Japan's infielder Nobuhiro Matsuda hits an RBI single off Brazil's pitcher Kesley Kondo in the eighth inning of their World Baseball Classic first round game in Fukuoka, Japan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Japan's infielder Nobuhiro Matsuda hits an RBI single off Brazil's pitcher Kesley Kondo in the eighth inning of their World Baseball Classic first round game in Fukuoka, Japan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Managers Barry Larkin, left, of Brazil and Koji Yamamoto of Japan shake hands during the opening ceremony before the World Baseball Classic first round game between Japan and Brazil at Yahoo Dome in Fukuoka, Japan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Japan's reliever Kazuhisa Makita, right, celebrates with catcher Shinnosuke Abe after defeating Brazil 5-3 in their World Baseball Classic first round game in Fukuoka, Japan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
Taiwan's starter Wang Chien-ming delivers a pitch against Australia in the first inning of their World Baseball Classic first round game at the Intercontinental Baseball Stadium in Taichung, Taiwan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Wally Santana)
Japan's third baseman Nobuhiro Matsuda, center, celebrates with teammates after hitting an RBI single off Brazil's pitcher Kesley Kondo in the eighth inning of their World Baseball Classic first round game in Fukuoka, Japan, Saturday, March 2, 2013. (AP Photo/Koji Sasahara)
FUKUOKA, Japan (AP) ? Two-time defending champion Japan rallied to beat Brazil 5-3 on Saturday in its opening game of the World Baseball Classic.
Japan trailed 3-2 before adding three runs in the top of the eighth inning in front of a crowd of 28,181 at the Fukuoka Dome.
Hirokazu Ibata came off the bench to tie the game with a single to right that scored Seiichi Uchikawa from second. Japan took a 4-3 lead when Ibata scored from third on a fielder's choice and added an insurance run on Nobuhiro Matsuda's single to center that scored Hisayoshi Chono.
"This was a very difficult game for us," Japan manager Koji Yamamoto said. "Brazil put up a very good fight. But we got some timely hits in the eighth and were able to make a comeback."
Brazil, managed by Hall of Famer Barry Larkin, looked ready to pull off an upset when the tournament debutantes took a 3-2 lead in the fifth inning on a double by Leonardo Reginatto that scored Paulo Orlando from second.
"These players love to compete," Larkin said. "They love a challenge and this was a challenge similar to the qualifiers when we beat Panama. I'm extremely proud of the way my players performed in this game."
Japan is in Group A, which includes 2006 runner-up Cuba and China. Two teams from the group will advance to the March 8-12 second round at Tokyo Dome with a chance to move on to the March 17-19 championship round in San Francisco.
Japan pitcher Tadashi Settsu, who gave up one run on two hits over three innings of relief, picked up the win. Oscar Nakaoshi took the loss after giving up two runs in the eighth.
Japanese home-run king Sadaharu Oh, who managed the Japan team that won the first WBC, threw out the ceremonial first pitch.
Brazil silenced the near-capacity crowd by taking the lead in the bottom of the first inning when Reginatto hit a sharp single to left that scored Orlando.
Japan tied the game in the top of the third when Yoshio Itoi singled to right to score Hayato Sakamoto from second.
The hosts took a 2-1 lead in the fourth on a sacrifice fly by Sakamoto that scored Ryoji Aikawa from third.
Brazil tied it 2-2 in the bottom of the fourth when Reginatto doubled and scored on a close play at the plate on a shot to center by Reinaldo Sato.
Mar. 1, 2013 ? A study led by researchers at Boston University School of Medicine (BUSM) has identified epigenetic mechanisms that connect a variety of diseases associated with inflammation. Utilizing molecular analyses of gene expression in macrophages, which are cells largely responsible for inflammation, researchers have shown that inhibiting a defined group of proteins could help decrease the inflammatory response associated with diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes, cancer and sepsis.
The study, which is published online in the Journal of Immunology, was led by first author Anna C. Belkina, MD, PhD, a researcher in the department of microbiology at BUSM, and senior author Gerald V. Denis, PhD, associate professor of pharmacology and medicine at BUSM.
Epigenetics is an emerging field of study exploring how genetically identical cells express their genes differently, resulting in different phenotypes, due to mechanisms other than DNA sequence changes.
Previous studies have shown that a gene, called Brd2, is associated with high insulin production and excessive adipose (fat) tissue expansion that drives obesity when Brd2 levels are low and cancer when Brd2 levels are high. The Brd2 gene is a member of the Bromodomain Extra Terminal (BET) family of proteins and is closely related to Brd4, which is important in highly lethal carcinomas in young people, as well as in the replication of Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV).
The BET family proteins control gene expression epigenetically by acting on chromatin, the packaging material for genes, rather than on DNA directly. This mechanism of action is being explored because the interactions are not reflected in genome sequencing information or captured through DNA-based genetic analysis. In addition, this layer of gene regulation has recently been shown to be a potential target in the development of novel epigenetic drugs that could target several diseases at once.
The study results show that proteins in the BET family have a strong influence on the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines in macrophages. This indicates that the defined family of proteins govern many aspects of acute inflammatory diseases, such as type 2 diabetes, sepsis and cardiovascular disease, among others, and that they should be explored as a potential target to treat a wide variety of diseases.
"Our study suggests that it is not a coincidence that patients with diabetes experience higher risk of death from cancer, or that patients with chronic inflammatory diseases, such as atherosclerosis and insulin resistance, also are more likely to be obese or suffer from inflammatory complications," said Belkina. "This requires us to think of diverse diseases of different organs as much more closely related than our current division of medical specialties allows."
Future research should explore how to successfully and safely target and inhibit these proteins in order to stop the inflammatory response associated with a variety of diseases.
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The above story is reprinted from materials provided by Boston University Medical Center.
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Journal Reference:
A. C. Belkina, B. S. Nikolajczyk, G. V. Denis. BET Protein Function Is Required for Inflammation: Brd2 Genetic Disruption and BET Inhibitor JQ1 Impair Mouse Macrophage Inflammatory Responses. The Journal of Immunology, 2013; DOI: 10.4049/jimmunol.1202838
Note: If no author is given, the source is cited instead.
Disclaimer: This article is not intended to provide medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Views expressed here do not necessarily reflect those of ScienceDaily or its staff.
Wild pollinators increase crop fruit set regardless of honey beesPublic release date: 1-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lucas A. Garibaldi lgaribaldi@unrn.edu.ar 54-294-442-3731 Pensoft Publishers
A large-scales study shows that wild insects effectively pollinate crops and play vital role in agricultural production
Changes made by humans to the natural landscapes can often compromise ecosystems, which paradoxically are vital for human survival. Pollination of crops by wild insects is one such vulnerable ecosystem service, as wild insects are declining in many agricultural landscapes. The study, recently published in Science, focused on understanding whether the ongoing loss of wild insects impacts crop harvest. For this purpose, the researchers compared fields with abundant and diverse wild insects to those with degraded assemblages of wild insects across 600 fields at 41 crop systems on all continents with farmland.
The study found that fruit set, the proportion of flowers setting seeds or fruits, was considerably lower in sites with less wild insects visiting the crop flowers. Therefore, losses of wild insects from agricultural landscapes will likely impact both our natural heritage and agricultural harvest.
As hives of the honey bee are frequently added for improved pollination, the researchers asked whether this application can compensate for limited abundance and diversity of wild insects and fully maximize crop harvest. They found that variation in honey bee abundance improved fruit set in only 14% of the crop systems they served. Furthermore, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively because an increase in their visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation. Importantly, high abundance of managed honey bees supplemented, rather than substituted for, pollination by wild insects.
These results hold even for crops stocked routinely with high densities of honey bees for pollination, such as almond, blueberry, mango or watermelon. Although honey bees are generally viewed as a substitute for wild pollinators, this study demonstrates that they neither maximize pollination, nor fully replace the contributions of diverse, wild-insect assemblages to fruit set for a broad range of crops and agricultural practices on all continents with farmland.
The leading author, Lucas A. Garibaldi, Universidad Nacional de Ro Negro - CONICET, Argentina comments: "Our study shows that losses of wild insects from agricultural landscapes impact not only our natural heritage but also our agricultural harvests. We found that wild insects consistently enhanced the number of flowers setting fruits or seeds for a broad range of crops and agricultural practices on all continents with farmland. Long term, productive agricultural systems should include habitat for both honey bees and diverse wild insects. Our study prompts for the implementation of more sustainable agricultural practices."
Alexandra-Maria Klein, Leuphana University of Lneburg, Germany adds: "Ecosystem services can depend on biodiversity provided by wild organisms. Intensified agriculture separates crop production and biodiversity. Our study shows that this separation can have negative consequences for pollination services not buffered by honeybee management. We urgently need more research that informs but also involves the global and wider society to explore novel management designs for agricultural landscapes."
