Synthesis of chitosan oligomers/propolis/silver-nanoparticles composite systems and study of their activity against Diplodia seriata

The synthesis and characterization of composites of oligomeric chitosan with propolis extract which allow the incorporation of a third component (silver nanoparticles) are reported, together with their application in aqueous or hydroalcoholic solutions with a view to the formation of adhesive substances or nanofilms for the protection of vineyards against harmful xylophagous fungi. The antimicrobial properties of the association of the two biological products or those resulting from the incorporation of silver nanoparticles (NPs) are studied and discussed. The efficacy of the chitosan oligomers/propolis/silver NPs ternary system is assessed in vitro for Diplodia fungi. A preliminary study on the convenience of replacing propolis with gentisic acid is also presented

Chemical immobilization and physiological evaluation of wild white eared opossums, Didelphis albiventris (Lund, 1841) of Santa Fe province, Argentina

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effectiveness with a protocol for ketamine-diazepam\nanesthesia in 42 free life of D. albiventris specimens and determine what variables affect their\nsuccess. The response variables evaluated were: if a dose supplementation was necessary and\ntime needed for the desired effect of the drug in minutes. The independent variables were sex,\nweight, age, body condition, total length, heart rate, respiratory rate, temperature and activity.\nLarger sized individuals were more likely to need supplementation (p=0.0686). The females\nneeded more time to reach the desired anesthetic plane (p=0.0008). Furthermore, the time\nneeded to obtain the desired effect was greater in animals with heart rate and body temperature\n(p=0.0068, p=0.0013). The same situation occurred in individuals of greater weight and age\n(p=0.0057, p=0.0038).Fil: Tarragona, E.L. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades; ArgentinaFil: Tarragona, E.L. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Zurvera, D. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades; ArgentinaFil: Zurvera, D. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Manzoli, D.E. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades; ArgentinaFil: Manzoli, D.E. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Manzoli, D.E. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaFil: Correa, A.I. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades; ArgentinaFil: Correa, A.I. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Delgado, A.R. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Cátedra de Bacteriología y Micología; ArgentinaFil: Delgado, A.R. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Magni, C. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Magni, C. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Cátedra de Patología; ArgentinaFil: Beldomenico, P.M. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Laboratorio de Ecología de Enfermedades; ArgentinaFil: Beldomenico, P.M. Universidad Nacional del Litoral. Facultad de Ciencias Veterinarias. Grupo de estudio dirigido "Capibara"; ArgentinaFil: Beldomenico, P.M. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas; ArgentinaEl objetivo de este trabajo fue evaluar la eficacia de un protocolo de anestesia con ketaminadiazepam\nen 42 ejemplares de D. albiventris de vida libre y determinar cuáles eran las variables que\nrepercuten en su éxito. Las variables respuesta evaluadas fueron: si fue necesaria suplementación\nde dosis y tiempo al efecto deseado del fármaco en minutos. Las variables independientes fueron:\nsexo, peso, edad, condición corporal, largo total, frecuencia cardiaca, frecuencia respiratoria,\ntemperatura y actividad. Individuos de talla mayor presentaron mayor probabilidad de necesitar\nsuplementación (p=0.0686). Las hembras necesitaron más tiempo para alcanzar el plano\nanestésico deseado (p=0.0008). Además, el tiempo transcurrido para obtener el efecto deseado\nfue mayor en aquellos animales que presentaban frecuencia cardiaca y temperatura corporal\nelevada (p=0.0068, p=0.0013). La misma situación ocurrió con los individuos de mayor peso\ny edad (p=0.0057, p=0.0038)

Defective formation of IgA memory B cells, Th1 and Th17 cells in symptomatic patients with selective IgA deficiency

Objective: Selective IgA deficiency (sIgAD) is the most common primary immunodeficiency in Western countries. Patients can suffer from recurrent infections and autoimmune diseases because of a largely unknown aetiology. To increase insights into the pathophysiology of the disease, we studied memory B and T cells and cytokine concentrations in peripheral blood. Methods: We analysed 30 sIgAD patients (12 children, 18 adults) through detailed phenotyping of peripheral B-cell, CD8+ T-cell and CD4+ T-cell subsets, sequence analysis of IGA and IGG transcripts, in vitro B-cell activation and blood cytokine measurements. Results: All patients had significantly decreased numbers of T-cell-dependent (TD; CD27+) and T-cell-independent (TI; CD27−) IgA memory B cells and increased CD21low B-cell numbers. IgM+IgD− memory B cells were decreased in children and normal in adult patients. IGA and IGG transcripts contained normal SHM levels. In sIgAD children, IGA transcripts more frequently used IGA2 than controls (58.5% vs. 25.1%), but not in adult patients. B-cell activation after in vitro stimulation was normal. However, adult sIgAD patients exhibited increased blood levels of TGF-β1, BAFF and APRIL, whereas they had decreased Th1 and Th17 cell numbers. Conclusion: Impaired IgA memory formation in sIgAD patients is not due to a B-cell activation defect. Instead, decreased Th1 and Th17 cell numbers and high blood levels of BAFF, APRIL and TGF-β1 might reflect disturbed regulation of IgA responses in vivo. These insights into B-cell extrinsic immune defects suggest the need for a broader immunological focus on genomics and functional analyses to unravel the pathogenesis of sIgAD

The measurement programme at the neutron time-of-flight facility n-TOF at CERN

Neutron-induced reaction cross sections are important for a wide variety of research fields ranging from the study of nuclear level densities, nucleosynthesis to applications of nuclear technology like design, and criticality and safety assessment of existing and future nuclear reactors, radiation dosimetry, medical applications, nuclear waste transmutation, accelerator-driven systems and fuel cycle investigations. Simulations and calculations of nuclear technology applications largely rely on evaluated nuclear data libraries. The evaluations in these libraries are based both on experimental data and theoretical models. CERN's neutron time-of-flight facility n-TOF has produced a considerable amount of experimental data since it has become fully operational with the start of its scientific measurement programme in 2001. While for a long period a single measurement station (EAR1) located at 185 m from the neutron production target was available, the construction of a second beam line at 20 m (EAR2) in 2014 has substantially increased the measurement capabilities of the facility. An outline of the experimental nuclear data activities at n-TOF will be presented

Building The Sugarcane Genome For Biotechnology And Identifying Evolutionary Trends

Background: Sugarcane is the source of sugar in all tropical and subtropical countries and is becoming increasingly important for bio-based fuels. However, its large (10 Gb), polyploid, complex genome has hindered genome based breeding efforts. Here we release the largest and most diverse set of sugarcane genome sequences to date, as part of an on-going initiative to provide a sugarcane genomic information resource, with the ultimate goal of producing a gold standard genome.Results: Three hundred and seventeen chiefly euchromatic BACs were sequenced. A reference set of one thousand four hundred manually-annotated protein-coding genes was generated. A small RNA collection and a RNA-seq library were used to explore expression patterns and the sRNA landscape. In the sucrose and starch metabolism pathway, 16 non-redundant enzyme-encoding genes were identified. 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A synteny analysis shows that the sugarcane genome has expanded relative to the sorghum genome, largely due to the presence of transposable elements and uncharacterized intergenic and intronic sequences.Conclusion: This release of sugarcane genomic sequences will advance our understanding of sugarcane genetics and contribute to the development of molecular tools for breeding purposes and gene discovery. © 2014 de Setta et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.151European Commission: Agriculture and Rural Development: Sugar http://ec.europa.eu/agriculture/sugar/index_en.htmKellogg, E.A., Evolutionary history of the grasses (2001) Plant Physiol, 125, pp. 1198-1205Grivet, L., Arruda, P., Sugarcane genomics: depicting the complex genome of an important tropical crop (2001) Curr Opin Plant Biol, 5, pp. 122-127Piperidis, G., Piperidis, N., D'Hont, A., Molecular cytogenetic investigation of chromosome composition and transmission in sugarcane (2010) Mol Genet Genomics, 284, pp. 65-73D'Hont, A., 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Search for a W' boson decaying to a bottom quark and a top quark in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

Results are presented from a search for a W' boson using a dataset corresponding to 5.0 inverse femtobarns of integrated luminosity collected during 2011 by the CMS experiment at the LHC in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV. The W' boson is modeled as a heavy W boson, but different scenarios for the couplings to fermions are considered, involving both left-handed and right-handed chiral projections of the fermions, as well as an arbitrary mixture of the two. The search is performed in the decay channel W' to t b, leading to a final state signature with a single lepton (e, mu), missing transverse energy, and jets, at least one of which is tagged as a b-jet. A W' boson that couples to fermions with the same coupling constant as the W, but to the right-handed rather than left-handed chiral projections, is excluded for masses below 1.85 TeV at the 95% confidence level. For the first time using LHC data, constraints on the W' gauge coupling for a set of left- and right-handed coupling combinations have been placed. These results represent a significant improvement over previously published limits.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters B. Replaced with version publishe

Search for the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in pp collisions at sqrt(s)=7 TeV

A search for a Higgs boson decaying into two photons is described. The analysis is performed using a dataset recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC from pp collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV, which corresponds to an integrated luminosity of 4.8 inverse femtobarns. Limits are set on the cross section of the standard model Higgs boson decaying to two photons. The expected exclusion limit at 95% confidence level is between 1.4 and 2.4 times the standard model cross section in the mass range between 110 and 150 GeV. The analysis of the data excludes, at 95% confidence level, the standard model Higgs boson decaying into two photons in the mass range 128 to 132 GeV. The largest excess of events above the expected standard model background is observed for a Higgs boson mass hypothesis of 124 GeV with a local significance of 3.1 sigma. The global significance of observing an excess with a local significance greater than 3.1 sigma anywhere in the search range 110-150 GeV is estimated to be 1.8 sigma. More data are required to ascertain the origin of this excess.Comment: Submitted to Physics Letters