Pastoral profits guide, a paddock guide to achieving sustainable livestock productivity

Most pastoralists appreciate the need to deliver an economic, environmental and social \u27profit\u27 from their business. Achieving these profits can be a real challenge given the comparatively low productive potential and the substantial seasonal variation in the WA Southern Rangelands region. This guide was written to assist pastoralists to meet their specific livestock production, financial and range condition objectives through the better alignment of feed demand (stocking rate) to feed supply (carrying capacity). We provide nine basic steps that simplify the process of managing the feed supply, equipping pastoralists with the tools to make· decisions and to critically assess the outcomes. The first part of the guide details the nine steps and worksheets that are used to make the assessment and assist in making a stocking decision. The second part provides reference material

Suitability of litter amendments for the Australian chicken meat industry

This project focused on litter amendment products, which are used overseas during the rearing of meat chickens. Litter amendments are primarily used to manage ammonia volatilisation, especially when litter is reused, but also provide antimicrobial and environmental benefits, and increase the nutrient value of spent litter. This report summarises the outcomes of consultation with representatives and stakeholders of the Australian chicken meat industry, and summarises key findings from a literature review on litter amendments

A Rheumatoid Nodule at the Sternoclavicular Joint: An uncommon presentation of a common problem

Most rheumatoid nodules are found at joints or pressure points. They rarely require medical intervention and even fewer require surgery. A 78-year-old female developed a 7.2 x 3.2 x 2.8 cm rheumatoid nodule originating at the right sternoclavicular joint, a novel site for a common pathology. Management involved a complex differential diagnosis and surgical treatment was resection from adjacent vascular and neural structures. Following surgical excision, the patient maintained good mobility and sensation of the neck and surrounding areas

Obituary: Kuan-Teh Jeang.

Dear colleagues: Our loyal friend Kuan-Teh Jeang, "Teh" to friends and colleagues, passed away unexpectedly at the age of 54 on the evening of January 27, 2013. Great shock and sorrow was apparent in the avalanche of email messages by the very many international colleagues with whom Teh interacted over the years. Many of us came to know Teh as an energetic and gifted scientist for whom we had much respect and affection.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

An empirical investigation of dance addiction

Although recreational dancing is associated with increased physical and psychological well-being, little is known about the harmful effects of excessive dancing. The aim of the present study was to explore the psychopathological factors associated with dance addiction. The sample comprised 447 salsa and ballroom dancers (68% female, mean age: 32.8 years) who danced recreationally at least once a week. The Exercise Addiction Inventory (Terry, Szabo, & Griffiths, 2004) was adapted for dance (Dance Addiction Inventory, DAI). Motivation, general mental health (BSI-GSI, and Mental Health Continuum), borderline personality disorder, eating disorder symptoms, and dance motives were also assessed. Five latent classes were explored based on addiction symptoms with 11% of participants belonging to the most problematic class. DAI was positively associated with psychiatric distress, borderline personality and eating disorder symptoms. Hierarchical linear regression model indicated that Intensity (ß=0.22), borderline (ß=0.08), eating disorder (ß=0.11) symptoms, as well as Escapism (ß=0.47) and Mood Enhancement (ß=0.15) (as motivational factors) together explained 42% of DAI scores. Dance addiction as assessed with the Dance Addiction Inventory is associated with indicators of mild psychopathology and therefore warrants further research

Integration of kinase and calcium signaling at the level of chromatin underlies inducible gene activation in T cells

TCR signaling pathways cooperate to activate the inducible transcription factors NF-κB, NFAT, and AP-1. In this study, using the calcium ionophore ionomycin and/or PMA on Jurkat T cells, we show that the gene expression program associated with activation of TCR signaling is closely related to specific chromatin landscapes. We find that calcium and kinase signaling cooperate to induce chromatin remodeling at ∼2100 chromatin regions, which demonstrate enriched binding motifs for inducible factors and correlate with target gene expression. We found that these regions typically function as inducible enhancers. Many of these elements contain composite NFAT/AP-1 sites, which typically support cooperative binding, thus further reinforcing the need for cooperation between calcium and kinase signaling in the activation of genes in T cells. In contrast, treatment with PMA or ionomycin alone induces chromatin remodeling at far fewer regions (∼600 and ∼350, respectively), which mostly represent a subset of those induced by costimulation. This suggests that the integration of TCR signaling largely occurs at the level of chromatin, which we propose plays a crucial role in regulating T cell activation

Calling on a million minds for community annotation in WikiProteins.

