Lung ultrasound to predict the duration of respiratory support in newborn infants with respiratory distress

Delayed transition and transient tachypnea of the newborn (TTN) are common causes of respiratory distress in term and near-term infants caused by delayed postnatal lung liquid clearance. Risk factors for delayed transition and TTN are prematurity, elective cesarean section, male sex, and perinatal asphyxia. Risk factors associated with a prolonged course of TTN and respiratory support are low umbilical cord pH, Apgar score, decreased SpO2, increased respiratory rates, and increased CO2. Treatment includes close cardiorespiratory monitoring, supplemental oxygen, and nasal continuous positive airway pressure (nCPAP). Usually bearing a benign clinical course, delayed transition and TTN may nonetheless lead to neonatal intensive care unit (NICU) admission with varying duration and associated mother-child separation. Identifying bedside applicable prognostic parameters to estimate the duration of nCPAP therapy as a surrogate for the clinical course of TTN and delayed transition potentially reduces NICU admission. We designed a prospective observational study to estimate the duration of nCPAP therapy in term and near-term infants ≥ 36 0/7 weeks of gestation with delayed transition and TTN. The main outcome parameter was nCPAP therapy duration (< 1 vs. ≥ 1 hour). Additional study aims were clinical and lung ultrasound findings and evaluating interrater agreement of lung ultrasound scores. Thirty and 60 minutes postnatally, nCPAP duration was estimated based on the following parameters: lung ultrasound score, Silverman-Andersen score, respiratory rate, FiO2, SpO2, and respiratory acidosis in blood gas analysis. We also included the previously described risk factors birth weight, gestational age, pH in cord blood analysis, 1-minute Apgar score, and sex in our analysis. We used univariate and multivariate analysis to evaluate the risk factors' influence on nCPAP therapy duration and the intraclass correlation coefficient to test interrater agreement. Thirty minutes postnatally, a lung ultrasound score > 5, FiO2 > 0.21, and respiratory acidosis were associated with nCPAP therapy ≥ 1 hour. We determined two probability cutoffs aiming at either a high sensitivity or high specificity predicting nCPAP therapy ≥ 1 hour. We confirmed our model using classification and regression tree analysis. With an area under the curve of 0.87 in receiver operating characteristic analysis, our model proved to be a good diagnostic test, potentially serving as a basis for developing a prognostic tool. Sixty minutes postnatally, a Silverman-Andersen-Score ≥ 5 and a respiratory rate > 60/min were associated with nCPAP therapy ≥ 1 hour. Due to unevenly distributed data, we refrained from further analyses at the 60-minute time point. None of the already known risk factors were associated with prolonged nCPAP therapy in our cohort, but we confirmed several already known lung ultrasound findings in TTN and, for the first time, in delayed transition. We identified the double lung point and pleural line abnormalities as potential candidates for further prognostic studies in TTN and delayed transition. We demonstrated a good interrater agreement for lung ultrasound scoring between different raters: two neonatologists and two pediatric radiologists. With regard to our study’s main limitation of determining the lung ultrasound score cutoff statistically based on our cohort’s data, our findings on risk factors for prolonged nCPAP therapy and their potential use as a diagnostic tool must be validated in an independent sample

Influence of small-scale spatial variability of soil properties on yield formation of winter wheat

Background: With the increasing development of sophisticated precision farming techniques, high-resolution application maps are frequently discussed as a key factor in increasing yield potential. However, yield potential maps based on multiple soil properties measurements are rarely part of current farming practices. Furthermore, small-scale differences in soil properties have not been taken into account. Methods: To investigate the impact of soil property changes at high resolution on yield, a field trial has been divided into a sampling grid of 42 plots. The soil properties in each plot were determined at three soil depths. Grain yield and yield formation of winter wheat were analyzed at two sites. Results: Multiple regression analyses of soil properties with yield measures showed that the soil contents of organic carbon, silt, and clay in the top and subsoil explained 45–46% of the variability in grain yield. However, an increasing clay content in the topsoil correlated positively with grain yield and tiller density. In contrast, a higher clay content in the subsoil led to a decrease in grain yield. A cluster analysis of soil texture was deployed to evaluate whether the soil´s small-scale differences caused crucial differences in yield formation. Significant differences in soil organic carbon, yield, and yield formation were observed among clusters in each soil depth. Conclusion: These results show that small-scale lateral and vertical differences in soil properties can strongly impact crop yields and should be considered to improve site-specific cropping techniques further

All-Optical Control of the Silicon-Vacancy Spin in Diamond at Millikelvin Temperatures.

The silicon-vacancy center in diamond offers attractive opportunities in quantum photonics due to its favorable optical properties and optically addressable electronic spin. Here, we combine both to achieve all-optical coherent control of its spin states. We utilize this method to explore spin dephasing effects in an impurity-rich sample beyond the limit of phonon-induced decoherence: Employing Ramsey and Hahn-echo techniques at temperatures down to 40 mK we identify resonant coupling to a substitutional nitrogen spin bath as limiting decoherence source for the electron spin.This research has been partially funded by the European Community’s Seventh Framework Programme (FP7/2007-2013) under Grant agreement No. 611143 (DIADEMS). M. A. gratefully acknowledges financial support by the European Research Council ERC Consolidator Grant Agreement No. 617985 and the EPSRC National Quantum Technologies Programme NQIT EP/M013243/1. B. P. thanks Wolfson College (University of Cambridge) for financial support. P. B. gratefully acknowledges financial support by the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (Grants No. BU2510/2-1, No. INST256/415-1)

Ageing, resilience and depression:adding life to years as well as years to life

Wavelength-derivative of increment of refractive index of oxygenated and deoxygenated hemoglobin solutions from Kramers-Kronig relations. Originally published in Applied Optics on 01 November 2016 (ao-55-31-8951

Catch crop mixtures have higher potential for nutrient carry-over than pure stands under changing environments

Winter catch crops are grown to scavenge nutrients over a period of unfavorable growth conditions and to conserve nutrients for subsequent release to the following main crop. Since environmental conditions have a strong impact on the growth and nutrient capture in roots and shoots of individual catch crop species, we anticipated that mixtures will be more durable and efficient in nutrient capture due to compensatory effects among component species. We tested this hypothesis and determined the nitrogen and phosphorus accumulation in the shoots and roots of four catch crop species grown in pure vs. mixed stands at two sites for two or three years. Element concentrations were determined in the root and shoot biomass of each species and used to calculate the nutrient pool fixed in the root or shoot biomass. A qPCR-based technique was applied to quantify the root biomass of individual species based on species-specific DNA sequences. Despite considerable variation across environments, the overall plant biomass of white mustard (Sinapis alba), lacy phacelia (Phacelia tanacetifolia) and bristle oat (Avena strigosa) was similar and higher than that of Egyptian clover (Trifolium alexandrinum). While pure stands varied 6- to 24-fold in shoot biomass depending on environmental conditions, the variation was only ~3-fold for catch crop mixtures, with less pronounced variation in the root biomass. In general, the root biomass was comparable to the shoot biomass in each species. Roots contributed 26–46% of the nitrogen and 36–48% of the phosphorus to the total accumulation of these nutrients in the catch crop biomass, thus emphasizing the importance of plant roots as belowground nutrient pool for potential carry-over of nutrients to the subsequent crop. Although the mixture was mostly dominated by two of the four species, namely mustard and phacelia, it captured similar or even larger amounts of nutrients than the best-performing pure stand under any growth condition. This was the case for shoot- and for root-bound nutrients. Our results indicate that catch crop mixtures have higher durability than pure cultures to environmental variations. The amount of nitrogen captured by the mixture meets the average postharvest nitrogen that is left over by a wide range of cash crops, thus emphasizing that catch crop mixtures represent an efficient nutrient management tool in crop rotations. © 202

Catch crop diversity increases rhizosphere carbon input and soil microbial biomass

Catch crops increase plant species richness in crop rotations, but are most often grown as pure stands. Here, we investigate the impacts of increasing plant diversity in catch crop rotations on rhizosphere C input and microbial utilization. Mustard (Sinapis alba L.) planted as a single cultivar was compared to diversified catch crop mixtures of four (Mix4) or 12 species (Mix12). We traced the C transfer from shoots to roots towards the soil microbial community and the soil respiration in a 13C pulse labelling field experiment. Net CO2-C uptake from the atmosphere increased by two times in mix 4 and more than three times in mix 12. Higher net ecosystem C production was linked to increasing catch crop diversity and increased belowground transfer rates of recently fixed photoassimilates. The higher rhizosphere C input stimulated the growth and activity of the soil microbiome, which was investigated by phospholipid fatty acid (PLFA) analyses. Total microbial biomass increased from 14 to 22 g m−2 as compared to the fallow and was 18 and 8% higher for mix 12 and mix 4 as compared to mustard. In particular, the fungal and actinobacterial communities profited the most from the higher belowground C input and their biomass increased by 3.4 and 1.3 times as compared to the fallow. The residence time of the 13C pulse, traced in the CO2 flux from the soil environment, increased with plant diversity by up to 1.8 times. The results of this study suggest positive impacts of plant diversity on C cycling by higher atmospheric C uptake, higher transport rates towards the rhizosphere, higher microbial incorporation and prolonged residence time in the soil environment. We conclude that diversified catch crop mixtures improve the efficiency of C cycling in cropping systems and provide a promising tool for sustainable soil management