Effects of culivation conditions for apples on growth rates of fruit fly larvae and contents of phenolics

The different cultivation treatments significantly and systematically affected both rate of development of fruit fly larvae and contents of phenolic compounds, but not the total number of flies produced. This is in accordance with the hypothesis that cultivation methods can give large enough changes in composition of plant foods to affect physiological aspects important for health of consumers. It indicates that further stusies should be made of the links between plant cultivation, plant composition and health, for example regarding the question of the nutritional value of organic versus conventional food

Impaired transmission in the corticospinal tract and gait disability in spinal cord injured persons

Rehabilitation following spinal cord injury is likely to depend on recovery of corticospinal systems. Here we investigate whether transmission in the corticospinal tract may explain foot drop (inability to dorsiflex ankle) in persons with spinal cord lesion. The study was performed in 24 persons with incomplete spinal cord lesion (C1 to L1) and 15 healthy controls. Coherence in the 10- to 20-Hz frequency band between paired tibialis anterior muscle (TA) electromyographic recordings obtained in the swing phase of walking, which was taken as a measure of motor unit synchronization. It was significantly correlated with the degree of foot drop, as measured by toe elevation and ankle angle excursion in the first part of swing. Transcranial magnetic stimulation was used to elicit motor-evoked potentials (MEPs) in the TA. The amplitude of the MEPs at rest and their latency during contraction were correlated to the degree of foot drop. Spinal cord injured participants who exhibited a large foot drop had little or no MEP at rest in the TA muscle and had little or no coherence in the same muscle during walking. Gait speed was correlated to foot drop, and was the lowest in participants with no MEP at rest. The data confirm that transmission in the corticospinal tract is of importance for lifting the foot during the swing phase of human gait

The Commons Architect.e altering urban architectural design in Brussels

L'abstract è presente nell'allegato / the abstract is in the attachmen

Slagtekyllinger reducerede antallet af æblebladhvepse I økologisk dyrkede "Discovery" æbler

Samproduktion af fjerkræ og frugt er et emne, som er blevet diskuteret og prøvet i økologisk frugtdyrkning i Danmark. Fjerkræets skraben efter føde kan muligvis formindske populationen af skadedyr, som tilbringer en del af deres livscyklus i jorden. I økologisk forskning er meget få forsøg med kombineret vegetabilsk og animalsk produktion udført. Behovet for alternative metoder til at regulerer skadedyrspopulationerne meget efterspurgte, fordi økologisk æbleproduktion i Danmark har meget få økologiske sprøjtemidler til rådighed. Æblehvepsen (Hoplocampa testudinea) giver store udbyttetab i æbler. Æblehvepsene lægger æg under blomstring og larverne ødelægger de små frugter, der falder til jorden før modenhed. Laven overvintre og forpupper sig i jorden. Hønsefugle levede oprindeligt I skove, hvor de kunne gemme sig for rovfugle under buske og træer. Livet i en frugtplantage ligner fuglenes oprindelige miljø. Velfærden for høns og kyllinger vil derfor sandsynligvis være bedre i en frugtplantage end på de græsarealer, som de normalt har adgang til

Matrix Metalloproteinase 13 Is Induced in Fibroblasts in Polyomavirus Middle T Antigen-Driven Mammary Carcinoma without Influencing Tumor Progression

Matrix metalloproteinase (MMP) 13 (collagenase 3) is an extracellular matrix remodeling enzyme that is induced in myofibroblasts during the earliest invasive stages of human breast carcinoma, suggesting that it is involved in tumor progression. During progression of mammary carcinomas in the polyoma virus middle T oncogene mouse model (MMTV-PyMT), Mmp13 mRNA was strongly upregulated concurrently with the transition to invasive and metastatic carcinomas. As in human tumors, Mmp13 mRNA was found in myofibroblasts of invasive grade II and III carcinomas, but not in benign grade I and II mammary intraepithelial neoplasias. To determine if MMP13 plays a role in tumor progression, we crossed MMTV-PyMT mice with Mmp13 deficient mice. The absence of MMP13 did not influence tumor growth, vascularization, progression to more advanced tumor stages, or metastasis to the lungs, and the absence of MMP13 was not compensated for by expression of other MMPs or tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinases. However, an increased fraction of thin collagen fibrils was identified in MMTV-PyMT;Mmp13−/− compared to MMTV-PyMT;Mmp13+/+ tumors, showing that collagen metabolism was altered in the absence of MMP13. We conclude that the expression pattern of Mmp13 mRNA in myofibroblasts of invasive carcinomas in the MMTV-PyMT breast cancer model recapitulates the expression pattern observed in human breast cancer. Our results suggest that MMP13 is a marker of carcinoma-associated myofibroblasts of invasive carcinoma, even though it does not make a major contribution to tumor progression in the MMTV-PyMT breast cancer model

