Acción : diario de Teruel y su provincia: Año III Número 549 - (02/09/34)

In circumstances of limited water supply, the stability of grain yield in sorghum may be improved by manipulating the interaction between plant spacing and crop maturity. The plant density which maximises grain yield over environments may also be influenced by differences in compensatory capacity among hybrids of the same maturity category. Consequently, variation among 8 sorghum hybrids in the response of grain yield to plant density was examined at 5 locations.When panicle number was used as a covariate, the interaction between hybrid, density, and site was significant (

Understanding the clinical spectrum of complicated Plasmodium vivax malaria: a systematic review on the contributions of the Brazilian literature

The resurgence of the malaria eradication agenda and the increasing number of severe manifestation reports has contributed to a renewed interested in the Plasmodium vivax infection. It is the most geographically widespread parasite causing human malaria, with around 2.85 billion people living under risk of infection. The Brazilian Amazon region reports more than 50% of the malaria cases in Latin America and since 1990 there is a marked predominance of this species, responsible for 85% of cases in 2009. However, only a few complicated cases of P. vivax have been reported from this region. A systematic review of the Brazilian indexed and non-indexed literature on complicated cases of vivax malaria was performed including published articles, masters' dissertations, doctoral theses and national congresses' abstracts. The following information was retrieved: patient characteristics (demographic, presence of co-morbidities and, whenever possible, associated genetic disorders); description of each major clinical manifestation. As a result, 27 articles, 28 abstracts from scientific events' annals and 13 theses/dissertations were found, only after 1987. Most of the reported information was described in small case series and case reports of patients from all the Amazonian states, and also in travellers from Brazilian non-endemic areas. The more relevant clinical complications were anaemia, thrombocytopaenia, jaundice and acute respiratory distress syndrome, present in all age groups, in addition to other more rare clinical pictures. Complications in pregnant women were also reported. Acute and chronic co-morbidities were frequent, however death was occasional. Clinical atypical cases of malaria are more frequent than published in the indexed literature, probably due to a publication bias. In the Brazilian Amazon (considered to be a low to moderate intensity area of transmission), clinical data are in accordance with the recent findings of severity described in diverse P. vivax endemic areas (especially anaemia in Southeast Asia), however in this region both children and adults are affected. Finally, gaps of knowledge and areas for future research are opportunely pointed out

Does maintaining green leaf area in sorghum improve yield under drought? I. Leaf growth and senescence

Production of sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], an important cereal crop in semiarid regions of the world, is often limited by drought. When water is limiting during the grain-filling period, hybrids possessing the stay-green trait maintain more photosynthetically active leaves than hybrids not possessing this trait. To improve yield under drought, knowledge of the extent of genetic variation in green leaf area retention is required. Field studies were undertaken in north-eastern Australia on a cracking and self-mulching gray clay to determine the effects of water regime and hybrid on the components of green leaf area at maturity (GLAM). Nine hybrids varying in stay-green were grown under a fully irrigated control, postflowering water deficit, and terminal (pre- and postflowering) water deficit. Water deficit reduced GLAM by 67% in the terminal drought treatment compared with the fully irrigated control. Under terminal water deficit, hybrids possessing the B35 and KS19 sources of stay-green retained more GLAM (1260 cm(2) plant(-1)) compared with intermediate (780 cm(2) plant(-1)) and senescent (670 cm(2) plant(-1)) hybrids. RQL12 hybrids (KS19 source of stay-green) displayed delayed onset and reduced rate of senescence; A35 hybrids displayed only delayed onset. Visual rating of green leaf retention was highly correlated with measured GLAM, although this procedure is constrained by an inability to distinguish among the functional mechanisms determining the phenotype. Linking functional rather than phenotypic differences to molecular markers may improve the efficiency of selecting for traits such as stay-green

Characteristic atmospheric states during mid‑summer droughts over Central America and Mexico

