Potenziale der teilflächenspezifischen Kalkversorgung von Grünland

Gegenstand war der Erhalt einer optimalen Boden-Acidität im Grünland. Ziele des Vorhabens waren: (i) Entwicklung, Tests und Bewertungen von pH-Sensorsystemen, (ii) Entwicklung von Auswertungsmethoden für die sensorgestützte Bodenkartierung sowie von sen-sorgestützen Entscheidungsunterstützungsalgorithmen zur adaptiven Kalkung, (iii) Ermittlungen der Bodenvariabilität durch Bodensensoren und ihr Zusammenhang mit wesentlichen Eigenschaften des Grünlands. Im Projektverlauf gab es Schwierigkeiten: Budgetkürzungen, Fachkräftemangel, technische Probleme und Schäden, Trockenphasen sowie ein Arbeitsunfall beeinflussten Projektziele und Zeitplanung. Eine Verlängerung und Aufstockung des Projektes kam nicht zustande. Die Ergebnisse wurden nicht voll-ständig erreicht. Erster Untersuchungsgegenstand war die Verletzung der Grasnarbe infolge des mechanischen Bodenkontaktes der Sensoren. Sensoranordnungen sowie Lösungen zum Schließen der Furchen wurden untersucht: Radwalzen, ein modifiziertes Pflugschar sowie im Zuge der Entwicklung alternativer Lösungen zur automatisierten Probeentnahme eine durch den Boden gezogene Kettensäge, ein Kern-bohrgerät und ein schmalerer Messschuh. Im Ergebnis wurde entschieden, ein alternatives absätziges Messverfahren mit Kernbohrgerät zu favorisieren. Weiterer Untersuchungsschwerpunkt war die Zuverlässigkeit des Veris MSP Systems. Nach Störungen in der Software, bei der Datenaufzeichnung, einem Kabelbrand sowie Neubau der Stromversorgung wird der Einsatz im Grünland nicht empfohlen. Es wurde notwendig alternative Messverfahren mit handgehaltenen Sensorsystemen entwickelt. Dies ist durch die absehbare Verfügbarkeit autonomer Mobile gerechtfertigt, mit denen eine absätzige Kartierung möglich wird. Ergebnis ist ein pH-Modul auf Basis von Antimon-pH-Elektroden. Mit der Entwicklung eines Spektrometer-Moduls wurde begonnen. Untersuchungen zur Variabilität und zum Kalkbedarf belegen die kleinräumige Variation von Grünlandvegetation und Boden-pH, engmaschige Beprobungen sind notwendig. Der Boden-pH wirkt neben anderen Faktoren ertragslimitierend und beeinflusst die Artenzusammensetzung. Primär besteht daher großer Entwicklungsbedarf für robuste Sensorlösungen zur engräumigen Bodenuntersuchung auf Grünland

Enlargement of salivary glands in bulimia

We report an unusual case of bulimia nervosa with bilateral swelling of parotid and submandibular glands as the only symptom of the underlying behavioural disorder. Histologically, sialadenosis was diagnosed in a parotid biopsy. The parotomegaly in bulimia may be a diagnostic primer as these patients often deny their eating disorder. B-scan ultrasonography is an important diagnostic tool to assess the nature of the parotid enlargement. Hyperamylasaemia occurs commonly in bulimic patients and may help to confirm the diagnosis. All patients with suspected bulimia should have a thorough medical history and physical examination to rule out other aetiologies of asymptomatic parotid swelling. As the enlargement is usually transient surgical intervention is only rarely require

Proximal Soil Sensing – A Contribution for Species Habitat Distribution Modelling of Earthworms in Agricultural Soils?

Earthworms are important for maintaining soil ecosystem functioning and serve as indicators of soil fertility. However, detection of earthworms is time-consuming, which hinders the assessment of earthworm abundances with high sampling density over entire fields. Recent developments of mobile terrestrial sensor platforms for proximal soil sensing (PSS) provided new tools for collecting dense spatial information of soils using various sensing principles. Yet, the potential of PSS for assessing earthworm habitats is largely unexplored. This study investigates whether PSS data contribute to the spatial prediction of earthworm abundances in species distribution models of agricultural soils

Development, characterization, and use of a fetal skin cell bank for tissue engineering in wound healing.

Wound healing in fetal skin is characterized by the absence of scar tissue formation, which is not dependent on the intrauterine environment and amniotic fluid. Fetal cells have the capacity of extraordinary expansion and we describe herein the development of a fetal skin cell bank where from one organ donation (2-4 cm2) it is possible to produce several hundred million fetal skin constructs of 9 x 12 cm2. Fetal cells grow three to four times more rapidly than older skin cells cultured in the same manner and these banked fetal cells are very resistant against physical and oxidative stress when compared to adult skin cells under the same culture conditions. They are up to three times more resistant to UVA radiation and two times more resistant towards hydrogen peroxide treatment. This mechanism may be of major importance for fetal cells when they are delivered to hostile wound environments. For fetal cell delivery to patients, cells were associated with a collagen matrix to form a three-dimensional construct in order to analyze the capacity of these cells for treating various wounds. We have seen that fetal cells can modify the repair response of skin wounds by accelerating the repair process and reducing scarring in severe bums and wounds of various nature in children. Hundreds of thousands of patients could potentially be treated for acute and chronic wounds from one standardized and controlled cell bank

Praktische Erfahrungen bei der Erfassung der räumlichen Variabilität von pH-Werten in Ackerböden durch das Online-Messverfahren Veris MSP

Der pH-Wert ist ein relevanter Parameter für die Ertragsfähigkeit, auf dessen räumliche Variation zu reagieren ist. Der hohe Bodenuntersuchungsaufwand verhindert dies oft in der Praxis. Die mobile Sensorplattform MSP der Firma Veris Technologies Inc. ermöglicht eine räumlich hoch aufgelöste pH-Kartierung. In diesem Artikel wird die Einsatzfähigkeit dieses Systems für den Ökolandbau unter Praxisbedingungen geprüft. Eine effiziente Erstellung von Boden-pH-Karten ist grundsätzlich möglich. Allerdings sind weitere Untersuchungen zur Vergleichbarkeit der Ergebnisse mit der in Deutschland üblichen Methode notwendig und technische Modifikationen erforderlich, um einen störungsfreien Einsatz unter Praxisbedingungen sicherzustellen

Atherosclerosis, cholesterol, nutrition, and statins – a critical review

Atherosclerosis, which causes approximately half of all deaths of adults over age 60 in industrialized nations, is a pandemic among inappropriately nourished and/or physically hypoactive children, adolescents, and adults world wide. Although nowadays statins are widely prescribed to middle age and elderly adults with high blood lipid levels as pharmacological prevention for the late complications of atherosclerosis, from a critical point of view statins seem not to solve the problem, especially when compared with certain natural ingredients of our nutrition like micronutrients as alternative strategy. Statin ingestion is associated with lowering of serum cholesterol and low-density lipoprotein concentrations; some prospective studies have shown statistical associations with subsequent modest reduction of mortality from cardiovascular disease. However, specific biochemical pathways and pharmacological roles of statins in prevention of atherosclerosis, if any, are unknown. Moreover, there have been no systematic cost-benefit analyses of life-style prophylaxis versus statin prophylaxis versus combined life-style plus statin prophylaxis versus neither life-style nor statin prophylaxis for clinically significant complications of cardiovascular diseases in the elderly. Further, in the trials of effectiveness statins were not compared with management of nutrition, which is the most appropriate alternative intervention. Such studies seem to be important, as the ever increasing world population, especially in developing countries, now demand expensive statins, which may be unaffordable for mitigating the pandemic. Studies of this kind are necessary to identify more precisely those patients for whom cardiovascular benefits will outweigh the risks and costs of the statin treatment in comparison with nutritional interventions

Application of Terahertz radiation to soil measurements: Initial results

Developing soil sensors with the possibility of continuous online measurement is a major challenge in soil science. Terahertz (THz) electromagnetic radiation may provide the opportunity for the measurement of organic material density, water content and other soil parameters at different soil depths. Penetration depth and information content is important for a functional soil sensor. Therefore, we present initial research on the analysis of absorption coefficients of four different soil samples by means of THz transmission measurements. An optimized soil sample holder to determine absorption coefficients was used. This setup improves data acquisition because interface reflections can be neglected. Frequencies of 340 GHz to 360 GHz and 1.627 THz to 2.523 THz provided information about an existing frequency dependency. The results demonstrate the potential of this THz approach for both soil analysis and imaging of buried objects. Therefore, the THz approach allows different soil samples to be distinguished according to their different absorption properties so that relations among soil parameters may be established in future

Evaluation of different sensing approaches concerning to nondestructive estimation of leaf area index (LAI) for winter wheat

Different approaches of non-destructive estimation of the LAI in winter wheat were compared. Plant height had weak relation with the LAI, while estimated biomass showed high logarithmic relationship (R2=0.839). NDRE and REIP were logarithmically well related to the LAI (R2=0.726 and 0.779 respectively). Saturation effect of NDRE and REIP was less than NDVI. Some RGB-based indices also showed good potential to estimate the LAI. Among the indices, Gm, GMB, RMB, and NRMB were better related to the LAI. The results indicated that digital cameras can be used as an affordable and simple approach for assessment of the LAI of crops