###
This study was funded and supported by a large number of organisations worldwide among which the EU FP projects STEP, SCALES and ALARM.
Contacts:
Lucas A. Garibaldi Universidad Nacional de Ro Negro, Argentina
Alexandra-Maria Klein
Leuphana University of Lneburg, Germany
phone: 49-04131-677-2960
email: aklein@leuphana.de
Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
Julius Maximilian University of Wrzburg
Department of animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Germany
phone: 49-0931-31-86947
email: ingolf.steffan@uni-wuerzburg.de
Original source:
Garibaldi L.A., Steffan-Dewenter I, Winfree R, Aizen M.A., Bommarco R., Cunningham S.A., Kremen C., Carvalheiro L.G., Harder L.D., Afik O., Bartomeus I., Benjamin F., Boreux V., Cariveau D., Chacoff N.P., Dudenhffer J.H., Freitas B.M., Ghazoul J., Greenleaf S.,Hiplito J., Holzschuh A., Howlett B., Isaacs R., Javorek S.K., Kennedy C.M., Krewenka K., Krishnan S., Mandelik Y., Mayfield M.M., Motzke I., Munyuli T., Nault B.A., Otieno M., Petersen J., Pisanty G., Potts S.G., Rader R., Ricketts T.H., Rundlf M., Seymour C.L., Schepp C., Szentgyrgyi H., Taki H., Tscharntke T., Vergara C.H., Viana B.F., Wanger T.C., Westphal C., Williams N., Klein A.M. Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey-bee abundance. Science
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Wild pollinators increase crop fruit set regardless of honey beesPublic release date: 1-Mar-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
Contact: Lucas A. Garibaldi lgaribaldi@unrn.edu.ar 54-294-442-3731 Pensoft Publishers
A large-scales study shows that wild insects effectively pollinate crops and play vital role in agricultural production
Changes made by humans to the natural landscapes can often compromise ecosystems, which paradoxically are vital for human survival. Pollination of crops by wild insects is one such vulnerable ecosystem service, as wild insects are declining in many agricultural landscapes. The study, recently published in Science, focused on understanding whether the ongoing loss of wild insects impacts crop harvest. For this purpose, the researchers compared fields with abundant and diverse wild insects to those with degraded assemblages of wild insects across 600 fields at 41 crop systems on all continents with farmland.
The study found that fruit set, the proportion of flowers setting seeds or fruits, was considerably lower in sites with less wild insects visiting the crop flowers. Therefore, losses of wild insects from agricultural landscapes will likely impact both our natural heritage and agricultural harvest.
As hives of the honey bee are frequently added for improved pollination, the researchers asked whether this application can compensate for limited abundance and diversity of wild insects and fully maximize crop harvest. They found that variation in honey bee abundance improved fruit set in only 14% of the crop systems they served. Furthermore, wild insects pollinated crops more effectively because an increase in their visitation enhanced fruit set by twice as much as an equivalent increase in honey bee visitation. Importantly, high abundance of managed honey bees supplemented, rather than substituted for, pollination by wild insects.
These results hold even for crops stocked routinely with high densities of honey bees for pollination, such as almond, blueberry, mango or watermelon. Although honey bees are generally viewed as a substitute for wild pollinators, this study demonstrates that they neither maximize pollination, nor fully replace the contributions of diverse, wild-insect assemblages to fruit set for a broad range of crops and agricultural practices on all continents with farmland.
The leading author, Lucas A. Garibaldi, Universidad Nacional de Ro Negro - CONICET, Argentina comments: "Our study shows that losses of wild insects from agricultural landscapes impact not only our natural heritage but also our agricultural harvests. We found that wild insects consistently enhanced the number of flowers setting fruits or seeds for a broad range of crops and agricultural practices on all continents with farmland. Long term, productive agricultural systems should include habitat for both honey bees and diverse wild insects. Our study prompts for the implementation of more sustainable agricultural practices."
Alexandra-Maria Klein, Leuphana University of Lneburg, Germany adds: "Ecosystem services can depend on biodiversity provided by wild organisms. Intensified agriculture separates crop production and biodiversity. Our study shows that this separation can have negative consequences for pollination services not buffered by honeybee management. We urgently need more research that informs but also involves the global and wider society to explore novel management designs for agricultural landscapes."
###
This study was funded and supported by a large number of organisations worldwide among which the EU FP projects STEP, SCALES and ALARM.
