Monitoring of oxidative and metabolic stress during cardiac surgery by means of breath biomarkers: an observational study

Research articl

Improvement of in vitro donor plant competence to increase de novo shoot organogenesis in rose genotypes

A procedure was developed for in vitro propagation of Rosa genotypes along with an efficient de novo shoot organogenesis (DNSO) method. We tested, on one genotype (hybrid of Rosa wichurana), the effects of MS basal medium complemented with two growth regulators to achieve either shoot elongation or shoot multiplication of plants. These media were complemented with carbohydrate concentrations from different sources. Then, the impacts of various carbohydrates (fructose, glucose, maltose, sorbitol, sucrose) on the growth and development of several rose genotypes during donor plant subculturing were studied on SMM. The results showed high variability in growth and development between genotypes. Contrary to other members of the Rosaceae family, no correlation was found between the shoot size and number when the amount of sorbitol was increased. Murashige and Skoog medium supplemented with 3.0 mg L−1 BAP and containing fructose or glucose at 30 g L−1 was chosen to induce leaf explants for the DNSO experiments. MS basal medium complemented with TDZ/IBA at three ratios and the same range of carbohydrate sources were tested for DNSO. Significant genotypic variations with regard to the percentage of regeneration was demonstrated with six genotypes. For two genotypes, a hybrid of Rosa wichurana and Rosa ‘White Pet’, we defined the conditions required to obtain 100% DNSO. For Rosa chinensis ‘Old blush’ and the rootstock genotype Rosa ‘Natal Briar’, we obtained 74 and 87.5% DNSO and only 56.67% and 37.5% for Rosa GUY SAVOY® (‘Delstrimen’) and Rosa ‘Félicité et Perpétue’ respectively. This adventitious shoot regeneration method may be used for large-scale shoot propagation and genetic engineering studies in Rosa

Influence of morphological characteristics of heterogeneous moraine formations on their mechanical behaviour using image and statistical analysis

The study of landslide stability on mountain slopes becomes more difficult when the sliding materials. are heterogeneous. This is a current problem with the old glacial moraines now under study in the Aspe Valley, Pyrenees. Analysis of slope stability numerical models necessitates accurate data about mechanical and physical properties. Because moraines are very heterogeneous, a large sample is necessary, but, unfortunately, data acquisition costs a lot of time and money. Therefore, we would like to estimate mechanical properties from correlated variables that are easier to acquire (morphological variables using image analysis). Observations in the field and previous mechanical results in the laboratory have shown that differences between the behaviour of moraines seem to be related not only to their three-dimensional structure but also to the morphological and petrographical characteristics of their components. The moraines are classified based on textural characteristics at the sample scales based on the distributions of size and shape of their constitutive elements (blocks, matrix, etc.). Then, we study the statistical distribution of the variables to highlight the most significant variables. Next, we evaluate the results of the mechanical behaviour of the moraines, with the internal angle of friction and the effective cohesion. On seven specific moraines, we established relations between the effective internal angle of friction, the elongation factor and the roughness factor. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved