Synthesis and antifungal activity of a series of N-substituted [2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl)-3-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)]propylamines

A series of N-mono- or N, N-disubstituted [2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl-3-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)]propylamines and N-[2-(2,4-dichlorophenyl-3-(1,2,4-triazol-1-yl)propyl]amides were synthesized and tested for their fungicidal activity in vitro and in vivo against a group of plant pathogenic fungi. Some compounds exhibited a fairly good in vitro activity. The replacement of the ether group of tetraconazole with a secondary or tertiary amino group leads to compounds that maintain the antifungal activity on several phytopathogenic fungi, provided that the substituents are not too bulky or lipophilic. The allyl, propargyl, and cyclopropyl groups appear particularly suitable. Although these compounds have some structural similarities with terbinafine and naftifine, which act as squalene epoxidase inhibitors, they maintain the usual mechanism of action of the other triazoles.     

Growth performance of juvenile pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and dourado (Salminus brasiliensis) fed with lyophilized bovine colostrum

Growth performance was evaluated in juvenile pacu (Piaractus mesopotamicus) and dourado (Salminus brasiliensis) fed diets containing 0%, 10% and 20% of lyophilized bovine colostrum for 60 days. The performance variables of weight gain, relative weight gain, feed intake, feed conversion ratio, specific growth rate, total protein intake and protein efficiency ratio were evaluated as well as apparent digestibility coefficients of protein and energy in the diets. Inclusion of bovine colostrum did not induce differences in the performance of pacu and dourado (P > 0.05), indicating that the diets were adequate and met the nutritional needs of the juveniles. The protein digestibility in both species was improved with the inclusion of the bovine lacteal secretion. Based on the variables studied, the diets with lyophilized bovine colostrum inclusion were nutritionally suitable for both pacu and dourado indicating the possibility to use this lacteal secretion as a partial substitute of dietary protein.     

Nutritional characteristics of Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) leaf protein concentrates obtained by ultrafiltration and acidic thermocoagulation

Some nutritional characteristics of cassava (Manihot esculenta) leaf protein concentrates obtained by ultrafiltration were compared with that obtained by acidic thermocoagulation. Protein concentrates did not show noticable differences in their proximal composition and amino acids content. However, higher values of total carotene, available lysine, and in vitro digestibility were found, in contrast with less content of total cyanide in protein concentrates obtained by ultrafiltration. Protein efficiency ratio (PER) values of the leaf protein concentrates obtained by ultrafiltration were higher than those obtained by thermocoagulation, 1.81 and 1.60 respectively. These values increased to 2.30 and 1.90 when the concentrates were mixed with sesame flour, in proportion according to the chemical score of their proteins.     

Classification of gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) from 1H NMR lipid profiling combined with principal component and linear discriminant analysis

The combination of (1)H NMR fingerprinting of lipids from gilthead sea bream (Sparus aurata) with nonsupervised and supervised multivariate analysis was applied to differentiate wild and farmed fish and to classify farmed specimen according to their areas of production belonging to the Mediterranean basin. Principal component analysis (PCA) applied on processed (1)H NMR profiles made a clear distinction between wild and farmed samples. Linear discriminant analysis (LDA) allowed classification of samples according to the geographic origin, as well as for the wild and farmed status using both PCA scores and NMR data as variables. Variable selection for LDA was achieved with forward selection (stepwise) with a predefined 5% error level. The methods allowed the classification of 100% of the samples according to their wild and farmed status and 85-97% to geographic origin. Probabilistic neural network (PNN) analyses provided complementary means for the successful discrimination among classes investigated.     

