Education,training and registration of Medical Physics Experts across Europe

From its inception, EFOMP has pursued a policy to improve and coordinate education and training of medical physicists across all its participating European countries. Several EFOMP policy statements on education and training have been published and surveys have been held to get an overview of the actual situation. At the beginning of 2020 a new survey was distributed amongst the 36 National Member Organizations (NMOs), in which questions were based on recommendations published in the most recent policy statements. Thirty-three of the NMOs (91%) responded, of which 22 indicated having a National Registration Scheme (NRS) for Medical Physics Experts (MPEs) in place. Another 6 indicated considering such a scheme.Results of the questionnaire showed that there was good correspondence between education and training programmes, i.e. a division between a BSc phase, an MSc phase and a clinical phase after completion of the MSc. Differences between NRSs were primarily seen in the availability and composition of a supervising committee and in the availability of guidelines for handling professional misconduct. In addition, some differences were seen in the topics that were part of the education and training programme.The goal of a universal (registered) MPE accepted by all European countries is still far away despite the progress being made. The new procedure for approving an existing NRS, which fulfils all EFOMP criteria is seen as an important step forward. Exchange of experience, knowledge, ideas and, above all, MPE trainees between European countries is seen as the best approach to achieve this goal.     

施氮和冬种绿肥对土壤活性有机碳及碳库管理指数的影响

为探讨冬季绿肥改良土壤的生态效应及确定合适比例的氮肥与绿肥翻压量,在“冬季绿肥 双季稻”复种型农作制度基础上,设置4×4双因素试验,研究不同紫云英翻压量和施氮水平对土壤活性有机碳库各组分及碳库管理指数的影响.结果表明： 单施绿肥能够显著促进土壤总有机碳和活性有机碳的累积.与对照相比,单施绿肥处理土壤总有机碳含量和活性有机碳含量分别平均增加22.2%、26.7%,但单施氮肥处理的土壤有机碳含量下降了0.6%～3.4%.与不施肥相比,单施绿肥和绿肥氮肥配施处理的土壤碳库管理指数分别平均增加了24.55和15.17,而单施氮肥处理减少了2.59.单施绿肥、绿肥氮肥配施和单施氮肥处理的土壤平均微生物生物量碳分别比对照高54.0%、95.2%和14.3%.活性有机碳含量与碳库管理指数存在极显著（P＜0.01）的相关性,与可溶性有机碳、微生物生物量碳也存在显著的相关性（P＜0.05）.水稻产量与活性有机碳含量和碳库管理指数均存在极显著的相关性,且相关系数明显大于总有机碳.可见在当地土壤肥力条件下,施有机肥或有机无机肥适当配施能提高土壤有机碳含量和土壤碳库管理指数,有利于改善土壤质量,提高土壤肥力.     

Toward consistent measurements of carbon accumulation: A multi-site assessment of biomass and basal area increment across Europe

The use of tree-ring data in carbon cycle research has so far been limited because traditional study designs are not geared toward quantifying forest carbon accumulation. Existing studies that assessed biomass increment from tree rings were often confined to individual sites and used inconsistent sampling schemes. We applied a consistent biomass-oriented sampling design at five managed forest sites located in different climate zones to assess the annual carbon accumulation in above-ground woody tissues (i.e. stems and branches) and its climate response. Radial growth and biometric measurements were combined to reconstruct the annual biomass increment in individual trees and upscaled to the site level. In addition to this, we estimated that 32–60 trees are required at these five sites to robustly quantify carbon accumulation rates. Tree dimensions and growth rates varied considerably among sites as a function of differing stand density, climatic limitations, and management interventions. Accordingly, mean site-level carbon accumulation rates between 65 g C m⁻² y⁻¹ and 225 g C m⁻² y⁻¹ were reconstructed for the 1970–2009 period. A comparison of biomass increment with the widely used basal area increment (BAI) revealed very similar growth trends but emphasized the merits of biomass assessments due to species-specific BAI/biomass relationship. Our study illustrates the benefits and challenges of combining tree-ring data with biometric measurements and promotes the consistent application of a standardized sampling protocol across large spatial scales. It is thus viewed as a conceptual basis for future use of tree-ring data to approach research questions related to forest productivity and the terrestrial carbon balance.     

A scheme for multiple sequence alignment optimization—an improvement based on family representative mechanics features

As a basic tool of modern biology, sequence alignment can provide us useful information in fold, function, and active site of protein. For many cases, the increased quality of sequence alignment means a better performance. The motivation of present work is to increase ability of the existing scoring scheme/algorithm by considering residue-residue correlations better. Based on a coarse-grained approach, the hydrophobic force between each pair of residues is written out from protein sequence. It results in the construction of an intramolecular hydrophobic force network that describes the whole residue-residue interactions of each protein molecule, and characterizes protein's biological properties in the hydrophobic aspect. A former work has suggested that such network can characterize the top weighted feature regarding hydrophobicity. Moreover, for each homologous protein of a family, the corresponding network shares some common and representative family characters that eventually govern the conservation of biological properties during protein evolution. In present work, we score such family representative characters of a protein by the deviation of its intramolecular hydrophobic force network from that of background. Such score can assist the existing scoring schemes/algorithms, and boost up the ability of multiple sequences alignment, e.g. achieving a prominent increase (∼50%) in searching the structurally alike residue segments at a low identity level. As the theoretical basis is different, the present scheme can assist most existing algorithms, and improve their efficiency remarkably.     

Bayesian Analysis of Growth Curves Using Mixed Models Defined by Stochastic Differential Equations

Summary Growth curve data consist of repeated measurements of a continuous growth process over time in a population of individuals. These data are classically analyzed by nonlinear mixed models. However, the standard growth functions used in this context prescribe monotone increasing growth and can fail to model unexpected changes in growth rates. We propose to model these variations using stochastic differential equations (SDEs) that are deduced from the standard deterministic growth function by adding random variations to the growth dynamics. A Bayesian inference of the parameters of these SDE mixed models is developed. In the case when the SDE has an explicit solution, we describe an easily implemented Gibbs algorithm. When the conditional distribution of the diffusion process has no explicit form, we propose to approximate it using the Euler–Maruyama scheme. Finally, we suggest validating the SDE approach via criteria based on the predictive posterior distribution. We illustrate the efficiency of our method using the Gompertz function to model data on chicken growth, the modeling being improved by the SDE approach.     

传统CA V 方案与金喜素联合顺铂治疗小细胞 肺癌疗效回顾对比分析

目的：分组比较传统CAV方案（环磷酰胺＋阿霉素＋长春新硷）和金喜素和顺铂方案对小细胞肺癌患者的治疗效果。方法：通过分组对比分析164例小细胞肺癌患者连续三次应用传统CAV（环磷酰胺、阿霉素、长春新硷）方案和连续三次应用金喜素联合顺铂方案化疗,检测肿块横径与直径缩小程度。比较两个方案对小细胞肺癌的治疗作用。结果：金喜素联合顺铂方案对小细胞肺癌总有效率达56.5％,传统CAV方案总有效率41.8％,两组比较有明显统计学意义（x^2=18.4〉16．27,v=3,p〈0．001）,两组毒副反应比较无统计学意义（x^2=5.62〈9．49,v=4,p〉0．05）。结论：金喜素联合顺铂方案对小细胞肺癌较传统CAV方案有更明显的疗效,值得临床应用。     

Do rock endemic and widespread plant species differ under the Leaf–Height–Seed plant ecology strategy scheme?

Westoby (1998) proposed the Leaf–Height–Seed (L–H–S) scheme, i.e. the use of three functional traits, specific leaf area (SLA), plant canopy height and seed mass, to describe plant ecological strategies. In this study, we examine whether endemic species from cliffs and rocky outcrops can be discriminated in a regional Mediterranean flora according to these three traits. First, we conducted a comparison across 13 pairs of rock endemic species and widespread congeners. Second, we performed a canonical discriminant analysis to compare the position in the L–H–S volume of these 13 pairs of endemic and widespread congeners with that of 35 phylogenetically unrelated widespread species taken from the same regional flora. Our results show that rock endemic species only differ from their widespread congeners in their smaller stature. However, when compared with the 35 unrelated widespread species, endemic species are discriminated by higher SLA and taller stature, and thus are not close to the stress‐tolerant pole of ecological strategies (small stature, low SLA), as hypothesized in the literature.     

Seed mixture strongly affects species-richness and quality of perennial flower strips on fertile soil

Within the frame of the EU Common Agricultural Policy, most countries subsidise the establishment and maintenance of perennial flower strips on arable land within Agri-Environmental Schemes to provide foraging habitats and refuges for wildlife.In a replicated field experiment, we studied the effects of different types of seed mixtures on the establishment and maintenance of perennial flower strips on fertile arable land in the federal state of Saxony-Anhalt, Germany over seven years. The seed mixtures were commonly applied within recent Common Agricultural Policy funding periods: (1) a low-diversity cultivar standard seed mixture (CULTIVAR), (2) a high-diversity cultivar and native plant mixture (MIX), and (3) a high-diversity native plant mixture (WILDFLOWER). All plots were mulched every year in March and at the beginning of August.The low success of CULTIVAR triggered the massive encroachment of spontaneously established perennial grasses. In MIX, too, cultivars have disappeared after the first year. Both wildflower variants were successful in maintaining a high cover of sown perennial native forbs and a high ratio of established sown species, even after seven years. WILDFLOWER always tended to show better values than MIX. Furthermore, spontaneously establishing species began to spread their cover in MIX in the fifth year, with a very strongly increasing tendency, whereas in WILDFLOWER cover of spontaneously immigrating species stayed satisfyingly low.Using native wildflowers to establish perennial wildflower strips was very effective in maintaining high species diversity within the Agri-Environmental Schemes funding period of five years and beyond. WILDFLOWER was especially successful. On the other hand, CULTIVAR failed completely. On fertile soils in regions with rather low yearly precipitation, mulching twice a year supported the maintenance of perennial wildflower strips.     

ALGAL MODEL SYSTEMS AND THE ELUCIDATION OF PHOTOSYNTHETIC METABOLISM

The main impact of algal investigations on a wider understanding of photosynthesis in O₂ evolvers has come about through studies on microalgae. Experiments with flashing light led to the concepts of photo- synthetic units and reaction centers. Work on photon yields and the Emerson enhancement effect with fluorescence and spectroscopy, as well as investigations with mutants, were crucial in elaborating and then testing the validity of the Z scheme for light reactions. The carbon reduction (or Calvin) cycle was discovered using ¹⁴C, chromatography, and Chlorella (plus Scenedesmus ). The availability of complete gene sequences for several cyanobacteria and the flowering plant Arabidopsis and very soon for the eukaryotic alga Chlamydomonas permit important advances in our understanding of photosynthesis in all these organisms. Eukaryotic microalgae and cyanobacteria remain advantageous in fundamental photosynthetic studies.