Choosing legumes and perennial grasses

Many letters are received annually by the Iowa Agricultural Experiment Station requesting information on the different legumes and grasses. This publication has been prepared to answer the more important questions pertaining to the choice of legumes and grasses for different uses and conditions.2 Legumes of greatest value for different uses or soil conditions in Iowa are (1) alfalfa, (2) medium red clover, (3) mammoth red clover, (4) alsike clover, (5) white clover, (6) the biennial white and yellow sweet clovers, (7) hubam clover, (the annual white sweet clover) (8) Korean lespedeza, (9) dalea and (10) soybeans. A discussion of soybeans is largely omitted in this publication since the growing of this crop is entirely different from that of the others.

Additional file 1: of Systematic review of the relationship of Helicobacter pylori infection with geographical latitude, average annual temperature and average daily sunshine

Meta-analysis of analyzing the influences of age, sex, smoking and education on the H. pylori infection rate. H. pylori-infected individuals were older than non-infected infected individuals (SMD = 0.26, 95% CI = 0.09–0.44, I2 = 94.2%, P < 0.01) and males were 1.1 times more likely to be infected with H. pylori than females (OR = 1.1, 95% CI = 1.04–1.16, I2 = 72.1%, P < 0.01). High-educated individuals were 0.58 times more likely to be infected with H. pylori than low-educated individuals (OR = 0.58, 95% CI = 0.41–0.84, I2 = 97.1%, P < 0.01). There were no significant differences in the H. pylori infection rates between smokers and non-smokers (OR = 0.99, 95% CI = 0.93–1.05, I2 = 43.3%, P = 0.042). (PDF 155 kb

Resonant Optical Transmission through Topologically Continuous Films

A continuous thick (≥100 nm) Ag film is generally optically nontransparent, but here we show that <i>via</i> a dedicated structuring it can be made transparent. The enhanced optical transmission is realized by preparing metal films with a periodic array of hollow nanocones <i>via</i> an inexpensive and versatile colloidal lithography technique. These topologically continuous films possess the structural feature of sharp top tips and bottom nanoholes, leading to an effective resonance mode of coupling between the surface plasmons around the holes and cone tips. This introduces a resonant optical transmission that is much affected by the thickness and height of the hollow nanocones. Moreover, the topologically continuous films are highly sensitive to the surrounding environment, indicating great potential for plasmonic sensors. The experimental results are in good agreement with numerical simulations. On the basis of the hollow element and enhanced optical performance, hollow nanocone array films can be used as photosensitive microreactors, isolated cell culture bases, <i>etc.</i> This provides a combination of high optical sensitivity and chemistry in microcavities

SeqOthello: Query over RNA-seq experiments at scale

<p><strong>SeqOthello</strong> is an ultra-fast and memory-efficient indexing structure to support arbitrary sequence query against large collections of RNA-seq experiments. Taking a sequence as query input, SeqOthello returns either the total <em>k</em>-mer hits of the query sequence or the detailed presence/absence information of individual k-mers across all the indexed experiments.</p

From Trans to Cis Conformation: Further Understanding the Surface Properties of Poly(<i>m</i>‑phenylene isophthalamide)

Controlling the membrane surface properties such as hydrophobicity and hydrophilicity is critical to achieving desirable performance. For a long time, the difference between the surface wettabilities of superhydrophilic poly­(<i>m</i>-phenylene isophthalamide) (PMIA) electrospun nanofibrous membranes (ESMs) and the superhydrophobic parent material is believed to arise from the poling effect induced by the electrospinning process and wicking caused by the porous membrane structure. In this study, the short-term poling effect was eliminated using a reference, centrifugally spun nanofibrous membrane that has a similar fiber morphology and specific surface area to those of the ESM; consequently, we investigated the changes in the surface properties of the ESM in detail. Chemical analysis by angle-resolved X-ray photoelectron spectroscopy revealed that the N and O concentrations are greater at the surface of the ESM. In addition, analysis of the membranes by attenuated total reflectance Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy and Raman spectra revealed that large amounts of cis conformations of the amide bonds appeared on the surface of ESM after the electrospinning process. The results indicate that the remarkable surface properties of PMIA ESMs mainly arise from the change in the conformation of the amide groups from the stable trans form to the cis form. This change was confirmed by the subsequent in situ growth of Pt nanoparticles and the excellent dye adsorption capacity of the membrane

Fabrication of Binary and Ternary Hybrid Particles Based on Colloidal Lithography

We describe a versatile strategy for engineering binary and ternary hybrid particles (HPs) through a combination of etching and deposition processes based on colloidal lithography (CL). Non-close-packed (ncp) polymer colloidal crystals were used as both original seed microparticles and templates for generating hybrid patches. Utilizing chemical or plasmonic etching procedures, the hybrid patches were generated underneath the colloidal template and were successfully attached on the microspheres through thermal treatment. The hybrid particles composing metals and polymers were tunable in size, composition, and morphology. This method provides a versatile and modular tool to fabricate similar hybrid microparticles and/or nanoparticles that, integrated into predesigned materials, promise applications in photonic and magnetic devices

Comparative Transcriptome Analysis Reveals Different Silk Yields of Two Silkworm Strains

<div><p>Cocoon and silk yields are the most important characteristics of sericulture. However, few studies have examined the genes that modulate these features. Further studies of these genes will be useful for improving the products of sericulture. JingSong (JS) and Lan10 (L10) are two strains having significantly different cocoon and silk yields. In the current study, RNA-Seq and quantitative polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) were performed on both strains in order to determine divergence of the silk gland, which controls silk biosynthesis in silkworms. Compared with L10, JS had 1375 differentially expressed genes (DEGs; 738 up-regulated genes and 673 down-regulated genes). Nine enriched gene ontology (GO) terms were identified by GO enrichment analysis based on these DEGs. KEGG enrichment analysis results showed that the DEGs were enriched in three pathways, which were mainly associated with the processing and biosynthesis of proteins. The representative genes in the enrichment pathways and ten significant DEGs were further verified by qPCR, the results of which were consistent with the RNA-Seq data. Our study has revealed differences in silk glands between the two silkworm strains and provides a perspective for understanding the molecular mechanisms determining silk yield.</p></div

Intraobserver repeatability outcomes for elevation measurements obtained at four points on corneal surface.

<p>Sw = within-subject standard deviation; Pr = intraobserver precision; CV = coefficient of variation; ICC = intraclass correlation coefficient; A_OD is point A on the right cornea.</p

Values of refractive error, corneal curvature, astigmatism and central thickness.

<p>SE = refractive error and converted to spherical equivalent, K_m = mean corneal curvature (the mean of corneal curvature in horizontal and vertical axis); CA = corneal astigmatism (the difference between corneal curvature in horizontal and vertical axis); CCT = central corneal thickness, MCT = minimum corneal thickness; CMVR = the ratio between CCT and MCT.</p

Gene ontology enrichment of the DEGs between L10 and JS.

<p>Gene ontology enrichment of the DEGs between L10 and JS.</p