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Serum ultrafiltrates (SUF) from human patients with different types of cancer contain a blocking factor (BF) that inhibits the cytolytic activity of human tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) in vitro. BF is a protein with a molecular mass of 28 kDa on reducing sodium dodecyl sulfate/polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis (SDS/PAGE). The active material was purified to homogeneity by a combination of affinity chromatography, PAGE, and high-pressure liquid chromatography. Amino acid sequence analysis revealed that BF is derived from the membrane TNF receptor. Purified BF blocks the lytic activity of recombinant human and mouse TNF-alpha and recombinant human lymphotoxin on murine L929 cells in vitro. However, BF inhibits the lytic activity of TNF-alpha more effectively than it does that of lymphotoxin. The BF also inhibits the necrotizing activity of recombinant human TNF-alpha when coinjected into established cutaneous Meth A tumors in BALB/c mice. The BF may have an important role in (i) the regulation and control of TNF-alpha and lymphotoxin activity in cancer patients, (ii) interaction between the tumor and the host antitumor mechanisms, and (iii) use of systemically administered TNF-alpha in clinical trials with human cancer patients.

A human tumor necrosis factor (TNF) binding protein from serum of cancer patients was purified to homogeneity and partially sequenced. Synthetic DNA probes based on amino acid sequence information were used to isolate cDNA clones encoding a receptor for TNF. The TNF receptor (TNF-R) is a 415 amino acid polypeptide with a single membrane-spanning region. The extracellular cysteine-rich domain of the TNF-R is homologous to the nerve growth factor receptor and the B cell activation protein Bp50. Human embryonic kidney cells transfected with a TNF-R expression vector specifically bind both 125I-labeled and biotinylated TNF-alpha. Unlabeled TNF-alpha and TNF-beta were equally effective at displacing the binding of labeled TNF-alpha to TNF-R expressing cells. Northern analysis indicates a single species of mRNA for the TNF-R in a variety of cell types. Therefore, the soluble TNF binding protein found in human serum is probably proteolytically derived from the TNF-R.

Few if any studies have measured the effects of water-soluble anionic polyacrylamide (WSPAM) on infiltration and soil water distribution in different segments of irrigation furrows. We conducted a four-year study on a silt loam soil with 1.5% slopes. Control furrows received no WSPAM and inflows were 15.1 L min-1, whereas WSPAM was applied using 10 mg L-1 a.i. to 45 L min-1 inflows during furrow advance. Despite its greater advance phase inflow rates, WSPAM application reduced sediment concentrations in furrow streams by an average of 89% relative to the control. A surface irrigation model, WinSRFR 5.1, was used to separate furrow inflow rate effects on infiltration from that of WSPAM. Relative to results predicted by simulation for the entire furrow, the polymer treatment: (1) increased advance time an average 1.4-fold, (2) increased advance-phase infiltrated volume 1.5-fold, and (3) increased infiltration volume at the common opportunity time 1.2-fold. Hence, these effects resulted from WSPAM and not from differences in treatment inflow rates. Treatment infiltration amounts varied markedly among irrigations and years, as did the intensity of WSPAM effects. These were attributed mainly to differences in infiltration opportunity time, but temporal differences in soil water content during furrow formation, irrigation water electrical conductivity, initial soil surface water content and water temperature, and the irrigation-long, furrow- stream mean sediment content also appear to have influenced infiltration rates. Although inconsistent, WSPAM increased net furrow infiltration in the lower section and reduced infiltration in the upper section relative to control furrows. This effect could not be explained by the greater inflow rate and shorter advance time of the WSPAM treatments and was attributed to spatially variable WSPAM effects on infiltration opportunity time and possibly irrigation water viscosity. The WSPAM management approach, while protecting against furrow erosion, may potentially provide a means of improving irrigation uniformity and reducing associated percolation water and nutrient losses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Understanding long-term impacts of agricultural landscapes on shallow groundwater quality is needed to improve soil and water management in the Twin Falls irrigation tract in southern Idaho. In 1999 and 2002 through 2007, we resampled 10 of the 15 tunnel drains monitored in a late-1960s study to determine how nutrient concentrations and flow rates of outflows have changed over time in response to changes in land management or climate. Since the late 1960s, an 8-fold increase in the dairy herd has driven shifts toward increased feed cropping, which, along with improved hybrids and production, increased inorganic and manure fertilizer use. The late-1960s to early-2000s period saw a consistent 1.4-fold increase in mean tunnel-drain outflow nitrate-nitrogen (NO3-N) concentrations (from 3.06 to 5.06 mg L−1 [ppm]), a 10% decrease in mean chloride (Cl) (from 49.2 to 44.2 mg L−1 [ppm]), and an overall 14% decrease in dissolved reactive phosphorus (DRP) (14 to 12 μg L−1 [ppb]). However, 3 of the 10 tunnels exhibited increased DRP concentrations during the period, and the rate of DRP increase was positively related to increasing encroachment of confined animal feeding operations or residential development. Decreases in tunnel flow between sampling periods were linearly related to corresponding increases in the fraction of sprinkler irrigation employed on lands drained by the tunnels (p = 0.01). However, further conversion from furrow to sprinkler irrigation is unlikely to reduce tunnel drain NO3-N concentrations since the latter were unrelated to changes in sprinkler coverage. The amount and timing of applied N and availability for crop uptake or leaching should be more carefully managed in these soils to prevent continued increases in groundwater NO3-N concentrations. It is recommended that alfalfa (Medicago sativa L.) rotations be followed by deep-rooted crops with large N requirements to better utilize N mineralized from killed alfalfa roots. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

To efficiently use nitrogen (N) while protecting water quality, one must know how a second-year crop, without further N fertilization, responds in years following a manure application. In an Idaho field study of winter wheat (Triticum aestivumL.) following organically fertilized sugarbeet (Beta vulgarisL.), we determined the residual (second-year) effects of fall-applied solid dairy manure, either stockpiled or composted, on wheat yield, biomass N, protein, and grain N removal. Along with a no-N control and urea (202 kg N ha−1), first-year treatments included compost (218 and 435 kg estimated available N ha−1) and manure (140 and 280 kg available N ha−1). All materials were incorporated into a Greenleaf silt loam (Xeric Calciargid) at Parma in fall 2002 and 2003 prior to planting first-year sugarbeet. Second-year wheat grain yield was similar among urea and organic N sources that applied optimal amounts of plant-available N to the preceding year’s sugarbeet, thus revealing no measurable second-year advantage for organic over conventional N sources. Both organic amendments applied at high rates to the preceding year’s sugarbeet produced greater wheat yields (compost in 2004 and manure in 2005) than urea applied at optimal N rates. On average, second-year wheat biomass took up 49% of the inorganic N remaining in organically fertilized soil after sugarbeet harvest. Applying compost or manure at greater than optimum rates for sugarbeet may increase second-year wheat yield but increase N losses as well. AbbreviationsCNS, carbon–nitrogen–sulfur [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]