Detection of Leishmania infantum in captive wolves from Southwestern Europe

The aim of the present study was to determine the prevalence of Leishmania infantum infection in a wild reservoir host (Canis lupus) throughout an endemic area for the disease (Southern Europe). For that reason, the serum and peripheral blood samples of 33 captive wolves from the European Breeding of Endangered Species Programme (EEP) were analyzed using the enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and real-time quantitative PCR (qPCR). L. infantum was detected in three samples from Central Portugal and Central and Northern Spain. Even though L. infantum infection in positive samples was low, surveillance of zoonotic leishmaniosis in this population is recommended as the parasite load could be higher in other tissues due to parasite tropism and most of the EEP institutions studied are located in endemic areas for canine leishmaniosis in Europe.     

Vector-borne infections in cats: molecular study in Barcelona area (Spain)

Previous serological surveys have reported the presence of different organisms in cats from Spain but little reports exist about the exact identity of these organisms. The purpose of the study reported here was to assess the presence of DNA of several vector-borne infections in a population of cats from Barcelona area. One hundred blood samples obtained from cats admitted to the UAB-VTH were entered into the study and classified as healthy (n=48) or unhealthy (n=52). EDTA-blood samples were assayed for Leishmania infantum, Ehrlichia spp., Anaplasma spp., Rickettsia spp., Bartonella spp., Hepatozoon spp., Babesia spp. and Theileria spp. DNA by means of PCR amplification and amplicons obtained were sequenced. Prevalence of infectious agents found were Leishmania infantum (3%), Ehrlichia/Anaplasma sp. (1%), Hepatozoon felis (4%) and Bartonella clarridgeiae (1%). Cats being less than 5 years old had more probability of having at less one PCR positive result (P=0.028). The results of this study show a low prevalence of several vector-borne pathogens among cats from Barcelona area. Although higher feline seroprevalences are previously reported, they evidenced exposure and probably overestimate the real or active degree of infection. However, it is important to maintain a high index of suspicion on these infectious diseases, both in sick and asymptomatic cats, and molecular techniques could aid in the identification of these pathogens.     

Cocoa Flavanols Protect Human Endothelial Cells from Oxidative Stress

Plant Foods for Human Nutrition - Oxidative stress may cause functional disorders of vascular endothelia which can lead to endothelial apoptosis and thus alter the function and structure of the...     

Irrigation scheduling and irrigation systems: optimising irrigation efficiency for container ornamental shrubs

Water use and plant growth and quality were compared across different nursery stock beds, different methods of applying irrigation, and different methods of scheduling irrigation. With overhead irrigation, scheduling of irrigation according to plant demand, along with an irrigation system designed to maximise irrigation uniformity, resulted in substantial water savings, without reducing plant quality. This was the case in both wet and dry years. In the dry year, plant quality was particularly good when grown on a sub-irrigated sand bed; this system also used less water than any of the overhead irrigation systems. Two different systems were effective in scheduling overhead irrigation, one based on the volumetric moisture in the growing substrate, and the other based on plant evapotranspiration. The latter was determined with a small sensor with wet and dry artificial “leaves”, the output of which correlated with that obtained following the Penman–Monteith method based on a full set of meteorological data.     

Characterisation of <Emphasis Type="Italic">Phoma tracheiphila</Emphasis> by RAPD-PCR,microsatellite-primed PCR and ITS rDNA sequencing and development of specific primers for <Emphasis Type="Italic">in planta</Emphasis> PCR detection

Thirty six isolates of Phoma tracheiphila from Italy, the causal agent of the mal secco disease on Citrus species, were characterised by different molecular tools in comparison with representative isolates of other phytopathogenic Phoma species. These included analysis of the distribution of RAPD and microsatellite markers and sequencing of the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of the nuclear rRNA genes. The results obtained with 12 RAPD primers (92 markers) and 7 microsatellite primers (56 markers) suggest that Italian isolates of P. tracheiphila are genetically homogeneous, leading to identical patterns upon amplification with all the tested primers. Accordingly, ITSI-5.8S-ITS2 sequences were highly conserved (98–100% identity along a 544-characters alignment) among all the isolates of P. tracheiphila. A neighbor-joining analysis of ITS sequences of P. tracheiphila in comparison with those of other Phoma species, as well as with alignable sequences from anamorphic and teleomorphic taxa retrieved in BLAST searches, revealed a close relationship between P. tracheiphila and Leptosphaeria congesta. A pair of P. tracheiphila-specific primers was designed on the consensus sequence (555 residues) obtained from the alignment of the newly generated P. tracheiphila ITS sequences. A PCR-based specific assay coupled to electrophoretic separation of amplicons made it possible to detect P. tracheiphila in naturally infected Citrus wood tissue collected from both symptomatic and symptomless plants. The limit of detection was 10 pg of genomic DNA and 5 fg of the ITS target sequence.     

Breeding for resistance to rhizomania in sugar beet: A review

Currently rhizomania is the most important disease in sugar beet worldwide, and attack can lead to serious yield losses. The disease is caused by beet necrotic yellow vein virus (BNYVV) that is transmitted by the soil-borne fungus Polymyxa betae. Breeding sugar beet cultivars with resistance to rhizomania is regarded as the most appropriate way to enable continued production of this crop in BNYVV-infested fields and also to slow the spread of the disease. Breeding for resistance started with selection by scoring disease symptoms in field experiments. The development of non-destructive greenhouse tests, with determination of the virus concentration in rootlets using ELISA, has greatly improved the efficiency of selection. In this paper the impact of scientific research on the progress in breeding cultivars with resistance to rhizomania is reviewed. This includes the distribution, composition, and pathogenicity of the virus, the sources of resistance to virus and vector, the genetics of virus resistance, progress with breeding methods, and the use of molecular markers and pathogen-derived resistance. The yields and quality characteristics of recently introduced resistant cultivars now equal those of the commercial susceptible cultivars. This revised version was published online in July 2006 with corrections to the Cover Date.     

Gap dynamics in the Western Carpathian mixed beech old-growth forests affected by spruce bark beetle outbreak

Understanding how species-specific disturbances affect the dynamics of mixed forests is becoming increasingly important due to rapidly changing disturbance regimes. This study estimated the effect of Norway spruce (Picea abies (L.) Karst.) mortality on the disturbance processes in two mixed beech stands of the Western Carpathians that were affected by a bark beetle outbreak. We evaluated the size distribution, fraction of canopy and expanded gaps, the characteristics of gapmakers and the contribution of different species to gap size. The measured canopy gap fraction was <5%, and most canopy gaps were small (<100 m²). Spruce was the most abundant gapmaker, and its share among gapmakers was 3–6 times higher than its share in the canopy. We found that the increase in spruce mortality due to the outbreak resulted in a fine-scale mortality pattern. However, spruce gapmakers did not contribute much to gap area size, as shown by a weak correlation between the number of spruce gapmakers and the area of expanded gaps. Diameter distribution of living versus recently dead trees showed that beech mortality occurred disproportionately in large size classes. However, dead spruce trees were equally frequent in all diameter classes, which means beetles did not exclusively attack larger trees in these stands during the outbreak. We conclude that spruce mortality may have influenced successional processes by giving a competitive advantage to two other species that were not affected by the outbreak, provided that a high deer browsing intensity does not hinder the regeneration of new seedlings.