Quantitative traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. 'Novosadska rana 5') grown on pseudogley soil depending on lime rates

The effect of the use of different lime rates on the pH values and subsequently on the quantitative traits in wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. 'Novosadska rana 5') was investigated on the pseudogley type of soil. Of the quantitative traits in wheat, spike length, number of spikes per m2, grain mass per spike, number of grains per spike and 1000-grain weight, were studied as the most significant indicators of its yield. The studies were carried out during 2010 and 2011. The trial was set up following a randomized block design with four liming variants along with three replications, in which the experimental field was 70 m2 in area. In both study years, along with the previously determined experimental conditions, the variant of CaCO3, used with an amount of 2 t/ha, was found to have the highest effect on enhancing all the parameters of wheat. Based on the results obtained throughout the current research work, it could be inferred that, despite falling under a lower quality class, pseudogley soil could promote usable optimal biological potential of the wheat variety ('Novosadska rana 5'), if adequately treated with lime along with the application of cropping practices.Key words: Pseudogley, lime rates, wheat, grown

Elevated plasma TGF-beta(1) levels correlate with decreased survival of metastatic breast cancer patients

Background: The role of circulating TGF-beta(1) in prognosis of breast cancer (BC) was investigated with an intention to define TGF-beta(1)-dependent high risk and low risk subsets of patients. Methods: Fifty three BC patients of all clinical stages and 37 healthy donors (HD) were analyzed for plasma TGF-beta(1) by the T beta RII receptor-based Quantikine TGF-beta(1) ELISA kit. Results: The plasma TGF-beta(1) level of Stage I/II disease (median: 0.94 ng/ml; n=10)) remained close to HD (median: 1.30 ng/ml; n = 37; p GT 0.1). In contrast, Stage III/IV disease (median: 2.34 ng/ml; n=43) exhibited highly significant TGF-beta(1) elevation (p LT 0.001) relative to HD. Further analysis revealed that TGF-beta(1) increase was predominantly attributed to Stage IV, metastatic disease patients (Q3=4.23 ng/ml) rather than to the group Stage III/IV (Q3=3.58 ng/ml). Using the plasma TGF-beta(1) concentration of 3.00 ng/ml as the cut-off value, two subgroups of patients were formed. Overall 2-year survival of the first subgroup, having elevated plasma TGF-beta(1) ( GT 3.00 ng/ml; n=10), was 10%. This was significantly decreased (p LT 0.05) compared to 52% survival observed for the second subgroup of patients with plasma TGF beta(1) values close to HD ( LT 3.00 ng/ml, n=19). Conclusion: We have performed a pilot study to determine the relationship between overall survival and TGF-beta(1) concentration in the blood of metastatic breast cancer patients. The survival was significantly reduced in the patients with elevated plasma TGF-beta(1) levels compared to that of the patients with plasma TGF-beta(1) levels close to normal. We propose that plasma TGF-beta(1) concentration may be a new tumour marker attributed to the presence of metastatic BC cells that may be used in selection of metastatic BC patients with poor prognosis. (c) 2006 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved