Value of 2,4,5-TP as a pre-harvest drop spray in apples at Stanthorpe

Trials were carried out with 2,4,5-TP as a pre-harvest drop spray on Gravenstein apples. When 2,4,5-TP was applied at a concentration of 50 p.p.m. at or shortly before the commencement of natural fruit fall, pre-harvest drop was reduced to negligible proportions (8.7 per cent. as against 25.7 per cent. in the case of ANA at the standard concentration of 10 p.p.m.). Observational data suggest that the concentration of 2,4,5-TP could be substantially reduced, if necessary, but such reduction is normally unjustified in view of the variable tree vigour in commercial orchards and other factors. The efficiency of 2,4,5-TP as a pre-harvest drop spray can be largely attributed to its long period of effectiveness (26 days as against 14 days in the case of ANA) and the consequent increased permissible latitude in timing

Starting from scratch: patient-reported outcome questionnaires & their role in an integrative medicine primary care minimum-dataset

Aim This research explored the use of patient questionnaires for evaluating integrative medicine (IM) clinics in the primary care setting. Background Integrative medicine (IM) combines traditional, complementary, and alternative medicine with conventional biomedicine. With more clinics in Australia offering IM, it is important to evaluate outcomes. Methods Mixed methods were used. This included a case study of an IM clinic in Sydney, Australia; interviews with 20 patients and 13 staff at the clinic; and a systematic literature review of patient questionnaires. Results Challenges for meausring IM outcomes limitations with routine clinical data collection, selecting appropriate questionnaires able to measure the wide range of IM outcomes whilst minimizing responder burden, patient recruitment and practitioner support. Electronic questionnaires have many advantages. Alternative formats such as paper are still needed. Not all interviewees were interested in cohort results or research and instead wanted to access their individual patient results. Discussion The results from the studies were synthesised and a set of recommendations are offered. Conclusions Patient questionnaires could be used to establish a minimum dataset for use in research, health service development, and informing and improving individual patient care. A bottom-up approach that adresses stakeholders’ needs for a dataset is essential

Impact of red blood cell transfusion dose density on progression-free survival in lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients

Progression-free survival of lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients treated with red blood cell transfusions is usually reduced, but it is unclear whether transfusion dose density is an independent prognostic factor. The European MDS Registry collects prospective data at 6-monthly intervals of newly diagnosed lower-risk myelodysplastic syndromes patients from 16 European countries and Israel. Data on the transfusion dose density - the cumulative dose received at the end of each interval divided by the time since the beginning of the interval in which the first transfusion was received - were analyzed using proportional hazards regression with time-varying co-variates, with death and progression to higher-risk myelodysplastic syndromes /acute myeloid leukemia as events. Of the 1267 patients included in the analyses, 317 patients died without progression, in 162 patients the disease had progressed. Progression-free survival was significantly associated with age, EQ-5D index, baseline WHO classification, bone marrow blast count, cytogenetic risk category, number of cytopenias, and country. Transfusion dose density was inversely associated with progression-free survival (p<1x10-4): dose density had an increasing effect on hazard until a dose density of 3 units/16 weeks. The transfusion dose density effect continued to increase beyond 8 units/16 weeks after correction for the impact of treatment with erythropoietin agents, lenalidomide and/or iron chelators. Conclusion: the negative effect of transfusion treatment on progression-free survival already occurs at transfusion densities below 3 units/16 weeks. This indicates that transfusion dependency, even at relatively low dose densities, may be considered as an indicator of inferior progression-free survival. This trial was registered at www.clinicaltrials.gov as #NCT00600860

Relativistic Hydrodynamic Evolutions with Black Hole Excision

We present a numerical code designed to study astrophysical phenomena involving dynamical spacetimes containing black holes in the presence of relativistic hydrodynamic matter. We present evolutions of the collapse of a fluid star from the onset of collapse to the settling of the resulting black hole to a final stationary state. In order to evolve stably after the black hole forms, we excise a region inside the hole before a singularity is encountered. This excision region is introduced after the appearance of an apparent horizon, but while a significant amount of matter remains outside the hole. We test our code by evolving accurately a vacuum Schwarzschild black hole, a relativistic Bondi accretion flow onto a black hole, Oppenheimer-Snyder dust collapse, and the collapse of nonrotating and rotating stars. These systems are tracked reliably for hundreds of M following excision, where M is the mass of the black hole. We perform these tests both in axisymmetry and in full 3+1 dimensions. We then apply our code to study the effect of the stellar spin parameter J/M^2 on the final outcome of gravitational collapse of rapidly rotating n = 1 polytropes. We find that a black hole forms only if J/M^2<1, in agreement with previous simulations. When J/M^2>1, the collapsing star forms a torus which fragments into nonaxisymmetric clumps, capable of generating appreciable ``splash'' gravitational radiation.Comment: 17 pages, 14 figures, submitted to PR

Guidelines for Modeling and Reporting Health Effects of Climate Change Mitigation Actions

