power Forecasting Using Advanced Statistical Methods

Disponible sur : http://anemos.cma.fr/download/publications/pub_2006_paper_EWEC06_WP3statistical.pdfInternational audienceThis paper describes some of the statistical methods considered in the ANEMOS project for short-termforecasting of wind power. The total procedure typically involves various steps, and all these steps are described in the paper. These steps include downscaling from reference MET forecasts to the actual wind farm, wind farm power curve models, dynamical models for prediction of wind power or wind speed, estimating the uncertainty of the wind power forecast, and finally, methods for upscaling are considered. The upscaling part considers how a total regional production can be estimated using a small number of reference wind farms. Keywords: Forecasting, power curve, wind farmpower curve, upscaling, uncertainty estimation, probabilistic forecasts, adaptation

Back to the future: using ancient Bere barley landraces for a sustainable future

Societal Impact Statement Bere is an ancient barley (Hordeum vulgare L.) that was once widely grown in northern Britain, where its ability to grow on poor soils and under challenging climatic conditions made it a valuable staple. By the end of the 20th century, Bere had largely been replaced by higher-yielding modern varieties and only survived in cultivation on a few Scottish islands. This article reviews the recent revival of Bere, driven by its use in high-value food and drink products and multidisciplinary research into its genetics, valuable sustainability traits and potential for developing resilient barley varieties. Summary In Britain, modern cereal varieties have mostly replaced landraces. A remarkable exception occurs on several Scottish islands where Bere, an ancient 6-row barley (Hordeum vulgare L.), is grown as a monocrop or in mixtures. In the Outer Hebrides, the mixture is grown for animal feed, and cultivating it with traditional practices is integral to the conservation of Machair, an important coastal dune ecosystem. In Orkney, Bere is grown as a monocrop, and in situ conservation has recently been strengthened by improved agronomy and new markets for grain to produce unique foods and beverages from beremeal (flour) and malt. In parallel, a recently assembled collection of British and North European barley landraces has allowed the genotypic and phenotypic characterisation of Bere and several associated multidisciplinary studies. Genotyping demonstrated Bere's unique identity compared with most other barleys in the collection, indicating an earlier introduction to Scotland than the Norse settlement (c. 9th century AD) suggested previously. Valuable traits found in some Bere accessions include disease resistance, an early heading date (reflecting a short period from sowing to harvest), the ability to grow on marginal, high pH soils deficient in manganese and tolerance to salinity stress. These traits would have been important in the past for grain production under the region's challenging soil and Atlantic-maritime climatic conditions. We discuss these results within the context of Bere as a genetic, heritage and commercial resource and as a future source of sustainability traits for barley improvement

Genetic dissection of quantitative and qualitative traits using a minimum set of barley Recombinant Chromosome Substitution Lines

BACKGROUND:Exploring the natural occurring genetic variation of the wild barley genepool has become a major target of barley crop breeding programmes aiming to increase crop productivity and sustainability in global climate change scenarios. However this diversity remains unexploited and effective approaches are required to investigate the benefits that unadapted genomes could bring to crop improved resilience. In the present study, a set of Recombinant Chromosome Substitution Lines (RCSLs) derived from an elite barley cultivar 'Harrington' as the recurrent parent, and a wild barley accession from the Fertile Crescent 'Caesarea 26-24', as the donor parent (Matus et al. Genome 46:1010-23, 2003) have been utilised in field and controlled conditions to examine the contribution of wild barley genome as a source of novel allelic variation for the cultivated barley genepool. METHODS:Twenty-eight RCSLs which were selected to represent the entire genome of the wild barley accession, were genotyped using the 9 K iSelect SNP markers (Comadran et al. Nat Genet 44:1388-92, 2012) and phenotyped for a range of morphological, developmental and agronomic traits in 2 years using a rain-out shelter with four replicates and three water treatments. Data were analysed for marker traits associations using a mixed model approach. RESULTS:We identified lines that differ significantly from the elite parent for both qualitative and quantitative traits across growing seasons and water regimes. The detailed genotypic characterisation of the lines for over 1800 polymorphic SNP markers and the design of a mixed model analysis identified chromosomal regions associated with yield related traits where the wild barley allele had a positive response increasing grain weight and size. In addition, variation for qualitative characters, such as the presence of cuticle waxes on the developing spikes, was associated with the wild barley introgressions. Despite the coarse location of the QTLs, interesting candidate genes for the major marker-trait associations were identified using the recently released barley genome assembly. CONCLUSION:This study has highlighted the role of exotic germplasm to contribute novel allelic variation by using an optimised experimental approach focused on an exotic genetic library. The results obtained constitute a step forward to the development of more tolerant and resilient varieties.Carla De la Fuente Cantó, Joanne Russell, Christine A. Hackett, Allan Booth, Siobhan Dancey, Timothy S. George and Robbie Waug

Retention, Detention and Overland Flow for Pollutant Removal from Highway Stormwater Runoff, Volume II: Design Guidelines

DTFH61-85-C-00117This volume is the second in a two-volume report which developed design guidelines and specifications for measures to reduce or eliminate the impacts of highway runoff on surface waters. This report provides design guidelines and specifications for three types of management measures for the removal of pollutants from highway stormwater runoff. The three general types of management measures, determined through previous FHWA studies to be effective in treating highway runoff, are: retention systems (basins, trenches, and wells), detention basins (wet detention basins, dry extended detention basins, and wetlands), and overland flow (grassed channels and filter strips). These guidelines have been developed based on the experience of the project team, review of available literature, and bench-scale and field testing

On the history and future of soil organic phosphorus research:a critique across three generations

Soil organic phosphorus has broad agronomic and ecological significance, but remains a neglected topic of research. This opinion paper reflects a collaborative discussion between three generations of scientists who have collectively studied soil organic phosphorus for almost 50 years. We discuss personal reflections on our involvement in the field, opinions about progress and promising opportunities for future research. We debate an apparent overemphasis on analytical methodology at the expense of broader questions, and whether this has stifled progress in recent decades. We reiterate the urgent need to understand organic phosphorus cycling in the environment to address fundamental questions about phosphate supply, crop nutrition, water quality and ecosystem ecology. We also contend that we must encourage and integrate the study of organic phosphorus across all scales, from molecular chemistry to global cycling. Our discussion among three generations of researchers shows the value of a long-term perspective, emphasizes the changing nature of this field of research, and reinforces the importance of continuing to be curious about the dynamics of organic phosphorus in the environment

Rhizosphere-scale quantification of hydraulic and mechanical properties of soil impacted by root and seed exudates

Using rhizosphere-scale physical measurements we test the hypothesis that plant exudates gel together soil particles and on drying they enhance soil water repellency. Barley and maize root exudates were compared with chia seed exudate, a commonly used root exudate analogue. Sandy loam and clay loam soils were treated with root exudates at 0.46 and 4.6 mg exudate g-1 dry soil, and chia seed exudate at 0.046, 0.46, 0.92, 2.3 and 4.6 mg exudate g-1 dry soil. Soil hardness and modulus of elasticity were measured at -10 kPa matric potential using a 3 mm diameter spherical indenter. Water sorptivity and repellency index of air-dry soil were measured using a miniaturized infiltrometer device with a 1 mm tip radius. Soil hardness increased by 28% for barley root exudate, 62% for maize root exudate, and 86% for chia seed exudate at 4.6 mg g-1 concentration for sandy loam soil. For a clay loam soil, root exudates did not affect soil hardness, whereas chia seed exudate increased soil hardness by 48% at 4.6 mg g-1concentration. Soil water repellency increased by 48% for chia seed exudate and 23% for maize root exudate, but not for barley root exudate at 4.6 mg g-1 concentration for sandy loam soil. For clay loam soil, chia seed exudate increased water repellency by 45%, whereas root exudates did not affect water repellency at 4.6 mg g-1concentration. Water sorptivity and repellency were both correlated with hardness, presumably due to the combined influence of exudates on hydrological and mechanical properties of soils