Hop Cone Drying for the Small Grower: Temperature and Airflow Considerations

Small hop growers without nearby processors for cone stripping and drying must attempt to do so on their own farm. Challenges exist for self-built drying systems, including drying capacity, processing speed, airflow direction, and maintaining quality during drying. Research-based recommendations are given for optimal temperature, sizing of drying vessel, maximum cone depth, and influences associated with airflow on processing uniformity and cone quality are presented

Disease and Healing in Ancient Societies: Dental Calculus Residues and Skeletal Pathology Data Indicate Age and Sex-Biased Medicinal Practices among Native Californians

The health of humans is intricately linked to the substances - both food and non-dietary items -we ingest. Adverse health outcomes related to smoking of products like tobacco and other psychoactive substances are clearly established in modern populations but are less well understood for ancient communities. Grasping these dynamics is further complicated by the curative, religious, and medicinal context of many of these substances, which have often been commodified, refined, and altered in recent history. As part of a larger collaboration with the Muwekma Ohlone Tribe dedicated to understanding medicinal plant use among native Californians, we present a summary of new metabolomic data from three Middle and Late-period ancestral heritage Ohlone sites: Thámien Rúmmeytak (CA-SCL-128), ’Ayttakiš ’Éete Hiramwiš Trépam-tak (CA-ALA-677/H/H), and Sii Tuupentak (CA-ALA-565/H/H). Using a UPLC-MS platform, we analyze chemical residues from 95 human dental calculus samples from 50 burials. Employing multivariate statistics, we co-analyzed demographic and skeletal pathology data with chemical residue profiles. We considered skeletal markers for a series of oral and postcranial health conditions. Results indicate sex and age biases in consumption patterns. Periodontitis stands out as the most significant local factor for changes in the oral metabolome. However, while chemical markers of oral diseases may be related to pathogen activity, associations between residues and postcranial conditions such as osteoarthritis suggest traditional curative practices and the ingestion of medicinal substances. Hence, our study yields new insights into the broader context of illness and healing in the past

Regulation of oligodendrocyte progenitor cell maturation by PPARδ: effects on bone morphogenetic proteins

In EAE (experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis), agonists of PPARs (peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors) provide clinical benefit and reduce damage. In contrast with PPARγ, agonists of PPARδ are more effective when given at later stages of EAE and increase myelin gene expression, suggesting effects on OL (oligodendrocyte) maturation. In the present study we examined effects of the PPARδ agonist GW0742 on OPCs (OL progenitor cells), and tested whether the effects involve modulation of BMPs (bone morphogenetic proteins). We show that effects of GW0742 are mediated through PPARδ since no amelioration of EAE clinical scores was observed in PPARδ-null mice. In OPCs derived from E13 mice (where E is embryonic day), GW0742, but not the PPARγ agonist pioglitazone, increased the number of myelin-producing OLs. This was due to activation of PPARδ since process formation was reduced in PPARδ-null compared with wild-type OPCs. In both OPCs and enriched astrocyte cultures, GW0742 increased noggin protein expression; however, noggin mRNA was only increased in astrocytes. In contrast, GW0742 reduced BMP2 and BMP4 mRNA levels in OPCs, with lesser effects in astrocytes. These findings demonstrate that PPARδ plays a role in OPC maturation, mediated, in part, by regulation of BMP and BMP antagonists

Severe postpartum sepsis with prolonged myocardial dysfunction: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Severe sepsis during pregnancy or in the postpartum period is a rare clinical event. In non obstetric surviving patients, the cardiovascular changes seen in sepsis and septic shock are fully reversible five to ten days after their onset. We report a case of septic myocardial dysfunction lasting longer than ten days. To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report of prolonged septic myocardial dysfunction in a parturient.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>A 24 year old Hispanic woman with no previous medical history developed pyelonephritis and severe sepsis with prolonged myocardial dysfunction after a normal spontaneous vaginal delivery.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Septic myocardial dysfunction may be prolonged in parturients requiring longer term follow up and pharmacologic treatment.</p

