Effect of nutrient seed coating on the emergence of wheat and oats

A series of experiments was conducted under controlled soil moisture and temperature conditions in a growth chamber to examine the effect of a range of nutrient seed coatings on the emergence to wheat (Triticum aestivum L. cv. Kite) and oats (Avena sativa L. cv. Blackbutt) sown in a coarse sandy loam soil. Final emergence of oats was not reduced by a coating containing 10 kg P ha^–1 (as monocalcium phosphate [MCP]) whereas the same coating reduced wheat emergence by 15%. The emergence of both wheat and oats was severely reduced by urea coatings (supplying 10 kg N ha^–1) to 33 and 13% respectively; this injury was lessened markedly by the inclusion of phenyl phosphorodiamidate (PPD) in the urea coatings at 1% (w/w) (emergence increased to 66 and 56% respectively).Low soil moisture (67% of field capacity [FC]) resulted in almost no emergence of wheat coated with urea (± bentonites of different pH). In soil at FC, the addition of bentonite of pH 5 (B5) to urea coatings permitted greater emergence (54%) than when bentonite of pH 9 (B9) was added (32%) which, in turn, permitted greater emergence than urea coating alone (10%). When PPD and bentonite (B5 or B9) were combined either singly or together with urea in seed coatings, PPD was more effective than either of the bentonites in reducing injury and masked the slight positive effect of B5.Coatings containing various combinations of N and P sources (at 3.6 and at 8 kg ha^–1 respectively) all reduced the emergence of wheat compared to raw seed (91% emergence). When applied alone, MCP was least damaging (74%); the combination of MCP with ammonium sulfate (AS) caused somewhat more injury (68%) whilst combination with calcium nitrate (CN) caused most injury (29%). In contrast, CN alone caused relatively little damage (73%) whilst AS alone was more damaging (50%). There was no significant regression found between percentage emergence and either the calculated partial salt index or the pH of the nutrient coatings. Further work is needed to examine the mechanisms of injury due to nutrient seed coatings so that safe but effective formulations can be developed.     

Family psychosocial screening: should we focus on high-risk settings?

The objective of this study was to address the question of whether or not psychosocial screening should be focused on "high-risk" populations. A cross-sectional survey of mothers of young children was conducted in various clinics: 758 in teaching clinics, 444 in private practices, and 202 at a military clinic. The self-administered questionnaire covered demographic factors, problems in mothers family of origin, maternal depression, and substance abuse. Mothers in the teaching clinics were younger and had less education and lower incomes than mothers in private practices, with intermediate levels in the military clinic. However, a substantial proportion of mothers seen in all sites reported psychosocial problems. Approximately 20% of mothers in all sites reported a family history of alcoholism. Positive screens for maternal depression ranged from about 15% to 35%. Binge drinking was reported by 10% to 20% at different sites. Psychosocial problems were common even among families seen in "low-risk" settings. Focusing screening only on high-risk clinics would miss many families with psychosocial problems.     

Anesthesia and analgesia for minor injuries to children

Today's children are rambunctious, playful, and aggressive and are provided through the miracles of modern technology with ample opportunities to injure themselves. As such, they are a source of both joy and terror to their parents. It is a "given" that many of them will injure themselves in the course of growing up. When they come to us in the ED waiting room, they are typically very frightened and usually in pain. We are fortunate that we have techniques and drugs to alleviate this pain and to attenuate their fear. It is our responsibility as anesthesiologists to ensure that these drugs and techniques are used appropriately and cause no further harm. We hope the information contained in this chapter may be of benefit in achieving this goal.     

The necessity of conducting to the end the activities of vector control in the onchocerciasis control program in west Africa: recall of the stakes and proposal of a minimum budget for the period 1998-2002

After a brief presentation of the Onchocerciasis Control Programme in West Africa (OCP), the authors realize the health and socioeconomic consequences that could follow a cessation of larvicide treatment before 2002 in the south-eastern and western extensions of the Programme. Taking into account that OCP activities are theoretically supported until 1997, but aware of financial constraints that will probably increase from now to 2002, this paper proposes an a minima estimation of the residual vector control activities for a "phasing out" spread out for five years (1998-2002). These estimations essentially concern the larvicide coverage, the insecticides used, the entomological surveillance, the logistical support and their financial aspects. As far as 48 U.S. $ million amount for 5 years are concerned, the budget allocated for vector control activities should not exceed the third of the global amount allocated to OCP for the actual fourth financial phase of the Programme (1992-1997).     

