•Shading in agrosilvopastoral systems affects the daily pattern of animal behaviour.•Pastures in agrosilvopastoral contain less structural foraging deterrents.•High proportions of dead biomass ...increase selectivity and reduce feed intake rate.•Animal behaviour, feed intake and performance greatly influence water productivity.•Agrosilvopastoral systems enhance feed conversion efficiency and water productivity.
Environmental conditions and available forage on pastures greatly differ between different farming systems, which can affect the behaviour of grazing cattle. The interplay between environment-, forage-, and animal-related variables may affect the use of feed and water resources in grazing-based systems. Hence, our objectives were (i) to study the differences between grazing-based systems and seasons in environment- and pasture-related variables as well as the behaviour, feed intake, performance, and water productivity of Nellore heifers, and (ii) to understand the interrelationships between these variables. The measurements were performed in a conventional grazing system (CON), an integrated crop-livestock (ICL), and a crop-livestock-forestry (ICLF) systems in the Brazilian Cerrado during the rainy and dry seasons. Ambient temperature and relative air humidity were hourly measured in both seasons. Forage biomass and sward height were determined every month. Forage samples were taken to determine the proportions of alive leaves, alive stems, and dead plant material and to analyse their nutritive value. Forage intake, drinking water intake, and liveweight changes were quantified in 12 Nellore heifers per system and season. Feeding behaviour was recorded by chewing sensors on nine continuous days in each season. Drinking water intake was measured by water meters attached to drinking water troughs, whereby trial cameras at the troughs recorded the frequency of drinking events of individual animals. Feed conversion efficiency and water productivity were estimated. The ICLF reduced the exposure time to high ambient temperatures so that heifers even grazed during the hottest hours. Forage biomass in ICL and CON had greater proportions of stem and dead plant material than in ICLF. Forage intake rate was greater and grazing events were longer for animals in ICLF than those in CON, whereas the daily number of grazing events was greater in CON. Feed conversion efficiency and water productivity were greater in integrated systems than in CON. Amongst studied variables, thermal environment and forage canopy structure with its proportions of dead plant material are the main driving factors for animal behaviour, forage intake rate, and animal performance. These variables reduce feed conversion efficiency and water productivity in grazing cattle. Further research should analyse strategies for promoting thermal comfort for the animals, increasing the proportions of alive biomass, and enhancing the nutritional value of pastures for more efficient use of forage and water resources in grazing-based systems.
The mosquito fauna (Culicidae) from remote northern areas of the State of Amazonas were sampled using Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, Shannon, Malaise, and Suspended traps, together with ...net sweeping and immature collections. One hundred and seven collections were performed in five localities along the Padauari River, State of Amazonas, Brazil, during June 2010. The 20,557 mosquitoes collected are distributed in 17 genera, representing 117 different species, of which four are new distributional records for the State of Amazonas. Furthermore, there are 10 morphospecies that may represent undescribed new taxa, eight of which are also new records for the State of Amazonas. The genus Culex had the highest number of species and the largest number of individuals. Aedes and Psorophora both represented 10% of the total sample and had the second highest number of species and individuals. The most abundant species was Culex (Melanoconion) gnomatos Sallum, Hutchings & Ferreira, followed by Aedes (Ochlerotatus) fulvus (Wiedemann), Culex (Melanoconion) vaxus Dyar, Culex (Melanoconion) portesi Senevet & Abonnenc, Psorophora (Janthinosoma) amazonica Cerqueira, Culex (Culex) mollis Dyar & Knab, Psorophora (Janthinosoma) albigenu (Peryassú), and Culex (Melanoconion) theobaldi Lutz. The epidemiological and ecological implications of mosquito species found are discussed and are compared with other mosquito inventories from the Amazon region. The results represent the most diverse standardized inventory of mosquitoes along the Padauari River, with the identification of 127 species-level taxa distributed in five localities, within two municipalities (Barcelos and Santa Isabel do Rio Negro).
Aim
The effect of muscular training, abdominal massage and diaphragmatic breathing was compared with medical treatment in a prospective randomized trial of patients with chronic functional ...constipation.
Method
Patients aged 4–18 years old with functional constipation according to the Rome III criteria were randomized to physiotherapy or medical treatment. In the physiotherapy group, exercises (isometric training of the abdominal muscles, diaphragmatic breathing exercises and abdominal massage) were employed during 12 40‐min sessions twice a week by a trained physiotherapist, with laxatives. Patients in the medication group were only given laxatives. Primary outcome measures were frequency of defaecation and faecal incontinence. The analysis was performed by intention‐to‐treat.
Results
After 6 weeks of treatment, the frequency of bowel movements was higher in the physiotherapy group 5.1 (2.1) days/week than in the medication group 3.9 (2.0) days/week (P = 0.01). The frequency of faecal incontinence was no different between the groups 3.6 (1.9) days/week vs 3.0 (2.1) days/week (P = 0.31).
Conclusion
The combined use of isometric training of abdominal muscles, breathing exercises and abdominal massage increased defaecation frequency after 6 weeks but faecal incontinence remained unchanged. Physiotherapy may be a useful treatment for constipation.