Radiation induced CNS toxicity – molecular and cellular mechanisms

Radiotherapy of tumours proximal to normal CNS structures is limited by the sensitivity of the normal tissue. Prior to the development of prophylactic strategies or treatment protocols a detailed understanding of the mechanisms of radiation induced CNS toxicity is mandatory. Histological analysis of irradiated CNS specimens defines possible target structures prior to a delineation of cellular and molecular mechanisms. Several lesions can be distinguished: Demyelination, proliferative and degenerative glial reactions, endothelial cell loss and capillary occlusion. All changes are likely to result from complex alterations within several functional CNS compartments. Thus, a single mechanism responsible cannot be separated. At least four factors contribute to the development of CNS toxicity: (1) damage to vessel structures; (2) deletion of oligodendrocyte-2 astrocyte progenitors (O-2A) and mature oligodendrocytes; (3) deletion of neural stem cell populations in the hippocampus, cerebellum and cortex; (4) generalized alterations of cytokine expression. Several underlying cellular and molecular mechanisms involved in radiation induced CNS toxicity have been identified. The article reviews the currently available data on the cellular and molecular basis of radiation induced CNS side effects.   http://www.bjcancer.com © 2001 Cancer Research Campaig

Histone Deacetylases Control Neurogenesis in Embryonic Brain by Inhibition of BMP2/4 Signaling

Background Histone-modifying enzymes are essential for a wide variety of cellular processes dependent upon changes in gene expression. Histone deacetylases (HDACs) lead to the compaction of chromatin and subsequent silencing of gene transcription, and they have recently been implicated in a diversity of functions and dysfunctions in the postnatal and adult brain including ocular dominance plasticity, memory consolidation, drug addiction, and depression. Here we investigate the role of HDACs in the generation of neurons and astrocytes in the embryonic brain. Principal Findings As a variety of HDACs are expressed in differentiating neural progenitor cells, we have taken a pharmacological approach to inhibit multiple family members. Inhibition of class I and II HDACs in developing mouse embryos with trichostatin A resulted in a dramatic reduction in neurogenesis in the ganglionic eminences and a modest increase in neurogenesis in the cortex. An identical effect was observed upon pharmacological inhibition of HDACs in in vitro-differentiating neural precursors derived from the same brain regions. A reduction in neurogenesis in ganglionic eminence-derived neural precursors was accompanied by an increase in the production of immature astrocytes. We show that HDACs control neurogenesis by inhibition of the bone morphogenetic protein BMP2/4 signaling pathway in radial glial cells. HDACs function at the transcriptional level by inhibiting and promoting, respectively, the expression of Bmp2 and Smad7, an intracellular inhibitor of BMP signaling. Inhibition of the BMP2/4 signaling pathway restored normal levels of neurogenesis and astrogliogenesis to both ganglionic eminence- and cortex-derived cultures in which HDACs were inhibited. Conclusions Our results demonstrate a transcriptionally-based regulation of BMP2/4 signaling by HDACs both in vivo and in vitro that is critical for neurogenesis in the ganglionic eminences and that modulates cortical neurogenesis. The results also suggest that HDACs may regulate the developmental switch from neurogenesis to astrogliogenesis that occurs in late gestation

Economic and Environmental Sustainability of Using Bio-Fuels for Small Nebraska Greenhouses

The primary goal of this paper was to increase profitability in Nebraska greenhouses by using biomass fuels for heating instead of propane. Several different fuels were tested, including whole shelled corn, dry distiller’s grains pelletized, wood pellets and blends between each biomass. The main fuel focus was on whole shelled corn. Bomb calorimetry tests were performed on biomass fuels and their respective ashes. Several furnace and heat exchanger efficiency tests were performed, with cost effectiveness analysis for each fuel type. Emissions data was also collected for each fuel on carbon monoxide, carbon dioxide, nitrous oxides, sulfuric oxides, and particulate matter. The project used a biomass furnace donated to a greenhouse at Firth, Nebraska and an existing propane furnace. Although the biomass furnace generally had a lower efficiency than the 81 percent advertised for the propane furnace, the biomass fuels were more cost effective than propane. The biomass efficiencies typically ranged between 50 and 80 percent. Over a four year period (2008-2011) the cost savings of biomass fuels ranged between 30 and 60 percent and totaled a little over $15,000. Overall, biomass furnaces show great potential to be utilized in Nebraska greenhouses. Advisor: George E. Meye

Exact vibration solution for exponentially tapered cantilever with tip mass

10.1115/1.4005835Journal of Vibration and Acoustics, Transactions of the ASME1344-JVAC