In vitro hip testing in the International Society of Biomechanics coordinate system

Many innovative experiments are designed to answ er research questions about hip biomechanics, however many fail to define a coordinate system. This makes comparisons between studies unreliable and is an unnecessary hurdle in extrapolating experimental results to clinical reality. The aim of this study was to present a specimen mounting protocol which aligns and registers hip specimens in the International Society of Biomechanics (ISB) coordinate system, which is defined by bony landmarks that are identified by palpation of the patient’s body. This wou ld enable direct comparison between experimental testing and clinical gait analysis or radiographic studies. To represent the intact hip, four intact synthetic full - pelves with 8 full - length articulating femora were assembled and digitised to define the IS B coordinate system. Using our proposed protocol, pelvis specimens were bisected into left and right hemi - pelves and femora transected at the mid - shaft, and then mounted in bone pots to represent a typical experimental setup. Anatomical landmarks were re - digitised relative to mechanical features of the bone pots and the misalignment was calculated. The mean misalignment was found to be less than 1.5° flexion/extension, ab/adduction and internal/external rotation for both the pelves and femora; this equate s to less than 2.5 % of a normal range of hip motion. The proposed specimen mounting protocol provides a simple method to align in vitro hip specimens in the ISB coordinate system which enables improved comparison between laboratory testing and clinical s tudies. Engineering drawings are provided to allow others to replicate the simple fixtures used in the protocol

The Old Norse Computer Tape Bank at Copenhagen

Andrea van Arkel-de Leeuw van Weenen, Rijksuniversiteit LeidenThis paper was presented at the "International Data Bases for Medieval Manuscript Studies" conference at Katholieke Universiteit, Nijmegen, September 1987.The aim of the Old Norse Computer Tape Bank is to establish a collection of machine readable texts based directly on manuscripts, or on reliable diplomatic editions (of which, however, regrettably few exist). Through standardization of transcribing methods and methods of encoding transcriptions we hope in time to establish a database of Old Norse rather than a mere collection of texts. Polata 17-18: 88

Results of measurements of PM10 at a kerbside location in Breda, the Netherlands

De gemeente Breda heeft geconstateerd dat de meetwaarden van fijn stof (PM10) bij de Tilburgseweg te Breda hoog zijn in vergelijking met de andere meetpunten van het Landelijk Meetnet Luchtkwaliteit (LML) van het RIVM. Dit is zichtbaar in de lijst met geconstateerde overschrijdingsdagen zoals die continu wordt bijgehouden op de website van het LML. Op verzoek van de gemeente Breda heeft de provincie Noord-Brabant de fijnstofconcentraties in de periode van augustus tot en met oktober 2006 gemeten. In de periode augustus tot en met oktober 2006 heeft het RIVM eveneens fijnstofreferentiemetingen verricht. Uit de referentiemetingen volgt dat de metingen van het RIVM en de provincie Noord-Brabant met elkaar in overeenstemming zijn. De meetresultaten van de automatische metingen zijn in overeenstemming met de in Europa geldende kwaliteitscriteria. Uit het equivalentieonderzoek dat in 2006 door het LML heeft plaatsgevonden, volgt dat het aantal gerapporteerde overschrijdingsdagen van het meetstation aan de Tilburgseweg te Breda is aangepast.The Breda local authority has ascertained a higher concentration of particulate matter on the kerbside of the Tilburgseweg (a road running through Breda) than concentrations measured at other locations across the country. These measurements were performed by the Dutch National Air Monitoring Network of the National Institute for Public Health and the Environment (RIVM), which observed the highest concentrations at a kerbside location in the city itself. On the request of the Breda local authorities, the provincial authorities measured the particulate matter concentrations (PM10) from September till October 2006. In the same period, RIVM's Laboratory for Environmental Monitoring performed measurements on particulate matter (PM10) using reference techniques from the European guideline. According to the reference measurements, the measurements done by RIVM (with uncertainties taken into consideration) and the province of Noord-Brabant turned out to be in agreement. The routine measurements performed were shown to satisfy the European quality criteria for PM10 measurement. Finally, judging from the 2006 validation and equivalence study, it was obvious that the reported number of days in which concentrations were exceeded at the kerbside location of the Tilburgseweg in Breda had been adjusted.Gemeente Bred

