The application of gibberellic acid increases berry size of ‘Emperatriz’ seedless grape

Gibberellic acid (GA3) increases berry size of "Emperatriz" seedless grape, the response depending on the phenological stage of vine at treatment date and on the concentration applied. From berry fruit set to 21 days later, 80 mg/L GA3 increased commercial berry weight by 50%-90%, depending on the year, reaching similar size to that of "Aledo" seeded grape, used as comparison. This effect takes place through: a) a larger berry growth rate; b) an early glucose, fructose and sucrose uptake; c) an increase of absolute glucose and fructose content (mg/berry) of seedless berries up to similar values to those of seeded berries; and d) an increase of absolute berry water content but not of relative content to fresh weight, thus water potential and osmotic potential are not significantly modified by treatments. GA3 does not affect berry pericarp cell number but increases pericarp cell diameter

How to introduce development education into university? Intruments and experiences of spanish technical environments

In this paper we present some experiences of Development Education (DE) introduced in the three main Spanish Universities with Technical Studies: Technical University of Valencia, Catalunya and Madrid. The concept of DE we are following in this paper is the next one: DE as a strategy of international cooperation aimed at the citizens/people of the North. Its main goal is the empowerment of people through a teaching and learning process, which develops knowledge, skills and values in learners, thus enabling them to become members of a global community of equals [1]. First of all, in this paper we present a tipology of different instruments that the University owe in order to develop development education activities. This proposal is based on the conclusion of the Committee of University Development Aid (CEURI) and was reelaborated by the authors of this paper and collaborators [2,3]. Secondly, we discuss about the main characteristic of four strategies we have developed in the three Universities referred above: 1) Ethical codes such the Ethical Code of the School of Industrial Engineers of Technical University of Valencia. 2) Teaching innovation groups such the GREVOL group of Technical University of Valencia, the Interest Group of Collaborative Learning of the Technical University of Catalunya and the Development Education Group of Information and Communication Technologies of the Technical University of Madrid. 3) Free elective courses in bachelor studies dedicated to international development aid in the three universities and posgraduate studies which link development education and technology for human development. 4) Mobility programs in coordination with NGDOs developed in the Technical University of Catalunya. The description of these initiatives would like to illustrate the great potential of the DE activities developed in the three Spanish Universities. We will introduce some considerations about the impact of the European Higher Education Area (EHEA) in those strategies.Peer ReviewedPostprint (published version

Comparative transcriptional survey between laser-microdissected cells from laminar abscission zone and petiolar cortical tissue during ethylene-promoted abscission in citrus leaves

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Abscission is the cell separation process by which plants are able to shed organs. It has a great impact on the yield of most crop plants. At the same time, the process itself also constitutes an excellent model to study cell separation processes, since it occurs in concrete areas known as abscission zones (AZs) which are composed of a specific cell type. However, molecular approaches are generally hampered by the limited area and cell number constituting the AZ. Therefore, detailed studies at the resolution of cell type are of great relevance in order to accurately describe the process and to identify potential candidate genes for biotechnological applications.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Efficient protocols for the isolation of specific citrus cell types, namely laminar abscission zone (LAZ) and petiolar cortical (Pet) cells based on laser capture microdissection (LCM) and for RNA microextraction and amplification have been developed. A comparative transcriptome analysis between LAZ and Pet from citrus leaf explants subjected to an <it>in-vitro </it>24 h ethylene treatment was performed utilising microarray hybridization and analysis. Our analyses of gene functional classes differentially represented in ethylene-treated LAZ revealed an activation program dominated by the expression of genes associated with protein synthesis, protein fate, cell type differentiation, development and transcription. The extensive repertoire of genes associated with cell wall biosynthesis and metabolism strongly suggests that LAZ layers activate both catabolic and anabolic wall modification pathways during the abscission program. In addition, over-representation of particular members of different transcription factor families suggests important roles for these genes in the differentiation of the effective cell separation layer within the many layers contained in the citrus LAZ. Preferential expression of stress-related and defensive genes in Pet reveals that this tissue is likely to be reprogrammed to prevent pathogen attacks and general abiotic stresses after organ shedding.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The LCM-based data generated in this survey represent the most accurate description of the main biological processes and genes involved in organ abscission in citrus. This study provides novel molecular insight into ethylene-promoted leaf abscission and identifies new putative target genes for characterization and manipulation of organ abscission in citrus.</p

The importance of the lipoxygenase-hepoxilin pathway in the mammalian epidermal barrier

This review covers the background to discovery of the two key lipoxygenases (LOX) involved in epidermal barrier function, 12R-LOX and eLOX3, and our current views on their functioning. In the outer epidermis, their consecutive actions oxidize linoleic acid esterified in ω-hydroxy-ceramide to a hepoxilin-related derivative. The relevant background to hepoxilin and trioxilin biochemistry is briefly reviewed. We outline the evidence that linoleate in the ceramide is the natural substrate of the two LOX enzymes and our proposal for its importance in construction of the epidermal water barrier. Our hypothesis is that the oxidation promotes hydrolysis of the oxidized linoleate moiety from the ceramide. The resulting free ω-hydroxyl of the ω-hydroxyceramide is covalently bound to proteins on the surface of the corneocytes to form the corneocyte lipid envelope, a key barrier component. Understanding the role of the LOX enzymes and their hepoxilin products should provide rational approaches to ameliorative therapy for a number of the congenital ichthyoses involving compromised barrier function. This article is part of a Special Issue entitled The Important Role of Lipids in the Epidermis and their Role in the Formation and Maintenance of the Cutaneous Barrier. Guest Editors: Kenneth R. Feingold and Peter Elias

Real-life burden of hospitalisations due to COPD exacerbations in Spain

Patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) often suffer episodes of exacerbation of symptoms (ECOPD) that may eventually require hospitalisation due to several, often overlapping, causes. We aimed to analyse the characteristics of patients hospitalised because of ECOPD in a real-life setting using a "big data" approach.The study population included all patients over 40 years old with a diagnosis of COPD (n=69 359; prevalence 3.72%) registered from 1 January 2011 to 1 March 2020 in the database of the public healthcare service (SESCAM) of Castilla-La Mancha (Spain) (n=1 863 759 subjects). We used natural language processing (Savana Manager version 3.0) to identify those who were hospitalised during this period for any cause, including ECOPD.During the study 26 453 COPD patients (38.1%) were hospitalised (at least once). Main diagnoses at discharge were respiratory infection (51%), heart failure (38%) or pneumonia (19%). ECOPD was the main diagnosis at discharge (or hospital death) in 8331 patients (12.0% of the entire COPD population and 31.5% of those hospitalised). In-hospital ECOPD-related mortality rate was 3.11%. These patients were hospitalised 2.36 times per patient, with a mean hospital stay of 6.1 days. Heart failure was the most frequent comorbidity in patients hospitalised because of ECOPD (52.6%).This analysis shows that, in a real-life setting, ECOPD hospitalisations are prevalent, complex (particularly in relation to heart failure), repetitive and associated with significant in-hospital mortality.Copyright ©The authors 2022

Tropicalization process of the 7 November 2014 mediterranean cyclone: numerical sensitivity study

