451 research outputs found
Heterocyst placement strategies to maximize growth of cyanobacterial filaments
Under conditions of limited fixed-nitrogen, some filamentous cyanobacteria
develop a regular pattern of heterocyst cells that fix nitrogen for the
remaining vegetative cells. We examine three different heterocyst placement
strategies by quantitatively modelling filament growth while varying both
external fixed-nitrogen and leakage from the filament. We find that there is an
optimum heterocyst frequency which maximizes the growth rate of the filament;
the optimum frequency decreases as the external fixed-nitrogen concentration
increases but increases as the leakage increases. In the presence of leakage,
filaments implementing a local heterocyst placement strategy grow significantly
faster than filaments implementing random heterocyst placement strategies. With
no extracellular fixed-nitrogen, consistent with recent experimental studies of
Anabaena sp. PCC 7120, the modelled heterocyst spacing distribution using our
local heterocyst placement strategy is qualitatively similar to experimentally
observed patterns. As external fixed-nitrogen is increased, the spacing
distribution for our local placement strategy retains the same shape while the
average spacing between heterocysts continuously increases.Comment: This is an author-created, un-copyedited version of an article
accepted for publication in Physical Biology. IOP Publishing Ltd is not
responsible for any errors or omissions in this version of the manuscript or
any version derived from it. The definitive publisher-authenticated version
will be available onlin
Evaluation of early and late presentation of patients with ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid to two major tertiary referral hospitals in the United Kingdom
PURPOSE: Ocular mucous membrane pemphigoid (OcMMP) is a sight-threatening autoimmune disease in which referral to specialists units for further management is a common practise. This study aims to describe referral patterns, disease phenotype and management strategies in patients who present with either early or established disease to two large tertiary care hospitals in the United Kingdom.\ud
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PATIENTS AND METHODS: In all, 54 consecutive patients with a documented history of OcMMP were followed for 24 months. Two groups were defined: (i) early-onset disease (EOD:<3 years, n=26, 51 eyes) and (ii) established disease (EstD:>5 years, n=24, 48 eyes). Data were captured at first clinic visit, and at 12 and 24 months follow-up. Information regarding duration, activity and stage of disease, visual acuity (VA), therapeutic strategies and clinical outcome were analysed.\ud
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RESULTS: Patients with EOD were younger and had more severe conjunctival inflammation (76% of inflamed eyes) than the EstD group, who had poorer VA (26.7%=VA<3/60, P<0.01) and more advanced disease. Although 40% of patients were on existing immunosuppression, 48% required initiation or switch to more potent immunotherapy. In all, 28% (14) were referred back to the originating hospitals for continued care. Although inflammation had resolved in 78% (60/77) at 12 months, persistence of inflammation and progression did not differ between the two phenotypes. Importantly, 42% demonstrated disease progression in the absence of clinically detectable inflammation.\ud
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CONCLUSIONS: These data highlight that irrespective of OcMMP phenotype, initiation or escalation of potent immunosuppression is required at tertiary hospitals. Moreover, the conjunctival scarring progresses even when the eye remains clinically quiescent. Early referral to tertiary centres is recommended to optimise immunosuppression and limit long-term ocular damage.\ud
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The Psychosocial Health of Shan Children in Northwest Thailand
We administered the Strengths and Difficulties Questionnaire (SDQ) to 51 Shan refugee children from Burma who are living in northern Thailand, and collected life histories from 11 of their families. Of the sample, 63% of the children were stateless, and none were Thai citizens. About 30% of the children had normal peer relationship subscores—a number well below Thai norms after correcting for multiple comparisons (p < .001). However, their overall functioning was not different from the Thai population as a whole
Blueberry Advisory Committee Research Report
The 1985 edition of the Blueberry Progress Reports was prepared for the Maine Blueberry Commission and the University of Maine Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers with the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and Maine Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include:
1. Control of secondary blueberry pest insects
2. Effect of pruning practices on blueberry insect abundance
3. Effect of hexazinone on species distribution in lowbush blueberry fields
4. Dichlobenil for control of bunchberry
5. Evaluation of postemergence herbicides for grass control
6. Hand-wiper applications of herbicides on woody weeds
7. Evaluation of steam as a pruning practice for lowbush blueberry fields
8. Evaluation of glyphosate and 2,4-D applied with a commercial weed roller to control woody weeds
