BRS Sarandi: A New Andropogon Gayanus Cultivar for Tropical Pastures

BRS Sarandi is adapted to low and medium fertility soils. It has a medium-high height, with a semi-erect growth habit and a high total number of tillers. The annual productivity of dry matter is 11 t ha-1, concentrated in the rainy season (90%). Of the total DM produced, 60% are leaves. The levels of crude protein (CP), in vitro dry matter digestibility (IVDMD), neutral detergent fiber (NDF) and acid detergent fiber (ADF) are, on average, 8.7, 56.5, 66.7 and 38.2%, respectively. . The average daily weight gain was 0.7 kg/head/day, the gain per was and 1.7 kg ha-1 day with no supplementation except for mineral salt. The weight gain per area (AG) reached 15 @/ha/year with an average stocking rate of 2.5 AU. BRS Sarandi was registered in the Brazilian Cultivar Registry (Registro Nacional de Cultivares - RNC/MAPA) and is protected in the National Cultivar Protection System (Sistema Nacional de Proteção de Cultivares - SNPC/MAPA)

Dry Matter Yield of Promising \u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Genotypes in Response to Phosphorus and Liming on Brazilian Savannah

Soil fertility of the Brazilian savannah Cerrado is naturally poor. Extensive areas of pastures located in the central part of territory are cultivated with Brachiaria grasses which are less demanding for soil nutrients and lime (Rao et al. 1998). On the other hand, Panicum maximum cultivars such as the high yielding Mombaça grass recommended to intensive beef and dairy cattle systems (Euclides et al. 2008), must be seeded with a higher amount of fertilizer, especially phosphorus (P). Consequently there is an effort for selection of P. maximum genotypes with low P demand and high responsiveness. The objective of this study was to evaluate dry matter yield of genotypes of P. maximum in response to doses of P and lime in the Brazilian Cerrado

Agronomic Performance and Genetic Variability of \u3cem\u3ePanicum Maximum\u3c/em\u3e Accessions in the Cerrado of Federal District, Brazil

In the last three decades, the Brazilian Savanna (locally called Cerrado ) became the most important beef cattle production region in Brazil. Around 90% of all beef produced in the region comes from pasture-based systems. Intensively-managed and fertilised Panicum maximum pastures can be highly productive and economic. As a result, farmers are demanding new P. maximum cultivars for using in well-fertilised pastures or in crop-pasture rotation systems. This study aimed to evaluate the agronomic performance and the genetic variability of P. maximum accessions in the Brazilian Cerrado

Performance of Nelore Cattle on \u3cem\u3ePanicum maximum\u3c/em\u3e Pastures in the Brazilian Cerrado

With the increased demand for meat products, associated with environmental concerns due to global climatic and land use changes, the need to efficiently use pasture and forage resources will increase (Boval and Dixon 2012). Efforts to breed and release new forage cultivars must incorporate these concerns, ensuring that introduced material is of high quality, especially under grazing (Euclides et al. 2008). In this study, we aimed to evaluate the average daily weight gain and stocking rate of Nelore beef cattle grazing new genotypes of Panicum maximum during the rainy season in the Brazilian Cerrado

<i>Gaia</i> Data Release 1. Summary of the astrometric, photometric, and survey properties

Context. At about 1000 days after the launch of Gaia we present the first Gaia data release, Gaia DR1, consisting of astrometry and photometry for over 1 billion sources brighter than magnitude 20.7. Aims. A summary of Gaia DR1 is presented along with illustrations of the scientific quality of the data, followed by a discussion of the limitations due to the preliminary nature of this release. Methods. The raw data collected by Gaia during the first 14 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium (DPAC) and turned into an astrometric and photometric catalogue. Results. Gaia DR1 consists of three components: a primary astrometric data set which contains the positions, parallaxes, and mean proper motions for about 2 million of the brightest stars in common with the HIPPARCOS and Tycho-2 catalogues – a realisation of the Tycho-Gaia Astrometric Solution (TGAS) – and a secondary astrometric data set containing the positions for an additional 1.1 billion sources. The second component is the photometric data set, consisting of mean G-band magnitudes for all sources. The G-band light curves and the characteristics of ∼3000 Cepheid and RR-Lyrae stars, observed at high cadence around the south ecliptic pole, form the third component. For the primary astrometric data set the typical uncertainty is about 0.3 mas for the positions and parallaxes, and about 1 mas yr−1 for the proper motions. A systematic component of ∼0.3 mas should be added to the parallax uncertainties. For the subset of ∼94 000 HIPPARCOS stars in the primary data set, the proper motions are much more precise at about 0.06 mas yr−1. For the secondary astrometric data set, the typical uncertainty of the positions is ∼10 mas. The median uncertainties on the mean G-band magnitudes range from the mmag level to ∼0.03 mag over the magnitude range 5 to 20.7. Conclusions. Gaia DR1 is an important milestone ahead of the next Gaia data release, which will feature five-parameter astrometry for all sources. Extensive validation shows that Gaia DR1 represents a major advance in the mapping of the heavens and the availability of basic stellar data that underpin observational astrophysics. Nevertheless, the very preliminary nature of this first Gaia data release does lead to a number of important limitations to the data quality which should be carefully considered before drawing conclusions from the data

