59 research outputs found
Agricultural Performance of Diverse Pastures of Complementary Species and Monoculture Pastures Defoliated According to the Leaf Regrowth Stage Window of Opportunity Criterion
In a diverse pasture of complementary species (DPCS), individual species fulfil agro-ecological functions that confer growth asynchrony and complementarity of ecosystem functions. These attributes provide yield consistency with a more even forage supply pattern across the year compared to monocultures. A common leaf regrowth stage window opportunity (LSWO) for the diverse species enables pasture defoliation that stimulates growth and persistence. The study assessed seasonal and annual growth traits of Lolium perenne (Lp), Bromus valdivianus (Bv) and Dactylis glomerata (Dg) as single grass species (Mono) sown with Trifolium repens (Tr) and as DPCS with the four species (Lp+Bv+Dg+Tr=Mix). The defoliation criteria applied (LSWO of a target species: Lp, Bv or Dg) resulted in eleven grazing events for MonoLp and MixLp, ten grazing events for MonoBv and MixBv, and nine grazing events for MonoDg and MixDg in a year. MixBv and MixDg displayed synchronized overlaps of the three species LSWOs during the seasons and across the year. MixLp had Bv and Dg being grazed slightly earlier than their LSWOs. There were no significant differences in annual herbage accumulation for all treatments. Significant differences were found within seasons, and the seasonality of the pasture growth was reduced in the DPCS when compared to their respective Mono establishment. This resulted in a more evenly distributed pasture feed resource throughout the year and can mitigate the negative impacts of extreme climatic events (longer periods of soil water restriction or saturation). The LSWO criterion enabled the successful management of monocultures and DPCS
Clinical and service implications of a cognitive analytic therapy model of psychosis
Cognitive analytic therapy (CAT) is an integrative, interpersonal model of therapy predicated on a radically social concept of self, developed over recent years in the UK by Anthony Ryle. A CAT-based model of psychotic disorder has been developed much more recently based on encouraging early experience in this area. The model describes and accounts for many psychotic experiences and symptoms in terms of distorted, amplified or muddled enactments of normal or ‘neurotic’ reciprocal role procedures (RRPs) and of damage at a meta-procedural level to the structures of the self.
Reciprocal role procedures are understood in CAT to represent the outcome of the process of internalization of early, sign-mediated, interpersonal experience and to constitute the basis for all mental activity, normal or otherwise. Enactments of maladaptive RRPs generated by early interpersonal stress are seen in this model to constitute a form of ‘internal expressed emotion’. Joint description of these RRPs and their enactments (both internally and externally) and their subsequent revision is central to the practice of CAT during which they are mapped out through written and diagrammatic reformulations.
This model may usefully complement and extend existing approaches, notably recent CBT-based interventions, particularly with ‘difficult’ patients, and generate meaningful and helpful understandings of these disorders for both patients and their treating teams. We suggest that use of a coherent and robust model such as CAT could have important clinical and service implications in terms of developing and researching models of these disorders as well as for the training of multidisciplinary teams in their effective treatment
Antioxidant potential and correlation with physicochemical characteristics of honey samples of Apis mellifera L. from microregion Ribeira do Pombal, Bahia.
Exact Occupation Time Distribution in a Non-Markovian Sequence and Its Relation to Spin Glass Models
We compute exactly the distribution of the occupation time in a discrete {\em
non-Markovian} toy sequence which appears in various physical contexts such as
the diffusion processes and Ising spin glass chains. The non-Markovian property
makes the results nontrivial even for this toy sequence. The distribution is
shown to have non-Gaussian tails characterized by a nontrivial large deviation
function which is computed explicitly. An exact mapping of this sequence to an
Ising spin glass chain via a gauge transformation raises an interesting new
question for a generic finite sized spin glass model: at a given temperature,
what is the distribution (over disorder) of the thermally averaged number of
spins that are aligned to their local fields? We show that this distribution
remains nontrivial even at infinite temperature and can be computed explicitly
in few cases such as in the Sherrington-Kirkpatrick model with Gaussian
disorder.Comment: 10 pages Revtex (two-column), 1 eps figure (included
Bactericidal activity of human eosinophilic granulocytes against Escherichia coli
Eosinophils participate in allergic inflammation and may have roles in the bodys defense against helminthic infestation. Even under noninflammatory conditions, eosinophils are present in the mucosa of the large intestine, where large numbers of gram-negative bacteria reside. Therefore, roles for eosinophils in host defenses against bacterial invasion are possible. In a system for bacterial viable counts, the bactericidal activity of eosinophils and the contribution of different cellular antibacterial systems against Escherichia coli were investigated. Eosinophils showed a rapid and efficient killing of E. coli under aerobic conditions, whereas under anaerobic conditions bacterial killing decreased dramatically. In addition, diphenylene iodonium chloride (DPI), an inhibitor of the NADPH oxidase and thereby of superoxide production, also significantly inhibited bacterial killing. The inhibitor of nitric oxide (NO) production L-N5-(1-iminoethyl)-ornithine dihydrochloride did not affect the killing efficiency, suggesting that NO or derivatives thereof are of minor importance under the experimental conditions used. To investigate the involvement of superoxide and eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) in bacterial killing, EPO was blocked by azide. The rate of E. coli killing decreased significantly in the presence of azide, whereas addition of DPI did not further decrease the killing, suggesting that superoxide acts in conjunction with EPO. Bactericidal activity was seen in eosinophil extracts containing granule proteins, indicating that oxygen-independent killing may be of importance as well. The findings suggest that eosinophils can participate in host defense against gram-negative bacterial invasion and that oxygen-dependent killing, i.e., superoxide acting in conjunction with EPO, may be the most important bactericidal effector function of these cells
Desempenho de cultivares de girassol no Nordeste brasileiro nos anos agrÃcolas de 2010 e 2011.
