Evaluation of fungicide and biological treatments for control of fungal storage rots in sugar beet, 2014

Preventing sucrose losses in storage is important to the economic viability of the sugar beet industry. In an effort to establish additional measures for reducing sucrose losses in storage, ten fungicide and/or biological treatments were evaluated on sugar beet roots in a commercial sugar beet storage building for their ability to limit fungal growth on roots harvested 2 Oct. Six of the treatments were applied as a direct spray to roots, but two treatments were applied as a cold fog and two others were applied as a thermal fog. The treated eight-beet root samples were arranged in a randomized complete block design with 6 replications on top of the commercial sugar beet pile inside a storage building. Roots were evaluated for fungal growth, root rot, weight loss, and sucrose reduction. Fungal growth on the root surface ranged from 0 to 58% depending on the rating date and treatment. After 136 days in storage, root rot ranged from 4 to 34%, weight loss ranged from 7.5 to 10.2%, and sucrose reduction ranged from 17 to 33%. The treatments that reduced rot and sucrose reduction the most were Phostrol, Propulse, and Stadium applied as direct sprays and Propulse as a cold fog. Thus, the results indicate that several of the fungicides evaluated have the potential to protect roots from fungal rot in sugar beet storage piles, which could lead to considerable economic benefit for the sugar beet industry

Residual Effects of Fresh and Composted Dairy Manure Applications on Potato Production

Potato growers in Idaho and other dairy producing regions often grow potatoes on fields that have had a history of fresh and composted manure applications. Growers remain uncertain of the impacts that previous manure applications will have on tuber yield and quality, as well as diseases, physiological disorders, and contamination by human pathogenic bacteria such as E. coli. The focus of this study was to determine the long term effects of manure, compost, and chemical phosphorus (P) fertilizer applications on tuber yields, tuber quality, nutrient uptake, tuber disorders and diseases, and soil nutrient concentrations. Russet Burbank potatoes were grown in 2008 and 2009 on plots that had received dairy manure, dairy compost, P fertilizer, or no P source (control) at the same target P rate in 2003, 2004, and 2005. Compared with the P fertilizer treatment, applications of manure and/or compost significantly increased total yields, soil potassium (K), soil nitrate (NO3-N), early season petiole P, and late season petiole K in at least one year of the two-year study. There were no significant differences between P fertilizer, manure, and compost treatments on soil test P, late season petiole P, early season petiole K, E. coli populations on tuber surfaces, common tuber diseases and disorders, and tuber quality. Based on our findings, tuber yields significantly increased three years after applications of fresh and composted dairy manure, while tuber diseases, disorders, and quality were not affected

Lawson criterion for ignition exceeded in an inertial fusion experiment

For more than half a century, researchers around the world have been engaged in attempts to achieve fusion ignition as a proof of principle of various fusion concepts. Following the Lawson criterion, an ignited plasma is one where the fusion heating power is high enough to overcome all the physical processes that cool the fusion plasma, creating a positive thermodynamic feedback loop with rapidly increasing temperature. In inertially confined fusion, ignition is a state where the fusion plasma can begin "burn propagation" into surrounding cold fuel, enabling the possibility of high energy gain. While "scientific breakeven" (i.e., unity target gain) has not yet been achieved (here target gain is 0.72, 1.37 MJ of fusion for 1.92 MJ of laser energy), this Letter reports the first controlled fusion experiment, using laser indirect drive, on the National Ignition Facility to produce capsule gain (here 5.8) and reach ignition by nine different formulations of the Lawson criterion

Dissecting the Shared Genetic Architecture of Suicide Attempt, Psychiatric Disorders, and Known Risk Factors

Background Suicide is a leading cause of death worldwide, and nonfatal suicide attempts, which occur far more frequently, are a major source of disability and social and economic burden. Both have substantial genetic etiology, which is partially shared and partially distinct from that of related psychiatric disorders. Methods We conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 29,782 suicide attempt (SA) cases and 519,961 controls in the International Suicide Genetics Consortium (ISGC). The GWAS of SA was conditioned on psychiatric disorders using GWAS summary statistics via multitrait-based conditional and joint analysis, to remove genetic effects on SA mediated by psychiatric disorders. We investigated the shared and divergent genetic architectures of SA, psychiatric disorders, and other known risk factors. Results Two loci reached genome-wide significance for SA: the major histocompatibility complex and an intergenic locus on chromosome 7, the latter of which remained associated with SA after conditioning on psychiatric disorders and replicated in an independent cohort from the Million Veteran Program. This locus has been implicated in risk-taking behavior, smoking, and insomnia. SA showed strong genetic correlation with psychiatric disorders, particularly major depression, and also with smoking, pain, risk-taking behavior, sleep disturbances, lower educational attainment, reproductive traits, lower socioeconomic status, and poorer general health. After conditioning on psychiatric disorders, the genetic correlations between SA and psychiatric disorders decreased, whereas those with nonpsychiatric traits remained largely unchanged. Conclusions Our results identify a risk locus that contributes more strongly to SA than other phenotypes and suggest a shared underlying biology between SA and known risk factors that is not mediated by psychiatric disorders.Peer reviewe

Proceedings of the 3rd Biennial Conference of the Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) 2015: advancing efficient methodologies through community partnerships and team science

It is well documented that the majority of adults, children and families in need of evidence-based behavioral health interventionsi do not receive them [1, 2] and that few robust empirically supported methods for implementing evidence-based practices (EBPs) exist. The Society for Implementation Research Collaboration (SIRC) represents a burgeoning effort to advance the innovation and rigor of implementation research and is uniquely focused on bringing together researchers and stakeholders committed to evaluating the implementation of complex evidence-based behavioral health interventions. Through its diverse activities and membership, SIRC aims to foster the promise of implementation research to better serve the behavioral health needs of the population by identifying rigorous, relevant, and efficient strategies that successfully transfer scientific evidence to clinical knowledge for use in real world settings [3]. SIRC began as a National Institute of Mental Health (NIMH)-funded conference series in 2010 (previously titled the “Seattle Implementation Research Conference”; $150,000 USD for 3 conferences in 2011, 2013, and 2015) with the recognition that there were multiple researchers and stakeholdersi working in parallel on innovative implementation science projects in behavioral health, but that formal channels for communicating and collaborating with one another were relatively unavailable. There was a significant need for a forum within which implementation researchers and stakeholders could learn from one another, refine approaches to science and practice, and develop an implementation research agenda using common measures, methods, and research principles to improve both the frequency and quality with which behavioral health treatment implementation is evaluated. SIRC’s membership growth is a testament to this identified need with more than 1000 members from 2011 to the present.ii SIRC’s primary objectives are to: (1) foster communication and collaboration across diverse groups, including implementation researchers, intermediariesi, as well as community stakeholders (SIRC uses the term “EBP champions” for these groups) – and to do so across multiple career levels (e.g., students, early career faculty, established investigators); and (2) enhance and disseminate rigorous measures and methodologies for implementing EBPs and evaluating EBP implementation efforts. These objectives are well aligned with Glasgow and colleagues’ [4] five core tenets deemed critical for advancing implementation science: collaboration, efficiency and speed, rigor and relevance, improved capacity, and cumulative knowledge. SIRC advances these objectives and tenets through in-person conferences, which bring together multidisciplinary implementation researchers and those implementing evidence-based behavioral health interventions in the community to share their work and create professional connections and collaborations

Global urban environmental change drives adaptation in white clover

Urbanization transforms environments in ways that alter biological evolution. We examined whether urban environmental change drives parallel evolution by sampling 110,019 white clover plants from 6169 populations in 160 cities globally. Plants were assayed for a Mendelian antiherbivore defense that also affects tolerance to abiotic stressors. Urban-rural gradients were associated with the evolution of clines in defense in 47% of cities throughout the world. Variation in the strength of clines was explained by environmental changes in drought stress and vegetation cover that varied among cities. Sequencing 2074 genomes from 26 cities revealed that the evolution of urban-rural clines was best explained by adaptive evolution, but the degree of parallel adaptation varied among cities. Our results demonstrate that urbanization leads to adaptation at a global scale

Evaluation of fungicide and biological treatments for control of fungal storage rots in sugar beet, 2014

Preventing sucrose losses in storage is important to the economic viability of the sugar beet industry. In an effort to establish additional measures for reducing sucrose losses in storage, ten fungicide and/or biological treatments were evaluated on sugar beet roots in a commercial sugar beet storage building for their ability to limit fungal growth on roots harvested 2 Oct. Six of the treatments were applied as a direct spray to roots, but two treatments were applied as a cold fog and two others were applied as a thermal fog. The treated eight-beet root samples were arranged in a randomized complete block design with 6 replications on top of the commercial sugar beet pile inside a storage building. Roots were evaluated for fungal growth, root rot, weight loss, and sucrose reduction. Fungal growth on the root surface ranged from 0 to 58% depending on the rating date and treatment. After 136 days in storage, root rot ranged from 4 to 34%, weight loss ranged from 7.5 to 10.2%, and sucrose reduction ranged from 17 to 33%. The treatments that reduced rot and sucrose reduction the most were Phostrol, Propulse, and Stadium applied as direct sprays and Propulse as a cold fog. Thus, the results indicate that several of the fungicides evaluated have the potential to protect roots from fungal rot in sugar beet storage piles, which could lead to considerable economic benefit for the sugar beet industry