Susceptibility of grapevine viruses to thermotherapy on in vitro collection of Kober 5BB

A number of virus elimination protocols have been developed to obtain healthy plants but their success rates have been variable due to the strong virus–host relationship, treatment performances and experimental condition. An in vitro collection of plants of Vitis berlandieri × Vitis riparia Kober 5BB single-infected by Grapevine vitivirus A (GVA), Grapevine fanleaf nepovirus (GFLV), Grapevine fleck maculavirus (GFkV), Grapevine leafroll ampelovirus 1 (GLRaV-1) and Grapevine leafroll ampelovirus 3 (GLRaV-3) was established to carry out thermotherapy treatments. The experimental system allowed to control the effects of host genotype by using the same genetic background, and the environmental condition such as relative humidity, soil and temperature conditions. Trials were conducted in a growth chamber set at 37 ± 0.5 °C for 48 days using in vitro cultures for all infections. ELISA and RT-PCR were used to check sanitary conditions. Results showed complete eradication of GFLV and no effect against GFkV. Different sanitation rates were obtained for other phloematic viruses: 70.2% for GVA, 25.1% for GFLaV-1 and 24.7% for GLRaV-3. The results on phloematic viruses showed a gradient of elimination efficiency which could not be completely explained with the location of viral particles that seems to be only one of the several factors affecting virus susceptibility to heat stress. Moreover, the advantages of this experimental system provide the opportunity to obtain a greater understanding of the thermotherapeutic effects on phloematic viruses.     

Effects of a sulfonylurea herbicide on soil microarthropods

 The short-term effects on soil microarthropods of the herbicide triasulfuron, belonging to the chemical class of sulfonylureas, were evaluated in two fields which had never been treated with sulfonylureas, and were cultivated with winter wheat. In particular, the effects of single applications at rates corresponding to two- (rate 2) and sixfold (rate 6) the recommended agricultural rate (7.5 g active ingredient ha^–1) were analysed and compared with controls. The changes in the populations of the main groups of microarthropods were evaluated. Rate 2 had very low effects, whereas rate 6 produced a significant decrease in the number of microarthropods, Acarina and Collembola in the surface soil layer (0–7.5 cm). The Collembola were analysed at the species level. Statistical analysis revealed significant differences only for a few species, and only after treatment with the highest rate of triasulfuron. Finally, the results of the field tests were compared to those of laboratory tests carried out previously, which examined the effects of the same herbicide on a collembolan species. Received: 11 November 1998     

Solid olive residues: insight into their phenolic composition

Solid olive residues (SOR) are byproducts of the olive-milling process, but they have an increasing importance in the pharmaceutical industry due to their rich content of biophenols. Such compounds are studied widely for their antioxidant and antimicrobial activities, but there is a lack of information about their quantitative recovery. This research highlighted the key role played both by the selection of the cultivar and by the degree of olive fruit ripening on the phenolic content on the SOR. The extraction methods were selected to reach the best quantitative results mainly using a safe food solvent. In light of the results the Soxhlet extraction with ethanol could be proposed as preferential for a higher recovery of verbascoside and its analogues.     

Radar soundings of the subsurface of Mars

The martian subsurface has been probed to kilometer depths by the Mars Advanced Radar for Subsurface and Ionospheric Sounding instrument aboard the Mars Express orbiter. Signals penetrate the polar layered deposits, probably imaging the base of the deposits. Data from the northern lowlands of Chryse Planitia have revealed a shallowly buried quasi-circular structure about 250 kilometers in diameter that is interpreted to be an impact basin. In addition, a planar reflector associated with the basin structure may indicate the presence of a low-loss deposit that is more than 1 kilometer thick.     

Different approaches for modeling grouped survival data: A mango tree study

Interval-censored survival data, in which the event of interest is not observed exactly but is only known to occur within some time interval, occur very frequently. In some situations, event times might be censored into different, possibly overlapping intervals of variable widths; however, in other situations, information is available for all units at the same observed visit time. In the latter cases, interval-censored data are termed grouped survival data. Here we present alternative approaches for analyzing intervalcensored data. We illustrate these techniques using a survival data set involving mango tree lifetimes. This study is an example of grouped survival data.     

Effect of triploidy on quality traits of shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa L.) until the second rearing year

Carcass and flesh morphometric, reological and chemical traits of triploid (3n) and diploid (2n) shi drum (Umbrina cirrosa L.) were evaluated through 7 months. Three age groups, 17‐, 21‐ and 24‐month‐old fish, were investigated. The effects of ploidy were statistically evaluated and the weight of fish was included in the model as a covariate because triploids grew less than diploids. As expected, fish weight was found to be significantly correlated with all the investigated morphometric traits, but showed a negative correlation with some chemical (pH) and colour traits (lightness) of raw fillet. In comparison with controls, triploid shi drums were characterized by different morphological traits that involved a slender body shape. In triploids, a reduction in condition factor, backbone weight, dressing index and an increase in the agility index were also recorded. When the commercial size (i.e. over 300 g) was achieved, triploids exhibited larger coelomatic and fillet (dorsal white muscle) fat deposition than diploids. Among reological traits, colour and texture were affected by ploidy; raw fillet lightness and cooked flesh tenderness were higher among triploids in all the investigated age groups. As fish were fed with a restricted feeding regimen, fillet fat deposition was supposed to be limited. Thus, the effects of ploidy on reological traits may be only partially explained by lipid fillet amount and are supposed to be more related to different fibre muscle architecture.     

Lipoxygenase distribution in coffee (Coffea arabica L.) berries

In this paper lipoxygenase (LOX) presence was investigated in coffee berries to determine its involvement in lipid degradative metabolism of plants grown in organic and conventional cultivations. An immunochemical analysis has evidenced a ca. 80 kDa protein, cross-reacting with an anti-LOX antibody, only in the pulp fraction of berries obtained from plants of both cultivations. LOX activity in this fraction could be monitored either as conjugated diene formation or reaction products (determined by HPLC) and was mainly associated with a heavy membrane fraction (HMF, enriched in tonoplast, endoplasmic reticulum, plasma membrane, and mitochondria) and a light membrane fraction (LMF, enriched in plasma membrane and endoplasmic reticulum, with low levels of tonoplast and mitochondria). The LOX activity of LMF from berries of both cultivations showed an optimum at pH 8.0. The HMF exhibited a different activity peak in samples from conventional (pH 8.0) and organic (pH 5.5) cultures, suggesting the presence of different isoenzymes. These findings were also confirmed by variation of the ratio of 9- and 13-hydroperoxides in organic (1:1) and conventional cultivations (1:10), indicating that the organic one was subjected to an oxidative stress in the coffee pulp fraction leading to the expression of an acidic LOX. Such de novo synthesized LOX activity could be responsible for the production of secondary metabolites, which may interfere with the organoleptic profile of coffee.     

Ganglioneuroblastoma in a cat: a rare neoplasm treated with electrochemotherapy

An 8-year-old male castrated cat was referred for sudden onset of lameness. Physical examination revealed a 1x2x1cm mass originating from a footpad of the right hind leg. A diagnosis of ganglioneuroblastoma was suggested by the tumour appearance following histopathological staining with haematoxylin and eosin and haematoxylin/van Gieson. Immunohistochemical staining for glial fibrillary acidic protein (GFAP), vimentin, neuron-specific enolase (NSE), neurofilament and S100 further confirmed the diagnosis. The staging process did not indicate metastatic spread. The cat was treated with three sessions of electrochemotherapy (ECT) 1 week apart, following local injection of bleomycin. The tumour had completely regressed within 1 week of the third ECT application and remained in remission for 402 days at which time a small recurrence was noted. The animal was given a further session of ECT using intra-lesional cisplatin and again went into remission. It remained tumour free at 450 days. Electrochemotherapy is considered a safe and effective treatment for localised neoplasms of cats and dogs and warrants further investigation.     

p62/SQSTM1 expression in canine mammary tumours: Evolutionary notes

Recent studies highlighted the role of autophagy as a cardinal regulatory system for homeostasis and cancer‐related signalling pathways. In this context, the deregulated expression of p62 – Sequestosome1 (p62/SQSTM1) – a protein acting both as an autophagy receptor and signalling hub, has been associated with tumour development and chronic inflammation. Multiple clinical studies test drugs targeting autophagy, and even more research is on the way to clinical trials. However, no comparative investigations have been carried out to identify adequate preclinical models to assess p62‐based medicine. In veterinary oncology the role of p62 in cancer‐related pathways has been largely ignored. We compared p62 sequences in multiple organisms and found that canine p62 significantly diverges from the humans and from other animals sequences. Then, we chart by immunohistochemistry the expression levels of p62 in canine mammary tumours. A total of 66 tumours and 10 non‐neoplastic mammary samples were examined. The expression of p62 was higher in normal tissue and adenomas than carcinomas, with lowest levels of p62 protein detected in high grade carcinomas. In all cases examined the tumour stroma appeared to be p62‐negative. Taken together our results would suggest that in dogs the association between p62 expression and cancer cells overturns that reported in human breast carcinoma, where p62 accumulates in malignant cells as compared to normal epithelium. Thus, at least in canine mammary tumours, p62 should be not considered a tumour‐rejection antigen for an anti‐cancer immunotherapy.