Ontogeny and characterization of blood leukocyte subsets and serum proteins in piglets before and after weaning

Existing knowledge about the development of the porcine immune system was extended by phenotypic characterization of leukocyte subsets and with assessment of Mannan-Binding Lectin (MBL) and immunoglobulin concentrations in peripheral blood of healthy piglets. Single-color and/or double-color flow cytometry using monoclonal antibodies against CD1, CD3, CD4, CD8a CD14, CD21, CD172 (SWC3a), CD284 (TLR4), SLA I, and SLA II were performed to identify T-lymphocyte subsets, B-lymphocytes, monocytes, and granulocytes. ELISA was used to measure the concentration of serum proteins. Several of the analyzed parameters seem to be affected at the time of weaning which took place at 4–5 weeks of age. Using principal component analysis, all analyzed variables – except one – were grouped into 8 factors with distinct developmental profiles. Several of these factors revealed an apparent suppression, a steady state or an acceleration of the developmental age profiles around weaning.In conclusion, results indicate that weaning suppresses a broad spectrum of adaptive immune variables and that this was evident immediately after weaning as well as after a lag period of about one week. On the contrary, variables of the innate immune system seem to be stimulated immediately after weaning. At the time considered to have the highest infection pressure T-cells and TLR4+ cells were markedly enhanced, whereas the expression of SLA I did not seem to be affected by weaning.     

Rapid vacuolar sequestration: the horseweed glyphosate resistance mechanism

BACKGROUND: Glyphosate‐resistant (GR) weed species are now found with increasing frequency and threaten the critically important GR weed management system. RESULTS: The reported ³¹P NMR experiments on glyphosate‐sensitive (S) and glyphosate‐resistant (R) horseweed, Conyza canadensis (L.) Cronq., show significantly more accumulation of glyphosate within the R biotype vacuole. CONCLUSIONS: Selective sequestration of glyphosate into the vacuole confers the observed horseweed resistance to glyphosate. This observation represents the first clear evidence for the glyphosate resistance mechanism in C. canadensis. Copyright © 2010 Society of Chemical Industry     

Recovery of nutrients from the liquid fraction of digestate: Use of enriched zeolite and biochar as nitrogen fertilizers

The liquid fraction after liquid/solid separation of biogas digestate has a high potential as a fertilizer due to its high nutrient concentration. However, the direct application of digestate in agricultural fields results in practical problems due to its voluminous nature. One solution to this could be to concentrate nutrients onto sorbents such as biochar or zeolites, which can subsequently be used as a fertilizer. This study investigated the ability of biochar and zeolite ‘clinoptilolite' enriched with digestate nutrients to supply nitrogen (N) when used as a fertilizer. A pot experiment with ryegrass was conducted to test the effect of a nutrient‐enriched biochar and clinoptilolite by determining plant biomass growth and N uptake. This included untreated biochar and clinoptilolite as controls and two levels of N application (15 and 45 mg N per pot) each at two initial loading ratios (low and high). Nutrient‐enriched biochar and clinoptilolite increased plant biomass yield (up to 1.02 and 2.39 g per pot) and N uptake (up to 11.23 and 39.94 mg N per pot) compared to the untreated sorbents treatments. Initial loading ratio had a significant effect on plant biomass response and apparent N recovery (ANR) for enriched clinoptilolite, and lower initial loading ratio improved plant growth. In contrast to clinoptilolite, higher initial loading ratio resulted in higher ANR. In conclusion, our results reveal that N released from enriched clinoptilolite and biochar could be taken up by the plants, clinoptilolite performed more effectively than biochar, and initial loading ratio affected the performance of the sorbents when used as a fertilizer.     

