Comparison of ammonia emissions related to nitrogen use efficiency of livestock production in Europe.

The increasing global demand for food and the environmental effects of reactive nitrogen losses in the food production chain, increase the need for efficient use of nitrogen (N). Of N harvested in agricultural plant products, 80% is used to feed livestock. Because the largest atmospheric loss of reactive nitrogen from livestock production systems is ammonia (NH), the focus of this paper is on N lost as NH during the production of animal protein.

[Emissions from dairy industry and the influence of herd management].

The purpose of this paper is to identify specific emission-reduction opportunities in dairy herds arising from aspects of useful herd management with the potential to reduce emissions, which are within the scope of veterinary activities. In future, it might be one of a veterinarian's advisory capacities to deal with the aspect of climate and environmental protection in animal husbandry. The models involved are similar to those of the national agricultural emission inventory.

Growth Differentiation Factor 15 as a Novel Biomarker for Metformin.

Objective: Metformin is a commonly used glucose-lowering drug. However, apart from glycemic measures, no biomarker for its presence or dose has been identified.

Research Design And Methods: A total of 237 biomarkers were assayed in baseline serum from 8,401 participants (2,317 receiving metformin) in the Outcome Reduction with Initial Glargine Intervention (ORIGIN) trial.

Identifying Novel Biomarkers for Cardiovascular Events or Death in People With Dysglycemia.

Background: Serum biomarkers may identify people at risk for cardiovascular (CV) outcomes. Biobanked serum samples from 8494 participants with dysglycemia in the completed Outcome Reduction With Initial Glargine Intervention trial were assayed for 284 biomarkers to identify those that could identify people at risk for a CV outcome or death when added to clinical measurements.

Methods And Results: A multiplex analysis measured a panel of cardiometabolic biomarkers in 1 mL of stored frozen serum from every participant who provided biobanked blood.

Response of a grassland ecosystem to air pollutants. VI. The chemical climate: concentrations and potential flux densities of relevant criteria pollutants.

Of the so-called criteria air pollutants, ozone (O3) and sulfur dioxide (SO2) are relevant to agriculture due to their known toxic (O3, SO2) and fertilizing (SO2) potentials. A proper entity to describe pollutant doses in dose-response relationships is the cumulative flux density absorbed by the respective receptor systems. For nutrient budgets the whole ecosystem acts as receptor; for toxicological considerations, stomatal uptake has to be considered primarily.

The exchange of ozone between vegetation and atmosphere: micrometeorological measurement techniques and models.

The European critical levels (CLs) to protect vegetation are expressed as an accumulative exposure over a threshold of 40 ppb (nl l(-1)). In view of the fact that these chamber-derived CLs are based on ozone (O(3)) concentrations at the top of the canopy the correct application to ambient conditions presupposes the application of Soil-Vegetation-Atmosphere-Transfer (SVAT) models for quantifying trace gas exchange between phytosphere and atmosphere. Especially in the context of establishing control strategies based on flux-oriented dose-response relationships, O(3) flux measurements and O(3) exchange simulations are needed for representative ecosystems.

PLATIN (plant-atmosphere interaction) II: Co-occurrence of high ambient ozone concentrations and factors limiting plant absorbed dose.

There is an ongoing debate as to which components of the ambient ozone (O3) exposure dynamics best explain adverse crop yield responses. A key issue is regarding the importance of peak versus mid-range hourly ambient O3 concentrations. While in this paper the importance of peak atmospheric O3 concentrations is not discounted, if they occur at a time when plants are conducive for uptake, the corresponding importance of more frequently occurring mid-range O3 concentrations is described.

PLATIN (plant-atmosphere interaction) I: A model of plant-atmosphere interaction for estimating absorbed doses of gaseous air pollutants.