Open AccessAnnual precipitation over Central America and large areas of Mexico is typically characterised by its bimodal distribution, with a precipitation minimum in July to August that occurs between two separate maxima from May to July and August to October. Several theories have been proposed to explain this phenomenon, which is often termed the mid-summer drought (MSD), but most fail to address the diferent characteristics associated with individual MSD events. Here, a regression-based approach is used to detect and quantify the annual and climatological MSD signature over Central America and Mexico. This approach has been evaluated and shown to be robust for various datasets with diferent spatial resolutions. It was found that in the southeast of the Mexico/Central America region, MSDs start earlier and end later than elsewhere, and are thus longer in duration. However, the coast of the Gulf of Mexico, Cuba, and large areas of Central America, exhibit climatologically stronger MSDs. Changes in precipitation, brought about by the interaction between reversals of the onshore/ofshore winds and orographic forcing associated with the steep mountainous terrain, have also been shown to be signifcant factors in the timing of MSD occurrences, ofering support for a combined theory of large-scale dynamics and regional forcing. Using self-organising maps (SOMs) as an analysis tool, it was found that MSD events over the domain display strong spatial variability. The MSDs over the domain also generate distinct signatures and may be forced by particular mechanisms. We found that El Niño-Southern Oscillation (ENSO) could be a potential classifer for the SOM identifed atmospheric states, based on the correspondence of MSD occurrences with ENSO phasesLa precipitación anual sobre Centroamérica y grandes áreas de México se caracteriza típicamente por su distribución bimodal, con un mínimo de precipitación en julio a agosto que ocurre entre dos máximos separados de mayo a julio y de agosto a octubre. Se han propuesto varias teorías para explicar este fenómeno, que a menudo se denomina sequía de mediados de verano (TME), pero la mayoría no aborda las diferentes características asociadas con los eventos de TME individuales. Aquí, se utiliza un enfoque basado en regresión para detectar y cuantificar la firma anual y climatológica de MSD en Centroamérica y México. Este enfoque ha sido evaluado y ha demostrado ser robusto para varios conjuntos de datos con diferentes resoluciones espaciales. Se encontró que en el sureste de la región de México / Centroamérica, los TME comienzan antes y terminan más tarde que en otros lugares y, por lo tanto, tienen una duración más prolongada. Sin embargo, la costa del Golfo de México, Cuba y grandes áreas de Centroamérica exhiben TME climatológicamente más fuertes. Los cambios en la precipitación, provocados por la interacción entre las reversiones de los vientos en tierra / de tierra y el forzamiento orográfico asociado con el terreno montañoso escarpado, también han demostrado ser factores significativos en el momento de la ocurrencia de TME, ofreciendo apoyo para una teoría combinada de grandes dimensiones. -Dinámica de escala y forzamiento regional. Utilizando mapas autoorganizados (SOM) como herramienta de análisis, se encontró que los eventos de MSD en el dominio muestran una fuerte variabilidad espacial. Los MSD sobre el dominio también generan firmas distintas y pueden ser forzados por mecanismos particulares. Descubrimos que El Niño-Oscilación del Sur (ENOS) podría ser un clasificador potencial para los estados atmosféricos identifcados por la MOS, con base en la correspondencia de las ocurrencias de MSD con las fases del ENOS.Universidad de Melbourne, AustraliaUniversidad de Tasmania, AustraliaUniversidad de Dalhousie, CanadáUniversidad Nacional, Costa RicaDepartamento de Físic

Dynamical processes in the Arctic atmosphere

This book presents current knowledge on chemistry and physics of Arctic atmosphere. Special attention is given to studies of the Arctic haze phenomenon, Arctic tropospheric clouds, Arctic fog, polar stratospheric and mesospheric clouds, atmospheric dynamics, thermodynamics and radiative transfer as related to the polar environment. The atmosphere-cryosphere feedbacks and atmospheric remote sensing techniques are presented in detail. The problems of climate change in the Arctic are also addressed