MARIS: Scalable Online Scenario Development Tool for Rangeland Conservancy Managers Using High Spatial-Temporal Resolution Carrying Capacity Maps and Livestock Market Data

Although the management of livestock numbers within the bounds of carrying capacity of African rangelands is a way to manage risks, both scientists and practitioners, caution against a momentary and local use of carrying capacity as a management indicator. Carrying capacity should be seen in wider spatial and temporal/seasonal context as well as in a social and economic context. Given the large numbers of conservancies across Kenya, and its Maasai Mara region in particular, with many more landowner members, it is difficult for conservancies’ managers to contextualize phenomena such as carrying capacity and market price over space and time. We report the results of an investigation in the Maasai Mara rangelands, into functional characteristics a tool for spatial-temporal carrying capacity assessment and livestock markets prices monitoring should have to provide relevant management information to conservancy managers and conservancy members. A scalable web-application called the Mara Rangeland Information System, or MARIS, was developed, which assesses, at 23 meter resolution and 10 day historic or 1-day near-future intervals, both grassland dry matter production, and consumption by 19 wildlife and livestock species, as well as rangeland carrying capacity. MARIS facilitates managers to develop scenarios by varying input variables of either grass production or consumption, or by drawing different management blocks on a carrying capacity map assessing different management practices under scenarios of rainfall. Managers can relate the carrying capacity scenarios to offtake prices at different markets that MARIS monitors over time. After testing MARIS in 6 workshop iterations across the whole development process, Maasai Mara rangeland managers concluded that the prototype is ready for pilot use in management plan development

Pattern of recurrence in patients with a pathologically complete response after neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy and surgery for oesophageal cancer

BACKGROUND: Neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy (nCRT) and surgery is a widely used treatment for locally advanced resectable oesophageal cancer, with 20-50 per cent of patients having a pathological complete response (pCR). Disease, however, still recurs in 20-30 per cent of these patients. The aim of this study was to assess the pattern of recurrence in patients with a pCR after nCRT and surgery. METHODS: All patients with a pCR after nCRT and surgery included in the phase II and III CROSS (ChemoRadiotherapy for Oesophageal followed by Surgery Study) trials (April 2001 to December 2008) and after the CROSS trials (September 2009 to October 2017) were identified. The site of recurrence was compared with the applied radiation and surgical fields. Outcomes were median time to recurrence, and overall and progression-free survival. RESULTS: A total of 141 patients with a median follow-up of 100 (i.q.r. 64-134) months were included. Some 29 of 141 patients (20,6 per cent) developed recurrence. Of these, four had isolated locoregional recurrence, 15 had distant recurrence only, and ten had both locoregional and distant recurrence. Among the 14 patients with locoregional recurrences, five had recurrence within the radiation field, seven outside the radiation field, and two at the border. Median time to recurrence was 24 (10-62) months. The 5-year overall survival rate was 74 per cent and the recurrence-free survival rate was 70 per cent. CONCLUSION: Despite good overall survival, recurrence still occurred in 21 per cent of patients. Most recurrences were distant, outside the radiation and surgical fields

Cerebral activations related to ballistic, stepwise interrupted and gradually modulated movements in parkinson patients

Patients with Parkinson's disease (PD) experience impaired initiation and inhibition of movements such as difficulty to start/stop walking. At single-joint level this is accompanied by reduced inhibition of antagonist muscle activity. While normal basal ganglia (BG) contributions to motor control include selecting appropriate muscles by inhibiting others, it is unclear how PD-related changes in BG function cause impaired movement initiation and inhibition at single-joint level. To further elucidate these changes we studied 4 right-hand movement tasks with fMRI, by dissociating activations related to abrupt movement initiation, inhibition and gradual movement modulation. Initiation and inhibition were inferred from ballistic and stepwise interrupted movement, respectively, while smooth wrist circumduction enabled the assessment of gradually modulated movement. Task-related activations were compared between PD patients (N = 12) and healthy subjects (N = 18). In healthy subjects, movement initiation was characterized by antero-ventral striatum, substantia nigra (SN) and premotor activations while inhibition was dominated by subthalamic nucleus (STN) and pallidal activations, in line with the known role of these areas in simple movement. Gradual movement mainly involved antero-dorsal putamen and pallidum. Compared to healthy subjects, patients showed reduced striatal/SN and increased pallidal activation for initiation, whereas for inhibition STN activation was reduced and striatal-thalamo-cortical activation increased. For gradual movement patients showed reduced pallidal and increased thalamo-cortical activation. We conclude that PD-related changes during movement initiation fit the (rather static) model of alterations in direct and indirect BG pathways. Reduced STN activation and regional cortical increased activation in PD during inhibition and gradual movement modulation are better explained by a dynamic model that also takes into account enhanced responsiveness to external stimuli in this disease and the effects of hyper-fluctuating cortical inputs to the striatum and STN in particular