Contacts:
Lucas A. Garibaldi Universidad Nacional de Ro Negro, Argentina
Alexandra-Maria Klein
Leuphana University of Lneburg, Germany
phone: 49-04131-677-2960
email: aklein@leuphana.de
Ingolf Steffan-Dewenter
Julius Maximilian University of Wrzburg
Department of animal Ecology and Tropical Biology, Germany
phone: 49-0931-31-86947
email: ingolf.steffan@uni-wuerzburg.de
Original source:
Garibaldi L.A., Steffan-Dewenter I, Winfree R, Aizen M.A., Bommarco R., Cunningham S.A., Kremen C., Carvalheiro L.G., Harder L.D., Afik O., Bartomeus I., Benjamin F., Boreux V., Cariveau D., Chacoff N.P., Dudenhffer J.H., Freitas B.M., Ghazoul J., Greenleaf S.,Hiplito J., Holzschuh A., Howlett B., Isaacs R., Javorek S.K., Kennedy C.M., Krewenka K., Krishnan S., Mandelik Y., Mayfield M.M., Motzke I., Munyuli T., Nault B.A., Otieno M., Petersen J., Pisanty G., Potts S.G., Rader R., Ricketts T.H., Rundlf M., Seymour C.L., Schepp C., Szentgyrgyi H., Taki H., Tscharntke T., Vergara C.H., Viana B.F., Wanger T.C., Westphal C., Williams N., Klein A.M. Wild pollinators enhance fruit set of crops regardless of honey-bee abundance. Science
[ | E-mail | Share ]
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
CHICAGO (AP) ? Imagine students learning their ABCs while dancing, or memorizing multiplication tables while doing jumping jacks.
Some schools are using both methods of instruction, and Michelle Obama would like to see more of them use other creative ways to help students get the recommended hour of daily exercise.
In Chicago Thursday, the first lady announced a new public-private partnership to help schools do just that. "Let's Move Active Schools" starts with a website, www.letsmoveschools.org , where school officials and others can sign up to get started.
Mrs. Obama said too many penny-pinched schools have either cut spending on physical education or eliminated it outright to put the money toward classroom instruction. But the first lady who starts most days with a workout ? and other advocates of helping today's largely sedentary kids move their bodies ? say that's a false choice, since studies that show exercise helps youngsters focus and do well in school.
The effort is one of the newest parts of Mrs. Obama's 3-year-old campaign against childhood obesity, known as "Let's Move," which she has spent the week promoting.
"With each passing year, schools feel like it's just getting harder to find the time, the money and the will to help our kids be active. But just because it's hard doesn't mean we should stop trying," the first lady said. "It means we should try harder. It means that all of us ? not just educators, but businesses and nonprofits and ordinary citizens ? we all need to dig a little deeper, start getting more creative."
She was joined at McCormick Place in her hometown by several Olympians, including gymnasts Dominique Dawes and Gabby Douglas, sprinter Allyson Felix, tennis player Serena Williams and decathlete Ashton Eaton, along with San Francisco 49ers quarterback Colin Kaepernick and triathlete Sarah Reinertsen, whose left leg was amputated above the knee when she was a child, and other athletes. Thousands of students from city middle schools also were being brought in for the event.
Research shows that daily exercise has a positive influence on academic performance, but kids today spend too much time sitting, mostly in school but also outside the classroom while watching TV, playing video games or surfing the Internet. Federal guidelines recommend that children ages 6-17 get at least 60 minutes of exercise daily, which can be racked up through multiple spurts of activity throughout the day.
The White House says the most current data, from 2007, shows that just 4 percent of elementary schools, 8 percent of middle schools and 2 percent of high schools provided daily physical education.
Education Secretary Arne Duncan said he's proof of the link between exercise and academic performance. As a boy, he said, he had a hard time sitting still in class but that exercise helped him focus.
"What's true for me is true for many of our nation's children," he said in an interview.
Duncan, who played basketball professionally in Australia, said the choice is not between physical activity or academics, especially with about one-third of U.S. kids either overweight or obese and at higher risk for life-threatening illnesses like heart disease or diabetes.
"It's got to be both," he said. Duncan cited the examples of students learning the alphabet while dancing or memorizing multiplication tables while doing jumping jacks.
Mrs. Obama called on school staff, families and communities to help get 50,000 schools, about half the number of public schools in the U.S., involved in the program over the next five years.
