Savvy Seed Sorter Gains New Fans

Simple, swift, and comparatively inexpensive, a color-image-based seed sorter is helping plant breeders and others separate the seeds they want from those they don’t—with an impressive degree of accuracy. Agricultural Research Service agricultural engineer Thomas C. Pearson, based at the agency’s Center for Grain and Animal Health Research in Manhattan, Kansas, developed the sorter in collaboration with National Manufacturing in Lincoln, Nebraska. The company has marketed the device to customers in the United States and abroad since 2010. In tests, the compact, portable sorter— a simpler and faster version of other machine-vision equipment that Pearson developed in 2009—speedily differentiated kernels of hard red wheat from kernels of hard white winter wheat with 98.6 percent accuracy. Says Pearson, “Breeders cross red and white varieties of these bread-making wheats to transfer desirable traits from one to another. Test fields are planted with both hard red and hard white wheat. At harvest, the seeds have to be separated.” The sorter is also skilled at separating yellow from brown flax and barley from durum wheat. Pearson explains that yellow flax is used somewhat like sesame seeds as a tasty, nut-flavored garnish for breads and other baked goods, while brown flax is harvested for its oil. The sorter was accurate 94 percent of the time in detecting yellow flax seeds from brown ones in Pearson’s tests. Barley plants can sometimes turn up as unwanted “rogues” or “volunteers” in neighboring test rows of candidate durum wheats. The sorter system detected durum kernels with 93 percent accuracy, Pearson reports

The cardiovascular implications of omega-3 fatty acids

Nutrition is an important factor in the primary and secondary prevention of cardiovascular disease. Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in North America and the world. Observational studies have generally favoured a beneficial role of n-3 fatty acids in the prevention of heart disease, especially in the prevention of sudden cardiac death. The results of more recent randomised controlled studies, however, have made conclusions regarding the benefit more controversial, with the suggestion of possible harm with fish oil supplementation to those with diagnosed cardiovascular disease. We provide an overview of the results of studies to date and introduce the controversial topics of the omega-6/omega-3 ratio, the public’s concerns regarding ingestion of mercury from marine n-3 sources and the potential role of highly bioactive n-3 metabolites in the process of atherosclerosis. We also provide some general guidelines for the ingestion of n-3 fatty acids that may help clinicians and patients make informed decisions

The Farm Movement in America\u27s Heartland: A Profile of Leaders, Their Power, and Problems

A body of new farm leaders emerged during the mid-1980s in response to the farm crisis in the Upper Midwest. This paper explores the influence of these leaders in shaping the direction of their groups. It does so through examining the farm leaders\u27 socio-demographic characteristics, their use of power, and the way they confront problems. The leaders of two groups, the Farm Crisis Committee (FCC) and Groundswell (GS), are studied. The data for this paper were collected through use of a nonrandom-purposive sampling method. They were gathered through administration of a survey questionnaire in 1986 and intensive interviews during 1986-87. All eight of the FCC\u27s and seven of nine of GS\u27s founding leaders participated. These persons were identified as leaders because they held elected or appointed positions in their groups. The surveys and interviews for the leaders of the FCC were carried out at the group\u27s office in Emerson, Nebraska, while those of GS, because the organization in its early days had no headquarters, were conducted at their individual homes or in restaurants throughout Minnesota. This paper\u27s findings are further supported through use of documentary data from the farm groups and\u27 supplementary secondary data, including scholarly publications, magazines, newspapers, and a television documentary

Real-time diagnostics of gas/water assisted injection moulding using integrated ultrasonic sensors

YesAn ultrasound sensor system has been applied to the mould of both the water and gas assisted injection moulding processes. The mould has a cavity wall mounted pressure sensor and instrumentation to monitor the injection moulding machine. Two ultrasound sensors are used to monitor the arrival of the fluid (gas or water) bubble tip through the detection of reflected ultrasound energy from the fluid polymer boundary and the fluid bubble tip velocity through the polymer melt is estimated. The polymer contact with the cavity wall is observed through the reflected ultrasound energy from that boundary. A theoretically based estimation of the residual wall thickness is made using the ultrasound reflection from the fluid (gas or water) polymer boundary whilst the samples are still inside the mould and a good correlation with a physical measurement is observed

Simultaneous inhibition of B7 and LFA-1 signaling prevents rejection of discordant neural xenografts in mice lacking CD40L.

Transplantation of embryonic human neural tissue can restore dopamine neurotransmission and improve neurological function in patients with Parkinson's disease. Logistical and ethical factors limit the availability of human embryonic allogeneic tissue. Embryonic xenogeneic neural tissue from porcine donors is an alternative form of donor tissue, but effective immunomodulatory techniques are warranted for neural xenotransplantation to become clinically feasible. We transplanted embryonic porcine ventral mesencephalic tissue into the brains of adult untreated C57BL/6 mice, untreated CD40L-/-mice and CD40L-/-mice that received injections of anti-LFA-1, CTLA41g or both compounds. Double-treated CD40L-/-mice had large grafts with high numbers of dopaminergic neurons 4 wk after transplantation. The grafts were completely devoid of lymphocytes, macrophages and activated microglia. Untreated C57BL/6 mice had rejected their grafts. Untreated CD40L-/-mice and CD40L-/-mice treated with monotherapy of anti-LFA-1 or CTLA41g had smaller grafts and more microglial and lymphocytic infiltration than double-treated CD40L-/-mice. We conclude that immunomodulation with concomitant inhibition of LFA-1 and B7 signaling in the perioperative period in CD40L-/-mice prevented the rejection of discordant neural xenografts. The treatment most likely reduced antigen presenting capacity and interfered with the costimulatory signaling needed for T cell activation to occur