Clones Identification and Genetic Characterization of Garnacha Grapevine by Means of Different PCR-Derived Marker Systems

This study uses PCR-derived marker systems to investigate the extent and distribution of genetic variability of 53 Garnacha accessions coming from Italy, France and Spain. The samples studied include 28 Italian accessions (named Tocai rosso in Vicenza area; Alicante in Sicily and Elba island; Gamay perugino in Perugia province; Cannonau in Sardinia), 19 Spanish accessions of different types (named Garnacha tinta, Garnacha blanca, Garnacha peluda, Garnacha roja, Garnacha erguida, Garnacha roya) and 6 French accessions (named Grenache and Grenache noir). In order to verify the varietal identity of the samples, analyses based on 14 simple sequence repeat (SSR) loci were performed. The presence of an additional allele at ISV3 locus (151 bp) was found in four Tocai rosso accessions and in a Sardinian Cannonau clone, that are, incidentally, chimeras. In addition to microsatellite analysis, intravarietal variability study was performed using AFLP, SAMPL and M-AFLP molecular markers. AFLPs could discriminate among several Garnacha samples; SAMPLs allowed distinguishing few genotypes on the basis of their geographic origin, whereas M-AFLPs revealed plant-specific markers, differentiating all accessions. Italian samples showed the greatest variability among themselves, especially on the basis of their different provenance, while Spanish samples were the most similar, in spite of their morphological diversity

A wide field-of-view imaging DOAS instrument for two-dimensional trace gas mapping from aircraft

The Airborne imaging differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument for Measurements of Atmospheric Pollution (AirMAP) has been developed for the purpose of trace gas measurements and pollution mapping. The instrument has been characterized and successfully operated from aircraft. Nitrogen dioxide (NO2) columns were retrieved from the AirMAP observations. A major benefit of the push-broom imaging instrument is the spatially continuous, gap-free measurement sequence independent of flight altitude, a valuable characteristic for mapping purposes. This is made possible by the use of a charge coupled device (CCD) frame-transfer detector. A broad field of view across track of around 48� is achieved with wide-angle entrance optics. This leads to a swath width of about the same size as the flight altitude. The use of fibre coupled light intake optics with sorted light fibres allows flexible instrument positioning within the aircraft and retains the very good imaging capabilities. The measurements yield ground spatial resolutions below 100m depending on flight altitude. The number of viewing directions is chosen from a maximum of 35 individual viewing directions (lines of sight, LOS) represented by 35 individual fibres. The selection is adapted to each situation by averaging according to signal-to-noise or spatial resolution requirements. Observations at 30m spatial resolution are obtained when flying at 1000m altitude and making use of all 35 viewing directions. This makes the instrument a suitable tool for mapping trace gas point sources and small-scale variability. The position and aircraft attitude are taken into account for accurate spatial mapping using the Attitude and Heading Reference System of the aircraft. A first demonstration mission using AirMAP was undertaken in June 2011. AirMAP was operated on the AWI Polar-5 aircraft in the framework of the AIRMETH-2011 campaign. During a flight above a medium-sized coal-fired power plant in north-west Germany, AirMAP clearly detected the emission plume downwind from the exhaust stack, with NO2 vertical columns around 2�1016 molecules c

A wide field-of-view imaging DOAS instrument for two-dimensional trace gas mapping from aircraft

The Airborne imaging differential optical absorption spectroscopy (DOAS) instrument for Measurements of Atmospheric Pollution (AirMAP) has been developed for the purpose of trace gas measurements and pollution mapping. The instrument has been characterized and successfully operated from aircraft. Nitrogen dioxide (NO₂) columns were retrieved from the AirMAP observations. A major benefit of the push-broom imaging instrument is the spatially continuous, gap-free measurement sequence independent of flight altitude, a valuable characteristic for mapping purposes. This is made possible by the use of a charge coupled device (CCD) frame-transfer detector. A broad field of view across track of around 48° is achieved with wide-angle entrance optics. This leads to a swath width of about the same size as the flight altitude. The use of fibre coupled light intake optics with sorted light fibres allows flexible instrument positioning within the aircraft and retains the very good imaging capabilities. The measurements yield ground spatial resolutions below 100 m depending on flight altitude. The number of viewing directions is chosen from a maximum of 35 individual viewing directions (lines of sight, LOS) represented by 35 individual fibres. The selection is adapted to each situation by averaging according to signal-to-noise or spatial resolution requirements. Observations at 30 m spatial resolution are obtained when flying at 1000 m altitude and making use of all 35 viewing directions. This makes the instrument a suitable tool for mapping trace gas point sources and small-scale variability. The position and aircraft attitude are taken into account for accurate spatial mapping using the Attitude and Heading Reference System of the aircraft. A first demonstration mission using AirMAP was undertaken in June 2011. AirMAP was operated on the AWI Polar-5 aircraft in the framework of the AIRMETH-2011 campaign. During a flight above a medium-sized coal-fired power plant in north-west Germany, AirMAP clearly detected the emission plume downwind from the exhaust stack, with NO₂ vertical columns around 2 &times; 10¹⁶ molecules cm⁻² in the plume centre. NO_<i>x</i> emissions estimated from the AirMAP observations are consistent with reports in the European Pollutant Release and Transfer Register. Strong spatial gradients and variability in NO₂ amounts across and along flight direction are observed, and small-scale enhancements of NO₂ above a motorway are detected

Enhanced photodynamic leishmanicidal activity of hydrophobic zinc phthalocyanine within archaeolipids containing liposomes [Corrigendum]

Perez AP, Casasco A, Schilrreff P, et al.&nbsp;Int J Nanomedicine. 2014;9:3335&ndash;3345.The author list on page 3335 was incorrect, it should have been:&nbsp;Ana Paula Perez,1&nbsp;Agustina Casasco,2&nbsp;Priscila Schilrreff,1&nbsp;Maria Victoria Defain Tesoriero,1,3&nbsp;Luc Duempelmann,1&nbsp;Juan Sebasti&aacute;n Pappalardo,4&nbsp;Maria Julia Altube,1&nbsp;Leticia Higa,1&nbsp;Maria Jose Morilla,1&nbsp;Patricia Petray,2&nbsp;Eder L Romero11Programa de Nanomedicinas, Departamento de Ciencia y Tecnolog&iacute;a, Universidad Nacional de Quilmes,&nbsp;2Servicio de Parasitolog&iacute;a y Enfermedad de Chagas, Hospital de Ni&ntilde;os Ricardo Guti&eacute;rrez,&nbsp;3Unidad Operativa Sistemas de Liberaci&oacute;n Controlada, Centro de Investigaci&oacute;n y Desarrollo en Qu&iacute;mica, Instituto Nacional de Tecnolog&iacute;a Industrial (INTI), Buenos Aires,4Virology Institute, Center for Research in Veterinary and Agronomic Sciences, National Institute for Agricultural Technology (INTA), Hurlingham, BA, ArgentinaRead the original articl

Etiology of community-acquired pneumonia in a population-based study: Link between etiology and patients characteristics, process-of-care, clinical evolution and outcomes

Abstract Background The etiologic profile of community-acquired pneumonia (CAP) for each age group could be similar among inpatients and outpatients. This fact brings up the link between etiology of CAP and its clinical evolution and outcome. Furthermore, the majority of pneumonia etiologic studies are based on hospitalized patients, whereas there have been no recent population-based studies encompassing both inpatients and outpatients. Methods To evaluate the etiology of CAP, and the relationship among the different pathogens of CAP to patients characteristics, process-of-care, clinical evolution and outcomes, a prospective population-based study was conducted in Spain from April 1, 2006, to June 30, 2007. Patients (age >18) with CAP were identified through the family physicians and the hospital area. Results A total of 700 patients with etiologic evaluation were included: 276 hospitalized and 424 ambulatory patients. We were able to define the aetiology of pneumonia in 55.7% (390/700). The most frequently isolated organism was S. pneumoniae (170/390, 43.6%), followed by C. burnetti (72/390, 18.5%), M. pneumoniae (62/390, 15.9%), virus as a group (56/390, 14.4%), Chlamydia species (39/390, 106%), and L. pneumophila (17/390, 4.4%). The atypical pathogens and the S. pneumoniae are present in pneumonias of a wide spectrum of severity and age. Patients infected by conventional bacteria were elderly, had a greater hospitalization rate, and higher mortality within 30 days. Conclusions Our study provides information about the etiology of CAP in the general population. The microbiology of CAP remains stable: infections by conventional bacteria result in higher severity, and the S. pneumoniae remains the most important pathogen. However, atypical pathogens could also infect patients in a wide spectrum of severity and age.</p