BABY BOOM target genes provide diverse entry points into cell proliferation and cell growth pathways

Ectopic expression of the Brassica napus BABY BOOM (BBM) AP2/ERF transcription factor is sufficient to induce spontaneous cell proliferation leading primarily to somatic embryogenesis, but also to organogenesis and callus formation. We used DNA microarray analysis in combination with a post-translationally regulated BBM:GR protein and cycloheximide to identify target genes that are directly activated by BBM expression in Arabidopsis seedlings. We show that BBM activated the expression of a largely uncharacterized set of genes encoding proteins with potential roles in transcription, cellular signaling, cell wall biosynthesis and targeted protein turnover. A number of the target genes have been shown to be expressed in meristems or to be involved in cell wall modifications associated with dividing/growing cells. One of the BBM target genes encodes an ADF/cofilin protein, ACTIN DEPOLYMERIZING FACTOR9 (ADF9). The consequences of BBM:GR activation on the actin cytoskeleton were followed using the GFP:FIMBRIN ACTIN BINDING DOMAIN2 (GFP:FABD) actin marker. Dexamethasone-mediated BBM:GR activation induced dramatic changes in actin organization resulting in the formation of dense actin networks with high turnover rates, a phenotype that is consistent with cells that are rapidly undergoing cytoplasmic reorganization. Together the data suggest that the BBM transcription factor activates a complex network of developmental pathways associated with cell proliferation and growth

New forage crop introductions for the semi-arid highland areas of Kenya as a means to increase beef production.

A UNDP/FAO Development Project has initiated and aided the establishment of a commercial beef cattle finishing sector in Kenya. The feeding systems developed utilize surplus cattle from rural areas which are fed on rations based on maize silage. The project has now initiated a search for forage crops suitable for cultivation under highland conditions, but more drought-resistant than the presently used maize. It appeared in a trial at 3 sites at 1850-1920 m alt. that new introductions of cold-tolerant sorghum cv. from the high-alt. areas of Uganda and Ethiopia produced consistently good yields which were comparable to, or better than, maize. Some of the high-alt. sorghum cv. were completely free from diseases which are typically encountered when 'lowland' cv. are grown above 1600 m in Kenya. In contrast with maize and sunflower, the new sorghum introductions were highly resistant to lodging. Correlation analysis showed that the unwanted tallness of crops is highly associated with the yield of maize and sunflower, whereas with cold-tolerant sorghum cv. there is scope for selection or breeding of high-yielding material which is shorter. The single highest-yielding entry for cold-tolerant sorghum, sunflower and maize produced 30.5, 29.5 and 26.6 t DM/ha, resp. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission

Leaf area determinations in sorghum and maize by the length-width method.

5 plant population trials were carried out in 1974 and 1975 with 5 sorghum and 4 maize cv. Each trial was sample harvested several times during the growing period. In 6080 leaves the leaf area was carefully determined and related to its length and width. By regression calculations an examination was made regarding the construction of the best calibration lines for the estimation of the product of length and width from leaf area. Plant population had no significant effect on the regressions. Drawing the regression lines through the origin was sometimes statistically rejected but if the regression lines were forced through the origin in spite of this, the loss of precision was very small. It is therefore concluded that forcing the regression lines through the origin involves an acceptable estimation error. The resulting regression lines which were established separately for each cv. and harvest proved to estimate the leaf area accurately. The values of the regression coefficients varied between 0.65 and 0.77. The lowest correlation coefficient was 0.968, but 55% of all correlation coefficients were >0.990. If data from different harvests were pooled (although not allowable statistically) the highest mean error of estimation of leaf area at any harvesting date was 8.5%. (Abstract retrieved from CAB Abstracts by CABI’s permission