Recently, some commercial apple growers have been adopting hedging as an alternative or supplement to hand-pruning. With increasing labor costs across the United States, alternatives to hand-pruning ...and current training systems are being considered. One management strategy involves transitioning tall spindle trees to a narrow tree wall and simplifying labor-intensive activities of apple production, such as pruning, harvesting, and fruit thinning. The objective is to form the orchard system into a “fruiting wall” that makes fruit more visible and accessible, thus facilitating harvesting. Four management practices (tall spindle; narrow tree wall with manual pruning; narrow tree wall with dormant and summer hedging; and narrow tree wall with dormant hedging, summer hedging, and root pruning) were used to convert 12-year-old ‘Brak Fuji’ apple trees from the tall spindle training system to a narrow tree wall. Photosynthetically active radiation (PAR) and ultraviolet light levels within the canopies were improved by summer hedging, but they were still low for all treatments. Light within the canopy was improved most when root pruning was included. Specific leaf weight was not significantly impacted by hedging or root pruning. Detailed spur sampling showed that treatments had no effect on vegetative or reproductive growth on 2- to 3-year-old wood. Although dormant plus summer hedging alone did not affect shoot length, the combination of hedging and root pruning caused a significant reduction in terminal shoot length. Red fruit color was only improved with dormant hedging plus summer hedging plus root pruning. Compared with dormant plus summer hedging, dormant plus summer hedging plus root pruning improved fruit set and yield, but it reduced fruit size. Without root pruning, hedging had little effect on light, specific leaf weight, flower initiation, fruit set, and fruit quality. Conversion to narrow tree walls by manual pruning resulted in more poorly colored fruit and less highly colored fruit compared with maintaining the trees as tall spindles with manual pruning.
We report on first experimental observations of nuclear fermionic and bosonic components displaying different behaviours in the decay of hot Ca projectile-like sources produced in mid-peripheral ...collisions at sub-Fermi energies. The experimental setup, constituted by the coupling of the INDRA 4π detector array to the forward angle VAMOS magnetic spectrometer, allowed to reconstruct the mass, charge and excitation energy of the decaying hot projectile-like sources. By means of quantum-fluctuation analysis techniques, temperatures and local partial densities of bosons and fermions could be correlated to the excitation energy of the reconstructed system. The results are consistent with the production of dilute mixed systems of bosons and fermions, where bosons experience higher phase-space and energy density as compared to the surrounding fermionic gas. Our findings recall phenomena observed in the study of Bose condensates and Fermi gases in atomic traps despite the different scales.
(
type 1) commonly infects nonhuman primates but its clinical importance is in question.
To characterize
infection in a colony of rhesus macaques (
) used in cognitive neuroscience research.
...Inquiries into the nature of
in nonhuman primates are required to further define the organism's virulence and the experimental animal's gastric microbiome.
Animals with and without clinical signs of vomiting and abdominal pain (
=5 and
=16, respectively) were evaluated by histology, culture, PCR amplification and sequencing, fluorescent
hybridization (FISH) and serology. Three of the five animals with clinical signs, an index case and two others, were evaluated before and after antimicrobial therapy.
The index animal had endoscopically visible ulcers and multifocal, moderate, chronic lymphoplasmacytic gastritis with intraglandular and luminal spiral bacteria. Antimicrobial therapy in the index animal achieved histologic improvement, elimination of endoscopically visible ulcers, and evident eradication but clinical signs persisted. In the other treated animals, gastritis scores were not consistently altered, gastric bacteria persisted, but vomiting and abdominal discomfort abated.Nineteen of 21 animals were PCR positive for
and five animals were also PCR positive for
. Organisms were detected by FISH in 17 of 21 animals: 16S rRNA sequences of two of these were shown to be
. Mild to moderate lymphoplasmacytic gastritis was seen in antrum, body and cardia, with antral gastritis more likely to be moderate than that of the body.
No clear association between the bacterial numbers of
spp. and the degree of inflammation was observed.
is prevalent in this colony of
but its clinical importance remains unclear. This study corroborates many of the findings in earlier studies of
infection in macaques but also identifies at least one animal in which gastritis and endoscopically visible gastric ulcers were strongly associated with
infection. In this study, serology was an inadequate biomarker for endoscopic evaluation in diagnosis of
infection.
Abstract Background Direct transport of patients with severe traumatic brain injury (STBI) to trauma centers (TCs) that can provide definitive care results in lower mortality rates. This study ...investigated the impact of direct versus nondirect transfers on the mortality rates of patients with STBI. Methods Data on patients with TBI admitted between January 1, 2012, and December 31, 2013, to our Level I TC were obtained from the trauma registry. Data included patient age, sex, mechanism, and type of injury, comorbidities, Glasgow Coma Scale, Injury Severity scores, prehospital time, time to request and to transfer, time to initiation of multimodality monitoring and goal-directed therapy protocol, dwell time in the emergency department (EDT), and mortality. Data, reported in means ± standard deviation, were analyzed with the Student t -test and chi-square. Statistical significance was accepted at a P value < 0.05. Results STBI direct transfer to TC versus transfer from non-TCs (NTC): Of the 1187 patients with TBI admitted to our TC, 768 (64.7%) were admitted directly from the scene, whereas 419 (35.3%) were admitted after secondary transfer. One hundred seventy-one (22.2%) of the direct transfers had Glasgow Coma Scale < 8 (STBI) and 92 (21.9%) of the secondary transfers had STBI. The transfer time: Time from scene to arrival to the EDT was significantly shorter for TC versus NTCs 43 ± 14 versus 77 ± 26 min, respectively ( P < 0.05). EDT dwell time before transfer and time from injury to arrival to TC were 4.2 ± 2.1 and 6.2 ± 8.3 h, respectively. Mortality: There was a statistically significant lower mortality for patients with STBI transferred directly from the scene to TCs as opposed to patients secondarily transferred, 33/171 (19.3%) versus 33/92 (35.8%), respectively ( P < 0.05). Conclusions To decrease TBI-related mortality, patients with suspected STBI should be taken directly to a Level I or II TC unless they require life-saving stabilization at NTCs.
