The intention of this review is to discuss floral initiation of horticultural trees. Floral initiation is best understood for herbaceous species, especially at the molecular level, so a brief ...overview of the control of floral initiation of Arabidopsis (Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) Heynh.) precedes the discussion of trees. Four major pathways to flowering have been characterized in Arabidopsis, including environmental induction through photoperiod and temperature, autonomous floral initiation, and regulation by gibberellins. Tropical trees are generally induced to flower through environmental cues, whereas floral initiation of temperate deciduous trees is often autonomous. In the tropical evergreen tree mango, Mangifera indica L., cool temperature is the only factor known to induce flowering, but does not ensure floral initiation will occur because there are important interactions with vegetative growth. The temperate deciduous tree apple, Malus domestica Borkh., flowers autonomously, with floral initiation dependent on aspects of vegetative development in the growing season before anthesis, although with respect to the floral initiation of trees in general: the effect of the environment, interactions with vegetative growth, the roles of plant growth regulators and carbohydrates, and recent advances in molecular biology, are discussed.
Article impact statement: Machine learning optimizes processes of systematic evidence synthesis and improves its utility for evidence‐based conservation.
The use of in-feed antibiotics has until now been the main strategy for controlling
Clostridium perfringens-associated necrotic enteritis in poultry. But approvals for the inclusion of ...non-therapeutic antibiotics in poultry feed are fast disappearing worldwide due to fear of development of antibiotic-resistant microbes. Public concern about the threat of antibiotic-resistant pathogens has forced the poultry industry to consider various other alternatives. Strategies to control necrotic enteritis in the absence of antibiotic growth promoters, without resorting to the use of prophylactic or therapeutic treatment, have centered upon dietary and management practices. Among the candidate replacements for antibiotics are competitive exclusion products, probiotics, prebiotics, organic acids, enzymes, plant extracts, hen egg antibodies, bacteriophages and vaccination. Chemical composition of the diet related to cereal grain selection, protein source and amino acid profile may influence disease propensity and consideration of diet chemical composition might be helpful in formulation of poultry diets that reduce the incidence of necrotic enteritis. To date, no single satisfactory non-antibiotic measure against
C. perfringens has been identified. Combined with good hygiene management of poultry houses, consideration of diet composition and application of antibiotic alternatives might be effective to some extent in maintaining production and controlling necrotic enteritis. This paper will review some of the potential strategies that are available for controlling necrotic enteritis in broiler chickens without using antibiotic growth promoters.
Few projects adequately address design and evaluation
Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) mechanisms leverage economic and social incentives to shape how people influence natural processes and ...achieve conservation and sustainability goals. Beneficiaries of nature's goods and services pay owners or stewards of ecosystems that produce those services, with payments contingent on service provision (
1
,
2
). Integrating scientific knowledge and methods into PES is critical (
3
,
4
). Yet many projects are based on weak scientific foundations, and effectiveness is rarely evaluated with the rigor necessary for scaling up and understanding the importance of these approaches as policy instruments and conservation tools (
2
,
5
,
6
). Part of the problem is the lack of simple, yet rigorous, scientific principles and guidelines to accommodate PES design and guide research and analyses that foster evaluations of effectiveness (
4
). As scientists and practitioners from government, nongovernment, academic, and finance institutions, we propose a set of such guidelines and principles.
Purpose
Oral conditions are established complications in terminally ill cancer patients. Yet despite significant morbidity, the characteristics and impact of oral conditions in these patients are ...poorly documented. The study objective was to characterize oral conditions in terminally ill cancer patients to determine the presence, severity, and the functional and social impact of these oral conditions.
Methods
This was an observational clinical study including terminally ill cancer patients (2.5–3-week life expectancy). Data were obtained via the Oral Problems Scale (OPS) that measures the presence of subjective xerostomia, orofacial pain, taste change, and the functional/social impact of oral conditions and a demographic questionnaire. A standardized oral examination was used to assess objective salivary hypofunction, fungal infection, mucosal erythema, and ulceration. Regression analysis and
t
test investigated the associations between measures.
Results
Of 104 participants, most were ≥50 years of age, female, and high-school educated; 45 % were African American, 43 % Caucasian, and 37 % married. Oral conditions frequencies were: salivary hypofunction (98 %), mucosal erythema (50 %), ulceration (20 %), fungal infection (36 %), and other oral problems (46 %). Xerostomia, taste change, and orofacial pain all had significant functional impact;
p
< .001,
p
= .042 and
p
< .001, respectively. Orofacial pain also had a significant social impact (
p
< .001). Patients with oral ulcerations had significantly more orofacial pain with a social impact than patients without ulcers (
p
= .003). Erythema was significantly associated with fungal infection and with mucosal ulceration (
p
< .001).
Conclusions
Oral conditions significantly affect functional and social activities in terminally ill cancer patients. Identification and management of oral conditions in these patients should therefore be an important clinical consideration.
We present a novel method for the synthesis and animation of realistic traffic flows on large‐scale road networks. Our technique is based on a continuum model of traffic flow we extend to correctly ...handle lane changes and merges, as well as traffic behaviors due to changes in speed limit. We demonstrate how our method can be applied to the animation of many vehicles in a large‐scale traffic network at interactive rates and show that our method can simulate believable traffic flows on publicly‐available, real‐world road data. We furthermore demonstrate the scalability of this technique on many‐core systems.
The Community Scientist Program (CSP), a model connecting researchers with community members, is effective to inform and involve the general population in health-related clinical research. Given the ...existing cancer disparities among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino/a populations, more models describing how
cancer-related
CSPs are designed, implemented, and evaluated are needed. The Florida-California Cancer Research, Education and Engagement (CaRE
2
) Health Equity Center is a tri-institutional, bicoastal center created to eliminate cancer health disparities among Black/African American and Hispanic/Latino/a populations living in California and in Florida. The CaRE
2
Center created a Community Scientist Research Advocacy (CSRA) training program for community members to become cancer research advocates. The CSRA program is currently a 13-week program conducted 100% virtually with all materials provided in English and Spanish for participants to learn more about prostate, lung, and pancreas cancers, ongoing research at CaRE
2
, and ways to share cancer research throughout their communities. Participants attend didactic lectures on cancer research during weeks 1–5. In week 4, participants join CSRA self-selected groups based on cancer-related topics of interest. Each group presents their cancer-related advocacy project developed during weeks 5–12 at the final session. In this paper, we describe the CaRE
2
Health Equity Center’s CSRA program, share results, and discuss opportunities for improvement in future program evaluation as well as replication of this model in other communities.
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