The President's Council on Fitness, Sports & Nutrition, the American Alliance for Health, Physical Education, Recreation & Dance, and the Alliance for a Healthier Generation will oversee the program. Funding and other resources will come from Nike Inc., the GENYOUth Foundation, ChildObesity180, Kaiser Permanente and the General Mills Foundation.
Under the new initiative, modest grants will be available from the Education Department to help some programs get started. The GENYOUth Foundation and ChildObesity180 also will be awarding grants.
Nike has committed $50 million to the effort over the next five years; the remaining groups together have pledged more than $20 million.
Williams said it's important to structure the activity so that it doesn't feel like a workout.
"I had fun and I didn't realize it was work," she said about her years of practice before becoming one of America's top tennis players.
___
Online:
Let's Move: http://www.letsmove.gov
___
Follow Darlene Superville on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/dsuperville
The study(*) has enabled scientists to develop a new model that will allow agricultural landholders to determine and improve their climate balance.
As part of the study, scientists investigated 40 organic and 40 conventional agricultural holdings across Germany's four agricultural regions. They focused exclusively on crop and dairy farms. The scientists recorded all relevant climate gas streams during the entire production process, including methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. In the case of dairy farms, they also factored in the purchase of soybean meal from South America and all related greenhouse gas emissions.
Strategies for improving climate balance
Fossil fuels, above all diesel, are one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in agriculture. However, greenhouse gases are also emitted during the manufacture of mineral nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides, agricultural machines and equipment.
"There are different ways of improving a farm's climate balance," explains Professor Kurt-Jrgen Hlsbergen from Technische Universitt Mnchen (TUM). "One effective strategy is for landholders to grow feed themselves rather than purchase soy from another source. Farms can also streamline production processes and deploy modern technology to obtain higher yields without increasing the amount of energy required."
In crop farming, increasing nitrogen efficiency is a key factor. High levels of nitrous oxide are released into the environment if crops are unable to utilize all of the nitrogen fertilizer that was spread. The production of nitrogen fertilizer is also energy intensive, which further increases the climate balance of unused nitrogen.
In contrast, the greenhouse gas CO2 can be stored long term as humus in the soil, and thus eliminated from the climate balance. "This can be achieved by planting legumes as part of a diversified crop rotation strategy," explains Professor Gerold Rahmann at the Thnen Institute. "Using soil less intensively and applying organic fertilizer also helps."
Topping the charts: organic versus conventional farming
Organic farming is more energy efficient and produces less land-specific CO2 emissions. This advantage, however, is offset by the significantly lower yields achieved through organic farming practices. The pilot organic crop farms produce around twenty percent less emissions per yield unit than conventional holdings.
Organic dairy farms use more plant fodder grown on site and do not import soybean meal. This strategy pays off, according to Hlsbergen: "The pilot organic farms we looked at emit around 200 grams less CO2 per kilogram of milk than conventional farms with the same milk yield."
Most interestingly, the investigations show that yields and greenhouse gas emissions fluctuate significantly between different organic farms in some cases to an even greater extent than the fluctuations between organic and conventional holdings. This demonstrates that the individual know-how of farm managers plays an important role in the greenhouse gas balance and that there is significant potential for improvement at individual farms.
Putting theory into practice
This is the first time that a study has provided a 360-degree overview of climate-relevant factors impacting all emissions related to livestock and crop farming. "We have a workable model that will enable us to identify the causes of low energy efficiency and high greenhouse gas emissions," adds Hlsbergen. "We are now optimizing this model so that it can be used directly by climate change advisors in the agricultural sector."
###
(*) The study was carried out from 2009 to 2012 as part of a collaborative project between TUM, the Thnen Institute, the University of Bonn, the Martin-Luther-Universitt Halle Wittenberg and Bioland Beratung. The study is financed by Germany's Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and by the Federal Program for Organic Agriculture and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (Bundesprogramm kologischer Landbau und andere Formen nachhaltiger Landwirtschaft).
Contact:
Professor Dr. Kurt-Jrgen Hlsbergen
Technische Universitt Mnchen
Chair of Organic Agriculture
W: http://www.wzw.tum.de/oekolandbau
Professor Dr. Gerold Rahmann
Thnen Institute for Organic Agriculture
Trenthorst
T: 49-4539-8880-201
E: gerold.rahmann@ti.bund.de
W: http://www.ti.bund.de/ol
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
Improving climate protection in the agricultural sectorPublic release date: 28-Feb-2013 [ | E-mail | Share ]
The study(*) has enabled scientists to develop a new model that will allow agricultural landholders to determine and improve their climate balance.
