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Summary Background Results from retrospective studies indicate that selecting individuals for low-dose CT lung cancer screening on the basis of a highly predictive risk model is superior to using criteria similar to those used in the National Lung Screening Trial (NLST; age, pack-year, and smoking quit-time). We designed the Pan-Canadian Early Detection of Lung Cancer (PanCan) study to assess the efficacy of a risk prediction model to select candidates for lung cancer screening, with the aim of determining whether this approach could better detect patients with early, potentially curable, lung cancer. Methods We did this single-arm, prospective study in eight centres across Canada. We recruited participants aged 50–75 years, who had smoked at some point in their life (ever-smokers), and who did not have a self-reported history of lung cancer. Participants had at least a 2% 6-year risk of lung cancer as estimated by the PanCan model, a precursor to the validated PLCOm2012 model. Risk variables in the model were age, smoking duration, pack-years, family history of lung cancer, education level, body-mass index, chest x-ray in the past 3 years, and history of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Individuals were screened with low-dose CT at baseline (T0), and at 1 (T1) and 4 (T4) years post-baseline. The primary outcome of the study was incidence of lung cancer. This study is registered with ClinicalTrials.gov, number NCT00751660. Findings 7059 queries came into the study coordinating centre and were screened for PanCan risk. 15 were duplicates, so 7044 participants were considered for enrolment. Between Sept 24, 2008, and Dec 17, 2010, we recruited and enrolled 2537 eligible ever-smokers. After a median follow-up of 5·5 years (IQR 3·2–6·1), 172 lung cancers were diagnosed in 164 individuals (cumulative incidence 0·065 [95% CI 0·055–0·075], incidence rate 138·1 per 10 000 person-years [117·8–160·9]). There were ten interval lung cancers (6% of lung cancers and 6% of individuals with cancer): one diagnosed between T0 and T1, and nine between T1 and T4. Cumulative incidence was significantly higher than that observed in NLST (4·0%; p Interpretation The PanCan model was effective in identifying individuals who were subsequently diagnosed with early, potentially curable, lung cancer. The incidence of cancers detected and the proportion of early stage cancers in the screened population was higher than observed in previous studies. This approach should be considered for adoption in lung cancer screening programmes. Funding Terry Fox Research Institute and Canadian Partnership Against Cancer.

In the future, cities will be defined by super tall buildings due to an increase in population growth and urbanization. Although there are many benefits to living in dense urban centers, the interactions between buildings and wind affect the comfort and safety of pedestrians at street level. In a few notable instances, tall buildings have directed high speed winds to street levels that have affected outdoor spaces of businesses, the balance of pedestrians or in severe cases the safety of pedestrians when a car flipped over and fatally injured an individual in Leeds, England. The Financial District in Toronto has been selected as a case study, as dense development of the area over the last 70 years has fostered increasingly noticeable high winds at pedestrian level. The stages of development in this district have been divided into six significant construction periods and the changes in wind effects have been assessed with the use of CFD models, water flume and wind tunnel tests. The results demonstrated that tall buildings can alter the flow in unexpected ways and that the effects caused by the buildings in the urban environment are interconnected. The safety and comfort (along with other parameters associated with wind) of pedestrians are factors that must be incorporated into the design of the city. Through visualizing the decade long changes in wind due to the growth of cities, it is possible to create strategies that can incorporate the knowledge of wind issues into the design of future cities. By using accessible methods, whether through visualization or computational means, the highly complex relationships between the built environment, wind and people can be shared with engineers, architects and other designers of cities, to enable a collaborative design of future cities that will reduce wind-related discomfort.

Telemedicine is slowly transforming the way in which healthcare is delivered and has the potential to improve access to subspecialty expertise, reduce healthcare costs, and improve the overall quality of care. While many subspecialty fields within medicine today have either experimented with or begun to implement telemedicine platforms to enable remote consultation and care, dermatology is particularly suited for this care system as skin disorders are uniquely visible to the human eye. Through teledermatology, diagnostic images of skin disorders with accompanying clinical histories can be remotely reviewed by teledermatologists by any number of modalities, such as photographic clinical images or live video teleconferencing. Diagnoses and treatment recommendations can then be rendered and implemented remotely. The evidence to date supports both its diagnostic and treatment accuracy and its cost effectiveness. Administrative, regulatory, privacy, and reimbursement policies surrounding this dynamic field continue to evolve. In this review, we examine the history, evidence, and administrative landscape surrounding teledermatology and discuss current practice guidelines and ongoing controversies.

