Decreased night temperature affects development and grain yield only in cold-susceptible rice (

It is largely known that low temperature stress can affect rice (Oryza sativa L.) development and yield. However, most studies have focussed on unique and uninterrupted cold treatment, which is not representative of cold conditions for early sowing in temperate and subtropical areas where cold nights are followed by warm days during early vegetative stages. In order to elucidate whether rice plants could recover from the damages caused by repetitive cold nights, we submitted a cold-tolerant (CT) and a cold-sensitive (CS) indica genotype to 28 cold nights (10°C) followed by warm days (26°C) and analysed the developmental and productivity traits of plants cultivated in greenhouse and field conditions. While CT plants were able to recover from cold damage without significant development and seed production penalties, CS plants were affected, presenting lower results in plant height, tiller number, number of seeds per plant, % of full seeds per plant, grain length and area, weight of 1000 full grains, and grain weight per plant, with a grain yield reduction of 82% and 30% when cultivated in greenhouse and field conditions, respectively. Such data on sowing period, night temperatures and the cold response of the rice cultivar used are important for the producer to consider.</jats:p

An ultratriathlon leads to a decrease of body fat and skeletal muscle mass - the triple iron triathlon Austria 2006

We investigated the effects on body composition in triathletes at the Triple Iron Triathlon Austria in 2006, where athletes had to perform 11.6 km swimming, 540 km cycling, and 126.6 km running within 58 h. In 16 male triathletes, body mass (BM), skinfold thicknesses, and circumferences of extremities were measured before and after the competition in order to calculate body mass index (BMI), percent body fat (%BF), fat mass (FM), and skeletal muscle mass (SM). Body mass, BMI, %BF, FM, and SM decreased statistically significantly (p 0.05, r(2)= 0.00) nor with the decrease of SM (p> 0.05, r(2)= 0.06). There is no association between total race time and the loss of BM (r(2) = 0.06), %BF (r(2) = 0.10), and SM (r2 = 0.11). No significant correlation (p > 0.05, r(2)= 0.43) was found between the initial SM and loss of SM