Influence of gonadotropins on insulin- and insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I)-induced steroid production by bovine granulosa cells

To determine the effect of gonadotropins on insulin- and insulin-like growth factor (IGF-I)-induced bovine granulosa cell functions, granulosa cells from bovine ovarian follicles were cultured for 2 days in the presence of 10% fetal calf serum (FCS), and then cultured for an additional 2 days in serum-free medium with added hormones. In the presence of 0 or 1 ng/mL of insulin or IGF-I, FSH had little or no effect (P>0.05) on estradiol production by granulosa cells from both small (1–5 mm) and large (≥8 mm) follicles. However, in the presence of ≥3 ng/mL of insulin, FSH increased (P<0.05) estradiol production by granulosa cells from small and large follicles such that the estimated dose (ED₅₀) of insulin necessary to stimulate 50% of the maximum estradiol production was decreased by 2- to 3-fold from 22 to 28 ng/mL in the absence of FSH to 7–14 ng/mL in the presence of FSH. Similarly, in the presence of ≥3 ng/mL of IGF-I, FSH increased (P<0.05) estradiol production by granulosa cells from small and large follicles such that the ED₅₀ of IGF-I for estradiol production was decreased by 4- to 5-fold from 25 to 36 ng/mL in the absence of FSH to 5–6 ng/mL in the presence of FSH. In the presence of FSH, the maximal effect of insulin on estradiol production was much greater than that of IGF-I (137- versus 12-fold increase) and were not additive; when combined, 100 ng/mL of IGF-I completely blocked the stimulatory effect of 100 ng/mL of insulin. In the absence of FSH, the maximal effect of insulin and IGF-I on estradiol production was similar. Concomitant treatment with 30 ng/mL of LH reduced (P<0.05) insulin-stimulated estradiol production by 52% on day 1 and 19% on day 2 of treatment. Insulin, IGF-I and FSH also increased (P<0.05) granulosa cell numbers and progesterone production but their maximal effects were less (i.e., <4-fold increase) than their effects on estradiol production. In conclusion, insulin and IGF-I synergize with FSH to directly regulate ovarian follicular function in cattle, particularly granulosa cell aromatase activity.     

Yard Waste Composting with Heat Recovery

? The feasibility of yard waste composting in a closed continuous reactor with heat recovery has been investigated. Results obtained in this research are reported and discussed. In the system, the recovered energy (heat) can be transformed by a heat pump in hot water both for domestic and for residential heating. The organic fertilizer produced can be used in horticulture.     

Assessment of the impact of climate change on the latency period of leaf rust on triticale in Poland

ABSTRACT

Disease development in plants is strongly dependent on weather conditions, with temperature playing a particularly significant role by influencing latency period duration. Using two models describing the relationship between latency period and temperature, we performed simulations aimed at predicting changes in the latency period of leaf rust (Puccina recondita f. sp. tritici) on triticale in response to expected climate change. The simulations were based on meteorological data recorded in the period 1986–2005 at locations representing 16 provinces in Poland and based on values obtained after transformation of the observed data to reflect temperature changes under four scenarios (RCP2.6, RCP4.5, RCP6.0 and RCP8.5) according to the giss_e2_r climate model. In all scenarios, the results for the two triticale cultivars studied, Witon (vulnerable to P. recondita) and Gniewko (less susceptible), showed a threat of faster development (shorter leaf rust latency period) on triticale triggered by climate change in south-east and south-central Poland than in other regions. The results also showed an increased probability of future regional diversification of leaf rust latency period duration on vulnerable triticale cultivars, opportunities for earlier start of leaf rust epidemics on triticale in Poland and an increase in ?nal disease severity in comparison with 1986–2005.     

