Spatially variable rate herbicide application on durum wheat in Sicily

Using the conventional farming system, durum wheat requires high rates of herbicide spraying. Herbicide residues can cause pollution of soil and ground water and, therefore, of the entire environment. In order to minimise the environmental impact of herbicides, a home made system for spatially variable rate crop input application was designed, developed and set up by the Department of Engineering and Technologies in Agriculture and Forestry (I.T.A.F.). This system consists of a DGPS, a portable computer, a specifically developed software and a device for applying rates proportionally related to the machine forward speed (DPA). Tests of spatially variable rate herbicide application were carried out in inland Sicily, on a field of 8.4 ha (where a three-year crop rotation, broad bean/vetch - durum wheat - durum wheat, was practised), using a sprayer modified for applying variable rates and equipped with the above mentioned system. The results are promising. The spatially variable rate herbicide application allowed an almost even grain yield over the entire field and a saving of 29% of herbicides with respect to the amounts normally used with the conventional farming system

Essential oil phytocomplex activity, a review with a focus on multivariate analysis for a network pharmacology-informed phytogenomic approach

Thanks to omic disciplines and a systems biology approach, the study of essential oils and phytocomplexes has been lately rolling on a faster track. While metabolomic fingerprinting can provide an effective strategy to characterize essential oil contents, network pharmacology is revealing itself as an adequate, holistic platform to study the collective effects of herbal products and their multi-component and multi-target mediated mechanisms. Multivariate analysis can be applied to analyze the effects of essential oils, possibly overcoming the reductionist limits of bioactivity-guided fractionation and purification of single components. Thanks to the fast evolution of bioinformatics and database availability, disease-target networks relevant to a growing number of phytocomplexes are being developed. With the same potential actionability of pharmacogenomic data, phytogenomics could be performed based on relevant disease-target networks to inform and personalize phytocomplex therapeutic application

Gradings of non-graded Hamiltonian Lie algebras

A thin Lie algebra is a Lie algebra graded over the positive integers satisfying a certain narrowness condition. We describe several cyclic grading of the modular Hamiltonian Lie algebras H(2\colon\n;\omega_2) (of dimension one less than a power of $p$) from which we construct infinite-dimensional thin Lie algebras. In the process we provide an explicit identification of H(2\colon\n;\omega_2) with a Block algebra. We also compute its second cohomology group and its derivation algebra (in arbitrary prime characteristic).Comment: 36 pages, to be published in J. Austral. Math. Soc. Ser.

Bridging tools to better understand environmental performances and raw materials supply of traction batteries in the future EU fleet

Sustainable and smart mobility and associated energy systems are key to decarbonise the EU and develop a clean, resource efficient, circular and carbon-neutral future. To achieve the 2030 and 2050 targets, technological and societal changes are needed. This transition will inevitably change the composition of the future EU fleet, with an increasing share of electric vehicles (xEVs). To assess the potential contribution of lithium-ion traction batteries (LIBs) in decreasing the environmental burdens of EU mobility, several aspects should be included. Even though environmental assessments of batteries along their life-cycle have been already conducted using life-cycle assessment, a single tool does not likely provide a complete overview of such a complex system. Complementary information is provided by material flow analysis and criticality assessment, with emphasis on supply risk. Bridging complementary aspects can better support decision-making, especially when different strategies are simultaneously tackled. The results point out that the future life-cycle GWP of traction LIBs will likely improve, mainly due to more environmental-friendly energy mix and improved recycling. Even though second-use will postpone available materials for recycling, both these end-of-life strategies allow keeping the values of materials in the circular economy, with recycling also contributing to mitigate the supply risk of Lithium and Nickel

The PML-RAR alpha transcript in long-term follow-up of acute promyelocytic leukemia patients

Background and Objectives. Detection of PML-RAR alpha transcripts by RT-PCR is now established as a rapid and sensitive method for diagnosis of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL), Although the majority of patients in longterm clinical remission are negative by consecutive reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) assays, negative tests are still observed in patients who ultimately relapse. Conversion from negative to positive PCR has been observed after consolidation and found to be a much stronger predictor of relapse. This study reports on 47 APL patients to determine the correlation between minimal residual disease (MRD) status and clinical outcome in our cohort of patients. Design and Methods. The presence of PML-RAR alpha t transcripts was investigated in 47 APL patients (37 adults and 10 children) using a semi-nested reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction to evaluate the prognostic value of RT-PCR tests. Results. All patients achieved complete clinical remission (CCR) following induction treatment with all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA) and chemotherapy (CHT) or ATRA alone. Patients were followed up between 2 and 117.6 months (median: 37 months). Relapses occurred in 11 patients (9 adults and 2 children) between 11.4 and 19 months after diagnosis (median: 15.1 months) while 36 patients (28 adults and 8 children) remained in CCR, Seventy-five percent of patients carried the PML-RARa long isoform (bcr 1/2) which also predominated among the relapsed cases (9 of 11) but did not associate with any adverse outcome (p = 0.37), For the purpose of this analysis, minimal residual disease tests were clustered into four time-intervals: 0-2 months, 3-5 months, 5-9 months and 10-24 months. Interpretation and Conclusions. Children showed persisting disease for longer than adults during the first 2 months of treatment, At 2 months, 10 (50%) of 20 patients who remained in CCR and 4 (80%) of 5 patients who subsequently relapsed were positive. Patients who remained in CCR had repeatedly negative results beyond 5.5 months from diagnosis. A positive MRD test preceded relapse in 3 of 4 tested patients. The ability of a negative test to predict CCR (predictive negative value, PNV) was greater after 6 months (> 83%), while the ability of a positive test to predict relapse (predictive positive value, PPV) was most valuable only beyond 10 months (100%). This study (i) highlights the prognostic value of RT-PCR monitoring after treatment of APL patients but only from the end of treatment, (ii) shows an association between conversion to a positive test and relapse and (iii) suggests that PCR assessments should be carried out at 3-month intervals to provide a more accurate prediction of hematologic relapses but only after the end of treatment, (C) 2001, Ferrata Storti Foundatio

How do variations in the temporal distribution of rainfall events affect ecosystem fluxes in seasonally water-limited Northern Hemisphere shrublands and forests?

