Effects of beet western yellows virus on growth and yield of oilseed rape (Brassica napus )

Field trials were undertaken in Suffolk in commercial crops of autumn-sown oilseed rape cv. Capricorn during 1993/94, cv. Apex in 1994/95. Plots were artificially infected with beet western yellows virus (BWYV) using viruliferous Myzus persicae, giving 73 to 94% infection. Control plots had natural infection ranging from 0 to 17·8%. Destructive plant samples were taken from each of the infected and control plots throughout the seasons for growth analyses, and final yields were measured on 44 m2 areas combine harvested from each plot. The seed yields of infected plots were 26 and 11% lower than control plots in 1994 and 1995 respectively (P&lt;0·001).Harvested seed yields were shown to be inversely proportional to the area of the plot that was inoculated with BWYV. Infection significantly lowered the oil content in 1995 from 47·9 to 46·8% (P&lt;0·001), and increased glucosinolate levels from 16·12 to 18·37 μmol/g (P&lt;0·01). BWYV caused a significant reduction in plant height and in numbers of primary branches in the 1993/94 trial and had an effect on the dry weight of the leaves, stalks, racemes and pods at some sample dates in both seasons. Virus-testing of infected plants showed that BWYV was present in the pod wall, the septum and seed coat; two of 78 embryo samples also contained virus. It was concluded that BWYV can cause significant yield losses in those years in which there is a high incidence of virus in the overwintered crops.</jats:p

Atomic Configuration of Planar Defects in Multiferroic Ca-doped BiFeO3 Films

Extended abstract of a paper presented at Microscopy and Microanalysis 2010 in Portland, Oregon, USA, August 1 - August 5, 201

Resonance capture cross section of 207Pb

The radiative neutron capture cross section of 207Pb has been measured at the CERN neutron time of flight installation n_TOF using the pulse height weighting technique in the resolved energy region. The measurement has been performed with an optimized setup of two C6D6 scintillation detectors, which allowed us to reduce scattered neutron backgrounds down to a negligible level. Resonance parameters and radiative kernels have been determined for 16 resonances by means of an R-matrix analysis in the neutron energy range from 3 keV to 320 keV. Good agreement with previous measurements was found at low neutron energies, whereas substantial discrepancies appear beyond 45 keV. With the present results, we obtain an s-process contribution of 77(8)% to the solar abundance of 207Pb. This corresponds to an r-process component of 23(8)%, which is important for deriving the U/Th ages of metal poor halo stars.Comment: 7 pages, 3 figures, to be published in Phys. Rev.

X-ray Absorption Studies of Ceria with Trivalent Dopants

Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/65899/1/j.1151-2916.1991.tb04328.x.pd

Treatment-Resistant Schizophrenia: Treatment Response and Resistance in Psychosis (TRRIP) Working Group Consensus Guidelines on Diagnosis and Terminology

OBJECTIVE: Research and clinical translation in schizophrenia is limited by inconsistent definitions of treatment resistance and response. To address this issue, the authors evaluated current approaches and then developed consensus criteria and guidelines. METHODS: A systematic review of randomized antipsychotic clinical trials in treatment-resistant schizophrenia was performed, and definitions of treatment resistance were extracted. Subsequently, consensus operationalized criteria were developed through 1) a multiphase, mixed methods approach, 2) identification of key criteria via an online survey, and 3) meetings to achieve consensus. RESULTS: Of 2,808 studies identified, 42 met inclusion criteria. Of these, 21 studies (50%) did not provide operationalized criteria. In the remaining studies, criteria varied considerably, particularly regarding symptom severity, prior treatment duration, and antipsychotic dosage thresholds; only two studies (5%) utilized the same criteria. The consensus group identified minimum and optimal criteria, employing the following principles: 1) current symptoms of a minimum duration and severity determined by a standardized rating scale; 2) moderate or worse functional impairment; 3) prior treatment consisting of at least two different antipsychotic trials, each for a minimum duration and dosage; 4) systematic monitoring of adherence and meeting of minimum adherence criteria; 5) ideally at least one prospective treatment trial; and 6) criteria that clearly separate responsive from treatment-resistant patients. CONCLUSIONS: There is considerable variation in current approaches to defining treatment resistance in schizophrenia. The authors present consensus guidelines that operationalize criteria for determining and reporting treatment resistance, adequate treatment, and treatment response, providing a benchmark for research and clinical translation

Properties of resistant cells generated from lung cancer cell lines treated with EGFR inhibitors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) signaling plays an important role in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and therapeutics targeted against EGFR have been effective in treating a subset of patients bearing somatic EFGR mutations. However, the cancer eventually progresses during treatment with EGFR inhibitors, even in the patients who respond to these drugs initially. Recent studies have identified that the acquisition of resistance in approximately 50% of cases is due to generation of a secondary mutation (T790M) in the EGFR kinase domain. In about 20% of the cases, resistance is associated with the amplification of MET kinase. In the remaining 30-40% of the cases, the mechanism underpinning the therapeutic resistance is unknown.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>An erlotinib resistant subline (H1650-ER1) was generated upon continuous exposure of NSCLC cell line NCI-H1650 to erlotinib. Cancer stem cell like traits including expression of stem cell markers, enhanced ability to self-renew and differentiate, and increased tumorigenicity <it>in vitro </it>were assessed in erlotinib resistant H1650-ER1 cells.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The erlotinib resistant subline contained a population of cells with properties similar to cancer stem cells. These cells were found to be less sensitive towards erlotinib treatment as measured by cell proliferation and generation of tumor spheres in the presence of erlotinib.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our findings suggest that in cases of NSCLC accompanied by mutant EGFR, treatment targeting inhibition of EGFR kinase activity in differentiated cancer cells may generate a population of cancer cells with stem cell properties.</p

Dissociation between the Activity of the Right Middle Frontal Gyrus and the Middle Temporal Gyrus in Processing Semantic Priming

The aim of this event-related functional magnetic resonance imaging (fMRI) study was to test whether the right middle frontal gyrus (MFG) and middle temporal gyrus (MTG) would show differential sensitivity to the effect of prime-target association strength on repetition priming. In the experimental condition (RP), the target occurred after repetitive presentation of the prime within an oddball design. In the control condition (CTR), the target followed a single presentation of the prime with equal probability of the target as in RP. To manipulate semantic overlap between the prime and the target both conditions (RP and CTR) employed either the onomatopoeia “oink” as the prime and the referent “pig” as the target (OP) or vice-versa (PO) since semantic overlap was previously shown to be greater in OP. The results showed that the left MTG was sensitive to release of adaptation while both the right MTG and MFG were sensitive to sequence regularity extraction and its verification. However, dissociated activity between OP and PO was revealed in RP only in the right MFG. Specifically, target “pig” (OP) and the physically equivalent target in CTR elicited comparable deactivations whereas target “oink” (PO) elicited less inhibited response in RP than in CTR. This interaction in the right MFG was explained by integrating these effects into a competition model between perceptual and conceptual effects in priming processing