Some unique benefits with Sudangrass for improved U.S. #1 yields and size of Russet Burbank potato

Three studies provided additional knowledge of beneficial effects of sudangrass for yield and quality increases of the Russet Burbank potato. Thro of these studies showed significant 'increases of both U.S. #1 and smooth tubers >280 g following green manures of sudangrass. These sudangrass (HS-33) effects did not differ from a sorghum-sudan hybrid (Trudan-8). When a sudangrass green manure was compared with a fallow treatment, results of the first study showed mean yield increases of 36% for U.S. #1 tubers >280 g and yields of a second study by 34% for U.S. #1 tubers. This same sudangrass treatment outperformed green manures of either Austrian winter pea, barley, or sweet corn by increased U.S. #1 yields that ranged from 27% to 61%. By several lines of evidence, these benefits were found to extend beyond the effect of Verticillium suppression. Soil N was significantly increased following green manures of sudangrass, and these increases were in turn negatively correlated with wilt incidence and positively correlated with yields of both U.S. #1 tubers and tubers >280 g. Additional benefits also included significant increases of tuber grade percentages for marketable tubers and of smooth tubers >280 g. Benefits from sudangrass green manures beyond the effects of Verticillium suppression became further evident following a greenhouse study that involved field soil and sudangrass that had been grown in the same field. This study corroborated both field experiments by showing increased yields with green manures of sudangrass that approximated 5.5 t ha-1 dry wt. As with the field studies, these yield benefits also extended beyond the effects of Verticillium suppression and were closely associated with significant increases of Fusarium equiseti, F. oxysporum, and F. solani. Throughout all studies, sudangrass green manures significantly increased microbial activities with increased populations of Fusarium spp. and increased concentrations in soil of mineralizable N, organic P, K, Mn, along with the percent soil organic matter — all factors that could have contributed to significant increases of yield and quality

Single Spin Asymmetry ANA_N in Polarized Proton-Proton Elastic Scattering at s=200\sqrt{s}=200 GeV

We report a high precision measurement of the transverse single spin asymmetry $A_N$ at the center of mass energy $\sqrt{s}=200$ GeV in elastic proton-proton scattering by the STAR experiment at RHIC. The $A_N$ was measured in the four-momentum transfer squared $t$ range $0.003 \leqslant |t| \leqslant 0.035$ \GeVcSq, the region of a significant interference between the electromagnetic and hadronic scattering amplitudes. The measured values of $A_N$ and its $t$-dependence are consistent with a vanishing hadronic spin-flip amplitude, thus providing strong constraints on the ratio of the single spin-flip to the non-flip amplitudes. Since the hadronic amplitude is dominated by the Pomeron amplitude at this $\sqrt{s}$, we conclude that this measurement addresses the question about the presence of a hadronic spin flip due to the Pomeron exchange in polarized proton-proton elastic scattering.Comment: 12 pages, 6 figure

Longitudinal double-spin asymmetry and cross section for inclusive neutral pion production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV

We report a measurement of the longitudinal double-spin asymmetry A_LL and the differential cross section for inclusive Pi0 production at midrapidity in polarized proton collisions at sqrt(s) = 200 GeV. The cross section was measured over a transverse momentum range of 1 < p_T < 17 GeV/c and found to be in good agreement with a next-to-leading order perturbative QCD calculation. The longitudinal double-spin asymmetry was measured in the range of 3.7 < p_T < 11 GeV/c and excludes a maximal positive gluon polarization in the proton. The mean transverse momentum fraction of Pi0's in their parent jets was found to be around 0.7 for electromagnetically triggered events.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figures, submitted to Phys. Rev. D (RC

High pTp_{T} non-photonic electron production in pp+pp collisions at s\sqrt{s} = 200 GeV

We present the measurement of non-photonic electron production at high transverse momentum ($p_T >$ 2.5 GeV/$c$) in $p$ + $p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s}$ = 200 GeV using data recorded during 2005 and 2008 by the STAR experiment at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider (RHIC). The measured cross-sections from the two runs are consistent with each other despite a large difference in photonic background levels due to different detector configurations. We compare the measured non-photonic electron cross-sections with previously published RHIC data and pQCD calculations. Using the relative contributions of B and D mesons to non-photonic electrons, we determine the integrated cross sections of electrons ($\frac{e^++e^-}{2}$) at 3 GeV/$c < p_T <~$10 GeV/$c$ from bottom and charm meson decays to be ${d\sigma_{(B\to e)+(B\to D \to e)} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 4.0$\pm0.5$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.1$({\rm syst.}) nb and ${d\sigma_{D\to e} \over dy_e}|_{y_e=0}$ = 6.2$\pm0.7$({\rm stat.})$\pm1.5$({\rm syst.}) nb, respectively.Comment: 17 pages, 17 figure

Evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function with centrality in Au+Au collisions at sNN=200\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We present first measurements of the evolution of the differential transverse momentum correlation function, {\it C}, with collision centrality in Au+Au interactions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200$ GeV. {\it C} exhibits a strong dependence on collision centrality that is qualitatively similar to that of number correlations previously reported. We use the observed longitudinal broadening of the near-side peak of {\it C} with increasing centrality to estimate the ratio of the shear viscosity to entropy density, $\eta/s$, of the matter formed in central Au+Au interactions. We obtain an upper limit estimate of $\eta/s$ that suggests that the produced medium has a small viscosity per unit entropy.Comment: 7 pages, 4 figures, STAR paper published in Phys. Lett.

