Effect of Agricultural Practices on Nitrate Leaching

Teagasc wishes to acknowledge with gratitude funding from the 2000-2006 EPA RTDI programme in financing this research project.End of project reportA farm-scale study, carried out at Teagasc, Moorepark (Curtin’s farm), examined the effect of four managements (treatments) on nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) leaching over the period 2001-`05. Leaching was measured in these treatments: (T1) plots receiving dirty water and N fertilizer which were grazed; (T2) 2-cut silage and grazing plots receiving slurry and fertilizer N; (T3) grazed plots receiving fertilizer N and (T4) 1-cut silage and grazing plots receiving slurry and fertilizer N. The soil is a free-draining sandy loam overlying Karstic fissured limestone. The mean direct N inputs (kg/ha) for T1-T4 in 2001-`04 were 311, 309, 326, 331, respectively, with stocking rates (LU/ha) of 2.12 - ~2.47. Eight ceramic cups per plot, in 3 replicate plots of each treatment, were used to collect water, on a weekly basis, from 1.0 m deep using 50 kPa suction. There were 33, 37, 26 and 24 sampling dates in the 4 years, respectively. The NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations (mg/l) were determined in the water samples. The annual average and weekly concentration of these parameters was statistically analysed for all years, using a repeated measures analysis. The aggregated data were not normally distributed. There was an interaction between treatment and year (p<0.001). Significant differences (p=0.05) in NO3-N concentrations showed between the treatments in years 1, 2, 4 but not in year 3. For the NH4-N data there was no interaction between treatment and year, p=0.12, or main effect of treatment, p=0.54 but there were differences between years, p=0.01. Mean weekly concentrations were analysed separately for each year. For NO3-N, in years 1, 2 and 4 there was an interaction between treatment and week (p<0.001). With NH4-N, there was an interaction between treatment and week in all 4 years. Dirty water was significantly higher than grazed and 1 cut silage in NO3-N concentrations in year 1; in year 2, dirty water and 2 cut silage were significantly higher than the other treatments while in year 4, dirty water and grazed were significantly higher than the other two treatments. The overall four-year weighted mean NO3-N and NH4-N concentrations were 8.2 and 0.297 mg/l. The NCYCLE (UK) model was adapted for Irish conditions as NCYCLE_IRL. The NCYCLE empirical approach proved to be suitable to predict N fluxes from Irish grassland systems in most situations. Experimental data appeared to agree quite well, in most cases, with the outputs from NCYCLE_IRL. The model was not capable of predicting data from some of the leaching experiments, which suggests that the observed leaching phenomena in these experiments could be governed by non-average conditions or other parameters not accounted for in NCYCLE_IRL. An approach that took into account denitrification, leaching and herbage yield would probably explain the differences found. NCYCLE_IRL proved to be a useful tool to analyse N leaching from grazed and cut grassland systems in Ireland.Environmental Protection Agenc

Effect of an agri-environmental measure on nitrate leaching from a beef farming system in Ireland

peer-reviewedAgricultural nitrogen (N) management remains a key environmental challenge. Improving N management is a matter of urgency to reduce the serious ecological consequences of the reactive N. Nitrate (NO3−–N) leaching was measured under suckler beef production systems stocked at two intensities: (1) intensive, 210 kg organic N ha−1 with two cut silage harvests; and (2) rural environmental protection scheme (REPS), 170 kg organic N ha−1 with one cut silage harvest. Three replicate plots of each treatment were instrumented with ceramic cups (8 per plot), randomly placed within each plot at a depth of 1 m to collect soil solution for NO3−–N at 50 kPa suction to collecting vessels one week prior to sampling. Samples were taken on a total of 53 sampling dates over 3 winter drainage periods (2002/03, 2003/04 and 2004/05). Over the course of the experiment the mean annual soil solution NO3−–N concentration exceeded the MAC twice out of 15 means (5 treatments over 3 years). The REPS grazing and silage sub treatments had significantly lower mean annual soil solution total oxidized N (TON) concentrations than the respective intensive treatments in years 2 and 3. Annual total NO3−–N losses over the three years in intensive and REPS systems ranged from 55 to 71 and 15 to 20 kg N ha−1, respectively. Mean N surpluses in intensive and REPS systems were 210 and 95 kg ha−1, respectively with the corresponding mean N inputs of 272 and 124 kg N ha−1. The reduction in N inputs under the REPS system results in lower N leaching losses and contributed to a significant reduction in pressures on water quality

