Growth in herbaceous perennials

Several studies of herbaceous perennials have addressed the effects of environmental factors during and after production, inherent cold hardiness, and post-harvest handling procedures to enhance flowering and growth during establishment. The regrowth of both woody and herbaceous forage plants following establishment is reported to be directly related to reserve-nitrogen content. Plants with higher nitrogen reserves grow sooner and produce more growth than plants with low reserves. The first objective in my study, carried out in the greenhouse and outdoors, was to identify any relationship between initial plant size and the regrowth of fourteen herbaceous perennials from five nursery sources. Of the varieties analyzed, six showed differences in growth between nurseries when grown outdoors, but it appears this was not due to their initial plant size. The second objective was to determine whether reserve nitrogen (N) content or the level of reserved total nonstructural carbohydrates (TNC) had an effect on regrowth. In this greenhouse experiment, six out of nine varieties that had higher levels of reserve N per plant tended to grow more. In contrast, five varieties showed more growth with higher levels of reserve TNC per plant. This suggests that reserve nitrogen may have more effect than carbohydrates on the regrowth of perennial plants during establishment. The third objective was to determine the timing of N uptake from soil applied N after establishment. For this greenhouse experiment, double-labeled depleted ammonium nitrate was applied to plants of Astilbe chinensis 'Pumila' 10 d after they were transplanted in the greenhouse. The uptake started soon after the application; 40% of the ¹⁵N was detected by Day 10, and then leveled off. This study suggests that herbaceous and woody perennials are similar in their requirement for reserve N for new growth. In general, the growth of herbaceous perennials appeared to be related to reserve N content rather than to initial plant size or levels of stored carbohydrates. However, this is preliminary study, and more studies are necessary for further investigation. regrowth of perennial plants during establishment

Perfluorooctane Sulfonate (PFOS) and Related Perfluorinated Compounds in Human Maternal and Cord Blood Samples: Assessment of PFOS Exposure in a Susceptible Population during Pregnancy

Fluorinated organic compounds (FOCs), such as perfluorooctane sulfonate (PFOS), perfluorooctanoate (PFOA), and perfluorooctane sulfonylamide (PFOSA), are widely used in the manufacture of plastic, electronics, textile, and construction material in the apparel, leather, and upholstery industries. FOCs have been detected in human blood samples. Studies have indicated that FOCs may be detrimental to rodent development possibly by affecting thyroid hormone levels. In the present study, we determined the concentrations of FOCs in maternal and cord blood samples. Pregnant women 17–37 years of age were enrolled as subjects. FOCs in 15 pairs of maternal and cord blood samples were analyzed by liquid chromatography–electrospray mass spectrometry coupled with online extraction. The limits of quantification of PFOS, PFOA, and PFOSA in human plasma or serum were 0.5, 0.5, and 1.0 ng/mL, respectively. The method enables the precise determination of FOCs and can be applied to the detection of FOCs in human blood samples for monitoring human exposure. PFOS concentrations in maternal samples ranged from 4.9 to 17.6 ng/mL, whereas those in fetal samples ranged from 1.6 to 5.3 ng/mL. In contrast, PFOSA was not detected in fetal or maternal samples, whereas PFOA was detected only in maternal samples (range, < 0.5 to 2.3 ng/mL, 4 of 15). Our results revealed a high correlation between PFOS concentrations in maternal and cord blood (r(2) = 0.876). However, we did not find any significant correlations between PFOS concentration in maternal and cord blood samples and age bracket, birth weight, or levels of thyroid-stimulating hormone or free thyroxine. Our study revealed that human fetuses in Japan may be exposed to relatively high levels of FOCs. Further investigation is required to determine the postnatal effects of fetal exposure to FOCs

高校生アスリートの水分出納

This study was conducted to assess water balance under 2h-sedentary or 2h-exercise training in 8 athlete high school students. Whole-body sweat loss（WBSL）was calculated using this Equation［WBSL（L）=（Pre-exercise body mass（kg）−Post-exercise body mass（kg））+Fluid intake（L）−Urine output （L）］. Urine and WHSL decreased and increased from 249±117 ml and 306±155 ml in 2h-sedentary to 64±34 ml and 1764±1243 ml in 2h-excercise training, respectively. In conclusion, sweat losses became a major factor in whole-body water balance in exercise training

