Methane Emission Estimated from Different Cattle Intake Data in Heifers Grazing a Tropical Pasture

The quantification of methane (CH4) from enteric fermentation related to cattle diet is a useful tool to identify strategies to mitigate greenhouse gas emissions. This is even important in tropical and subtropical regions due to the lack of CH4 estimations in beef cattle, particularly from Bos Indicus breeds grazing tropical grasses (Kurihara et al., 1999). Several modelling approaches have been developed in order to predict CH4 emission. However, the use of these models has limitations associated with uncertainty information required such as feed intake (FI), composition of the selected diet and animal responses (Gonzalez et al., 2014). FI is the main factor influencing CH4 emission. Individual FI measurements are not easy to achieve accurately in grazing animals rather than those located in pens, particularly under deferred tropical pastures at the end of the dry season, due to the large proportion of death forage. In this case, cattle supplementation with energetic and proteins concentrates, is a viable practice in order to improve animal FI and reduce CH4 emissions. The main objectives of this study was estimate and compare CH4 emission using data collected from experimental trials and predicted by a model (UNFCCC, 2014) in supplemented heifers grazing low quality Chloris gayana pasture in northwestern Argentina (Semiarid Chaco Region)

Effect of Supplementation Frequency on Forage Utilization by Heifers Grazing a Tropical Pasture during the Dry Season

In tropical pasture, low quality and availability forage during the dry season can limit the cattle intake. Energetic and protein supplementation is a viable practice to improve feed intake and animal performance. Previous studies have shown that infrequent protein supplementation decreases feeding cost achieving similar performance compared with every day supplementation (Farmer et al., 2004). Even though infrequent protein supplementation has been widely studied, little research has been carried out on infrequent energetic supplementation, especially its effect on pasture utilization. Some evidence indicates that negative effects on forage use at low levels of infrequent supplementation (Beaty et al., 1994). However, high levels of energetic supplementation can result in a substitution effect of forage for concentrate, reducing pasture utilization, even more when forage quality decreases as dry season progresses. Thus, the aim of this study was to evaluate the effect of supplementation frequency (continuous or discontinuous, based on energetic concentrate) on forage utilization by heifers grazing a Chloris gayana pasture during the dry season in the Semiarid Chaco Region (Northwestern Argentine)

Tuning the endocytosis mechanism of Zr-based metal−organic frameworks through linker functionalization

A critical bottleneck for the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as drug delivery systems has been allowing them to reach their intracellular targets without being degraded in the acidic environment of the lysosomes. Cells take up particles by endocytosis through multiple biochemical pathways, and the fate of these particles depends on these routes of entry. Here, we show the effect of functional group incorporation into a series of Zr-based MOFs on their endocytosis mechanisms, allowing us to design an effi-cient drug delivery system. In particular, naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid and 4,4'-biphenyldicarboxylic acid ligands promote entry through the caveolin-pathway, allowing the particles to avoid lysosomal degradation and be delivered into the cytosol, en-hancing their therapeutic activity when loaded with drugs

Tuning the Endocytosis Mechanism of Zr-Based Metal–Organic Frameworks through Linker Functionalization

A critical bottleneck for the use of metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) as drug delivery systems has been allowing them to reach their intracellular targets without being degraded in the acidic environment of the lysosomes. Cells take up particles by endocytosis through multiple biochemical pathways, and the fate of these particles depends on these routes of entry. Here, we show the effect of functional group incorporation into a series of Zr-based MOFs on their endocytosis mechanisms, allowing us to design an effi-cient drug delivery system. In particular, naphthalene-2,6-dicarboxylic acid and 4,4'-biphenyldicarboxylic acid ligands promote entry through the caveolin-pathway, allowing the particles to avoid lysosomal degradation and be delivered into the cytosol, en-hancing their therapeutic activity when loaded with drugs.C.A.O. thanks Becas Chile and the Cambridge Trust for funding. S.H. thanks the Cambridge Trust for funding. R.S.F. and D.F.-J. thank the Royal Society for the receipt of University Research Fellowships. D.F.-J. thanks financial support from ERC-2016-COG 726380. R.S.F., R.J.M., and I.A.L. thank the University of Glasgow and the EPSRC (EP/L004461/1) for funding. G.B., I.I., and D.M. acknowledge the financial support from 2014-SGR-80, MAT2015-65354-C2-1-R and EU FP7 ERC-Co 615954. ICN2 received support from the Spanish MINECO through the Severo Ochoa Centers of Excellence Program, under Grant No. SEV-2013-0295

Paleomagnetism from Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctica), new insights into the interpretation of the volcanic evolution using a geomagnetic model

Deception Island shows the most recent exposed active volcanism in the northern boundary of the Bransfield Trough. The succession of the volcanic sequence in the island is broadly divided into pre- and post-caldera collapse units although a well-constrained chronological identification of the well-defined successive volcanic episodes is still needed. A new paleomagnetic investigation was carried out on 157 samples grouped in 20 sites from the volcanic deposits of Deception Island (South Shetlands archipelago, Antarctic Peninsula region) distributed in: (1) volcanic breccia (3 sites) and lavas (2 sites) prior to the caldera collapse; (2) lavas emplaced after the caldera collapse (10 sites); and (3) dikes cutting pre- and the lower- most post-caldera collapse units (5 sites). The information revealed by paleomagnetism provides new data about the evolution of the multi-episodic volcanic edifice of this Quaternary volcano, suggesting that the present-day position of the volcanic materials is close to their original emplace- ment position. The new data have been combined with previous paleomagnetic results in order to tentatively propose an age when comparing the paleomagnetic data with a global geomagnetic model. Despite the uncertainties in the use of averaged paleomagnetic data per volcanic units, the new data in combination with tephra occurrences noted elsewhere in the region suggest that the pre-caldera units (F1 and F2) erupted before 12,000 year BC, the caldera collapse took place at about 8300 year BC, and post-cal- dera units S1 and S2 are younger than 2000 year BC

Improvement of carbon dioxide electroreduction by crystal surface modification of ZIF-8

Metal-organic frameworks (MOFs) possess high CO adsorption properties and are considered to be a promising candidate for the electrochemical carbon dioxide reduction reaction (eCORR). However, their insufficient selectivity and current density constrain their further exploration in the eCORR. In this work, by introducing a very small proportion of 2,5-dihydroxyterephthalic acid (DOBDC) into ZIF-8, a surface modified ZIF-8-5% catalyst was synthesized by a post-modification method, exhibiting enhanced selectivity (from 56% to 79%) and current density (from −4 mA cm to −10 mA m) compared to ZIF-8. Density functional theory (DFT) calculations further demonstrate that the boosted eCORR performance on ZIF-8-5% could be attributed to the improved formation of the *COOH intermediate stemming from successful DOBDC surface modification. This work opens a new path for improving the catalytic properties of MOFs via their surface modification

Short communication: high effectiveness of etravirine in routine clinical practice in treatment-experienced HIV type 1-infected patients

The effectiveness of etravirine has not been thoroughly investigated in routine clinical practice, where adherence rates and the heterogeneous nature of patients differ from the clinical trial setting. We evaluated the effectiveness of rescue regimens containing etravirine and the factors associated with treatment response. Multicenter retrospective cohort of all consecutive patients was recruited in a routine clinical practice setting. Patients were taking rescue regimens containing etravirine plus an optimized background regimen. The primary endpoint was the percentage of patients with HIV-1 RNA <50 copies/ml at week 48. The secondary endpoints were those factors associated with treatment response to etravirine. Endpoints were evaluated using univariate and multivariate analysis. A total of 122 patients were included with a median viral load of 11,938 (1055-55,500) copies/ml at baseline. The most frequent drugs in the backbone were darunavir/ritonavir in 98 (80.3%) patients and raltegravir in 76 (62.3%). In the full dataset analysis, 73% (89/122; 95% CI, 64-81%) of patients responded to treatment at week 48; in the on-treatment analysis, 82% (89/109; 95% CI, 71-87%) responded. The factors associated with treatment failure to etravirine [HR (95% CI)] were baseline CD4(+) T cell count <200 cells/mm(3) [2.45 (1.17-5.16)] and use of raltegravir [0.47 (0.22-0.99)] and darunavir [0.45 (0.21-0.98)] as backbone drugs. Skin rash was the only adverse event directly related to etravirine and led to withdrawal in three patients (2.5%). In routine clinical practice, rescue ETR-containing regimens are well tolerated and achieve rates of virological suppression higher than those observed in its pivotal clinical trials, especially when combined with darunavir and raltegravir