Background: Modeling suggests that climate change mitigation actions can have substantial human health benefits that accrue quickly and locally. Documenting the benefits can help drive more ambitious and health-protective climate change mitigation actions; however, documenting the adverse health effects can help to avoid them. Estimating the health effects of mitigation (HEM) actions can help policy makers prioritize investments based not only on mitigation potential but also on expected health benefits. To date, however, the wide range of incompatible approaches taken to developing and reporting HEM estimates has limited their comparability and usefulness to policymakers. Objective: The objective of this effort was to generate guidance for modeling studies on scoping, estimating, and reporting population health effects from climate change mitigation actions. Methods: An expert panel of HEM researchers was recruited to participate in developing guidance for conducting HEM studies. The primary literature and a synthesis of HEM studies were provided to the panel. Panel members then participated in a modified Delphi exercise to identify areas of consensus regarding HEM estimation. Finally, the panel met to review and discuss consensus findings, resolve remaining differences, and generate guidance regarding conducting HEM studies. Results: The panel generated a checklist of recommendations regarding stakeholder engagement: HEM modeling, including model structure, scope and scale, demographics, time horizons, counterfactuals, health response functions, and metrics; parameterization and reporting; approaches to uncertainty and sensitivity analysis; accounting for policy uptake; and discounting. Discussion: This checklist provides guidance for conducting and reporting HEM estimates to make them more comparable and useful for policymakers. Harmonization of HEM estimates has the potential to lead to advances in and improved synthesis of policy-relevant research that can inform evidence-based decision making and practice

Characteristics of the nuclear (18S, 5.8S, 28S and 5S) and mitochondrial (12S and 16S) rRNA genes of Apis mellifera (Insecta: Hymenoptera): structure, organization, and retrotransposable elements

As an accompanying manuscript to the release of the honey bee genome, we report the entire sequence of the nuclear (18S, 5.8S, 28S and 5S) and mitochondrial (12S and 16S) ribosomal RNA (rRNA)-encoding gene sequences (rDNA) and related internally and externally transcribed spacer regions of Apis mellifera (Insecta: Hymenoptera: Apocrita). Additionally, we predict secondary structures for the mature rRNA molecules based on comparative sequence analyses with other arthropod taxa and reference to recently published crystal structures of the ribosome. In general, the structures of honey bee rRNAs are in agreement with previously predicted rRNA models from other arthropods in core regions of the rRNA, with little additional expansion in non-conserved regions. Our multiple sequence alignments are made available on several public databases and provide a preliminary establishment of a global structural model of all rRNAs from the insects. Additionally, we provide conserved stretches of sequences flanking the rDNA cistrons that comprise the externally transcribed spacer regions (ETS) and part of the intergenic spacer region (IGS), including several repetitive motifs. Finally, we report the occurrence of retrotransposition in the nuclear large subunit rDNA, as R2 elements are present in the usual insertion points found in other arthropods. Interestingly, functional R1 elements usually present in the genomes of insects were not detected in the honey bee rRNA genes. The reverse transcriptase products of the R2 elements are deduced from their putative open reading frames and structurally aligned with those from another hymenopteran insect, the jewel wasp Nasonia (Pteromalidae). Stretches of conserved amino acids shared between Apis and Nasonia are illustrated and serve as potential sites for primer design, as target amplicons within these R2 elements may serve as novel phylogenetic markers for Hymenoptera. Given the impending completion of the sequencing of the Nasonia genome, we expect our report eventually to shed light on the evolution of the hymenopteran genome within higher insects, particularly regarding the relative maintenance of conserved rDNA genes, related variable spacer regions and retrotransposable elements

From marine bands to hybrid flows: sedimentology of a Mississippian black shale

Organic‐rich mudstones have long been of interest as conventional and unconventional source rocks and are an important organic carbon sink. Yet the processes that deposited organic‐rich muds in epicontinental seaways are poorly understood, partly because few modern analogues exist. This study investigates the processes that transported and deposited sediment and organic matter through part of the Bowland Shale Formation, from the Mississippian Rheic–Tethys seaway. Field to micron‐scale sedimentological analysis reveals a heterogeneous succession of carbonate‐rich, siliceous, and siliciclastic, argillaceous muds. Deposition of these facies at basinal and slope locations was moderated by progradation of the nearby Pendle delta system, fourth‐order eustatic sea‐level fluctuation and localized block and basin tectonism. Marine transgressions deposited bioclastic ‘marine band’ (hemi)pelagic packages. These include abundant euhaline macrofaunal tests, and phosphatic concretions of organic matter and radiolarian tests interpreted as faecal pellets sourced from a productive water column. Lens‐rich (lenticular) mudstones, hybrid, debrite and turbidite beds successively overlie marine band packages and suggest reducing basin accommodation promoted sediment deposition via laminar and hybrid flows sourced from the basin margins. Mud lenses in lenticular mudstones lack organic linings and bioclasts and are equant in early‐cemented lenses and in plan‐view, and are largest and most abundant in mudstones overlying marine band packages. Thus, lenses likely represent partially consolidated mud clasts that were scoured and transported in bedload from the shelf or proximal slope, as a ‘shelf to basin’ conveyor, during periods of reduced basin accommodation. Candidate in situ microbial mats in strongly lenticular mudstones, and as rip‐up fragments in the down‐dip hybrid beds, suggest that these were potentially key biostabilizers of mud. Deltaic mud export was fast, despite the intrabasinal complexity, likely an order of magnitude higher than similar successions deposited in North America. Epicontinental basins remotely linked to delta systems were therefore capable of rapidly accumulating both sediment and organic matter

Search for leptophobic Z ' bosons decaying into four-lepton final states in proton-proton collisions at root s=8 TeV

Peer reviewe