The effect of fertilizer nitrogen input to grass-clover swards and calving date on the productivity of pasture-based dairy production

The objective of this systems-scale study was to investigate grazing season timeframes on pasture and milk production and on milk processability of dairy systems with compact spring-calving dairy cows grazing white clover (Trifolium repens L.) based grassland. Fifty-four primiparous and multiparous Holstein-Friesian dairy cows were used in a one-factor study with 3 systems (n = 18) and repeated over 2 yr (2008/09 and 2009/10). The 3 systems were: early spring calving with annual fertilizer N input of 100 kg·ha^?1 applied in spring (ES100N; 2.1 cows·ha^?1; grazing February to November), early spring calving without fertilizer N (ES0N; 1.6 cows·ha^?1; grazing February to November) and late spring calving without fertilizer N (LS0N; 1.53 cows·ha^?1; grazing April to January). Annual pasture production was affected by an interaction between grazing system and year: Mean annual pasture yields for 2008 and 2009 were ES100N; 10.35 and 9.88, ES0N; 8.88 and 8.63, LS0N; 9.18 and 10.31 t of dry matter (DM)·ha^?1 (SEM 0.39). LS0N had higher pasture DM yield in 2009 due to higher clover DM production and biological N fixation compared with the other systems. Clover stolon and root mass in the following February was correlated with stolon and root mass in the previous November with 64% of stolon mass present on LS0N in February (R² = 0.84). There were no detectable differences in per-lactation milk yield (6,335 kg·cow^?1), fat, protein and lactose yields (271, 226, 297 kg·cow^?1, respectively), cow liveweight (585 kg) or body condition score (3.02). Although winter grazing favored subsequent clover DM production, biological N fixation and pasture DM production, delaying calving date in spring and extending lactation into the following winter led to inefficient use of this pasture by the grazing herd and lowered the quality of late-lactation milk for processing purposes. Hence, a mean calving date in mid- to late-February is recommended for zero-fertilizer N input clover-based grassland.     

Memory capacity, selective control, and value-directed remembering in children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD).

Objective: The ability to select what is important to remember, to attend to this information, and to recall high-value items leads to the efficient use of memory. The present study examined how children with and without attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) performed on an incentive-based selectivity task in which to-be-remembered items were worth different point values. Method: Participants were 6–9 year old children with ADHD (n = 57) and without ADHD (n = 59). Using a selectivity task, participants studied words paired with point values and were asked to maximize their score, which was the overall value of the items they recalled. This task allows for measures of memory capacity and the ability to selectively remember high-value items. Results: Although there were no significant between-groups differences in the number of words recalled (memory capacity), children with ADHD were less selective than children in the control group in terms of the value of the items they recalled (control of memory). All children recalled more high-value items than low-value items and showed some learning with task experience, but children with ADHD Combined type did not efficiently maximize memory performance (as measured by a selectivity index) relative to children with ADHD Inattentive type and healthy controls, who did not differ significantly from one another. Conclusions: Children with ADHD Combined type exhibit impairments in the strategic and efficient encoding and recall of high-value items. The findings have implications for theories of memory dysfunction in childhood ADHD and the key role of metacognition, cognitive control, and value-directed remembering when considering the strategic use of memory. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

An examination of the relationship between workload and fatigue within and across consecutive days of work: Is the relationship static or dynamic?

Cognitive–energetical theories of information processing were used to generate predictions regarding the relationship between perceived workload and fatigue within and across consecutive days of work. Repeated measures were taken aboard a naval vessel from a sample of 20 Navy patrol vessel crew members during nonroutine and routine patrols. The hypotheses were tested through growth curve modeling. There was a nonmonotonic relationship between workload and fatigue in the routine patrol; moderate workload was associated with the lowest fatigue. The relationship between workload and fatigue changed over consecutive days in the nonroutine patrol. At the beginning of the patrol, low workload was associated with fatigue. At the end of the patrol, high workload was associated with fatigue. These results suggest that the optimal level of workload can change over time and thus have implications for the management of fatigue, particularly where prolonged operations are involved. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

Neuropsychological evidence for visual- and motor-based affordance: Effects of reference frame and object–hand congruence.

Two experiments are reported that use patients with visual extinction to examine how visual attention is influenced by action information in images. In Experiment 1 patients saw images of objects that were either correctly or incorrectly colocated for action, with the objects held by hands that were congruent or incongruent with those used premorbidly by the patients. The images were also shown from a 1st- and 3rd-person perspective. There was an overall reduction in extinction for objects colocated for action. In addition, there was an extra benefit when the objects were held in hands congruent with those used by the patients and when the objects were seen from a 1st-person perspective. This last result fits with an effect of motor simulation, over and above a purely visual effect based on positioning objects correctly for action. Experiment 2 showed that effects of hand congruence could emerge with images depicted from a 3rd-person perspective when patients saw themselves holding the objects. The data indicate 2 effects of action information on extinction: (a) an effect of colocating objects for action, which does not depend on a self-reference frame (a visual effect), and (b) an effect sensitive to object–hand congruence, which does depend on a self-reference frame (a motor-based effect). The self-reference frame is induced when stimuli are viewed from a 1st-person perspective and when an image of the self is seen from a 3rd-person perspective. Both visual and motor-based effects of action information facilitate the spread of attention across objects. (PsycINFO Database Record (c) 2010 APA, all rights reserved)     

打造更人性化的邻家医疗服务——伍兹贝格全球经验分享

正1迎接挑战当前人口老龄化加剧,导致医疗服务的需求增大。另外随着生活水平的提高,中国糖尿病病患和肥胖人口急剧增多,加之中国人对烟草有着根深蒂固的感情,中国吸烟人口已达到3.16亿人,导致癌症患者数量激增,这些都需要我们发掘更适合国情的医疗新途径。传统的医院以满足功能性需求为出发,很少考虑就医环境和医疗体验,但事实上贴心的就医环境和服务会带来更好的治疗效果。随着医院急诊科室及其他医疗设施需求的增加,医院交叉感染机率升高,住院时间延长,再入院率升高。此外,药品成本也持续提     

Wheat-Legume Composite Flour Quality

Wheat-legume composite flours were produced by blending Canada Western Extra Strong (CWES) and Canada Western Red Spring (CWRS) wheat with varying amounts of three legume proteins. Legume protein addition produced breads with lower specific loaf volume, coarser crumb and firmer texture, and cooked white-salted noodles with greater compression stress and less cutting stress than the wheat controls. The CWES wheat compensated for the negative baking effects of the legume proteins as much as the CWRS wheat. End-use quality did not change at 2% soybean protein addition. Yellow pea protein produced the greatest quality changes, followed by chickpea and soybean protein.     

MR high-resolution imaging of arterial intimal hyperplasia at 1.5 T

Intimal hyperplasia is the earliest microscopic change detectable in the arterial wall in the development of arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis. To enable high-resolution imaging of this, a standard 1.5-T machine was modified using inserted gradient coils of 30 cm internal diameter and surface radio-frequency coils. Six rabbit aorta specimens with injury-induced intimal hyperplasia and two normal rabbit aorta specimens were imaged using a spin-echo sequence of TE 40. Pixel sizes as small as 20 µ×20 µ could be obtained and the area of intimal hyperplasia could be measured at 80 µ×40 µ. The results were compared with those made by a computer-linked microscope. In the injured aortas, there was a low-signal region on magnetic resonance imaging which corresponded to the media of the vessel wall when compared with the histology.T ₁ andT ₂ constants for the media were determined and compared with those of a normal specimen. TheT ₁ constant was shorter for the media of the injured aorta than in the normal. This could be related to the disruption of the internal elastic lamina and migration of muscle cells to the intima which occurs following injury. The popliteal artery of four normal volunteers was imaged and the area of the wall could be measured at a pixel size of 312 µ×160 µ. This suggests thatin vivo studies of intimal hyperplasia arteriosclerosis and atherosclerosis could be made.     

Bioavailability of two clodronate formulations

Sodium clodronate is effective in the management of osteolytic lesions, hypercalcaemia and bone pain associated with skeletal metastasis. Clinical and biochemical data underpin a licensed total daily dose of 1600-3200 mg.     

Visual marking of moving objects: a role for top-down feature-based inhibition in selection

Recently, the authors presented evidence that new items can be prioritized for selection by the top-down attentional inhibition of old stimuli already in the field (visual marking; D. G. Watson & G. W. Humphreys, 1997). In this article the authors assess whether this inhibition extends to moving old items and test an alternative account of visual marking. Six experiments showed that old moving items could be inhibited provided they did not undergo abrupt property changes. Further, and in contrast to effects with static stimuli, the marking of old moving stimuli was based on inhibition applied at the level of a whole feature map, rather than at their locations. The results also rule out an alternative account of visual marking based on the top-down weighting of dynamic or static processing pathways.     

Delimiting ''rural'': implications of an agreed ''rurality'' index for healthcare planning and resource allocation

Apoptosis is known as an active process of cell death forced by radio- and chemotherapy. Therefore, established concepts (terms, therapy schemes) will reflect a picture different from that usually seen, when examined under the apoptotic point of view. Furthermore, the development of new concepts for innovative diagnosis, prognosis and therapy could be accomplished. This is an attempt to reveal actual features of both aspects.