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Abstract: Highlights of progress in the production of silage over the past 50 years include the introduction of improved hybrids of maize (Zea mays L.), the forage harvester, the big baler, polyethylene covering for horizontal silos, stretch‐wrap film for bales and novel additives designed to improve the fermentation and aerobic stability of silage. The key biochemical pathways in the silage fermentation have been described together with the effects of microbial and chemical additives on fermentation and aerobic stability during the feed‐out phase. The significance of oxygen and water in silage fermentation has been quantified and efficacy of covering silos has been established, with recent progress in the development of oxygen barrier film. Future perspectives include improving food safety and animal health by increasing the hygienic quality of silage, reducing the environmental impact of silage by decreasing loss of nitrogen to soil and atmosphere, reducing methanogenesis in the rumen and increasing methane yield from silage as biofuel, and the use of silages as feedstocks for multiple end uses in biorefineries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Nutrition affects the environmental impact of milk production through its direct influence on enteric fermentation and excretion of undigested and excess nutrients, especially nitrogenous compounds, in manure and its indirect influence on daily level of milk output per cow and fertility. The higher the level of milk production and fertility, the lower the emissions intensity, or carbon footprint, of a dairy herd. Increasing feed efficiency reduces greenhouse gas emissions per litre of milk because emissions are spread over higher product output per cow. Nitrogen use efficiency and cow fertility can be increased and diet carbon footprint reduced by altering diet formulation to utilise by-product raw material feeds of low carbon footprint. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Silage making involves preserving forage crops by fermentation of water-soluble carbohydrates (sugars) to organic acids. The fermentation is relatively uncontrolled and inadequate acidification can allow the growth of undesirable microorganisms such as enterobacteria and clostridia. Ingress of oxygen to the outer layer of the silo or bale during the storage period encourages growth of yeasts and moulds. Mycobacterium bovis may survive in silages with pH above 5.0. Outgrowth of clostridia in aerobically deteriorating silage can lead to high counts of butyric acid spores in silage that can contaminate milk and cheese. Milk may be contaminated with Penicillium toxins and be rejected for containing antibiotics. Specific disease risks to livestock from poorly preserved silage include bacterial endotoxicosis, listeriosis, botulism, mycotoxicosis and nitric acid poisoning in addition to reduced feed value. Rapid acidification is essential once the crop is ensiled to restrict the growth of enterobacteria, listeria and clostridia. Oxygen barrier film, in addition to reducing loss of dry matter during the storage period, prevents clostridial outgrowth in the outer layer of the silo and is also likely to reduce the risk of listeriosis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losses of dry matter and metabolisable energy (ME) occur in silage making due to delayed harvest and also between field and feed trough due to fermentation and aerobic spoilage. Farmers should aim to exert greater control of silage making operations to improve timeliness of harvest and to minimise losses of nutrients. Concentrate input per unit of milk production is often higher than optimal which is more often a reflection of low silage quality than of wasteful overfeeding. A week's delayed harvest of grass is estimated to incur a net cost of 13 pence per cow per day of winter feeding. Mowing a dry crop and spreading it out to maximise rate of water loss during the wilting period can reduce losses in the field. Consolidation of crop in the silo to achieve a minimum fresh weight density of 700 kg/m3 and dry matter (DM) density of 210 kg/m3 will help to minimise losses during the storage period, paying particular attention to the outermost layer which should be covered with an oxygen barrier film. A feed-out progression rate of at least 1 metre per week in winter and 1.5 to 2 metres per week in summer, coupled with harvesting a clean crop with low yeast and mould counts will help to reduce losses during feed-out. Many bunker silos are too old, too small, have no safety rail and are over-filled. Safety issues should be considered at all stages of silage making. Appropriate steps should be taken wherever possible to minimise risk of injury. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A meta-analysis was undertaken of 51 comparisons of standard polyethylene film with oxygen barrier ( OB) film in covering systems for bunker silos, unwalled clamp silos and bales. Mean losses of DM or OM during storage from the top 10 to 60 cm of bunker and clamp silos were 195 g kg−1 for standard film and 114 g kg−1 for OB film systems (41 sets of data, P < 0·001), while mean total losses of DM from baled silage were 76·8 g kg−1 for standard film and 45·6 g kg−1 for OB film systems (10 sets of data, P < 0·001). Top surface silage judged subjectively to be inedible was 107 and 29·6 g kg−1 for standard film and OB film systems respectively (5 sets of data, P = 0·02). Aerobic stability was 75 h for silage stored under standard film system and 135 h for silage stored under OB film system (11 sets of data, P = 0·001). It is concluded that the OB film system reduces losses from the outer layers of silos and from bales and increases the aerobic stability of silage in the outer layers of silos. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Introduction. One in eight of all total hip replacements requires revision within 10 years, 60% because of wear-related complications. The bearing surfaces may be made of cobalt/chromium, stainless steel, ceramic, or polyethylene. Friction between bearing surfaces and corrosion of non-moving parts can result in increased local and systemic metal concentrations. Objectives. To identify and systematically review published reports of systemic toxicity attributed to metal released from hip implants and to propose criteria for the assessment of these patients. Methods. Medline (from 1950) and Embase (from 1980) were searched to 28 February 2014 using the search terms (text/abstract) chrom* or cobalt* and [toxic* or intox* or poison* or adverse effect or complication] and [prosthes* or 'joint replacement' or hip or arthroplast*] and PubMed (all available years) was searched using the search term (('Chromium/adverse effects'[Mesh] OR 'Chromium/poisoning'[Mesh] OR 'Chromium/toxicity'[Mesh]) OR ('Cobalt/adverse effects'[Mesh] OR 'Cobalt/poisoning'[Mesh] OR 'Cobalt/toxicity'[Mesh])) AND ('Arthroplasty, Replacement, Hip'[Mesh] OR 'Hip Prosthesis'[Mesh]). These searches identified 281 unique references, of which 23 contained original case data. Three further reports were identified from the bibliographies of these papers. As some cases were reported repeatedly the 26 papers described only 18 individual cases. Systemic toxicity. Ten of these eighteen patients had undergone revision from a ceramic-containing bearing to one containing a metal component. The other eight had metal-on-metal prostheses. Systemic toxicity was first manifest months and often several years after placement of the metal-containing joint. The reported systemic features fell into three main categories: neuro-ocular toxicity (14 patients), cardiotoxicity (11 patients) and thyroid toxicity (9 patients). Neurotoxicity was manifest as peripheral neuropathy (8 cases), sensorineural hearing loss (7) and cognitive decline (5); ocular toxicity presented as visual impairment (6). All these neurological features, except cognitive decline, have been associated with cobalt poisoning previously. Type of prosthesis and blood metal concentrations. Where blood or serum metal concentrations were reported ( n = 17 for cobalt and n = 14 for chromium), the median cobalt concentration was 398 (range, 13.6-6521) μg/L and the median chromium concentration was 48 μg/L (in whole blood) (range, 4.1-221 μg/L including serum and blood values). Those patients reported to have systemic features who had received a metal-on-metal prosthesis ( n = 8) had a median peak blood cobalt concentration of 34.5 (range, 13.6-398.6) μg/L; those with a metal-containing revision of a failed ceramic prosthesis ( n = 10) had a median blood cobalt concentration of 506 (range, 353-6521) μg/L. Management. The most common treatment was removal of the metal-containing prosthesis, undertaken in all but 2 patients. This was usually associated with a fall in circulating cobalt concentration and improvement in some or all features. Clinical and toxicological assessment of systemic features. We propose the following criteria for assessing the likelihood that clinical features are related to cobalt toxicity: clinical effects consistent with the known neurological, cardiac, or thyroidal effects of cobalt, and for which any other explanation is less likely; increased blood cobalt concentrations (substantially higher than those in patients with well-functioning prostheses) several months after hip replacement; a fall in the blood cobalt concentration, usually accompanied by signs of improvement in features. When judged by these criteria, the systemic features in 10 of the reported cases are likely to be related to cobalt exposure from a metal-containing hip prosthesis. Conclusions. Rarely, patients exposed to high circulating concentrations of cobalt from failed hip replacements develop neurological damage, hypothyroidism and/or cardiomyopathy, which may not resolve completely even after removal of the prosthesis. The greatest risk of systemic cobalt toxicity seems to result from accelerated wear of a cobalt-containing revision of a failed ceramic prosthesis, rather than from primary failure of a metal-on-metal prosthesis. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

When silage is exposed to air on opening the silo, or after its removal from the silo, fermentation acids and other substrates are oxidized by aerobic bacteria, yeasts and moulds. The aerobic stability of silage is a key factor in ensuring that silage provides well-preserved nutrients to the animal with minimal amounts of mould spores and toxins. In this paper, key findings and recent developments are reviewed, and findings of recent research are integrated in terms of four themes: (i) the most significant biochemical and microbiological factors, (ii) physical and management factors, (iii) type of additive and (iv) silo sealing. The development of yeasts and moulds during plant growth, and during field wilting or storage, and the concentration of undissociated acetic acid in silage are important microbiological and biochemical factors affecting aerobic stability. Silage density and porosity are key physical factors that affect the rate of ingress of oxygen into the silage mass during the feed-out period. A target for potential silage aerobic stability is 7 d including time in the feed trough. To achieve this target, speed of harvest should be coordinated with packing tractor weight to achieve a minimum silage density by the time of feed-out of 210 kg DM m−3, maximum proportional porosity of 0·4 and a rate of silage removal, which matches or exceeds the depth of air penetration into the silo. The use of additives to increase aerobic stability is advisable when there is the risk of these objectives not being met. Novel microbial approaches to solving the problem of silage aerobic deterioration are needed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

It is difficult to obtain phenotypic data on disease susceptibility directly from swine in an industry setting. The magnitude of the proliferative response of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) to the T cell mitogen concanavalin A (Con A) has long been used as an indirect measure of the responsiveness of the immune system to antigenic stimulation. This trait is known to exhibit moderate heritability in swine, but little is known about the identity of the genes that control the response. In this study, we carried out a time-course microarray experiment to measure gene expression at 3 different stages (3, 20, and 68 h) poststimulation of PBMC with Con A. A total of 46, 452, and 418 differentially expressed (DifEx) genes were identified at each time point, respectively. Expression changes for a subset of these genes were subsequently confirmed by real-time PCR. Functional annotation analyses of the microarray results successfully identified sets of genes involved in processes associated with multiple aspects of cell division, such as DNA and protein synthesis, and control of mitosis. However, the discovery of genes that controlled the response of PBMC to mitogen was limited with this approach, because the drastic changes in the transcriptional program necessitated by cells undergoing division masked changes in smaller immune response gene sets. Pathway and network analyses that focused on immune cells proved to be a more effective strategy for the identification of genes that coordinate aspects of the mitogenic response that are specific to PBMC. The cytokine gene IL15 was shown to be central to the highest scoring network at 20 h and affect the expression of 16 other DifEx genes, including some genes known to regulate T cell activation, such as IL7R, JUN, TNFRSF9, and ZAP70. The IL15 gene maps to a previously identified QTL interval for immune responsiveness to Con A on SSC 8, which also contains the related IL2 gene. At 68 h, a distinct downregulation of major histocompatibility complex class II antigen presentation genes was observed. Overall, the gene expression profile of the Con A-stimulated porcine PBMC points to a Th, bias in immune activation. Further work is required to determine whether polymorphisms linked to genes identified in this study affect this immune response trait in pig populations and whether the trait itself correlates with decreased susceptibility to intracellular pathogens in swine. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Three monoclonal antibodies which recognize rabbit leucocytes have been characterized by immunofluorescence staining of a variety of cell populations and also by immunochemical techniques. The evidence obtained suggests that these antibodies recognize the rabbit equivalents of the CD58/LFA-3 (VC21), CD43/leukosialin (L11/135) and CD9 (MM2/57) antigens. A fourth antibody, RPN3/57, recognizes an antigen expressed strongly on T cells, thymocytes and neutrophils and at lower levels on platelets. It has not, however been possible to characterize the antigen recognized by RPN3/57 in molecular terms. Both L11/135 and RPN3/57 are useful reagents for the detection of T cells both by flow cytometry and by immunohistochemistry. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Life-cycle analysis showed that the lowest emissions of greenhouse gases (GHG) were from poultry meat and the highest from suckler beef production. Differences between systems in GHG per unit of edible energy were less than per kg product. Suckler beef and sheep had higher emissions than other livestock systems, reflecting the overhead cost of the breeding female. There is a huge range in emissions between farms but no major differences between upland and lowland enterprises. The most profitable units are also the greenest. Improvements in animal health status also reduce GHG/kg product by increasing survival rates and the productive life of breeding females. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Methane production is lower from ruminants given diets which produce less acetate and more propionate. This means using diets higher in starch and lower in fibre. There are implications of this feeding strategy for animal health. Reducing the concentration of N in the animal's diet is likely to lead to a reduction in nitrous oxide emissions. Both methane per kg product and the percentage of dietary N which is converted into N in animal products are influenced strongly by the level of animal output. Improving feed conversion ratio and nitrogen use efficiency should result in reduced greenhouse gas emissions from livestock. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ABSTRACT: Methane is produced from carbon dioxide and hydrogen as a by-product of rumen fermentation. Excess hydrogen is produced together with the production of acetate and butyrate but not with the production of propionate and valerate. Diets lower in fibre and higher in starch result in higher proportions of propionate in the rumen volatile fatty acids and less methane per mole of substrate fermented. There is significant variation between animals in methane production. Research is underway to refine methane emissions factors for different classes of livestock. Smaller amounts of methane are also produced in the hind gut and from manure. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The unitary evolution of a quantum system preserves its coherence, but interactions between the system and its environment result in decoherence, a process in which the quantum information stored in the system becomes degraded. A spin-polarized positively charged muon implanted in a fluoride crystal realizes such a coherent quantum system, and the entanglement of muon and nearest-neighbor fluorine nuclear spins gives rise to an oscillatory time dependence of the muon polarization that can be detected and measured. Here we show that the decohering effect of more distant nuclear spins can be modelled quantitatively, allowing a very detailed description of the decoherence processes coupling the muon-fluorine "system" with its "environment," and allowing us to track the system entropy as the quantum information degrades. These results show how to precisely quantify the spin relaxation of muons implanted into quantum entangled states in fluoride crystals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A rabbit T-cell line, BJ-610, has been derived from a New Zealand White rabbit infected with Alcelaphine herpes virus-1 , which has the characteristics of a lymphokine activated killer (LAK) cell. The surface phenotype of this cell line has been studied by flow cytometry, using a panel of monoclonal antibodies (mAb) to rabbit leucocyte surface markers, and compared with that of another rabbit T-cell line, RL-5, transformed with herpes virus ateles. The expression of a number of markers is common to the two lines; these include the rabbit analogues of CD11a/CD18, CD43, CD44 and CD45. Three antigens are expressed on BJ-610 but not RL-5. One of these is recognized by a mAb thought to recognize CD8, while a second is a class IIR-DQ molecule. The third antigen is expressed on thymocytes, a subset of T cells, neutrophils and platelets but its molecular nature is unknown. These two cell lines should prove useful in preparaing reagents which recognize subsets of rabbit T cells and for studying the mechanism of herpes virus-induced lymphoid cell deregulation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global climate models struggle to simulate both the convection and cloud ice fundamental to lightning formation. We use the first convection‐permitting, future climate simulations for the lightning hot spot of Africa, at the same time utilizing an ice‐based lightning parametrization. Both the model and observations show that lightning over Africa's drier areas, as well as the moist Congo, have more lightning per rainfall than other regions. Contrary to results in the literature, the future projection shows little increase in total lightning (~107 flashes (or 2%) per degree warming). This is a consequence of increased stability reducing the number of lightning days, largely offsetting the increased graupel and updraft velocity driving an increase in lightning per lightning day. The next step is to establish if these results are robust across other models and, if combined with parametrized‐convection models, whether ensemble‐based information on the possible responses of lightning to climate change can be investigated. Plain Language Summary: Lightning depends on ascending air in thunderstorms and the collision of cloud ice particles, which charge the thundercloud. Many climate models have too coarse a resolution to reliably capture these processes. We focus on Africa, which has some of the most frequent lightning in the world. We use a model that is much higher resolution than usual, and this allows us to explicitly simulate the deep convection associated with thunderstorms as well as provide more detailed representation of the distribution of cloud ice particles. Our results show that in drier regions, as well as the much wetter Congo, there is relatively more lightning per kilogram of surface rainfall than there is in other parts of the continent. Lightning does increase across the continent under climate change, but by a relatively small amount. This is despite the number of days with lightning decreasing as the lower atmosphere becomes more stable. On days with lightning, there are more lightning flashes because there is an increase in cloud ice and intensity of convection. This study gives much more detailed information about African lightning than previous work. However, it is a single simulation. Future research should look at these results across other climate models. Key Points: Lightning and its relationship to rainfall vary considerably across Africa, with indication of dry lightning in arid regionsOpposite changes in lightning days and intensity lead to little change in total flashes under climate change, unlike many past studiesGraupel increases are smaller than column water increases, and therefore, lightning intensity mostly increases less than rain intensity [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Extraction of bone contours from radiographs plays an important role in disease diagnosis, preoperative planning, and treatment analysis. We present a fully automatic method to accurately segment the proximal femur in anteroposterior pelvic radiographs. A number of candidate positions are produced by a global search with a detector. Each is then refined using a statistical shape model together with local detectors for each model point. Both global and local models use Random Forest regression to vote for the optimal positions, leading to robust and accurate results. The performance of the system is evaluated using a set of 839 images of mixed quality. We show that the local search significantly outperforms a range of alternative matching techniques, and that the fully automated system is able to achieve a mean point-to-curve error of less than 0.9 mm for 99% of all 839 images. To the best of our knowledge, this is the most accurate automatic method for segmenting the proximal femur in radiographs yet reported. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objectives: This study investigates the volatile (vapour) component of an essential oil derived from the Australian native Leptospermum petersonii as a potential treatment for aspergillosis. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

Mobilisation of shear strength in shallow translational slips occurs at very low effective stress. Accordingly, a series of direct shear box tests was performed to characterise the strength of colluvium, under drained conditions, at vertical effective stresses between 5 and 20 kPa. Results from in situ tests on undisturbed block samples of moist soil are compared with laboratory tests on dry reconstituted specimens of the soil matrix only. The in situ tests determine a mean value of peak or maximum angle of shearing resistance between 58° and 64°, and a mean value at large displacement between 46° and 52°, with 46° believed representative of shearing at constant volume. Mobilisation of similar angles of shearing resistance, between 46° and 48°, at large displacement in laboratory tests on the 25 mm minus fraction indicates that the soil matrix is controlling strength. The values at large displacement are attributed to mineralogy, grain shape and angularity, and grain size distribution of the soils. Observations of the angle of repose corroborate the measured values at large displacement. The peak or maximum values are consistent with the phenomenon of stress dilatancy and, although very high, compare well with limited data reported for coarse granular soils at very low effective stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Mobilisation of shear strength in shallow translational slips occurs at very low effective stress. Accordingly, a series of direct shear box tests was performed to characterise the strength of colluvium, under drained conditions, at vertical effective stresses between 5 and 20 kPa. Results from in situ tests on undisturbed block samples of moist soil are compared with laboratory tests on dry reconstituted specimens of the soil matrix only. The in situ tests determine a mean value of peak or maximum angle of shearing resistance between 58° and 64°, and a mean value at large displacement between 46° and 52°, with 46° believed representative of shearing at constant volume. Mobilisation of similar angles of shearing resistance, between 46° and 48°, at large displacement in laboratory tests on the 25 mm minus fraction indicates that the soil matrix is controlling strength. The values at large displacement are attributed to mineralogy, grain shape and angularity, and grain size distribution of the soils. Observations of the angle of repose corroborate the measured values at large displacement. The peak or maximum values are consistent with the phenomenon of stress dilatancy and, although very high, compare well with limited data reported for coarse granular soils at very low effective stress. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article discusses the shearing resistance of soil at low stress. To analyze the shear strength of soil, drained shear strength tests were performed. In these tests, an angle of shearing resistance at constant volume of nearly 46 to 48 degree was obtained. It has been noticed that the measured angles of 46 to 48 degree are obtainable at low normal stress in well-graded sand-gravel which mixes with angular grains.

Osteoarthritis affects the morphological properties of the femoral head. The goal of this study was to develop a method to elucidate whether these changes are localised to discrete regions, or if the reported trends in microstructural changes may be identified throughout the subchondral bone of the human femoral head. Whole femoral heads extracted from osteoarthritic (n = 5) and healthy controls (n = 5) underwent microCT imaging 39 μm voxel size. The subchondral bone plate was virtually isolated to evaluate the plate thickness and plate porosity. The trabecular bone region was divided into 37 volumes of interest spatially distributed in the femoral head, and bone morphometric properties were determined in each region. The study showed how the developed approach can be used to study the heterogeneous properties of the human femoral head affected by a disease such as osteoarthritis. As example, in the superior femoral head osteoarthritic specimens exhibited a more heterogeneous micro-architecture, with trends towards thicker cortical bone plate, higher trabecular connectivity density, higher trabecular bone density and thicker structures, something that could only be observed with the newly developed approach. Bone cysts were mostly confined to the postero-lateral quadrants extending from the subchondral region into the mid trabecular region. Nevertheless, in order to generalise these findings, a larger sample size should be analysed in the future. This novel method allowed a comprehensive evaluation of the heterogeneous micro-architectural properties of the human femoral head, highlighting effects of OA in the superior subchondral cortical and trabecular bone. Further investigations on different stages of OA would be needed to identify early changes in the bone. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Losses of organic matter in the outer layers of bunker silos covered with conventional polyethylene ( PE) plastic can be substantial due to oxygen transmission through the plastic top-covering film during the post-ensiling storage period. The effect of two silo covering materials, oxygen barrier ( OB) film (45 μm thickness) and clear PE film (50 μm thickness), as underlays to a white-on-black PE plastic top cover (120 μm thickness), was assessed in the outer layer of whole-plant maize silage stored in three large bunker silos in the People's Republic of China. Samples of the crop at harvest and of silage from the upper 45 cm layer at 5 months post-ensiling, prior to removal of silage for feed-out, were analysed for DM, fermentation profile and chemical composition. Loss of OM was estimated from concentrations of ash in the crop at harvest and in the silage. Differences between underlay films in silage fermentation profile were small. Silage protected with OB underlay film had higher mean concentration of starch ( p < .008) and higher mean NDF digestibility ( p < .003) than silage under PE underlay film. Concentrations of ash were lower ( p < .001) for silage covered with OB film than for PE film in all three trials. Mean estimated losses of OM were 170 g/kg for OB underlay film and 232 g/kg for PE underlay film ( p < .001), and whole-silo estimated net economic benefits to OB underlay film ranged from 0.17 to 0.74 US $ per tonne fresh crop ensiled. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Implications of silage hygienic quality for animal production were investigated on forty-five dairy farms in South West England. Samples of grass and maize silages and of total mixed rations ( TMR) were obtained together with information on silage technology, herd size and animal production. Samples were analysed for mycotoxins, bacteria, yeasts, moulds and chemical composition. Thirteen mycotoxins were assayed, but none were detected in the samples of grass silage. However, mycotoxins were found in 0·9 of all maize and other silage samples, with deoxynivalenol and zearalenone predominating. There was no relationship between total mycotoxin concentration and mean lactation milk yield per cow. Enterobacteria counts tended to be higher in maize silage than in grass silage and higher still in TMR - a cause for concern. There were no relationships between mould counts and mycotoxin concentrations in silages, implying that mycotoxins may have been produced in the field pre-ensiling. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A physically based method for parameterizing the role of subgrid-scale turbulence in the production and maintenance of supercooled liquid water and mixed-phase clouds is presented. The approach used is to simplify the dynamics of supersaturation fluctuations to a stochastic differential equation that can be solved analytically, giving increments to the prognostic liquid cloud fraction and liquid water content fields in a general circulation model (GCM). Elsewhere, it has been demonstrated that the approach captures the properties of decameter-resolution large-eddy simulations of a turbulent mixed-phase environment. In this paper, it is shown that it can be implemented in a GCM, and the effects that this has on Southern Ocean biases and on Arctic stratus are investigated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article explores the Global Atmosphere 3.0 (GA3.0) of the Met Office Unified Model (MetUM) climate research and the Global Land 3.0 (GL3.0) of JULES community land surface model. An overview of the Global Atmosphere configuration principle as an atmospheric component applied to MetUM, JULES Global Land, and NEMO ocean model is provided. It highlights aspects of GA3.0 and GL3.0 including on formulation and discretization, solar and terrestrial radiation, and orographic gravity.

The article reports on the development of the Met Office Unified Model's (MetUM) Global Atmosphere 3.0 (GA3.0) and Global Land 3.0 (GL3.0) configurations in Europe. It notes that GA3.0 and GL3.0 is used for climate research and weather predictions. It also tackles the Global Atmosphere development process and the absorption of the shortwave (SW) radiation from the Sun.

Abstract The recycling of sewage sludge or biosolids to grassland is strategically important in the European Union (EU) and its use is tightly regulated to control the risk of pathogen transfer to animals and the food chain. Sewage sludges not only contain valuable concentrations of beneficial nutrients, but also elevated concentrations of potentially toxic metals (PTM) compared with average background concentrations in the soil. The EC and UK regulations refer to six PTM, Cd, Pb, Cu, Zn, Ni and Hg, with provisional regulations for Cr, that have to be controlled to prevent detrimental effects on soil and animal health. Despite these regulations, there is still a danger that grazing animals may ingest elevated concentrations of PTM. Biosolids may adhere to herbage after the surface application of sewage sludge to grassland. The repeated surface application of sewage sludge to grassland can lead to elevated concentrations of PTM at the soil surface that may be ingested, together with soil and herbage, by grazing ruminants. This may lead to accumulation of Cd or Pb in liver or kidney. The risk to the human food chain is considered to be low, but the impact on the environment is still unknown. There is little information, for example, on the amount of soil and PTMs that may become incorporated into conserved grass. At present EU and UK legislation and voluntary codes of practice have been developed to protect animal from pathogens in sewage sludge and to minimize any potential risks from accumulation of PTM. The background and implementation of the legislation are examined in this review, and the source and mechanisms of accumulation of PTM by the grazing animal are evaluated. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Presents a letter to the editor appreciating the article "Effect of Bisphosphonates on Periprosthetic Bone Mineral Density After Total Joint Arthroplasty: A Meta-Analysis," by M. Bhandari and his colleagues, published in a 2005 issue of the "Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery."