Why conservation systems are the right choice this fall

This year, like any year, producers have to make a decision whether they till or not. This year is especially more challenging for producers to carefully consider their tillage decision because of high fuel prices. Generally, producers know what it takes to operate tillage implements and how much fuel it would take to finish the work. Conventional tillage in general would require approximately 4.1 gal of fuel per acre compared to 1 gal per acre for no-tillage. Field operations in general, including tillage and harvesting, consume about 15 percent of the crop production energy

Broadly tunable L-band multiwavelength BEFL utilizing nonlinear amplified loop mirror filter.

We demonstrate a widely tunable L-band multiwavelength Brillouin-erbium fiber laser utilizing a nonlinear amplified fiber loop mirror filter (AFLMF). By manipulating polarization controllers placed in the fiber loop, the erbium peak gain spectrum is able to be shifted. The nonlinear AFLMF induces wavelength-dependent cavity loss and serves as an amplitude equalizer. In addition, it provides flexibility on controlling the amount of light reflected and transmitted into and out of the laser's cavity. By utilizing 100 mW 1480 nm pump and 1.1 mW Brillouin pump power, an average of 24 stable output channels are generated by the proposed structure that could all be tuned over the whole L-band window from 1570 nm to 1610 nm

Pay Attention to Soil Crusting After Heavy Rain Events

Recent rain brings another challenge for farmers, especially in fields conventionally tilled last fall or early this spring. In addition to potential soil erosion and damages to soil structure rainfall can cause, there are after effects of the rain when the soil surface starts to dry. The potential problem is soil crust. Soil crust is a product of a weak soil structure and the absence of residue or cover crop to protect soil surface from the intensity of rainfall

Fall Versus Spring Tillage, Which is Better

Questions about the timing of tillage and the difference between fall and spring tillage are being asked frequently. As the growing season comes to a conclusion and harvest is under way, this is a good time to start thinking about other fall operations such as tillage. Even though tillage may be needed in certain situations and field conditions, well managed field and proper crop rotation generally may not call for tillage. Before we get into the differences between fall and spring tillage, we would like to stress a few facts that need to be considered in deciding whether or not to till

Synthesis of Some New Nucleoside Analogues Containing Seven Membered Ring and Studying Their Biological Activity

In this work, a series of new Nucleoside analogues (D-galactopyranose linked to oxepanebenzimidazole moiety) was synthesized via multisteps synthesis. The first step involved preparation of two benzimidazoles 2-styrylbenzimidazole and 2-(phenyl ethynyl) benzimidazole via reaction of phenylenediamine with cinnamic acid or ?-phenyl propiolic acid. Electrophilic addition of the prepared benzimidazoles by three anhydrides in the second step afforded (4-6) and (14-16) which in turn were treated with 1,2,3,4-di-O-isopropylidene galactopyranose in the third step to afford a series of the desirable protected nucleoside analogues (7-9) ,(17-19)which after hydrolysis in methanolic sodium methoxidein the fourth step afforded the free nucleoside analogues (10-12) and (20-22) .The synthesized compounds were identified by FT-IR and some of them by 1H-NMR and13C-NMR. The synthesized oxepane nucleoside analogues were screened for their antibacterial activity against three types of bacteria including Staphylococcusaureus ,Bacillus(gram positive) andE.coli (gram negative) bacteria repectively

Field soil variability and its impact on crop stand uniformity

Soil variability plays a significant role in crop performance, especially in dry conditions, where spatial variability of soil texture can show the moisture shortage effect on plant stand variability across the field. Generally, soil is not uniform and immense spatial soil texture variability can be noticed across fields (see the June 12, 2006, ICM article (pages 169-171), What\u27s the yield effect of uneven corn heights?). Soil texture is a key factor in influencing soil\u27s water-holding capacity. Coarse-textured soils have a lower moisture-holding capacity due to high porosity and ability to drain excess water quicker than fine-textured soils

Validity of anti-nuclear antibodies, double strand DNA antibodies and other parameters in autoimmune hypoparathyroidism

Background: Hypoparathyroidism is the destruction of the parathyroid gland by the immune system, as part of a multiple endocrine insufficiency syndrome. Tissue resistance to PTH's activities can occur in rare cases, resulting in hypoparathyroidism with increased PTH levels. Hypothyroidism is more common in females than males. 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (active vitamin D) levels must be evaluated to rule out vitamin D deficiency as a contributor to or cause of hypocalcemia. Hypocalcemia and phosphatemia are common symptoms of hypoparathyroidism. Antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and double strand DNA (DsDNA) are the important biomarkers for diagnosis and prognosis of patients with autoimmune diseases. ANA and DsDNA occur in different endocrine disorders including thyroid disorders like hypoparathyroidism.Methods: Thirty Hypoparathyroidism patients with age range 21-74 years with (20 female and 10 male) were attending international Baghdad Medical Hospital, during the period from December 2019 to February 2021 and thirty apparently healthy were chosen as healthy control groups respectively. For these two study groups, the blood samples were collected to evaluate the serum level of serum phosphorus, calcitonin, Calcium, Vitamin D3, DsDNA and ANA. The type of kits used for serum DsDNA and ANA in humans were an indirect enzyme immunoassay (ELISA) and the kits for serum level of serum Vitamin D3 and calcitonins were a sandwich ELISA. Finally, these kits for the calcium and phosphorus inorganic Colorimetric method were used.Results: Using Student's t-test, the present study's data revealed a statistically significant difference in the mean of age group cases and controls (P=0.005), as well as a statistically significant difference in serum mean values of each Serum phosphorus (P=0.005), calcitonin (P=0.005), calcium (P=0.002), and vitamin D3 centration (P=0.005) between these two groups . By using Chi-square test sex was not significant between hypoparathyroid and control (P=0.787) and DsDNA was not significantly more positive in hypoparathyroid subjects than control (P=0.112); while ANA was significant (P=0.024).Conclusion: The study sheds light on the necessity to screen the hypo parathyroid patients for vitamin D, calcium and phosphorous levels and calcitonin for better prognosis of patients and for each of antinuclear antibodies (ANA) and double strand DNA (DsDNA).Keywords: Hypoparathyroidism; Phosphate; Calcium; Calcitonin; Vitamin D; ANA; DsDN