The state of the Martian climate

60°N was +2.0°C, relative to the 1981–2010 average value (Fig. 5.1). This marks a new high for the record. The average annual surface air temperature (SAT) anomaly for 2016 for land stations north of starting in 1900, and is a significant increase over the previous highest value of +1.2°C, which was observed in 2007, 2011, and 2015. Average global annual temperatures also showed record values in 2015 and 2016. Currently, the Arctic is warming at more than twice the rate of lower latitudes

Candida Infections and Therapeutic Strategies: Mechanisms of Action for Traditional and Alternative Agents

The Candida genus comprises opportunistic fungi that can become pathogenic when the immune system of the host fails. Candida albicans is the most important and prevalent species. Polyenes, fluoropyrimidines, echinocandins, and azoles are used as commercial antifungal agents to treat candidiasis. However, the presence of intrinsic and developed resistance against azole antifungals has been extensively documented among several Candida species. The advent of original and re-emergence of classical fungal diseases have occurred as a consequence of the development of the antifungal resistance phenomenon. In this way, the development of new satisfactory therapy for fungal diseases persists as a major challenge of present-day medicine. The design of original drugs from traditional medicines provides new promises in the modern clinic. The urgent need includes the development of alternative drugs that are more efficient and tolerant than those traditional already in use. The identification of new substances with potential antifungal effect at low concentrations or in combination is also a possibility. The present review briefly examines the infections caused by Candida species and focuses on the mechanisms of action associated with the traditional agents used to treat those infections, as well as the current understanding of the molecular basis of resistance development in these fungal species. In addition, this review describes some of the promising alternative molecules and/or substances that could be used as anticandidal agents, their mechanisms of action, and their use in combination with traditional drugs

Danger- and pathogen-associated molecular patterns recognition by pattern-recognition receptors and ion channels of the transient receptor potential family triggers the inflammasome activation in immune cells and sensory neurons.

An increasing number of studies show that the activation of the innate immune system and inflammatory mechanisms play an important role in the pathogenesis of numerous diseases. The innate immune system is present in almost all multicellular organisms and its activation occurs in response to pathogens or tissue injury via pattern-recognition receptors (PRRs) that recognize pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) or danger-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Intracellular pathways, linking immune and inflammatory response to ion channel expression and function, have been recently identified. Among ion channels, the transient receptor potential (TRP) channels are a major family of non-selective cation-permeable channels that function as polymodal cellular sensors involved in many physiological and pathological processes.In this review, we summarize current knowledge of interactions between immune cells and PRRs and ion channels of TRP families with PAMPs and DAMPs to provide new insights into the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. TRP channels have been found to interfere with innate immunity via both nuclear factor-kB and procaspase-1 activation to generate the mature caspase-1 that cleaves pro-interleukin-1ß cytokine into the mature interleukin-1ß.Sensory neurons are also adapted to recognize dangers by virtue of their sensitivity to intense mechanical, thermal and irritant chemical stimuli. As immune cells, they possess many of the same molecular recognition pathways for danger. Thus, they express PRRs including Toll-like receptors 3, 4, 7, and 9, and stimulation by Toll-like receptor ligands leads to induction of inward currents and sensitization in TRPs. In addition, the expression of inflammasomes in neurons and the involvement of TRPs in central nervous system diseases strongly support a role of TRPs in inflammasome-mediated neurodegenerative pathologies. This field is still at its beginning and further studies may be required.Overall, these studies highlight the therapeutic potential of targeting the inflammasomes in proinflammatory, autoinflammatory and metabolic disorders associated with undesirable activation of the inflammasome by using specific TRP antagonists, anti-human TRP monoclonal antibody or different molecules able to abrogate the TRP channel-mediated inflammatory signals