As part of the study, scientists investigated 40 organic and 40 conventional agricultural holdings across Germany's four agricultural regions. They focused exclusively on crop and dairy farms. The scientists recorded all relevant climate gas streams during the entire production process, including methane, nitrous oxide and carbon dioxide. In the case of dairy farms, they also factored in the purchase of soybean meal from South America and all related greenhouse gas emissions.
Strategies for improving climate balance
Fossil fuels, above all diesel, are one of the main sources of CO2 emissions in agriculture. However, greenhouse gases are also emitted during the manufacture of mineral nitrogen fertilizers and pesticides, agricultural machines and equipment.
"There are different ways of improving a farm's climate balance," explains Professor Kurt-Jrgen Hlsbergen from Technische Universitt Mnchen (TUM). "One effective strategy is for landholders to grow feed themselves rather than purchase soy from another source. Farms can also streamline production processes and deploy modern technology to obtain higher yields without increasing the amount of energy required."
In crop farming, increasing nitrogen efficiency is a key factor. High levels of nitrous oxide are released into the environment if crops are unable to utilize all of the nitrogen fertilizer that was spread. The production of nitrogen fertilizer is also energy intensive, which further increases the climate balance of unused nitrogen.
In contrast, the greenhouse gas CO2 can be stored long term as humus in the soil, and thus eliminated from the climate balance. "This can be achieved by planting legumes as part of a diversified crop rotation strategy," explains Professor Gerold Rahmann at the Thnen Institute. "Using soil less intensively and applying organic fertilizer also helps."
Topping the charts: organic versus conventional farming
Organic farming is more energy efficient and produces less land-specific CO2 emissions. This advantage, however, is offset by the significantly lower yields achieved through organic farming practices. The pilot organic crop farms produce around twenty percent less emissions per yield unit than conventional holdings.
Organic dairy farms use more plant fodder grown on site and do not import soybean meal. This strategy pays off, according to Hlsbergen: "The pilot organic farms we looked at emit around 200 grams less CO2 per kilogram of milk than conventional farms with the same milk yield."
Most interestingly, the investigations show that yields and greenhouse gas emissions fluctuate significantly between different organic farms in some cases to an even greater extent than the fluctuations between organic and conventional holdings. This demonstrates that the individual know-how of farm managers plays an important role in the greenhouse gas balance and that there is significant potential for improvement at individual farms.
Putting theory into practice
This is the first time that a study has provided a 360-degree overview of climate-relevant factors impacting all emissions related to livestock and crop farming. "We have a workable model that will enable us to identify the causes of low energy efficiency and high greenhouse gas emissions," adds Hlsbergen. "We are now optimizing this model so that it can be used directly by climate change advisors in the agricultural sector."
###
(*) The study was carried out from 2009 to 2012 as part of a collaborative project between TUM, the Thnen Institute, the University of Bonn, the Martin-Luther-Universitt Halle Wittenberg and Bioland Beratung. The study is financed by Germany's Federal Ministry of Food, Agriculture and Consumer Protection and by the Federal Program for Organic Agriculture and Other Forms of Sustainable Agriculture (Bundesprogramm kologischer Landbau und andere Formen nachhaltiger Landwirtschaft).
Contact:
Professor Dr. Kurt-Jrgen Hlsbergen
Technische Universitt Mnchen
Chair of Organic Agriculture
W: http://www.wzw.tum.de/oekolandbau
Professor Dr. Gerold Rahmann
Thnen Institute for Organic Agriculture
Trenthorst
T: 49-4539-8880-201
E: gerold.rahmann@ti.bund.de
W: http://www.ti.bund.de/ol
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AAAS and EurekAlert! are not responsible for the accuracy of news releases posted to EurekAlert! by contributing institutions or for the use of any information through the EurekAlert! system.
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Carrie Fisher, who played Princess Leia in the original "Star Wars" trilogy, was briefly hospitalized due to her bipolar disorder, the actress' spokeswoman said on Tuesday after video emerged of Fisher giving an unusual stage performance. The video came from a show Fisher gave aboard a cruise ship in the Caribbean last week, according to celebrity website TMZ, which posted the clip. The clip shows Fisher, 56, singing "Skylark" and "Bridge Over Troubled Waters," at times appearing to struggle to remember the lyrics. ...
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Public release date: 1-Mar-2013
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