9. Hand-wiping and cutting treatments for dogbane
9. Evaluation of airblast-sprayer application of asulam for bracken fern control
10. Spot treatment of woody weeds with 2,4-D in oil
11. Chemical control of Botrytis blossom blight
12. Evaluation of preliminary steam treatments (1984) at Blueberry Hill Farm
13. Long term effects of N and NPK fertilizer on plant growth and yield
14. Nutritional survey of selected lowbush blueberry fields
15. Interaction of fertility and pruning practices on soil characteristics and lowbush blueberry growth and yield
16. Frequency of fertility application for establishment of lowbush blueberry seedlings
17. Slow release vs. liquid fertilizer for establishment of lowbush blueberry seedlings
18. The effect of several mulches on frost heaving, soil moisture, soil temperature and rhizome development
19. Blueberry product development: raisin-type blueberries
20. Blueberry product development: blueberry puree
21. Addendum: 1985 Report from Moody Trevet
Exclusive Measurements of : the Effect Revisited
Exclusive measurements of the reactions and
have been carried out at GeV at the
CELSIUS storage ring using the WASA detector. The channel
evidences a pronounced enhancement at low invariant masses - as
anticipated from previous inclusive measurements of the ABC effect. This
enhancement is seen to be even much larger in the isoscalar
channel. The differential distributions prove this enhancement to be of
scalar-isoscalar nature. calculations give a good description of
the data, if a boundstate condition is imposed for the intermediate
system.Comment: extended version, 8 pages, 7 figures, theoretical model calculations
adde
Equilibrium responses of global net primary production and carbon storage to doubled atmospheric carbon dioxide: sensitivity to changes in vegetation nitrogen concentration
We ran the terrestrial ecosystem model (TEM) for the globe at 0.5° resolution for atmospheric CO2 concentrations of 340 and 680 parts per million by volume (ppmv) to evaluate global and regional responses of net primary production (NPP) and carbon storage to elevated CO2 for their sensitivity to changes in vegetation nitrogen concentration. At 340 ppmv, TEM estimated global NPP of 49.0 1015 g (Pg) C yr−1 and global total carbon storage of 1701.8 Pg C; the estimate of total carbon storage does not include the carbon content of inert soil organic matter. For the reference simulation in which doubled atmospheric CO2 was accompanied with no change in vegetation nitrogen concentration, global NPP increased 4.1 Pg C yr−1 (8.3%), and global total carbon storage increased 114.2 Pg C. To examine sensitivity in the global responses of NPP and carbon storage to decreases in the nitrogen concentration of vegetation, we compared doubled CO2 responses of the reference TEM to simulations in which the vegetation nitrogen concentration was reduced without influencing decomposition dynamics (“lower N” simulations) and to simulations in which reductions in vegetation nitrogen concentration influence decomposition dynamics (“lower N+D” simulations). We conducted three lower N simulations and three lower N+D simulations in which we reduced the nitrogen concentration of vegetation by 7.5, 15.0, and 22.5%. In the lower N simulations, the response of global NPP to doubled atmospheric CO2 increased approximately 2 Pg C yr−1 for each incremental 7.5% reduction in vegetation nitrogen concentration, and vegetation carbon increased approximately an additional 40 Pg C, and soil carbon increased an additional 30 Pg C, for a total carbon storage increase of approximately 70 Pg C. In the lower N+D simulations, the responses of NPP and vegetation carbon storage were relatively insensitive to differences in the reduction of nitrogen concentration, but soil carbon storage showed a large change. The insensitivity of NPP in the N+D simulations occurred because potential enhancements in NPP associated with reduced vegetation nitrogen concentration were approximately offset by lower nitrogen availability associated with the decomposition dynamics of reduced litter nitrogen concentration. For each 7.5% reduction in vegetation nitrogen concentration, soil carbon increased approximately an additional 60 Pg C, while vegetation carbon storage increased by only approximately 5 Pg C. As the reduction in vegetation nitrogen concentration gets greater in the lower N+D simulations, more of the additional carbon storage tends to become concentrated in the north temperate-boreal region in comparison to the tropics. Other studies with TEM show that elevated CO2 more than offsets the effects of climate change to cause increased carbon storage. The results of this study indicate that carbon storage would be enhanced by the influence of changes in plant nitrogen concentration on carbon assimilation and decomposition rates. Thus changes in vegetation nitrogen concentration may have important implications for the ability of the terrestrial biosphere to mitigate increases in the atmospheric concentration of CO2 and climate changes associated with the increases
Mechanistic illustration: How newly‐formed blood vessels stopped by the mineral blocks of bone substitutes can be avoided by using innovative combined therapeutics
