Quantifying the potential impact of alien plants of Iran using the Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) and Environmental Impact Classification for Alien Taxa (EICAT)

Biological Invasions - Assessing the impacts of alien plant species is scientifically important and critical for supporting invasion-related policies. Generic Impact Scoring System (GISS) and...     

Evaluation of Herbicides for Restoring Native Grasses in Buffelgrass-Dominated Grasslands

Buffelgrass ( Pennisetum ciliare ) is an exotic grass that threatens arid and semiarid ecosystems. The objective of this study was to determine effectiveness of several herbicides at reducing competition from buffelgrass to enhance establishment of planted native grasses. In Duval County, Texas, plots were delineated in two experiments in a buffelgrass-dominated pasture and mowed on 2 September 2002. On 18 September 2002 and 7 October 2002, a 41% glyphosate (N-(phosphonomethyl) glycine) herbicide was applied to all plots. A mixture of three native grasses—green sprangletop ( Leptochloa dubia ), plains bristlegrass ( Setaria leucopila ), and four-flower trichloris ( Chloris pluriflora )—was planted on 8 October 2002. On 9 October 2002, 1.12 and 2.24 kg/ha of a 80% tebuthiuron ( N -[5-(1,1-dimethyethyl)-1,3,4-thiadiazol-2-yl]- N , N '-dimethylurea) herbicide was applied preemergence to the first experiment, and all other herbicides were applied postemergence on 27 July 2003 to the second experiment. Percent canopy cover of vegetation was estimated with a 20 × 50–cm sampling frame during April, June, and October 2003 and August 2004. Postemergent herbicides had no significant effect on canopy cover of buffelgrass or planted species ( p ≥ 0.05). Canopy cover of native grasses did not exceed 8% on any treatment or sampling date, and buffelgrass cover returned to pre-treatment conditions in less than 1 year; however, the 2.24 kg/ha rate of tebuthiuron suppressed ( p < 0.05) canopy cover of buffelgrass compared with controls and increased ( p < 0.05) native grasses almost 2 years past application. Tebuthiuron may have potential value in reducing buffelgrass canopy cover and increasing cover of native grasses, particularly Chloris spp.     

The Environmental Impact of Cambodia's Ancient City of Mahendraparvata (Phnom Kulen)

The Khmer kingdom, whose capital was at Angkor from the 9^th to the 14^th-15^th century, was founded in 802 by king Jayavarman II in a city called Mahandraparvata, on Phnom Kulen. Virtually nothing more is known of Mahandraparvata from the epigraphic sources, but systematic archaeological survey and excavation have identified an array of cultural features that point to a more extensive and enduring settlement than the historical record indicates. Recent remote sensing data have revolutionized our view, revealing the remains of a city with a complex and spatially extensive network of urban infrastructure. Here, we present a record of vegetation change and soil erosion from within that urban network, dating from the 8^th century CE. Our findings indicate approximately 400 years of intensive land use, punctuated by discrete periods of intense erosion beginning in the mid 9^th century and ending in the late 11^th century. A marked change in water management practices is apparent from the 12^th century CE, with implications for water supply to Angkor itself. This is the first indication that settlement on Mahendraparvata was not only extensive, but also intensive and enduring, with a marked environmental impact.     

MRI-Based Intelligence Quotient (IQ) Estimation with Sparse Learning

In this paper, we propose a novel framework for IQ estimation using Magnetic Resonance Imaging (MRI) data. In particular, we devise a new feature selection method based on an extended dirty model for jointly considering both element-wise sparsity and group-wise sparsity. Meanwhile, due to the absence of large dataset with consistent scanning protocols for the IQ estimation, we integrate multiple datasets scanned from different sites with different scanning parameters and protocols. In this way, there is large variability in these different datasets. To address this issue, we design a two-step procedure for 1) first identifying the possible scanning site for each testing subject and 2) then estimating the testing subject’s IQ by using a specific estimator designed for that scanning site. We perform two experiments to test the performance of our method by using the MRI data collected from 164 typically developing children between 6 and 15 years old. In the first experiment, we use a multi-kernel Support Vector Regression (SVR) for estimating IQ values, and obtain an average correlation coefficient of 0.718 and also an average root mean square error of 8.695 between the true IQs and the estimated ones. In the second experiment, we use a single-kernel SVR for IQ estimation, and achieve an average correlation coefficient of 0.684 and an average root mean square error of 9.166. All these results show the effectiveness of using imaging data for IQ prediction, which is rarely done in the field according to our knowledge.     

Comparing Evolvability and Variability of Quantitative Traits

There are two distinct reasons for making comparisons of genetic variation for quantitative characters. The first is to compare evolvabilities, or ability to respond to selection, and the second is to make inferences about the forces that maintain genetic variability. Measures of variation that are standardized by the trait mean, such as the additive genetic coefficient of variation, are appropriate for both purposes. Variation has usually been compared as narrow sense heritabilities, but this is almost always an inappropriate comparative measure of evolvability and variability. Coefficients of variation were calculated from 842 estimates of trait means, variances and heritabilities in the literature. Traits closely related to fitness have higher additive genetic and nongenetic variability by the coefficient of variation criterion than characters under weak selection. This is the reverse of the accepted conclusion based on comparisons of heritability. The low heritability of fitness components is best explained by their high residual variation. The high additive genetic and residual variability of fitness traits might be explained by the great number of genetic and environmental events they are affected by, or by a lack of stabilizing selection to reduce their phenotypic variance. Over one-third of the quantitative genetics papers reviewed did not report trait means or variances. Researchers should always report these statistics, so that measures of variation appropriate to a variety of situations may be calculated.     

Quantitative Magnetic Resonance (QMR) for Longitudinal Evaluation of Body Composition Changes With Two Dietary Regimens

We have recently reported a validation study of a prototype low‐field strength quantitative magnetic resonance (QMR) instrument for measurement of human body composition (EchoMRI‐AH). QMR was very precise, but underreported fat mass (FM) by 2–4 kg when compared to a 4‐compartment (4C) model in this cross‐sectional study. Here, we report the performance of an updated instrument in two longitudinal studies where FM was decreasing. Healthy obese volunteers were given a modest energy deficit diet for 8 weeks (study A) and obese patients with heart failure and/or at high cardiovascular risk were prescribed a low energy liquid diet for 6 weeks (study B). FM was measured at the start and end of these periods by QMR, dual‐energy X‐ray absorptiometry (DXA) and 4C. A higher proportion of the weight lost came from fat in study A compared with study B, where loss of total body water (TBW) played a greater part. The intraclass correlation between QMR and 4C estimates of FM loss (ΔFat) was 0.95, but 20 of 22 estimates of ΔFat by QMR were lower than the corresponding estimate by the 4C model. Bland–Altman analysis demonstrated that estimates of FM loss by QMR were ～1.0 and 0.7 kg lower than those obtained with 4C (P = 0.0008) and DXA (P = 0.049), respectively. Measurement precision remained high. QMR measurement should prove valuable for quantifying modest changes of FM in small trials.     

Heavy Metals in Agricultural Soils of the Mouriki-Thiva Area (Central Greece) and Environmental Impact Implications

The heavy metal content of 51 surface soil samples from the agricultural region of Mouriki-Thiva (central Greece) was investigated by a combination of mineralogical (X-ray diffraction and scanning electron microscopy) and geochemical (aqua regia and 0.5 M HCl extractions) methods in order to determine the levels of contamination, as well as the origin, distribution and mobility of selected metals. The geology of the area includes ultrabasic rocks, and consequently the soils have anomalous values in Ni (621-2639 mg/kg) and Cr (134-856 mg/kg). Whereas Cr is mainly hosted in the crystal structure of chromite, Ni is primarily mobilized from olivine and serpentine. Nickel, and to a lesser extent Cr, were also found to be absorbed in Fe oxides. The results of a single 0.5 HCl leach revealed significant differences in the mobility and potential bioavailability of Ni and Cr in representative soil samples; Nickel is substantially more labile, and as a result a potential amount of this metal is readily available to the plants. The whole area is heavily contaminated by Ni and Cr and consequently the monitoring of the agricultural products of the region for their heavy metal content is strongly recommended.     

杧果种质资源果实主要数量性状评价指标

以77～80份杧果品种(种质)资源为试材,对各品种果实的单果重、外果皮厚度、果核重、可食率、可溶性固形物含量、可溶性总糖含量、可滴定酸舍量和维生素C含量等8项数量性状指标进行测定.结果表明,除了可食率外,其余7个数量性状均存在10%以上的变异系数,外果皮厚度、可食率、可溶性固形物含量和可溶性总糖含量呈正态分布,其余呈偏态分布.根据分析结果,提出了性状分级标准为1～5个等级,每个等级提出2个参照品种:1个国外品种、1个国内品种.该研究为我国杧果种质资源描述系统数量化、规范化的建立或完善奠定了基础.     

Quantitative Fundus Autofluorescence for the Evaluation of Retinal Diseases

The retinal pigment epithelium (RPE) is juxtaposed to the overlying sensory retina, and supports the function of the visual system. Among the tasks performed by the RPE are phagocytosis and processing of outer photoreceptor segments through lysosome-derived organelles. These degradation products, stored and referred to as lipofuscin granules, are composed partially of bisretinoids, which have broad fluorescence absorption and emission spectra that can be detected clinically as fundus autofluorescence with confocal scanning laser ophthalmoscopy (cSLO). Lipofuscin accumulation is associated with increasing age, but is also found in various patterns in both acquired and inherited degenerative diseases of the retina. Thus, studying its pattern of accumulation and correlating such patterns with changes in the overlying sensory retina are essential to understanding the pathophysiology and progression of retinal disease. Here, we describe a technique employed by our lab and others that uses cSLO in order to quantify the level of RPE lipofuscin in both healthy and diseased eyes.     

Quantitative Evaluation of Aldo-keto Reductase Expression in Hepatocellular Carcinoma (HCC) Cell Lines

The involvement of aldo–keto reductases (AKRs) in tumorigenesis is widely reported, but their roles in the pathological process are not generally recognized due to inconsistent measurements of their expression. To overcome this problem, we simultaneously employed real-time PCR to examine gene expression and multiple reaction monitoring (MRM) of mass spectrometry (MS) to examine the protein expression of AKRs in five different hepatic cell lines. These include one relatively normal hepatic cell line, L-02, and four hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) cell lines, HepG2, HuH7, BEL7402 and SMMC7721. The results of real-time PCR showed that expression of genes encoding the AKR1C family members rather than AKR1A and AKR1B was associated with tumor, and most of genes encoding AKRs were highly expressed in HuH7. Similar observations were obtained through MRM. Different from HuH7, the protein abundance of AKR1A and AKR1B was relatively consistent among the other four hepatic cell lines, while protein expression of AKR1C varied significantly compared to L-02. Therefore, we conclude that the abundant distribution of AKR1C proteins is likely to be associated with liver tumorigenesis, and the AKR expression status in HuH7 is completely different from other liver cancer cell lines. This study, for the first time, provided both overall and quantitative information regarding the expression of AKRs at both mRNA and protein levels in hepatic cell lines. Our observations put the previous use of AKRs as a biomarker into question since it is only consistent with our data from HuH7. Furthermore, the data presented herein demonstrated that quantitative evaluation and comparisons within a protein family at both mRNA and protein levels were feasible using current techniques.     

Impact of Herbicides on Heterodera glycines Susceptible and Resistant Soybean Cultivars

Several abiotic and biotic stresses can affect soybean in a growing season. Heterodera glycines, soybean cyst nematode, reduces yield of soybean more than any other pathogen in the United States. Field and greenhouse studies were conducted to determine whether preemergence and postemergence herbicides modified the reproduction of H. glycines, and to determine the effects of possible interactive stresses caused by herbicides and H. glycines on soybean growth and yield. Heterodera glycines reproduction factor (Rf) generally was less on resistant than susceptible cultivars, resulting in a yield advantage for resistant cultivars. The yield advantage of resistant cultivars was due to more pods per plant on resistant than susceptible cultivars. Pendimethalin reduced H. glycines Rf on the susceptible cultivars in 1998 at Champaign, Illinois, and in greenhouse studies reduced dry root weight of H. glycines-resistant and susceptible cultivars, therefore reducing Rf on the susceptible cultivars. The interactive stresses from acifluorfen or imazethapyr and H. glycines reduced the dry shoot weight of the resistant cultivar Jack in a greenhouse study. Herbicides did not affect resistant cultivars'' ability to suppress H. glycines Rf; therefore, growers planting resistant cultivars should make herbicide decisions based on weeds present and cultivar tolerance to the herbicide.     

The Environmental Impact of Getting the News

The environmental impact associated with reading an on-line and a printed newspaper is analyzed and compared with respective parts of a television (TV) broadcast. Two reference units were chosen for comparison to account for differences between media in presentation and consumption (reading or watching a news item) and consumption of the daily news as a whole. The environmental impact is assessed using life-cycle assessment (LCA).
Key drivers of the environmental impact for both electronic delivery systems are energy consumption and power generation. Not only do the manufacturing of the products and their use have an environmental impact, but so does the use of the necessary infrastructure, that is, energy consumption of the telephone network or data transfer via Internet. Printing of on-line information also turned out to be important.
In the case of the printed newspapers, energy consumption is again important, here for the manufacturing of pulp and paper. Complete printed newspapers (the form in which they are typically purchased) have a very high environmental burden relative to watching the TV news or reading on-line news, even if the propensity to extend TV viewing is taken into consideration.     

Environmental Systems Analysis of Pig Production - The Impact of Feed Choice (12 pp)

Goal, Scope and Method The purpose of this environmental system analysis was to investigate the impact of feed choice in three pig production scenarios using substance flow models complemented by life cycle assessment methodology. The function of the system studied was to grow piglets of 29 kg to finished pigs of 115 kg. Three alternative scenarios of protein supply were designed, one based on imported soybean meal (scenario SOY); one based on locally grown peas and rapeseed cake (scenario PEA) and one based on Swedish peas and rapeseed meal complemented by synthetic amino acids (scenario SAA). The environmental impact of both feed production as such and the subsequent environmental impact of the feed in the pig production sub-system were analysed. The analysed feed ingredients were barley, wheat, peas, rapeseed meal, rapeseed cake, soybean meal and synthetic amino acids. The crude protein level of the feed affected the nitrogen content in the manure, which in turn affected nitrogen emissions throughout the system and the fertilising value of the manure, ultimately affecting the need for mineral fertiliser application for feed production. Results and Discussion The results showed that feed production contributed more than animal husbandry to the environmental burden of the system for the impact categories energy use, global warming potential and eutrophication, whereas the opposite situation was the case for acidification. The environmental impacts of scenarios SOY, PEA and SAA were 6.8, 5.3 and 6.3 MJ/kg pig growth; 1.5, 1.3 and 1.4 kg CO2-eq/kg pig growth; 0.55, 0.55 and 0.45 kg O2-eq/kg pig growth; and 24, 25 and 20 g SO2-eq/kg pig growth, respectively. The results suggested that scenario SAA was environmentally preferable, and that the reason for this was a low crude protein level of the feed and exclusion of soybean meal from the feed. Conclusions Feed choice had an impact on the environmental performance of pig meat production, not only via the features of the feed as fed to the pigs, such as the crude protein content, but also via the raw materials used, since the environmental impact from the production of these differs and since feed production had a large impact on the system as a whole.     

Quantitative Evaluation of Erotactin Secretion in Eggs of Hormosira banksii (Fucales,Phaeophyceae)

The release of the C₁₁-hydrocarbon spermatozoid attractant hormosirene by eggs of the Australian fucoid Hormosira banksii has been determined quantitatively using a closed-loop extraction technique. The eggs secrete erotactin for more than 2 weeks with an exponentially decreasing rate. The initial secretion rate was estimated to be 75 fmol h^?1 egg^?1 and the total amount of hormosirene produced per egg to be 2.35 pmol (0.35 ng). The results were used to calculate the threshold range for spermatozoid chemotaxis in the pheromone gradient around eggs.     

Comparing two versions of the Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS)

Sleep and Biological Rhythms - The Karolinska Sleepiness Scale (KSS) is frequently used to study sleepiness in various contexts. However, it exists in two versions, one with labels on every other...     

Quantitative Evaluation of the Impact of Bather Density on Levels of Human-Virulent Microsporidian Spores in Recreational Water

Microsporidial gastroenteritis, a serious disease of immunocompromised people, can have a waterborne etiology. During summer months, samples of recreational bathing waters were tested weekly for human-virulent microsporidian spores and water quality parameters in association with high and low bather numbers during weekends and weekdays, respectively. Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores were detected in 59% of weekend (n = 27) and 30% of weekday (n = 33) samples, and Encephalitozoon intestinalis spores were concomitant in a single weekend sample; the overall prevalence was 43%. The numbers of bathers, water turbidity levels, prevalences of spore-positive samples, and concentrations of spores were significantly higher for weekend than for weekday samples; P values were <0.001, <0.04, <0.03, and <0.04, respectively. Water turbidity and the concentration of waterborne spores were significantly correlated with bather density, with P values of <0.001 and <0.01, respectively. As all water samples were collected on days deemed acceptable for bathing by fecal bacterial standards, this study reinforces the scientific doubt about the reliability of bacterial indicators in predicting human waterborne pathogens. The study provides evidence that bathing in public waters can result in exposure to potentially viable microsporidian spores and that body contact recreation in potable water can play a role in the epidemiology of microsporidiosis. The study indicates that resuspension of bottom sediments by bathers resulted in elevated turbidity values and implies that the microbial load from both sediments and bathers can act as nonpoint sources for the contamination of recreational waters with Enterocytozoon bieneusi spores. Both these mechanisms can be considered for implementation in predictive models for contamination with microsporidian spores.