Organic-Conventional Dairy Systems Trial in New Zealand: Four Years’ Results

The Organic-Conventional Comparative Dairy Systems trial at Massey University began in August 2001, and the organic farmlet achieved certification in August 2003. The trial is unique because it is the only comparative grassland-based open grazing dairy study in the world. The organic and conventional systems are managed individually according to best practice, and both are intensively monitored for production, animal health, and environmental impacts. The systems remained similar for the first two years, but began to diverge in the third and fourth years. Production has been 10-20% lower on the organic farm, but environmental impacts appear to be less than on the conventional unit, and net incomes would be similar given a 20% price premium for the organic product. Animal health issues have been manageable on the organic farmlet, and not too dissimilar from the conventional farmlet. Full results after four years of the trial will be available and presented at the conference

Prediction of the Levodopa Challenge Test in Parkinson's Disease Using Data from a Wrist-Worn Sensor.

The response to levodopa (LR) is important for managing Parkinson's Disease and is measured with clinical scales prior to (OFF) and after (ON) levodopa. The aim of this study was to ascertain whether an ambulatory wearable device could predict the LR from the response to the first morning dose. The ON and OFF scores were sorted into six categories of severity so that separating Parkinson's Kinetigraph (PKG) features corresponding to the ON and OFF scores became a multi-class classification problem according to whether they fell below or above the threshold for each class. Candidate features were extracted from the PKG data and matched to the class labels. Several linear and non-linear candidate statistical models were examined and compared to classify the six categories of severity. The resulting model predicted a clinically significant LR with an area under the receiver operator curve of 0.92. This study shows that ambulatory data could be used to identify a clinically significant response to levodopa. This study has also identified practical steps that would enhance the reliability of this test in future studies

The Plant PTM Viewer, a central resource for exploring plant protein modifications

Posttranslational modifications (PTMs) of proteins are central in any kind of cellular signaling. Modern mass spectrometry technologies enable comprehensive identification and quantification of various PTMs. Given the increased numbers and types of mapped protein modifications, a database is necessary that simultaneously integrates and compares site‐specific information for different PTMs, especially in plants for which the available PTM data are poorly catalogued. Here, we present the Plant PTM Viewer (http://www.psb.ugent.be/PlantPTMViewer), an integrative PTM resource that comprises approximately 370,000 PTM sites for 19 types of protein modifications in plant proteins from five different species. The Plant PTM Viewer provides the user with a protein sequence overview in which the experimentally evidenced PTMs are highlighted together with an estimate of the confidence by which the modified peptides and, if possible, the actual modification sites were identified and with functional protein domains or active site residues. The PTM sequence search tool can query PTM combinations in specific protein sequences, whereas the PTM BLAST tool searches for modified protein sequences to detect conserved PTMs in homologous sequences. Taken together, these tools help to assume the role and potential interplay of PTMs in specific proteins or within a broader systems biology context. The Plant PTM Viewer is an open repository that allows the submission of mass spectrometry‐based PTM data to remain at pace with future PTM plant studies

A Novel Mouse Model of Endometriosis Mimics Human Phenotype and Reveals Insights into the Inflammatory Contribution of Shed Endometrium

Endometriosis is an estrogen-dependent inflammatory disorder characterized by the presence of endometrial tissue outside the uterine cavity. Patients experience chronic pelvic pain and infertility, with the most likely origin of the tissue deposits (lesions) being endometrial fragments shed at menses. Menstruation is an inflammatory process associated with a dramatic increase in inflammatory mediators and tissue-resident immune cells. In the present study, we developed and validated a mouse model of endometriosis using syngeneic menstrual endometrial tissue introduced into the peritoneum of immunocompetent mice. We demonstrate the establishment of endometriotic lesions that exhibit similarities to those recovered from patients undergoing laparoscopy. Specifically, in both cases, lesions had epithelial (cytokeratin+) and stromal (vimentin/CD10+) cell compartments with a well-developed vasculature (CD31+ endothelial cells). Expression of estrogen receptor β was increased in lesions compared with the peritoneum or eutopic endometrium. By performing experiments using mice with green fluorescent protein–labeled macrophages (MacGreen) in reciprocal transfers with wild-type mice, we obtained evidence that macrophages present in the peritoneum and in menses endometrium can contribute to the inflammatory microenvironment of the lesions. In summary, we developed a mouse model of endometriosis that exhibits similarities to human peritoneal lesions with respect to estrogen receptor expression, inflammation, and macrophage infiltration, providing an opportunity for further studies and the possible identification of novel therapies for this perplexing disorder

Protocol for PD SENSORS:Parkinson’s Disease Symptom Evaluation in a Naturalistic Setting producing Outcomes measuRes using SPHERE technology. An observational feasibility study of multi-modal multi-sensor technology to measure symptoms and activities of daily living in Parkinson’s disease

Introduction The impact of disease-modifying agents on disease progression in Parkinson’s disease is largely assessed in clinical trials using clinical rating scales. These scales have drawbacks in terms of their ability to capture the fluctuating nature of symptoms while living in a naturalistic environment. The SPHERE (Sensor Platform for HEalthcare in a Residential Environment) project has designed a multi-sensor platform with multimodal devices designed to allow continuous, relatively inexpensive, unobtrusive sensing of motor, non-motor and activities of daily living metrics in a home or a home-like environment. The aim of this study is to evaluate how the SPHERE technology can measure aspects of Parkinson’s disease.Methods and analysis This is a small-scale feasibility and acceptability study during which 12 pairs of participants (comprising a person with Parkinson’s and a healthy control participant) will stay and live freely for 5 days in a home-like environment embedded with SPHERE technology including environmental, appliance monitoring, wrist-worn accelerometry and camera sensors. These data will be collected alongside clinical rating scales, participant diary entries and expert clinician annotations of colour video images. Machine learning will be used to look for a signal to discriminate between Parkinson’s disease and control, and between Parkinson’s disease symptoms ‘on’ and ‘off’ medications. Additional outcome measures including bradykinesia, activity level, sleep parameters and some activities of daily living will be explored. Acceptability of the technology will be evaluated qualitatively using semi-structured interviews.Ethics and dissemination Ethical approval has been given to commence this study; the results will be disseminated as widely as appropriate

The politicisation of science in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia:discussion of ‘Scientific integrity, public policy and water governance’

Many water scientists aim for their work to inform water policy and management, and in pursuit of this objective, they often work alongside government water agencies to ensure their research is relevant, timely and communicated effectively. A paper in this issue, examining 'Science integrity, public policy and water governance in the Murray-Darling Basin, Australia’, suggests that a large group of scientists, who work on water management in the Murray-Darling Basin (MDB) including the Basin Plan, have been subject to possible ‘administrative capture'. Specifically, it is suggested that they have advocated for policies favoured by government agencies with the objective of gaining personal benefit, such as increased research funding. We examine evidence for this claim and conclude that it is not justified. The efforts of scientists working alongside government water agencies appear to have been misinterpreted as possible administrative capture. Although unsubstantiated, this claim does indicate that the science used in basin water planning is increasingly caught up in the politics of water management. We suggest actions to improve science-policy engagement in basin planning, to promote constructive debate over contested views and avoid the over-politicisation of basin science

Effect of capping groups at the N- and C-termini on the conformational preference of α,β-peptoids

invitation, special theme issue on Foldamer ChemistryInternational audienc

Computational prediction of pressure change in the vicinity of tidal stream turbines and the consequences for fish survival rate

The presence of Tidal Stream Turbines (TST) for tidal power production, leads to changes in the local physical environment that could affect fish. While other work has considered the implications with respect to conventional hydroelectric devices (i.e. hydroelectric dams), including studies such as physical impact with the rotors and pressure variation effects, this research considers the effects of sudden changes in pressure and turbulence on the hypothetical fish with respect to TSTs. Computational fluid dynamics (CFD) is used to investigate changes to the environment, and thus study the implications for fish. Two CFD methods are employed, an embedded Blade Element representation of the rotor in a RANS CFD model, and a blade resolved geometry using a moving reference frame. A new data interpretation approach is proposed as the primary source of environmental impact data; ‘rate of change of pressure’ with time along a streamtrace. This work also presents results for pressure, pressure gradients, shear rates and turbulence to draw conclusions about changes to the local physical environment. The assessment of the local impact is discussed in terms of the implications to individual fish passing a single or array of TST devices