Effect of water deficit at different growth phases of peanut. I. Yield responses

Response of groundnut cv. Robut 33-1 to drought stress imposed at (a) emergence to maturity, (b) emergence to peg initiation, (c) from the start of flowering to the start of seed growth, and (d) from the start of seed growth to maturity was studied during the post-rainy seasons of 1980-81 and 1981-82. The amount of water applied during these phases was varied using line-source irrigation, but the crops otherwise were irrigated uniformly at regular intervals. The greatest reduction in seed yield (28-96%) occurred when stress was imposed during (d). Decreased irrigation during (b) increased pod yield relative to the fully irrigated control treatment by 19% in 1980-81 and 13% in 1981-82. The evapotranspiration-yield relationships showed a strong interaction with timing of drough

Effect of Na content and hydration on the excitation spectrum of the cobaltite Na_xCoO_2 yH_2O

We report on a Raman scattering study on the superconducting cobaltite $Na_xCoO_2\cdot yH_2O$ as function of Na content and hydration (x$\approx$1/3, 3/4 and y$\approx$0, 2/3, 4/3). The observed phonon scattering and scattering continua are analyzed in terms of lattice strain due to the structural misfit and disorder. Hydration, due to the intercalation of one or two $H_2O$ layers, releases a part of this strain. Our Raman data suggest a connection between disorder on the partly occupied Na sites, the split off of the $a_{1g}$ level from the other $t_{2g}$ states of $Co^{4+}$ and superconductivity.Comment: 10 pages, 4 figures, for further information see http://www.peter-lemmens.d

Distinguishing a SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from SM Higgs boson at muon collider

We explore the possibility of distinguishing the SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from the SM Higgs boson via Higgs boson pair production at future muon collider. We study the behavior of the production cross section in SM and MSSM with Higgs boson mass for various choices of MSSM parameters tan \beta and m\sub A. We observe that at fixed CM energy, in the SM, the total cross section increases with the increase in Higgs boson mass whereas this trend is reversed for the MSSM case. The changes that occur for the MSSM case in comparison to the SM predictions are quantified in terms of the relative percentage deviation in cross section. The observed large deviations in cross section for different choices of Higgs mass suggest that the measurements of the cross section could possibly distinguish the SM-like MSSM Higgs boson from the SM Higgs boson.Comment: 5 figure

Low energy theorems and the unitarity bounds in the extra U(1) superstring inspired E6 models

The conventional method using low energy theorems [3] does not seem to lead to an explicit unitarity limit in the scattering processes of longitudinally polarized gauge bosons for the high energy case in the extra U(1) superstring inspired models, commonly known as eta model, emanating from E6 group of superstring theory. We have made use of an alternative procedure given in [14], which is applicable to SUSY GUT. Explicit unitarity bounds on the Yukawa couplings are obtained from both using unitarity constraints as well as using RGE analysis at one-loop level utilizing critical couplings concepts implying divergence of scalar coupling at MG. These are found to be consistent with finiteness over the entire range MZ<=sqrt(s)<=MG. For completeness, the similar approach has been made use of in other models, i.e., chi, psi, and nu models emanating from E6 and it has been noticed that at weak scale, the unitarity bounds on Yukawa couplings do not differ among E6 extra U(1) models significantly except for the case of chi model in 16 representations. Theoretically we have obtained the upper bounds on top quark and lightest neutral higgs boson mass using the unitarity constrained superpotential couplings and also obtained the D-quark mass as a function of MZ2 is O(3 TeV) for MZ2 is O(1 TeV). The obtained bounds on these physical parameters are found consistent with the present day experimental precision measurements.Comment: 57 Pages, 13 Tables, 7 Figs.; PACS: 12.10.Dm, 12.60.Cn; http://link.aps.org/abstract/PRD/v72/e09501

Systematic Review of Medicine-Related Problems in Adult Patients with Atrial Fibrillation on Direct Oral Anticoagulants

New oral anticoagulant agents continue to emerge on the market and their safety requires assessment to provide evidence of their suitability for clinical use. There-fore, we searched standard databases to summarize the English language literature on medicine-related problems (MRPs) of direct oral anticoagulants DOACs (dabigtran, rivaroxban, apixban, and edoxban) in the treatment of adults with atri-al fibrillation. Electronic databases including Medline, Embase, International Pharmaceutical Abstract (IPA), Scopus, CINAHL, the Web of Science and Cochrane were searched from 2008 through 2016 for original articles. Studies pub-lished in English reporting MRPs of DOACs in adult patients with AF were in-cluded. Seventeen studies were identified using standardized protocols, and two reviewers serially abstracted data from each article. Most articles were inconclusive on major safety end points including major bleeding. Data on major safety end points were combined with efficacy. Most studies inconsistently reported adverse drug reactions and not adverse events or medication error, and no definitions were consistent across studies. Some harmful drug effects were not assessed in studies and may have been overlooked. Little evidence is provided on MRPs of DOACs in patients with AF and, therefore, further studies are needed to establish the safety of DOACs in real-life clinical practice

