Different Seed Selection and Conservation Practices for Fresh Market and Dried Chile Farmers in Aguascalientes, Mexico

Different Seed Selection and Conservation Practices for Fresh Market and Dried Chile Farmers in Aguascalientes, Mexico. The process of selecting and saving seed is the most basic and oldest of agricultural practices. In today’s modern and highly capital-intensive agriculture, seeds are often treated like another chemical input. This study sought to examine seed selection and saving practices among chile farmers in Aguascalientes, Mexico, where both industrial and traditional agriculture are practiced. We observed a clear division among farmers who plant chile peppers commercially. Sixty-eight chile pepper farmers were surveyed in order to document seed selection and saving practices. Fifteen respondents (22%) planted chile peppers destined for the fresh market and all utilized purchased commercial seed of F1 hybrid varieties. Fifty-three farmers (78%) planted chiles to be dried and either saved their own or purchased seeds that others had saved and selected. Farmers who saved their own seed sought to maintain an ideotype, rather than directionally select for certain traits, much like Cleveland et al. (2000) chronicled in central Mexican maize farmers. Farmers would benefit from a participatory plant-breeding program in order to maintain productive seed stock for the continued cultivation of dried chile pepper in the state

Multiple Levels of Synergistic Collaboration in Termite Lignocellulose Digestion

In addition to evolving eusocial lifestyles, two equally fascinating aspects of termite biology are their mutualistic relationships with gut symbionts and their use of lignocellulose as a primary nutrition source. Termites are also considered excellent model systems for studying the production of bioethanol and renewable bioenergy from 2nd generation (non-food) feedstocks. While the idea that gut symbionts are the sole contributors to termite lignocellulose digestion has remained popular and compelling, in recent years host contributions to the digestion process have become increasingly apparent. However, the degree to which host and symbiont, and host enzymes, collaborate in lignocellulose digestion remain poorly understood. Also, how digestive enzymes specifically collaborate (i.e., in additive or synergistic ways) is largely unknown. In the present study we undertook translational-genomic studies to gain unprecedented insights into digestion by the lower termite Reticulitermes flavipes and its symbiotic gut flora. We used a combination of native gut tissue preparations and recombinant enzymes derived from the host gut transcriptome to identify synergistic collaborations between host and symbiont, and also among enzymes produced exclusively by the host termite. Our findings provide important new evidence of synergistic collaboration among enzymes in the release of fermentable monosaccharides from wood lignocellulose. These monosaccharides (glucose and pentoses) are highly relevant to 2nd-generation bioethanol production. We also show that, although significant digestion capabilities occur in host termite tissues, catalytic tradeoffs exist that apparently favor mutualism with symbiotic lignocellulose-digesting microbes. These findings contribute important new insights towards the development of termite-derived biofuel processing biotechnologies and shed new light on selective forces that likely favored symbiosis and, subsequently, group living in primitive termites and their cockroach ancestors

Is the rotation of the femural head a potential initiation for cutting out? A theoretical and experimental approach

We conclude the center-center position in the head of femur of any kind of lag screw or blade is to be achieved to minimize rotation of the femoral head and to prevent further mechanical complications

The role of parental achievement goals in predicting autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting

Although autonomy-supportive and controlling parenting are linked to numerous positive and negative child outcomes respectively, fewer studies have focused on their determinants. Drawing on achievement goal theory and self-determination theory, we propose that parental achievement goals (i.e., achievement goals that parents have for their children) can be mastery, performance-approach or performance-avoidance oriented and that types of goals predict mothers' tendency to adopt autonomy-supportive and controlling behaviors. A total of 67 mothers (aged 30-53 years) reported their goals for their adolescent (aged 13-16 years; 19.4 % girls), while their adolescent evaluated their mothers' behaviors. Hierarchical regression analyses showed that parental performance-approach goals predict more controlling parenting and prevent acknowledgement of feelings, one autonomy-supportive behavior. In addition, mothers who have mastery goals and who endorse performance-avoidance goals are less likely to use guilt-inducing criticisms. These findings were observed while controlling for the effect of maternal anxiety

Modified Chrispin-Norman chest radiography score for cystic fibrosis: observer agreement and correlation with lung function

Contains fulltext : 96114.pdf ( ) (Closed access)OBJECTIVE: To test observer agreement and two strategies for possible improvement (consensus meeting and reference images) for the modified Chrispin-Norman score for children with cystic fibrosis (CF). METHODS: Before and after a consensus meeting and after developing reference images three observers scored sets of 25 chest radiographs from children with CF. Observer agreement was tested for line, ring, mottled and large soft shadows, for overinflation and for the composite modified Chrispin-Norman score. Correlation with lung function was assessed. RESULTS: Before the consensus meeting agreement between observers 1 and 2 was moderate-good, but with observer 3 agreement was poor-fair. Scores correlated significantly with spirometry for observers 1 and 2 (-0.72<R<-0.42, P < 0.05), but not for observer 3. Agreement with observer 3 improved after the consensus meeting. Reference images improved agreement for overinflation and mottled and large shadows and correlation with lung function, but agreement for the modified Chrispin-Norman score did not improve further. CONCLUSION: Consensus meetings and reference images improve among-observer agreement for the modified Chrispin-Norman score, but good agreement was not achieved among all observers for the modified Chrispin-Norman score and for bronchial line and ring shadows

