Manejo de epifitias del Virus de la mancha anular de la papaya utilizando barreras de Zea mays L. en Carica papaya L.

El objetivo de esta investigación fue evaluar el efecto de barreras de maíz (Zea mays L.) intercaladas en plantaciones de papaya (Carica papaya L.) var. Maradol roja en el progreso de epifitias del Virus de la mancha anular de la papaya (PRSV). Con este propósito, se realizaron evaluaciones de plantas sintomáticas cada 15 días, durante 240 días después del trasplante. Los tratamientos fueron dos: el manejointegral de la papaya mediante la protección de viveros, barreras perimetrales de sorgo forrajero y maíz intercalado (MIP-Maíz), y manejo con las prácticas descritas en el tratamiento anterior, sin incluir el maíz intercalado (MIP). En el MIP-Maíz se observó disminución del área bajo la curva del progreso de la enfermedad (abcpe) en relación al MIP. Las barreras intercaladas de maíz tuvieron un efecto en la reducción de epifitias y disminuyeron la incidencia y severidad final del PRSV en 25 y 17% respectivamente, comparado con el MIP. Se demostró que la adición de barreras de maíz intercaladas en plantaciones de papaya reducen lasafectaciones producidas por el PRSV en zonas con endemismo de esta enfermedad viral

Noise reduction in PET sinograms using non-local total variation regularization

Positron Emission Tomography is a technique of molecular imaging and provides information about biochemical process within the body of a patient, it is employed for diagnosis, staggering, and treatment planning. However, the resulting images have high noise levels that may cause difficulties for reading and interpreting the images by medical staff. For this reason, it is necessary to perform a denoising step to achieve better signal to noise ratio. In this paper, an approach is presented to denoise Positron Emission Tomography sinogram images using non-local total variation in the sinogram domain. The images are modeled in the sinogram domain using a Poisson noise model, it is proposed to adapt the SPIRAL algorithm to approximate the objective function to be minimized with separable quadratic functions to include the nonlocal total variation as a regularization term

Extent and impact of dry rot in Xanthosoma sagittifolium (l.) Schott and Colocasia esculenta (l.) Schott in Cuba

With the objective of determining the grower perception about t he importance of dry rot on tanier or taro, and the affected rhizome percentage, an interview was des igned and apllied in all provinces from 2008 to 2010. The work included a total of 119 of the 159 municipalities wher e the crop is planted. Based on growers answers, damage caused by this syndrome was identified in 87.82% of the municipalities sampled. When harvesting is developed at the optimun moment 10 to 12 months after planting, rhizomes may show damages between 5 and 20 %. Damage will increase from 21 to 40% if harvesting takes a lo nger period. The origin of planting material and its management constitute one of the main causes for the disease in crement. The average incidence percentage in the country was 23.61% which represent 45.37% in relation to the to tal planted area. The disease incidence occurs mainly in red soils and in summer season

Safety and immunogenicity of the Cuban heptavalent pneumococcal conjugate vaccine in healthy infants. Results from a double-blind randomized control trial Phase I

Background: Cuba has a new pneumococcal conjugate vaccine candidate (PCV7-TT). This study evaluates the safety and immunogenicity in healthy infants using 2p+1 vaccination schedule. Methods: A phase I, controlled, randomized and double blind clinical trial was designed. 30 unvaccinated healthy infants were included. 20 subjects were assigned to study group (PCV7-TT) and 10 to control group (Synflorix®) to receive the vaccines at 7, 8 months of age (primary series) and 11 months (booster dose). Blood samples were collected 30 days after second dose and post booster for antibodies measure analysis by ELISA and OPA. The statistics analysis included the frequency of occurrence for adverse events and the immune response. Non-parametric tests were used to compare the immune response. The clinical trial was published in the Cuban Public Register of Clinical Trials with code RPCEC00000173 available at http://registroclinico.sld.cu. Results: Overall, the safety profile of PCV7-TT was similar to Synflorix®. Local reactions were predominant and systemic events were mild in severity. Swelling and redness were frequently associated with PCV7-TT mainly after the first dose (50% and 40% respectively). 15% and 10% of subject reported severe swelling after first dose with PCV7-TT and after second dose with Synflorix®. Mild fever (≥38–≤39), vomiting and sleep disturb were the systemic events reported. 100% of infants achieved pneumococcal IgG antibody concentrations ≥0.35 µg/ml after booster dose for serotypes 1, 14, 18C and 19F in each vaccine group. For serotypes 5, 6B and 23F, more than 80% infants vaccinated with Synflorix® or PCV7-TT achieved protective IgG GMC ≥ 0.35 µg/ml after booster dose. OPA proportion’s responders to the seven common serotypes were 89.5% or more after the primary dose and 100% after booster dose in vaccinated with PCV7-TT. Conclusions: The Cuban PCV7-TT is safe, well tolerated and immunogenic in healthy infants