Legume based pasture rejuvenation for greenhouse gas outcomes

Non-Peer ReviewedIncorporating legumes into a grass based pasture system has multiple benefits. A grass/legume blend increases the dietary protein of foraging cattle over grass alone. Furthermore, symbiotic biological nitrogen fixation introduces additional nitrogen to the pasture system thereby potentially lessening the need for synthetic fertilizers. However, over time, pastures initially seeded with a blend of grasses and legumes will tend towards increasing grass dominance such that the presence and benefits of legumes diminishes. Reestablishing legumes on a mature pasture can restore these important functions. By improving ruminant diet and therefore feed conversion ratios as well as decreasing nitrogen fertilizer applications, pasture rejuvenation, through the introduction of legumes, is expected to lower the greenhouse gas cost of grazing livestock on a per output basis. However, disturbance of soils, which can be part of various rejuvenation techniques, can result in losses of soil carbon thereby offsetting potential at least some of the greenhouse gas benefits. Sod-seeding may be an effective strategy to establish legumes in a mature pasture thereby incurring benefits without heavily disrupting soils and incurring soil carbon loss. To test this, a multiyear experiment, including cattle, vegetation (specifically the incorporation of non-bloat legumes: cicer milkvetch and sainfoin), soils and microbiota, was established near Lanigan, SK to examine the impact of sod-seeded legume pasture rejuvenation on greenhouse gases

Early intervention for adolescents with Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome - a pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Self-reported knee pain is highly prevalent among adolescents. As much as 50% of the non-specific knee pain may be attributed to Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome (PFPS). In the short term, exercise therapy appears to have a better effect than patient education consisting of written information and general advice on exercise or compared with placebo treatment. But the long-term effect of exercise therapy compared with patient education is conflicting. The purpose of this study is to examine the short- and long-term effectiveness of patient education compared with patient education and multimodal physiotherapy applied at a very early stage of the condition among adolescents.</p> <p>Methods/Design</p> <p>This study is a single blind pragmatic cluster randomised controlled trial. Four upper secondary schools have been invited to participate in the study (approximately 2500 students, aged 15-19 years). Students are asked to answer an online questionnaire regarding musculoskeletal pain. The students who report knee pain are contacted by telephone and offered a clinical examination by a rheumatologist. Subjects who fit the inclusion criteria and are diagnosed with PFPS are invited to participate in the study. A minimum of 102 students with PFPS are then cluster-randomised into two intervention groups based on which school they attend. Both intervention groups receive written information and education. In addition to patient education, one group receives multimodal physiotherapy consisting primarily of neuromuscular training of the muscles around the foot, knee and hip and home exercises.</p> <p>The students with PFPS fill out self-reported questionnaires at baseline, 3, 6, 12 and 24 months after inclusion in the study. The primary outcome measure is perception of recovery measured on a 7-point Likert scale ranging from "completely recovered" to "worse than ever" at 12 months.</p> <p>Discussion</p> <p>This study is designed to investigate the effectiveness of patient education compared with patient education combined with multimodal physiotherapy. If patient education and multimodal physiotherapy applied at an early stage of Patellofemoral Pain Syndrome proves effective, it may serve as a basis for optimising the clinical pathway for those suffering from the condition, where specific emphasis can be placed on early diagnosis and early treatment.</p> <p>Trial Registration</p> <p>clinicaltrials.gov reference: <a href="http://www.clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01438762">NCT01438762</a></p

A Systematic Review of Dynamometry and its Role in Hand Trauma Assessment

The dynamometer was developed by American neurologists and came into general use in the late 19th century. It is still used in various ways as a diagnostic and prognostic tool in clinical settings. In this systematic review we assessed in detail the different uses of dynamometry, its reliability, different dynamometers used and the influence of rater experience by bringing together and evaluating all published literature in this field. It was found that dynamometry is applied in a wide range of medical conditions. Furthermore, the great majority of studies reported acceptable to high reliability of dynamometry. Jamar mechanical dynamometer was used most often in the studies reviewed. There were mixed results concerning the effect of rater experience. The factors influencing the results of dynamometry were identified as age, gender, body weight, grip strength, BMI, non/dominant hand, assessing upper/lower limbs, rater and patient’s strength and the distance from the joint where the dynamometer is placed. This review provides an understanding of the relevance and significance of dynamometry which should serve as a starting point to guide its use in hand trauma assessment. On the basis of our findings, we suggest that hand dynamometry has a great potential, and could be used more often in clinical practice

