Spatial Variability and Error Limits of Reference Evapotranspiration Estimates

The overall objective of this research was to develop a methodology for assessing the spatial variability and error limits of reference evapotranspiration (ETr) estimates from a weather station network. Likely errors introduced into ETr estimates due to sensor measurement variability and nonstandard site conditions were investigated. Temporal and spatial correlation structures of the weather variables used to compute ETr and of ETr data collected over a three-year period by an operational agricultural weather station network were studied. Results indicated that ETr errors are minimal compared to inherent model error when sensors (of the type studied) are maintained and calibrated to operate with measurement errors that are within the limits of manufacturer\u27s specifications of accuracy. Sensor evaluation studies showed new and recalibrated/reconditioned sensors often were operating within the limits of accuracy specifications. A methodology for adjusting maximum, minimum, and dewpoint temperature data collected at arid weather measurement sites to reflect the conditions of an irrigated measurement site was developed. Positive bias in air temperatures and negative bias in dewpoint temperatures measured at arid sites resulted in positive bias in ETr. as much as 17% greater (approximately 1.4 mm d-1) in July and August, at some arid sites as compared to an irrigated reference site. Weather data adjustment algorithms based on daily energy and soil water balances at the dry sites were developed. These provided effective removal of bias in the dry station data and ETr estimates. Univariate autoregressive models of daily weather parameters--maximum and minimum temperature, solar radiation, dewpoint temperature and wind speed, and daily ETr--were developed using standard time series analysis approaches. These models can be used to forecast/estimate weather variables or ETr at the weather station sites studied. Space-time models were developed for each variable as multivariate AA(1) processes, having lag one temporal correlation and lag zero and lag one spatial correlation. The lag zero cross correlation matrixes of standardized zero-mean, and spatially and seasonally detrended residuals of each variable were analyzed with interstation distances and with contoured isoline plots imposed on the network area. This revealed that geographically nearest neighbor stations were not always the most correlated. Interpolation of observations between and among network sites should include consideration of spatial correlation structure as well as physical proximity. The multivariate AR(1) models were used in state-space representation with the Kalman filter to determine statistically optimal estimates of the true state of a network variable at a given time. The effects of maximum and minimum weather data measurement errors found during the course of this research were evaluated in the Kalman filter. Kalman filter ETr estimation error was equivalent to the reported error of the Penman-Wright ETr model. The Kalman filter was shown to be an effective spatial interpolation technique for ETr. Using stations that were best correlated to a suppressed fictitious point interpolation site was more efficient than using stations that were geographically closest, i.e., only three best correlated stations provided the same ETr estimation error as was obtained using six nearest neighbors

Meeting irrigation demands in a water-challenged environment

Presented at Meeting irrigation demands in a water-challenged environment: SCADA and technology: tools to improve production: a USCID water management conference held on September 28 - October 1, 2010 in Fort Collins, Colorado.Includes bibliographical references.Accurate estimates of spatially distributed evapotranspiration (ET) using remote sensing inputs could help improve crop water management, the assessment of regional drought conditions, irrigation efficiency, ground water depletion, and the verification of the use of water rights over large irrigated areas. In this study, ET was mapped using surface reflectance and radiometric temperature images from the Landsat 5 satellite in a surface energy budget algorithm driven by a surface aerodynamic temperature (SAT_ET) model. The SAT_ET model was developed using surface temperature, horizontal wind speed, air temperature and crop biophysical characteristic measured over an irrigated alfalfa field in Southeastern Colorado. Estimates of the remote sensing-based ET for a 4.0 hectare alfalfa field and a 3.5 hectare oats field, during the 2009 cropping season, were evaluated using two monolithic weighing lysimeters located at the Colorado State University Arkansas Valley Research Center (AVRC) in Rocky Ford, Colorado. Although the overall model performance was encouraging, results indicated that the SAT_ET model performed well under dry atmospheric and soil conditions and less accurately under high air relative humidity and soil water content conditions. These findings are evidence that SAT_ET needs to be further developed to perform better under a range of environmental and atmospheric conditions

Managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitors: consensus recommendations from the Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) Toxicity Management Working Group.

Cancer immunotherapy has transformed the treatment of cancer. However, increasing use of immune-based therapies, including the widely used class of agents known as immune checkpoint inhibitors, has exposed a discrete group of immune-related adverse events (irAEs). Many of these are driven by the same immunologic mechanisms responsible for the drugs\u27 therapeutic effects, namely blockade of inhibitory mechanisms that suppress the immune system and protect body tissues from an unconstrained acute or chronic immune response. Skin, gut, endocrine, lung and musculoskeletal irAEs are relatively common, whereas cardiovascular, hematologic, renal, neurologic and ophthalmologic irAEs occur much less frequently. The majority of irAEs are mild to moderate in severity; however, serious and occasionally life-threatening irAEs are reported in the literature, and treatment-related deaths occur in up to 2% of patients, varying by ICI. Immunotherapy-related irAEs typically have a delayed onset and prolonged duration compared to adverse events from chemotherapy, and effective management depends on early recognition and prompt intervention with immune suppression and/or immunomodulatory strategies. There is an urgent need for multidisciplinary guidance reflecting broad-based perspectives on how to recognize, report and manage organ-specific toxicities until evidence-based data are available to inform clinical decision-making. The Society for Immunotherapy of Cancer (SITC) established a multidisciplinary Toxicity Management Working Group, which met for a full-day workshop to develop recommendations to standardize management of irAEs. Here we present their consensus recommendations on managing toxicities associated with immune checkpoint inhibitor therapy

Regulation of cell survival by sphingosine-1-phosphate receptor S1P1 via reciprocal ERK-dependent suppression of bim and PI-3-kinase/protein kinase C-mediated upregulation of Mcl-1

Although the ability of bioactive lipid sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) to positively regulate anti-apoptotic/pro-survival responses by binding to S1P1 is well known, the molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Here we demonstrate that expression of S1P1 renders CCL39 lung fibroblasts resistant to apoptosis following growth factor withdrawal. Resistance to apoptosis was associated with attenuated accumulation of pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Bim. However, although blockade of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) activation could reverse S1P1-mediated suppression of Bim accumulation, inhibition of caspase-3 cleavage was unaffected. Instead S1P1-mediated inhibition of caspase-3 cleavage was reversed by inhibition of phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K) and protein kinase C (PKC), which had no effect on S1P1 regulation of Bim. However, S1P1 suppression of caspase-3 was associated with increased expression of anti-apoptotic protein Mcl-1, the expression of which was also reduced by inhibition of PI3K and PKC. A role for the induction of Mcl-1 in regulating endogenous S1P receptor-dependent pro-survival responses in human umbilical vein endothelial cells was confirmed using S1P receptor agonist FTY720-phosphate (FTY720P). FTY720P induced a transient accumulation of Mcl-1 that was associated with a delayed onset of caspase-3 cleavage following growth factor withdrawal, whereas Mcl-1 knockdown was sufficient to enhance caspase-3 cleavage even in the presence of FTY720P. Consistent with a pro-survival role of S1P1 in disease, analysis of tissue microarrays from ER+ breast cancer patients revealed a significant correlation between S1P1 expression and tumour cell survival. In these tumours, S1P1 expression and cancer cell survival were correlated with increased activation of ERK, but not the PI3K/PKB pathway. In summary, pro-survival/anti-apoptotic signalling from S1P1 is intimately linked to its ability to promote the accumulation of pro-survival protein Mcl-1 and downregulation of pro-apoptotic BH3-only protein Bim via distinct signalling pathways. However, the functional importance of each pathway is dependent on the specific cellular context

Chemigation in the Pacific Northwest

Published January 1992. Facts and recommendations in this publication may no longer be valid. Please look for up-to-date information in the OSU Extension Catalog: http://extension.oregonstate.edu/catalo

