A New Method for Hybrid Bermuda Grass (Cynodon dactylon × C. transvaalensis Burtt.-Davy) Vegetative Propagation

Hybrid Bermuda grasses (Cynodon dactylon × C. transvaalensis Burtt.-Davy) represent one of the greatest contributions to the growing quality of turfgrass in the warm season and transition zone areas of the world. Hybrid Bermuda grass production relies on vegetative propagation from sod or sprigs. In the past, efforts have focused on improving the technique of stolonizing (or sprigging) for establishment in new areas. Such propagation requires bulk harvesting and planting of all rhizomes and stolons. We have developed a novel method of propagation and establishment from a single node harvested from greenhouse grown stolons. Despite a stolon fraction bearing a single node being suitable for effectively propagating a warm-season turfgrass, the technique has been held as economically impractical until now. Our method has been developed to obtain the multiplication of plant material in soilless conditions by harvesting single-node sprigs, propagation of plants from the single nodes, and transplant of single plants in the field. The investigation aimed to identify values for method set-up. Indeed, node and internode size variability with differential between maximum diameters is crucial for discrimination. For Patriot Bermuda grass stolons, nodes exhibited a maximum diameter of 2.43 ± 0.46 mm, while internodes had a maximum diameter of 1.54 ± 0.16 mm. Based on these findings, a 2 mm sieve was selected, achieving an optimal ratio between the node fraction and internode residues. The sieve yielded 87% of node fractions and only 1% of internodes from the initial mix, demonstrating its efficacy. Further results for the transplanting phase indicated that a double release resulted in an average success rate of 98.8%, with only 6.9% blank cells when using a single release. The average was 149 plants per tray over 160 cells, representing a 93.1% success rate. These results underscore the efficiency and acceptability of the overall propagation process in alignment with market references

Effects of Tibetan Music on Neuroendocrine and Autonomic Functions in Patients Waiting for Surgery: A Randomized, Controlled Study

Background. The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of listening to Tibetan music on anxiety and endocrine, autonomic, cognitive responses in patients waiting for urologic surgery. Methods. Sixty patients waiting for surgery were enrolled to the study. They were randomized in music (M) and control (C) groups. The M group listened to a low-frequency Tibetan music for 30 min (T0–T30) through headphones, and the C group wore headphones with no sound. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory Questionnaire (STAI) Y-1 was administered at T0 and T30. Normalized low (LFnu) and high frequencies (HFnu) of heart rate variability, LF/HF ratio, and galvanic skin response (GRS) data were analyzed at T0, T10, T20, T30, and T35. The salivary α-amylase (sAA) samples were collected at T0, T35, and T45. Results. In the M group, the STAI Y-1 score decreased at T30 versus baseline p<0.001, sAA levels decreased at T35 versus T0p=0.004, and GSR remained unchanged. In the C group, the STAI Y-1 score remained unchanged, sAA level increased at T35 versus T0p<0.001, and GSR slightly increased at T35 versus baseline p=0.359. LFnu was lower, and HFnu was significantly higher (T10–T30) in M versus C group. Mean LF/HF ratio slightly reduced in the M group. Conclusions. Our results suggest that preoperative listening to relaxing Tibetan music might be a useful strategy to manage preoperative anxiety

(Multi-field) natural inflation and gravitational waves

We provide a detailed study of natural inflation with a periodic non -minimal coupling, which is a well -motivated inflationary model that admits an explicit UV completion. We demonstrate that this construction can satisfy the most recent observational constraints from Planck and the BICEP/Keck collaborations. We also compute the corresponding relic gravitational wave background due to tensor perturbations and show that future spaceborne interferometers, such as DECIGO, BBO and ALIA, may be able to detect it. Next, we extend this analysis and establish the validity of these results in a multi -field model featuring an additional R2 term in the action, which allows us to interpolate between natural and scalaron (a.k.a. Starobinsky) inflation. We investigate the conditions under which the aforementioned future interferometers will have the capability to differentiate between pure natural inflation and natural-scalaron inflation. The latter analysis could open the door to distinguishing between single -field and multi -field inflation through gravitational wave observations in more general contexts

Effect of age on the performance of bispectral and entropy indices during sevoflurane pediatric anesthesia: a pharmacometric study

Bispectral index (BIS) and entropy monitors have been proposed for use in children, but research has not supported their validity for infants. However, effective monitoring of young children may be even more important than for adults, to aid appropriate anesthetic dosing and reduce the chance of adverse consequences. This prospective study aimed to investigate the relationships between age and the predictive performance of BIS and entropy monitors in measuring the anesthetic drug effects within a pediatric surgery setting

Effects of tibetan music on neuroendocrine and autonomic functions in patients waiting for sur- gery: a randomized, controlled study

