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Because the product of a single gene can influence many aspects of plant growth and development, it is necessary to understand how gene products act in concert and upon each other to effect adaptive changes to stressful conditions. We conducted experiments to improve our understanding of the responses of loblolly pine (Pinus taeda) to drought stress. Water was withheld from rooted plantlets of to a measured water potential of Ϫ1 MPa for mild stress and Ϫ1.5 MPa for severe stress. Net photosynthesis was measured for each level of stress. RNA was isolated from needles and used in hybridizations against a microarray consisting of 2,173 cDNA clones from five pine expressed sequence tag libraries. Gene expression was estimated using a two-stage mixed linear model. Subsequently, data mining via inductive logic programming identified rules (relationships) among gene expression, treatments, and functional categories. Changes in RNA transcript profiles of loblolly pine due to drought stress were correlated with physiological data reflecting photosynthetic acclimation to mild stress or photosynthetic failure during severe stress. Analysis of transcript profiles indicated that there are distinct patterns of expression related to the two levels of stress. Genes encoding heat shock proteins, late embryogenic-abundant proteins, enzymes from the aromatic acid and flavonoid biosynthetic pathways, and from carbon metabolism showed distinctive responses associated with acclimation. Five genes shown to have different transcript levels in response to either mild or severe stress were chosen for further analysis using real-time polymerase chain reaction. The real-time polymerase chain reaction results were in good agreement with those obtained on microarrays.

A randomized double-blind controlled trial of the effect of vitamin D supplementation on the abilities of elderly hospital patients to carry out basic activities of daily life is described. Those patients included in the trial had plasma 25-hydroxyvitamin D concentrations which were low or low normal as judged by the normal range in young adults. After 2 to 9 months on the trial there was no significant difference in the performance of the control and treatment groups.

. 2007. Effect of dietary leucine and lysine levels on intramuscular fat content in finishing pigs. Can. J. Anim. Sci. 87: 303-306. Feeding high leucine levels (2.0 and 3.0% total dietary leucine) to finishing pigs (73 to 127 kg liveweight) increased the intramuscular fat content of the longissimus muscle in pigs fed diets with low lysine levels (0.5% total dietary lysine) but not in animals fed high lysine levels (0.7 %). L'administration d'une forte concentration de leucine (2,0 et 3,0 % de la concentration totale de leucine des aliments) aux porcs de finition (73 à 127 kg de poids vif) augmente la teneur en gras du longissimus chez les animaux recevant une rations pauvre en lysine (0,5 % de la concentration totale de lysine dans les aliments) mais pas chez ceux recevant une ration riche en lysine (0,7 %).

PurposeThe aim of this paper is to report results of the impact of the information and communication technology (ICT) platform and telecare services developed by the MonAMI consortium on the quality of life (QOL) of older people in three European communities.Design/methodology/approachIn a three‐month trial, the MonAMI technology was installed in the homes of older people with various needs, in the cities of Stockholm, Sweden; Zaragoza, Spain; and Kosice, Slovakia. Evaluation criteria and instrumentation were developed to assess the effects of the services on users' perceived QOL in the domains of independence, physical health, psychological wellbeing, social networking, and physical environment.FindingsA total of 62 users, with a mean age of 79 years, participated in the trial. Results demonstrate that the MonAMI services had some positive, significant effects on users' QOL. For instance, users with a higher number of disabilities at baseline reported greater confidence in keeping intruders from entering their home compared to users with fewer disabilities (OR=2.51, 0.01 p<0.05). However, overall findings show that healthier, more independent users perceived more benefits from the services compared to users who report more health problems and are less independent.Research limitations/implicationsThe complexities of conducting the MonAMI trial led to a small, heterogeneous sample of users over a short time span. This in turn created difficulties in observing the potential effects of the services and achieving significance on some indicators of QOL.Originality/valueThis paper provides quantitative analyses around the impact of telecare services; suggests important directions for further research; and highlights the methodological challenges of evaluating ICT‐based care services in a community setting.

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