New insights about host response to smallpox using microarray data

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Smallpox is a lethal disease that was endemic in many parts of the world until eradicated by massive immunization. Due to its lethality, there are serious concerns about its use as a bioweapon. Here we analyze publicly available microarray data to further understand survival of smallpox infected macaques, using systems biology approaches. Our goal is to improve the knowledge about the progression of this disease.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We used KEGG pathways annotations to define groups of genes (or modules), and subsequently compared them to macaque survival times. This technique provided additional insights about the host response to this disease, such as increased expression of the cytokines and ECM receptors in the individuals with higher survival times. These results could indicate that these gene groups could influence an effective response from the host to smallpox.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Macaques with higher survival times clearly express some specific pathways previously unidentified using regular gene-by-gene approaches. Our work also shows how third party analysis of public datasets can be important to support new hypotheses to relevant biological problems.</p

HiTSEE KNIME: a visualization tool for hit selection and analysis in high-throughput screening experiments for the KNIME platform

We present HiTSEE (High-Throughput Screening Exploration Environment), a visualization tool for the analysis of large chemical screens used to examine biochemical processes. The tool supports the investigation of structure-activity relationships (SAR analysis) and, through a flexible interaction mechanism, the navigation of large chemical spaces. Our approach is based on the projection of one or a few molecules of interest and the expansion around their neighborhood and allows for the exploration of large chemical libraries without the need to create an all encompassing overview of the whole library. We describe the requirements we collected during our collaboration with biologists and chemists, the design rationale behind the tool, and two case studies on different datasets. The described integration (HiTSEE KNIME) into the KNIME platform allows additional flexibility in adopting our approach to a wide range of different biochemical problems and enables other research groups to use HiTSEE

Constraints on Nucleon Decay via "Invisible" Modes from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory

Data from the Sudbury Neutrino Observatory have been used to constrain the lifetime for nucleon decay to ``invisible'' modes, such as n -> 3 nu. The analysis was based on a search for gamma-rays from the de-excitation of the residual nucleus that would result from the disappearance of either a proton or neutron from O16. A limit of tau_inv > 2 x 10^{29} years is obtained at 90% confidence for either neutron or proton decay modes. This is about an order of magnitude more stringent than previous constraints on invisible proton decay modes and 400 times more stringent than similar neutron modes.Comment: Update includes missing efficiency factor (limits change by factor of 2) Submitted to Physical Review Letter

Centromere Plasmid: A New Genetic Tool for the Study of Plasmodium falciparum

The introduction of transgenes into Plasmodium falciparum, a highly virulent human malaria parasite, has been conducted either by single crossover recombination or by using episomal plasmids. However, these techniques remain insufficient because of the low transfection efficiency and the low frequency of recombination. To improve the genetic manipulation of P. falciparum, we developed the centromere plasmid as a new genetic tool. First, we attempted to clone all of the predicted centromeres from P. falciparum into E. coli cells but failed because of the high A/T contents of these sequences. To overcome this difficulty, we identified the common sequence features of the centromere of Plasmodium spp. and designed a small centromere that retained those features. The centromere plasmid constructed with the small centromere sequence, pFCEN, segregated into daughter parasites with approximately 99% efficiency, resulting in the stable maintenance of this plasmid in P. falciparum even in the absence of drug selection. This result demonstrated that the small centromere sequence harboured in pFCEN could function as an actual centromere in P. falciparum. In addition, transgenic parasites were more rapidly generated when using pFCEN than when using the control plasmid, which did not contain the centromere sequence. Furthermore, in contrast to the control plasmid, pFCEN did not form concatemers and, thus, was maintained as a single copy over multiple cell divisions. These unique properties of the pFCEN plasmid will solve the current technical limitations of the genetic manipulation of P. falciparum, and thus, this plasmid will become a standard genetic tool for the study of this parasite

Absence of the common Insulin-like growth factor-1 19-repeat allele is associated with early age at breast cancer diagnosis in multiparous women

Multiparity decreases the risk of breast cancer in white women, whereas it is a risk factor in black women <50 years. Early-onset breast cancer (<50 years) has been associated with high insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) levels. Absence of the common IGF1 19 cytosine-adenine (CA)-repeat allele (IGF1-19/-19) inverts the effect of several non-genetic factors on breast cancer risk but the interaction between IGF1-19/-19 and multiparity on breast cancer risk is unknown. As IGF1-19/-19, multiparity and early-onset breast cancer are more common in black than in white women, we aimed to study whether multiparity combined with IGF1-19/-19 increases the risk of early-onset breast cancer. Four hundred and three breast cancer patients diagnosed in Lund, Sweden, at age 25–99 years were genotyped for the IGF1 CA-repeat length using fragment analysis. Overall, 12.9% carried the IGF1-19/-19 genotype. There was a highly significant interaction between multiparity and IGF1-19/-19 on age at breast cancer diagnosis (P=0.007). Among IGF1-19/-19 patients, multiparity was associated with a 9.2 year earlier age at diagnosis compared with uniparity or nulliparity (P=0.006). Multiparity combined with IGF1-19/-19 was associated with an early age at breast cancer diagnosis. If confirmed, IGF1-19/-19 may help identify a subgroup of women for earlier breast cancer screening