The influence of AB genome variation on the high-temperature tolerance of wheat

Heat stress is a major constraint to wheat yield in many wheat growing regions including Australia. This study examined potential new genetic diversity for heat tolerance from emmer wheat introgressed into hexaploid bread wheat. A total of 554 genotypes (537 emmer based hexaploid lines and 17 commercial cultivars and/or parents) were evaluated at two times of sowing in 2014, 2015 and 2016. Many of the field selected emmer derived lines had stable yield across environments. The impact of high temperature was greatest at anthesis and grain yield was reduced by between 4 and 7% with every 1oC rise in maximum temperature above the optimum of 25°C under field conditions. A contrasting pair of emmer derived lines, with equivalent yield under optimal conditions and a divergent yield under high temperature was chosen for more intensive study using in-field controlled temperature chambers and the glasshouse. The heat tolerant line expressed better photosynthetic capacity and a faster rate of grain fill. All material was genotyped using a 90K SNP platform. A genome wide association analysis was then performed to identify possible marker trait associations based on the multi-year, multi-environment data. A number of marker trait associations (MTAs) were detected for yield and associated traits under heat stress. Thus the probable genetic control of heat tolerance was identified; however these MTAs must be confirmed in unrelated germplasm. The combination of phenotyping methods was effective in identifying heat tolerant germplasm. A heat tolerant wheat ideotype for north-western NSW was constructed on the basis of the observed trait responses and their association with grain yield under heat stress. The new genetic variability identified in this study, the probable genetic control of heat tolerance and the three-tiered screening methodology can be used to improve the heat tolerance of wheat

Assessment of tolerability of &#946- blockade therapy in patient with left ventricular systolic dysfunction heart failure

Back ground: Little data exist to demonstrate the tolerability of β-blocker therapy in an unselected community heart failure population already treated with the clinical trial or higher dose ACEI or ARB. Methods and results: 141 patients who had left ventricular systolic failure on standard therapy were recruited in our study. Patients were assigned to receive either Carvedilol or Bisoprolol. Conclusion: This prospective observational study showed that β-blocker therapy is well tolerated and can be safely titrated in an out-patient setting.Keywords: Carvedilol, Bisoprolol

Removal of phosphate ions from aqueous solutions using bauxite obtained from Mulanje, Malawi

Studies on stream water and effluent from selected wastewater treatment plants in Blantyre, Malawi, have reported phosphate concentrations above recommended levels. High phosphate levels in the effluent and streams pose a threat to aquatic life through the stimulation of excessive growth of plants and toxic cyanobacteria. Phosphate removal by bauxite was investigated as a function of pH, contact time, dosage, competing ions and initial phosphate concentration by means of jar tests. Phosphate removal increased with decreasing pH with maximum removal (99.75%) recorded at pH 2.40 ± 0.10. Phosphate removal was attributed to ligand exchange reactions with gibbsite and goethite minerals that are chemically and electrostatically favoured at low pH. Bauxite indicated a high phosphate removal capacity with 98.42% removal recorded for a dosage of 15 g/l. This was attributed to the presence of goethite and gibbsite minerals for which phosphate has a strong affinity. Kinetics studies revealed a fast adsorption reaction with 61 and 65% phosphate removal achieved after 30 min of contact at 20 and 40°C respectively. Phosphate removal was enhanced in the individual presence of calcium and magnesium ions whereas carbonate and sulphate ions reduced it by competing for active sites.Key words: Adsorption, bauxite, phosphate, gibbsite, goethite, eutrophication

Adherence of Sudanese Coronary Artery Disease Patients to Secondary Prevention Medications at Elshaab Teaching Hospital, Sudan

Background: Coronary artery disease (CAD), worldwide, is the most common type of heart disease. Adherence to the evidence-based medications for secondary prevention is associated with further improvement in the outcomes.Objectives: To identify level of adherence towards secondary prevention medications among Sudanese ischemic heart disease patients.Materials and Methods: This is a cross sectional hospital-based study, performed in the period from August 2012 through January 2013.Audit of Adherence of Sudanese Cardiac Patients to Secondary Prevention of Ischemic Heart Disease at Elshaab Teaching Hospital Khartoum, Sudan was done using a questionnaire for assessment.Results: A total of 210 patients were included in this study. Their mean (±SD) age was 60.8(±12.3) years. Of them, 190 patients have high risk factors and 167 were on regular follow up. 195(92.9%)patients were on ACEI/ARBs and Aspirin. 116(55.2%) were on clopidogrel and 203 (96.7%) on statin.Conclusion: 140(66.7%) patients were strictly adherent to medications, 21(10%) partially adherent and 49(23.3%) were totally not adherent. Lack of adherence was mainly due to poverty and high cost of medications.Key words: Adherence, coronary artery disease, secondary prevention, evidence-based medications, Sudan

The Efficacy of Fitting Cochlear Implants Based on Pitch Perception

Cochlear implants (CI) provide useful hearing for many hearing-impaired individuals. The CI’s external sound processor has to be programmed to optimise performance. However, performance varies greatly amongst CI recipients. This thesis evaluated a pure-tone electrode-differentiation (PTED) pitch-ranking task for optimising programming. The PTED was evaluated for reliability, validity and clinical-suitability. PTED scores were a significant (p<0.05) predictor of speech-perception. The angular-depth-of-insertion for the CI array was estimated for 16 recipients, there was a significant correlation with speech-perception. Cone beam computed tomography (CBCT) increased accuracy for estimating scalar-placement of electrodes and no association was found with speech-perception. 25 unilaterally-implanted recipients received programs with indiscriminable electrodes deactivated based on PTED. Two programs were provided, one with the same rate-of-pulses-per-channel (RPC) as the clinical program and one with increased RPC. Programs were evaluated in a cross-over study. Speech-perception was evaluated using BKB (Bamford-Kowal-Bench) sentences in quiet and noise and the Coordinate Response Measure (CRM). Statistically significant improvements were found with at least one research program on all measures. A pure-tone intermediate frequency (PTIF) task was conducted to compare pitch perception in regions of good ED with regions of poor ED. Participants gaining benefit from electrode deactivation had fewer intermediate frequencies (IF) in poor ED regions compared to good ED regions and more IF in electrode deactivation regions following deactivation. This pattern was not observed in participants not gaining benefit from electrode deactivation. Six bilaterally-implanted participants underwent pitch matching between ears and new programs were created using only discriminable electrodes. Two matching approaches were used; direct stimulation via clinical equipment and pure-tone stimulation. Significant improvements were found in localisation and BKB in noise with at least one research program. The results of these experiments suggest potential for improving performance for CI users by programming based on PTED; a clinically viable task

Analysing reduced tillage practices within a bio-economic modelling framework

Sustainable Intensification of agricultural production systems will require changes in farm practice. Within arable cropping systems, reducing the intensity of tillage practices (e.g. reduced tillage) potentially offers one such sustainable intensification approach. Previous researchers have tended to examine the impact of reduced tillage on specific factors such as yield or weed burden, while, by definition, sustainable intensification necessitates a system-based analysis approach. Drawing upon a bio-economic optimisation model, ‘MEETA’, we quantify trade-off implications between potential yield reductions, reduced cultivation costs and increased crop protection costs. We extend the MEETA model to quantify farm-level net margin, in addition to quantifying farm-level gross margin, net energy, and greenhouse gas emissions. For the lowest intensity tillage system, zero tillage, results demonstrate financial benefits over a conventional tillage system even when the zero tillage system includes yield penalties of 0-14.2% (across all crops). Average yield reductions from zero tillage literature range from 0-8.5%, demonstrating that reduced tillage offers a realistic and attainable sustainable intensification intervention, given the financial and environmental benefits, albeit that yield reductions will require more land to compensate for loss of calories produced, negating environmental benefits observed at farm-level. However, increasing uptake of reduced tillage from current levels will probably require policy intervention; an extension of the recent changes to the CAP (‘Greening’) provides an opportunity to do this

pH dependence of sorption of Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Cr3+ on crude water and sodium chloride extracts of Moringa stenopetala and Moringa oleifera,/i>

The ability of crude water and sodium chloride extracts of partially defatted powder of Moringa stenopetala (MS) and Moringa oleifera (MO) to remove heavy metals (Cd2+, Zn2+, Cu2+ and Cr3+) fromsingle ion solution was investigated. At initial metal concentration of about 4 ppm, the extracts showed complete sorption for Cd2+, Zn2+ and Cr3+ ions at pH above 7.8, 4.0 and 4.0, respectively, at a dose of 1.0 ml of sorbent in 9.50 ml of metal solution. Cu2+ sorption increases slightly with pH to about 60% for MS at pH 6 and then becomes constant up to pH 8 when sorption rises to completion. Preliminarycharacterization of the actual powder by proton nuclear magnetic resonance showed clear presence of amide (-CO-N-H), benzenoid (Ar-H), saturated alkyl and unsaturated fragments in both MS and MO. The mass spectrum showed the presence of amino (R-NH2) fragments. The remarkable heavy metal sorption ability of M. stenopetala and M. oleifera could thus be attributable to, among other mechanisms,coordination or complex formation between the metal cations and pH dependent oxygen and nitrogen anionic sites of the Moringa proteins

