Impact of plant protection strategy and soil tillage on the carbon footprint of wheat

Der Klimaschutz liegt aufgrund der zunehmenden negativen Auswirkungen des Klimawandels auf die pflanz­liche Produktion im Eigeninteresse der Landwirtschaft. Welche Auswirkungen unterschiedliche Pflanzenschutzstrategien, der Verzicht auf Fungizide sowie eine reduzierte Bodenbearbeitung auf die Klimawirkung der Weizenproduktion haben wurde aufbauend auf einem Dauerfeldversuch in Dahnsdorf in 2008–2019 untersucht. Die Bewertung wurden mittels partieller Lebenszyklus (LCA) durchgeführt. Im Durchschnitt über sämtliche Versuchsvarianten und Jahre lagen die Treibhausgasemissionen (THG-Emissionen) bei 3002 kg CO2eq ha‑1 und der CO2-Fußabdruck (CFP) bei 0,53 kg CO2eq kg‑1. Obwohl die Varianten mit wendender Bodenbearbeitung signifikant höhere THG-Emissionen je ha aufwiesen, waren Ihre CFPs nicht signifikant höher als die der nicht-wendenden Varianten. Die ertragssichernde Wirkung der Fungizide führte zu verringerten CFPs. Signifikante Jahresunterschiede zeigten sich bei allen drei untersuchten Parametern. Dies unterstreicht die Notwendigkeit einer Bewertung über längere Zeitreihen und den besonderen Wert von Langzeitversuchen.Climate protection is in the self-interest of agriculture due to the increasing negative effects of climate change on crop production. The effects of different crop protection strategies, the non-usage of fungicides, and reduced tillage were assessed regarding climate impact of wheat production based on a long-term field trial in Dahnsdorf in 2008–2019. The assessment was carried out using a partial life cycle assessment (LCA). On average across all treatments and years, greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions were 3002 kg CO2eq ha-1 and carbon footprint (CFP) was 0.53 kg CO2eq kg-1. Although the treatments with plow caused significantly higher GHG emissions per hectare, their CFPs were not significantly higher than those of the non-plowed treatments. The yield-securing effects of fungicides led to reduced CFPs. Significant differences between years were evident for all three parameters examined. This underlines the need for an evaluation over longer time series and the special value of long-term field trials

Albumin-Associated Lipids Regulate Human Embryonic Stem Cell Self-Renewal

BACKGROUND: Although human embryonic stem cells (hESCs) hold great promise as a source of differentiated cells to treat several human diseases, many obstacles still need to be surmounted before this can become a reality. First among these, a robust chemically-defined system to expand hESCs in culture is still unavailable despite recent advances in the understanding of factors controlling hESC self-renewal. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: In this study, we attempted to find new molecules that stimulate long term hESC self-renewal. In order to do this, we started from the observation that a commercially available serum replacement product has a strong positive effect on the expansion of undifferentiated hESCs when added to a previously reported chemically-defined medium. Subsequent experiments demonstrated that the active ingredient within the serum replacement is lipid-rich albumin. Furthermore, we show that this activity is trypsin-resistant, strongly suggesting that lipids and not albumin are responsible for the effect. Consistent with this, lipid-poor albumin shows no detectable activity. Finally, we identified the major lipids bound to the lipid-rich albumin and tested several lipid candidates for the effect. CONCLUSIONS/SIGNIFICANCE: Our discovery of the role played by albumin-associated lipids in stimulating hESC self-renewal constitutes a significant advance in the knowledge of how hESC pluripotency is maintained by extracellular factors and has important applications in the development of increasingly chemically defined hESC culture systems

The Protective Effect of Quercetin-3-O-β-D-Glucuronopyranoside on Ethanol-induced Damage in Cultured Feline Esophageal Epithelial Cells

Quercetin-3-O-β-D-glucuronopyranoside (QGC) is a flavonoid glucoside extracted from Rumex Aquaticus Herba. We aimed to explore its protective effect against ethanol-induced cell damage and the mechanism involved in the effect in feline esophageal epithelial cells (EEC). Cell viability was tested and 2',7'-dichlorofluorescin diacetate assay was used to detect intracellular H2O2 production. Western blotting analysis was performed to investigate MAPK activation and interleukin 6 (IL-6) expression. Exposure of cells to 10% ethanol time-dependently decreased cell viability. Notably, exposure to ethanol for 30 min decreased cell viability to 43.4%. When cells were incubated with 50 µM QGC for 12 h prior to and during ethanol treatment, cell viability was increased to 65%. QGC also inhibited the H2O2 production and activation of ERK 1/2 induced by ethanol. Pretreatment of cells with the NADPH oxidase inhibitor, diphenylene iodonium, also inhibited the ethanol-induced ERK 1/2 activation. Treatment of cells with ethanol for 30 or 60 min in the absence or presence of QGC exhibited no changes in the IL-6 expression or release compared to control. Taken together, the data indicate that the cytoprotective effect of QGC against ethanol-induced cell damage may involve inhibition of ROS generation and downstream activation of the ERK 1/2 in feline EEC

Microfoundations

The paper argues that the microfoundations programme can be understood as an implementation of an underlying methodological principle, methodological individualism, and that it therefore shares a fundamental ambiguity with that principle, viz, whether the macro must be derived from and therefore reducible to, or rather consistent with micro-level behaviours. The pluralist conclusion of the paper is not that research guided by the principle of microfoundations is necessarily wrong, but that the exclusion of approaches not guided by that principle is indeed necessarily wrong. The argument is made via an examination of the advantages claimed for dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models, the relationship between parts and wholes in social science, and the concepts of reduction, substrate neutrality, the intentional stance, and hypostatisation

Microfoundations

This paper argues that the microfoundations programme can be understood as an implementation of an underlying methodological principle—methodological individualism—and that it therefore shares a fundamental ambiguity with that principle, viz, whether the macro must be derived from and therefore reducible to, or rather consistent with, micro-level behaviours. The pluralist conclusion of the paper is not that research guided by the principle of microfoundations is necessarily wrong, but that the exclusion of approaches not guided by that principle is indeed necessarily wrong. The argument is made via an examination of the advantages claimed for dynamic stochastic general equilibrium models, the relationship between parts and wholes in social science, and the concepts of reduction, substrate neutrality, the intentional stance, and hypostatisation