Agricultural water management and poverty linkages

Water is critically important to the livelihoods of more than 1 billion people living on less than $1 a day, particularly for the 850 million rural poor primarily engaged in agriculture. In many developing countries, water is a major factor constraining agricultural output, and income of the world's rural poor. Improved agricultural water management can contribute to poverty reduction through several pathways. First, access to reliable water improves production and productivity, enhances employment opportunities and stabilizes income and consumption. Secondly, it encourages the utilization of other yield-enhancing inputs and allows diversification into high-value products, enhances nonfarm outputs and employment, and fulfils multiple needs of households. Third, it may contribute either negatively or positively to nutritional status, health, societal equity and environment. The net impact of agricultural water management interventions on poverty may depend individually and/or synergistically on the working of these pathways. Improved access to water is essential, but not sufficient for sustained poverty reduction. Investments are needed in agricultural science and technology, policies and institutions, economic reform, addressing global agricultural trade inequities, etc. But how best to match the agricultural water management technologies, institutions and policies to the needs of the heterogeneous poor living in diverse agro-ecological settings remains unclear. This article provides a menu of promising pathways through which agricultural water management can contribute to sustained poverty reduction.     

Catching the future: Applying Bayesian belief networks to exploratory scenario storylines to assess long‐term changes in Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras,Clupeidae) and salmon (Salmo salar,Salmonidae) fisheries

Fisheries management aims to ensure that the fishing activities are environmentally sustainable in the long term, while also achieving the economic, social and food security related management objectives. To facilitate this, both the ecological and human dimensions of sustainability need to be included in fisheries assessment. In addition, assessing long‐term sustainability calls for taking into account plausible changes in the surrounding societal conditions that shape the characteristics of the fisheries governance system, as well as the ecological conditions. The paper uses a combination of qualitative exploratory scenario storylines (ESS) and Bayesian belief networks (BBN) to integrate the environmental, economic, social and food security dimensions in an interdisciplinary assessment of the future sustainability of Baltic herring (Clupea harengus membras, Clupeidae) and salmon (Salmo salar, Salmonidae) fisheries. First, four alternative ESS were created based on plausible changes in societal drivers. The ESS were then formulated into a BBN to (a) visualize the assumed causalities, and (b) examine quantitatively how changes in the societal drivers affect the social‐ecological fisheries system and ultimately the fisheries management objectives. This type of probabilistic scenario synthesis can help in thinking qualitative scenarios in a quantitative way. Moreover, it can increase understanding on the causal links between societal driving forces and the complex fisheries system and on how the management objectives can be achieved, thereby providing valuable information for strategic decision‐making under uncertainty.     

High-Tc superconductors in the two-dimensional limit:

The free modulation of interlayer distance in a layered high-transition temperature (high-Tc) superconductor is of crucial importance not only for the study of the superconducting mechanism but also for the practical application of high-Tc superconducting materials. Two-dimensional (2D) superconductors were achieved by intercalating a long-chain organic compound into bismuth-based high-Tc cuprates. Although the intercalation of the organic chain increased the interlayer distance remarkably, to tens of angstroms, the superconducting transition temperature of the intercalate was nearly the same as that of the pristine material, suggesting the 2D nature of the high-Tc superconductivity.     

Chemoprophylaxis of coccidiosis in lambs with a single oral dose of toltrazuril

The prophylactic efficacy of a single oral dose of toltrazuril against coccidiosis (mixed Eimeria infections) in naturally infected lambs was evaluated in two experiments. Toltrazuril at 20 mg kg-1, given on Day 7 or Day 10 after turnout on pasture, proved to be highly efficacious in preventing clinical coccidiosis under Norwegian conditions. Toltrazuril reduced the oocyst output to very low levels, prevented the development of diarrhoea and improved weight gain during the first 4-5 weeks after treatment. Treatment on Day 7 was superior to treatment on Day 10 with respect to improving weight gain and preventing the development of soft faeces. Lambs treated with toltrazuril on Day 7 seemed to be as immune as untreated lambs to natural reinfections with coccidia later in the grazing season. In one of the experiments, natural infections with the nematode Nematodirus battus produced a coccidiosis-like disease in some lambs simultaneously with the outbreak of coccidiosis.