Ovine pedomics : the first study of the ovine foot 16S rRNA-based microbiome

We report the first study of the bacterial microbiome of ovine interdigital skin based on 16S rRNA by pyrosequencing and conventional cloning with Sanger-sequencing. Three flocks were selected, one a flock with no signs of footrot or interdigital dermatitis, a second flock with interdigital dermatitis alone and a third flock with both interdigital dermatitis and footrot. The sheep were classified as having either healthy interdigital skin (H), interdigital dermatitis (ID) or virulent footrot (VFR). The ovine interdigital skin bacterial community varied significantly by flock and clinical condition. The diversity and richness of operational taxonomic units was greater in tissue from sheep with ID than H or VFR affected sheep. Actinobacteria, Bacteriodetes, Firmicutes and Proteobacteria were the most abundant phyla comprising 25 genera. Peptostreptococcus, Corynebacterium and Staphylococcus were associated with H, ID and VFR respectively. Sequences of Dichelobacter nodosus, the causal agent of ovine footrot, were not amplified due to mismatches in the 16S rRNA universal forward primer (27F). A specific real time PCR assay was used to demonstrate the presence of D. nodosus which was detected in all samples including the flock with no signs of ID or VFR. Sheep with ID had significantly higher numbers of D. nodosus (104-109 cells/g tissue) than those with H or VFR feet

Is paternal age associated with transfer day, developmental stage, morphology, and initial hCG-rise of the competent blastocyst leading to live birth?:A multicenter cohort study

In this study we investigated whether age of men undergoing assisted reproductive technology (ART) treatment was associated with day of transfer, stage, morphology, and initial hCG-rise of the competent blastocyst leading to a live birth? The design was a multicenter historical cohort study based on exposure (age) and outcome data (blastocyst stage and morphology and initial hCG-rise) from men whose partner underwent single blastocyst transfer resulting in singleton pregnancy/birth. The ART treatments were carried out at sixteen private and university-based public fertility clinics. We included 7246 men and women, who between 2014 and 2018 underwent controlled ovarian stimulation (COS) or Frozen-thawed Embryo Transfer (FET) with a single blastocyst transfer resulting in singleton pregnancy were identified. 4842 men with a partner giving birth were included, by linking data to the Danish Medical Birth Registry. We showed that the adjusted association between paternal age and transfer day in COS treatments was OR 1.06, 95% CI (1.00;1.13). Meaning that for every increase of one year, men had a 6% increased probability that the competent blastocyst was transferred on day 6 compared to day 5. Further we showed that the mean difference in hCG values when comparing paternal age group 30–34, 35–39 and 40–45 with the age group 25–29 in those receiving COS treatment, all showed significantly lower adjusted values for older men. In conclusion we hypothesize that the later transfer (day 6) in female partners of older men may be due to longer time spent by the oocyte to repair fragmented DNA of the sperm cells, which should be a focus of future research in men

Combined Boyden-Flow Cytometry Assay Improves Quantification and Provides Phenotypification of Leukocyte Chemotaxis

Chemotaxis has been studied by classical methods that measure chemotactic and random motility responses in vitro, but these methods do not evaluate the total number and phenotype of migrating leukocytes simultaneously. Our objective was to develop and validate a novel assay, combined Boyden-flow cytometry chemotaxis assay (CBFCA), for simultaneous quantification and phenotypification of migrating leukocytes. CBFCA exhibited several important advantages in comparison to the classic Boyden chemotaxis assay (CBCA): 1) improved precision (intra-assay coefficients of variation (CVs): CBFCA-4.7 and 4.8% vs. CBCA-30.1 and 17.3%; inter-observer CVs: CBFCA-3.6% vs. CBCA 30.1%); 2) increased recovery of cells, which increased assay to provide increased sensitivity; 3) high specificity for determining the phenotype of migrating/attracted leukocytes; and 4) reduced performance time (CBFCA 120 min vs. CBCA 265 min). Other advantages of CBFCA are: 5) robustness, 6) linearity, 7) eliminated requirement for albumin and, importantly, 8) enabled recovery of migrating leukocytes for subsequent studies. This latter feature is of great benefit in the study of migrating leukocyte subsets. We conclude that the CBFCA is a novel and improved technique for experiments focused on understanding leukocyte trafficking during the inflammatory response