A Suzaku Observation of the Low-Ionization Fe-Line Emission from RCW 86

The newly operational X-ray satellite Suzaku observed the southwestern quadrant of the supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 86 in February 2006 to study the nature of the 6.4 keV emission line first detected with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astronomy (ASCA). The new data confirm the existence of the line, localizing it for the first time; most of the line emission is adjacent and interior to the forward shock and not at the locus of the continuum hard emission. We also report the first detection of a 7.1 keV line that we interpret as the K-beta emission from low-ionization iron. The Fe-K line features are consistent with a non-equilibrium plasma of Fe-rich ejecta with n_{e}t <~ 10^9 cm^-3 s and kT_{e} ~ 5 keV. This combination of low n_{e}t and high kT_{e} suggests collisionless electron heating in an SNR shock. The Fe K-alpha line shows evidence for intrinsic broadening, with a width of 47 (34--59) eV (99% error region). The difference of the spatial distributions of the hard continuum above 3 keV and the Fe-K line emission support a synchrotron origin for the hard continuum.Comment: 6 pages with 6 figures. Accepted for PASJ Suzaku Special Issue (vo. 58, sp.1

カンコク ニオケル シュウガク マエ ノ コドモ ヲ モツ チチオヤ ノ カジ サンカ ト QOL ノ カンレン セイ

本研究は、就学前の子どもの父親の家事参加と本人のQOL(Quality of Life)の関連性を明らかにすることであった。調査対象は韓国S市、C市、Y市内の保育所15箇所を利用している1,250世帯とした。調査項目は父親の年齢、月収入、就業形態、家事参加、家族・家庭に対する貢献感の認知、夫婦関係満足感、精神的健康、健康関連QOL、母親の年齢、子どもの数、末子の年齢、就業形態で構成した。本研究では、父親の家事参加は自身の家族・家庭への貢献感の認知を通して夫婦関係満足感と精神的健康に影響を与え、また夫婦関係満足感は直接的または精神的健康を通して間接的に健康関連QOLに影響するといった因果関係モデルを構築した。前記因果関係モデルのデータへの適合性と変数間の関連性は、回収された739世帯のうち、524世帯のデータを用いて、構造方程式モデリングで解析した。その結果、父親の家事参加は、1)家族・家庭への貢献感を通して健康関連QOLに直接的に影響すること、また2)夫婦関係満足感ならびに精神的健康を通して健康関連QOLに間接的に影響することを明らかにした。以上の結果は、父親の家事参加の促進を企図した政策展開の必要性を示唆している。The purpose of the study was to clarify the relationship between housework participation and the psychological well-being of fathers with preschool children in Korea. In this study, 1,250 households using 15 nursery centers in S city, C city, and Y city were surveyed. The questionnaire consisted of fathers\u27 ages, income, work conditions, housework participation, recognition of sense of usefulness to family, marital satisfaction, mental health, health-related quality of life (QOL), mothers\u27 ages, number of children, age of youngest child, and work conditions. We designed a casual model to examine the relationship between fathers housework participation and health-related QOL, specifically, housework participation\u27s impact on marital satisfaction and mental health through the recognition of a sense of usefulness to family, as well as its impact on marital satisfaction via a direct effect, or indirectly, through mental health, on health-related QOL. The above model was examined using structural equation modeling and the data from 524 household with no missing values or variables. The results were as follows: 1) Fathers\u27 participation in housework contributed to helth-related QOL through the recognition of feeling of usefulness to their families. 2) Fathers\u27 participation in house work contributed to marital satisfaction, directly and indirectly through health-related QOL and inproved mental health. These results suggest that the need for policy development was intended to promote the housework participation of fathers

ニホン ト ドイツ ノ ダイガクセイ ノ カゾク ナイ シゲン ト カイゴ イシキ ノ シャカイカ ノ カンケイ

本研究は家族介護者への支援システムの異なる日本とドイツの大学生の比較において、介護意識の社会化への家族内資源(家族凝集性、老親扶養意識)の影響を検討することを目的とした。家族凝集性が手段的および情緒的扶養意識を介して介護意識の社会化に影響を及ぼすと仮定した因果関係モデルのデータへの適合性を構造方程式モデリングを用い分析した。家族凝集性は、日本、ドイツの大学生ともに、手段的および情緒的扶養意識に関連していた。この結果は、日本は手段的扶養を支える家族支援システムが不十分であること、手段的扶養は社会に担ってもらえばよいとする意識になっていることを示唆するものである。したがって、要介護者支援を介し、間接的に家族介護者を支援するだけでなく、直接的に家族介護者を支援するシステムの整備が緊張の課題となろう。The purpose of this study was to investigate the influence of intrafamilial resources (family cohesion, awareness of filial responsibility) on the socialization of care awareness in a comparison of university students in Japan and Gwemany, which have defferent support systems for family caregivers. Compatibility to the data for the causal model, which assumes that family cohesion affects socialization of care awareness through awareness of filial responsibility (instrumental and emotional support), was analyzed by structural equation modeling. Results show a relationship between family cohesion to awareness of filial responsibility including instrumental and emotional support for both Japanese and German university students. However, while awareness of instrumental support was found to be related to sociatization of care awareness for German students, it was not for Japanese students. These results suggest the inadequacy of Japan\u27s family support system providing instrumental support for elderly care and the awareness of Japanese students that society should bear the burden of this instrumental support. Therefore, the pressing issue here may be to upgrade the support system in Japan not only by indeirectly providing support to family caregivers by supporting those receving care, but also by directly providing support to those in the family providing the care