Background The aim of this study was to investigate the effects of listening to Tibetan music on anxiety and endocrine, autonomic, cognitive responses in patients waiting for urologic surgery. Methods Sixty patients waiting for surgery were enrolled to the study. They were randomized in music (M) and control (C) groups. The M listened to a low frequency Tibetan music for 30 min (T0-T30) through headphones, the C wore headphones with no sound. The State Trait Anxiety Inventory Questionnaire (STAI) Y-1 was administered at T0 and T30. Normalized low (LFnu) and high frequencies (HFnu) of heart rate variability, LF/HF ratio and galvanic skin response (GRS) data were analyzed at T0, T10, T20, T30, T35. The salivary α-amylase (sAA) samples were collected at T0, T35, T45. Results In M the STAI Y-1 score decreased at T30 vs baseline (p<0.001), sAA levels decreased at T35 vs T0 (p=0.004), GSR remained unchanged. In C the STAI Y-1 score remained unchanged, sAA level increased at T35 vs T0 (p <0.001), GSR slightly increased at T35 vs baseline (p=0.359). LFnu was lower and HFnu was significantly higher (T10-T30) in M vs C. Mean LF/HF ratio slightly reduced in M. Conclusions Our results suggest that preoperative listening to relaxing Tibetan music might be a useful strategy to manage preoperative anxiety

Physiological effects of the open lung approach during laparoscopic cholecystectomy:focus on driving pressure

BACKGROUND: During laparoscopy, respiratory mechanics and gas exchange are impaired because of pneumoperitoneum and atelectasis formation. We applied an open lung approach (OLA ) consisting in lung recruitment followed by a decremental positive-end expiratory pressure (PEE P) trial to identify the level of PEE P corresponding to the highest compliance of the respiratory system (best PEE P). Our hypothesis was that this approach would improve both lung mechanics and oxygenation without hemodynamic impairment. METHODS: We studied twenty patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy. We continuously recorded respiratory mechanics parameters throughout a decremental PEE P trial in order to identify the best PEE P level. Furthermore, lung and chest wall mechanics, respiratory and transpulmonary driving pressures (ΔP), gas exchange and hemodynamics were recorded at three time-points: 1) after pneumoperitoneum induction (TpreOLA ); 2) after the application of the OLA (TpostOLA ); 3) at the end of surgery, after abdominal deflation (Tend). RESULTS : The “best PEE P” level was 8.1±1.3 cmH2O (range 6 to 10 cmH2O), corresponding to the highest compliance of the respiratory system (CRS ). This “best PEEP” level corresponded with lowest ΔPL. OLA increased the compliance of the lung and of the chest wall, and decreased ΔPRS and ΔPL. PaO2/FiO2 increased from 299±125 mmHg to 406±101 mmHg (P=0.04). Changes in respiratory mechanics, driving pressures and oxygenation were maintained until Tend. Hemodynamic parameters remained stable throughout the study period. CONCLUSIONS: In patients undergoing laparoscopic cholecystectomy, the OLA was suitable for bedside PEE P setting, improved lung mechanics and gas exchange without significant adverse hemodynamic effects

Hot Foam and Nitrogen Application to Promote Spring Transition of “Diamond” Zoysiagrass (<i>Zoysia matrella</i> (L.) Merr.) Overseeded with Perennial Ryegrass (<i>Lolium perenne</i> L.)

In transition areas, cool season turfgrasses are overseeded in autumn to maintain the high quality of dormant warm season turfgrasses, while in spring several agronomic methods (scalping, coring, topdressing, verticutting, irrigation, and targeted fertilization) or chemical desiccation are adopted to remove the cool season turfgrasses from the stand. To reduce chemical applications, several methods of “thermal weeding” have been experimented with, but little is known about these methods in zoysiagrass (Zoysia spp. Willd) spring transition. A study was conducted at the University of Pisa, Italy, on Manila grass (Zoysia matrella (L.) Merr., cv “Diamond”) (Zm) overseeded with perennial ryegrass (Lolium perenne L.) (Lp) with the aim of comparing different methods of cool season grass suppression (scalping and hot foam) and different application rates of nitrogen. To assess treatment effect, green cover, turf quality, turf color, shoot density, and some vegetation indices (GLI, DGCI and NDVI) were determined. An average green cover of at least 90% was obtained on all plots seven weeks after the treatments. While scalping had minor effects on turf appearance and on polystand composition, hot foam had a stronger effect on turf color, green cover, and turf quality in the weeks following application. Once it had recovered from the hot foam treatments, the turf had a greater number of Zm shoots and a relevant reduction of Lp shoots. The hot foam was very effective in suppressing Lp while maintaining Zm recovery capacity