Yield and Yield Components from Intercropping Improved Bush Bean Cultivars with Maize

Bush bean ( Phaseolus vulgaris L.) is widely intercropped with maize ( Zea mays L.) in North-west Spain. Little information is available on the relative performance of elite bush bean cultivars when intercropped or on the effect of bush bean on performance of the maize crop. This two-environment study presents the interactions between improved bush bean cultivars and maize on yield and yield components. Eight treatments (four bean/maize intercrops and four sole crops, two of bean and two of maize) were tested using a randomized complete block design with four replications in two environments. Bean and maize were planted simultaneously in alternate rows when intercropped. Significant treatment differences were observed for bean and maize moisture, pod and cob percentage, bean and maize yield, ears per plant and ear length. Location effects were significant for bean and maize moisture and pod percentage. Significant treatment by location interactions occurred for pod percentage and ear length. Intercropping reduced yield by between 40 and 60 % for bush bean cultivars, and by 45 % for both maize cultivars. Mean yields were used to calculate the land equivalent ratio (LER), which averaged 1.01 in Pontevedra but 0.93 in La Coruña. Intercropping of bush bean with maize did not make better use of land than conventional sole cropping under these environmental conditions. It is suggested that this was probably due to the amount and distribution of rain in relation to crop growth. Approaches that might be expected to result in improved land usage are presented.     

Comparison of remote sensing indices for monitoring of desert cienegas

This research considers the applicability of different vegetation indices at 30 m resolution for mapping and monitoring desert wetland (cienega) health and spatial extent through time at Cienega Creek in southeastern Arizona, USA. Multiple stressors including the risk of decadal-scale drought, the effects of current and predicted global warming, and continued anthropogenic pressures threaten aquatic habitats in the southwest and cienegas are recognized as important sites for conservation and restoration efforts. However, cienegas present a challenge to satellite-imagery based analysis due to their small size and mixed surface cover of open water, exposed soils, and vegetation. We created time series of five well-known vegetation indices using annual Landsat Thematic Mapper (TM) images retrieved during the April–June dry season, from 1984 to 2011 to map landscape-level distribution of wetlands and monitor the temporal dynamics of individual sites. Indices included the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI), the Soil-Adjusted Vegetation Index (SAVI), the Normalized Difference Water Index (NDWI), and the Normalized Difference Infrared Index (NDII). One topographic index, the Topographic Wetness Index (TWI), was analyzed to examine the utility of topography in mapping distribution of cienegas. Our results indicate that the NDII, calculated using Landsat TM band 5, outperforms the other indices at differentiating cienegas from riparian and upland sites, and was the best means to analyze change. As such, it offers a critical baseline for future studies that seek to extend the analysis of cienegas to other regions and time scales, and has broader applicability to the remote sensing of wetland features in arid landscapes.     

Degradation Kinetics of an Aged Hydrocarbon-Contaminated Soil

PM2.5 and PM10 samples were collected in the urban atmosphere of Elche (southeastern Spain) between December 2004 and November 2005. The samples were analyzed for mass and water-soluble inorganic ions (Na⁺, ${\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}}$ , K⁺, Ca²⁺, Mg²⁺, Cl^?, ${\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}}$ and ${\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}}$ ) with the aim of investigating the influence of the climatic and geographic features of a coastal semiarid area on the contribution of these species to PM levels. Secondary inorganic ions ( ${\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}}$ , ${\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}}$ , ${\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}}$ ) were the major components in the fine fraction (PM2.5), accounting for 40% of the total mass. The relationship between non-marine ${\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}}$ and ${\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}}$ indicated that fine sulfate particles were completely neutralized by ammonium. In the coarse fraction (PM10–2.5), nitrate (as NaNO₃ and Ca(NO₃)₂), together with crustal (CaCO₃) and marine species (NaCl) accounted for almost 50% of the total mass. Fine sulfate and coarse nitrate showed summer maximums. In contrast, the concentrations of fine ${\text{NO}}^{{\text{ - }}}_{{\text{3}}}$ were lowest in the warm period. Ammonium presented both winter and summer maximums. The levels of marine ions, except for coarse Cl^?, were highest in summer when the dominant wind flow is from the sea. No significant seasonal variations were observed for coarse Ca²⁺ and ${\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}}$ . The concentrations of all inorganic ions increased during Saharan dust events, in particular, fine ${\text{NH}}^{{\text{ + }}}_{{\text{4}}}$ and ${\text{SO}}^{{{\text{2 - }}}}_{{\text{4}}}$ and coarse $NO_3^ - $ . Coarse calcium was proved not to be a good tracer for this type of episode in our region since the average levels of this cation are elevated and the relative increase in its concentrations during African events was not as high as expected.     

Rat bite fever

Rat bite fever (RBF) is a bacterial zoonosis for which two causal bacterial species have been identified: Streptobacillis moniliformis and Spirillum minus. Haverhill fever (HF) is a form of S. moniliformis infection believed to develop after ingestion of contaminated food or water.     

Clinical evaluation of pimecrolimus eye drops for treatment of canine keratoconjunctivitis sicca: a comparison with cyclosporine A

The aim of this study was to evaluate the efficacy of pimecrolimus oil-based eye drops in alleviating the clinical signs of keratoconjunctivitis sicca (KCS) in dogs and to compare the efficacy with that of cyclosporine A (CsA) ointment. An open-label, multicenter study enrolling 44 dogs previously untreated with CsA was conducted. Dogs were randomly assigned to a treatment group and medicated twice daily for 8 weeks. After that time the mean increase (+/-SEM) in the Schirmer tear test was 9.2+/-1.6 mm/min in the pimecrolimus group and 5.8+/-1.1 mm/min in the CsA group (P=0.085). The improvement in clinical signs of inflammation in eyes treated with pimecrolimus was significantly greater than in eyes treated with CsA (P=0.02). The results show that 1% pimecrolimus oily eye drops are as safe as and more effective than CsA ointment in controlling KCS in dogs.     

Atomic-level characterization of the structural dynamics of proteins

Molecular dynamics (MD) simulations are widely used to study protein motions at an atomic level of detail, but they have been limited to time scales shorter than those of many biologically critical conformational changes. We examined two fundamental processes in protein dynamics--protein folding and conformational change within the folded state--by means of extremely long all-atom MD simulations conducted on a special-purpose machine. Equilibrium simulations of a WW protein domain captured multiple folding and unfolding events that consistently follow a well-defined folding pathway; separate simulations of the protein's constituent substructures shed light on possible determinants of this pathway. A 1-millisecond simulation of the folded protein BPTI reveals a small number of structurally distinct conformational states whose reversible interconversion is slower than local relaxations within those states by a factor of more than 1000.     

Protection by polyphenols of postprandial human plasma and low-density lipoprotein modification: the stomach as a bioreactor

Recent studies dramatically showed that the removal of circulating modified low-density lipoprotein (LDL) results in complete prevention of atherosclerosis. The gastrointestinal tract is constantly exposed to food, some of it containing oxidized compounds. Lipid oxidation in the stomach was demonstrated by ingesting heated red meat in rats. Red wine polyphenols added to the rats' meat diet prevented lipid peroxidation in the stomach and absorption of malondialdehyde (MDA) in rat plasma. In humans, postprandial plasma MDA levels rose by 3-fold after a meal of red meat cutlets. MDA derived from meat consumption caused postprandial plasma LDL modification in human. The levels of plasma MDA showed a 75% reduction by consumption of red wine polyphenols during the meat meal. Locating the main biological site of action of polyphenols in the stomach led to a revision in the understanding of how antioxidants work in vivo and may help to elucidate the mechanism involved in the protective effects of polyphenols in human health.     

Post-mortem examination and laboratory-based analysis for the diagnosis of bovine tuberculosis among dairy cattle in Ecuador

Veterinary inspection in slaughterhouses allows for the detection of macroscopic lesions reminiscent of bovine tuberculosis, but the presence of Mycobacterium bovis must be confirmed by laboratory methods. This study aimed at comparing the performances of the standard diagnostic tools used to identify M. bovis in tissue specimens sampled from suspicious animals. During a two years period, 1390 cattle were inspected at the Machachi abattoir in the Mejia canton - Ecuador. A total of 33 animals with granulomatous lesions were detected, representing 2.33% (16/687) and 2.42% (17/703) animals examined in 2007 and 2008, respectively. Ninety-four tissue specimens were sampled and screened for the presence of mycobacteria. Acid-fast bacilli were identified in one third of the suspicious cattle (11/33) and suggestive microscopic lesions in 27.3% (9/33) of the samples examined by direct microscopy and histopathology, respectively. Culturing on Stonebrink medium and 16S-rRNA-based polymerase chain reaction (PCR) yielded 36.4% (12/33) and 27.3% (9/33) of positives, respectively. Compared to culture, other diagnostic procedures displayed a lower sensitivity, with 56.5% for PCR, and 43.5% for direct microscopy and histopathology; however, the specificity was higher (94.4% for PCR and microscopy, and 97.2% for histopathology). We conclude that reliable post-mortem laboratory testing either requires the combination of a set of available diagnostic tools or necessitates the development of improved new-generation tools with better sensitivity and specificity characteristics.     

In situ analysis and structural elucidation of sainfoin (Onobrychis viciifolia) tannins for high-throughput germplasm screening

A rapid thiolytic degradation and cleanup procedure was developed for analyzing tannins directly in chlorophyll-containing sainfoin ( Onobrychis viciifolia ) plants. The technique proved suitable for complex tannin mixtures containing catechin, epicatechin, gallocatechin, and epigallocatechin flavan-3-ol units. The reaction time was standardized at 60 min to minimize the loss of structural information as a result of epimerization and degradation of terminal flavan-3-ol units. The results were evaluated by separate analysis of extractable and unextractable tannins, which accounted for 63.6-113.7% of the in situ plant tannins. It is of note that 70% aqueous acetone extracted tannins with a lower mean degree of polymerization (mDP) than was found for tannins analyzed in situ. Extractable tannins had between 4 and 29 lower mDP values. The method was validated by comparing results from individual and mixed sample sets. The tannin composition of different sainfoin accessions covered a range of mDP values from 16 to 83, procyanidin/prodelphinidin (PC/PD) ratios from 19.2/80.8 to 45.6/54.4, and cis/trans ratios from 74.1/25.9 to 88.0/12.0. This is the first high-throughput screening method that is suitable for analyzing condensed tannin contents and structural composition directly in green plant tissue.     

Marketing Locally Produced Organic Foods in Three Metropolitan Arkansas Farmers’ Markets: Consumer Opinions and Food Safety Concerns

Consumers embrace local food systems as an alternative to the global corporate model, and nearly 75% of consumers in the United States purchase organic foods occasionally. To assess consumers’ knowledge of locally grown organic foods, surveys were administered at three metropolitan farmers’ markets in Little Rock, Hot Springs, and Texarkana, Arkansas. Consumers with Bachelor's, Associate's, or technical degrees accounted for almost half of the people surveyed. Seventy-one percent believed organic foods were safer than conventional foods. Three times as many consumers were concerned about harmful bacteria in conventional foods than in organic. The number one reason for purchasing was to support local farmers.