Environmental assessment of greenhouse herb production: A case of longitudinal improvement options in Sweden

The greenhouse sector has seen many advances to improve its resource demands, though little is known of the environmental impacts. This study aims to assess the environmental performance of a horticultural greenhouse in Sweden producing herbs. Life cycle assessment is employed to analyze different scenarios. These include previous measures, such as switching to organic fertilizers, a pellet burner, and reducing the packaging weight. Future scenarios are assessed, including increasing biofueled logistics, switching to LEDs, densifying production, and including recyclable packaging. The results suggest that GHG emissions were reduced by 32% per kg edible portion through past scenarios in current scenario. Additionally, densifying production and switching to LED lighting can lead to an additional 14% and 10% reduction in GHG emissions compared to the current system respectively, while also reducing other environmental impact categories. These results provide insights into the implications of environmental and resource improvement measures taken at greenhouses

Shedding light upon the complex net of genome size, genome composition and environment in chordates

The nucleotype theory has been advanced on the basis of studies regarding genome size and composition in various plant and animal species, i.e. the influence that genome can have on the phenotype independently of the informational content of DNA. It has also been noted that during evolution various interactions between different environmental factors and genome structural and functional parameters would have occurred. In this review, changes in genome size, transposon content, and base composition occurred during the evolution of chordates were examined. Many environmental stresses, such as temperature, can act on transposons and through these on genome size. Temperature is also one of the most important elements of natural selection able to interact both with base composition and genome size. It has been evidenced that temperature exerts a direct influence on base composition and its increase would have led to an higher content of genome GC-rich components during the evolution of chordates, in particular in endotherms. Temperature would have controlled the rate of biosynthesis in G1 phase and consequently the cell cycle duration which in turn would have interacted with genome size. The combined action of temperature, base composition, and genome size would also have been very important in controlling the metabolic rate. Finally, another important aspect of the nucleotypic effect is the influence that genome size and cell cycle duration, in correlation with environmental temperature, would have exert on embryo and larval development, very important for environmental adaptation. In conclusion, studies here reviewed to confirm the existence in chordates of a mutual influence between environment and genome non-coding components that would have played an important role in the evolution of these animals especially in environmental adaptation processes

Total repair of pulmonary atresia with ventricular septal defect and major aortopulmonary collaterals: An integrated approach

AbstractBackground: Predicting postrepair right ventricular/left ventricular pressure ratio has prognostic relevance for patients undergoing total repair of pulmonary atresia, ventricular septal defect, and major aortopulmonary collateral arteries. To this purpose, we currently rely on 2 novel parameters: (1) preoperative total neopulmonary arterial index and (2) mean pulmonary artery pressure changes during an intraoperative flow study. Methods: Since January 1994, 15 consecutive patients (aged 64 ± 54 months) with pulmonary atresia, ventricular septal defect, and major aortopulmonary collaterals were managed according to total neopulmonary arterial index. Seven patients with hypoplastic pulmonary arteries and a total neopulmonary arterial index less than 150 mm2/m2 underwent palliative right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction followed by secondary 1-stage unifocalization and ventricular septal defect closure. The other 8 patients with a preoperative index of more than 150 mm2/m2 underwent primary single-stage unifocalization and repair. The ventricular septal defect was closed in all cases (reopened in 1). In 9, such decision was based on an intraoperative flow study. Results: Patients treated by right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction had a significant increase of pulmonary artery index (P = .006) within 22 ± 6 months. Repair was successful in 14 cases (postrepair right ventricular/left ventricular pressure ratio = 0.47 ± 0.1). One hospital death occurred as a result of pulmonary vascular obstructive disease, despite a reassuring intraoperative flow study. Accuracy of this test in predicting the postrepair mean pulmonary artery pressure was 89% (95% CI: 51%-99%). At follow-up (18 ± 12 months), all patients are free of symptoms, requiring no medications. Conclusion: The integrated approach to total repair of pulmonary atresia, ventricular septal defect, and major aortopulmonary collaterals by preoperative calculation of total neopulmonary arterial index, right ventricular outflow tract reconstruction (when required), and intraoperative flow study may lead to optimal intermediate results. (J Thorac Cardiovasc Surg 1998;116:914-23

Power Doppler sonography and ultrasound contrast agent in assessing rheumatoid synovitis

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Neuroendocrine modulation of stress response in the anuran, Rana esculenta

In amphibians, as in other vertebrates, stress stimuli have been found to affect different functions, including development, growth, and reproduction. A wide range of responsiveness to stressors has been reported for amphibians; for instance, capture and/or captivity stress induced changes both in the hypothalamus-pituitary-interrenal and hypothalamus-pituitary-gonadal axes. However, few studies have examined the response to stress in terms of recovery and/or adaptation by applying stress paradigms for a short and long-term duration. In the present paper, the short-term captivity stress responses were evaluated in the anuran Rana esculenta by measuring peripheral corticosterone, androgens, prolactin (PRL), and growth hormone (GH) changes. Moreover, in long-term captivity and salinity stress, effects were evaluated by measuring peripheral PRL changes and those of PRL mRNA in the pituitary together with plasma corticosterone and androgens. Short-term (24 h) captivity stress induced an increase of peripheral corticosterone together with that of GH and PRL since these hormones are involved in the "alarm phase" and in energy demand of stressed animals. The opposite trend was found for peripheral androgens, in view of the negative effects exerted by stress in the reproductive axis. In long-term (1 month) captivity and salinity stress, responses were consistent with the increasing of PRL mRNA at pituitary level, through a long-loop feed-back mechanism depending on the decreasing levels of peripheral PRL, whereas no changes were found in the levels of plasma corticosterone and androgens. Therefore, it seems that Rana esculenta activates different neuroendocrine mechanisms depending on the duration of stress and on the types of stressors. © Koninklijke Brill NV 2006

Inter-observer agreement of standard joint counts in early rheumatoid arthritis: a comparison with grey scale ultrasonography—a preliminary study

Objectives. The aims of the present study were to assess the inter-observer agreement of standard joint count and to compare clinical examination with grey scale ultrasonography (US) findings in patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Methods. The study was conducted on 44 RA patients with a disease duration of <2yrs. Clinical evaluation was performed independently by two rheumatologists for detection of tenderness in 44 joints and swelling in 42 joints. All patients underwent US assessment by a rheumatologist experienced in this method and blinded to the clinical findings. Joint inflammation was detected by US when synovial fluid and/or synovial hypertrophy was identified using OMERACT preliminary definitions. The inter-observer reliability was calculated by overall agreement (percentage of observed exact agreement) and kappa (� )-statistics. The reliability of US was calculated in 12 RA patients. Results. There was fair to moderate inter-observer agreement on individual joint counts for either tenderness or joint swelling apart from the glenohumeral joint. US detected a higher number of inflamed joints than did clinical examination. The mean (� S.D.) US joint count for joint inflammation was 19.1 (� 4.1), while the mean (� S.D.) number of swollen joints was 12.6 (� 3.6), with a significant difference of P ¼0.01. Conclusions. Our results provide evidence in favour of the hypothesis that clinical examination is far from optimal for asessing joint inflammation in patients with early RA. Furthermore, this study suggests that US can considerably improve the detection of signs of joint inflammation both in terms of sensitivity and reliability

Improving water use efficiency in vertical farming: Effects of growing systems, far-red radiation and planting density on lettuce cultivation

Vertical farms (VFs) are innovative urban production facilities consisting of multi-level indoor systems equipped with artificial lighting in which all the environmental conditions are controlled independently from the external climate. VFs are generally provided with a closed loop fertigation system to optimize the use of water and nu-trients. The objective of this study, performed within an experimental VF at the University of Bologna, was to quantify the water use efficiency (WUE, ratio between plant fresh weight and the volume of water used) for a lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) growth cycle obtained in two different growing systems: an ebb-and-flow substrate culture and a high pressure aeroponic system. Considering the total water consumed (water used for irrigation and climate management), WUE of ebb-and-flow and aeroponics was 28.1 and 52.9 g L-1 H2O, respectively. During the growing cycle, the contribution generated by the recovery of internal air moisture from the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system, was quantified. Indeed, by recovering water from the dehu-midifier, water use decreases dramatically (by 67 %), while WUE increased by 206 %. Further improvement of WUE in the ebb-and-flow system was obtained through ameliorated crop management strategies, in particular, by increasing planting densities (e.g., 153, 270 and 733 plants m-2) and by optimizing the light spectrum used for plant growth (e.g., adjusting the amount of far-red radiation in the spectrum). Strategies for efficient use of water in high-tech urban indoor growing systems are therefore proposed

The Clinical Utility of Lower Extremity Dual-Energy CT Angiography in the Detection of Bone Marrow Edema in Diabetic Patients with Peripheral Artery Disease

(1) Background: Type 2 diabetes is a major cause of incidences and the progression of peripheral artery disease (PAD). Bone marrow edema (BME) is an important finding suggestive of underlying bone inflammation in non-traumatic diabetic patients with PAD. Our aim was to evaluate the presence, severity, and clinical implications of BME detected by virtual non-calcium application (VNCa) of dual-energy CT angiography (DE-CTA). (2) Methods: A consecutive series of 76 diabetic patients (55 men; mean age 71.6 ± 11.2 yrs) submitted to lower limb DE-CTA for PAD evaluation and revascularization planning, which were retrospectively analyzed. VNCa images were independently and blindly revised for the presence, location, and severity of BME by two radiologists with 10 years of experience. BME and non-BME groups were evaluated in terms of PAD clinical severity and 6-month secondary major amputation rate. (3) Results: BME was present in 17 (22%) cases, while 59 (78%) patients were non-BME. The BME group showed a significantly higher incidence of major amputation (p < 0.001) and a significantly higher number of patients with advanced clinical stages of PAD compared to the non-BME group (p = 0.024). (4) Conclusions: Lower limb DE-CTA with VNCa application is a useful tool in the detection of BME in diabetic patients with PAD, simultaneously enabling the evaluation of the severity and location of the arterial disease for revascularization planning. BME presence could be a marker of clinically severe PAD and a possible risk factor for revascularization failure

Congenital supravalvar mitral ring: An underestimated anomaly

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