Efficiency of natural insecticides and thiamethoxam on the control of thrips in grapes and selectivity to natural enemies.

The objective of this work was to verify the efficiency of natural insecticides and thiamethoxan on the control of Selenothrips rubrocinctus and Frankliniella sp. and their selectivity to natural enemies

Peptide-modified dendrimer nanoparticles for targeted therapy of colorectal cancer

Peptides have recently emerged as a promising class of targeting ligands forspecific drug delivery in cancer treatment, which avoid undesirable side effectsof the systemic administration of chemotherapeutics. Their conjugation withnanoparticles has been demonstrated to improve the functionality of peptidesresulting in a versatile platform for biomedical applications. In this work, thedevelopment of carboxymethylchitosan/poly(amidoamine) (CMCht/PAMAM)dendrimer nanoparticles functionalized with YIGSR laminin receptor bindingpeptide for the active targeting and specific delivery of therapeutic agents intocolorectal cancer cells is described. The successful functionalization isconfirmed by several physico-chemical characterization techniques. Theselectivity of the YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles is firstvalidated in vitro using a micropatterned array of 67 kDa laminin receptor.Next, the specificity of YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimers nanoparticlestoward laminin receptor is further confirmed both in 2D and 3D settings usingHCT-116 colorectal cancer cells and L929 fibroblasts in co-culture. Finally,gemcitabine-loaded YIGSR-CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles inducea targeted mortality on HCT-116 cancer cells in a co-culture scenario. Overall,the study shows solid evidence that YIGSR laminin receptor binding peptidecoupled to CMCht/PAMAM dendrimer nanoparticles may be employed as ananticancerous target for the specific and intracellular delivery ofchemotherapeutic agents.This work was financially supported through the project FROnTHERA (NORTE-01-0145-FEDER-000023), Norte Portugal Regional Operational Programme (NORTE 2020), under the Portugal 2020 Partnership Agreement, through the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF); M.R.C. for her Ph.D. scholarship NORTE-08-5369-FSE-000044, funded by Programa Operacional Regional do Norte, Fundo Social Europeu, Norte 2020 TERM&SC and EMBO Short-Term Fellowship 7232. J.M.O. for his distinction attributed under the FCT Investigator program (IF/00423/2012 and IF/01285/2015; F.R.M. acknowledges FCT for her work contract under the Transitional Rule DL 57/2016 (CTTI-57/18-I3BS(5)). D.C. acknowledges the financial support from the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the program CEEC Individual 2017 (CEECIND/00352/2017). D.C. and S.C.K. for the Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology (FCT) under the scope of the project 2MATCH (PTDC/BTMORG/28070/2017) funded by the Programa Operacional Regional do Norte supported by European Regional Development Funds (ERDF). This work is also partially supported by the IET Harvey Engineering Research Award 2018 (ENG ThE CANCER) and the European Union Framework Program for Research and Innovation Horizon 2020 on FoReCaST project under Grant Agreement No. 668983

Effect of different enrichment media and DNA extraction techniques on Salmonella detection by PCR in SWINE feces

The aim of this study was to evaluate different selective enrichment broths and DNA extraction techniques on the detection of Salmonella Typhimurium in swine feces by PCR. Feces samples (n=10) were inoculated with approximately 102 Salmonella Typhimurium organisms, first enriched in GN-Hajna broth and secondly enriched in Rappaport-Vassiliadis, Muller-Kaufmann tetrathionate and selenite-cystine broths. In order to produce DNA-templates for PCR, aliquots from the broths were subjected to three DNA extraction methods: boiling-centrifugation, salting-out and phenol-chloroform. Detection of Salmonella was significant lower when phenol-chloroform was applied to selenite-cystine and Muller-Kaufmann tetrathionate (P\u3c0.05). The boiling-centrifugation technique had best cost/benefit ratio and can be successfully used as a rapid DNA template preparation from the three enriched broths tested

Impactos das mudanças climáticas sobre a distribuição espacial da podridão da uva madura em videira.

Resumo: O objetivo do estudo foi avaliar o impacto potencial das mudanças climáticas sobre a favorabilidade de ocorrência da podridão da uva madura no Brasil. A doença é causada pelo fungo Glomerella cingulata (Stonemam) Spauld e Schrenk e tem gerado perdas expressivas na produção de vidreira, incidindo nas uvas maduras ou em processo de amadurecimento. A doença ocorre mais intensamente em regiões com clima quente e úmido, durante a fase de maturação da uva, podendo continuar a causar dano mesmo depois da uva colhida. Utilizando o SIG, foi obtida favorabilidade da podridão da uva madura para o futuro, nos períodos de 2011-2040, 2041-2070 e 2071-2100, em função da temperatura média e período de molhamento foliar, fornecidos peIo IPCC (2007). No futuro, em geral, está prevista uma redução da favorabilidade à ocorrência da doença no Brasil. Abstract: The purpose of this study was to evaluate the potential impact of climate change on the favorability of occurrence of ripe grapes rot in Brazil. The disease is caused by the fungus Glomerella cingulata (Stonemam) Spauld and Schrenk and has generated significant losses in the production. The disease is more common in regions of hot and humid climates. The disease causes damage occurs during maturation of grape and after the harvest. Using the GIS, was obtained favorability rot of ripe grapes into the future, for the periods 2011-2040, 2041-2070 and 2071-2100, according to the average temperature and leaf wetness duration, provided by IPCC (2007). On the future, in general, can be expected to reduce the favorability of the disease in Brazil

Etiological diagnosis, prognostic significance and role of electrophysiological study in patients with Brugada ECG and syncope.

BACKGROUND: Syncope is considered a risk factor for life-threatening arrhythmias in Brugada patients. Distinguishing a benign syncope from one due to ventricular arrhythmias is often difficult, unless an ECG is recorded during the episode. Aim of the study was to analyze the characteristics of syncopal episodes in a large population of Brugada patients and evaluate the role of electrophysiological study (EPS) and the prognosis in the different subgroups. METHODS AND RESULTS: One hundred ninety-five Brugada patients with history of syncope were considered. Syncope were classified as neurally mediated (group 1, 61%) or unexplained (group 2, 39%) on the basis of personal and family history, clinical features, triggers, situations, associated signs, concomitant therapy. Most patients underwent EPS; they received ICD or implantable loop-recorder on the basis of the result of investigations and physician's judgment. At 62±45months of mean follow-up, group 1 showed a significantly lower incidence of arrhythmic events (2%) as compared to group 2 (9%, p<0.001). Group 2 patients with positive EPS showed the highest risk of arrhythmic events (27%). No ventricular events occurred in subjects with negative EPS. CONCLUSION: Etiological definition of syncope in Brugada patients is important, as it allows identifying two groups with different outcome. Patients with unexplained syncope and ventricular fibrillation induced at EPS have the highest risk of arrhythmic events. Patients presenting with neurally mediated syncope showed a prognosis similar to that of the asymptomatic and the role of EPS in this group is unproven