Characterization of a putative grapevine Zn transporter, VvZIP3, suggests its involvement in early reproductive development in Vitis vinifera L

Gonzalez, E (reprint author), Univ Talca, Inst Biol Vegetal & Biotecnol, Talca, Chile.Background: Zinc (Zn) deficiency is one of the most widespread mineral nutritional problems that affect normal development in plants. Because Zn cannot passively diffuse across cell membranes, it must be transported into intracellular compartments for all biological processes where Zn is required. Several members of the Zinc-regulated transporters, Iron-regulated transporter-like Protein (ZIP) gene family have been characterized in plants, and have shown to be involved in metal uptake and transport. This study describes the first putative Zn transporter in grapevine. Unravelling its function may explain an important symptom of Zn deficiency in grapevines, which is the production of clusters with fewer and usually smaller berries than normal. Results: We identified and characterized a putative Zn transporter from berries of Vitis vinifera L., named VvZIP3. Compared to other members of the ZIP family identified in the Vitis vinifera L. genome, VvZIP3 is mainly expressed in reproductive tissue - specifically in developing flowers - which correlates with the high Zn accumulation in these organs. Contrary to this, the low expression of VvZIP3 in parthenocarpic berries shows a relationship with the lower Zn accumulation in this tissue than in normal seeded berries where its expression is induced by Zn. The predicted protein sequence indicates strong similarity with several members of the ZIP family from Arabidopsis thaliana and other species. Moreover, VvZIP3 complemented the growth defect of a yeast Zn-uptake mutant, ZHY3, and is localized in the plasma membrane of plant cells, suggesting that VvZIP3 has the function of a Zn uptake transporter. Conclusions: Our results suggest that VvZIP3 encodes a putative plasma membrane Zn transporter protein member of the ZIP gene family that might play a role in Zn uptake and distribution during the early reproductive development in Vitis vinifera L., indicating that the availability of this micronutrient may be relevant for reproductive development

Unstable Dynamics, Nonequilibrium Phases and Criticality in Networked Excitable Media

Here we numerically study a model of excitable media, namely, a network with occasionally quiet nodes and connection weights that vary with activity on a short-time scale. Even in the absence of stimuli, this exhibits unstable dynamics, nonequilibrium phases -including one in which the global activity wanders irregularly among attractors- and 1/f noise while the system falls into the most irregular behavior. A net result is resilience which results in an efficient search in the model attractors space that can explain the origin of certain phenomenology in neural, genetic and ill-condensed matter systems. By extensive computer simulation we also address a relation previously conjectured between observed power-law distributions and the occurrence of a "critical state" during functionality of (e.g.) cortical networks, and describe the precise nature of such criticality in the model.Comment: 18 pages, 9 figure

Variability in concentrations of potentially toxic elements in urban parks from six European cities

Use of a harmonised sampling regime has allowed comparison of concentrations of copper, chromium, nickel, lead and zinc in six urban parks located in different European cities differing markedly in their climate and industrial history. Wide concentrations ranges were found for copper, lead and zinc at most sites, but for chromium and nickel a wide range was only seen in the Italian park, where levels were also considerably greater than in other soils. As might be expected, the soils from older cities with a legacy of heavy manufacturing industry (Glasgow, Torino) were richest in potentially toxic elements (PTEs); soils from Ljubljana, Sevilla and Uppsala had intermediate metal contents, and soils from the most recently established park, in the least industrialised city (Aveiro), displayed lowest concentrations. When principal component analysis was applied to the data, associations were revealed between pH and organic carbon content; and between all five PTEs. When pH and organic carbon content were excluded from the PCA, a distinction became clear between copper, lead and zinc (the "urban" metals) on the one hand, and chromium and nickel on the other. Similar results were obtained for the surface (0-10 cm depth) and sub-surface (10-20 cm depth) samples. Comparisons with target or limit concentrations were limited by the existence of different legislation in different countries and the fact that few guidelines deal specifically with public-access urban soils intended for recreational use

SSDSS IV MaNGA - Properties of AGN host galaxies

We present here the characterization of the main properties of a sample of 98 AGN host galaxies, both type-II and type-I, in comparison with those of about 2700 non-active galaxies observed by the MaNGA survey. We found that AGN hosts are morphologically early-type or early-spirals. For a given morphology AGN hosts are, in average, more massive, more compact, more central peaked and rather pressurethan rotational-supported systems. We confirm previous results indicating that AGN hosts are located in the intermediate/transition region between star-forming and non-star-forming galaxies (i.e., the so-called green valley), both in the ColorMagnitude and the star formation main sequence diagrams. Taking into account their relative distribution in terms of the stellar metallicity and oxygen gas abundance and a rough estimation of their molecular gas content, we consider that these galaxies are in the process of halting/quenching the star formation, in an actual transition between both groups. The analysis of the radial distributions of the starformation rate, specific star-formation rate, and molecular gas density shows that the quenching happens from inside-out involving both a decrease of the efficiency of the star formation and a deficit of molecular gas. All the intermediate data-products used to derive the results of our analysis are distributed in a database including the spatial distribution and average properties of the stellar populations and ionized gas, published as a Sloan Digital Sky Survey Value Added Catalog being part of the 14th Data Release: http://www.sdss.org/dr14/manga/manga-data/manga-pipe3d-value-added-catalog/Comment: 48 pages, 14 figures, in press in RMxA