SUMMARYForest carbon sequestration plays an important role in reducing the build-up of greenhouse gases that are known to contribute to global climate change. However, private landowners will supply less carbon sequestration than would be socially desirable if they are unable to capture the economic value of sequestration. We examine the viability of offering landowners property tax subsidies for forest carbon sequestration (referred to as a ‘tax-based subsidy approach’). Waiving property taxes on forestland provides incentives for landowners to afforest non-forested land and/or sustain forests that are at risk of deforestation. We focus on 17 Tennessee counties and one Kentucky county, constituting one of 179 Bureau of Economic Analysis areas in the United States, as a case study. Higher forestland net return from waiving property taxes increases the share of forestland in the 18 counties, which in turn increases the accumulation of carbon in the forest ecosystem, suggesting that this is a viable approach. The annualized county-level cost of supplying forest carbon sequestration using a tax-based subsidy ranges between US$15.56 and US$563.58 per carbon tonne across the 18 counties. Relevant government agencies can use these estimates to target selected counties for more cost-effective adoption of the county-level tax-based subsidy approach.

A 2012 survey of upland U.S. cotton producers was analyzed to determine the factors contributing to changes in weed management costs (WMCs) after the identification of herbicide-resistant weeds. An ordered probit regression estimated changes in WMC as a first-order Markov process. The most important determinants of post-resistance cost increases were initial WMCs, adoption of labor-intensive remedial practices, and wick application of herbicides. Cultivation and mechanical/chemical-intensive practices did not increase WMCs. Post-resistance changes in WMC ranged between $85 and $138 ha−1, depending on the practices adopted. WMCs increased by $88 ha−1 when cost-neutral practices were adopted. The in-sample aggregate costs of managing herbicide resistance ranged between $25 and $53 million, depending on the types of adopted practices.

BACKGROUND: Bullous pemphigoid is a blistering skin disorder with increased mortality. We tested whether a strategy of starting treatment with doxycycline gives acceptable short-term blister control while conferring long-term safety advantages over starting treatment with oral corticosteroids. METHODS: We did a pragmatic, multicentre, parallel-group randomised controlled trial of adults with bullous pemphigoid (three or more blisters at two or more sites and linear basement membrane IgG or C3). Participants were randomly assigned to doxycycline (200 mg per day) or prednisolone (0·5 mg/kg per day) using random permuted blocks of randomly varying size, and stratified by baseline severity (3-9, 10-30, and >30 blisters for mild, moderate, and severe disease, respectively). Localised adjuvant potent topical corticosteroids (

Studies investigating temporal and geographic adoption of precision farming technologies (PFT) are valuable for researchers, consultants, and farmers to make more informed production decisions. Focusing on southern U.S. cotton producers, the objective of this study was to assess the timing trends and geographic patterns of PFT adoption. Data were obtained from a mail survey of cotton producers in 14 southern states in 2013. The overall PFT adoption level was 73.5%. Specifically, the adoption level was 40.9% for information gathering (IG), 67% for global positioning system-guidance (GPSG), 25.3% for variable rate application (VRA), and 29.3% for automatic section control technologies (ASC). The cumulative adoption level across years generally fit the logistic function curve for the various PFT evaluated in this study. The peak annual adoption growth was 4.0% in 2008 for IG, 6.8% in 2010 for GPSG, 4.4% in 2010 for VRA, and 7.2% in 2010 for ASC. Geographically, cotton farmers in the Corn Belt region had the highest PF adoption level (91.7%), followed by the Mississippi Delta region (80.7%) and the Northern and Southern Plains region (75.4%). The lowest PF adoption level was in the Southeast region (65.2%). Of the four PFT categories, GPSG was the most widely adopted. The geographic technology adoption patterns are valuable for farm input dealers to target potential buyers of PFT. This study provides researchers with valuable PFT adoption trends among southern cotton farmers and helps producers make more informed adoption decisions.

Agricultural watersheds have been identified as a source of nutrients to surface water bodies, contributing to the degradation of water quality. Reduced till (RT) management practices have been employed to reduce the potential for particulate P loss in surface runoff, but may increase the transfer of dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) into tile drains. It is unclear if RT increases P losses in tile drainage when nutrient management strategies are used and fertilizers are applied in the subsurface. It is also unclear how these management strategies perform year round, including during the snowmelt period. The objectives of this study are to quantify year round losses of runoff, DRP and total phosphorus (TP) losses from drainage tiles beneath annual disk till (AT) and reduced till (RT) plots, and, to investigate the role of seasonality (particularly winter snowmelt) on runoff and P losses. Results indicate that both runoff and P-export were episodic across all plots and most annual losses occurred during a few key events under heavy precipitation or snowmelt events. Runoff and P losses through drainage tiles were primarily observed between October and May, with most losses occurring in March during snowmelt. Tillage practices did not affect DRP or TP concentrations or loads in tile drainage. This study has highlighted the importance of the non-growing season (particularly winter) in annual P loss, and has demonstrated that the cumulative Best Management Practices (BMPs) used at the study sites may be an effective way to reduce P losses in tile drain effluent.

Gene function in cancer is often cell type-specific. The epithelial cell-specific transcription factor ELF3 is a documented tumor suppressor in many epithelial tumors yet displays oncogenic properties in others. Here, we show that ELF3 is an oncogene in the adenocarcinoma subtype of lung cancer (LUAD), providing genetic, functional, and clinical evidence of subtype specificity. We discover a region of focal amplification at chromosome 1q32.1 encompassing the ELF3 locus in LUAD which is absent in the squamous subtype. Gene dosage and promoter hypomethylation affect the locus in up to 80% of LUAD analyzed. ELF3 expression was required for tumor growth and a pan-cancer expression network analysis supports its subtype and tissue specificity. We further show that ELF3 displays strong prognostic value in LUAD but not LUSC. We conclude that, contrary to many other tumors of epithelial origin, ELF3 is an oncogene and putative therapeutic target in LUAD., Tissue context can dictate why a gene can have seemingly opposing functions in different settings. ELF3 is tumor suppressive in many cancers of epithelial origin but in lung cancer, the authors describe an oncogenic role in the adenocarcinoma histology of non-small cell lung cancer.

Background: Currently, the number of inpatient dermatology providers cannot meet the overall burden of inpatient skin disease in the United States. Introduction: We seek to determine whether inpatient eDermatology can meet the need for inpatient skin disease in hospitals without access to a dermatology hospitalist. Methods: This retrospective cohort study reviewed inpatient eDermatology consults at the University of Pittsburgh eDermatology Consult Service between July 1, 2014 and June 30, 2018. This included a diverse group of 1,320 patients admitted to 10 different community hospitals. Study data were reviewed for demographics, diagnostic impressions, time to discharge, and diagnostic discordance between referring and consultant physicians. Results: Forty percent of inpatient eDermatology consults were admitted with a primary dermatologic diagnosis. Referring diagnosis most commonly was rash not otherwise specified. eDermatology consulting impressions, conversely, were specific and varied. Ninety-one percent of patients received a consultant impression by the end of day, or within 8 hours. Overall, 89.3% of patients with a referring diagnosis of "cellulitis" were given a different diagnosis by the consultant. Discussion: Although this study lacked concordance data to compare the Inpatient eDermatologist with a live Inpatient Dermatologist, overall, eDermatology consultants were able to provide rapid consult recommendations that aided patient management. Conclusions: Inpatient eDermatology appears to be an effective medium to provide dermatologic care to patients at hospitals without a dermatology presence. This delivery of health care can help prevent misdiagnosis, unnecessary costs, and inappropriate systemic therapies.

