Towards Grower-friendly Apple Crop Thinning by Tree Shading

Light management with shading nets, which reduce sunlight by 74%, might be an alternative to chemicals commonly used for thinning on apple trees. To study the effect of shading on crop load and fruit quality, trials were conducted in field experiments with the cultivars Golden Delicious and Elstar in 2006. Trees were either covered 25 days after full bloom (DAFB) with a net during three days, or until the peak of fruit fall, observed after seven days shading. Ideal time length for optimal crop yield was seven days shading for Elstar and three days shading for Golden Delicious. Alternate bearing could be decreased as flower initiation counts the following year showed. In both experiments, inner quality of fruit such as sugar and firmness showed good values at optimal shading duration compared with chemical + hand thinning. In 2007, a second field trial was conducted with cultivars Golden Delicious and Topaz to study the time period for shading in further detail. Shading was done for three days at 19, 26 and 33 DAFB using two net types (three- and two-meter-net width, covering the trees entirely or only down to 50 cm above ground). For Golden Delicious, shading after 19 and 26 days reduced fruits per 100 flower cluster to the same extent as with chemical + hand thinning. There was no difference between the two net types. For Topaz, shading after 19 days showed the best results. Regarding inner quality of both cultivars, only sugar content for Golden Delicious could be significantly improved after 19 and 26 days shading. Further analyses are still under way (e.g. for acidity). This study is part of an effort for increasing European consumption with fruit from sustainable production systems, the ISAFRUIT-EU-project

On number fields with nontrivial subfields

What is the probability for a number field of composite degree $d$ to have a nontrivial subfield? As the reader might expect the answer heavily depends on the interpretation of probability. We show that if the fields are enumerated by the smallest height of their generators the probability is zero, at least if $d>6$. This is in contrast to what one expects when the fields are enumerated by the discriminant. The main result of this article is an estimate for the number of algebraic numbers of degree $d=e n$ and bounded height which generate a field that contains an unspecified subfield of degree $e$. If $n>\max\{e^2+e,10\}$ we get the correct asymptotics as the height tends to infinity

FGB1 and WSC3 are in planta-induced beta-glucan-binding fungal lectins with different functions

In the root endophyte Serendipita indica, several lectin-like members of the expanded multigene family of WSC proteins are transcriptionally induced in planta and are potentially involved in beta-glucan remodeling at the fungal cell wall. Using biochemical and cytological approaches we show that one of these lectins, SiWSC3 with three WSC domains, is an integral fungal cell wall component that binds to long-chain beta 1-3-glucan but has no affinity for shorter beta 1-3- or beta 1-6-linked glucose oligomers. Comparative analysis with the previously identified beta-glucan-binding lectin SiFGB1 demonstrated that whereas SiWSC3 does not require beta 1-6-linked glucose for efficient binding to branched beta 1-3-glucan, SiFGB1 does. In contrast to SiFGB1, the multivalent SiWSC3 lectin can efficiently agglutinate fungal cells and is additionally induced during fungus-fungus confrontation, suggesting different functions for these two beta-glucan-binding lectins. Our results highlight the importance of the beta-glucan cell wall component in plant-fungus interactions and the potential of beta-glucan-binding lectins as specific detection tools for fungi in vivo

Chloroplast DNA Inheritance in the Orchid Anacamptis palustris Using Single-Seed Polymerase Chain Reaction

The modality of chloroplast inheritance in orchids has been investigated only in a few species due to the difficulties associated with the analysis of large progeny numbers from experimental crosses. To test chloroplast DNA inheritance in the orchid Anacamptis palustris, we took advantage of the presence of a highly variable minisatellite repeat located in the tRNALEU intron in the chloroplast genome. Seed progeny obtained from experimental crosses between parental individuals carrying different chloroplast DNA (cpDNA) minisatellite repeat numbers were analyzed using a single-seed polymerase chain reaction (PCR) protocol. All examined seeds displayed the maternal cpDNA haplotypes, indicating that cpDNA inheritance is strictly maternal in this Mediterranean orchid species. No evidence for paternal leakage was found. This finding concurs with results obtained from PCR amplifications of pollen massulae that exclude the presence of chloroplast DNA in the pollen tetrad

Vestibular and auditory deficits in Fabry disease and their response to enzyme replacement therapy

