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Leguminous plants are known to require phosphorus fertilizers and inoculation with nitrogen fixing rhizobia for optimum yield but other nutrients may also be lacking. In this study, the most limiting nutrients for legume growth were determined in soils where the crops had not responded to P and rhizobial inoculation in field trials, using the double pot technique. Soils were collected from 17 farmers' fields in West Kenya, Northern Nigeria, Eastern and Southern Rwanda, South-west and North-west Sierra Leone. Plant growth and mean biomass were measured on soils to which a full nutrient solution, containing phosphorus (P), potassium (K), magnesium (Mg), sulfur (S) and micronutrients (MN) were added, and which were compared to a control (no nutrient added), and individual omissions of each nutrient. The relationship between soil properties and nutrient deficiencies was explored. Nutrient limitations were found to differ between soils, both within and across countries. Generally, each soil was potentially deficient in at least one nutrient, with K, P, Mg, MN and S emerging as most limiting in 88, 65, 59, 18, and 12% of tested soils, respectively. While K was the most limiting nutrient in soils from Kenya and Rwanda, P was most limiting in soils from Nigeria. P and K were equally limiting in soils from Sierra Leone. Mg was found limiting in two soils from Kenya and three soils from Rwanda and one soil each in Nigeria and Sierra Leone. Micronutrients were found to be limiting in one soil from Nigeria and one soil from Rwanda. Estimates of nutrient deficiency using growth and mean biomass were found to be correlated with each other although the latter proved to be a more sensitive measure of deficiency. With few exceptions, the relation between soil parameters and nutrient deficiencies was weak and there were no significant relations between deficiency of specific nutrients and the soil content of these elements. Although our results cannot be translated directly to the field, they confirm that individual and multiple nutrient deficiencies were common in these “non-responsive” soils and may have contributed to reported low yields. This highlights the need for balanced nutrition in legume production in SSA.

The article discusses research on the impact of biological changes brought by climate change on the Balearic shearwater, Puffinus mauretanicus. Details concerning sea surface temperature (SST) index used, zooplankton and fish prey data gathered, and sequential algorithm applied to test regime shift are presented. An increase in annual SST is found to be associated with the increase in Balearic shearwater. Temperature has indirect impact on the bird, influencing it to expand northward.

Copyright of EMC-Radiologie is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Copyright of EMC-Radiologie is the property of Elsevier B.V. and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

Context: The ethical issues surrounding end-of-life decision making for infants with adverse prognoses are controversial. Little empirical evidence is available on the attitudes and values that underlie such decisions in different countries and cultures.Objective: To explore the variability of neonatal physicians' attitudes among 10 European countries and the relationship between such attitudes and self-reported practice of end-of-life decisions.Design and Setting: Survey conducted during 1996-1997 in 10 European countries (France, Germany, Italy, the Netherlands, Spain, Sweden, the United Kingdom, Estonia, Hungary, and Lithuania).Participants: A total of 1391 physicians (response rate, 89%) regularly employed in 142 neonatal intensive care units (NICUs).Main Outcome Measures: Scores on an attitude scale, which measured views regarding absolute value of life (score of 0) vs value of quality of life (score of 10); self-report of having ever set limits to intensive neonatal interventions in cases of poor neurological prognosis.Results: Physicians more likely to agree with statements consistent with preserving life at any cost were from Hungary (mean attitude scores, 5.2 [95% confidence interval ¿CI¿, 4.9-5.5]), Estonia (4.9 [95% CI, 4.3-5.5]), Lithuania (5.5 [95% CI, 4.8-6.1]), and Italy (5.7 [95% CI, 5.3-6.0]), while physicians more likely to agree with the idea that quality of life must be taken into account were from the United Kingdom (attitude scores, 7.4 [95% CI, 7.1-7.7]), the Netherlands (7. 3 [95% CI, 7.1-7.5]), and Sweden (6.8 [95% CI, 6.4-7.3]). Other factors associated with having a pro-quality-of-life view were being female, having had no children, being Protestant or having no religious background, considering religion as not important, and working in an NICU with a high number of very low-birth-weight newborns. Physicians with scores reflecting a more quality-of-life view were more likely to report that in their practice, they had set limits to intensive interventions in cases of poor neurological prognosis, with an adjusted odds ratio of 1.5 (95% CI, 1.3-1.7) per unit change in attitude score.Conclusions: In our study, physicians' likelihood of reporting setting limits to intensive neonatal interventions in cases of poor neurological prognosis is related to their attitudes. After adjusting for potential confounders, country remained the most important predictor of physicians' attitudes and practices. JAMA. 2000;284:2451-2459. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Pulmonary torsion is very rare, and usually occurs following lung resection. We report a case of spontaneous middle lobe torsion in a patient presenting with a right pleural effusion. The condition was treated by lobectomy through a totally thoracoscopic approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

O presente artigo expõe considerações teóricas que buscam refletir, criticamente, como a educação e os processos de estratificação são tratados no contexto contemporâneo mediante os paradigmas neoliberais. Desse modo, esboça breves considerações acerca da trajetória das políticas de financiamento da educação brasileira e do seu respectivo sistema de avaliação por meio do Índice de Desenvolvimento da Educação Básica - IDEB. Ressalta a correlação entre o IDEB das escolas da rede municipal e a renda familiar da cidade de Montes Claros localizada no Norte de Minas Gerais. Ressalta a necessidade uma abordagem multidimensional capaz de interpretar as fragmentações e os deslocamentos contidos em um contexto social que ultrapassem as variáveis oriundas da política de incentivo financeiro aos municípios e às escolas que atingem as metas previstas pelo IDEB.

Background: Mutations in the Huntingtin (HTT) gene cause Huntington's disease (HD), a neurodegenerative disorder. As a scaffold protein, HTT is involved in numerous cellular functions, but its normal and pathogenic functions during human forebrain development are poorly understood., Objective: To investigate the developmental component of HD, with a specific emphasis on understanding the functions of wild-type and mutant HTT alleles during forebrain neuron development in individuals carrying HD mutations., Methods: We used CRISPR/Cas9 gene-editing technology to disrupt the ATG region of the HTT gene via non-homologous end joining to produce mono- or biallelic HTT knock-out human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC) clones., Results: We showed that the loss of wild-type, mutant, or both HTT isoforms does not affect the pluripotency of iPSCs or their transition into neural cells. However, we observed that HTT loss causes division impairments in forebrain neuro-epithelial cells and alters maturation of striatal projection neurons (SPNs) particularly in the acquisition of DARPP32 expression, a key functional marker of SPNs. Finally, young post-mitotic neurons derived from HTT-/- human iPSCs display cellular dysfunctions observed in adult HD neurons., Conclusions: We described a novel collection of isogenic clones with mono- and biallelic HTT inactivation that complement existing HD-hiPSC isogenic series to explore HTT functions and test therapeutic strategies in particular HTT-lowering drugs. Characterizing neural and neuronal derivatives from human iPSCs of this collection, we show evidence that HTT loss or mutation has impacts on neuro-epithelial and striatal neurons maturation, and on basal DNA damage and BDNF axonal transport in post-mitotic neurons.