A multiplexed immunoassay system based upon reciprocating centrifugal microfluidics

A novel, centrifugal disk-based micro-total analysis system (mu TAS) for low cost and high throughput semi-automated immunoassay processing was developed. A key innovation in the disposable immunoassay disk design is in a fluidic structure that enables very efficient micro-mixing based on a reciprocating mechanism in which centrifugal acceleration acting upon a liquid element first generates and stores pneumatic energy that is then released by a reduction of the centrifugal acceleration, resulting in a reversal of direction of flow of the liquid. Through an alternating sequence of high and low centrifugal acceleration, the system reciprocates the flow of liquid within the disk to maximize incubation/hybridization efficiency between antibodies and antigen macromolecules during the incubation/hybridization stage of the assay. The described reciprocating mechanism results in a reduction in processing time and reagent consumption by one order of magnitude.open121

Development of ELISAs for diagnosis of acute typhoid fever in Nigerian children

Improved serodiagnostic tests for typhoid fever (TF) are needed for surveillance, to facilitate patient management, curb antibiotic resistance, and inform public health programs. To address this need, IgA, IgM and IgG ELISAs using Salmonella enterica serovar Typhi (S. Typhi) lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and hemolysin E (t1477) protein were conducted on 86 Nigerian pediatric TF and 29 non-typhoidal Salmonella (NTS) cases, 178 culture-negative febrile cases, 28 "other" (i.e., non-Salmonella) pediatric infections, and 48 healthy Nigerian children. The best discrimination was achieved between TF and healthy children. LPS-specific IgA and IgM provided receiver operator characteristic areas under the curve (ROC AUC) values of 0.963 and 0.968, respectively, and 0.978 for IgA+M combined. Similar performance was achieved with t1477-specific IgA and IgM (0.968 and 0.968, respectively; 0.976 combined). IgG against LPS and t1477 was less accurate for discriminating these groups, possibly as a consequence of previous exposure, although ROC AUC values were still high (0.928 and 0.932, respectively). Importantly, discrimination between TF and children with other infections was maintained by LPS-specific IgA and IgM (AUC = 0.903 and 0.934, respectively; 0.938 combined), and slightly reduced for IgG (0.909), while t1477-specific IgG performed best (0.914). A similar pattern was seen when comparing TF with other infections from outside Nigeria. The t1477 may be recognized by cross-reactive antibodies from other acute infections, although a robust IgG response may provide some diagnostic utility in populations where incidence of other infections is low, such as in children. The data are consistent with IgA and IgM against S. Typhi LPS being specific markers of acute TF

A Suzaku Observation of the Neutral Fe-line Emission from RCW 86

The newly operational X-ray satellite Suzaku observed the supernova remnant (SNR) RCW 86 in February 2006 to study the nature of the 6.4 keV emission line first detected with the Advanced Satellite for Cosmology and Astronomy (ASCA). The new data confirms the existence of the line, localizing it for the first time inside a low temperature emission region and not at the locus of the continuum hard X-ray emission. We also report the first detection of a 7.1 keV line that we interpret as the K(beta) emission from neutral or low-ionized iron. The Fe-K line features are consistent with a non-equilibrium plasma of Fe-rich ejecta with n(sub e) less than or approx. equal to 10(exp 9)/cu cm s and kT(sub e) > 1 keV. We found a sign that Fe K(alpha) line is intrinsically broadened 47 (35-57) eV (99% error region). Cr-K line is also marginally detected, which is supporting the ejecta origin for the Fe-K line. By showing that the hard continuum above 3 keV has different spatial distribution from the Fe-K line, we confirmed it to be synchrotron X-ray emission