Excessive production of aldosterone leads to the development of hypertension and cardiovascular disease by generating an inflammatory state that can be promoted by T cell immunity. Because nature and ...intensity of T cell responses is controlled by dendritic cells (DCs), it is important to evaluate whether the function of these cells can be modulated by aldosterone. In this study we show that aldosterone augmented the activation of CD8(+) T cells in a DC-dependent fashion. Consistently, the mineralocorticoid receptor was expressed by DCs, which showed activation of MAPK pathway and secreted IL-6 and TGF-beta in response to aldosterone. In addition, DCs stimulated with aldosterone impose a Th17 phenotype to CD4(+) T cells, which have recently been associated with the promotion of inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Accordingly, we observed that aldosterone enhances the progression of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an autoimmune disease promoted by Th17 cells. In addition, blockade of the mineralocorticoid receptor prevented all aldosterone effects on DCs and attenuated experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis development in aldosterone-treated mice. Our data suggest that modulation of DC function by aldosterone enhances CD8(+) T cell activation and promotes Th17-polarized immune responses, which might contribute to the inflammatory damage leading to hypertension and cardiovascular disease.
A climatology of daytime midlatitude medium‐scale traveling ionospheric disturbances (MSTIDs) observed by the Blackstone Super Dual Auroral Radar Network (SuperDARN) radar is presented. MSTIDs were ...observed primarily from fall through spring. Two populations were observed: a dominant population heading southeast (centered at 147° geographic azimuth, ranging from 100° to 210°) and a secondary population heading northwest (centered at −50° azimuth, ranging from −75° to −25°). Horizontal velocities ranged from 50 to 250 m s−1 with a distribution maximum between 100 and 150 m s−1. Horizontal wavelengths ranged from 100 to 500 km with a distribution peak at 250 km, and periods between 23 and 60 min, suggesting that the MSTIDs may be consistent with thermospheric gravity waves. A local time (LT) dependence was observed such that the dominant (southeastward) population decreased in number as the day progressed until a late afternoon increase. The secondary (northwestward) population appeared only in the afternoon, possibly indicative of neutral wind effects or variability of sources. LT dependence was not observed in other parameters. Possible solar‐geomagnetic and tropospheric MSTID sources were considered. The auroral electrojet (AE) index showed a correlation with MSTID statistics. Reverse ray tracing with the HINDGRATS model indicates that the dominant population has source regions over the Great Lakes and near the geomagnetic cusp, while the secondary population source region is 100 km above the Atlantic Ocean east of the Carolinas. This suggests that the dominant population may come from a region favorable to either tropospheric or geomagnetic sources, while the secondary population originates from a region favorable to secondary waves generated via lower atmospheric convection.
Key Points
Climatology of daytime midlatitude MSTIDs show SW and NE heading populationsMidlatitude MSTIDs show an association with high‐latitude geomagnetic activityMidlatitude MSTIDs may also be generated by tropospheric sources
To assess pain relief and local tumour control retrospectively in spinal metastases undergoing cryoablation.
Between May 2008 and September 2020, 46 metastases in 41 consecutive patients (mean age ...59.7±4.4 SD years; range 27–84) were treated with cryoablation in 42 interventional sessions. Patient demographics, procedural data, complications, pain, and local tumour control were analysed retrospectively.
Thirty-one patients (36 spine metastases; 32 sessions) were treated for pain relief and 10 (10 metastases; 10 sessions) for local tumour control. Clinical success was reached in 30/32 (93.8%) interventional palliative sessions. Mean pre-procedural numerical pain rate scale was 6.2±1.7 (SD), and dropped significantly to 3.5±1.8 (SD), 1.9±1.7 (SD), and 1.9±1.8 (SD) at 24-h, 1-month and at the last available follow-up (median 16.5±23.2 SD months), respectively. For patients requiring local tumour control, primary clinical success was reached in 6/10 (60%) spinal metastases at median 25-months follow-up. The overall complication rate was 8%, with no secondary fractures or iatrogenic thermal-mediated nerve injuries reported.
Percutaneous image-guided cryoablation of spinal metastases is safe and effective in achieving pain relief and local tumour control.
•Spine metastasis cryoablation is feasible with high technical success rate.•The procedure improves the patient's average 24-h pain over the time.•Spine cryoablation allows high-rates of local tumor control at mid-term follow-up.
At CERN-ISOLDE, high-purity radioactive ion beams of 219Fr and 221RaF were investigated with α-decay spectroscopy at the CRIS and ASET experiments in the course of three different experimental ...campaigns. The half-life of 215At, α-decay daughter of 219Fr, is measured to be 36.3(3)9μs, and that of 221Ra was determined to be 26.2(1)6s, both of which are well in line with the trends in this region of the nuclear landscape but at odds with some of the reported literature.
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