Summary
The effects of reducing the plant density of winter wheat (cv. Haven) on canopy formation, radiation absorption and dry matter production and partitioning were investigated in field ...experiments in 1996/97 and 1997/98. Crop densities established ranged from 19 to 338 plants m−2. Grain yield was maintained with large reductions in plant density. At low plant densities the relative growth rate of the crop increased allowing a maintenance of crop dry matter production. An 18 fold reduction in plant density led only to a six fold reduction in green area index at the beginning of stem extension and by anthesis the difference was less than two fold. Crops grown at low plant densities increased green area per plant through increased duration of tiller production, green area per shoot and shoot survival. Main stem leaf number, phyllochron and tiller production rate were not significantly affected by plant density. Radiation use efficiency was greater at the low plant densities. We propose that better radiation distribution through the canopy and increased canopy nitrogen ratio were the causative mechanisms for this increase in RUE. As a result of increased green area per shoot and a decrease in ear production, more radiation was absorbed per shoot at the low plant densities, allowing an increase in grain number per ear from 32 to 48.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
The association of low birth weight and chronic kidney disease was examined in a screened volunteer population by the National Kidney Foundation's Kidney Early Evaluation Program. This is a free, ...community-based health program enrolling individuals aged 18 years or older with diabetes, hypertension, or a family history of kidney disease, diabetes, or hypertension. Self-reported birth weight was categorized and chronic kidney disease defined as an estimated glomerular filtration rate less than 60 ml per min per 1.73 m2 or a urine albumin/creatinine ratio ≥30 mg/g. Among 12 364 participants, 15% reported a birth weight less than 2500 g. In men, significant corresponding odds ratios were found after adjustment for demographic characteristics and health conditions to this low birth weight and chronic kidney disease, but there was no association among women. There was no significant interaction between birth weight and race for either gender. Efforts to clinically understand the etiology of this association and potential means of prevention are essential to improving public health.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
One winter wheat variety, Soissons, suffered extensive frost damage in a plant population density (PPD) and sowing date (SD) experiment in 1997/1998. Another variety, Cadenza, did not incur any frost ...damage, even though it was at a similar developmental stage to Soissons when the damaging frosts (minimum grass temperatures of −8 and −9
°C) occurred. Therefore, in addition to rapid development, other physiological characteristics of Soissons, such as the presence of awns and weak glaucosity must be important in determining its susceptibility to frost damage. When sown on 23 September, the low PPD crops suffered the most frost damage but when sown on 25 October the high PPD crops suffered the most. This challenges the assumption that low PPDs are more resistant to frost than high PPDs. No frost damage was observed in the crop sown on 16 December.
Frosts killed spikelets, restricted internode extension (stem growth) and reduced yield. Frosts in April and May, after growth stage (GS) 33, appeared responsible for the damage symptoms observed in the crop. Minimum temperatures in April and May were similar to those recorded in the previous season when no frost damage was observed. There had been a cooler winter in 1996/1997, allowing slower crop development and more cold hardening, therefore the frosts in the spring of 1997 did not inflict obvious damage.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK
To prospectively determine the effect of a commercially available computer-aided detection (CAD) system on interpretations of screening mammograms.
Institutional review board approval was granted; ...informed consent and HIPAA compliance were waived. A total of 21 349 screening mammograms obtained in 18 096 women were interpreted first without and then with review of CAD images to determine the effect of CAD analysis on the screening breast cancer detection rate, recall rate, and positive predictive value (PPV) for biopsy. The percentage of total cancers detected by the radiologists independent of CAD and the percentage correctly marked by the CAD system were determined.
On the basis of pre-CAD interpretations, 2101 patients were recalled for diagnostic evaluation, 256 biopsies were performed, and 105 breast cancers were diagnosed. The breast cancer detection rate per 1000 screening mammograms was 4.92 (105 of 21 349 mammograms), the recall rate was 9.84% (2101 of 21 349 mammograms), and the PPV for biopsy was 41.0% (105 of 256 biopsies). After CAD image review, 199 additional patients were recalled, 21 additional biopsies were performed, and eight additional cancers were detected. The effect was a 7.62% (eight of 105) increase in the number of breast cancers detected, an increase in the recall rate to 10.77% (2300 of 21 349 mammograms), and a slight decrease in the PPV to 40.8% (113 of 277 biopsies). Radiologists detected 92.9% (105 of 113 cancers) of the total cancers, and CAD correctly marked 76.1% (86 of 113 cancers).