We report 13 multiple myeloma (MM) or lymphoma patients who were failing PBSC mobilization after disease-specific chemotherapy and granulocyte-CSF (G-CSF), and received plerixafor to successfully ...collect PBSCs. Patients were considered poor mobilizers when the concentration of PB CD34(+) cells was always lower than 10 cells/μL, during the recovery phase after chemotherapy and/or were predicted to have inadequate PBSC collection to proceed to autologous transplantation. Plerixafor (0.24 mg/kg) was administered subcutaneously for up to three consecutive days, while continuing G-CSF, 10-11 h before the planned leukapheresis. Plerixafor administration was safe and no significant adverse events were recorded. We observed a 4.7 median fold-increase in the number of circulating CD34(+) cells after plerixafor as compared with baseline CD34(+) cell concentration (from a median of 6.2 (range 1-12) to 21.5 (range 9-88) cells/μL). All patients collected >2 × 10(6) CD34(+) cells/kg in 1-3 leukaphereses. In all, 5/13 patients have already undergone autograft with plerixafor-mobilized PBSCs, showing a rapid and durable hematological recovery. Our results suggest that the pre-emptive addition of plerixafor to G-CSF after chemotherapy is safe and may allow the rescue of lymphoma and MM patients, who need autologous transplantation but are failing PBSC mobilization.
In this paper, we provide a consistent framework to address the notorious difficult decomposition of the single-photon total angular momentum (TAM) into a spin (SAM) and an orbital (OAM) component. ...We discuss the canonical decomposition into SAM and OAM components, which are the generators of internal and spatial rotations in the space of physical states. We find that those operators are mutually compatible but unsharp quantum observables, therefore Positive Operator-Valued Measures describe their joint measurements. We present another decomposition of the TAM, which we denote as a non-canonical one. The operators resulting from this decomposition are mutually incompatible but sharp quantum observables, thus Projector-Valued Measurements. This fact reflects their consistency with the transversality condition of single-photon wavefunctions, thus explains the underlying physics from a quantum information theoretic view. Furthermore, we discuss the implementations on joint measurements for both decompositions and provide an explicit calculation of all these quantities for circularly polarized Gaussian single-photon states. The difference between the canonical and non-canonical momenta leads to observable differences in higher-order statistical moments.
The direct spinning of carbon nanotubes yields fibres with distinctly encouraging mechanical properties. While the best strength (2.2 N/tex) and stiffness (160 N/tex) promise competition for ...established carbon fibres, the maximum energy absorbed at fracture (46 J/g) is somewhat higher. The fibres consist of very long double‐walled nanotubes of surprisingly large diameter (in the 5–10 nm range), which collapse to give a dog‐bone cross section.
Climate-dependent CO2 emissions from lakes Kosten, Sarian; Roland, Fábio; Da Motta Marques, David M. L. ...
Global biogeochemical cycles,
June 2010, Letnik:
24, Številka:
2
Journal Article
Recenzirano
Odprti dostop
Inland waters, just as the world's oceans, play an important role in the global carbon cycle. While lakes and reservoirs typically emit CO2, they also bury carbon in their sediment. The net CO2 ...emission is largely the result of the decomposition or preservation of terrestrially supplied carbon. What regulates the balance between CO2 emission and carbon burial is not known, but climate change and temperature have been hypothesized to influence both processes. We analyzed patterns in carbon dioxide partial pressure (pCO2) in 83 shallow lakes over a large climatic gradient in South America and found a strong, positive correlation with temperature. The higher pCO2 in warmer lakes may be caused by a higher, temperature‐dependent mineralization of organic carbon. This pattern suggests that cool lakes may start to emit more CO2 when they warm up because of climate change.
The sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas) is characterized by the production of tuberous roots rich in starch and is one of the most produced and consumed vegetables in Brazil. Botryosphaeriaceae, among ...other fungi, are known to cause root and stem rot of sweet potato. However, no representative and accurate study has been performed for the correct identification of these fungal species in sweet potato in Brazil. Therefore, this study aimed to identify the Botryosphaeriaceae species associated with root and stem rot of sweet potato and confirm their pathogenicity. Tuberous roots and stems of sweet potato with rot symptoms were collected in production fields and markets and used for fungal isolations. The identification of fungi was based on the morphology of reproductive structures and phylogenetic analyses of the gene regions ITS, tef1‐α, and rpb2. The following species were identified: Lasiodiplodia theobromae, L. hormozganensis, Macrophomina phaseolina, M. euphorbiicola, M. pseudophaseolina, and Neoscytalidium dimidiatum. For the pathogenicity test, one representative isolate for each species was inoculated in healthy tuberous roots and in 30‐day‐old healthy seedlings. Black and necrotic lesions on tuberous roots and stems were observed in all replications and resulted in the death of some seedlings. This is the first report of L. hormozganensis, M. pseudophaseolina, and M. euphorbiicola, as causal agents of the stem and root rot of sweet potato and N. dimidiatum as a causal agent of stem rot worldwide.
This is the first report of species L. hormozganensis, M. pseudophaseolina, and M. euphorbiicola, as causal agents of the stem and root rot of sweet potato and N. dimidiatum as a causal agent of stem rot worldwide.
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