Towards an integrated understanding of green space in the European built environment

In recent years social, economic and environmental considerations have led to a reevaluation of the factors that contribute to sustainable urban environments. Increasingly, urban green space is seen as an integral part of cities providing a range of services to both the people and the wildlife living in urban areas. With this recognition and resulting from the simultaneous provision of different services, there is a real need to identify a research framework in which to develop multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research on urban green space. In order to address these needs, an iterative process based on the delphi technique was developed, which comprised email-mediated discussions and a two-day symposium involving experts from various disciplines. The two outputs of this iterative process were (i) an integrated framework for multidisciplinary and interdisciplinary research and (ii) a catalogue of key research questions in urban green space research. The integrated framework presented here includes relevant research areas (i.e. ecosystem services, drivers of change, pressures on urban green space, human processes and goals of provision of urban green space) and emergent research themes in urban green space studies (i.e. physicality, experience, valuation, management and governance). Collectively these two outputs have the potential to establish an international research agenda for urban green space, which can contribute to the better understanding of people's relationship with cities.     

Zinc phosphate protects tomato plants against Pseudomonas syringae pv. tomato

Journal of Plant Diseases and Protection - The purpose of this study was to determine whether zinc phosphate treatments of tomato plants (Solanum lycopersicum L.) can attenuate bacterial speck...     

Pathogenicity and mycotoxin production by <Emphasis Type="Italic">Fusarium proliferatum</Emphasis> isolated from onion and garlic in Serbia

Fusarium proliferatum can occur on a wide range of economically important vegetable plants but its role in disease is not always well established. In 2000 and 2001, from forty-one field samples of wilting onion and garlic plants in Serbia, F. proliferatum as the predominant fungal species was isolated from root and bulbs. Seventy isolates were firstly characterized for their sexual fertility and were shown to be mostly members of Gibberella intermedia (sixty-seven of seventy isolates, the remaining three isolates were unfertile), the sexual stage of F. proliferatum (syn. mating population D of G. fujikuroi complex). A selected set of eleven F. proliferatum isolates from both hosts were also tested for their pathogenicity and toxigenicity. Although onion and garlic plants were susceptible to all isolates, onion plants showed a significantly higher disease severity index. Six of the eleven isolates of F. proliferatum produced fumonisin B₁ from 25 to 3000 μg g⁻¹, and beauvericin from 400 to 550 μg g⁻¹; ten isolates produced fusaric acid from 80 to 950 μg g⁻¹ and moniliformin from 50 to 520 μg g⁻¹. Finally, all isolates produced fusaproliferin up to 400 μg g⁻¹. These results confirm F. proliferatum as an important pathogen of garlic and onion in Europe and that there is a potential mycotoxin accumulation risk in contaminated plants of both garlic and onion.     

Comparative pathology and pathogenesis of spontaneous and experimentally induced fibropapillomas of green turtles (Chelonia mydas)

Tumor biopsy samples from 25 Floridian and 15 Hawaiian green turtles (Chelonia mydas) with spontaneous green turtle fibropapillomatosis (GTFP) and from 27 captive-reared green turtles with experimentally induced GTFP were examined microscopically to differentiate the histologic features that result from GTFP pathogenesis and those that result from incidental factors that may vary according to geographic region. Common histologic features for spontaneous and experimentally induced tumors included fibroblast proliferation in the superficial dermis, epidermal acanthosis and hyperkeratosis, epidermal basal cell degeneration with dermal-epidermal cleft formation, spinous layer degeneration with intraepidermal vesicle and pustule formation, and ulceration. Visceral tumors, found in eight of 10 (80%) free-ranging turtles with cutaneous disease that were examined after death, had extensive interstitial fibrous proliferation. The presence of spirorchid trematode eggs and associated foreign body granulomas, common secondary findings within spontaneous tumors, varied by geographic location, and these findings were not observed in experimentally induced tumors. Eosinophilic intranuclear inclusions and intranuclear herpesvirus-associated antigen immunoreactivity were found in 18 of 38 (47%) experimentally induced cutaneous tumors and nine of 119 (7.5%) spontaneous tumors from Floridian but not Hawaiian turtles. The possible involvement of GTFP-associated herpesvirus in the pathogenesis of epidermal degenerative changes and GTFP pathogenesis is discussed.