Toxicant Exposure and Bioaccumulation: A Common and Potentially Reversible Cause of Cognitive Dysfunction and Dementia

Juxtaposed alongside the ongoing rise in the incidence and prevalence of dementia, is the surge of recent research confirming widespread exposure and bioaccumulation of chemical toxicants. Evidence from sources such as the Centers for Disease Control reveals that most people have accrued varying degrees of assorted toxic pollutants including heavy metals, flame retardants, and pesticide residues within their bodies. It has been well established that many of these toxicants have neurodegenerative as well as neurodevelopmental impact as a result of various pathophysiologic mechanisms including neuronal mitochondrial toxicity and disruption of neurotransmitter regulation. Elimination of stockpiled toxicants from the body may diminish adverse toxicant impact on human biology and allow restoration of normal physiological function. Incorporating a review of medical literature on toxicant exposure and dementia with a case history of a lead-exposed individual diagnosed with dementia, this paper will discuss a much overlooked and potentially widespread cause of declining brain function and dementia.Peer Reviewe

The cmk Gene Encoding Cytidine Monophosphate Kinase is located in the rpsA Operon and is required for normal replication rate in Escherichia coli

A gene encoding a polypeptide of 25 kDa is located immediately upstream of the gene for ribosomal protein S1, rpsA. In high gene copy number, this gene, mssA, was previously found to suppress defects in smbA, which is now known to be identical to pyrH, encoding UMP kinase. We show here that the 25-kDa polypeptide comprises CMP kinase and propose that the gene be designated cmk. In a strain deleted for cmk, the pools of CMP and dCMP were elevated approximately 30-fold. We constructed a plasmid from which synthesis of CMP kinase was regulated by the lac promoter-operator and measured the synthesis rates for RNA and DNA after induction in the delta cmk/lacPO-cmk+ strain. A specific increase in the rate of DNA synthesis was observed. Further analyses showed that the replication elongation rate was halved in the delta cmk strain, most likely caused by the reductions of the dCTP and dTTP pools to 30 and 70%, respectively, of the levels in the parental strain, but that this was compensated for by a doubling in the frequency of initiation. The delta cmk strain is viable at 37 degrees C but cold sensitive. The cold sensitivity may be related to defects in the synthesis of phospholipids or lipopolysaccharides. In addition to the physiological studies, the region upstream of cmk was sequenced, and 120 codons with strong homology to an uncharacterized protein of the speB operon were identified

Review of Elastic Visco-Plastic Modeling of the Time-Dependent Stress-Strain Behavior of Soils and Its Extensions and Applications

This paper presents a brief review of the works of elastic visco-plastic (EVP) modelling of the time-dependent stress-strain behaviour of soils in one-dimensional straining (1D) and in 3D stress state. A few important concepts and their physical meanings are explained. The 1D EVP model is briefly reviewed with a comparison with the classic Maxwell’s rheological model. It is found that Yin and Graham’s 1D EVP model is an extension of Maxwell’s rheological model for considering the nonlinear behaviour of soils. A nonlinear creep function proposed by the author is presented. This function has been used in refined 1D and 3D EVP models. The recent extension of the EVP modelling framework to consider the swelling of a saturated soil is introduced. New developments and applications done by other researchers are also briefly summarized. It is found that, in general speaking, the EVP modelling framework is suitable as a theoretical basis for modelling the time-dependent stress-strain behaviour of many clayey soils. However, this framework shall be modified or extended to consider special characteristics of the viscous behaviour of soils such as swelling of saturated and unsaturated soils and other geomaterials.Department of Civil and Environmental Engineerin