From basic mechanisms to clinical applications in heart protection, new players in cardiovascular diseases and cardiac theranostics: meeting report from the third international symposium on "New frontiers in cardiovascular research"

In this meeting report, particularly addressing the topic of protection of the cardiovascular system from ischemia/reperfusion injury, highlights are presented that relate to conditioning strategies of the heart with respect to molecular mechanisms and outcome in patients' cohorts, the influence of co-morbidities and medications, as well as the contribution of innate immune reactions in cardioprotection. Moreover, developmental or systems biology approaches bear great potential in systematically uncovering unexpected components involved in ischemia-reperfusion injury or heart regeneration. Based on the characterization of particular platelet integrins, mitochondrial redox-linked proteins, or lipid-diol compounds in cardiovascular diseases, their targeting by newly developed theranostics and technologies opens new avenues for diagnosis and therapy of myocardial infarction to improve the patients' outcome

Prognostic model to predict postoperative acute kidney injury in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery based on a national prospective observational cohort study.

Background: Acute illness, existing co-morbidities and surgical stress response can all contribute to postoperative acute kidney injury (AKI) in patients undergoing major gastrointestinal surgery. The aim of this study was prospectively to develop a pragmatic prognostic model to stratify patients according to risk of developing AKI after major gastrointestinal surgery. Methods: This prospective multicentre cohort study included consecutive adults undergoing elective or emergency gastrointestinal resection, liver resection or stoma reversal in 2-week blocks over a continuous 3-month period. The primary outcome was the rate of AKI within 7 days of surgery. Bootstrap stability was used to select clinically plausible risk factors into the model. Internal model validation was carried out by bootstrap validation. Results: A total of 4544 patients were included across 173 centres in the UK and Ireland. The overall rate of AKI was 14·2 per cent (646 of 4544) and the 30-day mortality rate was 1·8 per cent (84 of 4544). Stage 1 AKI was significantly associated with 30-day mortality (unadjusted odds ratio 7·61, 95 per cent c.i. 4·49 to 12·90; P < 0·001), with increasing odds of death with each AKI stage. Six variables were selected for inclusion in the prognostic model: age, sex, ASA grade, preoperative estimated glomerular filtration rate, planned open surgery and preoperative use of either an angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitor or an angiotensin receptor blocker. Internal validation demonstrated good model discrimination (c-statistic 0·65). Discussion: Following major gastrointestinal surgery, AKI occurred in one in seven patients. This preoperative prognostic model identified patients at high risk of postoperative AKI. Validation in an independent data set is required to ensure generalizability

Breast cancer management pathways during the COVID-19 pandemic: outcomes from the UK ‘Alert Level 4’ phase of the B-MaP-C study

Abstract: Background: The B-MaP-C study aimed to determine alterations to breast cancer (BC) management during the peak transmission period of the UK COVID-19 pandemic and the potential impact of these treatment decisions. Methods: This was a national cohort study of patients with early BC undergoing multidisciplinary team (MDT)-guided treatment recommendations during the pandemic, designated ‘standard’ or ‘COVID-altered’, in the preoperative, operative and post-operative setting. Findings: Of 3776 patients (from 64 UK units) in the study, 2246 (59%) had ‘COVID-altered’ management. ‘Bridging’ endocrine therapy was used (n = 951) where theatre capacity was reduced. There was increasing access to COVID-19 low-risk theatres during the study period (59%). In line with national guidance, immediate breast reconstruction was avoided (n = 299). Where adjuvant chemotherapy was omitted (n = 81), the median benefit was only 3% (IQR 2–9%) using ‘NHS Predict’. There was the rapid adoption of new evidence-based hypofractionated radiotherapy (n = 781, from 46 units). Only 14 patients (1%) tested positive for SARS-CoV-2 during their treatment journey. Conclusions: The majority of ‘COVID-altered’ management decisions were largely in line with pre-COVID evidence-based guidelines, implying that breast cancer survival outcomes are unlikely to be negatively impacted by the pandemic. However, in this study, the potential impact of delays to BC presentation or diagnosis remains unknown