Brucella abortus infects the placenta of pregnant cows, where it replicates to high levels and triggers abortion of the calf. The aborted material is highly infectious and transmits infection to both cows and humans, but very little is known about how B. abortus causes abortion. By studying this infection in pregnant mice, we discovered that B. abortus kills trophoblasts, which are important cells for maintaining pregnancy. This killing required an injected bacterial protein (VceC) that triggered an endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress response in the trophoblast. By inhibiting ER stress or infecting mice that lack CHOP, a protein induced by ER stress, we could prevent death of trophoblasts, reduce inflammation, and increase the viability of the pups. Our results suggest that B. abortus injects VceC into placental trophoblasts to promote its transmission by abortion., Subversion of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) function is a feature shared by multiple intracellular bacteria and viruses, and in many cases this disruption of cellular function activates pathways of the unfolded protein response (UPR). In the case of infection with Brucella abortus, the etiologic agent of brucellosis, the unfolded protein response in the infected placenta contributes to placentitis and abortion, leading to pathogen transmission. Here we show that B. abortus infection of pregnant mice led to death of infected placental trophoblasts in a manner that depended on the VirB type IV secretion system (T4SS) and its effector VceC. The trophoblast death program required the ER stress-induced transcription factor CHOP. While NOD1/NOD2 expression in macrophages contributed to ER stress-induced inflammation, these receptors did not play a role in trophoblast death. Both placentitis and abortion were independent of apoptosis-associated Speck-like protein containing a caspase activation and recruitment domain (ASC). These studies show that B. abortus uses its T4SS to induce cell-type-specific responses to ER stress in trophoblasts that trigger placental inflammation and abortion. Our results suggest further that in B. abortus the T4SS and its effectors are under selection as bacterial transmission factors.

This study evaluates biorefinery bio-oil feedstock costs at the plant gate for a prospective field pennycress (Thlaspi arvense L.) to sustainable aviation fuel (SAF) supply chain. The biorefinery would supply SAF to the Nashville, Tennessee international airport. Supply chain activities include pennycress production, transporting oilseed to a crushing facility, processing of oilseed into bio-oil, and transporting bio-oil to the biorefinery. The analysis shows profit potential for economic agents in the prospective supply chain. Estimated breakeven cost (profit = 0) of growing, harvesting, and transporting oilseed to a crushing facility is 17.7 ¢ kg−1. A crushing facility can pay up to 23.8 ¢ kg−1 for pennycress oilseed during the first year of production and provide investors 12.5% annual rate of return. Therefore, a profit margin of up to 6.1 ¢ kg−1 is available for the crushing facility to induce prospective pennycress producers to supply oilseed for SAF production. However, the estimated profit margin was sensitive mainly to uncertain oilseed yields, changes in field production costs, and pennycress meal and bio-oil prices. A spatial biorefineries sitting model, the Biofuels Facility Location Analysis Modeling Endeavor, estimated that the least-cost supply chain configuration is to establish three crushing facilities located in Union City, Huntington, and Clarksville, TN, to supply bio-oil to the biorefinery, with the biorefinery sited in an industrial park about 24.14 km from the Nashville international airport aviation fuel storage. Estimated total costs of bio-oil at the biorefinery plant gate are between 83 and 109 ¢ kg−1 if crushing facility oilseed procurement costs are between 17.7 and 23.8 ¢ kg−1 for oilseed.

New technologies and analysis methods are enabling genomic structural variants (SVs) to be detected with ever-increasing accuracy, resolution, and comprehensiveness. To help translate these methods to routine research and clinical practice, we developed the first sequence-resolved benchmark set for identification of both false negative and false positive germline large insertions and deletions. To create this benchmark for a broadly consented son in a Personal Genome Project trio with broadly available cells and DNA, the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) Consortium integrated 19 sequence-resolved variant calling methods from diverse technologies. The final benchmark set contains 12745 isolated, sequence-resolved insertion (7281) and deletion (5464) calls ≥50 base pairs (bp). The Tier 1 benchmark regions, for which any extra calls are putative false positives, cover 2.51 Gbp and 5262 insertions and 4095 deletions supported by ≥1 diploid assembly. We demonstrate the benchmark set reliably identifies false negatives and false positives in high-quality SV callsets from short-, linked-, and long-read sequencing and optical mapping.