Tropical-like Mediterranean cyclones (medicanes) have been documented and investigated in the literature, revealing that theirphysical mechanisms are stillpoorly understoodand likely not unique across cases. During late hours of 7 November 2014 a small-scale cyclone was detected over the Sicilian channel, affecting the Islands of Lampedusa, Pantelleria and Malta. Gust wind values exceeding 42.7m s-1and a pressure drop above 20 hPa in 6 hours were registered in Malta. Clear signatures of a well-defined cloud-free eye surroundedwithconvective activity of axisymmetric character were identifiable through IR satellite imagery during the late stages of the cyclone, resembling the properties of a hurricane.Weinvestigate the cyclogenesis and posterior development of this small-scale cyclone as well as its physical nature; to thisaim,a set of high-resolution sensitivity numerical experiments were performed. Hart’s phase diagrams adapted to the Mediterranean region clearly reveal the tropical characteristics of the simulated storm. A numerical sensitivity analysis by means of a factor separation technique is used to gain quantitative insight on the roleslatent heat release, surface heat fluxes and upper-level PV signatures (dynamically isolated through a PV-Inversion technique) have on the unfold of this singular event. Results show the importance of the upper-level dynamics to generate a baroclinic environment prone to surface cyclogenesis and in supporting the posterior tropicalization of the system. On the contrary, latent heat release and surface heat fluxes factors do not seem to contribute, as individual processes, tothe genesis of the cyclone as much as it could be suspected, considering itbehavesas a tropical-like cyclone. However, the asynchronous synergism between latent heat release and PV factors plays a crucial role for the intensification of the cyclone towards reaching the pure diabatic phase.This research is framed within the CGL2014-52199-R [Future Regional Impacts of Climate Change Associated to Extreme Weather Phenomena (EXTREMO)] Spanish project which is partially supported with AEI/FEDER funds. The first author was also supported by the FPI-CAIB (FPI/1877/2016) grant from the Conselleria d'Innovació, Recerca i Turisme del Govern de les Illes Balears and the Fons Social Europeu. The authors also acknowledge the computer resources at MareNostrum and the technical support provided by Barcelona Supercomputing Center (RES-AECT-2017-1-0014, RES-AECT-2017-2-0014), that allowed us to perform the high-resolution simulations presented in this study

Does Helicobacter pylori have a pathogenic role in bronchiectasis?

SummaryAimTo investigate the presence of Helicobacter pylori (H. pylori) in bronchial biopsies of patients with bronchiectasis, by histochemical and immunochemical staining.Setting800-bed tertiary university hospital.MethodsObservational study. Patients: forty-six patients with bronchiectasis in a stable clinical condition and 8 control patients. Interventions: Serum samples determination of IgG levels for H. pylori by ELISA. Inmunostaining with an anti-H. pylori antibody (NCL-HPp, Novocastra) of bronchial mucosa obtained by fiberoptic bronchoscopy from both patients with bronchiectasis and controls.ResultsTwenty-one out of 46 patients with bronchiectasis (46%) had positive serologies for H. pylori. We obtained 40 bronchial biopsies in patients with bronchiectasis and 8 bronchial biopsies in control patients. No evidence of H. pylori was obtained in the bronchial samples of both patients and controls.ConclusionsThe results of our study could not demonstrate the presence of H. pylori in bronchial specimens from patients with bronchiectasis

Evolución de la flexibilidad de la cadena cinética posterior en escolares de 5 a 11 años

La finalitat del nostre estudi és valorar l’evolució de la flexibilitat de la cadena cinètica posterior en els escolars de 5 a 11 anys, i observar en quins grups d’edat és necessària l’aplicació de programes específics per a millorar-la. Els escolars varen ser sotmesos a les mateixes valoracions: el test de “sit and reach”, la pressa de les mesures antropomètriques, altura i pes, i el qüestionari Minesotta sobre el consum calòric en el temps de lleure. Dels resultats es desprèn que a mesura que augmenta l’edat, la flexibilitat dels escolars estudiats disminueix progressivament. Existeix un interval d’edat situat en els 9 anys que sembla marcar un canvi de tendència en la flexibilitat dels escolars. És a partir d’aquesta edat quan el grau de flexibilitat disminueix de forma significativa i, es més marcada entre els nens, sent necessària una intervenció més específica en ells

Programa de intervención específico para la mejora de la flexibilidad en escolares: es efectiva la intervención del MEF?

La finalitat del nostre va ser valorar l’aplicació d’un programa d’intervenció específic per a millorar la flexibilitat en un grup d’escolars de 9 anys. Van ser inclosos en l’estudi 63 escolars de 4º curs d’Educació Primària, del Centre Escolar la Salle i el CEIP St. Ignasi, ambdós de Manresa (Barcelona). Durant tres setmanes, el centre La Salle va aplicà un programa específic per a millorar la flexibilitat de la cadena cinètica posterior. En canvi, el CEIP St. Ignasi es va utilitzar com a grup control, continuant el seu programa educatiu habitual. Hem observat que l’aplicació de programes específics per a millorar la flexibilitat és efectiva en los escolares de 9 anys. La forma de aplicar els programes de educació física modifica significativament el grau de flexibilitat en los escolares