Soil provides ecosystem services, supports human health and habitation, stores carbon and regulates emissions of greenhouse gases. Unprecedented pressures on soil from degradation and urbanization ...are threatening agro-ecological balances and food security. It is important that we learn more about soil to sustainably manage and preserve it for future generations. To this end, we developed and analyzed a global soil visible-near infrared (vis-NIR) spectral library. It is currently the largest and most diverse database of its kind. We show that the information encoded in the spectra can describe soil composition and be associated to land cover and its global geographic distribution, which acts as a surrogate for global climate variability. We also show the usefulness of the global spectra for predicting soil attributes such as soil organic and inorganic carbon, clay, silt, sand and iron contents, cation exchange capacity, and pH. Using wavelets to treat the spectra, which were recorded in different laboratories using different spectrometers and methods, helped to improve the spectroscopic modelling. We found that modelling a diverse set of spectra with a machine learning algorithm can find the local relationships in the data to produce accurate predictions of soil properties. The spectroscopic models that we derived are parsimonious and robust, and using them we derived a harmonized global soil attribute dataset, which might serve to facilitate research on soil at the global scale. This spectroscopic approach should help to deal with the shortage of data on soil to better understand it and to meet the growing demand for information to assess and monitor soil at scales ranging from regional to global. New contributions to the library are encouraged so that this work and our collaboration might progress to develop a dynamic and easily updatable database with better global coverage. We hope that this work will reinvigorate our community's discussion towards larger, more coordinated collaborations. We also hope that use of the database will deepen our understanding of soil so that we might sustainably manage it and extend the research outcomes of the soil, earth and environmental sciences towards applications that we have not yet dreamed of.
•The time for cleaning egg yolk deposits is minimum between pH 7 and 13.•Removal behaviour (cohesive and adhesive) of egg yolk depended on the pH.•Micromanipulation results showed the best ...correlation with cleaning behaviour.•Swelling, diffusion and rheological data provide insight into stages in cleaning.•All stages in cleaning must be considered to predict the cleaning behaviour by a laboratory method.
Cleaning-in-place (CIP) is an established technique for the cleaning of industrial food processing plants. To design CIP protocols, laboratory methods are helpful to predict the cleaning behaviour and to reduce the number of costly in situ cleaning investigations. In this work, laboratory methods (differential scanning calorimetry, rheology, optical swelling measurements and micromanipulation) were used to analyse different aspects and stages of the cleaning process (swelling, chemical and mechanical actions, phase transition and mass transfer). The suitability of these methods to predict the cleaning behaviour was tested by using a representative egg yolk deposit. Temperature (24–60°C) and NaOH concentration (0–1.5%) of the cleaning fluid served as independent factors, and the time necessary to remove the deposit in a flow channel was evaluated using an optical method. Cleaning time decreased with increasing temperature and also depended on NaOH concentration. Within the examined limits, the pushing energy measured by the micromanipulation method showed the best correlation with cleaning time, whereas swelling, diffusion and rheological measurements only reflected tendencies of the cleaning behaviour.
Koi herpesvirus (KHV) causes KHV disease (KHVD). The virus is highly contagious in carp or koi and can induce a high mortality. Latency and, in some cases, a lack of signs presents a challenge for ...virus detection. Appropriate immunological detection methods for anti‐KHV antibodies have not yet been fully validated for KHV. Therefore, it was developed and validated an enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) to detect KHV antibodies. The assay was optimized with respect to plates, buffers, antigens and assay conditions. It demonstrated high diagnostic and analytical sensitivity and specificity and was particularly useful at the pond or farm levels. Considering the scale of the carp and koi industry worldwide, this assay represents an important practical tool for the indirect detection of KHV, also in the absence of clinical signs.
The major task for the Lateral-Photovoltage-Scanning-Method is to detect doping striations and the shape of the solid-liquid-interface of an indirect semiconductor crystal. This method is sensitive ...to the gradient of the charge carrier density. Attempting to simulate the signal generation of the LPS-Method, we are using a three dimensional Finite Volume approach for solving the van Roosbroeck equations with COMSOL Multiphysics in a silicon sample. We show that the simulated LPS-voltage is directly proportional to the gradient of a given doping distribution, which is also the case for the measured LPS-voltage.
This article defines eight key climate, soil and terrain criteria that have been developed for the future delimitation of the Intermediate Less Favoured Areas (LFAs) support, a measure of the Common ...Agricultural Policy. The LFA scheme has existed since 1975 and is a broad mechanism for improving the viability of agriculture in areas with natural handicaps. The common criteria have been developed for the European Commission's Directorate-General for Agriculture and Rural Development to satisfy the objectives in the Rural Development Policy 2007–2013 (Axis II), which aim to improve the environment and the countryside by more sustainable land management. The criteria were developed by experts, coordinated by the European Commissions Joint Research Centre, to meet the requirement for a robust and harmonised approach of identifying areas that experience natural constraints to agriculture throughout the EU 27 Member States. The criteria proposed are: temperature, heat stress, drainage, soil texture and stoniness, soil rooting depth, soil chemical properties, soil moisture balance and slope. Each criterion is described and an indicative threshold for assessment of its impact on agriculture is provided. The criteria are currently being tested by the EU Member States for a future possible legislation.
Nine solutions containing opiod analgesics and local anesthetics as typically use in epidural catheters were tested for antimicrobial stability. Administration via a pefusor syringe requires several ...refill processes. It was shown that repetitive refilling of the syringes did not result in any microbiological contamination.
The role in protein folding of the eukaryotic chaperonin TRiC/CCT is only partially understood. Here, we show that a group of WD40 β‐propeller proteins in the yeast cytosol interact transiently with ...TRiC upon synthesis and require the chaperonin to reach their native state. TRiC cooperates in the folding of these proteins with the ribosome‐associated heat shock protein (Hsp)70 chaperones Ssb1/2p. In contrast, newly synthesized actin and tubulins, the major known client proteins of TRiC, are independent of Ssb1/2p and instead use the co‐chaperone GimC/prefoldin for efficient transfer to the chaperonin. GimC can replace Ssb1/2p in the folding of WD40 substrates such as Cdc55p, but combined deletion of SSB and GIM genes results in loss of viability. These findings expand the substrate range of the eukaryotic chaperonin by a structurally defined class of proteins and demonstrate an essential role for upstream chaperones in TRiC‐assisted folding.
In 1986 a prospective multicenter observation trial in patients with resected gastric cancer was initiated in Germany. An analysis of prognostic factors based on the 10-year survival data is now ...presented.
A total of 1654 patients treated for gastric cancer between 1986 and 1989 at 19 centers in Germany and Austria were included. The resected specimen were evaluated histopathologically according to a standardized protocol. The extent of lymphadenectomy was classified after surgery based on the number of removed lymph nodes on histopathologic assessment (25 or fewer removed nodes, D1 or standard lymphadenectomy; >25 removed nodes, D2 or extended lymphadenectomy). Endpoint of the study was death. Follow-up is complete for 97% of the included patients (median follow-up of the surviving patients is 8.4 years). Prognostic factors were assessed by multivariate analysis.
A complete macroscopic and microscopic tumor resection (R0 resection according to the UICC 1997) could be achieved in 1182 of the 1654 patients (71.5%). The calculated 10-year survival rate in the entire patient population was 26.3% +/- 4.7%; it was 36.1% +/- 1.6% after an R0 resection. In the total patient population there was an independent prognostic effect of the ratio between invaded and removed lymph nodes, the residual tumor (R) category, the pT category, the presence of postsurgical complications, and the presence of distant metastases. Multivariate analysis in the subgroup of patients who had a UICC R0 resection confirmed the nodal status, the pT category, and the presence of postsurgical complications as the major independent prognostic factors. The extent of lymph node dissection had a significant and independent effect on the 10-year survival rate in patients with stage II tumors. This effect was present in the subgroups with (pT2N1) and without (pT3N0) lymph node metastases on standard histopathologic assessment. The beneficial effect of extended lymph node dissection for stage II tumors persisted when patients with insufficient lymph node dissection (<15 nodes) were excluded from the analysis. There was no difference in the postsurgical morbidity and mortality rates between patients with standard and extended lymph node dissection.
Lymph node ratio and lymph node status are the most important prognostic factors in patients with resected gastric cancer. In experienced centers, extended lymph node dissection does not increase the mortality or morbidity rate of resection for gastric cancer but markedly improves long-term survival in patients with stage II tumors. This effect appears to be independent of the phenomenon of stage migration.
A retrospective immunohistological analysis of 100 patients with pT1–3 N0 and pT1–3 N1 gastric adenocarcinoma demonstrated a high frequency of micro‐involvement in the removed lymph nodes. The ...presence of three or more tumour cells in more than 10 per cent of the lymph nodes was of significant prognostic value in the pN0 cases. Multivariate analysis identified micro‐involvement as an independent prognostic factor. The results explain why patients benefit from lymphadenectomy even if the removed lymph nodes are not involved by tumour (pN0) in routine histological examination. The frequent occurrence of micro‐involvement is a strong argument favouring routine D2 lymph node dissection in gastric cancer surgery in patients with lymph node metastasis.
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