HEALTH AND PHYSIOLOGICAL QUALITY OF AROEIRA-PRETA ( Lithraea molleoides ) SEEDS EXPOSED TO METHODS OF OVERCOMING DORMANCY

O presente estudo teve como objetivo avaliar a qualidade fisiol\uf3gica e sanit\ue1ria de sementes de ( Lithraea molleoides (Vell.) Engl. comparando diferentes m\ue9todos de supera\ue7\ue3o da dorm\ueancia. Os m\ue9todos de supera\ue7\ue3o da dorm\ueancia utilizados foram: escarifica\ue7\ue3o \ue1cida por 10, 15, 20 e 25 minutos; imers\ue3o em \ue1gua quente, com temperatura de 70, 80 e 90\ub0C, at\ue9 resfriar por 24 horas, imers\ue3o em \ue1cido giber\ue9lico (GA3) na concentra\ue7\ue3o de 250 e 500 mg.L-1, por 24 e 48 horas; e imers\ue3o em nitrato de pot\ue1ssio (KNO3) por 24 e 48 horas. Foram realizadas avalia\ue7\uf5es de sanidade, germina\ue7\ue3o e comprimento m\ue9dio de pl\ue2ntulas. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado, com quatro repeti\ue7\uf5es de 25 sementes por tratamento. Os dados em percentagem foram transformados segundo arco sen 1ax/100 e submetidos \ue0 an\ue1lise de vari\ue2ncia. A compara\ue7\ue3o das m\ue9dias foi realizada atrav\ue9s do teste de Tukey a 5 % de signific\ue2ncia. Foi realizada an\ue1lise de correla\ue7\ue3o simples entre sementes mortas do teste de germina\ue7\ue3o e os diferentes fungos identificados no teste de sanidade. No teste de sanidade, foram identificados com maior incid\ueancia os fungos Rhizoctonia spp., Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp., Alternaria spp., Chaetomium spp., Epicoccum spp. De uma maneira geral, a utiliza\ue7\ue3o da \ue1gua quente controlou a incid\ueancia dos diferentes fungos e a utiliza\ue7\ue3o do \ue1cido giber\ue9lico proporcionou um aumento da incid\ueancia dos diferentes pat\uf3genos. A maior porcentagem de germina\ue7\ue3o foi observada quando se utilizou escarifica\ue7\ue3o \ue1cida por 20 minutos, imers\ue3o em \ue1gua quente a 70\ub0C, GA3 (250 mg L-1 por 48 horas) e KNO3 por 48 horas.This study aimed to evaluate the physiological and sanitary quality of seeds ( Lithraea molleoides (Vell.) Engl. comparing different methods to overcome dormancy. Methods of overcoming dormancy were used: acid scarification for 10, 15, 20 and 25 minutes soaking in hot water with temperatures of 70, 80 and 90\ub0C, for 24 hours until cool, soaking in gibberellic acid (GA3) in the concentration 250 and 500 mg.L-1 for 24 and 48 hours, and immersion in potassium nitrate (KNO3) for 24 and 48 hours. We evaluated health, germination and seedling length of the experimental design was completely randomized design with four replications of 25 seeds per treatment. The percentage data were transformed into the second arc sin 1ax/100 and subjected to analysis of variance. Comparison of means was performed using the Tukey test at 5% significance level. Analysis was a simple correlation between the test of dead seeds test and the different fungi in identified sanity. In the health test, the fungi which had the highest incidence were Rhizoctonia spp., Penicillium spp., Aspergillus spp., Alternaria spp., Chaetomium spp., Epicoccum spp. In general, the use of hot water controlled the incidence of different fungi and the use of gibberellic acid resulted in an increase in the incidence of different pathogens. The highest percentage of germination was observed when using acid scarification for 20 minutes, soaking in hot water at 70\ub0C, GA3(250 mg.L-1 for 48 hours) and KNO3 for 48 hours

Cancer Biomarker Discovery: The Entropic Hallmark

Background: It is a commonly accepted belief that cancer cells modify their transcriptional state during the progression of the disease. We propose that the progression of cancer cells towards malignant phenotypes can be efficiently tracked using high-throughput technologies that follow the gradual changes observed in the gene expression profiles by employing Shannon's mathematical theory of communication. Methods based on Information Theory can then quantify the divergence of cancer cells' transcriptional profiles from those of normally appearing cells of the originating tissues. The relevance of the proposed methods can be evaluated using microarray datasets available in the public domain but the method is in principle applicable to other high-throughput methods. Methodology/Principal Findings: Using melanoma and prostate cancer datasets we illustrate how it is possible to employ Shannon Entropy and the Jensen-Shannon divergence to trace the transcriptional changes progression of the disease. We establish how the variations of these two measures correlate with established biomarkers of cancer progression. The Information Theory measures allow us to identify novel biomarkers for both progressive and relatively more sudden transcriptional changes leading to malignant phenotypes. At the same time, the methodology was able to validate a large number of genes and processes that seem to be implicated in the progression of melanoma and prostate cancer. Conclusions/Significance: We thus present a quantitative guiding rule, a new unifying hallmark of cancer: the cancer cell's transcriptome changes lead to measurable observed transitions of Normalized Shannon Entropy values (as measured by high-throughput technologies). At the same time, tumor cells increment their divergence from the normal tissue profile increasing their disorder via creation of states that we might not directly measure. This unifying hallmark allows, via the the Jensen-Shannon divergence, to identify the arrow of time of the processes from the gene expression profiles, and helps to map the phenotypical and molecular hallmarks of specific cancer subtypes. The deep mathematical basis of the approach allows us to suggest that this principle is, hopefully, of general applicability for other diseases

Characteristics of Susac syndrome: a review of all reported cases

In Susac syndrome, occlusions of microvessels-presumed to be mediated by an autoimmune response to an as yet unknown antigen--lead to a characteristic clinical triad of CNS dysfunction, branch retinal artery occlusions, and sensorineural hearing impairment. Susac syndrome is considered a rare but important differential diagnosis in numerous neurological, psychiatric, ophthalmological, and ear, nose and throat disorders. Improved understanding of this disorder is crucial, therefore, to ensure that patients receive appropriate treatment and care. Current knowledge on Susac syndrome is largely based on reports of single patients, small case series, and nonsystematic reviews. The aim of this Review is to extend these previous, primarily anecdotal findings by compiling data from all 304 cases of Susac syndrome that have been published worldwide, which were identified following a literature search with predefined search, inclusion and exclusion criteria. From this data, we present an overview of demographic, clinical and diagnostic data on Susac syndrome, providing a reliable basis for our current understanding of this rare disease. Where possible, we make recommendations for clinical diagnosis, differential diagnosis, and management of patients with suspected Susac syndrome