After entering a cell, intracellular pathogens must evade destruction and generate a niche for intracellular replication. A strategy shared by multiple intracellular pathogens is the deployment of type III secretion system (T3SS)- and type IV secretion system (T4SS)-injected proteins (effectors) that subvert cellular functions. A subset of these effectors targets activities of the host cell’s endoplasmic reticulum (ER). Effectors are now appreciated to interfere with the ER in multiple ways, including capture of secretory vesicles, tethering of pathogen vacuoles to the ER, and manipulation of ER-based autophagy initiation and the unfolded-protein response. These strategies enable pathogens to generate a niche with access to cellular nutrients and to evade the host cell’s defenses.

This medical records review assesses whether dermatologic manifestations of nutrient deficiency are associated with poor outcomes in hospitalized adults.

New technologies and analysis methods are enabling genomic structural variants (SVs) to be detected with ever-increasing accuracy, resolution, and comprehensiveness. Translating these methods to routine research and clinical practice requires robust benchmark sets. We developed the first benchmark set for identification of both false negative and false positive germline SVs, which complements recent efforts emphasizing increasingly comprehensive characterization of SVs. To create this benchmark for a broadly consented son in a Personal Genome Project trio with broadly available cells and DNA, the Genome in a Bottle (GIAB) Consortium integrated 19 sequence-resolved variant calling methods, both alignment- and de novo assembly-based, from short-, linked-, and long-read sequencing, as well as optical and electronic mapping. The final benchmark set contains 12745 isolated, sequence-resolved insertion and deletion calls ≥50 base pairs (bp) discovered by at least 2 technologies or 5 callsets, genotyped as heterozygous or homozygous variants by long reads. The Tier 1 benchmark regions, for which any extra calls are putative false positives, cover 2.66 Gbp and 9641 SVs supported by at least one diploid assembly. Support for SVs was assessed using svviz with short-, linked-, and long-read sequence data. In general, there was strong support from multiple technologies for the benchmark SVs, with 90% of the Tier 1 SVs having support in reads from more than one technology. The Mendelian genotype error rate was 0.3%, and genotype concordance with manual curation was >98.7%. We demonstrate the utility of the benchmark set by showing it reliably identifies both false negatives and false positives in high-quality SV callsets from short-, linked-, and long-read sequencing and optical mapping. GIAB is working towards a new version of the benchmark set that will use new technologies and methods such as PacBio Circular Consensus Sequencing and ultralong Oxford Nanopore sequencing to expand to more challenging genome regions and include more challenging SVs such as inversions. We are also developing a robust integration process to make calls on GRCh37 and GRCh38 for all seven GIAB samples.

This paper presents key specifications of RRAM-based nonvolatile memory embedded into Intel 22FFL FinFET Technology. 22FFL is a high performance, ultra low power technology developed for mobile and RF applications providing extensive high voltage and analog support and high design flexibility combined with low manufacturing costs [1]. Embedded RRAM technology presented in this paper achieves 104 cycle endurance combined with 85°C 10-year retention and high die yield. Technology data retention, endurance and yield are demonstrated on 7.2Mbit arrays. We describe device characteristics, bit cell integration into the logic flow, as well as key considerations for achieving high endurance and retention properties.

BackgroundDermatological services in Laos, South East Asia are limited mainly to the capital and patch testing is currently not available, so no data exists regarding the common cutaneous allergens in this population.ObjectivesThe aim of this study was to document common allergens in paediatric patients with atopic dermatitis attending the allergy clinic in the capital, Vientiane.Patients/Materials/MethodsFifty paediatric patients with atopic dermatitis were patch tested using TRUE Test® panels 1 to 3 (35 allergens). Readings were taken at Days 2 and 4.ResultsTwenty-six positive patch tests were recorded on Day 4 in 15 children (30%). The most common allergens were: gold (18%), nickel (10%), formaldehyde (6%) and p-Phenylenediamine (6%). Other positive allergens were potassium dichromate (2%), cobalt dichloride (2%), Bronopol (2%), paraben mix (2%), fragrance mix 1 (2%) and neomycin (2%). The majority of the patients with positive reactions were female.ConclusionsThis study represents the first documented patch test results in the Lao population. It is hoped that these findings will help clinicians to advise the families of children with atopic dermatitis on common allergens to avoid and inform future work on contact dermatitis in this population.