Longitudinal scaling property of the charge balance function in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV

We present measurements of the charge balance function, from the charged particles, for diverse pseudorapidity and transverse momentum ranges in Au + Au collisions at 200 GeV using the STAR detector at RHIC. We observe that the balance function is boost-invariant within the pseudorapidity coverage [-1.3, 1.3]. The balance function properly scaled by the width of the observed pseudorapidity window does not depend on the position or size of the pseudorapidity window. This scaling property also holds for particles in different transverse momentum ranges. In addition, we find that the width of the balance function decreases monotonically with increasing transverse momentum for all centrality classes.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Measurement of the Bottom contribution to non-photonic electron production in p+pp+p collisions at s\sqrt{s} =200 GeV

The contribution of $B$ meson decays to non-photonic electrons, which are mainly produced by the semi-leptonic decays of heavy flavor mesons, in $p+p$ collisions at $\sqrt{s} =$ 200 GeV has been measured using azimuthal correlations between non-photonic electrons and hadrons. The extracted $B$ decay contribution is approximately 50% at a transverse momentum of $p_{T} \geq 5$ GeV/$c$. These measurements constrain the nuclear modification factor for electrons from $B$ and $D$ meson decays. The result indicates that $B$ meson production in heavy ion collisions is also suppressed at high $p_{T}$.Comment: 6 pages, 4 figures, accepted by PR

Impact of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak on acute admissions at the emergency and cardiology departments across Europe

PURPOSE: We evaluated whether the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-COV-2) pandemic was associated with changes in the pattern of acute cardiovascular admissions across European centers.METHODS: We set-up a multicenter, multinational, pan-European observational registry in 15 centers from 12 countries. All consecutive acute admissions to emergency departments and cardiology departments throughout a 1-month period during the COVID-19 outbreak were compared with an equivalent 1-month period in 2019. The acute admissions to cardiology departments were classified into 5 major categories: acute coronary syndrome, acute heart failure, arrhythmia, pulmonary embolism, and other.RESULTS: Data from 54,331 patients were collected and analyzed. Nine centers provided data on acute admissions to emergency departments comprising 50,384 patients: 20,226 in 2020 compared with 30,158 in 2019 (incidence rate ratio [IRR] with 95% confidence interval [95%CI]: 0.66 [0.58-0.76]). The risk of death at the emergency departments was higher in 2020 compared to 2019 (odds ratio [OR] with 95% CI: 4.1 [3.0-5.8], P < 0.0001). All 15 centers provided data on acute cardiology departments admissions: 3007 patients in 2020 and 4452 in 2019; IRR (95% CI): 0.68 (0.64-0.71). In 2020, there were fewer admissions with IRR (95% CI): acute coronary syndrome: 0.68 (0.63-0.73); acute heart failure: 0.65 (0.58-0.74); arrhythmia: 0.66 (0.60-0.72); and other: 0.68(0.62-0.76). We found a relatively higher percentage of pulmonary embolism admissions in 2020: odds ratio (95% CI): 1.5 (1.1-2.1), P = 0.02. Among patients with acute coronary syndrome, there were fewer admissions with unstable angina: 0.79 (0.66-0.94); non-ST segment elevation myocardial infarction: 0.56 (0.50-0.64); and ST-segment elevation myocardial infarction: 0.78 (0.68-0.89).CONCLUSION: In the European centers during the COVID-19 outbreak, there were fewer acute cardiovascular admissions. Also, fewer patients were admitted to the emergency departments with 4 times higher death risk at the emergency departments. (C) 2020 Published by Elsevier Inc.Cardiolog

Joint sequencing of human and pathogen genomes reveals the genetics of pneumococcal meningitis

Streptococcus pneumoniae is a common nasopharyngeal colonizer, but can also cause lifethreatening invasive diseases such as empyema, bacteremia and meningitis. Genetic variation of host and pathogen is known to play a role in invasive pneumococcal disease, though to what extent is unknown. In a genome-wide association study of human and pathogen we show that human variation explains almost half of variation in susceptibility to pneumococcal meningitis and one-third of variation in severity, identifying variants in CCDC33 associated with susceptibility. Pneumococcal genetic variation explains a large amount of invasive potential (70%), but has no effect on severity. Serotype alone is insufficient to explain invasiveness, suggesting other pneumococcal factors are involved in progression to invasive disease. We identify pneumococcal genes involved