Floral Stimulation and Behavior of Insect Pollinators Affected by Pyraclostrobin on Arabica Coffee

Coffee is the most valuable traded commodity after oil. On coffee, bees act to support a pollination that is shown by the number of harvested berries. This research aimed to evaluate the use of pyraclostrobin on flowering stage and insect pollinators on Arabica Coffee. Experiment was conducted in Kalisat Coffee Farm, Jampit, Bondowoso, ca. 1600 meters after sea level from October 2013 to April 2014. Randomized Block Design was adopted in this experiment. Three doses of pyraclostrobin and control were used as treatments such as 1.0, 1.5 and 2.0 cc L-1 of pyraclostrobin, and repeated three times. Percentage of fallen flower, fruiting stage, fruit production, frequency of bee`s visitation, and bee`s behavior was observed as variables in this experiment. Results showed that 1) percentage of fallen flowers was reduced by applying pyraclostrobin at 1.5 and 2.0 cc L-1 up to 50 % compared to control, 2) flowering rate was faster than control at 1.5 and 2.0 cc L-1 of pyraclostrobin, 3) application of 1.5 – 2.0 cc L-1 of pyraclostrobin increased the number of young fruits and pinheads, and 4) pollinators preferred to visit flowers of coffee trees which sprayed by pyraclostrobin than control treatment especially Apis mellifera

Comparison of asian soybean rust chemical control on a susceptible and a resistant cultivar in Brazil.

The development of resistant cultivars to the Asian soybean rust (ASR), caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi, brought an additional tool to the disease management in Brazil. ASR develops slower in resistant cultivars than in susceptible ones, allowing a reduction of the number of fungicide sprays, but chemical control is still necessary. A field trial was conducted in Ponta Grossa, Parana State, in order to compare the effects of ASR chemical control with four fungicide formulations, in both resistant (BRSGO 7560) and susceptible (CD 249 RR) soybean cultivars. The fungicides were applied twice, beginning at soybean growth stage R3?R4, when first uredinia were observed, and at soybean stage R5.3?R5.4. The fungicides used were premix formulations of pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole + fluxapyroxad (40+64.8+40 g a.i./ha), azoxystrobin + cyproconazole (60+24 g a.i./ha), pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole (79.8+30 g a.i./ha), and epoxiconazole (125 g a.i./ha). The ASR severity at soybean growth stage R7 on nonsprayed plots reached 75.4% on the resistant cultivar and 98.6% on the susceptible cultivar. Lower ASR severity index were observed in the resistant cultivar, with the treatments pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole (9.8%), pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole + fluxapyroxad (10.5%), and azoxystrobin + cyproconazole (10.9%), with an average of disease control ranging from 90.8 to 91.3%. The treatments with pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole and pyraclostrobin + epoxiconazole + fluxapyroxad provided the lower yield reductions on both soybean cultivars. The yield and grain weight reductions in the nonsprayed treatment were 32 and 28%, respectively, on the resistant cultivar and 44 and 32%, respectively, on the susceptible cultivar

The cognitive neuroscience of prehension: recent developments

Prehension, the capacity to reach and grasp, is the key behavior that allows humans to change their environment. It continues to serve as a remarkable experimental test case for probing the cognitive architecture of goal-oriented action. This review focuses on recent experimental evidence that enhances or modifies how we might conceptualize the neural substrates of prehension. Emphasis is placed on studies that consider how precision grasps are selected and transformed into motor commands. Then, the mechanisms that extract action relevant information from vision and touch are considered. These include consideration of how parallel perceptual networks within parietal cortex, along with the ventral stream, are connected and share information to achieve common motor goals. On-line control of grasping action is discussed within a state estimation framework. The review ends with a consideration about how prehension fits within larger action repertoires that solve more complex goals and the possible cortical architectures needed to organize these actions

When Ears Drive Hands: The Influence of Contact Sound on Reaching to Grasp

Background Most research on the roles of auditory information and its interaction with vision has focused on perceptual performance. Little is known on the effects of sound cues on visually-guided hand movements. Methodology/Principal Findings We recorded the sound produced by the fingers upon contact as participants grasped stimulus objects which were covered with different materials. Then, in a further session the pre-recorded contact sounds were delivered to participants via headphones before or following the initiation of reach-to-grasp movements towards the stimulus objects. Reach-to-grasp movement kinematics were measured under the following conditions: (i) congruent, in which the presented contact sound and the contact sound elicited by the to-be-grasped stimulus corresponded; (ii) incongruent, in which the presented contact sound was different to that generated by the stimulus upon contact; (iii) control, in which a synthetic sound, not associated with a real event, was presented. Facilitation effects were found for congruent trials; interference effects were found for incongruent trials. In a second experiment, the upper and the lower parts of the stimulus were covered with different materials. The presented sound was always congruent with the material covering either the upper or the lower half of the stimulus. Participants consistently placed their fingers on the half of the stimulus that corresponded to the presented contact sound. Conclusions/Significance Altogether these findings offer a substantial contribution to the current debate about the type of object representations elicited by auditory stimuli and on the multisensory nature of the sensorimotor transformations underlying action

Adherence issues related to sublingual immunotherapy as perceived by allergists

Objectives: Sublingual immunotherapy (SLIT) is a viable alternative to subcutaneous immunotherapy to treat allergic rhinitis and asthma, and is widely used in clinical practice in many European countries. The clinical efficacy of SLIT has been established in a number of clinical trials and meta-analyses. However, because SLIT is self-administered by patients without medical supervision, the degree of patient adherence with treatment is still a concern. The objective of this study was to evaluate the perception by allergists of issues related to SLIT adherence. Methods: We performed a questionnaire-based survey of 296 Italian allergists, based on the adherence issues known from previous studies. The perception of importance of each item was assessed by a VAS scale ranging from 0 to 10. Results: Patient perception of clinical efficacy was considered the most important factor (ranked 1 by 54% of allergists), followed by the possibility of reimbursement (ranked 1 by 34%), and by the absence of side effects (ranked 1 by 21%). Patient education, regular follow-up, and ease of use of SLIT were ranked first by less than 20% of allergists. Conclusion: These findings indicate that clinical efficacy, cost, and side effects are perceived as the major issues influencing patient adherence to SLIT, and that further improvement of adherence is likely to be achieved by improving the patient information provided by prescribers. © 2010 Scurati et al, publisher and licensee Dove Medical Press Ltd

Alterazioni fisiopatologiche indotte da irradiazione polmonare

Aggiornamenti di radiobiologi