Comparison of Dominant Prairie Grasses as Interplanting Ground Covers on Eroded Soil

Experiments were initiated in 1938 for the purpose of studying vegetative ground covers. This series of investigations was undertaken as the basis for studies in the integration of herbaceous and woody plants which constitute an important phase of the research in progress at the Floris Field Station of the Iowa Cooperative Hillculture Project. The herbaceous plants used at the station in these studies of integration with woody plants may be classified in three groups: natural weed covers, legumes and grasses

Associations of Weight Change With Changes in Calf Muscle Characteristics and Functional Decline in Peripheral Artery Disease.

Background Among people with lower extremity peripheral artery disease, obesity is associated with faster functional decline than normal weight. The association of weight loss with functional decline in peripheral artery disease is unknown. Methods and Results Adults with an ankle-brachial index <0.90 were identified from Chicago-area hospitals in 2002-2004. Weight and 6-minute walk distance were measured annually. Weight change categories were weight loss or gain (≥5 pounds/year at ≥1 visit) or stable (weight change <5 pounds at each visit). Participants reported whether weight loss was "intentional" or "unintentional." Calf muscle area was measured with computed tomography every 2 years. Associations of weight change with changes in calf muscle area and 6-minute walk distance were analyzed using mixed-effects models and adjusted for age, body mass index, ankle-brachial index, physical activity, and other confounders. Among 389 participants, mean ankle-brachial index was 0.63±0.16, mean age was 74.5±7.8, and mean body mass index was 28.1±5.1 kg/m2. Over 3.23±1.37 years, muscle area declined more in adults with intentional weight loss versus stable or gain (pair-wise comparisons, P<0.001). Intentional weight loss was associated with less annual decline in 6-minute walk distance than weight gain (intentional loss, 3.7 m; stable, -14.0 m; gain, -28.5 m; unintentional loss, -20.8 m; pair-wise comparison intentional loss versus gain, P=0.003). Conclusions Despite a greater loss of calf muscle area, adults with peripheral artery disease who intentionally lost ≥5 pounds experienced less functional decline than those who gained weight. A randomized trial is needed to establish whether benefits of weight loss in peripheral artery disease outweigh potential adverse effects

Structure of an Early Intermediate in the M-State Phase of the Bacteriorhodopsin Photocycle

AbstractThe structure of an early M-intermediate of the wild-type bacteriorhodopsin photocycle formed by actinic illumination at 230K has been determined by x-ray crystallography to a resolution of 2.0Å. Three-dimensional crystals were trapped by illuminating with actinic light at 230K, followed by quenching in liquid nitrogen. Amide I, amide II, and other infrared absorption bands, recorded from single bacteriorhodopsin crystals, confirm that the M-substate formed represents a structure that occurs early after deprotonation of the Schiff base. Rotation about the retinal C13—C14 double bond appears to be complete, but a relatively large torsion angle of 26° is still seen for the C14—C15 bond. The intramolecular stress associated with the isomerization of retinal and the subsequent deprotonation of the Schiff base generates numerous small but experimentally measurable structural changes within the protein. Many of the residues that are displaced during the formation of the late M (MN) substate formed by three-dimensional crystals of the D96N mutant (Luecke et al., 1999b) are positioned, in early M, between their resting-state locations and the ones which they will adopt at the end of the M phase. The relatively small magnitude of atomic displacements observed in this intermediate, and the well-defined positions adopted by nearly all of the atoms in the structure, may make the formation of this structure favorable to model (simulate) by molecular dynamics

Microtesla MRI of the human brain combined with MEG

One of the challenges in functional brain imaging is integration of complementary imaging modalities, such as magnetoencephalography (MEG) and functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI). MEG, which uses highly sensitive superconducting quantum interference devices (SQUIDs) to directly measure magnetic fields of neuronal currents, cannot be combined with conventional high-field MRI in a single instrument. Indirect matching of MEG and MRI data leads to significant co-registration errors. A recently proposed imaging method - SQUID-based microtesla MRI - can be naturally combined with MEG in the same system to directly provide structural maps for MEG-localized sources. It enables easy and accurate integration of MEG and MRI/fMRI, because microtesla MR images can be precisely matched to structural images provided by high-field MRI and other techniques. Here we report the first images of the human brain by microtesla MRI, together with auditory MEG (functional) data, recorded using the same seven-channel SQUID system during the same imaging session. The images were acquired at 46 microtesla measurement field with pre-polarization at 30 mT. We also estimated transverse relaxation times for different tissues at microtesla fields. Our results demonstrate feasibility and potential of human brain imaging by microtesla MRI. They also show that two new types of imaging equipment - low-cost systems for anatomical MRI of the human brain at microtesla fields, and more advanced instruments for combined functional (MEG) and structural (microtesla MRI) brain imaging - are practical.Comment: 8 pages, 5 figures - accepted by JM

