Use of gibberellin in floriculture

This review aimed to show the use of gibberellin in floriculture. In this context, it should be noted that the benefit of the activity of the gibberellins has brought major advances in the field of physiology. Its use is one of the most important tools for the development of agriculture. Thus, the study concluded that the use of gibberellins has been increasingly used by producers and is also a vast important subject that may help in increasing the production of flowers if the farms are dedicated to this purpose.Keywords: Regulators plants, flowers, phenotypic characteristics, postharves

Stem diameter and height of chrysanthemum cv Yoko ono as affected by gibberellic acid

The effect of gibberellic acid has been shown mainly to promote cell division and elongation. This study was aimed to evaluate the development of height and diameter of the stems of chrysanthemum cultivar Yoko ono by the applications of gibberellic acid (GA3) in the field. The treatments were composed of four doses (0, 40, 80 and 120 mg L-1) at 15 and 30 days after transplanting. From the findings, It can be concluded that GA3 significantly affected the diameter of stem at higher doses, and was unable to affect the height of stem.Key words: Dendranthema grandiflora, flowers, plant regulator, concentration

Zootherapeutics utilized by residents of the community Poço Dantas, Crato-CE, Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Animals have been used as a source of medicine in Brazil since ancient times, and have played a significant role in healing practices. Specifically in Northeast Brazil, zootherapy is a very common practice, and together with medicinal plants, it plays an important role as a therapeutic alternative. In the state of Ceara, no works have been carried out on rural communities with regard to use of zootherapeutics, even though the practice of zootherapy is common in this region. Therefore, the aim of this study was to analyze the use of medicinal animals in a rural community (Poco Dantas) in the municipality of Crato, Ceara, Brazil.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>The field survey was carried out from October 2008 to January 2009 by conducting interviews using structured questionnaires with 72 people (33 men and 39 women), who provided information on animal species used as remedies, body parts used to prepare the remedies, and ailments for which the remedies were prescribed. We calculated the informant consensus factor (ICF) to determine the consensus over which species are effective for particular ailments, as well as the species use value (UV) to determine the extent of utilization of each species.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>A total of 29 species, distributed in 17 families were categorized as having some medicinal property. The taxa most represented were: mammals (9), insects (7), reptiles and birds (4). <it>Progne chalybea</it>, a species not previously recorded as being of medicinal use, was cited in the present work, where it is utilized in the treatment of alcoholism. The animals are used in the treatment of 34 diseases or symptoms, where sore throat, inflammations and cough are the ailments with the greatest number of citations.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The data show that zootherapy represents an important therapeutic alternative for the inhabitants of the community. New studies on medicinal fauna should be conducted with the aim of determining the exploitation level of the species utilized, promoting sustainable development of medicinal species that are eventually threatened, and preserving and disseminating the knowledge developed by traditional individuals of the community.</p

Using zeta-potential measurements to quantify peptide partition to lipid membranes

© The Author(s) 2011. This article is published with open access at Springerlink.com.Open Access: This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Noncommercial License which permits any noncommercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author(s) and source are credited.Many cellular phenomena occur on the biomembranes. There are plenty of molecules (natural or xenobiotics) that interact directly or partially with the cell membrane. Biomolecules, such as several peptides (e.g., antimicrobial peptides) and proteins, exert their effects at the cell membrane level. This feature makes necessary investigating their interactions with lipids to clarify their mechanisms of action and side effects necessary. The determination of molecular lipid/water partition constants (Kp) is frequently used to quantify the extension of the interaction. The determination of this parameter has been achieved by using different methodologies, such as UV-Vis absorption spectrophotometry, fluorescence spectroscopy and ζ-potential measurements. In this work, we derived and tested a mathematical model to determine the Kp from ζ-potential data. The values obtained with this method were compared with those obtained by fluorescence spectroscopy, which is a regular technique used to quantify the interaction of intrinsically fluorescent peptides with selected biomembrane model systems. Two antimicrobial peptides (BP100 and pepR) were evaluated by this new method. The results obtained by this new methodology show that ζ-potential is a powerful technique to quantify peptide/lipid interactions of a wide variety of charged molecules, overcoming some of the limitations inherent to other techniques, such as the need for fluorescent labeling.This work was partially supported by project PTDC/QUI/ 69937/2006 from Fundação para a Ciência e Tecnologia-Ministério da Ciência, Tecnologia e Ensino Superior (FCT-MCTES, Portugal), and by Fundação Calouste Gulbenkian (Portugal). JMF and MMD also thank FCT-MCTES for grants IMM/BT/37-2010 and SFRH/BD/41750/2007, respectively

Using Neural Networks for Relation Extraction from Biomedical Literature

Using different sources of information to support automated extracting of relations between biomedical concepts contributes to the development of our understanding of biological systems. The primary comprehensive source of these relations is biomedical literature. Several relation extraction approaches have been proposed to identify relations between concepts in biomedical literature, namely, using neural networks algorithms. The use of multichannel architectures composed of multiple data representations, as in deep neural networks, is leading to state-of-the-art results. The right combination of data representations can eventually lead us to even higher evaluation scores in relation extraction tasks. Thus, biomedical ontologies play a fundamental role by providing semantic and ancestry information about an entity. The incorporation of biomedical ontologies has already been proved to enhance previous state-of-the-art results.Comment: Artificial Neural Networks book (Springer) - Chapter 1