Direction of Movement Is Encoded in the Human Primary Motor Cortex

The present study investigated how direction of hand movement, which is a well-described parameter in cerebral organization of motor control, is incorporated in the somatotopic representation of the manual effector system in the human primary motor cortex (M1). Using functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) and a manual step-tracking task we found that activation patterns related to movement in different directions were spatially disjoint within the representation area of the hand on M1. Foci of activation related to specific movement directions were segregated within the M1 hand area; activation related to direction 0° (right) was located most laterally/superficially, whereas directions 180° (left) and 270° (down) elicited activation more medially within the hand area. Activation related to direction 90° was located between the other directions. Moreover, by investigating differences between activations related to movement along the horizontal (0°+180°) and vertical (90°+270°) axis, we found that activation related to the horizontal axis was located more anterolaterally/dorsally in M1 than for the vertical axis, supporting that activations related to individual movement directions are direction- and not muscle related. Our results of spatially segregated direction-related activations in M1 are in accordance with findings of recent fMRI studies on neural encoding of direction in human M1. Our results thus provide further evidence for a direct link between direction as an organizational principle in sensorimotor transformation and movement execution coded by effector representations in M1

The physiological responses of cacao to the environment and the implications for climate change resilience. A review

Cacao (Theobroma cacao L.) is a tropical perennial crop which is of great economic importance to the confectionary industry and to the economies of many countries of the humid tropics where it is grown. Some recent studies have suggested climate change could severely impact cacao production in West Africa. It is essential to incorporate our understanding of the physiology and genetic variation within cacao germplasm when discussing the implications of climate change on cacao productivity and developing strategies for climate resilience in cacao production. Here we review the current research on the physiological responses of cacao to various climate factors. Our main findings are 1) water limitation causes significant yield reduction in cacao but genotypic variation in sensitivity is evident, 2) in the field cacao experiences higher temperatures than is often reported in the literature, 3) the complexity of the cacao/ shade tree interaction can lead to contradictory results, 4) elevated CO2 may alleviate some negative effects of climate change 5) implementation of mitigation strategies can help reduce environmental stress, 6) significant gaps in the research need addressing to accelerate the development of climate resilience. Harnessing the significant genetic variation apparent within cacao germplasm is essential to develop modern varieties capable of high yields in non-optimal conditions. Mitigation strategies will also be essential but to use shading to best effect shade tree selection is crucial to avoid resource competition. Cacao is often described as being sensitive to climate change but genetic variation, adaptive responses, appropriate mitigation strategies and interactive climate effects should all be considered when predicting the future of cacao production. Incorporating these physiological responses to various environmental conditions and developing a deeper understanding of the processes underlying these responses will help to accelerate the development of a more resource use efficient tree ensuring sustainable production into the future

The fate of applied phosphate in a New Zealand yellow-grey earth, as influenced by phosphate carrier and soil reaction : thesis presented as part fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of M. Ag. Sc., Massey Agricultural College, University of New Zealand, Palmerston North, January 1961

Best copy available due to the original copy.A considerable amount of evidence has been accumulated in support of the presence in soils of iron, alurninium, and calcium bound phosphorus, as products of the phosphorus fixation process, but the quantitative evaluation of these forms has been continuously hampered by the lack of suitable procedures for their separate and selective determination. Although the separate determination of calcium bound phosphorus has been successl (Fraps, 1906; Fisher and Thomas, 1935; Ghani, 1943a) a procedure for the separate determination of iron and aluminium bound phosphorus was not available until recently when Chang and Jackson (1957) included such a method in their proposed scheme for the fractionation of soil phosphorus.Theirs is a definite advance on previous procedures as it has been generally considered that, at least in acid soils, these two forms represent the dominant products of phosphorus fixation, while their relative abundance may be expected to vary considerably in different soils and under different soil conditions. Fife (1959-I, 1959-II) modified the procedure of Chang and Jackson for the separate estimation of Al-P, and (priv.comm.) developed procedures for the selective determination of iron, calcium, and organic P. The object of the present study was to investigate what information these methods could provide concerning the trends of P. fixation in a New Zealand Yellow-Grey Earth from a long term field experiment, embodying three forms of phosphate fertiliser, applied with or without lime. [From Introduction