bitstream/item/75592/1/Cot-123.pd
Cell Walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae Differentially Modulated Innate Immunity and Glucose Metabolism during Late Systemic Inflammation
BACKGROUND: Salmonella causes acute systemic inflammation by using its virulence factors to invade the intestinal epithelium. But, prolonged inflammation may provoke severe body catabolism and immunological diseases. Salmonella has become more life-threatening due to emergence of multiple-antibiotic resistant strains. Mannose-rich oligosaccharides (MOS) from cells walls of Saccharomyces cerevisiae have shown to bind mannose-specific lectin of Gram-negative bacteria including Salmonella, and prevent their adherence to intestinal epithelial cells. However, whether MOS may potentially mitigate systemic inflammation is not investigated yet. Moreover, molecular events underlying innate immune responses and metabolic activities during late inflammation, in presence or absence of MOS, are unknown. METHODS AND PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Using a Salmonella LPS-induced systemic inflammation chicken model and microarray analysis, we investigated the effects of MOS and virginiamycin (VIRG, a sub-therapeutic antibiotic) on innate immunity and glucose metabolism during late inflammation. Here, we demonstrate that MOS and VIRG modulated innate immunity and metabolic genes differently. Innate immune responses were principally mediated by intestinal IL-3, but not TNF-α, IL-1 or IL-6, whereas glucose mobilization occurred through intestinal gluconeogenesis only. MOS inherently induced IL-3 expression in control hosts. Consequent to LPS challenge, IL-3 induction in VIRG hosts but not differentially expressed in MOS hosts revealed that MOS counteracted LPS's detrimental inflammatory effects. Metabolic pathways are built to elucidate the mechanisms by which VIRG host's higher energy requirements were met: including gene up-regulations for intestinal gluconeogenesis (PEPCK) and liver glycolysis (ENO2), and intriguingly liver fatty acid synthesis through ATP citrate synthase (CS) down-regulation and ATP citrate lyase (ACLY) and malic enzyme (ME) up-regulations. However, MOS host's lower energy demands were sufficiently met through TCA citrate-derived energy, as indicated by CS up-regulation. CONCLUSIONS: MOS terminated inflammation earlier than VIRG and reduced glucose mobilization, thus representing a novel biological strategy to alleviate Salmonella-induced systemic inflammation in human and animal hosts
Apple phytochemicals and their health benefits
Evidence suggests that a diet high in fruits and vegetables may decrease the risk of chronic diseases, such as cardiovascular disease and cancer, and phytochemicals including phenolics, flavonoids and carotenoids from fruits and vegetables may play a key role in reducing chronic disease risk. Apples are a widely consumed, rich source of phytochemicals, and epidemiological studies have linked the consumption of apples with reduced risk of some cancers, cardiovascular disease, asthma, and diabetes. In the laboratory, apples have been found to have very strong antioxidant activity, inhibit cancer cell proliferation, decrease lipid oxidation, and lower cholesterol. Apples contain a variety of phytochemicals, including quercetin, catechin, phloridzin and chlorogenic acid, all of which are strong antioxidants. The phytochemical composition of apples varies greatly between different varieties of apples, and there are also small changes in phytochemicals during the maturation and ripening of the fruit. Storage has little to no effect on apple phytochemicals, but processing can greatly affect apple phytochemicals. While extensive research exists, a literature review of the health benefits of apples and their phytochemicals has not been compiled to summarize this work. The purpose of this paper is to review the most recent literature regarding the health benefits of apples and their phytochemicals, phytochemical bioavailability and antioxidant behavior, and the effects of variety, ripening, storage and processing on apple phytochemicals
Veterinary students’ perceptions of their learning environment as measured by the Dundee Ready Education Environment Measure
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