Progressive hearing (pHL) and vestibular (pVL) loss are frequent deficits in Fabry disease (FD). Recently, enzyme replacement therapy (ERT) with human α-galactosidase A has become available. Here, we investigate the association between pHL and pVL in FD and their ERT responses. Pure tone audiometry (PTA) and head impulse testing (HIT) were administered at baseline in 47 patients (25 male, 18-0 y; 22 female, 17-4 y), of whom 24 also received caloric irrigation (CI). Of the 47 patients, 38 (24 male) were tested both before and during ERT (follow- up ≤60 months). ERT consisted of agalsidase alfa infusions. At baseline, pHL was present in 88% of males and 86% of females. Over all tested frequencies (range: 0.5- kHz), pHL was significantly (two-way ANOVA: p 0.05). We conclude that pHL and pVL prevalences are similar in FD. To detect pVL, HIT is more sensitive than CI. We speculate that pHL and pVL emerge from lesions within the vestibulocochlear labyrinth, because no specific patterns of vestibulo-cochlear deficits were observed, as expected if lesions were more proximal along the inferior or superior branch of the vestibulo-cochlear nerve or labyrinthine artery. Finally, ERT stabilizes auditory and even improves vestibular functio

Legionella bozemanii , an Elusive Agent of Fatal Cavitary Pneumonia

Abstract : A 67-year-old patient died of Legionella bozemanii pneumonia with negative urinary antigen and negative serology. Cystic lesions in pneumonia of unknown origin should lead to the differential diagnosis of L. bozemanii infection

Serious bacterial infections in patients with rheumatoid arthritis under anti‐TNF‐α therapy

Objective. With rising numbers of anti‐tumour necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) treatments for rheumatoid arthritis (RA), Crohn's disease and other conditions, physicians unaware of potential pitfalls are increasingly likely to encounter associated severe infections. Our purpose was to assess the incidence and nature of severe infections in our RA patients under anti‐TNF‐α therapy. Methods. We reviewed patient charts and records of the Infectious Disease Unit for serious infections in patients with RA in the 2 yr preceding anti‐TNF‐α therapy and during therapy. Results. Serious infections affected 18.3% of patients treated with infliximab or etanercept. The incidence was 0.181 per anti‐TNF‐α treatment year vs 0.008 in the 2 yr preceding anti‐TNF‐α therapy. In several cases, only a few signs or symptoms indicated the severity of developing infections, including sepsis. Conclusions. A high level of suspicion of infection is necessary in patients under anti‐TNF‐α therapy. We suggest additional strategies for the prevention, rapid identification and pre‐emptive therapy of such infection

How much money can be saved by applying intravenous antibiotics once instead of several times a day?

Background: The preparation, administration and monitoring of intravenous (IV) applications are time consuming and require human resources. We estimated the potential time and cost savings by replacing antibiotics given 3-4 times daily with antibiotics with similar spectrum and efficacy given once daily. Methods: The savings of indirect costs were estimated based on the antibiotic consumption data of a two-year period (i.e. 2007 and 2008), a nurse's mean workload per application and the average nurse's salary in Switzerland. Results: The consumption of IV antibiotics in 2007 and 2008 at the University Hospital of Basel was 29.0 and 32.2 defined daily doses (DDD) per 100 patient days, respectively. Nurses spent an estimated 13,786h on the application of the estimated 82,715 does of IV antibiotics. A total of 56,404 applications or nursing staff time costs of 338,436 Swiss Francs (CHF; 236,669 €), equal to 16% of the overall costs spent on purchasing antibiotics in the year 2008, may have been saved by switching multiple-dose antibiotics to a hypothetical once-daily antibiotic. Including disposable materials, 21% or 456,884 CHF (319,499 €) could be saved annually (purchase costs not taken into account). Conclusion: We found a potential cost saving of 21% of the purchase costs in a 750-bed institution. Hence, indirect costs should be included in the calculation of the total cost for the application of broad-spectrum IV antibiotics. Switching from a 3-4 times daily application to a once-daily antibiotic should be considered if a once-daily antibiotic is deemed equally effective and has a similar spectru

Irreversible reorganization in a supercooled liquid originates from localised soft modes

The transition of a fluid to a rigid glass upon cooling is a common route of transformation from liquid to solid that embodies the most poorly understood features of both phases1,2,3. From the liquid perspective, the puzzle is to understand stress relaxation in the disordered state. From the perspective of solids, the challenge is to extend our description of structure and its mechanical consequences to materials without long range order. Using computer simulations, we show that the localized low frequency normal modes of a configuration in a supercooled liquid are causally correlated to the irreversible structural reorganization of the particles within that configuration. We also demonstrate that the spatial distribution of these soft local modes can persist in spite of significant particle reorganization. The consequence of these two results is that it is now feasible to construct a theory of relaxation length scales in glass-forming liquids without recourse to dynamics and to explicitly relate molecular properties to their collective relaxation.Comment: Published online: 20 July 2008 | doi:10.1038/nphys1025 Available from http://www.nature.com/nphys/journal/v4/n9/abs/nphys1025.htm