Mean age of carbon in fine roots from temperate forests and grasslands with different management

Fine roots are the most dynamic portion of a plant's root system and a major source of soil organic matter. By altering plant species diversity and composition, soil conditions and nutrient availability, and consequently belowground allocation and dynamics of root carbon (C) inputs, land-use and management changes may influence organic C storage in terrestrial ecosystems. In three German regions, we measured fine root radiocarbon (14C) content to estimate the mean time since C in root tissues was fixed from the atmosphere in 54 grassland and forest plots with different management and soil conditions. Although root biomass was on average greater in grasslands 5.1 ± 0.8 g (mean ± SE, n = 27) than in forests 3.1 ± 0.5 g (n = 27) (p < 0.05), the mean age of C in fine roots in forests averaged 11.3 ± 1.8 yr and was older and more variable compared to grasslands 1.7 ± 0.4 yr (p < 0.001). We further found that management affects the mean age of fine root C in temperate grasslands mediated by changes in plant species diversity and composition. Fine root mean C age is positively correlated with plant diversity (r = 0.65) and with the number of perennial species (r = 0.77). Fine root mean C age in grasslands was also affected by study region with averages of 0.7 ± 0.1 yr (n = 9) on mostly organic soils in northern Germany and of 1.8 ± 0.3 yr (n = 9) and 2.6 ± 0.3 (n = 9) in central and southern Germany (p < 0.05). This was probably due to differences in soil nutrient contents and soil moisture conditions between study regions, which affected plant species diversity and the presence of perennial species. Our results indicate more long-lived roots or internal redistribution of C in perennial species and suggest linkages between fine root C age and management in grasslands. These findings improve our ability to predict and model belowground C fluxes across broader spatial scales.

Individual risk factors for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs at the age of weaning.

BACKGROUND In recent years, the occurrence and the relevance of Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs has been examined in several studies. Whereas most of these studies were focused on sole prevalence estimation within different age groups, follow-up of infected piglets or assessment of pathological findings, none of the studies included a detailed analysis of individual and environmental risk factors. Therefore, the aim of the present study was to investigate the frequency of M. hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs of endemically infected herds and to identify individual risk factors potentially influencing the infection status of suckling pigs at the age of weaning. RESULTS The animal level prevalence of M. hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs examined in three conventional pig breeding herds was 3.6% (41/1127) at the time of weaning. A prevalence of 1.2% was found in the same pigs at the end of their nursery period. In a multivariable Poisson regression model it was found that incidence rate ratios (IRR) for suckling pigs are significantly lower than 1 when teeth grinding was conducted (IRR: 0.10). Moreover, high temperatures in the piglet nest during the first two weeks of life (occasionally >40°C) were associated with a decrease of the probability of an infection (IRR: 0.23-0.40). Contrary, the application of PCV2 vaccines to piglets was associated with an increased infection risk (IRR: 9.72). CONCLUSIONS Since single infected piglets are supposed to act as initiators for the transmission of this pathogen in nursery and fattening pigs, the elimination of the risk factors described in this study should help to reduce the incidence rate of M. hyopneumoniae infections and thereby might contribute to a reduced probability of high prevalences in older pigs.

Herd specific risk factors for Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs at the age of weaning.

BACKGROUND Mycoplasma hyopneumoniae is the etiologic agent of enzootic pneumonia mainly occurring in fattening pigs. It is assumed that horizontal transmission of the pathogen during nursery and growing phase starts with few suckling pigs vertically infected by the sow. The aim of the present study was the exploration of the herd prevalence of M. hyopneumoniae infections in suckling pigs followed by an investigation of various herd specific factors for their potential of influencing the occurrence of this pathogen at the age of weaning. RESULTS In this cross-sectional study, 125 breeding herds were examined by taking nasal swabs from 20 suckling pigs in each herd. In total, 3.9% (98/2500) of all nasal swabs were tested positive for M. hyopneumoniae by real-time PCR. Piglets tested positive originated from 46 different herds resulting in an overall herd prevalence of 36.8% (46/125) for M. hyopneumoniae infection in pigs at the age of weaning. While the herds were epidemiologically characterized, the risk for demonstration of M. hyopneumoniae was significantly increased, when the number of purchased gilts per year was more than 120 (OR: 5.8), and when the number of farrowing pens per compartment was higher than 16 (OR: 3.3). In herds with a planned and segregated production, where groups of sows entered previously emptied farrowing units, the risk for demonstration of M. hyopneumoniae in piglets was higher in herds with two or four weeks between batches than in herds with one or three weeks between batches (OR: 2.7). CONCLUSIONS In this cross-sectional study, several risk factors could be identified enhancing the probability of breeding herds to raise suckling pigs already infected with M. hyopneumoniae at the time of weaning. Interestingly, some factors (farrowing rhythm, gilt acclimatisation issues) were overlapping with those also influencing the seroprevalences among sows or the transmission of the pathogen between older age groups. Taking the multifactorial character of enzootic pneumonia into account, the results of this study substantiate that a comprehensive herd specific prevention programme is a prerequisite to reduce transmission of and disease caused by M. hyopneumoniae.

Global Cultural Law and Policy in the Age of Ubiquitous Internet

Digital technologies and the Internet in particular have transformed the ways we create, distribute, use, reuse and consume cultural content; have impacted on the workings of the cultural industries, and more generally on the processes of making, experiencing and remembering culture in local and global spaces. Yet, few of these, often profound, transformations have found reflection in law and institutional design. Cultural policy toolkits, in particular at the international level, are still very much offline/analogue and conceive of culture as static property linked to national sovereignty and state boundaries. The article describes this state of affairs and asks the key question of whether there is a need to reform global cultural law and policy and if yes, what the essential elements of such a reform should be.

Age-of-onset-dependent influence of NOD2 gene variants on disease behaviour and treatment in Crohn's disease

BACKGROUND: Influence of genetic variants in the NOD2 gene may play a more important role in disease activity, behaviour and treatment of pediatric- than adult-onset Crohn's disease (CD). METHODS: 85 pediatric- and 117 adult-onset CD patients were tested for the three main NOD2 CD-associated variants (p.R702W, p.G908R and p.10007fs) and clinical data of at least two years of follow-up were compared regarding disease behaviour and activity, response to therapy and bone mineral density (BMD). RESULTS: Chronic active and moderate to severe course of CD is associated in patients with pediatric-onset (p=0.0001) and NOD2 variant alleles (p=0.0001). In pediatric-onset CD the average PCDAI-Score was significantly higher in patients carrying NOD2 variants (p=0.0008). In addition, underweight during course of the disease (p=0.012) was associated with NOD2 variants. Interestingly, osteoporosis was found more frequently in patients carrying NOD2 variant alleles (p=0.033), especially in pediatric-onset CD patients with homozygous NOD2 variants (p=0.037). Accordingly, low BMD in pediatric-onset CD is associated with a higher PCDAI (p=0.0092), chronic active disease (p=0.0148), underweight at diagnosis (p=0.0271) and during follow-up (p=0.0109). Furthermore, pediatric-onset CD patients with NOD2 variants are more frequently steroid-dependent or refractory (p=0.048) and need long-term immunosuppressive therapy (p=0.0213). CONCLUSIONS: These data suggests that the presence of any of the main NOD2 variants in CD is associated with osteoporosis and an age of onset dependent influence towards underweight, higher disease activity and a more intensive immunosuppressive therapy. This observation supports the idea for an early intensive treatment strategy in children and adolescent CD patients with NOD2 gene variants.

Folk Music in the Baltics at the Age of Digital Globalization

Shaped by factors like global outreach and immediacy, particularly the internet represents the multi-layered nature of contemporary globalization (cf Held et al. 2002). How have digital newspapers, social media and other internet platforms altered the situation of smaller music microcultues, especially in regions that have been on the fringes of global networks? This paper analyses the situation of the Latvian postfolklore band Ilgi between 2001 and 2008. Focusing on the group’s label UPE, the paper highlights how the internet became a significant means of existence during this specific period. Having established a local niche with a sound studio and CD shops, UPE combined this physical basis with outreach strategies, such as marketing and direct internet sales, which guaranteed the survival of the independent label. This strategy was also taken up by the band itself who started to develop a strong presence on social media like MySpace. At the same time, Ilgi has been using the internet as a central means of communicating with diasporic communities in the U.S. and Canada – hereby creating structures that were described as « intercultures » by Slobin (1993). This indicates that the local-global dichotomy can no longer be sufficiently addressed by a horizontal or vertical two-dimensional perception. Falling also back on the fieldwork experiences gained in Latvia, the paper finally addresses the question of how internet representation relates to the actual local situation – and how this has been altering the fieldwork perception. With regard to this situation – how useful are the approaches that have been developed within the context of « Media Anthropology » that investigates mass media items as multi-layered, densified symbolic objects?

The Nature of Scientific Proof in the Age of Simulations. Is numerical mimicry a third way of establishing truth?

Is numerical mimicry a third way of establishing truth? Kevin Heng received his M.S. and Ph.D. in astrophysics from the Joint Institute for Laboratory Astrophysics (JILA) and the University of Colorado at Boulder. He joined the Institute for Advanced Study in Princeton from 2007 to 2010, first as a Member and later as the Frank & Peggy Taplin Member. From 2010 to 2012 he was a Zwicky Prize Fellow at ETH Z¨urich (the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology). In 2013, he joined the Center for Space and Habitability (CSH) at the University of Bern, Switzerland, as a tenure-track assistant professor, where he leads the Exoplanets and Exoclimes Group. He has worked on, and maintains, a broad range of interests in astrophysics: shocks, extrasolar asteroid belts, planet formation, fluid dynamics, brown dwarfs and exoplanets. He coordinates the Exoclimes Simulation Platform (ESP), an open-source set of theoretical tools designed for studying the basic physics and chemistry of exoplanetary atmospheres and climates (www.exoclime.org). He is involved in the CHEOPS (Characterizing Exoplanet Satellite) space telescope, a mission approved by the European Space Agency (ESA) and led by Switzerland. He spends a fair amount of time humbly learning the lessons gleaned from studying the Earth and Solar System planets, as related to him by atmospheric, climate and planetary scientists. He received a Sigma Xi Grant-in-Aid of Research in 2006