Economic Performance of Pre-Crops in a Three-Year Rotation Program for Organic Vegetable Production

A four year experiment is being carried out, at Ege University Department of Horticulture, in which three different pre-crops are tested under an organic management system as compared to fallow. The aim of the experiment is to identify the most suitable rotation program for organic vegetable production in Turkey. Vicia sativa (common vetch), Brassica oleracea var. italica (broccoli), Vicia faba ‘Sevilla’ (faba bean) and fallow are tested as preceding (winter) crops. During the experiment carried out between 2007 and 2009, the main crops were tomato (2007), zucchini (2008) and pepper (2009). Broccoli represented the farmers’ choice as a winter vegetable. Vetch (incorporated) and faba bean (partially harvested and incorporated) were selected as legumes well adapted to the regional conditions. Soil fertility was maintained by incorporation of the crop residues at the end of both cycles and addition of organic-certified commercial compost (Bioaktif) and compost tea during the main cycle. All the management, including disease and pest management, was carried out according to the organic regulations valid in Turkey and the EU. During the production seasons, all variable costs and revenue, during both the pre-crop and main crop cycles, were recorded and gross margin calculated for each treatment. Economic analysis showed that broccoli as a pre-crop required the highest variable costs followed by faba bean, vetch and fallow, in all three years. Total revenue was the highest in plots where broccoli was the pre-crop. It is followed by faba bean plots mostly because higher yields were obtained in main crop plots following faba bean. The least profitable was fallow – main crop rotation. Broccoli plants also have some extra benefits like adding a high amount of biomass to soil and suppressing weed growth due to shading and allelopathic effects

Evaluating STAT5 Phosphorylation as a Mean to Assess T Cell Proliferation

Here we present a simple and sensitive flow cytometric—based assay to assess T cell proliferation. Given the critical role STAT5A phosphorylation in T cell proliferation, we decided to evaluate phosphorylation of STAT5A as an indicator of T cell proliferation. We determined pSTAT5A in T cell treated with either CD3/CD28 or PHA. After stimulation, T cells from adult healthy donors displayed a strong long-lasting phosphorylation of STAT5A, reaching a peak value after 24 h. The median fluorescence intensity (MFI) of pSTAT5A increased from 112 ± 17 to 512 ± 278 (CD3/CD28) (24 h) and to 413 ± 123 (PHA) (24 h), the IL-2 receptor-α (CD25) expression was greatly enhanced and after 72 h T cell proliferation amounted to 52.3 ± 10.3% (CD3/CD28) and to 48.4 ± 9.7% (PHA). Treatment with specific JAK3 and STAT5 inhibitors resulted in a complete blockage of phosphorylation of STAT5A, CD25 expression, and suppression of T cell proliferation. Compared with currently available methods, STAT5A phosphorylation is well-suited to predict T cell proliferation. Moreover, the method presented here is not very time consuming (several hours) and delivers functional information from which conclusions about T cell proliferation can be drawn

Atomic Resonance and Scattering

Contains reports on three research projects.U.S. Air Force - Office of Scientific Research (Grant AFOSR-76-2972)National Science Foundation (Grant CHE79-02967)National Science Foundation (Grant PHY79-09743

International Society of Human and Animal Mycology (ISHAM)-ITS reference DNA barcoding database - the quality controlled standard tool for routine identification of human and animal pathogenic fungi

Human and animal fungal pathogens are a growing threat worldwide leading to emerging infections and creating new risks for established ones. There is a growing need for a rapid and accurate identification of pathogens to enable early diagnosis and targeted antifungal therapy. Morphological and biochemical identification methods are time-consuming and require trained experts. Alternatively, molecular methods, such as DNA barcoding, a powerful and easy tool for rapid monophasic identification, offer a practical approach for species identification and less demanding in terms of taxonomical expertise. However, its wide-spread use is still limited by a lack of quality-controlled reference databases and the evolving recognition and definition of new fungal species/complexes. An international consortium of medical mycology laboratories was formed aiming to establish a quality controlled ITS database under the umbrella of the ISHAM working group on "DNA barcoding of human and animal pathogenic fungi." A new database, containing 2800 ITS sequences representing 421 fungal species, providing the medical community with a freely accessible tool at http://www.isham.org and http://its.mycologylab.org/ to rapidly and reliably identify most agents of mycoses, was established. The generated sequences included in the new database were used to evaluate the variation and overall utility of the ITS region for the identification of pathogenic fungi at intra-and interspecies level. The average intraspecies variation ranged from 0 to 2.25%. This highlighted selected pathogenic fungal species, such as the dermatophytes and emerging yeast, for which additional molecular methods/genetic markers are required for their reliable identification from clinical and veterinary specimens.This study was supported by an National Health and Medical Research Council of Australia (NH&MRC) grant [#APP1031952] to W Meyer, S Chen, V Robert, and D Ellis; CNPq [350338/2000-0] and FAPERJ [E-26/103.157/2011] grants to RM Zancope-Oliveira; CNPq [308011/2010-4] and FAPESP [2007/08575-1] Fundacao de Amparo Pesquisa do Estado de So Paulo (FAPESP) grants to AL Colombo; PEst-OE/BIA/UI4050/2014 from Fundacao para a Ciencia e Tecnologia (FCT) to C Pais; the Belgian Science Policy Office (Belspo) to BCCM/IHEM; the MEXBOL program of CONACyT-Mexico, [ref. number: 1228961 to ML Taylor and [122481] to C Toriello; the Institut Pasteur and Institut de Veil le Sanitaire to F Dromer and D Garcia-Hermoso; and the grants from the Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cientifico e Tecnologico (CNPq) and the Fundacao de Amparo a Pesquisa do Estado de Goias (FAPEG) to CM de Almeida Soares and JA Parente Rocha. I Arthur would like to thank G Cherian, A Higgins and the staff of the Molecular Diagnostics Laboratory, Division of Microbiology and Infectious Diseases, Path West, QEII Medial Centre. Dromer would like to thank for the technical help of the sequencing facility and specifically that of I, Diancourt, A-S Delannoy-Vieillard, J-M Thiberge (Genotyping of Pathogens and Public Health, Institut Pasteur). RM Zancope-Oliveira would like to thank the Genomic/DNA Sequencing Platform at Fundacao Oswaldo Cruz-PDTIS/FIOCRUZ [RPT01A], Brazil for the sequencing. B Robbertse and CL Schoch acknowledge support from the Intramural Research Program of the NIH, National Library of Medicine. T Sorrell's work is funded by the NH&MRC of Australia; she is a Sydney Medical School Foundation Fellow.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Islet Endothelial Activation and Oxidative Stress Gene Expression Is Reduced by IL-1Ra Treatment in the Type 2 Diabetic GK Rat