One major limitation for the vascularization of bone substitutes used for filling is the presence of mineral blocks. The newly-formed blood vessels are stopped or have to circumvent the mineral blocks, resulting in inefficient delivery of oxygen and nutrients to the implant. This leads to necrosis within the implant and to poor engraftment of the bone substitute. The aim of the present study is to provide a bone substitute currently used in the clinic with suitably guided vascularization properties. This therapeutic hybrid bone filling, containing a mineral and a polymeric component, is fortified with pro-angiogenic smart nano-therapeutics that allow the release of angiogenic molecules. Our data showed that the improved vasculature within the implant promoted new bone formation and that the newly-formed bone swapped the mineral blocks of the bone substitutes much more efficiently than in non-functionalized bone substitutes. Therefore, we demonstrated that our therapeutic bone substitute is an advanced therapeutical medicinal product, with great potential to recuperate and guide vascularization that is stopped by mineral blocks, and can improve the regeneration of critical-sized bone defects. We have also elucidated the mechanism to understand how the newly-formed vessels can no longer encounter mineral blocks and pursue their course of vasculature, giving our advanced therapeutical bone filling great potential to be used in many applications, by combining filling and nano-regenerative medicine that currently fall short because of problems related to the lack of oxygen and nutrients
Blueberry Advisory Committee Extension Report
The 1986 edition of the Blueberry Advisory Committee Extension Reports was prepared for the Maine Blueberry Commission and the University of Maine Blueberry Advisory Committee by researchers with the Maine Agricultural Experiment Station and Maine Cooperative Extension Service at the University of Maine, Orono. Projects in this report include:
1. Fertility Levels
2. Insect and Disease Fact Sheets
3. Development of Insect ID Information for Growers
4. Effect of Pruning Practices an Blueberry Insect Abundance
5. Control of Blueberry Maggot (Alternatives to Guthion)
6. Economic Thresholds and Control of Secondary Blueberry Pests
7. Chemical Control of Mummyberry Disease
8. Chemical Control of Botrytis Bloom Blight
9. Effects of Late Summer Fungicide Applications
10. Mowing vs. Burning - Comparisons of Disease Incidence
11. Long-term Effects of N and NPK Fertilizer on Plant Growth and Yield
12. Effect of Several Mulches on Frost Heaving, Soil Moisture, Soil Temperature and Rhizome Development
13. Interaction of Fertility and Pruning Practices on Soil
14. Effect of Block Freezing on Physical Characterization and Sugar Migration on Lowbush Blueberries
15. Demonstration of the Rota-Cone Vacuum Drying Process on Lowbush Blueberries
16. Production of a Blueberry Gelatin
17. Isolation and Characterization of Blueberry Pectin
18. The Effect of pH, Chemicals and Holding time-temperature on the color of Blueberry Puree
19. Effect of Hexazinone on Species Distribution in Lowbush Blueberry Fields
20. Evaluation of Postemergent Herbicides for Grass Control
21. Evaluation of Sulfonyl urea and lmidazoline compounds for Bunchberry Control
22. Use of Mechanical wiper with glyphosate or dicamba for control of dogbane
23. Hand-wiper Applications of Herbicides on Woody Weeds
24. Dogbane Control with 2% Glyphosate
25. Low Volume Solution of Asulam for Bracken Fern Control
26. Integrated Weed Management
27. 1986 Annual Report to the Maine Lowbush Blueberry Commissio
Mapping the ratio of agricultural inputs to yields reveals areas with potentially less sustainable farming
Fertilisers and pesticides are major sources of the environmental harm that results from farming, yet it remains difficult to target reductions in their impacts without compromising food production. We suggest that calculating the ratio of agrochemical inputs to yield can provide an indication of the potential sustainability of farmland, with those areas that have high input relative to yield being considered as less sustainable. Here we design an approach to characterise such Input to Yield Ratios (IYR) for four inputs that can be plausibly linked to environmental impacts: the cumulative risk resulting from pesticide exposure for honeybees and for earthworms, and the amount of nitrogen or phosphorus fertiliser applied per unit area. We capitalise on novel national-scale data to assess IYR for wheat farming across all of England. High-resolution spatial patterns of IYR differed among the four inputs, but hotspots, where all four IYRs were high, were in key agricultural regions not usually characterised as having low suitability for cropping. By scaling the magnitude of each input against crop yield, the IYR does not penalise areas of high yield with higher inputs (important for food production), or areas with low yields but which are achieved with low inputs (important as low impact areas). Instead, the IYR provides a globally applicable framework for evaluating the broad patterns of trade-offs between production and environmental risk, as an indicator of the potential for harm, over large scales. Its use can thus inform targeting to improve agricultural sustainability, or where one might switch to other land uses such as ecosystem restoration
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