The influence of the phosphorus and calcium content of feeds on growth, feed conversion and slaughter quality, and on the chemical, mechanical and histological parameters of the bone tissue of pigs.

In a 2 X 4 factorial experiment on 96 individually housed pigs, 2 calcium/phosphorus ratios (1.3 and 1.9) and 4 phosphorus levels (0.4, 0.5, 0.6, 0.7% total P) were tested. The influence of the treatments on growth, feed conversion and slaughter quality was measured. The experiment showed the 1.3 Ca/P ratio to be more favourable than the 1.9 ratio. A P content of 0.6% was sufficient for good growth and favourable feed conversion. The quality of the bone tissue, for which the specific response resistance to distortion and breaking was used as a standard, was close to maximum when P in the feed was 0.6%. The strength of the whole bone, measured as the bending moment for distortion and breaking, was greatest when P was highest; mineralization of the bone also showed a further increase when the P content in the feed increased from 0.6 to 0.7%.During the experiment only a few cases of leg weakness were noted; these occurred throughout all the experimental treatments. On the basis of the results, the P and Ca requirements for optimal growth and feed conversion for the modern Dutch pig are 0.6% and 0.78%. More of these minerals in the feed may, however, increase deposition in the skeleton. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Data communication at the CERN computer centre

The growing interest for on-line computer service and process control at CERN decentralises certain computer activities. Small process computers, remote batch stations and user terminals are to be backed by a powerful central computer. The present data network is principally star shaped. At the centre of it is a CDC 6600-6500 computer combination. It has a front end CDC 3100 computer with a Hewlett Packard 2116 as multiplexer. Some details about the fast parallel connections between the CDC 3100 and the HP 2116B are given in the paper, as well as descriptions of some computer simulation techniques used to test the present systems. Finally some plans on a future network are given. (12 refs)

A reversion of an IL2RG mutation in combined immunodeficiency providing competitive advantage to the majority of CD8+ T cells

Mutations in the common gamma chain (γc, CD132, encoded by the IL2RG gene) can lead to B+T-NK-X-linked severe combined immunodeficiency, as a consequence of unresponsiveness to γc-cytokines such as interleukins-2, -7 and -15. Hypomorphic mutations in CD132 may cause combined immunodeficiencies with a variety of clinical presentations. We analyzed peripheral blood mononuclear cells of a 6-year-old boy with normal lymphocyte counts, who suffered from recurrent pneumonia and disseminated mollusca contagiosa. Since proliferative responses of T cells and NK cells to γc -cytokines were severely impaired, we performed IL2RG gene analysis, showing a heterozygous mutation in the presence of a single X-chromosome. Interestingly, an IL2RG reversion to normal predominated in both naïve and antigen-primed CD8+ T cells and increased over time. Only the revertant CD8+T cells showed normal expression of CD132 and the various CD8+T cell populations had a different T-cell receptor repertoire. Finally, a fraction of γδ+T cells and differentiated CD4+CD27-effector-memory T cells carried the reversion, whereas NK or B cells were repeatedly negative. In conclusion, in a patient with a novel IL2RG mutation, gene-reverted CD8+T cells accumulated over time. Our data indicate that selective outgrowth of particular T-cell subsets may occur following reversion at the level of committed T progenitor cells

Spatial variability in sustainable development trajectories in South Africa:provincial level safe and just operating spaces

The Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) represents the first globally agreed framework to address human development and environmental stewardship in an integrated way. One approach to summarising national SDG status is our “barometer for inclusive sustainable development in South Africa”. The barometer downscales global social and planetary boundaries to provide status and trends for 20 critical indicators of environmental stress and social deprivation. In this paper, we explore the sub-national heterogeneity in sustainable development indicators by creating barometers defining the ‘safe and just operating space’ for South Africa’s nine provinces. Our results show that environmental stress varies significantly and provinces need to focus on quite different issues. Although generally environmental stress is increasing, there are areas where it is decreasing, most notably, marine harvesting. Social deprivation results show more of a pattern with high levels of deprivation in employment, income and safety across the provinces, and historically disadvantaged provinces showing the most deprivation overall. Although deprivation is generally decreasing, there are notable exceptions such as food security in six provinces. Our provincial barometers and trend plots are novel in that they present comparable environmental and social data on key indicators over time for all South Africa’s provinces. They are visual tools that communicate the range of key challenges and risks that provincial governments face, and are non-specialist and accessible to a range of audiences. In addition, the paper provides a critical case study of spatial disaggregation of national data that is required for the SDGs implementation

The Arabidopsis RNA Polymerase II Carboxyl Terminal Domain (CTD) Phosphatase-Like1 (CPL1) is a biotic stress susceptibility gene

© 2018, The Author(s). Crop breeding for improved disease resistance may be achieved through the manipulation of host susceptibility genes. Previously we identified multiple Arabidopsis mutants known as enhanced stress response1 (esr1) that have defects in a KH-domain RNA-binding protein and conferred increased resistance to the root fungal pathogen Fusarium oxysporum. Here, screening the same mutagenized population we discovered two further enhanced stress response mutants that also conferred enhanced resistance to F. oxysporum. These mutants also have enhanced resistance to a leaf fungal pathogen (Alternaria brassicicola) and an aphid pest (Myzus persicae), but not to the bacterial leaf pathogen Pseudomonas syringae. The causal alleles in these mutants were found to have defects in the ESR1 interacting protein partner RNA Polymerase II Carboxyl Terminal Domain (CTD) Phosphatase-Like1 (CPL1) and subsequently given the allele symbols cpl1-7 and cpl1-8. These results define a new role for CPL1 as a pathogen and pest susceptibility gene. Global transcriptome analysis and oxidative stress assays showed these cpl1 mutants have increased tolerance to oxidative stress. In particular, components of biotic stress responsive pathways were enriched in cpl1 over wild-type up-regulated gene expression datasets including genes related to defence, heat shock proteins and oxidative stress/redox state processes

Het verstrekken van stro, compost en tuinaarde aan mestvarkens = The supply of straw, compost and garden mould to fattening pigs

Vergelijkingsonderzoek onder mestvarkens naar de invloed van achtereenvolgens stro verstrekken met behulp van manden, kompost verstrekken op een vlonder en het verstrekken van tuinaarde met behulp van een automaat op afwijkende gedragingen (zoals knabbelen aan elkaar en staartbijten) bij mestvarken