Inflammation followed by fibrosis is a component of islet dysfunction in both rodent and human type 2 diabetes. Because islet inflammation may originate from endothelial cells, we assessed the expression of selected genes involved in endothelial cell activation in islets from a spontaneous model of type 2 diabetes, the Goto-Kakizaki (GK) rat. We also examined islet endotheliuml/oxidative stress (OS)/inflammation-related gene expression, islet vascularization and fibrosis after treatment with the interleukin-1 (IL-1) receptor antagonist (IL-1Ra)

Application to promote communication between midwives and Arabic-speaking women at antenatal care: Challenges met by researchers when developing content

Introduction Providing good communication is at the core of recent international guidelines for improving women’s outcomes at birth. Communication barriers are identified as major obstacles to providing effective and equal care among foreign-born women. There is a need for accurate communication tools in antenatal care. The aim of this study was to describe challenges met by researchers when developing culturally sensitive content in a Swedish-Arabic application for communication support at antenatal care in Sweden. Methods A co-design methodology was used for the development of the application, entailing collaboration between users and researchers in five different phases: users’ needs and preferences, development, field testing I, refinement, and field testing II. Results Five challenges emerged: evidence-based information, time frame, realistic photographs, norm-critical perspective, and cultural issues. One challenge was to meet the needs of the users and combine it with information following evidence-based obstetric welfare guidelines. It was also challenging to produce short informational videos that could be adjusted for the duration of the visit with the midwife without omitting important information and to produce photographs which can become outdated. It was also a challenge to portray a less clinical environment and to maintain parents’ integrity. It was also challenging to produce norm-critical content from the women’s perspective. Conclusions When developing content of an application for antenatal care, converting content proposals into a finished product is challenging. Collaboration between a crossdisciplinary research team, midwives and target-language women is essential to ensure that the content is usable and reliable

Monitoring Extreme Floods and Droughts in the Amazon Basin with Surface-Water-Based Indices

International audienceExtreme droughts and floods in the Amazon have great implications for ecosystems and societies. Over the last decade, the region has undergone major extreme events with no equivalent in the previous 100 years. Wetlands have been greatly impacted by these events. This study aims at presenting new indicators for wetlands based on water surface extent (WSE): duration of the flooded and nonflooded season, number of days of extreme events, delay of the start of the flooded season, and severity for each season. These indicators are more adapted for monitoring of wetlands than those based on precipitation, discharge, or groundwater information. They are computed for seven major Amazon subbasins for flooded and nonflooded seasons. These indicators improve our knowledge of the temporal behavior of the water surface during different extreme events, such as the 2015/16 drought and the 2014 flood that occurred in the Madeira basin. For the Negro basin and from the point of view of wetlands, the 2015 nonflooded season was 55% more severe than the average of the nonflooded season during the 2011–18 period. For the Paru, Trombetas, Negro, and Solimões basins, we found that a delay in the arrival of the flooded season led to a weak flood season in terms of severity. No correlation between the onset of the flooded season and its severity was found for the Madeira, Xingu, and Tapajós basins. Future hydrometeorological monitoring systems would benefit from including, in addition to variables such as river discharge and water elevation, precipitation, and vegetation dynamics, a severity index based on water surfaces as proposed in this study

Unusual presentation of bladder cancer resurgence and efficacy of radiotherapy.

A 68-year-old man with a history of bladder cancer presented with perineal pain and penile priapism. The work up showed multiple lesions strictly located in the penis; biopsy confirmed metastases of bladder cancer. Surgery was judged unfeasible and chemotherapy failed to improve symptoms. Radiotherapy was therefore delivered on the whole penis and resulted in a rapid clinical benefit and persistent control of the disease. Penile metastases are very rare and no consensus exists concerning their management; radiotherapy appears as a promising therapeutic option not only to palliate pain but also to control the disease