Sorghum Ergot: New Disease Threat to the Sorghum Industry

2 pp., 1 color photoSorghum ergot is caused by a fungus that infects the ovaries of sorghum flowers, converting each into a white fungal mass. First discovered in Texas in March 1997, the fungus can produce large amounts of honeydew that interferes with harvest and supports soprophytic fungal growth

Sorghum Ergot: New Disease Threat to the Sorghum Industry

2 pp., 1 color photoSorghum ergot is caused by a fungus that infects the ovaries of sorghum flowers, converting each into a white fungal mass. First discovered in Texas in March 1997, the fungus can produce large amounts of honeydew that interferes with harvest and supports soprophytic fungal growth

Commercial Pecans: Controlling Rosette, Diseases and Zinc Deficiency

7 pp., 6 tablesPecan losses from diseases and insufficient zinc nutrition can be prevented by following effective grove management practices. Descriptions of diseases and recommendations for controls are included

Intratumor depletion of CD4+ cells unmasks tumor immunogenicity leading to the rejection of late-stage tumors

Tumor environment can be critical for preventing the immunological destruction of antigenic tumors. We have observed a selective accumulation of CD4+CD25+ T cells inside tumors. In a murine fibrosarcoma Ld-expressing Ag104, these cells made up the majority of tumor-infiltrating lymphocytes at the late stage of tumor progression, and their depletion during the effector phase, rather than priming phase, successfully enhanced antitumor immunity. We show here that CD4+CD25+ T cells suppressed the proliferation and interferon-γ production of CD8+ T cells in vivo at the local tumor site. Blockade of the effects of IL-10 and TGF-β partially reversed the suppression imposed by the CD4+ cells. Furthermore, local depletion of CD4+ cells inside the tumor resulted in a change of cytokine milieu and led to the eradication of well-established highly aggressive tumors and the development of long-term antitumor memory. Therefore, CD4+CD25+ T cells maintained an environment in the tumor that concealed the immunogenicity of tumor cells to permit progressive growth of antigenic tumors. Our study illustrates that the suppression of antitumor immunity by regulatory T cells occurs predominantly at the tumor site, and that local reversal of suppression, even at a late stage of tumor development, can be an effective treatment for well-established cancers

A concept for multiterawatt fibre lasers based on coherent pulse stacking in passive cavities

Since the advent of femtosecond lasers, performance improvements have constantly impacted on existing applications and enabled novel applications. However, one performance feature bearing the potential of a quantum leap for high-field applications is still not available: the simultaneous emission of extremely high peak and average powers. Emerging applications such as laser particle acceleration require exactly this performance regime and, therefore, challenge laser technology at large. On the one hand, canonical bulk systems can provide pulse peak powers in the multi-terawatt to petawatt range, while on the other hand, advanced solid-state-laser concepts such as the thin disk, slab or fibre are well known for their high efficiency and their ability to emit high average powers in the kilowatt range with excellent beam quality. In this contribution, a compact laser system capable of simultaneously providing high peak and average powers with high wall-plug efficiency is proposed and analysed. The concept is based on the temporal coherent combination (pulse stacking) of a pulse train emitted from a high-repetition-rate femtosecond laser system in a passive enhancement cavity. Thus, the pulse energy is increased at the cost of the repetition rate while almost preserving the average power. The concept relies on a fast switching element for dumping the enhanced pulse out of the cavity. The switch constitutes the key challenge of our proposal. Addressing this challenge could, for the first time, allow the highly efficient dumping of joule-class pulses at megawatt average power levels and lead to unprecedented laser parameters

Nephrogenic systemic fibrosis associated with stromal and vascular calcification, report of two cases

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/75035/1/j.1600-0560.2008.01205.x.pd

Airborne lipid antigens mobilize resident intravascular NKT cells to induce allergic airway inflammation

Resident intravascular NKT cells exacerbate airway hyperreactivity in mice dependent on dendritic cell co-presentation of glycolipid and peptide antigens

Texas Plant Diseases Handbook: Chemical Control Supplement for Vegetables.

76 p