As a result of climate change, rainfall regimes became more extreme over the course of the 20th century, characterised by fewer and larger rainfall events. Such changes are expected to continue throughout the current century. The effect of changes in the 5 temporal distribution of rainfall on ecosystem carbon fluxes is poorly understood, with most available information coming from experimental studies of grassland ecosystems. Here, continuous measurements of ecosystem carbon fluxes and precipitation from the worldwide FLUXNET network of eddy-covariance sites are exploited to investigate the effects of differences in rainfall distribution on the carbon balance of seasonally water10 limited shrubland and forest sites. Once the strong dependence of ecosystem fluxes on total annual rainfall amount is accounted for, results show that sites with more extreme rainfall distributions have significantly lower gross productivity, slightly lower ecosystem respiration and consequently a smaller net ecosystem productivity.JRC.H.7-Climate Risk Managemen

Blood-Based Biomarkers for Alzheimer’s Disease Diagnosis and Progression: An Overview

Alzheimer’s Disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disease characterized by amyloid-β (Aβ) plaque deposition and neurofibrillary tangle accumulation in the brain. Although several studies have been conducted to unravel the complex and interconnected pathophysiology of AD, clinical trial failure rates have been high, and no disease-modifying therapies are presently available. Fluid biomarker discovery for AD is a rapidly expanding field of research aimed at anticipating disease diagnosis and following disease progression over time. Currently, Aβ1–42, phosphorylated tau, and total tau levels in the cerebrospinal fluid are the best-studied fluid biomarkers for AD, but the need for novel, cheap, less-invasive, easily detectable, and more-accessible markers has recently led to the search for new blood-based molecules. However, despite considerable research activity, a comprehensive and up-to-date overview of the main blood-based biomarker candidates is still lacking. In this narrative review, we discuss the role of proteins, lipids, metabolites, oxidative-stress-related molecules, and cytokines as possible disease biomarkers. Furthermore, we highlight the potential of the emerging miRNAs and long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) as diagnostic tools, and we briefly present the role of vitamins and gut-microbiome-related molecules as novel candidates for AD detection and monitoring, thus offering new insights into the diagnosis and progression of this devastating disease

3D Architecture and Replaceable Layers for Label-Free DNA Biochips

Recent advances in bio-sensing technologies have led to design of bio-sensor arrays for rapid identification and quantification of various biological agents such as drugs, gene expressions, proteins, cholesterol, fats, etc. Various dedicated sensing arrays are already available commercially to monitor some of these compounds in a sample. However, monitoring the simultaneous presence of multiple agents in a sample is still a challenging task. Multiple agents may often attach to the same probes on an array which makes it difficult to design a chip that can distinguish such agents (leading to low specificity). Thus, sophisticated algorithms for targets identification need to be implemented in biochip in order to maximize the number of distinguishable targets in the samples. The proposed algorithms are also required to introduce sophisticated signal processing and more intelligence on-chip. Dealing with these new processing and information technology demands constraints also require more innovative approaches towards hybrid integration technologies. To address such new demands, we discuss in this paper an innovative 3D-integrated bio-chips especially dedicated to label-free DNA detection

Direct peroral cholangioscopy in the management of difficult biliary stones: a new tool to confirm common bile duct clearance. Results of a preliminary study

Background and aims: Endoscopic sphincterotomy (ES) with stone extraction is the standard treatment for choledocholithiasis. After stone retrieval, balloon-occluded cholangiography is generally performed to confirm bile duct clearance but can miss residual stones particularly in patients with residual small-sized stones, a large bile duct or pneumobilia. In addition, difficult common bile duct (CBD) stones requiring advanced endoscopic techniques for retrieval are a potential risk factor for choledocholithiasis recurrence. Methods: We performed a retrospective evaluation of a prospectively maintained procedures database. From July 2016 to December 2017, all patients with difficult CBD stones who underwent endoscopic retrograde cholangiopancreatography (ERCP) with papillary balloon dilation-assisted stone retrieval and subsequent direct per-oral cholangioscopy (DPOC) using standard gastroscopes to confirm CBD clearance were analyzed. Results: Thirty-six patients who underwent ERCP and DPOC were included. Technical success, defined as deep intubation of CBD with hepatic hilum visualization, was achieved in 31 of 36 patients (86%). During DPOC, residual CBD stones were visualized and removed in 7 of 31 patients (22.5%). After a mean of 241 +/- 56 days of follow-up post-DPOC, no serious adverse events were reported, and there was no evidence or suspicion of recurrent choledocholithiasis. Conclusions: Direct per-oral cholangioscopy immediately following difficult CBD stone removal was safe, feasible and accurate. In this setting, DPOC at the time of ERCP appears to be a very useful tool to achieve complete clearance of choledocholithiasis.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio