Compilation of a Database of Research Information on Legume Based Grazing Systems; a Part of the Leggraze Research Project

The establishment of a publicly accessible web-resident database of published and current European research on agronomy, animal production and environmental impact of legume based grazing systems is reported. This database facilitates the sharing of information among the partners of the Low input animal production based on forage legumes for grazing systems (Leggraze), a research project funded by the UE (QL K5 CT-2001-02328). It also forms an important tool for transferring the results of the project to the wider research community and to end users in the agricultural sector and to policy makers at national and community level

Wie werden die Gesamtnährstoffgehalte des Ackerbodens durch Biomasseein- und -austräge im Agroforstsystem beeinflusst?

Der Rückgang organischer Bodensubstanz durch den kontinuierlichen Entzug von Nährstoffen und Biomasse mit dem Erntegut ist eine der Hauptursachen für die Degradierung intensiv genutzter Ackerböden. Agroforstsysteme können ein Schlüssel zu einer nachhaltigen Erhöhung der Bodenfruchtbarkeit sein, da zusätzliche Ausgangsstoffe für die Bildung organischer Bodensubstanz wie Laubstreu und Wurzelexsudate dem Agrarökosystem zugeführt werden. Im Rahmen des BonaRes-SIGNAL-(„Sustainable intensification of agriculture through agroforestry“) Projektes werden die Quantität und Qualität der oberirdischen Biomasseein- und -austräge für zwei Alley Cropping-Agroforstsysteme mit Ackerkulturen bzw. Grünland in Niedersachsen bestimmt. Es werden räumliche Ertragsanalysen der Ackerkulturen und Grünlandbestände durchgeführt und die räumliche und zeitliche Verteilung und Zersetzung der Laubstreu gemessen. Das Poster präsentiert erste Ergebnisse zur Beeinflussung der Gesamtnährstoffgehalte des Ackerbodens durch die zusätzlichen Biomasseeinträge der schnellwachsenden Bäume und die Biomasseausträge durch die Ernte der Ackerkulturen, sowie zu der Frage welche Ackerbodenbereiche neben den Kulturpflanzen auch von den Bäumen durchwurzelt und somit als Nährstoffquelle genutzt werden

Commercial experience with Miscanthus crops : establishment, yields and environmental observations

Open access via Jisc Wiley agreement. Acknowledgement We would like to thank our industry partner Terravesta, developers of miscanthus throughout the UK, and the help of excellent and innovative growers, alphabetically listed, Abbey, Addis, Beedon, Brocklesby, Chappell, Hockham, Hounsfield, Maple and Whinneymoor Farms. This work was made possible by the University of Aberdeen’s Industry Fellowship Scheme, as part of the University’s Innovation Fund. We were able to modify an improved version of MiscanFor, made possible through FAB GGR (Feasibility of Afforestation and Biomass energy with carbon capture and storage for Greenhouse Gas Removal), a project funded by the UK Natural Environment Research Council (NE/P019951/1), part of a wider Greenhouse Gas Removal research programme (http://www.fab-ggr.org/)Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Differences between <i>Trypanosoma brucei gambiense</i> groups 1 and 2 in their resistance to killing by Trypanolytic factor 1

&lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Background:&lt;/b&gt; The three sub-species of &lt;i&gt;Trypanosoma brucei&lt;/i&gt; are important pathogens of sub-Saharan Africa. &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt; is unable to infect humans due to sensitivity to trypanosome lytic factors (TLF) 1 and 2 found in human serum. &lt;i&gt;T. b. rhodesiense&lt;/i&gt; and &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; are able to resist lysis by TLF. There are two distinct sub-groups of &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; that differ genetically and by human serum resistance phenotypes. Group 1 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; have an invariant phenotype whereas group 2 show variable resistance. Previous data indicated that group 1 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; are resistant to TLF-1 due in-part to reduced uptake of TLF-1 mediated by reduced expression of the TLF-1 receptor (the haptoglobin-hemoglobin receptor (&lt;i&gt;HpHbR&lt;/i&gt;)) gene. Here we investigate if this is also true in group 2 parasites.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Methodology:&lt;/b&gt; Isogenic resistant and sensitive group 2 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; were derived and compared to other T. brucei parasites. Both resistant and sensitive lines express the &lt;i&gt;HpHbR&lt;/i&gt; gene at similar levels and internalized fluorescently labeled TLF-1 similar fashion to &lt;i&gt;T. b. brucei&lt;/i&gt;. Both resistant and sensitive group 2, as well as group 1 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt;, internalize recombinant APOL1, but only sensitive group 2 parasites are lysed.&lt;/p&gt; &lt;p&gt;&lt;b&gt;Conclusions:&lt;/b&gt; Our data indicate that, despite group 1 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; avoiding TLF-1, it is resistant to the main lytic component, APOL1. Similarly group 2 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; is innately resistant to APOL1, which could be based on the same mechanism. However, group 2 &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; variably displays this phenotype and expression does not appear to correlate with a change in expression site or expression of &lt;i&gt;HpHbR&lt;/i&gt;. Thus there are differences in the mechanism of human serum resistance between &lt;i&gt;T. b. gambiense&lt;/i&gt; groups 1 and 2.&lt;/p&gt

Antigenic diversity is generated by distinct evolutionary mechanisms in African trypanosome species

Antigenic variation enables pathogens to avoid the host immune response by continual switching of surface proteins. The protozoan blood parasite Trypanosoma brucei causes human African trypanosomiasis ("sleeping sickness") across sub-Saharan Africa and is a model system for antigenic variation, surviving by periodically replacing a monolayer of variant surface glycoproteins (VSG) that covers its cell surface. We compared the genome of Trypanosoma brucei with two closely related parasites Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma vivax, to reveal how the variant antigen repertoire has evolved and how it might affect contemporary antigenic diversity. We reconstruct VSG diversification showing that Trypanosoma congolense uses variant antigens derived from multiple ancestral VSG lineages, whereas in Trypanosoma brucei VSG have recent origins, and ancestral gene lineages have been repeatedly co-opted to novel functions. These historical differences are reflected in fundamental differences between species in the scale and mechanism of recombination. Using phylogenetic incompatibility as a metric for genetic exchange, we show that the frequency of recombination is comparable between Trypanosoma congolense and Trypanosoma brucei but is much lower in Trypanosoma vivax. Furthermore, in showing that the C-terminal domain of Trypanosoma brucei VSG plays a crucial role in facilitating exchange, we reveal substantial species differences in the mechanism of VSG diversification. Our results demonstrate how past VSG evolution indirectly determines the ability of contemporary parasites to generate novel variant antigens through recombination and suggest that the current model for antigenic variation in Trypanosoma brucei is only one means by which these parasites maintain chronic infections

Sub-Typing of Rheumatic Diseases Based on a Systems Diagnosis Questionnaire

The future of personalized medicine depends on advanced diagnostic tools to characterize responders and non-responders to treatment. Systems diagnosis is a new approach which aims to capture a large amount of symptom information from patients to characterize relevant sub-groups.49 patients with a rheumatic disease were characterized using a systems diagnosis questionnaire containing 106 questions based on Chinese and Western medicine symptoms. Categorical principal component analysis (CATPCA) was used to discover differences in symptom patterns between the patients. Two Chinese medicine experts where subsequently asked to rank the Cold and Heat status of all the patients based on the questionnaires. These rankings were used to study the Cold and Heat symptoms used by these practitioners.The CATPCA analysis results in three dimensions. The first dimension is a general factor (40.2% explained variance). In the second dimension (12.5% explained variance) 'anxious', 'worrying', 'uneasy feeling' and 'distressed' were interpreted as the Internal disease stage, and 'aggravate in wind', 'fear of wind' and 'aversion to cold' as the External disease stage. In the third dimension (10.4% explained variance) 'panting s', 'superficial breathing', 'shortness of breath s', 'shortness of breath f' and 'aversion to cold' were interpreted as Cold and 'restless', 'nervous', 'warm feeling', 'dry mouth s' and 'thirst' as Heat related. 'Aversion to cold', 'fear of wind' and 'pain aggravates with cold' are most related to the experts Cold rankings and 'aversion to heat', 'fullness of chest' and 'dry mouth' to the Heat rankings.This study shows that the presented systems diagnosis questionnaire is able to identify groups of symptoms that are relevant for sub-typing patients with a rheumatic disease

Measured and modelled effect of land-use change from temperate grassland to Miscanthus on soil carbon stocks after 12 years

Soil organic carbon (SOC) is an important carbon pool susceptible to land‐use change (LUC). There are concerns that converting grasslands into the C4 bioenergy crop Miscanthus (to meet demands for renewable energy) could negatively impact SOC, resulting in reductions of greenhouse gas mitigation benefits gained from using Miscanthus as a fuel. This work addresses these concerns by sampling soils (0–30 cm) from a site 12 years (T12) after conversion from marginal agricultural grassland into Miscanthus x giganteus and four other novel Miscanthus hybrids. Soil samples were analysed for changes in below‐ground biomass, SOC and Miscanthus contribution to SOC (using a 13C natural abundance approach). Findings are compared to ECOSSE soil carbon model results (run for a LUC from grassland to Miscanthus scenario and continued grassland counterfactual), and wider implications are considered in the context of life cycle assessments based on the heating value of the dry matter (DM) feedstock. The mean T12 SOC stock at the site was 8 (±1 standard error) Mg C/ha lower than baseline time zero stocks (T0), with assessment of the five individual hybrids showing that while all had lower SOC stock than at T0 the difference was only significant for a single hybrid. Over the longer term, new Miscanthus C4 carbon replaces pre‐existing C3 carbon, though not at a high enough rate to completely offset losses by the end of year 12. At the end of simulated crop lifetime (15 years), the difference in SOC stocks between the two scenarios was 4 Mg C/ha (5 g CO2‐eq/MJ). Including modelled LUC‐induced SOC loss, along with carbon costs relating to soil nitrous oxide emissions, doubled the greenhouse gas intensity of Miscanthus to give a total global warming potential of 10 g CO2‐eq/MJ (180 kg CO2‐eq/Mg DM)

Quantum Monte Carlo calculations of the one-body density matrix and excitation energies of silicon

Quantum Monte Carlo (QMC) techniques are used to calculate the one-body density matrix and excitation energies for the valence electrons of bulk silicon. The one-body density matrix and energies are obtained from a Slater-Jastrow wave function with a determinant of local density approximation (LDA) orbitals. The QMC density matrix evaluated in a basis of LDA orbitals is strongly diagonally dominant. The natural orbitals obtained by diagonalizing the QMC density matrix resemble the LDA orbitals very closely. Replacing the determinant of LDA orbitals in the wave function by a determinant of natural orbitals makes no significant difference to the quality of the wave function's nodal surface, leaving the diffusion Monte Carlo energy unchanged. The Extended Koopmans' Theorem for correlated wave functions is used to calculate excitation energies for silicon, which are in reasonable agreement with the available experimental data. A diagonal approximation to the theorem, evaluated in the basis of LDA orbitals, works quite well for both the quasihole and quasielectron states. We have found that this approximation has an advantageous scaling with system size, allowing more efficient studies of larger systems.Comment: 13 pages, 4 figures. To appear in Phys. Rev.