Prognostic Value of Isolated Elevated Troponin I Levels in Patients without Acute Coronary Syndrome Admitted to the Emergency Department

Background: Although non-ischemic troponin elevation is frequently seen in patients admitted to the emergency department (ED), consensus regarding its management is lacking. Objectives: This study aimed to characterize patients admitted to the ED with non-ischemic troponin elevation and to identify potential mortality predictors in this population. Methods: This retrospective observational study included ED patients with a positive troponin test result between June and July of 2015. Patients with a clinical diagnosis of acute coronary syndrome (ACS) were excluded. Data on patient demographics and clinical and laboratory variables were extracted from medical records. Follow-up data were obtained for 16 months or until death occurred. The statistical significance level was 5%. Results: Troponin elevation without ACS was found in 153 ED patients. The median (IQR) patient age was 78 (19) years, 80 (52.3%) were female and 59(38.6%) died during follow-up. The median (IQR) follow-up period was 477(316) days. Survivors were significantly younger 76 (24) vs. 84 (13) years; p=0.004) and featured a higher proportion of isolated troponin elevation (without creatine kinase or myoglobin elevation) in two consecutive evaluations: 48 (53.9%) vs. 8 (17.4%), p<0.001. Survivors also presented a lower rate of antiplatelet treatment and same-day hospitalization. In the multivariate logistic regression with adjustment for significant variables in the univariate analysis, isolated troponin elevation in two consecutive evaluations showed a hazard ratio= 0.43 (95%CI 0.17-0.96, p=0.039); hospitalization, previous antiplatelet treatment and age remained independently associated with mortality. Conclusions: Isolated troponin elevation in two consecutive measurements was a strong predictor of survival in ED patients with troponin elevation but without ACS.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fauna used in popular medicine in Northeast Brazil

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Animal-based remedies constitute an integral part of Brazilian Traditional Medicine. Due to its long history, zootherapy has in fact become an integral part of folk medicine both in rural and urban areas of the country. In this paper we summarize current knowledge on zootherapeutic practices in Northeast of Brazil, based on information compiled from ethnobiological scientific literature.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In order to examine the diversity of animals used in traditional medicine in Northeast of Brazil, all available references or reports of folk remedies based on animals sources were examined. 34 sources were analyzed. Only taxa that could be identified to species level were included in assessment of medicinal animal species. Scientific names provided in publications were updated.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The review revealed that at least 250 animal species (178 vertebrates and 72 invertebrates) are used for medicinal purposes in Northeast of Brazil. The inventoried species comprise 10 taxonomic categories and belong to 141 Families. The groups with the greatest number of species were fishes (n = 58), mammals (n = 47) and reptiles (n = 37). The zootherapeutical products are used for the treatment of different illnesses. The most widely treated condition were asthma, rheumatism and sore throat, conditions, which had a wide variety of animals to treat them with. Many animals were used for the treatment of multiple ailments. Beyond the use for treating human diseases, zootherapeutical resources are also used in ethnoveterinary medicine</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The number of medicinal species catalogued was quite expressive and demonstrate the importance of zootherapy as alternative therapeutic in Northeast of Brazil. Although widely diffused throughout Brazil, zootherapeutic practices remain virtually unstudied. There is an urgent need to examine the ecological, cultural, social, and public health implications associated with fauna usage, including a full inventory of the animal species used for medicinal purposes and the socio-cultural context associated with their consumption.</p

It Is Hot in the Sun: Antarctic Mosses Have High Temperature Optima for Photosynthesis Despite Cold Climate

© Copyright © 2020 Perera-Castro, Waterman, Turnbull, Ashcroft, McKinley, Watling, Bramley-Alves, Casanova-Katny, Zuniga, Flexas and Robinson. The terrestrial flora of Antarctica’s frozen continent is restricted to sparse ice-free areas and dominated by lichens and bryophytes. These plants frequently battle sub-zero temperatures, extreme winds and reduced water availability; all influencing their ability to survive and grow. Antarctic mosses, however, can have canopy temperatures well above air temperature. At midday, canopy temperatures can exceed 15°C, depending on moss turf water content. In this study, the optimum temperature of photosynthesis was determined for six Antarctic moss species: Bryum pseudotriquetrum, Ceratodon purpureus, Chorisodontium aciphyllum, Polytrichastrum alpinum, Sanionia uncinata, and Schistidium antarctici collected from King George Island (maritime Antarctica) and/or the Windmill Islands, East Antarctica. Both chlorophyll fluorescence and gas exchange showed maximum values of electron transport rate occurred at canopy temperatures higher than 20°C. The optimum temperature for both net assimilation of CO2 and photoprotective heat dissipation of three East Antarctic species was 20–30°C and at temperatures below 10°C, mesophyll conductance did not significantly differ from 0. Maximum mitochondrial respiration rates occurred at temperatures higher than 35°C and were lower by around 80% at 5°C. Despite the extreme cold conditions that Antarctic mosses face over winter, the photosynthetic apparatus appears optimised to warm temperatures. Our estimation of the total carbon balance suggests that survival in this cold environment may rely on a capacity to maximize photosynthesis for brief periods during summer and minimize respiratory carbon losses in cold conditions