Revolutionary Self-Sustaining Pasture-Crop Rotation Systems Developed by Researcher-Farmer Collaboration for Southern Australian Farming Systems

Mixed farming pasture-crop rotation systems in southern Australia have traditionally relied on subterranean clover and annual medics. Concern over the long-term persistence of these species was raised in the 1980‟s with the cessation of manufacture of suction harvesters required for seed production. Subsequently, their adaptation has been tested due to climate change. More frequent droughts, particularly the millennium drought (2002-2009), increased incidence of false breaks and dry spring conditions causing decline or complete loss of seedbank reserves and failure of new sowings. A concerted effort developing new legume species for Australian farming systems, led by Western Australia, resulted in domestication of biserrula, bladder clover and gland clover and development of new cultivars of French and yellow serradella. These species/varieties possess characteristics including one or more of the following: higher hard seed content, deeper root systems, greater acid soil tolerance in symbiosis, increased herbage and seed production, wider tolerance to pest and diseases. They can also be harvested with conventional cereal harvesters reducing seed cost and enabling farmers to produce their own seed (Loi et al., 2005). A survey of farmers showed adoption of new species was limited by a lack of detailed management information on how to grow and manage them, to maximise their impact on crop and livestock productivity (Hackney et al., 2012). This paper reports on efforts made over a decade by a multidisciplinary WA and NSW team of plant breeders, rhizobiologists, agronomists and animal scientists, formed to develop new self-sustaining pasture-crop rotation systems to fill the void left by the failure of traditional rotation systems. The critical role and early recruitment of „champion‟ farmers in achieving the successful adoption of new technology is discussed, as is the difficulty in organizing and funding systems research

Gene and pathway identification with Lp penalized Bayesian logistic regression

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Identifying genes and pathways associated with diseases such as cancer has been a subject of considerable research in recent years in the area of bioinformatics and computational biology. It has been demonstrated that the magnitude of differential expression does not necessarily indicate biological significance. Even a very small change in the expression of particular gene may have dramatic physiological consequences if the protein encoded by this gene plays a catalytic role in a specific cell function. Moreover, highly correlated genes may function together on the same pathway biologically. Finally, in sparse logistic regression with <it>L</it>_{<it>p </it>}(<it>p </it>< 1) penalty, the degree of the sparsity obtained is determined by the value of the regularization parameter. Usually this parameter must be carefully tuned through cross-validation, which is time consuming.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>In this paper, we proposed a simple Bayesian approach to integrate the regularization parameter out analytically using a new prior. Therefore, there is no longer a need for parameter selection, as it is eliminated entirely from the model. The proposed algorithm (BLpLog) is typically two or three orders of magnitude faster than the original algorithm and free from bias in performance estimation. We also define a novel similarity measure and develop an integrated algorithm to hunt the regulatory genes with low expression changes but having high correlation with the selected genes. Pathways of those correlated genes were identified with DAVID <url>http://david.abcc.ncifcrf.gov/</url>.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Experimental results with gene expression data demonstrate that the proposed methods can be utilized to identify important genes and pathways that are related to cancer and build a parsimonious model for future patient predictions.</p

Fungal enzyme sets for plant polysaccharide degradation

Enzymatic degradation of plant polysaccharides has many industrial applications, such as within the paper, food, and feed industry and for sustainable production of fuels and chemicals. Cellulose, hemicelluloses, and pectins are the main components of plant cell wall polysaccharides. These polysaccharides are often tightly packed, contain many different sugar residues, and are branched with a diversity of structures. To enable efficient degradation of these polysaccharides, fungi produce an extensive set of carbohydrate-active enzymes. The variety of the enzyme set differs between fungi and often corresponds to the requirements of its habitat. Carbohydrate-active enzymes can be organized in different families based on the amino acid sequence of the structurally related catalytic modules. Fungal enzymes involved in plant polysaccharide degradation are assigned to at least 35 glycoside hydrolase families, three carbohydrate esterase families and six polysaccharide lyase families. This mini-review will discuss the enzymes needed for complete degradation of plant polysaccharides and will give an overview of the latest developments concerning fungal carbohydrate-active enzymes and their corresponding families

European consensus statement on diagnosis and treatment of adult ADHD: The European Network Adult ADHD.

BACKGROUND: Attention deficit hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) is among the most common psychiatric disorders of childhood that persists into adulthood in the majority of cases. The evidence on persistence poses several difficulties for adult psychiatry considering the lack of expertise for diagnostic assessment, limited treatment options and patient facilities across Europe. METHODS: The European Network Adult ADHD, founded in 2003, aims to increase awareness of this disorder and improve knowledge and patient care for adults with ADHD across Europe. This Consensus Statement is one of the actions taken by the European Network Adult ADHD in order to support the clinician with research evidence and clinical experience from 18 European countries in which ADHD in adults is recognised and treated. RESULTS: Besides information on the genetics and neurobiology of ADHD, three major questions are addressed in this statement: (1) What is the clinical picture of ADHD in adults? (2) How can ADHD in adults be properly diagnosed? (3) How should ADHD in adults be effectively treated? CONCLUSIONS: ADHD often presents as an impairing lifelong condition in adults, yet it is currently underdiagnosed and treated in many European countries, leading to ineffective treatment and higher costs of illness. Expertise in diagnostic assessment and treatment of ADHD in adults must increase in psychiatry. Instruments for screening and diagnosis of ADHD in adults are available and appropriate treatments exist, although more research is needed in this age group

Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use in early acute respiratory distress syndrome : Insights from the LUNG SAFE study

Publisher Copyright: © 2020 The Author(s). Copyright: Copyright 2020 Elsevier B.V., All rights reserved.Background: Concerns exist regarding the prevalence and impact of unnecessary oxygen use in patients with acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS). We examined this issue in patients with ARDS enrolled in the Large observational study to UNderstand the Global impact of Severe Acute respiratory FailurE (LUNG SAFE) study. Methods: In this secondary analysis of the LUNG SAFE study, we wished to determine the prevalence and the outcomes associated with hyperoxemia on day 1, sustained hyperoxemia, and excessive oxygen use in patients with early ARDS. Patients who fulfilled criteria of ARDS on day 1 and day 2 of acute hypoxemic respiratory failure were categorized based on the presence of hyperoxemia (PaO2 > 100 mmHg) on day 1, sustained (i.e., present on day 1 and day 2) hyperoxemia, or excessive oxygen use (FIO2 ≥ 0.60 during hyperoxemia). Results: Of 2005 patients that met the inclusion criteria, 131 (6.5%) were hypoxemic (PaO2 < 55 mmHg), 607 (30%) had hyperoxemia on day 1, and 250 (12%) had sustained hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use occurred in 400 (66%) out of 607 patients with hyperoxemia. Excess FIO2 use decreased from day 1 to day 2 of ARDS, with most hyperoxemic patients on day 2 receiving relatively low FIO2. Multivariate analyses found no independent relationship between day 1 hyperoxemia, sustained hyperoxemia, or excess FIO2 use and adverse clinical outcomes. Mortality was 42% in patients with excess FIO2 use, compared to 39% in a propensity-matched sample of normoxemic (PaO2 55-100 mmHg) patients (P = 0.47). Conclusions: Hyperoxemia and excess oxygen use are both prevalent in early ARDS but are most often non-sustained. No relationship was found between hyperoxemia or excessive oxygen use and patient outcome in this cohort. Trial registration: LUNG-SAFE is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT02010073publishersversionPeer reviewe