The amount of water withdrawn to support economic activity in the southeastern United States is estimated using a multiregional Environmental Input-Output/Life Cycle Analysis model. Water multipliers are measured as gallons of water withdrawn to meet a one-dollar increase in a commodity’s final demand. The analysis finds that direct and indirect water withdrawal requirements embedded in the production of goods and services is heterogeneous across the study region. The utilities and crop production sectors exhibit the largest water multipliers. For an increase in final demand for crop production, direct regional effects contribute more to water multipliers compared to contributions from inter-regional and intersectoral sources. Alternatively, regional and inter-sectoral multipliers contribute more to the composition of the utilities sectors’ water multipliers. The resulting water footprint could inform the design of water management policies for local, state, and regional institutions, including markets for water.

Persistent Grover's disease can cause significant symptoms of pruritus thereby decreasing quality of life. Many patients undergo successful conservative management of their disease; however, a subset of patients is recalcitrant despite multiple lines of therapy. Accordingly, we present, to our knowledge, the first reported case of recalcitrant Grover's disease treated successfully with radiotherapy. J Drugs Dermatol. 2019;18(4):392-393.

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Background: Gaucher disease type 1 (GD1) is a lysosomal storage disease rarely resulting in end stage pulmonary hypertension (PH) and interstitial lung disease. There have only been two previous case reports of patients with GD1 receiving lung transplants. Case presentation: We report a case of successful bilateral sequential lung transplantation in a patient with end-stage GD1-related PH. Prior to transplant, the patient was on enzyme replacement therapy with imiglucerase and pulmonary vasodilator therapy with bosentan, sildenafil and epoprostenol. The patient had pre-transplant comorbidities of prior splenectomy and osteopenia. She underwent bilateral sequential lung transplantation with basiliximab, methylprednisolone and mycophenolate mofetil induction. Her explanted lungs demonstrated severe pulmonary arterial hypertensive changes, but no Gaucher cells. She was maintained on MMF, tacrolimus, prednisone, imiglucerase and warfarin post-transplant. Her post-transplant course was complicated by hemorrhagic shock, prolonged support with extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, and acute renal failure requiring dialysis. Despite these complications, the patient was discharged and is doing well nine months post-transplantation. Conclusions: This is one of only three reported cases of lung transplantation in patients with GD1. Each case has involved previously splenectomised, female patients with GD1. This is the first to report transplantation in a patient with severe PH and no pulmonary parenchymal disease. As evidenced in our patient, long term treatment with imiglucerase may eliminate the Gaucher cells in the lungs. The PH in these patients is most consistent with pulmonary arterial hypertension, raising the question of whether this should be reclassified as WHO Group 1 PH. Keywords: Lung transplantation, Pulmonary hypertension, Pulmonary arterial hypertension, Gaucher disease, Enzyme replacement therapy, Splenectomy

Chronic lung allograft dysfunction (CLAD) is the most common cause of mortality in lung transplant recipients after the 1st year of transplantation. CLAD has traditionally been classified into two distinct obstructive and restrictive forms: bronchiolitis obliterans syndrome and restrictive allograft syndrome. However, CLAD may manifest with a spectrum of imaging and pathologic findings and a combination of obstructive and restrictive physiologic abnormalities. Although the initial CT manifestations of CLAD may be nonspecific, the progression of findings at follow-up should signal the possibility of CLAD and may be present on imaging studies prior to the development of functional abnormalities of the lung allograft. This review encompasses the evolution of CT findings in CLAD, with emphasis on the underlying pathogenesis and pathologic condition, to enhance understanding of imaging findings. The purpose of this article is to familiarize the radiologist with the initial and follow-up CT findings of the obstructive, restrictive, and mixed forms of CLAD, for which early diagnosis and treatment may result in improved survival. Supplemental material is available for this article. © RSNA, 2021.

This case series study of patients with granulomatous cheilitis at a tertiary referral center seeks to better describe the demographic characteristics, presenting features, associated disorders, and response to treatment of granulomatous cheilitis.

Global climate change will affect crop productivity, technology adoption, and commodity food and fiber prices. This research investigates the ex-ante effects of climate change on cropping mix and irrigation decisions at a watershed scale by integrating a downscaled General Circulation Model (GCM) projections, a crop growth model, and an economic model of the row crop sector typical of corn, soybean, wheat, and sorghum operations in Tennessee, United States. The downscaled GCM is used to generate weather patterns for Tennessee’s watersheds to 2049, under moderate and high greenhouse gas (GHG) emission assumptions. Crop yields and commodity prices were also estimated under these prevailing climate scenarios. Compared with the moderate emission level scenario, greater GHG emissions decrease dryland crop productivity and cause commodity prices to trend upward. A row crop optimization model was developed under the assumption that producers are profit maximizers who base their cropping decisions on the previous yield performance of a cropping system, commodity prices, and production functions, subject to resource constrains. Results suggest that producers in some watersheds adopt irrigation to minimize variability in net returns if water is available. Dryland and irrigated soybeans, dryland corn, and dryland soybean-wheat double cropping could become the dominant cropping systems in watersheds located in western Tennessee while irrigated and dryland soybeans could become the dominant row crop in watersheds located in middle Tennessee.

Demand for woody biomass from the southern United States (US) is increasing because of its reliability in supply, recent developments in co-firing and biofuel conversion technologies, overseas pellet demand, and the expected economic impacts from reorienting the forestry sector towards energy feedstock production. This research examines the interaction between a set of woody biomass harvesting sources (logging residue, non-merchantable, and merchantable roundwood) and wood types (hardwood, planted softwood, and natural softwood), and the impacts harvest costs have on the extraction of these materials in the southern US. The expected woody biomass availability and its geographic distribution are determined with a cost minimizing linear programming model. The marginal cost of woody biomass supply is determined for different energy production targets, subject to satisfying conventional wood demand. Given derived industry supply curves, the economic impacts of the sector are analyzed using the IMpact analysis for PLANning model (IMPLAN) at the Bureau of Economic Analysis (BEA) level. The results suggest that forest biomass for energy production is projected to be available over a much wider price range with logging, residue, and non-merchantable and merchantable roundwood in these regions. Supply of hardwood and softwood biomass from merchantable roundwood is expected to increase if these materials can be harvested for non-conventional uses. Development of harvesting woody biomass from logging residue, non-merchantable, and merchantable timber has positive effects on local economies, bringing with it employment opportunities to some BEA regions.

Genes involved in fetal lung development are thought to play crucial roles in the malignant transformation of adult lung cells. Consequently, the study of lung tumour biology in the context of lung development has the potential to reveal key developmentally relevant genes that play critical roles in lung cancer initiation/progression. Here, we describe for the first time a comprehensive characterization of miRNA expression in human fetal lung tissue, with subsequent identification of 37 miRNAs in non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) that recapitulate their fetal expression patterns. Nuclear factor I/B (NFIB), a transcription factor essential for lung development, was identified as a potential frequent target for these 'oncofetal' miRNAs. Concordantly, analysis of NFIB expression in multiple NSCLC independent cohorts revealed its recurrent underexpression (in ∼40-70% of tumours). Interrogation of NFIB copy number, methylation, and mutation status revealed that DNA level disruption of this gene is rare, and further supports the notion that oncofetal miRNAs are likely the primary mechanism responsible for NFIB underexpression in NSCLC. Reflecting its functional role in regulating lung differentiation, low expression of NFIB was significantly associated with biologically more aggressive subtypes and, ultimately, poorer survival in lung adenocarcinoma patients. Copyright © 2016 Pathological Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Published by John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.

Contact dermatitis is one of the most common occupational diseases, with serious impact on quality of life, lost days at work and a condition that may be chronically relapsing. Regular prophylactic skin cream application is widely acknowledged to be an effective prevention strategy against occupational contact dermatitis; however, compliance rates remain low. To present a simple programme for skin cream application in the workplace with focus on implementation to drive down the rate of occupational irritant contact dermatitis, an expert panel of eight international dermatologists combined personal experience with extensive literature review. The recommendations are based on clinical experience as supported by evidence‐based data from interventional studies. The authors identified three moments for skin cream application in the work place: (i) before starting a work period; (ii) after washing hands; and (iii) after work. Affecting behaviour change requires systematic communications, monitoring and reporting, which is proposed through Kotter's principles of organizational change management. Measurement tools are provided in the appendix. Interventional data based on application of this proposal is required to demonstrate its effectiveness.

This study considered the environmental advantages of switchgrass, along with the economic challenges in its logistics, in the design of a sustainable switchgrass supply chain in Tennessee. Applying a multi-objective optimization model to high-resolution spatial data, potential tradeoffs among the objectives of minimizing feedstock costs, GHG (greenhouse gas) emissions, and soil erosion were identified for a set of conversion facilities on an efficient frontier. The tradeoff relationship was primarily driven by the type of agricultural land converted to switchgrass. Hay and pasture lands were more cost effective but resulted in higher soil carbon losses and soil erosion after being converted to switchgrass. Converting crop lands reduced GHG emissions and soil erosion but caused higher feedstock cost primarily due to the higher opportunity cost of land use. The respective average costs of abating GHG emissions and soil erosion on the efficient frontier were $2378 Mg−1 and $10 Mg−1. The compromise solution conversion facility site generated 63% higher feedstock cost compared to the cost minimizing location, while reducing soil erosion by 70 fold and diminishing GHG emissions by 27%. Reducing soil erosion may be a more cost effective environmental criterion than reducing GHG emissions in developing a sustainable switchgrass supply chain in Tennessee.

The purpose of this study was to determine the effects of three particle sizes of feedstock and two types of novel bale wraps on the quality of switchgrass by monitoring the chemical changes in cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives, and ash over a 225-day period. Using NIR (Near-infrared) modeling to predict the chemical composition of the treated biomass, differences were found in cellulose, lignin, and ash content across switchgrass bales with different particle sizes. Enclosing bales in a net and film impacted the cellulose, lignin, and ash content. Cellulose, hemicellulose, lignin, extractives, and ash were different across the 225-day storage period. A quadratic response function made better prediction about cellulose, lignin, and ash response to storage, and a linear response function best described hemicellulose and extractives response to storage. This study yields valuable information regarding the quality of switchgrass at different intervals between the start and end date of storage, which is important to conversion facilities when determining optimal storage strategies to improve quality of the biomass feedstock, based on potential output yield of a bale over time.

The objective of this research was to describe proportional differences across time and region in management practices among southern cotton farmers who experienced glyphosate-resistant (GR) weeds on their farms earlier than those who experienced them later and among farmers who were closest to one of four historical outbreak epicenters: Lauderdale County, TN; Macon County, GA; Edgecombe County, NC; and Terry County, TX. A mail survey was conducted with cotton farmers in 2012 from 13 southern, cotton-producing states. Survey responses on practices used by farmers were classified into three broad categories of labor, mechanical/tillage/chemical (MTC), and cultural. Proportions of respondents using practices from each category were identified by time and region; across which, proportional-difference tests were conducted. Results indicated respondents encountering GR weeds earlier were more likely than farmers who experienced them later to use the three broad-category practices (labor, 98 vs. 92%; MTC, 95 vs. 89%; and cultural, 86 vs. 76%) and specific practices, including hooded sprayers (76 vs. 58%), in-season herbicide change (83 vs. 60%), and field-border management (60 vs. 35%). Also, respondents closest to Lauderdale County were more likely than farmers closest to Edgecombe County to use broad-labor practices (99 vs. 91%) and specific practices, including hand hoeing (96 vs. 84%), hand spraying (49 vs. 31%), spot spraying (76 vs. 59%), wick applicator (13 vs. 11%), and field-border management (58 vs. 39%). Education programs on weed management can be developed and tailored according to the time and regional differences to provide effective information and communication channels to farmers.

Switchgrass was co-fired with coal in an industrial scale boiler to investigate the co-firing effects on boiler performance and pollutant emissions. Comparing with firing coal alone, co-firing with switchgrass slightly lowered boiler efficiency by 0.6 to 1% under full-load and low-load conditions, respectively. Net carbon dioxide and SO2 emissions were reduced with co-firing. Nitrogen oxides (NOx) emissions were similar with co-firing to firing coal alone under both high and low loading amounts of switchgrass. Varying the nitrogen content by changing switchgrass type and harvest time revealed no significant effect on NOx emission in the range of tested conditions.