Rhizobacterial influence on healthy stand establishment of canola grown in Rhizoctonia solani infested fields of Saskatchewan

Non-Peer ReviewedPre-emergence seedling damping-off, seedling blight, and brown girdling root rot caused by R. solani are important diseases of canola/rape seed in western Canada. Annual yield losses in excess of 20-30% have been reported in several infected fields. Cultural control methods or resistant cultivars are currently unavailable for these diseases. Chemical fungicides have been developed for use to control the disease, but the success rate has been varied. However, the use of chemicals is becoming less acceptable from an environmental point of view. Several studies indicated that biological control using plant growth promoting rhizobacteria may also be effective in controlling R. solani. Field plots were established in Saskatoon, Regina and Melfort, SK, in 1990, 1991 and 1992 to evaluate the potential of rhizobacterial strains as seed treatments to increase the healthy stand of canola CV. Westar grown in R. solani infested field. The bacteria were formulated either in sterile peat or in a liquid carrier and applied to seed just before planting. Bacterized seed were mechanically planted in replicated field plots artificially infested with R. solani. Final healthy stand was measured 30 days after planting. Grain yields were determined by harvesting the plots. Seed bacterization significantly increased the final healthy stand compared to non-bacterized controls. Strains which increased stand showed in vitro antagonistic activity to not only R. solani but also other pathogens such as Pythium ultimum, Fusarium solani and F. oxysporum. Some of these strains induced root elongation of canola under laboratory conditions. Rhizosphere colonization, chemical compatibility and shelf-life of the important bacteria will be discussed

Mineral status, metabolism and performance of dairy heifers receiving a combined trace element bolus and out-wintered on perennial ryegrass, kale or fodder beet

The effects of a cobalt (Co), copper (Cu), selenium (Se), and iodine (I) trace-mineral ruminal bolus on the mineral status and performance of out-wintered, pregnant dairy heifers was investigated. Nine commercial farms grazing pasture (G), kale (K), or fodder beet (F) were used (n=3 per forage), with forty heifers on each farm randomly allocated to not receive (B-) or receive (B+) two combined mineral boluses. Mean plasma Co concentrations were 0.021 and 0.041 µmol/L in B- and B+ respectively (p 0.05), however condition score was higher (p < 0.05) in B+ at the end of the study. It is concluded that the provision of a trace mineral bolus increased plasma concentrations of the minerals supplied, with the greatest benefits in animals grazing kale, but these increases were not translated into improved performance

Scaling of the B and D meson spectrum in lattice QCD

We give results for the $B$ and the $D$ meson spectrum using NRQCD on the lattice in the quenched approximation. The masses of radially and orbitally excited states are calculated as well as $S$-wave hyperfine and $P$-wave fine structure. Radially excited $P$-states are observed for the first time. Radial and orbital excitation energies match well to experiment, as does the strange-non-strange $S$-wave splitting. We compare the light and heavy quark mass dependence of various splittings to experiment. Our $B$-results cover a range in lattice spacings of more than a factor of two. Our $D$-results are from a single lattice spacing and we compare them to numbers in the literature from finer lattices using other methods. We see no significant dependence of physical results on the lattice spacing. PACS: 11.15.Ha 12.38.Gc 14.40.Lb 14.40.NdComment: 78 pages, 29 tables, 30 figures Revised version. Minor corrections to spelling and wordin

Multimodality treatment for esophageal adenocarcinoma: Multi-center propensity-score matched study

Background: The primary aim of this study was to compare survival from neoadjuvant chemoradiotherapy plus surgery (NCRS) versus neoadjuvant chemotherapy plus surgery (NCS) for the treatment of esophageal or junctional adenocarcinoma. The secondary aims were to compare pathological effects, short-term mortality and morbidity, and to evaluate the effect of lymph node harvest upon survival in both treatment groups. Methods: Data were collected from 10 European centers from 2001 to 2012. Six hundred and eight patients with stage II or III oesophageal or oesophago-gastric junctional adenocarcinoma were included; 301 in the NCRS group and 307 in the NCS group. Propensity score matching and Cox regression analyses were used to compensate for

Fractionalization patterns in strongly correlated electron systems: Spin-charge separation and beyond

We discuss possible patterns of electron fractionalization in strongly interacting electron systems. A popular possibility is one in which the charge of the electron has been liberated from its Fermi statistics. Such a fractionalized phase contains in it the seed of superconductivity. Another possibility occurs when the spin of the electron, rather than its charge, is liberated from its Fermi statistics. Such a phase contains in it the seed of magnetism, rather than superconductivity. We consider models in which both of these phases occur and study possible phase transitions between them. We describe other fractionalized phases, distinct from these, in which fractions of the electron themselves fractionalize, and discuss the topological characterization of such phases. These ideas are illustrated with specific models of p-wave superconductors, Kondo lattices, and coexistence between d-wave superconductivity and antiferromagnetism.Comment: 28 pages, 11 fig

Carbon dioxide and climate impulse response functions for the computation of greenhouse gas metrics: A multi-model analysis

The responses of carbon dioxide (CO2) and other climate variables to an emission pulse of CO2 into the atmosphere are often used to compute the Global Warming Potential (GWP) and Global Temperature change Potential (GTP), to characterize the response timescales of Earth System models, and to build reduced-form models. In this carbon cycle-climate model intercomparison project, which spans the full model hierarchy, we quantify responses to emission pulses of different magnitudes injected under different conditions. The CO2 response shows the known rapid decline in the first few decades followed by a millennium-scale tail. For a 100 Gt-C emission pulse added to a constant CO2 concentration of 389 ppm, 25 ± 9% is still found in the atmosphere after 1000 yr; the ocean has absorbed 59 ± 12% and the land the remainder (16 ± 14%). The response in global mean surface air temperature is an increase by 0.20 ± 0.12 °C within the first twenty years; thereafter and until year 1000, temperature decreases only slightly, whereas ocean heat content and sea level continue to rise. Our best estimate for the Absolute Global Warming Potential, given by the time-integrated response in CO2 at year 100 multiplied by its radiative efficiency, is 92.5 × 10−15 yr W m−2 per kg-CO2. This value very likely (5 to 95% confidence) lies within the range of (68 to 117) × 10−15 yr W m−2 per kg-CO2. Estimates for time-integrated response in CO2 published in the IPCC First, Second, and Fourth Assessment and our multi-model best estimate all agree within 15% during the first 100 yr. The integrated CO2 response, normalized by the pulse size, is lower for pre-industrial conditions, compared to present day, and lower for smaller pulses than larger pulses. In contrast, the response in temperature, sea level and ocean heat content is less sensitive to these choices. Although, choices in pulse size, background concentration, and model lead to uncertainties, the most important and subjective choice to determine AGWP of CO2 and GWP is the time horizon

Designing a broad-spectrum integrative approach for cancer prevention and treatment

Targeted therapies and the consequent adoption of "personalized" oncology have achieved notablesuccesses in some cancers; however, significant problems remain with this approach. Many targetedtherapies are highly toxic, costs are extremely high, and most patients experience relapse after a fewdisease-free months. Relapses arise from genetic heterogeneity in tumors, which harbor therapy-resistantimmortalized cells that have adopted alternate and compensatory pathways (i.e., pathways that are notreliant upon the same mechanisms as those which have been targeted). To address these limitations, aninternational task force of 180 scientists was assembled to explore the concept of a low-toxicity "broad-spectrum" therapeutic approach that could simultaneously target many key pathways and mechanisms. Using cancer hallmark phenotypes and the tumor microenvironment to account for the various aspectsof relevant cancer biology, interdisciplinary teams reviewed each hallmark area and nominated a widerange of high-priority targets (74 in total) that could be modified to improve patient outcomes. For thesetargets, corresponding low-toxicity therapeutic approaches were then suggested, many of which werephytochemicals. Proposed actions on each target and all of the approaches were further reviewed forknown effects on other hallmark areas and the tumor microenvironment. Potential contrary or procar-cinogenic effects were found for 3.9% of the relationships between targets and hallmarks, and mixedevidence of complementary and contrary relationships was found for 7.1%. Approximately 67% of therelationships revealed potentially complementary effects, and the remainder had no known relationship. Among the approaches, 1.1% had contrary, 2.8% had mixed and 62.1% had complementary relationships. These results suggest that a broad-spectrum approach should be feasible from a safety standpoint. Thisnovel approach has potential to be relatively inexpensive, it should help us address stages and types ofcancer that lack conventional treatment, and it may reduce relapse risks. A proposed agenda for futureresearch is offered

Velocity-space sensitivity of the time-of-flight neutron spectrometer at JET

The velocity-space sensitivities of fast-ion diagnostics are often described by so-called weight functions. Recently, we formulated weight functions showing the velocity-space sensitivity of the often dominant beam-target part of neutron energy spectra. These weight functions for neutron emission spectrometry (NES) are independent of the particular NES diagnostic. Here we apply these NES weight functions to the time-of-flight spectrometer TOFOR at JET. By taking the instrumental response function of TOFOR into account, we calculate time-of-flight NES weight functions that enable us to directly determine the velocity-space sensitivity of a given part of a measured time-of-flight spectrum from TOFOR

On the mechanisms governing gas penetration into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection

A new 1D radial fluid code, IMAGINE, is used to simulate the penetration of gas into a tokamak plasma during a massive gas injection (MGI). The main result is that the gas is in general strongly braked as it reaches the plasma, due to mechanisms related to charge exchange and (to a smaller extent) recombination. As a result, only a fraction of the gas penetrates into the plasma. Also, a shock wave is created in the gas which propagates away from the plasma, braking and compressing the incoming gas. Simulation results are quantitatively consistent, at least in terms of orders of magnitude, with experimental data for a D 2 MGI into a JET Ohmic plasma. Simulations of MGI into the background plasma surrounding a runaway electron beam show that if the background electron density is too high, the gas may not penetrate, suggesting a possible explanation for the recent results of Reux et al in JET (2015 Nucl. Fusion 55 093013)