The use of CAD improved the detection of breast cancer, with an acceptable increase in the recall rate and a minimal increase in the number of biopsies with benign results.
Fibronectin coimmunoprecipitated with wild-type von Hippel-Lindau protein (pVHL) but not tumor-derived pVHL mutants. Immunofluorescence and biochemical fractionation experiments showed that ...fibronectin colocalized with a fraction of pVHL associated with the endoplasmic reticulum, and cold competition experiments suggested that complexes between fibronectin and pVHL exist in intact cells. Assembly of an extracellular fibronectin matrix by
VHL
−/− renal carcinoma cells, as determined by immunofluorescence and ELISA assays, was grossly defective compared with
VHL
+/+ renal carcinoma cells. Reintroduction of wild-type, but not mutant, pVHL into
VHL
−/− renal carcinoma cells partially corrected this defect. Finally, extracellular fibronectin matrix assembly by
VHL
−/− mouse embryos and mouse embryo fibroblasts (MEFs), unlike their
VHL
+/+ counterparts, was grossly impaired. These data support a direct role of pVHL in fibronectin matrix assembly.
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GEOZS, IJS, IMTLJ, KILJ, KISLJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, PNG, SAZU, SBCE, SBJE, UILJ, UL, UM, UPCLJ, UPUK, ZAGLJ, ZRSKP
Over the past several decades, an increasing number of youth have been incarcerated for violent offenses. Existing interventions for serious offenders target the prevention of subsequent delinquent ...behavior in general, rather than the prevention of violent behavior in particular. Within the context of a randomized clinical trial of 79 adolescent males involved in the juvenile justice system, we examine the ability of multidimensional treatment foster care (MTFC) to prevent subsequent violent offending relative to services-as-usual group home care (GC). Data on offending were collected every 6 months for a 2-year period following entry into the study. The method of generalized estimating equations was used to analyze the data. Results indicate that MTFC youth were significantly less likely to commit violent offenses than youth placed in services-as-usual group care. The group effect held even after control variables, including age at placement, age at first arrest, official and self-reported prior offenses, and time since baseline,were introduced into the model. Twenty-four percent of GC youth had two or more criminal referrals for violent offenses in the 2 years following baseline versus only 5% of MTFC youth. The rates of self-reported violent offending for MTFC youth were in the normative range following baseline, whereas rates for GC youth were 4 to 9 times higher. MTFC youth were also significantly less likely to report incidents of common violence, such as hitting.
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DOBA, IZUM, KILJ, NUK, OILJ, PILJ, PNG, SAZU, SIK, UILJ, UKNU, UL, UM, UPUK
Background : Several studies show impairments in the social and adaptive behaviors of children prenatally exposed to alcohol. However, there remains limited consensus on whether the alcohol exposure ...directly affects social functioning or whether its effect is mediated by deficits in IQ. In addition, no studies have investigated whether deficits in social functioning are significantly more pronounced in children prenatally exposed to alcohol than in children referred to psychiatric treatment who were not prenatally exposed. We explored the effect of alcohol exposure on social and adaptive functioning and explored whether or not social and adaptive functioning are significantly more impaired in children prenatally exposed to alcohol than in a clinical sample of children.
Methods: A sample of 33 alcohol‐exposed children was compared with a sample of 33 clinic‐referred nonexposed children. The groups were compared on measures of communication, daily living skills, and socialization. The groups were matched on sex, age, IQ, and outpatient or inpatient status.
Results: Analyses revealed that the prenatally alcohol‐exposed children did not differ significantly from the nonexposed children in any of the domains of adaptive functioning. However, with age, exposed children showed a more rapid decline in socialization standard scores compared with the nonexposed clinical sample.
Conclusions: Young children who were exposed to alcohol prenatally show deficits in all domains of adaptive functioning. Although these deficits do not seem to differ from those exhibited by young children with psychiatric problems but no prenatal exposure, deficits in socialization behavior of prenatally exposed children may become more significant with age.
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BFBNIB, FZAB, GIS, IJS, KILJ, NLZOH, NUK, OILJ, SAZU, SBCE, SBMB, UL, UM, UPUK
Within the SIM RMO, certain NMIs/ DIs have indicated the need to demonstrate their measurement capability for the determination of ethanol in aqueous matrices. Reflecting upon the current situation, ...the SIM Chemical Metrology Working Group (CMWG) conducted a second regional Key Comparison in 2016 linked to the CCQM-K27, SIM.QM-K27. The RMO Key Comparison SIM.QM-K27 was coordinated by INMETRO, who demonstrated capability in the CCQM-K27.2 subsequent study: determination of ethanol in aqueous media. INMETRO also coordinated the first SIM RMO Key Comparison SIM.QM-K1. For SIM.QM-K27, two levels of ethanol in water solutions were gravimetrically prepared by INMETRO with a concentration range between 0.5 mg/g and 5 mg/g. The gravimetric value of the aqueous ethanol solutions was used to link SIM.QM-K27 to the CCQM-K27 Key comparison reference value (KCRV). The gravimetric values for SIM.QM-K27 Level 1 and Level 2 were (0.814 ± 0.008) mg/g (U
k =2
) and (3.818 ± 0.038) mg/g (U
k =2
), respectively. The KCRV was determined using the purity-corrected gravimetric preparation values. The KCRV uncertainty was assigned as 1 % from the reference values in order to give the same uncertainty as in the CCQM-K27.2 comparison. Fourteen laboratories took part in this regional KC, from SIM and other RMOs. One participant (INACAL) did not send results and thus it's capability was not evaluated. Ten of the thirteen participants in the SIM.QM-K27 demonstrated their ability to measure ethanol in aqueous matrix in the concentration range of 0.5 mg/g to 5 mg/g (both levels). One participant (ISP) demonstrated its ability to measure ethanol in aqueous matrix only at the low level (0.5 to 1.5 mg/g) and another participant (INM) demonstrated its ability to measure ethanol in aqueous matrix only at the high level (1.5 to 5.0 mg/g). NIMT did not demonstrate its ability to measure ethanol in aqueous matrix from 0.5 mg/g to 5 mg/g (both levels). The abilities demonstrated by the participants should be indicative of their ability to provide reference measurements for ethanol content in aqueous samples for both forensic and commodities applications. This report presents the results of the SIM Key comparison SIM.QM-K27. Successful participation in SIM.QM-K27 demonstrates the following measurement capabilities in determining mass fraction of ethanol in mass fraction range from 0.5 mg/g to 5 mg/g in an aqueous matrix.
KEY WORDS FOR SEARCH
Key comparison and ethanol in water
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Final Report
. Note that this text is that which appears in Appendix B of the BIPM key comparison database
kcdb.bipm.org/
.
The final report has been peer-reviewed and approved for publication by the CCQM, according to the provisions of the CIPM Mutual Recognition Arrangement (CIPM MRA).
Background The prevalence of chronic kidney disease (CKD) is increasing in the United States, caused in part by older age and increasing prevalences of hypertension and type 2 diabetes. CKD is silent ...and undetected until advanced stages. The study of populations with earlier stages of kidney disease may improve outcomes of CKD. Methods The Kidney Early Evaluation Program (KEEP), a National Kidney Foundation program, is a targeted community-based health-screening program enrolling individuals 18 years and older with diabetes, hypertension, or family history of kidney disease, diabetes, or hypertension. Participants who had received transplants or were on regular dialysis treatment were excluded from this analysis. The National Health and Nutrition Examination Survey (NHANES) 1999-2004 was a nationally representative cross-sectional survey; participants were interviewed in their homes and/or received standardized medical examinations in mobile examination centers. Results Of the 61,675 KEEP participants, 16,689 (27.1%) were found to have CKD. In the NHANES sample of 14,632 participants, 2,734 (15.3%) had CKD. Older age, smoking, obesity, diabetes, hypertension, and cardiovascular disease were associated significantly with CKD in both KEEP and NHANES ( P < 0.05 for all). Of note, the likelihood for CKD in African Americans differed between KEEP (odds ratio, 0.81; P < 0.001) and NHANES (odds ratio, 1.10; P = 0.2). Conclusion A greater prevalence of CKD was detected in the KEEP screening than in the NHANES data. KEEP has the limitations common to population-screening studies and conclusions for population-attributable risk may be limited. The targeted nature of the KEEP screening program and the large sample size with clinical characteristics comparable to NHANES validates KEEP as a valuable cohort to explore health associations for the CKD and at-risk-for-CKD populations in the United States.
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