Advancing the Sustainability of US Agriculture through Long-Term Research.

Agriculture in the United States must respond to escalating demands for productivity and efficiency, as well as pressures to improve its stewardship of natural resources. Growing global population and changing diets, combined with a greater societal awareness of agriculture's role in delivering ecosystem services beyond food, feed, fiber, and energy production, require a comprehensive perspective on where and how US agriculture can be sustainably intensified, that is, made more productive without exacerbating local and off-site environmental concerns. The USDA's Long-Term Agroecosystem Research (LTAR) network is composed of 18 locations distributed across the contiguous United States working together to integrate national and local agricultural priorities and advance the sustainable intensification of US agriculture. We explore here the concept of sustainable intensification as a framework for defining strategies to enhance production, environmental, and rural prosperity outcomes from agricultural systems. We also elucidate the diversity of factors that have shaped the past and present conditions of cropland, rangeland, and pastureland agroecosystems represented by the LTAR network and identify priorities for research in the areas of production, resource conservation and environmental quality, and rural prosperity. Ultimately, integrated long-term research on sustainable intensification at the national scale is critical to developing practices and programs that can anticipate and address challenges before they become crises.

Polarized spectral properties and laser demonstration of Nd-doped Sr3Y2(BO3)4 crystal.

Detailed polarized spectral properties of a 0.685 at. % Nd(3+):Sr(3)Y(2)(BO(3))(4) crystal grown by the Czochralski method have been investigated, including the absorption cross section, the emission cross section, and the fluorescence lifetime. The anisotropy of the spectral properties in different polarized directions was discussed thoroughly. The absorption and emission spectra of Nd(3+) are found to be inhomogeneously broadened due to its internal disordered lattice. Additionally, the CW laser operation at 1.06 µm was also demonstrated for the first time. The maximum output power of 905 mW was achieved, with corresponding optical conversion efficiency of 10.8% and slope efficiency of 12.8%.

Chemical assembly of TiO2 and TiO2@Ag nanoparticles on silk fiber to produce multifunctional fabrics.

A carefully designed surface modification technique for the manufacture of multifunctional silk textile nanocomposite materials is successfully developed by the functionalization of silk with TiO(2) and TiO(2)@Ag nanoparticles (NPs). The NPs are assembled onto a silk substrate through covalent linkages, including enediol ligand-metal oxide bonding, resin dehydration and the acylation of silk. Owing to the strong chemical bonding, silk fibroin fabric (SFF) and the NPs form a stable composite system. The functionalized SFF, especially TiO(2)@Ag NP-functionalized SFF are endowed with remarkable UV protection properties, and an efficient anti-bacterial capability toward Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aureus, and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. Furthermore, the nearly total photodegradation of methylene orange (MO) under UV illumination illustrates that functionalized SFF possesses high photocatalytic and self-cleaning capability. This multifunctional silk material satisfies the market demand for natural "smart" products, and is a promising practical material for use in the textile industry, hospital sterilization and environmental cleanup.

An introduced generalist parasite, the sticktight flea (Echidnophaga gallinacea), and its pathology in the threatened Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens).

The sticktight flea, (Echidnophaga gallinacea), a major pest of the domestic chicken (Gallus gallus) that can cause severe pathology or death if untreated, is rarely recorded in free-living avian species. Sticktight fleas, however, were observed on the federally threatened Florida scrub-jay (Aphelocoma coerulescens) in February 2004, in south central Florida. Of the 81 Florida scrub-jays (FSJs) sampled before the 2004 breeding season, 12 were infested, with from 1 to as many as 57 fleas. Subsequent survivorship and variation in health indices led us to conclude that the sticktight flea caused the death of several jays. Within 4 mo, 46% of sticktight flea-infested (INF) jays died, whereas in the nonflea-infested (NINF) jays, only 5.9% died. Adult INF birds lost body mass in the time since a previous capture compared with NINF jays, and mass gain was slowed in 1-yr-old INF jays. Hematocrit of INF jays was dramatically impacted, as low as 17%, and was negatively correlated with the extent of infestation. Leukocyte counts were highest in INF jays; however, plasma immunoglobulin levels were lowest. Physiological stress levels, measured using plasma corticosterone, increased more rapidly in INF jays than NINF jays and were positively correlated with heterophil/lymphocyte ratios. The impact of the sticktight flea on the federally threatened FSJ negates previous findings that sticktight fleas are benign in wild avian hosts.

Inhaled albuterol, but not intravenous lidocaine, protects against intubation-induced bronchoconstriction in asthma.

BACKGROUND: The ability of intravenous lidocaine to prevent intubation-induced bronchospasm is unclear. The authors performed a prospective, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial to test the ability of intravenous lidocaine and inhaled albuterol to attenuate airway reactivity after tracheal intubation in asthmatic patients undergoing general anesthesia. METHODS: Sixty patients were randomized to receive either 1.5 mg/kg intravenous lidocaine or saline, 3 min before tracheal intubation. An additional 50 patients were randomized to receive 4 puffs of inhaled albuterol or placebo 15-20 min before tracheal intubation. Anesthesia was induced with propofol. Immediately after intubation and at 5-min intervals, transpulmonary pressure and airflow were recorded, and lower pulmonary resistance (RL) was calculated. Isoflurane was administered after the initial two measurements to assess reversibility of bronchoconstriction. A bronchoconstrictor response to intubation was defined as RL greater than or equal to 5 cm H2O. l-1. s-1 in the first two measurements after intubation and RL subsequently decreasing by 50% or more after isoflurane. RESULTS: The lidocaine and placebo groups were not different in the peak RL before administration of isoflurane (8.2 cm H2O. l-1. s-1 vs. 7.6 cm H2O. l-1. s-1) or frequency of airway response to intubation (lidocaine 6 of 30 vs. placebo 5 of 27). In contrast, the albuterol group had lower peak RL (5.3 cm H2O. l-1. s-1 vs. 8.9 cm H2O. l-1. s-1; P < 0.05) and a lower frequency of airway response (1 of 25 vs. 8 of 23; P < 0.05) than the placebo group. CONCLUSIONS: Inhaled albuterol blunted airway response to tracheal intubation in asthmatic patients, whereas intravenous lidocaine did not.

Epidermolysis bullosa--a review of 15 years' experience, including experience with combined general and regional anaesthetic techniques.

Eight patients with epidermolysis bullosa received a total of 60 anaesthetics for 67 procedures over the fifteen-year period 1972 to 1986. On twenty-three occasions patients were intubated. On thirteen occasions general anaesthesia was supplemented by regional blockade, involving a total of thirty-four local anaesthetic blocks. Complications from intubation were minimal and none were seen related to regional blockade.

Malignant melanoma arising in an ovarian cystic teratoma in pregnancy.

Ovarian cystic teratoma is a common neoplasm, but malignant melanoma arising within such a tumor is exceedingly rare. The small number of previous cases generally occurred in older individuals, usually with a poor outcome. The patient presented herein is remarkable for her youth and an optimistic prognosis. Hers is also the first such case to be associated with pregnancy. The relevant literature is briefly reviewed.

Australian children and the threat of nuclear war.

Seven hundred and one 10- to 13-year-old schoolchildren from 20 schools in the Hunter region of New South Wales were asked questions about the future. The questionnaire, which was in two main sections, commenced with general, open-ended questions about the children's expectations, hopes and wishes. It then moved to more specific questions which were designed to assess the children's current level of knowledge about nuclear war. In the unprompted section, 56% of the children mentioned war as one of their concerns, while 33% wrote specifically of nuclear war. In answer to specific questions, the majority (97%) of children reported being aware of the issues of nuclear armaments and nuclear war. Sixty-eight per cent of children considered that nuclear war will or might occur; 31% felt that this would be within their own lifetimes. Most of the children reported the mass media to be their source of information on these issues; very few had heard about them from family or friends. The results challenge a commonly expressed belief that children of this age are not aware of the nuclear arms situation. Awareness of this issue and its implications, which is coupled with a lack of opportunities for discussion, may be detrimental to the well-being of children.

Electrosurgical fundamentals.

Electrosurgery is used regularly by physicians in the performance of minor outpatient surgery. Most dermatologists are familiar with the electrosurgical methods used to treat many common skin lesions. Many practitioners, however, are unfamiliar with the electrophysical fundamentals underlying these modalities. The basic principles necessary for the safe and optimal use of these methods are presented herein.

Optical-fiber systems with nonreciprocal couplers.

The effectively nonreciprocal behavior of a single-mode to multimode optical-fiber coupler is discussed and results from polished couplers given. Two different applications in local-area networks and recirculating rings are investigated and the results presented.

Lack of agreement between subjective ratings of instructors and objective testing of knowledge acquisition in a urological continuing medical education course.

Objective scores from multiple-choice questions before and after a postgraduate course were compared to subjective ratings of the instructors at a 3-day seminar. The objective mean scores after the course were significantly higher than the scores before the course (p less than 0.0001). There was no correlation between test results and subjective ratings of instructors.