The extent to which weeds modify the transpiration of cereals

This work on transpiration involved a study of the competition and the comparison of the growth of wheat, of wheat with mustard, of oats alone and oats with mustard. To determine the growth and development taking place in the various cultures, measurements were made at frequent intervals of the increases in leaf area and of the amount of water lost. The data clearly show that weeds require a large amount of water. Comparing the pure and mixed cultures leaves no doubt but that a weed like mustard impairs the crop. The effect is evidenced in the fact that a culture of wheat and mustard attained its maximum leaf area later than a culture which contained only wheat; cultures of oats and mustard attained maximum leaf area later than cultures of oats alone. The results secured indicate that such a procedure will cut down the dry weight produced. It is brought out that where oats are grown thick enough, they will offer a competition between themselves. Such growth, however, offers better means for the eradication of weeds like mustard by the process of competition. From the results presented in this work, oats in all probability would be better for this purpose than wheat

Studies upon the Absorption and Germination of Wheat Treated with Formaldehyde

Treating wheat with formaldehyde to prevent the covered or stinking smut of wheat is a general practice wherever wheat is grown. Henderson, Burmester, Johnson and Brittlebank have submitted results of germination tests where wheat has been soaked for varying periods, with the purpose of obtaining safe limits where the fungus is killed, while the seed is left intact. Naturally this is the important conception from the practical standpoint. But admitting this to be the case there are still many fundamental propositions which are still open for solution and of equal import to the practical phases of grain treating to prevent smut and problems of imbibition and of germination

How much money can be saved by applying intravenous antibiotics once instead of several times a day?

Background: The preparation, administration and monitoring of intravenous (IV) applications are time consuming and require human resources. We estimated the potential time and cost savings by replacing antibiotics given 3-4 times daily with antibiotics with similar spectrum and efficacy given once daily. Methods: The savings of indirect costs were estimated based on the antibiotic consumption data of a two-year period (i.e. 2007 and 2008), a nurse's mean workload per application and the average nurse's salary in Switzerland. Results: The consumption of IV antibiotics in 2007 and 2008 at the University Hospital of Basel was 29.0 and 32.2 defined daily doses (DDD) per 100 patient days, respectively. Nurses spent an estimated 13,786h on the application of the estimated 82,715 does of IV antibiotics. A total of 56,404 applications or nursing staff time costs of 338,436 Swiss Francs (CHF; 236,669 €), equal to 16% of the overall costs spent on purchasing antibiotics in the year 2008, may have been saved by switching multiple-dose antibiotics to a hypothetical once-daily antibiotic. Including disposable materials, 21% or 456,884 CHF (319,499 €) could be saved annually (purchase costs not taken into account). Conclusion: We found a potential cost saving of 21% of the purchase costs in a 750-bed institution. Hence, indirect costs should be included in the calculation of the total cost for the application of broad-spectrum IV antibiotics. Switching from a 3-4 times daily application to a once-daily antibiotic should be considered if a once-daily antibiotic is deemed equally effective and has a similar spectru

Stronger correlation between antibiotic use and the incidence of Clostridium difficile determined by culture results instead of faecal toxin detection only

The detection of Clostridium difficile in previous studies evaluating antibiotic use as a risk factor was limited to toxin assay tests. The reported associations may have been misleading due to the low sensitivity of toxin assay tests compared to culture results. Antibiotic use and the incidence of C. difficile of 19 units (wards) over 5years were analysed. Stool samples were tested for toxin A/B and cultured. The correlation of antibiotic use with the incidence of C. difficile determined by culture results was compared to the correlation determined by toxin assay results. Additionally, single antibiotics were analysed as risk factors. Of 5,772 faecal samples tested for C. difficile, 154 single-first cases were detected by the toxin assay and 251 additional single-first cases by culture. Antibiotic use was a significantly stronger risk factor in the correlation based on the culture results (R 2 = 0.63) versus toxin assay results (R 2 = 0.40). Multivariate analysis did not improve the correlation significantly and only the group of broad-spectrum beta-lactams was identified as an independent risk factor. The correlation between antibiotic use and C. difficile incidence rates significantly improves if detection is not limited to faecal toxin assays. Therefore, antibiotic pressure was previously underestimated as a risk facto

The G protein α subunit variant XLαs promotes inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate signaling and mediates the renal actions of parathyroid hormone in vivo

GNAS, which encodes the stimulatory G protein (heterotrimeric guanine nucleotide–binding protein) α subunit (Gαs), also encodes a large variant of Gαs termed extra-large α subunit (XLαs), and alterations in XLαs abundance or activity are implicated in various human disorders. Although XLαs, like Gαs, stimulates generation of the second messenger cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP), evidence suggests that XLαs and Gαs have opposing effects in vivo. We investigated the role of XLαs in mediating signaling by parathyroid hormone (PTH), which activates a G protein–coupled receptor (GPCR) that stimulates both Gαs and Gαq/11 in renal proximal tubules to maintain phosphate and vitamin D homeostasis. At postnatal day 2 (P2), XLαs knockout (XLKO) mice exhibited hyperphosphatemia, hypocalcemia, and increased serum concentrations of PTH and 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D. The ability of PTH to reduce serum phosphate concentrations was impaired, and the abundance of the sodium phosphate cotransporter Npt2a in renal brush border membranes was reduced in XLKO mice, whereas PTH-induced cAMP excretion in the urine was modestly increased. Basal and PTH-stimulated production of inositol 1,4,5-trisphosphate (IP3), which is the second messenger produced by Gαq/11 signaling, was repressed in renal proximal tubules from XLKO mice. Crossing of XLKO mice with mice overexpressing XLαs specifically in renal proximal tubules rescued the phenotype of the XLKO mice. Overexpression of XLαs in HEK 293 cells enhanced IP3 generation in unstimulated cells and in cells stimulated with PTH or thrombin, which acts through a Gq/11-coupled receptor. Together, our findings suggest that XLαs enhances Gq/11 signaling to mediate the renal actions of PTH during early postnatal development

Humisolve als alternatief voor een antimicrobiele groeibevorderaar in voer voor gespeende biggen

Op verzoek van Faust Bio-AG Inc. Europe te Nederweert heeft het Praktijkonderzoek Veehouderij een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de effectiviteit van Humisolve e , een humuszuur, als alternatief voor AMGB

VF Appetite en V&V als alternatief voor een antimicrobiele groeibevorderaar in voer voor gespeende biggen

Op verzoek van Manids Feed Ing BV te Veghel heeft het Praktijkonderzoek Veehouderij een onderzoek uitgevoerd naar de effectiviteit van VF Appetite e en V&V e , een combinatie van organische zuren, als alternatief voor AMG

Measuring the redshift dependence of the CMB monopole temperature with PLANCK data

We study the power of PLANCK data to constrain deviations of the Cosmic Microwave Background black body temperature from adiabatic evolution using the thermal Sunyaev-Zeldovich anisotropy induced by clusters of galaxies. We consider two types of data sets: the cosmological signal is removed in the Time Ordered Information or is removed from the final maps; and two different statistical estimators, based on the ratio of temperature anisotropies at two different frequencies and on a fit to the spectral variation of the cluster signal with frequency. To test for systematics, we construct a template from clusters drawn from a hydro-simulation included in the pre-launch Planck Sky Model. We demonstrate that, using a proprietary catalog of X-ray selected clusters with measured redshifts, electron densities and X-ray temperatures, we can constrain deviations of adiabatic evolution, measured by the parameter $\alpha$ in the redshift scaling $T(z)=T_0(1+z)^{1-\alpha}$, with an accuracy of $\sigma_\alpha=0.011$ in the most optimal case and with $\sigma_\alpha=0.016$ for a less optimal case. These results represent a factor 2-3 improvement over similar measurements carried out using quasar spectral lines and a factor 6-20 with respect to earlier results using smaller cluster samples.Comment: 12 pages in ApJ styl

New mutations at the imprinted Gnas cluster show gene dosage effects of Gsα in postnatal growth and implicate XLαs in bone and fat metabolism, but not in suckling

The imprinted Gnas cluster is involved in obesity, energy metabolism, feeding behavior, and viability. Relative contribution of paternally expressed proteins XLαs, XLN1, and ALEX or a double dose of maternally expressed Gsα to phenotype has not been established. In this study, we have generated two new mutants (Ex1A-T-CON and Ex1A-T) at the Gnas cluster. Paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T-CON leads to loss of imprinting of Gsα, resulting in preweaning growth retardation followed by catch-up growth. Paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T leads to loss of imprinting of Gsα and loss of expression of XLαs and XLN1. These mice have severe preweaning growth retardation and incomplete catch-up growth. They are fully viable probably because suckling is unimpaired, unlike mutants in which the expression of all the known paternally expressed Gnasxl proteins (XLαs, XLN1 and ALEX) is compromised. We suggest that loss of ALEX is most likely responsible for the suckling defects previously observed. In adults, paternal inheritance of Ex1A-T results in an increased metabolic rate and reductions in fat mass, leptin, and bone mineral density attributable to loss of XLαs. This is, to our knowledge, the first report describing a role for XLαs in bone metabolism. We propose that XLαs is involved in the regulation of bone and adipocyte metabolism

Fast and precise map-making for massively multi-detector CMB experiments

Future cosmic microwave background (CMB) polarisation experiments aim to measure an unprecedentedly small signal - the primordial gravity wave component of the polarisation field B-mode. To achieve this, they will analyse huge datasets, involving years worth of time-ordered data (TOD) from massively multi-detector focal planes. This creates the need for fast and precise methods to complement the M-L approach in analysis pipelines. In this paper, we investigate fast map-making methods as applied to long duration, massively multi-detector, ground-based experiments, in the context of the search for B-modes. We focus on two alternative map-making approaches: destriping and TOD filtering, comparing their performance on simulated multi-detector polarisation data. We have written an optimised, parallel destriping code, the DEStriping CARTographer DESCART, that is generalised for massive focal planes, including the potential effect of cross-correlated TOD 1/f noise. We also determine the scaling of computing time for destriping as applied to a simulated full-season data-set for a realistic experiment. We find that destriping can out-perform filtering in estimating both the large-scale E and B-mode angular power spectra. In particular, filtering can produce significant spurious B-mode power via EB mixing. Whilst this can be removed, it contributes to the variance of B-mode bandpower estimates at scales near the primordial B-mode peak. For the experimental configuration we simulate, this has an effect on the possible detection significance for primordial B-modes. Destriping is a viable alternative fast method to the full M-L approach that does not cause the problems associated with filtering, and is flexible enough to fit into both M-L and Monte-Carlo pseudo-Cl pipelines.Comment: 16 pages, 14 figures. MNRAS accepted. Typos corrected and computing time/memory requirement orders-of-magnitude numbers in section 4 replaced by precise number