The Media Bias Taxonomy: A Systematic Literature Review on the Forms and Automated Detection of Media Bias

The way the media presents events can significantly affect public perception, which in turn can alter people's beliefs and views. Media bias describes a one-sided or polarizing perspective on a topic. This article summarizes the research on computational methods to detect media bias by systematically reviewing 3140 research papers published between 2019 and 2022. To structure our review and support a mutual understanding of bias across research domains, we introduce the Media Bias Taxonomy, which provides a coherent overview of the current state of research on media bias from different perspectives. We show that media bias detection is a highly active research field, in which transformer-based classification approaches have led to significant improvements in recent years. These improvements include higher classification accuracy and the ability to detect more fine-granular types of bias. However, we have identified a lack of interdisciplinarity in existing projects, and a need for more awareness of the various types of media bias to support methodologically thorough performance evaluations of media bias detection systems. Concluding from our analysis, we see the integration of recent machine learning advancements with reliable and diverse bias assessment strategies from other research areas as the most promising area for future research contributions in the field

Epidemiology and drug susceptibility of nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) in Italy in 2016-2020

Introduction. Nontuberculous mycobacteria (NTM) are environmental mycobacteria which may cause pulmonary and extrapulmonary diseases. These organisms are difficult to treat due to their intrinsic drug-resistance. In Italy, no major nationwide study on NTM epidemiology and drug susceptibility was performed.Methods. Data on the epidemiology of 7,469 NTM clinical isolates identified in Italy in 2016-2020 and on the minimum inhibitory concentrations (MICs) of 1,506 of these strains were analysed.Results. Overall, 63 species were identified in 42 hospital laboratories located in 16 out of 20 regions, with Mycobacterium avium complex (MAC) being the most frequently isolated, followed by M. gordonae, M. xenopi, M. abscessus. The MICs of 12 drugs for MAC, M. xenopi, M. kansasii, M. abscessus, M. fortuitum and M. chelonae were interpreted for clinical significance (susceptible, intermediate, resistant) based on the guidelines published by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute in November 2018.Conclusions. Our data are in line with other nationwide studies and may be of value for further update of microbiological and clinical guidelines

A Nutrition and Conditioning Intervention for Natural Bodybuilding Contest Preparation: Case Study.

Bodybuilding competitions are becoming increasingly popular. Competitors are judged on their aesthetic appearance and usually exhibit a high level of muscularity and symmetry and low levels of body fat. Commonly used techniques to improve physique during the preparation phase before competitions include dehydration, periods of prolonged fasting, severe caloric restriction, excessive cardiovascular exercise and inappropriate use of diuretics and anabolic steroids. In contrast, this case study documents a structured nutrition and conditioning intervention followed by a 21 year-old amateur bodybuilding competitor to improve body composition, resting and exercise fat oxidation, and muscular strength that does not involve use of any of the above mentioned methods. Over a 14-week period, the Athlete was provided with a scientifically designed nutrition and conditioning plan that encouraged him to (i) consume a variety of foods; (ii) not neglect any macronutrient groups; (iii) exercise regularly but not excessively and; (iv) incorporate rest days into his conditioning regime. This strategy resulted in a body mass loss of 11.7 kg’s, corresponding to a 6.7 kg reduction in fat mass and a 5.0 kg reduction in fat-free mass. Resting metabolic rate decreased from 1993 kcal/d to 1814 kcal/d, whereas resting fat oxidation increased from 0.04 g/min to 0.06 g/min. His capacity to oxidize fat during exercise increased more than two-fold from 0.24 g/min to 0.59 g/min, while there was a near 3-fold increase in the corresponding exercise intensity that elicited the maximal rate of fat oxidation; 21% V̇ O2max to 60% V̇ O2max. Hamstring concentric peak torque decreased (1.7 to 1.5 Nm/kg), whereas hamstring eccentric (2.0 Nm/kg to 2.9 Nm/kg), quadriceps concentric (3.4 Nm/kg to 3.7 Nm/kg) and quadriceps eccentric (4.9 Nm/kg to 5.7 Nm/kg) peak torque all increased. Psychological mood-state (BRUMS scale) was not negatively influenced by the intervention and all values relating to the Athlete’s mood-state remained below average over the course of study. This intervention shows that a structured and scientifically supported nutrition strategy can be implemented to improve parameters relevant to bodybuilding competition and importantly the health of competitors, therefore questioning the conventional practices of bodybuilding preparation