Meteorological conditions during self-initiated upward lightning at the Säntis tower (Switzerland)

Meteorological conditions favoring the initiation of upward lightning from tall structures have been only poorly investigated so far. In addition to the scientific interest in this subject, it has practical applications to risk assessment for lightning occurrence to tall structures, particularly wind turbines. During the summer of 2017, a Lightning Mapping Array (LMA) network was deployed around the Säntis tower (northeastern Switzerland). This tower is located at 2502 m ASL and it is frequently struck by lightning, being one of the lightning hotspots in Central Europe. The tower is instrumented to measure lightning currents as well as electric and magnetic fields in its vicinity. With the addition of data from a C-band dual-polarimetric radar, this campaign allowed the gathering of a comprehensive set of observations of self-initiated upward lightning emerging from the tower. The observations revealed that most of the lightning flashes are self-initiated with upward-propagating positive leaders spreading mostly horizontally above the melting level, after an initial short vertical development from the tower tip. After this initial stage, upward leaders are followed by a sequence of negative return strokes. The inception of those upward lightning flashes, under a stratiform cloud, would be favored by the presence of negative charge at low levels close to the tower. The overall electrical structure would consist of a low positive charge in the isothermal layer near the 0ºC isotherm with the presence of negative charge above it (~4km / -5°C). In some cases, a positive charge layer above the negative charge layer has been identified

Support vector machine and artificial neural network models for the classification of grapevine varieties using a portable NIR spectrophotometer

The identification of different grapevine varieties, currently attended using visual ampelometry, DNA analysis and very recently, by hyperspectral analysis under laboratory conditions, is an issue of great importance in the wine industry. This work presents support vector machine and artificial neural network's modelling for grapevine varietal classification from in-field leaf spectroscopy. Modelling was attempted at two scales: site-specific and a global scale. Spectral measurements were obtained on the near-infrared (NIR) spectral range between 1600 to 2400 nm under field conditions in a non-destructive way using a portable spectrophotometer. For the site specific approach, spectra were collected from the adaxial side of 400 individual leaves of 20 grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) varieties one week after veraison. For the global model, two additional sets of spectra were collected one week before harvest from two different vineyards in another vintage, each one consisting on 48 measurement from individual leaves of six varieties. Several combinations of spectra scatter correction and smoothing filtering were studied. For the training of the models, support vector machines and artificial neural networks were employed using the pre-processed spectra as input and the varieties as the classes of the models. The results from the pre-processing study showed that there was no influence whether using scatter correction or not. Also, a second-degree derivative with a window size of 5 Savitzky-Golay filtering yielded the highest outcomes. For the site-specific model, with 20 classes, the best results from the classifiers thrown an overall score of 87.25% of correctly classified samples. These results were compared under the same conditions with a model trained using partial least squares discriminant analysis, which showed a worse performance in every case. For the global model, a 6-class dataset involving samples from three different vineyards, two years and leaves monitored at post-veraison and harvest was also built up, reaching a 77.08% of correctly classified samples. The outcomes obtained demonstrate the capability of using a reliable method for fast, in-field, non-destructive grapevine varietal classification that could be very useful in viticulture and wine industry, either global or site-specific. © 2015 Gutiérrez et al.This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited