Assessment of nutritional status of soil supporting coconut (Cocus nucifera) cultivation in some localities of Edo State of Nigeria

Coconut cultivation and information on the nutritional status of soils and fertilizers recommendations for its cultivation are limited in Nigeria. Since a high yield of coconut is related to the fertility status ofthe soil, a study was conducted to evaluate the status of soils supporting coconut cultivation. The evaluation of the surface soil (0 – 15 cm) and the subsoil (15 – 30 cm) of seven localities showed thatthe average pH was 5.75 ± 0.21 and 5.51 ± 0.15, respectively, indicating that the subsoil was slightly acidic than the surface soil. Highest values for the surface soil parameters were found to be 0.58 ± 0.08 gkg-1 for exchangeable acidity, 2.55 ± 0.02 gkg-1 for organic carbon (C), 0.13 ± 0.02 gkg-1 for total nitrogen (N), 20.24 ± 1.10 gkg-1 for the carbon : nitrogen ratio, 17.45 ± 0.60 for available phosphorus (P), 0.21 ± 0.02 Cmolkg-1 for sodium (Na), 0.14 ± 0.01 Cmolkg-1 for potassium (K), 2.91 ± 0.10 Cmolkg-1 for calcium (Ca) and 0.79 ± 0.06 Cmolkg-1 for magnesium (Mg). On the other hand, the subsoil parameters were 0.74 ± 0.15 gkg-1 for exchangeable acidity, 1.85 ± 0.03 gkg-1 for organic C, 0.09 ± 0.01gkg-1 fortotal N, 19.69 ± 0.67 gkg-1 for the carbon : nitrogen ratio, 10.15 ± 0.38 for available P, 0.16 ± 0.01 Cmolkg- 1 for Na, 0.09 ± 0.01 Cmolkg-1 for K, 1.59 ± 0.04 Cmolkg-1 for Ca and 0.46 ± 0.04 Cmolkg-1 for Mg. The results showed the samples were not generally ideal for coconut growth and production of good yields because of marginal deviation from acceptable limits. It is recommended that the soils in these localities need fertilization especially with nitrogen and potassium carriers for the purpose of coconut cultivation

Fast rotating stars resulting from binary evolution will often appear to be single

Rapidly rotating stars are readily produced in binary systems. An accreting star in a binary system can be spun up by mass accretion and quickly approach the break-up limit. Mergers between two stars in a binary are expected to result in massive, fast rotating stars. These rapid rotators may appear as Be or Oe stars or at low metallicity they may be progenitors of long gamma-ray bursts. Given the high frequency of massive stars in close binaries it seems likely that a large fraction of rapidly rotating stars result from binary interaction. It is not straightforward to distinguish a a fast rotator that was born as a rapidly rotating single star from a fast rotator that resulted from some kind of binary interaction. Rapidly rotating stars resulting from binary interaction will often appear to be single because the companion tends to be a low mass, low luminosity star in a wide orbit. Alternatively, they became single stars after a merger or disruption of the binary system during the supernova explosion of the primary. The absence of evidence for a companion does not guarantee that the system did not experience binary interaction in the past. If binary interaction is one of the main causes of high stellar rotation rates, the binary fraction is expected to be smaller among fast rotators. How this prediction depend on uncertainties in the physics of the binary interactions requires further investigation.Comment: 2 pages, 1 figure, to be published in the proceedings of IAU 272 "Active OB stars: structure, evolution, mass loss and critical limit", Paris 19-23 July 201

Potential of mean force and the charge reversal of rodlike polyions

A simple model is presented to calculate the potential of mean force between a polyion and a multivalent counterion inside a polyelectrolite solution. We find that under certain conditions the electrostatic interactions can lead to a strong attraction between the polyions and the multivalent counterions, favoring formation of overcharged polyion-counterion complexes. It is found that small concentrations of salt enhance the overcharging, while an excessive amount of salt hinders the charge reversal. The kinetic limitations to overcharging are also examined.Comment: To be published in the special issue of Molecular Physics in honor of Prof. Ben Wido

Event Stream Processing with Multiple Threads

Current runtime verification tools seldom make use of multi-threading to speed up the evaluation of a property on a large event trace. In this paper, we present an extension to the BeepBeep 3 event stream engine that allows the use of multiple threads during the evaluation of a query. Various parallelization strategies are presented and described on simple examples. The implementation of these strategies is then evaluated empirically on a sample of problems. Compared to the previous, single-threaded version of the BeepBeep engine, the allocation of just a few threads to specific portions of a query provides dramatic improvement in terms of running time

Tacrolimus rescue therapy for renal allograft rejection - Five-year experience

Over the 5 year period from 7/14/1989 until 5/24/1994, we have attempted graft salvage with tacrolimus conversion in a total of 169 patients (median age 33 years, range 2-75 years) with ongoing rejection on baseline CsA immunosuppression after failure of high dose corticosteroids and/or antilymphocyte preparations to reverse rejection. The indications for conversion to tacrolimus were ongoing, biopsy confirmed rejection in all patients. The median interval to tacrolimus conversion was 2 months (range 2 days to 55 months; mean 4.3±2.6 months) after transplantation. All patients had failed high dose corticosteroid therapy and 144 (85%) of the 169 patients had received at least one course of an antilymphocyte preparation plus high dose corticosteroid therapy prior to conversion. Twenty-eight patients (17%) were dialysis-dependent at the time of conversion owing to the severity of rejection. With a mean follow-up of 30.0±2.4 months (median 36.5 months, range 12-62 months), 125 of 169 patients (74%) have been successfully rescued and still have functioning grafts with a mean serum creatinine (SCR) of 2.3±1.1 mg/dl. Of the 144 patients previously treated with antilymphocyte preparations, 117 (81%) were salvaged. Of the 28 patients on dialysis at the time of conversion to tacrolimus, 13 (46%) continue to have functioning grafts (mean SCR 2.15±0.37 mg/dl) at a mean follow-up of 37.3±16.7 months. In the 125 patients salvaged, prednisone doses have been lowered from 28.0±9.0 mg/d (median 32, range 4-60 mg/d) preconversion to 8.5±4.1 mg/d (median 12 mg/d, range 2.5-20 mg/d) postconversion. Twenty-eight patients (22.4%) are currently receiving no steroids. This 5 year experience demonstrates that tacrolimus has sustained efficacy as a rescue agent for ongoing renal allograft rejection. Based on these data, we recommend that tacrolimus be used as an alternative to the conventional drugs used for antirejection therapy in renal transplantation

Tacrolimus in pediatric renal transplantation

Tacrolimus was used as the primary immunosuppressive agent in 69 pediatric renal transplantations between December 17, 1989, and June 30, 1995. Children undergoing concomitant or prior liver and/or intestinal transplantation were excluded from analysis. The mean recipient age was 10.3±5.0 years (range, 0.7-17.5 years). Seventeen (24.6%) children were undergoing retransplantation, and six (8.7%) had a panel reactive antibody level of 40% or higher. Thirty-nine (57%) cases were with cadaveric kidneys, and 30 (43%) were with living donors. The mean donor age was 28.0±14.7 years (range, 1.0-50.0 years), and the mean cold ischemia time for the cadaveric kidneys was 27.0±9.4 hr. The antigen match was 2.7±1.2, and the mismatch was 3.1±1.2. All patients received tacrolimus and steroids, without antibody induction, and 26% received azathioprine as well. The mean follow-up was 32±20 months. One- and 4-year actuarial patient survival rates were 100% and 95%. One- and 4-year actuarial graft survival rates were 99% and 85%. The mean serum creatinine level was 1.2±0.8 mg/dl, and the calculated creatinine clearance was 82±26 ml/min/1.73 m2. The mean tacrolimus dose was 0.22±0.14 mg/kg/day, and the level was 9.5±4.8 ng/ml. The mean prednisone dose was 2.1±4.9 mg/day (0.07±0.17 mg/kg/day), and 73% of successfully transplanted children were off prednisone. Seventy-nine percent were not taking any antihypertensive medications. The mean serum cholesterol level was 158±54 mg/dl. The incidence of delayed graft function was 4.3%. The incidence of rejection was 49%, and the incidence of steroid-resistant rejection was 6%. The incidence of rejection decreased to 27% in the most recent 26 cases (January 1994 through June 1995). The incidence of new-onset diabetes was 10.1%; six of the seven affected children were able to be weaned off insulin. The incidence of cytomegalovirus disease was 13%, and that of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder was 10%; the incidence of posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder in the last 40 transplants was 5% (two cases). All of the children who developed posttransplant lymphoproliferative disorder are alive and have functioning allografts. Based on this data, we believe that tacrolimus is a superior immunosuppressive agent in pediatric renal transplant patients, with excellent short- and medium-term patient and graft survival, an ability to withdraw steroids in the majority of patients, and, with more experience, a decreasing rate of rejection and vital complications

Expression of a beta-adrenergic receptor kinase 1 inhibitor prevents the development of myocardial failure in gene-targeted mice.

Heart failure is accompanied by severely impaired beta-adrenergic receptor (betaAR) function, which includes loss of betaAR density and functional uncoupling of remaining receptors. An important mechanism for the rapid desensitization of betaAR function is agonist-stimulated receptor phosphorylation by the betaAR kinase (betaARK1), an enzyme known to be elevated in failing human heart tissue. To investigate whether alterations in betaAR function contribute to the development of myocardial failure, transgenic mice with cardiac-restricted overexpression of either a peptide inhibitor of betaARK1 or the beta2AR were mated into a genetic model of murine heart failure (MLP-/-). In vivo cardiac function was assessed by echocardiography and cardiac catheterization. Both MLP-/- and MLP-/-/beta2AR mice had enlarged left ventricular (LV) chambers with significantly reduced fractional shortening and mean velocity of circumferential fiber shortening. In contrast, MLP-/-/betaARKct mice had normal LV chamber size and function. Basal LV contractility in the MLP-/-/betaARKct mice, as measured by LV dP/dtmax, was increased significantly compared with the MLP-/- mice but less than controls. Importantly, heightened betaAR desensitization in the MLP-/- mice, measured in vivo (responsiveness to isoproterenol) and in vitro (isoproterenol-stimulated membrane adenylyl cyclase activity), was completely reversed with overexpression of the betaARK1 inhibitor. We report here the striking finding that overexpression of this inhibitor prevents the development of cardiomyopathy in this murine model of heart failure. These findings implicate abnormal betaAR-G protein coupling in the pathogenesis of the failing heart and point the way toward development of agents to inhibit betaARK1 as a novel mode of therapy