The relationship between late normal tissue radiation injury phenotypes in 167 breast cancer patients treated with radiotherapy and: (i) radiotherapy dose (boost); (ii) an early acute radiation reaction and (iii) genetic background was examined. Patients were genotyped at single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in eight candidate genes. An early acute reaction to radiation and/or the inheritance of the transforming growth factor-b1 (TGFb1 À509T) SNP contributed to the risk of fibrosis. In contrast, an additional 15 Gy electron boost and/or the inheritance of X-ray repair cross-complementing 1 (XRCC1) (R399Q) SNP contributed to the risk of telangiectasia. Although fibrosis, telangiectasia and atrophy, all contribute to late radiation injury, the data suggest that they have distinct underlying genetic and radiobiological causes. Fibrosis risk is associated with an inflammatory response (an acute reaction and/ or TGFb1), whereas telangiectasia is associated with vascular endothelial cell damage (boost and/or XRCC1). Atrophy is associated with an acute response, but the genetic predisposing factors that determine the risk of an acute response or atrophy have yet to be identified. A combined analysis of two UK breast cancer patient studies shows that 8% of patients are homozygous (TT) for the TGFb1 (C-509T) variant allele and have a 15-fold increased risk of fibrosis following radiotherapy (95% confidence interval: 3.76 -60.3; P ¼ 0.000003) compared with (CC) homozygotes.

Three rates of phosphate (0, 25, and 60 kg/ha P 2 O 5 ) were applied to phosphorus-deficient native grassland at Tel Hadya, in northern Syria, and biomass productivity, botanical composition and number of legume seeds in the soil were monitored for five seasons (1984/85-1988/89). The experiment was grazed at low (0-8 sheep/ha per year) and high (1-7 sheep/ha per year) stocking rates from the second to the fourth seasons of the experiment; in the fifth season, the low and high stocking rates were increased to 11 and 2-3 sheep/ha per year, respectively. The experimental site was typical of native grassland within the cereal zone of west Asia, where cropping is not possible because of shallow, stony soils and steep slopes.The results showed that annual applications of phosphorus, even as low as 25 kg P 2 O 6 /ha, alleviated the deficiency in soil P and resulted in improved pasture production, even in dry years. Legume production showed the greatest response to P, increasing by 0-3-3 times the production of the control treatments. By the fifth season, legume seed mass had increased threefold and number of seeds sixfold in the P-treated plots, compared with the first season, while in the control plots there was little change. Rain-use efficiency on the P-treated plots was more than double that of the controls by the fourth and fifth seasons.Practical application of the results depends on whether (i) legumes are as frequent in native grasslands, as a whole, as they are at Tel Hadya, (ii) the P deficiency observed at Tel Hadya is widespread, and (iii) grazing of communally owned grasslands can be controlled. It is suggested that all three criteria will often be fulfilled and, therefore, that grassland productivity in west Asia could be substantially increased. Furthermore, the results suggest that above-ground cover and soil organic matter will also increase after P application, both of which will help to reduce soil erosion and thereby increase the sustainability of livestock production in west Asia.

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S U M M A R YMixtures of legumes and cereals in various proportions (seed ratios) were evaluated in Northern Syria for forage production and quality and for yield of barley grain in the following year. Both a vetch-cereal and pea-cereal mix were tested in proportions of 0:100, 33:66, 50:50, 66:33 and 100:0. The study was carried out between 1982 and 1985, covering two seasons for forage production and two for grain production. Dry matter yields of the mixtures exceeded the yield of either one or both components of the mixture grown as pure stands, depending on the rainfall. The maximum overall yield and quality of forage was recorded for the 66:33 legumecereal combination. The greatest benefit to subsequent barley grain yield was realized when the legume was grown in a pure stand or formed a high proportion (66:33) of the mixture. Herbage quality was better in forages containing vetch than in those containing pea. R E S U M E N -S U M A R I OSe evaluaron, en Siria del Norte, mezclas de legumbres y cereales en varias proporciones (tasas de semillas) para produccion de forraje asi como calidad y rendimiento de grano de cebada en el ano siguiente. Se experimento con una mezcla de cereal de chi'charo con cereal de alverja en proporciones de 0:100, 33:66, 50:50, 66:33 y 100:0. El estudio se llevo a cabo entre los anos 1982 y 1985, cubriendo dos estaciones para produccion de forraje y dos estaciones para produccion de granos. Dependiendo de la cantidad de lluvia cai'da, el rendimiento de materia seca de las mezclas excedio el rendimiento, ya sea de uno o de los dos componentes de la mezcla cuando fueron cultivados individualmente. En su conjunto el maximo rendimiento y calidad de forraje se registro en la combination legumbre-cereal en la proportion 66:33. El mayor beneficio para el rendimiento de grano de cebada subsiguiente, se produjo cuando la legumbre se cultivo en forma individual o cuando constitui'a una alta proporcion de la mezcla (66:33). La calidad del herbaje fue mejor en forrajes que conteni'an alverjas que en aquellos que contenian chicharos.

SUMMARYMeasurements were made of the recovery and germination rates of seed of eight species of annual medic (Medicago spp.) and three of clover (Trifolium spp.) after ingestion by sheep. Recovery of medic seed was measured as the number of seeds collected from faeces after feeding, in addition to a basal diet, either (i) 200 g of pods at a single meal, or (ii) a quantity of pods estimated to contain 30000 seeds at a single meal or (iii) 200 g of pods daily for 21 days. Only the first method was applied to the clovers.There were large differences (P < 0·001) in seed recovery between species, from < 2% to nearly 20% in medics, and up to 59% in T. campestre, which has low single-seed mass. Although there was a curvilinear decrease in seed recovery as single-seed mass increased (r2 = 0·80), the high recovery of M. rotata, a fairly large-seeded species, suggests that there are important differences between species, irrespective of seed size.When 200 g of medic pods was offered to sheep at a single meal, mean seed recovery was slightly lower than when 200 g of medic pods was offered daily for 21 days. Seed recovery of medics was much higher (P < 0·001) when 30000 seeds were offered at one meal.Germination rate before ingestion was 1·9–6·5% (P < 0·001) for hard-seeded medics and 2·7–9·7% (P < 0·001) for clovers with low single-seed mass; passage through the digestive tract increased (P < 0·001) germination rate in both medics and clovers.

The COVID-19 pandemic has affected our world in a short period of time, and the orthopedic surgery practice was not an exclusion. Elective care was deferred in most health care facilities and emergency care was continued with strict precautions. With rapid progression of the pandemic, the response of the medical community is also rapidly changing in all aspects of delivering care. This led to a large number of publications with reports, guidelines, measures, ways to react to the crisis, and post-pandemic predictions and speculations. In this review we aimed at summarizing all the relevant information to the orthopedic surgery community. To do this, a comprehensive search was performed with all related terms on two scientific search engines, PubMed and SCOPUS, and the results were filtered by the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) method. The result was 72 articles that were further reduced to 33 articles after full text reading. The resultant information was organized under 5 main headings; the impact of pandemic on the orthopedic practice, COVID-19 and the trauma patient, elective and emergency surgeries during the pandemic, peri-operative management of the patient with COVID-19, Miscellaneous effects of the pandemic such as those on training programs and the evolution of telemedicine. This review represents the most up to date information published in the literature that is a must-know to every orthopedic surgeon.

Angiogenesis and vascular regression are critical for the female ovulatory cycle. They enable progression and regression of follicular development, and corpora lutea formation and regression. Angiogenesis in the ovary occurs under the control of the vascular endothelial growth factor-A (VEGFA) family of proteins, which are generated as both pro-(VEGF165) and anti(VEGF165b)-angiogenic isoforms by alternative splicing. To determine the role of the VEGF165b isoforms in the ovulatory cycle, we measured VEGF165b expression in marmoset ovaries by immunohistochemistry and ELISA, and used transgenic mice over-expressing VEGF165b in the ovary. VEGF165b was expressed in the marmoset ovaries in granulosa cells and theca, and the balance of VEGF165b:VEGF165 was regulated during luteogenesis. Mice over-expressing VEGF165b in the ovary were less fertile than wild-type littermates, had reduced secondary and tertiary follicles after mating, increased atretic follicles, fewer corpora lutea and generated fewer embryos in the oviduct after mating, and these were more likely not to retain the corona radiata. These results indicate that the balance of VEGFA isoforms controls follicle progression and luteogenesis, and that control of isoform expression may regulate fertility in mammals, including in primates.

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