Flora of Ordway Prairie Compared to Other Prairie Remnants of the Missouri Coteau

Hamlin Garland was an early twentieth century novelist whose parents homesteaded in Brown County, South Dakota in the late 1800\u27s. To Garland this was the land of the Middle Border. By this expression Garland referred to that boundary existing between the land of the harvester and the land of the hunter. In many ways this region is still the land of the Middle Border, for it is in Edmunds, McPherson and Dickey counties where cropland meets rangeland, where the sub-humid Central Lowland gives way to the semiarid Great Plains and where the tall grass prairie intermingles with the mixed grass plains. Situated here on the Middle Border is the Samuel H. Ordway, Jr. Memorial Prairie, twelve square miles of sanctuary owned by The Nature Conservancy and dedicated to the preservation of prairie plants and animals. Unlike State Game Production Areas (GPAs) and Federal Waterfowl Production Areas (WPAs) where management is directed toward producing game animals, management of the Ordway Prairie is directed toward maintaining, as much as possible, the full diversity of species and communities present in this part of the northern plains grassland as it was prior to early white settlement. In order to obtain this full diversity of species it may be necessary to introduce certain plant species which are not currently found on Ordway Prairie. This assumes that more plant species could have originally existed on Ordway in its pristine condition but have since been eliminated by activities of man such as cultivation and overstocking. For example, about 400 acres of Ordway have been cultivated and there is some indication that much of Ordway was heavily overgrazed prior to its purchase by Thomas Boylan in the 1950\u27s. The primary objective of this study is to identify and locate plant species native to prairie environments of the Central Missouri Coteau region but not reported for Ordway Prairie. Secondly, since the flora of north central South Dakota has been poorly documented, another purpose of this study is to provide new floristic information for this region

Bús düledékeiden. Hozzászólás Halmai Tamás ,Műveltség nélküli nemzedékek?’ című írásához

Expanded data presented in Supporting Information F is available here in text file format: “SIF2.Data.txt” (Supporting Information F2)

In vivo and in vitro antioxidant fffects of Icacina trichantha tuber extract

The phytochemical and antioxidant properties of the methanol extract of Icacina trichantha tuber were evaluated using standard assays. The antioxidant potential was studied with both in vitro and in vivo models. The in vitro procedures involved the use of 2, 2-diphenyl-1-picrylhydrazyl free radical (DPPH) and ferric reducing/antioxidant power (FRAP) spectrophotometrically. The in vivo models quantified the gradation in the levels of malondialdehyde (MDA), serum superoxide dismutase (SOD), catalase (CAT) and reduced glutathione (GSH) activities in rats that were fed on graded doses of the extract incorporated in feed for 12 weeks. DPPH assay revealed that the crude extract possessed a high antioxidant capacity of 67.3% compared to 80.3% with ascorbic acid at 400 μg/ml. The findings from the FRAP test buttressed the fact that the extract displayed a remarkably high and dose-dependent antioxidant effect with a maximal value of 6.7 μM at 800 μg/ml. The extract also exhibited potent in vivo antioxidant effects when the plasma MDA levels became depressed while the serum SOD, CAT and GSH values of test rats that received the medium and high dose (0.5 and 1.0 g/kg feed) of the extract were significantly (p<0.05) elevated from days 60-90 compared to values in the control and low dose (0.25 g/kg feed) of the extract. Phytochemical analysis revealed the presence of alkaloids, flavonoids, tannins, saponins, carbohydrates, reducing sugars, sterols and terpenes in the crude methanol extract of I. trichantha tuber. The results of the study demonstrated that I. trichantha tuber extract possessed high in vitro and in vivo antioxidant activities. The extract could be a potential source for the isolation of novel plant-derived antioxidant agents.Key words: Antioxidant, Icacina trichantha, Free radicals, Bioassay

Integration of Plant Defense Traits with Biological Control of Arthropod Pests: Challenges and Opportunities