Historical review of the concept of anhedonia

During the last decades, the term "anhedonia", conceptualized as a incapacity to experience pleasure, have become associated with conditions as different as schizophrenia and depression. This paper deals with the conceptual and historial frames in which anhedonia was first constructed, and shows that the sources for the current fuzziness of this concept include neglect of the fact that anhedonia is conceptually parasitical upon the notion of pleasure, that it has been rather superficially conceptualized as the reduction or abolition in a "putative" function which itself is unlikely to be unitary in nature, and that it has never been quite specified whether the mechanism concerns a deficit in brain signal or not.     

Risk of contamination by Borrelia burgdorferi S. lato in a forest environment. Survey during 13 months of abundance of the tick Ixodes ricinus and its level of infestation by the Lyme borreliosis agent in Brittany

The authors, in a forest in Brittany previously studied for several years, caught by flagging, each month from April 1992 to May 1993, nymphs of I. ricinus tick, and looked by indirect immunofluorescence, for B. burgdorferi infestation. An amount of 1,506 ticks was thus studied. Infestation frequency was varying from 0 per cent in January and February to 14.4 per cent in August. Standarding of tick collecting method allowed to establish, for each month, a tick, "availability" index, and, according to the spirochete infestation frequency, to do estimation of the risk level, for human visiting the concerned forest, of being infected by B. burgdorferi. Obtained results show that this risk is the highest in August, and quite non-existent in January and February.     

Functional knockout of the transient outward current, long-QT syndrome, and cardiac remodeling in mice expressing a dominant-negative Kv4 alpha subunit

Amino acid changes S180A (S-->A at site 180), H197Y, Y277F, T285A, and A308S are known to shift the maximum wavelength of absorption (lambda max) of red and green visual pigments toward blue, essentially in an additive fashion. To test the generality of this "five-sites" rule, we have determined the partial amino acid sequences of red and green pigments from five mammalian orders (Artiodactyla, Carnivora, Lagomorpha, Perissodactyla, and Rodentia). The result suggests that cat (Felis catus), dog (Canis familiaris), and goat (Capra hircus) pigments all with AHYTA at the five critical sites have lambda max values of approximately 530 nm, whereas rat (Rattus norvegicus) pigment with AYYTS has a lambda max value of approximately 510 nm, which is accurately predicted by the five-sites rule. However, the observed lambda max values of the orthologous pigments of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus), white-tailed deer (Odocoileus virginianus), gray squirrel (Sciurus carolinensis), and guinea pig (Cavia procellus) are consistently more than 10 nm higher than the predicted values, suggesting the existence of additional molecular mechanisms for red and green color vision. The inferred amino acid sequences of ancestral organisms suggest that the extant mammalian red and green pigments appear to have evolved from a single ancestral green-red hybrid pigment by directed amino acid substitutions.     

Frequency dependence of specific airway resistance in a commercialized plethysmograph

Specific airway resistance (sRaw) measured by body plethysmography has been shown to decrease markedly with decreasing breathing frequency when the inspired air is not conditioned to body temperature, atmospheric pressure and saturation with water vapour (BTPS). The phenomenon has been attributed to noninstantaneous gas warming and wetting in the airways. The aim of this investigation was to assess whether the phenomenon was also present in a commercialized plethysmograph featuring an "electronic BTPS correction". Airway resistance (Raw) and sRaw were measured in 15 healthy subjects at six breathing frequencies ranging 0.25-3 Hz, using a constant volume plethysmograph in which a correction for non-BTPS gas conditions was applied by electronically flattening the box pressure-airway flow loop (Jaeger Masterscreen Body, version 4.0). The temperature and water vapour saturations in the box averaged 26.5 +/- 1.3 degrees C and 59 +/- 6%, respectively. Raw and sRaw exhibited a clear positive frequency dependence in all but one subject. From 0.25 to 3 Hz Raw increased from (mean+/-SD) 0.62 +/- 0.55 to 1.71 +/- 0.76 hPa x s x L-1 (p<0.001), and sRaw from 2.34 +/- 1.90 to 7.55 +/- 3.08 hPa x s (p<0.001). The data are consistent with a simple model, in which gas conditioning in the airways and external dead space occurred with a time constant of 0.39 s. We conclude that the electronic BTPS correction of the instrument was inadequate, probably because it is assumed that gas conditioning in the airways is instantaneous. We recommend that, with similar instruments, airway resistance be measured using as high a panting frequency as feasible.     

Localization of prothymosin alpha in the nucleus

Age differences in processing resources seem salient to age-related declines in secondary (or "recent") memory. Community-dwelling adults (N = 90, ages 30-80) completed 4 memory tests: Wechsler Memory Scale-Revised (WMS-R) Logical Memory (LM), Cowboy Story (CS), WMS-R Visual Reproductions (VR), and Extended Complex Figure Test (ECFT; Fastenau, in press). Two space-capacity measures (WMS-R Digit Span and Visual Memory Span) and 4 processing speed measures (cancellation and mental-tracking tasks) assessed processing resources. A statistical control procedure was used to isolate retrieval efficiency and measures contributions of age and processing resources to retrieval. A negative relationship between age and retrieval efficiency emerged on all measures (p < .05). The age effect was reduced 60% on LM and CS when processing resources were controlled, eliminated for VR, and unchanged on ECFT. It is possible that visual-spatial retrieval requires fewer processing resources than does verbal retrieval.     

Yearly stepwise increments of the growth hormone dose results in a better growth response after four years in girls with Turner syndrome. Dutch Working Group on Growth Hormone

To optimize the growth promoting effect of growth hormone (GH), 65 previously untreated girls with Turner syndrome (TS), chronological age (CA) 2-11 yr, were randomized into 3 dosage regimen groups: A, B, and C, with a daily recombinant-human GH dose during 4 study years of 4-4-4-4, 4-6-6-6, and 4-6-8-8 IU/m2 b.s. The first GH dosage increase in groups B and C resulted in a significantly higher mean height velocity (HV) compared with constant dose group A. During the third year, when the dose was raised again only in group C, mean HV was significantly higher in groups B and C than in group A, and in group C compared with group B. In year 4 only group C mean HV remained significantly higher than group A. The pattern of change in HSDSCA (Dutch-Swedish-Danish Turner references) was identical; however, in year 4 mean delta HSDSCA in group B also remained significantly higher than group A. After 4 yr GH treatment, the following was determined. 1) The mean delta HSDSCA was significantly higher for groups B and C compared with group A, but not significantly different between groups B and C. 2) Although significantly higher compared with estimated values for untreated Dutch girls with TS, bone maturation of the GH treated girls was not significantly different between groups. 3) It was positively related with the degree of bone age (BA) retardation at start of study and negatively with baseline CA. 4) Both the modified Index of Potential Height (mIPHRUS) and a recently developed Turner-specific final height (FH) prediction method (PTSRUS), based on regression coefficients for H, CA, and bone age, showed significant increases in mean FH prediction, without significant differences between groups. PTSRUS values were markedly higher than the mIPHRUS values. Dose dependency could be shown for the area under the curve (AUC) for GH, but delta HSDSCA was not linearly related with AUC. Baseline GH binding protein (BP) levels were in 84% of the cases within the normal age range; the decrease in mean levels after 6 months GH was not significant. Mean insulin-like growth factor I (IGF-I) and IGFBP-3 plasma levels increased significantly, without significant differences between groups. delta HSDSCA during GH was dependent on IGF-I plasma levels at baseline and during the study period, beta-0.002 and beta-0.0004. Thus, a stepwise GH-dosing approach reduced the "waning" effect of the growth response after 4 yr treatment without undue bone maturation. FH prediction was not significantly different between treatment groups. Irrespective of the GH dose used, initiation of GH treatment at a younger age was beneficial after 4 yr GH when expressed as actual cm gained or as gain in FH prediction, but was not statistically significant when expressed as delta HSDSCA over the study period.