Keys to early diagnosis of glaucoma

El diagnóstico precoz del glaucoma es un problema en oftalmología veterinaria. Basándose en los síntomas clínicos habituales el diagnóstico suele hacerse en un punto en el que la visión ha sufrido un importante deterioro. Basados en el hecho de que el glaucoma es una enfermedad neurodegenerativa del nervio óptico y que sus primeras manifestaciones son degeneración y muerte de las células ganglionares de la retina, degeneración de axones del nervio óptico y por tanto disminución de la capa de fibras nerviosas nerviosas, con aumento de la excavación papilar, disminución del anillo neuro-retniano y desestabilización de la cabeza del nervio óptico, es obvio que el diagnóstico debe de centrarse en detectar, lo antes posible, estos cambios. En la actualidad, sin menospreciar la tonometría y la gonioscopia se debe profundizar en aquellas técnicas que como la oftalmoscopia de la retina y papila evalúen el daño y progresión del nervio óptico. Así junto al estudio de la progresión de la excavación papilar frente a la disminución del anillo neurorretiniano, es necesario avanzar en el uso de técnicas actuales como la tomografía de coherencia óptica (OCT) y el analizador de fibras nerviosas GDX, que detectan daños y su progresión en la capa de fibras nerviosas de la retina incluso antes de que se traduzcan en una pérdida apreciable de la función visualEarly diagnosis of glaucoma is a problem in veterinary ophthalmology because the diagnosis is based on the clinical sings when there is an important visual alteration. Two groups of eye conditions have been proposed in glaucoma. One of them has the common feature about progressive optic neuropaty involving loss of retinal ganglion cells, getting smaller the neuroretinal rim, loss of nerve fibre layer and generalised or focal enlargement of the cup. Only a preventive glaucoma diagnosis can preserve effectively the vision. Early detection is the key to protecting the vision from damage caused by glaucoma. Regular glaucoma check-ups include tonometry, gonioscopy and exam of retinal and optic head by ophthalmoscopy. In recent years scanning laser polarimetry (GDx) and optical coherence tomography (OCT) are unvaluable tools for glaucoma diagnosis and to detect loss of optic nerve fibers before the visual acuity could be altere

Effects of the dexmedetomidine sedation on intraocular pressure and on the central cornea thickness in the dog

Objetivo: Determinar el efecto de la sedación con dexmedetomidina sobre la presión intraocular (PIO) y el espesor central de la córnea (ECC) en perros Material y métodos: Estudio realizado en 10 perros a los que se midió la PIO y ECC basales y tras administración tópica de tropicamida 1%. Seguidamente sedamos con dexmedetomidina 5μg/kg IV y valoramos PIO y ECC a los 5,10, 15 y 20 minutos post-sedación. Los valores medios se compararon mediante la prueba t de Student para muestras pareadas. Resultados: Los valores medios basales de PIO fueron media ± D.E. 10,95 ± 1,70 mmHg; y 571 ± 21,42 μm para el ECC. No existe asociación significativa entre PIO y ECC (r= -0,2399). La midriasis no varió significativamente los valores de PIO (P= 0,3665) pero sí el ECC (P=5,6109x10-6). La sedación con dexmedetomidina no varía significativamente los valores de PIO ni ECC (P>0,05). Conclusiones: La midriasis provocada por tropicamida 1% disminuye significativamente el ECC pero no la PIO. La sedación con dexmedetomidina 5 mg/kg IV no varía significativamente los valores basales de PIO ni del ECC.Objective: to determine the effects of the dexmedetomidine sedation on intraocular pressure (IOP) and on the central corneal thickness (CCT). Material and methods: this study has been performed over 10 dogs treated in the Veterinary Clinical Hospital of Córdoba University. The IOP and the CCT were measured before and after administration of one drop of 1% tropicamide. Thereafter, they were sedated with dexmedetomidine 5 μg/kg IV, and IOP and CCT were evaluated at 5, 10, 15 and 20 minutes after sedation. A t-Student test was performed with paired samples of mean values in order to compare both groups. Results: Basal values of IOP were 10.95 ± 1.70 mmHg, whereas CCT mean values were 571 ± 21.42μm. There were no statistically significant association between IOP and CCT (Pearson correlation r= -0.2399). Mydriasis did not significantly change the values of IOP (P= 0.3665), but did the CCT ones (P= 5.6109x10-6). No statistically significant differences were found between the IOP nor the CCT values before and after sedation with dexmedetomidine (P>0.05). Conclusions: tropicamide-induced mydriasis does not affect IOP value, but it causes a significant decrease of the CCT value. Sedation with 5 g/kg IV dexmedetomidine has not statistically significant effect on IOP or CCT

Poly(lactic acid) formulations with improved toughness by physical blending with thermoplastic starch

This is the peer reviewed version of the following article: Ferri, J.M., Garcia-Garcia, D., Carbonell-Verdu, A., Fenollar, Octavio, Balart, Rafael. (2018). Poly(lactic acid) formulations with improved toughness by physical blending with thermoplastic starch.Journal of Applied Polymer Science, 135, 4, 45751-. DOI: 10.1002/app.45751, which has been published in final form at http://doi.org/10.1002/app.45751. This article may be used for non-commercial purposes in accordance with Wiley Terms and Conditions for Self-Archiving.[EN] This work focuses on poly(lactic acid) (PLA) formulations with improved toughness by physical blending with thermoplastic maize starch (TPS) plasticized with aliphatic¿aromatic copolyester up to 30 wt %. A noticeable increase in toughness is observed, due to the finely dispersed spherical TPS domains in the PLA matrix. It is worth to note the remarkable increase in the elongation at break that changes from 7% (neat PLA) up to 21.5% for PLA with 30 wt % TPS. The impact-absorbed energy is markedly improved from the relatively low values of neat PLA (1.6 J/m2) up to more than three times. Although TPS is less thermally stable than PLA due to its plasticizer content, in general, PLA/TPS blends offer good balanced thermal stability. The morphology reveals high immiscibility in PLA/TPS blends, with TPS-rich domains with an average size of 1 micrometre, finely dispersed which, in turn, is responsible for the improved toughness.Authors thank the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO), Ref.: MAT2014–59242-C2-1-R for their support. Authors also thank “Conselleria d’Educacio, Cultura i Esport”- Generalitat Valenciana, Ref.: GV/2014/008 for financial support.Ferri, J.; Garcia-Garcia, D.; Carbonell-Verdu, A.; Fenollar, O.; Balart, R. (2018). Poly(lactic acid) formulations with improved toughness by physical blending with thermoplastic starch. Journal of Applied Polymer Science. 135(4). https://doi.org/10.1002/app.45751S45751135

Application of peptide chromatography for the isolation of antibodies from bovine skim milk, acid whey and colostrum

Protein A mimetic peptide ligands have several benefits over conventional Protein A/G ligands, namely that they are small in size, have low production costs, are stable over a wide range of pH values and can withstand cleaning by harsh sanitization agents such as sodium hydroxide. In this paper, a hexamer peptide (HWRGWV) affinity matrix was used for the isolation of bovine immunoglobulins from various dairy streams (skim milk, acid whey and colostrum). Bound immunoglobulins were recovered in elution buffer (0.2 M sodium acetate buffer, pH 4.0) fractions with a purity of >85% in a single step. The peptide resin has achieved a maximum equilibrium adsorption capacity of 23 ± 0.58 mg mL-1 of resin for bovine IgG and had a dynamic binding capacity of 11.8 ± 0.03 mg mL-1 at residence time of 2 min. These results suggest that the hexamer peptide chromatography could potentially be used for the selective purification of bovine immunoglobulins from dairy streams. This method has promise as an alternative to conventional Protein A/G chromatography for direct capture of immunoglobulins from streams containing relatively high immunoglobulin concentrations such as colostrum, transgenic or hyper-immune milk

Manufacturing and compatibilization of PLA/PBAT binary blends by cottonseed oil-based derivatives

[EN] This research work aims at the compatibilization of poly(lactic acid)/poly(butylene adipate-co-terephthalate), PLA/PBAT binary blends by using cottonseed oil derivatives, i.e. epoxidized (ECSO) and maleinized (MCSO) cottonseed oil. The potential of these vegetable oil-based compatibilizers are compared versus the effects of a conventional styrene-acrylic oligomer. The base PLA/PBAT binary blend composition was 80 wt% PLA/20 wt% PBAT and the amount of compatibilizer was set to 1 and 7.5 wt%. The effects of the different compatibilizers were evaluated on PLA/PBAT films in terms of mechanical and thermal properties as well as blend's morphology by field emission scanning electron microscopy (FESEM). Complementary, biodisintegration tests in controlled compost soil and surface properties were evaluated to assess the effects of the compatibilizers. Addition of 1 wt% ECSO and MCSO led to a remarkable increase in the elongation at break up to values over 100% with regard to neat PLA. Despite this, maximum elongation at break was obtained for the compatibilized PLA/PBAT blend with 7.5 wt% MCSO, reaching values of about 321.2% respect neat PLA keeping mechanical resistant properties, such as Young's modulus and tensile strength, at high levels. Therefore, vegetable oil-derived compatibilizers stand out as environmentally friendly additives for PLA/PBAT binary blends with improved properties.This work was supported by the Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (MINECO) (grant number MAT2017-84909-C2-2-R). A. Carbonell-Verdu wants to thank Universitat Politecnica de Valencia for financial support through an FPI grant.Carbonell-Verdu, A.; Ferri, J.; Dominici, F.; Boronat, T.; Sanchez-Nacher, L.; Balart, R.; Torre, L. (2018). Manufacturing and compatibilization of PLA/PBAT binary blends by cottonseed oil-based derivatives. eXPRESS Polymer Letters. 12(9):808-823. https://doi.org/10.3144/expresspolymlett.2018.69S80882312

Solar ultraviolet radiation is necessary to enhance grapevine fruit ripening transcriptional and phenolic responses

Background: Ultraviolet (UV) radiation modulates secondary metabolism in the skin of Vitis vinifera L. berries, which affects the final composition of both grapes and wines. The expression of several phenylpropanoid biosynthesis-related genes is regulated by UV radiation in grape berries. However, the complete portion of transcriptome and ripening processes influenced by solar UV radiation in grapes remains unknown.Results: Whole genome arrays were used to identify the berry skin transcriptome modulated by the UV radiation received naturally in a mid-altitude Tempranillo vineyard. UV radiation-blocking and transmitting filters were used to generate the experimental conditions. The expression of 121 genes was significantly altered by solar UV radiation. Functional enrichment analysis of altered transcripts mainly pointed out that secondary metabolism-related transcripts were induced by UV radiation including VvFLS1, VvGT5 and VvGT6 flavonol biosynthetic genes and monoterpenoid biosynthetic genes. Berry skin phenolic composition was also analysed to search for correlation with gene expression changes and UV-increased flavonols accumulation was the most evident impact. Among regulatory genes, novel UV radiation-responsive transcription factors including VvMYB24 and three bHLH, together with known grapevine UV-responsive genes such as VvMYBF1, were identified. A transcriptomic meta-analysis revealed that genes up-regulated by UV radiation in the berry skin were also enriched in homologs of Arabidopsis UVR8 UV-B photoreceptor-dependent UV-B -responsive genes. Indeed, a search of the grapevine reference genomic sequence identified UV-B signalling pathway homologs and among them, VvHY5-1, VvHY5-2 and VvRUP were up-regulated by UV radiation in the berry skin.Conclusions: Results suggest that the UV-B radiation-specific signalling pathway is activated in the skin of grapes grown at mid-altitudes. The biosynthesis and accumulation of secondary metabolites, which are appreciated in winemaking and potentially confer cross-tolerance, were almost specifically triggered. This draws attention to viticultural practices that increase solar UV radiation on vineyards as they may improve grape features. © 2014 Carbonell-Bejerano et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Challenges of viticulture adaptation to global change: tackling the issue from the roots

Viticulture is facing emerging challenges not only because of the effect of climate change on yield and composition of grapes, but also of a social demand for environmental‐friendly agricultural management. Adaptation to these challenges is essential to guarantee the sustainability of viticulture. The aim of this review is to present adaptation possibilities from the soil‐hidden, and often disregarded, part of the grapevine, the roots. The complexity of soil–root interactions makes necessary a comprehensive approach taking into account physiology, pathology and genetics, in order to outline strategies to improve viticulture adaptation to current and future threats. Rootstocks are the link between soil and scion in grafted crops, and they have played an essential role in viticulture since the introduction of phylloxera into Europe at the end of the 19th century. This review outlines current and future challenges that are threatening the sustainability of the wine sector and the relevant role that rootstocks can play to face these threats. We describe how rootstocks along with soil management can be exploited as an essential tool to deal with the effects of climate change and of emerging soil‐borne pests and pathogens. Moreover, we discuss the possibilities and limitations of diverse genetic strategies for rootstock breeding.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Genetic variation and association analyses identify genes linked to fruit set-related traits in grapevine

Grapevine is one of the most valuable fruit crops in the world. Adverse environmental conditions reduce fruit quality and crop yield, so understanding the genetic and molecular mechanisms determining crop yield components is essential to optimize grape production. The analysis of a diverse collection of grapevine cultivars allowed us to evaluate the relationship between fruit set-related components of yield, including the incidence of reproductive disorders such as coulure and millerandage. The collection displayed a great phenotypic variation that we surveyed in a genetics association study using 15, 309 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) detected in the sequence of 289 candidate genes scattered across the 19 grapevine linkage groups. After correcting statistical models for population structure and linkage disequilibrium effects, 164 SNPs from 34 of these genes were found to associate with fruit set-related traits, supporting a complex polygenic determinism. Many of them were found in the sequence of different putative MADS-box transcription factors, a gene family related with plant reproductive development control. In addition, we observed an additive effect of some of the associated SNPs on the phenotype, suggesting that advantageous alleles from different loci could be pyramided to generate superior cultivars with optimized fruit production

155-day Periodicity in Solar Cycles 3 and 4

The near 155 days solar periodicity, so called Rieger periodicity, was first detected in solar flares data and later confirmed with other important solar indices. Unfortunately, a comprehensive analysis on the occurrence of this periodicity during previous centuries can be further complicated due to the poor quality of the sunspot number time-series. We try to detect the Rieger periodicity during the solar cycles 3 and 4 using information on aurorae observed at mid and low latitudes. We use two recently discovered aurora datasets, observed in the last quarter of the 18th century from UK and Spain. Besides simple histograms of time between consecutive events we analyse monthly series of number of aurorae observed using different spectral analysis (MTM and Wavelets). The histograms show the probable presence of Rieger periodicity during cycles 3 and 4. However different spectral analysis applied has only confirmed undoubtedly this hypothesis for solar cycle 3.Comment: 13 pages, 6 figures, to appear in New Astronom