Crop plants exhibit a wide diversity of defensive traits and strategies to protect themselves from damage by herbivorous pests and disease. These defensive traits may be naturally occurring or artificially selected through crop breeding, including introduction via genetic engineering. While these traits can have obvious and direct impacts on herbivorous pests, many have profound effects on higher trophic levels, including the natural enemies of herbivores. Multi-trophic effects of host plant resistance have the potential to influence, both positively and negatively, biological control. Plant defense traits can influence both the numerical and functional responses of natural enemies; these interactions can be semiochemically, plant toxin-, plant nutrient-, and/or physically mediated. Case studies involving predators, parasitoids, and pathogens of crop pests will be presented and discussed. These diverse groups of natural enemies may respond differently to crop plant traits based on their own unique biology and the ecological niches they fill. Genetically modified crop plants that have been engineered to express transgenic products affecting herbivorous pests are an additional consideration. For the most part, transgenic plant incorporated protectant (PIP) traits are compatible with biological control due to their selective toxicity to targeted pests and relatively low non-target impacts, although transgenic crops may have indirect effects on higher trophic levels and arthropod communities mediated by lower host or prey number and/or quality. Host plant resistance and biological control are two of the key pillars of integrated pest management; their potential interactions, whether they are synergistic, complementary, or disruptive, are key in understanding and achieving sustainable and effective pest management

Magnetic Monopoles, Electric Neutrality and the Static Maxwell-Dirac Equations

We study the full Maxwell-Dirac equations: Dirac field with minimally coupled electromagnetic field and Maxwell field with Dirac current as source. Our particular interest is the static case in which the Dirac current is purely time-like -- the "electron" is at rest in some Lorentz frame. In this case we prove two theorems under rather general assumptions. Firstly, that if the system is also stationary (time independent in some gauge) then the system as a whole must have vanishing total charge, i.e. it must be electrically neutral. In fact, the theorem only requires that the system be {\em asymptotically} stationary and static. Secondly, we show, in the axially symmetric case, that if there are external Coulomb fields then these must necessarily be magnetically charged -- all Coulomb external sources are electrically charged magnetic monopoles

Hip and Trunk Muscle Activity During the Star Excursion Balance Test in Healthy Adults

CONTEXT: Dynamic balance is a measure of core stability. Deficits in the dynamic balance have been related to injuries in the athletic populations. The Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) is suggested to measure and improve dynamic balance when used as a rehabilitative tool. OBJECTIVE: To determine the electromyographic activity of the hip and the trunk muscles during the SEBT. DESIGN: Descriptive. SETTING: University campus. PARTICIPANTS: Twenty-two healthy adults (11 males and 11 females; 23.3 [3.8] y, 170.3 [7.6] cm, 67.8 [10.3] kg, and 15.1% [5.0%] body fat). INTERVENTION: Surface electromyographic data were collected on 22 healthy adults of the erector spinae, external oblique, and rectus abdominis bilaterally, and gluteus medius and gluteus maximus muscle of the stance leg. A 2-way repeated measures analysis of variance was used to determine the interaction between the percentage maximal voluntary isometric contraction (%MVIC) and the reach directions. The %MVIC for each muscle was compared across the 8 reach directions using the Sidak post hoc test with α at .05. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: %MVIC. RESULTS: Significant differences were observed for all the 8 muscles. Highest electromyographic activity was found for the tested muscles in the following reach directions-ipsilateral external oblique (44.5% [38.4%]): anterolateral; contralateral external oblique (52.3% [40.8%]): medial; ipsilateral rectus abdominis (8% [6.6%]): anterior; contralateral rectus abdominis (8% [5.3%]): anteromedial; ipsilateral erector spinae (46.4% [20.2%]): posterolateral; contralateral erector spinae (33.5% [11.3%]): posteromedial; gluteus maximus (27.4% [11.7%]): posterior; and gluteus medius (54.6% [26.1%]): medial direction. CONCLUSIONS: Trunk and hip muscle activation was direction dependent during the SEBT. This information can be used during rehabilitation of the hip and the trunk muscles

Muscle Activity During the Star Excursion Balance Test in Healthy Adults

Purpose: To determine electromyographic (EMG) activity of the hip and the trunk muscles during the Star Excursion Balance Test (SEBT) performance in 8 reach directions