Effect of smoking on comparative efficacy of antiplatelet agents: systematic review, meta-analysis, and indirect comparison

Objective: To evaluate whether smoking status is associated with the efficacy of antiplatelet treatment in the prevention of cardiovascular events. Design: Systematic review, meta-analysis, and indirect comparisons. Data sources Medline (1966 to present) and Embase (1974 to present), with supplementary searches in databases of abstracts from major cardiology conferences, the Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health (CINAHL) and the CAB Abstracts databases, and Google Scholar. Study selection Randomized trials of clopidogrel, prasugrel, or ticagrelor that examined clinical outcomes among subgroups of smokers and nonsmokers. Data extraction Two authors independently extracted all data, including information on the patient populations included in the trials, treatment types and doses, definitions of clinical outcomes and duration of follow-up, definitions of smoking subgroups and number of patients in each group, and effect estimates and 95% confidence intervals for each smoking status subgroup. Results: Of nine eligible randomized trials, one investigated clopidogrel compared with aspirin, four investigated clopidogrel plus aspirin compared with aspirin alone, and one investigated double dose compared with standard dose clopidogrel; these trials include 74 489 patients, of whom 21 717 (29%) were smokers. Among smokers, patients randomized to clopidogrel experienced a 25% reduction in the primary composite clinical outcome of cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke compared with patients in the control groups (relative risk 0.75, 95% confidence interval 0.67 to 0.83). In nonsmokers, however, clopidogrel produced just an 8% reduction in the composite outcome (0.92, 0.87 to 0.98). Two studies investigated prasugrel plus aspirin compared with clopidogrel plus aspirin, and one study investigated ticagrelor plus aspirin compared with clopidogrel plus aspirin. In smokers, the relative risk was 0.71 (0.61 to 0.82) for prasugrel compared with clopidogrel and 0.83 (0.68 to 1.00) for ticagrelor compared with clopidogrel. Corresponding relative risks were 0.92 (0.83 to 1.01) and 0.89 (0.79 to 1.00) among nonsmokers. Conclusions: In randomized clinical trials of antiplatelet drugs, the reported clinical benefit of clopidogrel in reducing cardiovascular death, myocardial infarction, and stroke was seen primarily in smokers, with little benefit in nonsmokers

Balancing the Benefits and Risks of 2 Doses of Dabigatran Compared With Warfarin in Atrial Fibrillation

ObjectivesThis study sought to compare the net clinical benefit of dabigatran 110 mg bid and 150 mg bid with that of warfarin in patients with atrial fibrillation (AF).BackgroundIn patients with AF, dabigatran 110 mg bid and 150 mg bid are associated with similar rates of death. However, the higher dose reduces ischemic stroke and increases bleeding compared with the lower dose. Therefore, there is uncertainty about how to evaluate the overall benefit of the 2 doses.MethodsIn 18,113 AF patients in the RE-LY (Randomized Evaluation of Long Term Anticoagulant Therapy) trial, we used a previously developed method for integrating ischemic and bleeding events as “ischemic stroke equivalents” in order to compare a weighted benefit of 2 doses of dabigatran with each other, and with that of warfarin.ResultsCompared with warfarin, there was a significant decrease in ischemic stroke equivalents with both dabigatran doses: –0.92 per 100 patient years (95% confidence interval [CI]: –1.74 to −0.21, p = 0.02) with dabigatran 110 mg bid and –1.08 (95% CI: –1.86 to −0.34, p = 0.01) with dabigatran 150 mg bid. There was no significant difference in ischemic stroke equivalents between the 2 doses: –0.16 (95% CI: –0.80 to 0.43) comparing dabigatran 150 mg bid with 110 bid. When including death in the weighted benefit calculations, the results were similar.ConclusionsOn a group level both doses of dabigatran as compared with warfarin have similar benefits when considering a weighted estimate including both efficacy and safety. The similar overall benefits of the 2 doses of dabigatran versus warfarin support individualizing the dose based on patient characteristics and physician and patient preferences. (Randomized Evaluation of Long Term Anticoagulant Therapy [RE-LY] With Dabigatran Etexilate; NCT00262600

Isolated Idiopathic Aortitis with an Unusually Thickened Aortic Wall: Case Report

Aortitis includes a broad range of disorders involving inflammation of the aorta. While most forms of aortitis can be linked to a specific cause, patients with idiopathic aortitis (IDA), are asymptomatic and usually diagnosed after surgical removal. The specific pathophysiology is not well understood, but can be strongly associated with tobacco smoking, young age at presentation, and family history of aortic aneurysm. Wall thickening is the most common physical characteristic of aortitis, and the inflammation can affect any layer of the aorta. The normal wall thickness of the aorta is less than 4 mm and can be as thick as 9 mm. Few studies document a correlation between wall thickness and the severity of aortitis. This paper presents a unique case of severe aortic aneurysm associated with an abnormal thickening of the ascending aorta

Health screening, cardiometabolic disease and adverse health outcomes in individuals with severe mental illness

Background: Poor physical health in severe mental illness (SMI) remains a major issue for clinical practice. Aims: To use electronic health records of routinely collected clinical data to determine levels of screening for cardiometabolic disease and adverse health outcomes in a large sample (n = 7718) of patients with SMI, predominantly schizophrenia and bipolar disorder. Method: We linked data from the Glasgow Psychosis Clinical Information System (PsyCIS) to morbidity records, routine blood results and prescribing data. Results: There was no record of routine blood monitoring during the preceding 2 years for 16.9% of the cohort. However, monitoring was poorer for male patients, younger patients aged 16–44, those with schizophrenia, and for tests of cholesterol, triglyceride and glycosylated haemoglobin. We estimated that 8.0% of participants had diabetes and that lipids levels, and use of lipid-lowering medication, was generally high. Conclusions: Electronic record linkage identified poor health screening and adverse health outcomes in this vulnerable patient group. This approach can inform the design of future interventions and health policy

Five High-Redshift Quasars Discovered in Commissioning Imaging Data of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey

We report the discovery of five quasars with redshifts of 4.67 - 5.27 and z'-band magnitudes of 19.5-20.7 M_B ~ -27. All were originally selected as distant quasar candidates in optical/near-infrared photometry from the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS), and most were confirmed as probable high-redshift quasars by supplementing the SDSS data with J and K measurements. The quasars possess strong, broad Lyman-alpha emission lines, with the characteristic sharp cutoff on the blue side produced by Lyman-alpha forest absorption. Three quasars contain strong, broad absorption features, and one of them exhibits very strong N V emission. The amount of absorption produced by the Lyman-alpha forest increases toward higher redshift, and that in the z=5.27 object (D_A ~ 0.7) is consistent with a smooth extrapolation of the absorption seen in lower redshift quasars. The high luminosity of these objects relative to most other known objects at z >~ 5 makes them potentially valuable as probes of early quasar properties and of the intervening intergalactic medium.Comment: 13 pages in LaTex format, two postscirpt figures. Submitted to the Astronomical Journa

Edoxaban: an update on the new oral direct factor Xa inhibitor.

Edoxaban is a once-daily oral anticoagulant that rapidly and selectively inhibits factor Xa in a concentration-dependent manner. This review describes the extensive clinical development program of edoxaban, including phase III studies in patients with non-valvular atrial fibrillation (NVAF) and symptomatic venous thromboembolism (VTE). The ENGAGE AF-TIMI 48 study (N = 21,105; mean CHADS2 score 2.8) compared edoxaban 60 mg once daily (high-dose regimen) and edoxaban 30 mg once daily (low-dose regimen) with dose-adjusted warfarin [international normalized ratio (INR) 2.0-3.0] and found that both regimens were non-inferior to warfarin in the prevention of stroke and systemic embolism in patients with NVAF. Both edoxaban regimens also provided significant reductions in the risk of hemorrhagic stroke, cardiovascular mortality, major bleeding and intracranial bleeding. The Hokusai-VTE study (N = 8,292) in patients with symptomatic VTE had a flexible treatment duration of 3-12 months and found that following initial heparin, edoxaban 60 mg once daily was non-inferior to dose-adjusted warfarin (INR 2.0-3.0) for the prevention of recurrent VTE, and also had a significantly lower risk of bleeding events. Both studies randomized patients at moderate-to-high risk of thromboembolic events and were further designed to simulate routine clinical practice as much as possible, with edoxaban dose reduction (halving dose) at randomisation or during the study if required, a frequently monitored and well-controlled warfarin group, a well-monitored transition period at study end and a flexible treatment duration in Hokusai-VTE. Given the phase III results obtained, once-daily edoxaban may soon be a key addition to the range of antithrombotic treatment options

Dissociated Grey Matter Changes with Prolonged Addiction and Extended Abstinence in Cocaine Users

Extensive evidence indicates that current and recently abstinent cocaine abusers compared to drug-naïve controls have decreased grey matter in regions such as the anterior cingulate, lateral prefrontal and insular cortex. Relatively little is known, however, about the persistence of these deficits in long-term abstinence despite the implications this has for recovery and relapse. Optimized voxel based morphometry was used to assess how local grey matter volume varies with years of drug use and length of abstinence in a cross-sectional study of cocaine users with various durations of abstinence (1–102 weeks) and years of use (0.3–24 years). Lower grey matter volume associated with years of use was observed for several regions including anterior cingulate, inferior frontal gyrus and insular cortex. Conversely, higher grey matter volumes associated with abstinence duration were seen in non-overlapping regions that included the anterior and posterior cingulate, insular, right ventral and left dorsal prefrontal cortex. Grey matter volumes in cocaine dependent individuals crossed those of drug-naïve controls after 35 weeks of abstinence, with greater than normal volumes in users with longer abstinence. The brains of abstinent users are characterized by regional grey matter volumes, which on average, exceed drug-naïve volumes in those users who have maintained abstinence for more than 35 weeks. The asymmetry between the regions showing alterations with extended years of use and prolonged abstinence suggest that recovery involves distinct neurobiological processes rather than being a reversal of disease-related changes. Specifically, the results suggest that regions critical to behavioral control may be important to prolonged, successful, abstinence

Coreceptor affinity for MHC defines peptide specificity requirements for TCR interaction with coagonist peptide-MHC

Recent work has demonstrated that nonstimulatory endogenous peptides can enhance T cell recognition of antigen, but MHCI- and MHCII-restricted systems have generated very different results. MHCII-restricted TCRs need to interact with the nonstimulatory peptide–MHC (pMHC), showing peptide specificity for activation enhancers or coagonists. In contrast, the MHCI-restricted cells studied to date show no such peptide specificity for coagonists, suggesting that CD8 binding to noncognate MHCI is more important. Here we show how this dichotomy can be resolved by varying CD8 and TCR binding to agonist and coagonists coupled with computer simulations, and we identify two distinct mechanisms by which CD8 influences the peptide specificity of coagonism. Mechanism 1 identifies the requirement of CD8 binding to noncognate ligand and suggests a direct relationship between the magnitude of coagonism and CD8 affinity for coagonist pMHCI. Mechanism 2 describes how the affinity of CD8 for agonist pMHCI changes the requirement for specific coagonist peptides. MHCs that bind CD8 strongly were tolerant of all or most peptides as coagonists, but weaker CD8-binding MHCs required stronger TCR binding to coagonist, limiting the potential coagonist peptides. These findings in MHCI systems also explain peptide-specific coagonism in MHCII-restricted cells, as CD4–MHCII interaction is generally weaker than CD8–MHCI.National Institutes of Health (U.S.). Pioneer Awar