Use of a Fungicide to Reduce Stomatal Conductance in Sweet Corn Planted at Different Populations with Limited Irrigation

In 2015, increasing seeding rates increased the number of harvested sweet corn ears; however, total fresh weight did not increase above 22,500 seeds/acre. Sweet corn was little affected by limited irrigation or a fungicide applied for stomatal control

Secukinumab sustains improvement in signs and symptoms of psoriatic arthritis: 2 year results from the phase 3 FUTURE 2 study

Objectives. To assess long-term efficacy, safety and tolerability of secukinumab up to 104 weeks in patients with active PsA. Methods. Patients with PsA (n = 397) were randomized to s.c. secukinumab 300, 150 or 75 mg or placebo at baseline, weeks 1, 2, 3 and 4 and every 4 weeks thereafter. Placebo-treated patients were re-randomized to receive secukinumab 300 or 150 mg s.c. from week 16 (placebo non-responders) or week 24 (placebo responders). Exploratory endpoints at week 104 included 20, 50 and 70% improvement in ACR criteria (ACR20, 50, 70); 75 and 90% improvement in the Psoriasis Area Severity Index, 28-joint DAS with CRP, presence of dactylitis and enthesitis and other patient-reported outcomes. For binary variables, missing values were imputed; continuous variables were analysed by a mixed-effects model for repeated measures. Results. A total of 86/100 (86%), 76/100 (76%) and 65/99 (66%) patients in the secukinumab 300, 150 and 75 mg groups, respectively, completed 104 weeks. At week 104, ACR20 response rates after multiple imputation in the 300, 150 and 75 mg groups were 69.4, 64.4 and 50.3%, respectively. Sustained clinical improvements were observed through week 104 with secukinumab across other clinically important domains of PsA. Responses were sustained through week 104 regardless of prior anti-TNF-a use. Over the entire treatment period the incidence, type and severity of adverse events were consistent with those reported previously. Conclusion. Secukinumab provided sustained improvements in signs and symptoms and multiple clinical domains in patients of active PsA through 2 years of therapy. Secukinumab was well tolerated, with a safety profile consistent with that reported previously. Trial registration: ClinicalTrials.gov (https://clinicaltrials.gov), NCT0175263

Building a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive drivers of performance under pressure: an international multi-panel Delphi study.

The ability to perform optimally under pressure is critical across many occupations, including the military, first responders and competitive sport. Despite recognition that such performance depends on a range of cognitive factors, how common these factors are across performance domains remains unclear. The current study sought to integrate existing knowledge in the performance field in the form of a transdisciplinary expert consensus on the cognitive mechanisms that underlie performance under pressure. International experts were recruited from four performance domains: (i) defense; (ii) competitive sport; (iii) civilian high-stakes; and (iv) performance neuroscience. Experts rated constructs from the Research Domain Criteria (RDoC) framework (and several expert-suggested constructs) across successive rounds, until all constructs reached consensus for inclusion or were eliminated. Finally, included constructs were ranked for their relative importance. Sixty-eight experts completed the first Delphi round, with 94% of experts retained by the end of the Delphi process. The following 10 constructs reached consensus across all four panels (in order of overall ranking): (1) attention; (2) cognitive control-performance monitoring; (3) arousal and regulatory systems-arousal; (4) cognitive control-goal selection, updating, representation and maintenance; (5) cognitive control-response selection and inhibition/suppression; (6) working memory-flexible updating; (7) working memory-active maintenance; (8) perception and understanding of self-self-knowledge; (9) working memory-interference control; and (10) expert-suggested-shifting. Our results identify a set of transdisciplinary neuroscience-informed constructs, validated through expert consensus. This expert consensus is critical to standardizing cognitive assessment and informing mechanism-targeted interventions in the broader field of human performance optimization

The Importance Of Managing Arthritis In Patients With Both Moderate-To-Severe Psoriasis And Psoriatic Arthritis

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A randomised trial comparing three Delphi feedback strategies found no evidence of a difference in a setting with high initial agreement

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Soil quality after eight years under high tunnels

The sustainability of soil quality under high tunnels will influence management of high tunnels currently in use and grower decisions regarding design and management of new high tunnels to be constructed. Soil quality was quantified using measures of soil pH, salinity, total carbon, and particulate organic matter (POM) carbon in a silt loam soil that had been in vegetable production under high tunnels at the research station in Olathe, KS, for eight years. Soil under high tunnels was compared with that in adjacent fields in both a conventional and an organic management system. The eight-year presence of high tunnels under the conventional management system resulted in increased soil pH and salinity but did not affect soil carbon. In the organic management system, high tunnels did not affect soil pH, increased soil salinity, and influenced soil carbon (C) pools with an increase in POM carbon. The increases in soil salinity were not enough to be detrimental to crops. These results indicate that soil quality was not adversely affected by eight years under stationary high tunnels managed with conventionally or organically produced vegetable crops

Interscalene brachial plexus block for surgical repair of clavicle fracture: a matched case-controlled study.

Innervation of the clavicle is complex and debated, with scarce data on the analgesic and clinical impact of regional anaesthesia after surgical repair of clavicle fracture. In order to assess the analgesic efficiency of an interscalene brachial plexus block (ISB) for surgical repair of clavicle fracture, 50 consecutive patients scheduled for surgical fixation of middle/lateral clavicle fracture under general anaesthesia with ISB were prospectively enrolled. This cohort was compared to a historical control of 76 retrospective patients without regional block. The primary outcome was total intravenous morphine equivalent consumption at 2 postoperative hours. To assess the ISB impact, both an overall cohort analysis and a case-matched analysis with each ISB-treated patient matched to a Non-ISB-treated patient was performed. Matching employed a 1-to-1, nearest-neighbour approach using the Mahalanobis metric. In the overall cohort, patients with ISB had significantly lower i.v. morphine equivalent consumption at 2 postoperative hours (0.7 mg (95% CI 0.1 to 1.2) versus controls 8.8 mg (95% CI 7.1 to 10.4); P < 0.0001). These results persisted after case-matching the cohorts (mean difference for the primary outcome: 8.3 mg (95% CI 6.5 to 10.0); P < 0.001). ISB provides effective analgesia after surgical fixation of middle and lateral clavicle fracture. These results should help physicians in establishing an analgesic strategy for this type of surgery. Further research is needed to identify the optimal regional technique for medial third clavicle fractures and the clinically relevant contributions of the cervical and brachial plexus. Clinicaltrials.gov - NCT02565342, October 1st 2015