WikiProteins enables community annotation in a Wiki-based system. Extracts of major data sources have been fused into an editable environment that links out to the original sources. Data from community edits create automatic copies of the original data. Semantic technology captures concepts co-occurring in one sentence and thus potential factual statements. In addition, indirect associations between concepts have been calculated. We call on a 'million minds' to annotate a 'million concepts' and to collect facts from the literature with the reward of collaborative knowledge discovery. The system is available for beta testing at http://www.wikiprofessional.org.RIGHTS : This article is licensed under the BioMed Central licence at http://www.biomedcentral.com/about/license which is similar to the 'Creative Commons Attribution Licence'. In brief you may : copy, distribute, and display the work; make derivative works; or make commercial use of the work - under the following conditions: the original author must be given credit; for any reuse or distribution, it must be made clear to others what the license terms of this work are

Group A Streptococcus Secreted Esterase Hydrolyzes Platelet-Activating Factor to Impede Neutrophil Recruitment and Facilitate Innate Immune Evasion

The innate immune system is the first line of host defense against invading organisms. Thus, pathogens have developed virulence mechanisms to evade the innate immune system. Here, we report a novel means for inhibition of neutrophil recruitment by Group A Streptococcus (GAS). Deletion of the secreted esterase gene (designated sse) in M1T1 GAS strains with (MGAS5005) and without (MGAS2221) a null covS mutation enhances neutrophil ingress to infection sites in the skin of mice. In trans expression of SsE in MGAS2221 reduces neutrophil recruitment and enhances skin invasion. The sse deletion mutant of MGAS5005 (ΔsseMGAS5005) is more efficiently cleared from skin than the parent strain. SsE hydrolyzes the sn-2 ester bond of platelet-activating factor (PAF), converting biologically active PAF into inactive lyso-PAF. KM and kcat of SsE for hydrolysis of 2-thio-PAF were similar to those of the human plasma PAF acetylhydrolase. Treatment of PAF with SsE abolishes the capacity of PAF to induce activation and chemotaxis of human neutrophils. More importantly, PAF receptor-deficient mice significantly reduce neutrophil infiltration to the site of ΔsseMGAS5005 infection. These findings identify the first secreted PAF acetylhydrolase of bacterial pathogens and support a novel GAS evasion mechanism that reduces phagocyte recruitment to sites of infection by inactivating PAF, providing a new paradigm for bacterial evasion of neutrophil responses

Discovery of sisunatovir (RV521), an inhibitor of respiratory syncytial virus fusion

RV521 is an orally bioavailable inhibitor of respiratory syncytial virus (RSV) fusion that was identified after a lead optimization process based upon hits that originated from a physical property directed hit profiling exercise at Reviral. This exercise encompassed collaborations with a number of contract organizations with collaborative medicinal chemistry and virology during the optimization phase in addition to those utilized as the compound proceeded through preclinical and clinical evaluation. RV521 exhibited a mean IC50 of 1.2 nM against a panel of RSV A and B laboratory strains and clinical isolates with antiviral efficacy in the Balb/C mouse model of RSV infection. Oral bioavailability in preclinical species ranged from 42 to >100% with evidence of highly efficient penetration into lung tissue. In healthy adult human volunteers experimentally infected with RSV, a potent antiviral effect was observed with a significant reduction in viral load and symptoms compared to placebo