The effect of nitrate and organic matter upon mobility of selenium in groundwater and in a water treatment process

Kesterson Reservoir in Merced County, California was formerly used as a storage and evaporation facility for Se-contaminated agricultural drain water. Very little Se entered the shallow aquifer below the ponds with percolating pond water. With few localized exceptions, most of the Se was removed from the water and retained in the first decimeter of soil, which was rich in decaying organic matter. Where it was present in groundwater, Se was nearly always associated with nitrate. Nitrate induces mildly oxidizing conditions (Eh ≈ 350 mV) and inhibits microbial fixation of Se. In the absence of nitrate, relatively reducing conditions prevail in the groundwater (Eh ≈ -50 mV), and Se is quickly removed. Selenate follows oxygen and nitrate in the order that soil microbes utilize electron acceptors. The process of Se removal from water by soil was reproduced in the laboratory, and the effect of nitrate was confirmed. This natural process might be applied to water treatment for Se removal. The deep water ecosystem at Kesterson Reservoir was highly productive. Vegetation growing in water treatment ponds should supply enough organic matter to maintain anaerobic conditions in the sediment. This process, including algae culture, was operated in an outdoor 79 cm column for 100 days. At percolation rates of 15 and 30 m yr^?1 Se removal averaged 94%, with an additional 2% converted to volatile compounds.     

The distribution of cave-dwelling bats and conservation status of underground habitats in Northwestern Turkey

The distribution and abundance of cave-dwelling bats were investigated in the Thrace region of northwest Turkey. Data were collected in two periods, January-March and April-May 2001, from 32 underground sites, 25 of which had not been surveyed previously. Approximately 76,000 bats representing 13 species were recorded. The most abundant species were Miniopterus schreibersii, Rhinolophus euryale, Myotis myotis/blythii, Myotis capaccinii, and Rhinolophus ferrumequinum. The roosts were evaluated for their conservation importance. The most important sites in Turkish Thrace are Dupnisa and Koyunbaba. The Dupnisa Cave serves as a hibernaculum to approximately 28,000 bats representing five species. The Koyunbaba Cave is a nursery roost to approximately 23,000 bats of six species. Presently, none of the caves in the region has adequate protection and some bat populations are under serious threat.     

Occurrence and diversity of black-foot pathogens on asymptomatic nursery-produced grapevines in Turkiye

European Journal of Plant Pathology - Black-foot (BF) disease of grapevines in nurseries and young vineyards is caused by soil-borne Cylindrocarpon-like asexual morphs. They can be found both in...     

Changes in selected hydrophobic components during composting of municipal solid wastes

Purpose

One of the most practical ways to utilise municipal solid waste is composting, thereby producing materials that may be productively used to improve soil properties. Wastes, as well as mature composts, contain hydrophobic substances, including fats, which are more resistant to microbiological decomposition than other constituents. The aim of this work was to determine qualitative and quantitative changes of hydrophobic substances, especially fatty acids, during the course of municipal solid waste composting. This provides new information on intensity of hydrophobic versus other substances decomposition undergoing during these processes.

Materials and methods

Raw materials, prepared according to MUT-DANO technology, were composted in a pile, and samples were taken after 1, 14, 28, 42, 56, 90 and 180 days of the composting. Temperature, moisture, total organic carbon, hydrophobic substances carbon (HSC) and fatty acid carbon (FAC) contents were determined in all samples. Hydrophobic substances were extracted with 1:2 (v/v) mixture of ethanol/benzene, while fats were extracted with petroleum ether and determined by GC analysis after transesterification with BF₃ in methanol.

Results and discussion

The HSC decreased from 27.8 to 9.3 g kg^?1 during first 90 days of composting, and thereafter remained constant. Similarly, the highest content of FAC was in raw compost, while the lowest was after 90 days. Octadecenoic acid predominated in the raw compost and decreased from 56 to 23 % FAC after 180 days. During the composting processes, domination of octadecenoic acid was replaced by hexadecanoic and octadecanoic acids, which increased from 18.8 to 36.7 % and 8.3 to 19.4 % FAC, respectively. The share of hexadecanoic, eicosanoic and docosanoic acids increased after the thermophilic phase. The presence of odd-numbered fatty acids (pentadecanoic and heptadecanoic) was noted, which are known to be products of the bacterial transformation-synthesis of lipid substances.

Conclusions

The extent of decomposition of hydrophobic substances, especially fatty acids, is greater than other components in composted municipal solid waste, and intensity of the biotransformation is significantly correlated with composting parameters, mainly temperature and time. During the thermophilic phase of municipal solid waste composting, the decrease in total content of hydrophobic substances is approximately fivefold, while the reduction in fatty acids can be about tenfold. Unsaturated fatty acids are more intensively decomposed during the composting processes, while saturated fatty acids are more resistant. Moreover, transformation of fatty matter may result in the creation of specific isomers with odd numbers of carbon atoms.     

Assessment of the usefulness of particle size distribution measured by laser diffraction for soil water retention modelling

Particle size distribution (PSD) is a major soil characteristic, which is essential and commonly used for the development of pedotransfer functions (PTFs) to estimate the water retention of soils. The laser diffraction method (LDM) became a popular alternative to the standard sieve‐hydrometer method (SHM) of PSD measurement. Unfortunately, PSDs determined with LDM and SHM methods differ sometimes substantially. Moreover, it is claimed that the laser diffraction method underestimates finer fractions in favor of coarser fractions. Several authors have tried to elaborate on methods to recalculate LDM PSD into its SHM counterparts, but no universal methodology has been developed to this date. In this paper, we use PSD determined by LDM directly for PTF development and compare it with the classical PTF approach based on PSD measured by SHM. Four different PTF models based on LDM particle size distribution data were developed, with different PSD characteristics taken as the models' input variables. The possibility of using alternative PSD characteristics, such as deciles, area moment mean and volume moment mean, for PTF development was examined. The accuracy of PTF models constructed on the basis of LDM‐measured PSD was comparable with that of the developed models using texture data obtained from SHM, giving approximately the same RMSE and R² values. Our study shows that LDM‐measured particle size distribution may be directly used for PTF developments without any recalculations to their sieve‐hydrometer counterparts.     

Gaussian Copula Mixed Models for Clustered Mixed Outcomes,With Application in Developmental Toxicology

This paper is concerned with the analysis of clustered data from developmental toxicity studies with mixed responses, i.e., where each member of the cluster has binary and continuous outcomes. A copula-based random effects model is proposed that accounts for associations between binary and/or continuous outcomes within clusters, including the intrinsic association between the mixed outcomes for the same subject. The approach allows the adoption of flexible distributions for the mixed outcomes as well as for the random effects. The model includes the correlated probit model of Gueorguieva and Agresti (2001) and the generalized linear mixed models of Faes et al. (2008), and Faes, Geys, and Catalano (2009) as special cases. Maximum likelihood estimation of our model parameters is implemented using standard software such as PROC NLMIXED in SAS. The proposed methodology is motivated by and illustrated using a developmental toxicity study of ethylene glycol in mice. This article has supplementary material online.     

Fate of flavonoids in the outer skins of onion (Allium cepa L.) throughout curing

Reducing the current U.K. curing temperature from 28 to 20 °C would help to reduce energy costs; however, onion skin appearance and consumer acceptability may be detrimentally affected. The aim of this study was to elucidate the compounds responsible for the difference in color between brown and red onions cured at 20 and 28 °C by monitoring dynamic biochemical changes in the skin at set intervals during curing and after storage from two years' data. Sugar concentrations appeared to play no role in the difference in onion skin appearance when cured at different temperatures. Using regression, principal component, and partial least-squares discriminant analyses, the decrease in skin H° after the curing of brown onion cultivars at 28 °C was linked to a decrease in individual flavonol concentrations, possibly due to their oxidation at higher temperatures into brown pigmented compounds. Red onion cultivars cured at lower temperatures and for a shorter curing period had higher concentrations of individual anthocyanins as well as a darker skin color. Skin water content was reduced significantly in only the first 6 days of curing. Taken together, this suggests that current U.K. curing practice could be carried out at a lower temperature (20 °C) and/or for a shorter duration, resulting in reduced curing costs and possibly improved skin appearance.