Prospective Study of Antibiotic Prophylaxis for Prostate Biopsy Involving >1100 Men

We aimed to compare infection rates for two 3-day antibiotic prophylaxis regimens for transrectal ultrasound-guided prostate biopsy (TRUSgbp) and demonstrate local microbiological trends. In 2008, 558 men and, in 2009, 625 men had TRUSgpb. Regimen 1 (2008) comprised 400 mg Ofloxacin immediately before biopsy and 200 mg 12-hourly for 3 days. Regimen 2 (2009) comprised Ofloxacin 200 mg 12-hourly for 3 days commencing 24 hours before biopsy. 20/558 (3.6%) men had febrile episodes with regimen 1 and 10/625 (1.6%) men with regimen 2 (P = 0.03). E. coli was the most frequently isolated organism. Overall, 7/13 (54%) of positive urine cultures were quinolone resistant and (5/13) 40% were multidrug resistant. Overall, 5/9 (56%) patients with septicaemia were quinolone resistant. All patients were sensitive to Meropenem. There was 1 (0.2%) death with regimen 1. Commencing Ofloxacin 24 hours before TRUSgpb reduced the incidence of febrile episodes significantly. We observed the emergence of quinolone and multidrug-resistant E. coli. Meropenem should be considered for unresolving sepsis

Antimicrobial Resistance of Escherichia coli O26, O103, O111, O128, and O145 from Animals and Humans

Susceptibilities to fourteen antimicrobial agents important in clinical medicine and agriculture were determined for 752 Escherichia coli isolates of serotypes O26, O103, O111, O128, and O145. Strains of these serotypes may cause urinary tract and enteric infections in humans and have been implicated in infections with Shiga toxin–producing E. coli (STEC). Approximately 50% of the 137 isolates from humans were resistant to ampicillin, sulfamethoxazole, cephalothin, tetracycline, or streptomycin, and approximately 25% were resistant to chloramphenicol, trimethoprim-sulfamethoxazole, or amoxicillin-clavulanic acid. Approximately 50% of the 534 isolates from food animals were resistant to sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, or streptomycin. Of 195 isolates with STEC-related virulence genes, approximately 40% were resistant to sulfamethoxazole, tetracycline, or streptomycin. Findings from this study suggest antimicrobial resistance is widespread among E. coli O26, O103, O111, O128, and O145 inhabiting humans and food animals

NLO BFKL Equation, Running Coupling and Renormalization Scales

I examine the solution of the BFKL equation with NLO corrections relevant for deep inelastic scattering. Particular emphasis is placed on the part played by the running of the coupling. It is shown that the solution factorizes into a part describing the evolution in Q^2, and a constant part describing the input distribution. The latter is infrared dominated, being described by a coupling which grows as x decreases, and thus being contaminated by infrared renormalons. Hence, for this part we agree with previous assertions that predictive power breaks down for small enough x at any Q^2. However, the former is ultraviolet dominated, being described by a coupling which falls like 1/(\ln(Q^2/\Lambda^2) + A(\bar\alpha_s(Q^2)\ln(1/x))^1/2)with decreasing x, and thus is perturbatively calculable at all x. Therefore, although the BFKL equation is unable to predict the input for a structure function for small x, it is able to predict its evolution in Q^2, as we would expect from the factorization theory. The evolution at small x has no true powerlike behaviour due to the fall of the coupling, but does have significant differences from that predicted from a standard NLO in alpha_s treatment. Application of the resummed splitting functions with the appropriate coupling constant to an analysis of data, i.e. a global fit, is very successful.Comment: Tex file, including a modification of Harvmac, 46 pages, 8 figures as .ps files. Correction of typos, updating of references, very minor corrections to text and fig.