Deixando a linguagem ser: reflexões sobre o método enativo

Prompted by our commentators, we take this response as an opportunity to clarify the premises, attitudes, and methods of our enactive approach to human languaging. We high-light the need to recognize that any investigation, particularly one into language, is always a concretely situated and self-grounding activity; our attitude as researchers is one of knowing as engagement with our subject matter. Our task, formulating the missing categories that can bridge embodied cognitive science with language research, requires avoiding premature abstractions and clarifying the multiple circularities at play. Our chosen method is dialectical, which has prompted several interesting observations that we respond to, particularly with respect to what this method means for enactive epistemology and ontology. We also clarify the important question of how best to conceive of the variety of social skills we progressively identify with our method and are at play in human languaging. Are these skills socially constituted or just socially learned? The difference, again, leads to a clarification that acts, skills, actors, and interactions are to be conceived as co-emerging categories. We illustrate some of these points with a discussion of an example of aspects of the model at play in a study of gift giving in China.Keywords: Enactive epistemology, Enactive ontology, Dialectics, languaging, Shared know-how.Impulsionados por nossos comentadores, consideramos esta resposta uma oportunidade para esclarecer as premissas, atitudes e métodos de nossa abordagem enativa da linguagem humana [human languaging]. Ressaltamos a necessidade de reconhecer que qualquer investigação, particularmente sobre a linguagem, é sempre uma atividade concretamente situada e auto-fundamentada; nossa atitude como pesquisadores é do saber como engajamento com nosso tópico. Nossa tarefa, formular as categorias ausentes que podem unir a ciência cognitiva incorporada à pesquisa sobre linguagem, requer evitar abstrações prematuras e esclarecer as múltiplas circularidades em jogo. Nosso método escolhido é dialético, o que suscitou várias observações interessantes às quais respondemos, particularmente com respeito ao que esse método significa para a epistemologia e ontologia enativas. Também esclarecemos a importante questão de como melhor conceber as várias habilidades sociais que progressivamente identificamos com nosso método e que estão em jogo na linguagem humana [human languaging]. Essas habilidades são socialmente constituídas ou apenas aprendidas socialmente? A diferença, novamente, leva a um esclarecimento de que atos, habilidades, atores e interações devem ser concebidos como categorias co-emergentes. Ilustramos alguns desses pontos com uma discussão de um exemplo de aspectos do modelo em jogo em um estudo sobre a entrega de presentes na China.Palavras-chave: Epistemologia enativa, Ontologia enativa, Dialética, Linguagem, Saber-como compartilhado

REACH implementation costs in the Belgian food industry:a semi-qualitative study

In this paper we discuss how companies in the Belgian food industry are affected by the REACH legislation and whether their competitiveness is weakened as a result. The study has been carried out through an extensive literature study, an electronic survey, in-depth interviews and a case-study. No indication is observed of REACH compliance significantly hampering the competitive position of Belgian food industry. The overall cost burden seems to be relatively low. In contrast with the chemical industry, large food companies bear the highest costs, whereas the financial impact on small and medium-sized food companies remains limited.<br

Experimental ionization of atomic hydrogen with few-cycle pulses

We present the first experimental data on strong-field ionization of atomic hydrogen by few-cycle laser pulses. We obtain quantitative agreement at the 10% level between the data and an {\it ab initio} simulation over a wide range of laser intensities and electron energies