Epidemiological, socio-demographic and clinical features of the early phase of the COVID-19 epidemic in Ecuador

The SARS-CoV-2 virus has spread rapidly around the globe. Nevertheless, there is limited information describing the characteristics and outcomes of COVID-19 patients in Latin America. We conducted a cross-sectional analysis of 9,468 confirmed COVID-19 cases reported in Ecuador. We calculated overall incidence, mortality, case fatality rates, disability adjusted life years, attack and crude mortality rates, as well as relative risk and relative odds of death, adjusted for age, sex and presence of comorbidities. A total of 9,468 positive COVID-19 cases and 474 deaths were included in the analysis. Men accounted for 55.4% (n = 5, 247) of cases and women for 44.6% (n = 4, 221). We found the presence of comorbidities, being male and older than 65 years were important determinants of mortality. Coastal regions were most affected by COVID-19, with higher mortality rates than the highlands. Fatigue was reported in 53.2% of the patients, followed by headache (43%), dry cough (41.7%), ageusia (37.1%) and anosmia (36.1%). We present an analysis of the burden of COVID-19 in Ecuador. Our findings show that men are at higher risk of dying from COVID-19 than women, and risk increases with age and the presence of comorbidities. We also found that blue-collar workers and the unemployed are at greater risk of dying. These early observations offer clinical insights for the medical community to help improve patient care and for public health officials to strengthen Ecuador’s response to the outbreak

A high throughput screen for next-generation leads targeting malaria parasite transmission

Spread of parasite resistance to artemisinin threatens current frontline antimalarial therapies, highlighting the need for new drugs with alternative modes of action. Since only 0.2–1% of asexual parasites differentiate into sexual, transmission-competent forms, targeting this natural bottleneck provides a tangible route to interrupt disease transmission and mitigate resistance selection. Here we present a high-throughput screen of gametogenesis against a ~70,000 compound diversity library, identifying seventeen drug-like molecules that target transmission. Hit molecules possess varied activity profiles including male-specific, dual acting male–female and dual-asexual-sexual, with one promising N-((4-hydroxychroman-4-yl)methyl)-sulphonamide scaffold found to have sub-micromolar activity in vitro and in vivo efficacy. Development of leads with modes of action focussed on the sexual stages of malaria parasite development provide a previously unexplored base from which future therapeutics can be developed, capable of preventing parasite transmission through the population

Oxaliplatin as single agent in previously untreated colorectal carcinoma patients: a phase II multicentric study

Background. Oxaliplatin is a new cytotoxic agent from the diaminocyclohexane family with proven antitumor activity against colon cancer cell lines. Activity in patients with colorectal carcinoma previously treated with 5-fluorouracil has been studied in three single-agent phase II trials, showing a reproducible response rate of 10%. Here we report a phase II trial with oxaliplatin as a first-line chemotherapy for metastatic colorectal cancer. Patients and methods: Twenty-five patients were entered in the study. All of them had metastatic disease without previous chemotherapy, and at least one lesion had to be measurable by computed tomography (CT). Therapy consisted of a two-hour infusion of oxaliplatin at a dose of 130 mg/m(2) every 21 days. Results. The overall response rate determined by investigators was 20% (95% CI, 6.8%-40.7%). Eight patients (32%) had stable disease. The median time to disease progression in responders was six months (range four to nine). The median progression-free survival nias four months and median overall survival 14.5 months (95% CI, 10-20 months). The main toxic effects were peripheral neuropathy (92%) and laryngopharyngeal dysesthesia (75%). No severe grade 3-4 neurotoxicities (NCI-CTC) were found. Gastrointestinal and hematological toxicities were mild. Conclusions. Oxaliplatin is an active agent in first-line chemotherapy for advanced colorectal cancer. It was well tolerated, caused no toxic deaths, had low hematotoxicity, well controlled gastrointestinal toxicity, and frequent but mild peripheral neurological symptoms. Therefore, it is of interest to associate oxaliplatin with other active compounds

Comparison of unidimensional and bidimensional measurements in metastatic non-small cell lung cancer

Tumour response evaluation after chemotherapy has become crucial in the development of many drugs. In contrast to the standard bidimensional WHO criteria, the recently described Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors are based on unidimensional measurements. The aim of the present study was to compare both methods in patients with metastatic non-small cell lung cancer. One hundred and sixty-four patients treated with two cisplatin-paclitaxel-based chemotherapy schedules between June 1994 and December 2000 were analysed. The measurements were reviewed by an independent panel of radiologists. Patient characteristics were: median age of 55 years (range 24–77 years) and a male to female ratio of 129 : 35. Adenocarcinoma and squamous carcinoma were the most common histologies. Vinorelbine was the third drug used in 77 patients and gemcitabine in 87. The ratio unidimensional/bidimensional was as follows: response 85 : 85; stable disease 32 : 32; progression 47 : 42 and not assessable 0 : 5. Kappa for agreement between responders was 0.951 (95% CI: 0.795–1.0) (P<0.001). Both WHO criteria and Response Evaluation Criteria In Solid Tumors give similar results in assessing tumour response in patients with non-small cell lung cancer after chemotherapy. The unidimensional measurement could replace the more complex bidimensional one