A PLant-ATmosphere INteraction model (PLATIN) was developed for estimating air pollutant absorbed doses under ambient conditions. PLATIN is based on the canopy energy balance combined with a gas transport submodel. The model has three major resistance components: (1) a turbulent atmospheric resistance Rah(zm) that describes the atmospheric transport properties between a measurement height above the canopy and the conceptual height z=d+z0m which represents the sink for momentum according to the big-leaf concept; (2) a quasilaminar layer resistance R(b,A) that quantifies the way in which the transfer of sensible heat and matter (e.

Response of a grassland ecosystem to air pollutants: III--The chemical climate: Vertical flux densities of gaseous species in the atmosphere near the ground.

The establishment of element balances for ecosystems presupposes a knowledge of the amounts of the respective element exchanged between the ecosystem and the atmosphere near the ground by determining their vertical flux densities. Any adequate approach to calculate flux densities of gaseous species in the atmosphere has to use micrometeorological techniques. The authors applied the ratiometric method, which is described in detail.

Phylogenesis and nutrition.

The evolution of man is connected with a life-style of hunting and gathering, and with the development and use of tools. The success of tools promoted the evolution of brain, thinking and skills. The food sources--animal and plant--remained the same during the whole of evolution.

Comparison of nutrition habits in Potsdam two centuries ago with modern developments.

Nutrition habits in the 18th century are described using as examples a menu of the Prussian King, the weekly menu in the Potsdam military orphanage, and the daily ration for a soldier of the Prussian army. Due to the social and scientific progress the quality of nutrition has improved in many respects. Compared to past times there are today no deficiencies in energy and essential nutrients, if knowledge and behavior are in accord.

[Nutrition in pregnancy].

Review about during pregnancy. Nutrition of a pregnant woman has to cover the maternal need of energy and additionally the stuff for the fetus as preconditions for its growth. In the trimester an extra intake of 15 grams protein is necessary, but no one of fat and carbohydrates.

[Ballast matter from a microecological viewpoint].

In a traditional sense, ballast matter means food constituents not attacked by digestion enzymes of macro-organism. Thus, they get to the hind-gut chemically unchanged. There they can be metabolised by microbes.

[The microecological effect of human milk].

With mother's milk, in the colon a buffer system round pH 5 is dominating which consists of short chain organic acids and the corresponding anions. Thus, the activity of the microbial metabolism is retarded. The degradation of lactose remains maintained down to the faeces.

[Changes within Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium species].

Laboratory rats with a gut flora unambiguous free from Bifidobacterium revealed three days after an application of a lactose-rich food a dominating Lactobacillus plantarum flora. Up from this date, Bifidobacterium could be detected for the first time. At the beginning, there was to be observed merely B.

[The metabolic processes of intestinal flora].

Man is habitat of 10(14)-10(15) bacteria, most of them colonizing the digestive tract, mainly the large intestine. Here microbial metabolic processes are going on like in a black box. Their quality, quantity, dynamics and effects on the host are discernible only in fragments or from their net effect.

A mechanism of association of lactobacilli with the rat stomach epithelium.

The stomach wall of the rat is colonised by a dominant lactobacilli flora. The bacteria are localised mainly on the squamous epithelium (Table 1). They adhere tightly, covering the whole surface of the squamous epithelium (Fig.

Problems of mineral supply in industrialized countries.

The main nutritional problems, related to mineral supply, can be seen in two respects: (1) Minerals with sufficiently known parameters, so that RDA have been generally established. Basic knowledge is advanced, open questions are connected with insufficient (Fe, I, Zn, Cu), or excessive (Na) intake, or with imbalances. (2) Metals, occurring in food and needed in metabolism in trace amounts.

Human nutrition: safety and risk.

Man has always been existing in an "oecotoxic" environment and he will be existing in the future, though the noxious factors are changing. Today the output of modern chemical industry and its effects on health attract abundant interest. The risks in nutrition derive from imbalanced nutrition, food borne diseases of microbial origin, environmental contaminants, toxicants naturally present in food, food additives, and food allergens, the most important risks seem to connected with false nutrition and with microbial hazards.