How much do we really lose?—Yield losses in the proximity of natural landscape elements in agricultural landscapes

Natural landscape elements (NLEs) in agricultural landscapes contribute to biodiversity and ecosystem services, but are also regarded as an obstacle for large‐scale agricultural production. However, the effects of NLEs on crop yield have rarely been measured. Here, we investigated how different bordering structures, such as agricultural roads, field‐to‐field borders, forests, hedgerows, and kettle holes, influence agricultural yields. We hypothesized that (a) yield values at field borders differ from mid‐field yields and that (b) the extent of this change in yields depends on the bordering structure. We measured winter wheat yields along transects with log‐scaled distances from the border into the agricultural field within two intensively managed agricultural landscapes in Germany (2014 near Göttingen, and 2015–2017 in the Uckermark). We observed a yield loss adjacent to every investigated bordering structure of 11%–38% in comparison with mid‐field yields. However, depending on the bordering structure, this yield loss disappeared at different distances. While the proximity of kettle holes did not affect yields more than neighboring agricultural fields, woody landscape elements had strong effects on winter wheat yields. Notably, 95% of mid‐field yields could already be reached at a distance of 11.3 m from a kettle hole and at a distance of 17.8 m from hedgerows as well as forest borders. Our findings suggest that yield losses are especially relevant directly adjacent to woody landscape elements, but not adjacent to in‐field water bodies. This highlights the potential to simultaneously counteract yield losses close to the field border and enhance biodiversity by combining different NLEs in agricultural landscapes such as creating strips of extensive grassland vegetation between woody landscape elements and agricultural fields. In conclusion, our results can be used to quantify ecocompensations to find optimal solutions for the delivery of productive and regulative ecosystem services in heterogeneous agricultural landscapes

Structure-Activity Relationship of Pyrrolidine Pentamine Derivatives as Inhibitors of the Amonoglycoside 6′-N-Acetyltransferase Type Ib

The existence of multidrug-resistant pathogenic bacteria presents a growing problem in the world. To extend the lifespan of existing antibiotics, one possibility is to inhibit the relevant enzyme responsible for antibiotic resistance to restore the effectiveness of the antibiotic. Aminoglycoside 6'-acetyltransferase type Ib (abbreviated AAC(6')-Ib) is a particularly widespread resistance enzyme in high priority pathogens, providing resistance towards powerful aminoglycoside antibiotics. Three compounds previously tested as potential inhibitors of AAC(6')-Ib and 12 compounds similar in structure were synthesized to examine their effectiveness at inhibiting the growth of Acinetobacter baumanniiA155 expressing AAC(6')-Ib when used in combination with amikacin. This was done to determine how modifying the pyrrolidine pentamine scaffold of these compounds affected their inhibition of A155 growth and if any of the 12 new compounds could serve as a more robust potential lead compound. Ultimately, while none of the 12 new compounds proved more effective as inhibitors than the compounds previously identified, the modifications demonstrated the relevant importance of the R1 group and the possibility for further improvement. Cytotoxicity assays identified toxicity to the host as a factor to consider for one of the new compounds and also confirmed correlation between molecular docking values and potentiation

The Potential For Development of an Integrated Network of Greenway Trails on Medieval Hedgerows Landscapes in the Czech Republic

Today in the Pilzen region of the Czech Republic, remnants of medieval fields known as “pluzinas” represent an extremely valuable historical landscape pattern. The character of a pluzina landscape is in many aspects comparable to the hedged field (bocage) landscapes that are well known as a symbol of some parts of Europe, e.g. Belgium (Flanders), England, Scotland, Wales, France (Brittany and Normandy) or the Irish highlands. The character of preserved pluzinas in the Czech Republic differs from that of typical bocage landscapes in some respects, especially in spatial composition. In pluzinas, long parallel plots connected to the individual farmsteads of the village prevail, with a minimum of shorter, transversal hedgerows (see Figure. 1)

Birds Drinking Alcohol: Species and Relationship with People. A Review of Information from Scientific Literature and Social Media.

Ethanol is a natural by-product of the fermentation process of fruit sugars and is occasionally consumed by fruit-eating and tree sap drinking birds. Information on this form of alcohol consumption features in the scientific literature. However, as pets or as wild animals living close to humans in urban habitats, birds have increasing possibilities to consume alcohol from beverages, such as beer, wine or spirits. Some observations have been discussed in a light-hearted manner in mass media and social media, but without any generalization of why some bird species drink the beverages intentionally or unintentionally provided by humans. To check which species and in what circumstances birds drink alcohol and how this is evaluated by humans, we reviewed the scientific literature and analysed videos from YouTube. In total we found and analysed 8 scientific papers and 179 YouTube videos, from which we identified at least 55 species (in some cases not all birds were identified to species level), 11 in the scientific literature and 47 in videos. The distribution of these species over the avian phylogenetic tree suggests that the origin of this convergent behaviour is mainly by human influence. The two data sources differed in the species covered. Videos typically presented interactions of birds with human-provided alcoholic beverages, and were dominated by two groups of intelligent birds: parrots and corvids. The popularity of YouTube videos for a particular species was positively correlated with the general popularity of the species as measured by the number of hits (results listed) on Google. Human responses to the videos were generally very positive and we analysed how the responses were influenced by factors derived from viewing the videos. Moreover, YouTube videos also provide information on at least 47 new bird species not previously mentioned as using alcohol, and our results suggest that parrots in particular can be potentially good candidates for future restricted laboratory studies on the effect of ethanol on birds and their relationship with humans

Synthesis of Polysubstituted 3-Methylisoquinolines through the 6π-Electron Cyclization/Elimination of 1-Azatrienes derived from 1,1-Dimethylhydrazine

A convenient one pot microwave-assisted 6π-electron cyclization/aromatization approach toward 3-methylisoquinolines is reported. The starting 1-azatriene derivatives were prepared in situ by reaction of 2-propenylbenzaldehydes with 1,1-dimethylhydrazine, which exhibited superior performance when compared with other hydrazine derivatives. Minor amounts of the related 3,4-dihydro isoquinolines were formed concomitantly with the isoquinolines, and a mechanism for their generation was proposed. The reaction conditions were optimized, and its scope and limitations were explored. In general, the transformation proceeded in moderate to good yields.Fil: Vargas Vargas, Didier Farley. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Larghi, Enrique Leandro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; ArgentinaFil: Kaufman, Teodoro Saul. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Rosario. Instituto de Química Rosario. Universidad Nacional de Rosario. Facultad de Ciencias Bioquímicas y Farmacéuticas. Instituto de Química Rosario; Argentin

Current Management of Advanced Resectable Oral Cavity Squamous Cell Carcinoma

The oral cavity is the most common site of head and neck squamous cell carcinoma, a disease which results in significant morbidity and mortality worldwide. Though the primary modality of treatment for patients with oral cavity cancer remains surgical resection, many patients present with advanced disease and are thus treated using a multi-disciplinary approach. Patients with extracapsular spread of lymphatic metastasis and surgical margins that remain positive have been found to be at high risk for local-regional recurrence and death from disease, and are most often recommended to receive both post-operative radiation as well as systemic chemotherapy. The basis for this approach, as well as scientific developments that underly future trials of novels treatments for patients with high-risk oral cavity cancer are reviewed

Nanomaterials by severe plastic deformation: review of historical developments and recent advances

International audienceSevere plastic deformation (SPD) is effective in producing bulk ultrafine-grained and nanostructured materials with large densities of lattice defects. This field, also known as NanoSPD, experienced a significant progress within the past two decades. Beside classic SPD methods such as high-pressure torsion, equal-channel angular pressing, accumulative roll-bonding, twist extrusion, and multi-directional forging, various continuous techniques were introduced to produce upscaled samples. Moreover, numerous alloys, glasses, semiconductors, ceramics, polymers, and their composites were processed. The SPD methods were used to synthesize new materials or to stabilize metastable phases with advanced mechanical and functional properties. High strength combined with high ductility, low/room-temperature superplasticity, creep resistance, hydrogen storage, photocatalytic hydrogen production, photocatalytic CO2 conversion, superconductivity, thermoelectric performance, radiation resistance, corrosion resistance, and biocompatibility are some highlighted properties of SPD-processed materials. This article reviews recent advances in the NanoSPD field and provides a brief history regarding its progress from the ancient times to modernity