Genetic diversity among viruses associated with sugarcane mosaic disease in Tucumán, Argentina

Sugarcane leaves with mosaic symptoms were collected in 2006--07 in Tucumán (Argentina) and analyzed by reverse-transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) and sequencing of a fragment of the Sugarcane mosaic virus (SCMV) and Sorghum mosaic virus (SrMV) coat protein (CP) genes. SCMV was detected in 96.6% of samples, with 41% showing the RFLP profile consistent with strain E. The remaining samples produced eight different profiles that did not match other known strains. SCMV distribution seemed to be more related to sugarcane genotype than to geographical origin, and sequence analyses of CP genes showed a greater genetic diversity compared with other studies. SrMV was detected in 63.2% of samples and most of these were also infected by SCMV, indicating that, unlike other countries and other Argentinean provinces, where high levels of co-infection are infrequent, co-existence is common in Tucumán. RFLP analysis showed the presence of SrMV strains M (68%) and I (14%), while co-infection between M and H strains was present in 18% of samples. Other SCMV subgroup members and the Sugarcane streak mosaic virus (SCSMV) were not detected. Our results also showed that sequencing is currently the only reliable method to assess SCMV and SrMV genetic diversity, because RT-PCR-RFLP may not be sufficiently discriminating.Fil: Perera, María Francisca. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Filippone, María Paula. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Ramallo, C. J.. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Cuenya, María Inés. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Garcia, Maria Laura. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - La Plata. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular. Universidad Nacional de La Plata. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas. Instituto de Biotecnología y Biología Molecular; ArgentinaFil: Ploper, Leonardo Daniel. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; ArgentinaFil: Castagnaro, Atilio Pedro. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Tucumán. Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino. Provincia de Tucumán. Ministerio de Desarrollo Productivo. Estación Experimental Agroindustrial "Obispo Colombres" (p). Instituto de Tecnología Agroindustrial del Noroeste Argentino; Argentin

Socialización y proceso de construcción de la identidad profesional del educador físico de una prisión

The purpose of this paper is to explore the construction of the professional identity of Alex (a pseudonym), a physical educator in charge of sport and physical activity in a Spanish prison. To this end, we used a biographical-dialectic perspective based mainly on interviews especially focused on prior experiences, contextual resources and the micropolitical strategies Alex used in his workplace. The search for better job conditions and professional recognition mediated the strategies he used during the daily negotiation of his professional identity. Yet, this identity was also constructed in a dialogue between his experiences in sport and the performance discourse present at the macro-social level. This study exemplifies a particular, yet not unique case of professional socialization that helps illuminate the (re)construction of identity of those physical activity and sport professionals who work in marginal contexts

Radiation hardness studies of neutron irradiated CMOS sensors fabricated in the ams H18 high voltage process

High voltage CMOS detectors (HVCMOSv3), fabricated in the ams H18 high voltage process, with a substrate resistivity of 10 Ω·cm were irradiated with neutrons up to a fluence of 2×1016 neq/cm2 and characterized using edge-TCT. It was found that, within the measured fluence range, the active region and the collected charge reach a maximum at about 7×1015 neq/cm2 to decrease to the level of the unirradiated detector after 2×1016 neq/cm2

From glow-sticks to sensors: Single-electrode electrochemical detection for paper-based devices

With the goal of creating a multipurpose platform for electrogenerated luminescence, a single electrode electrochemical system was designed, developed, and validated. Glow sticks were used as the source of the luminophore, which was used as the optical reporter for the biosensor. A smartphone was used as the detector to quantify the electrochemiluminescence emissions. A disposable paper-based device was designed and used as a two-compartment electrochemical reaction cell, affording the possibility to individually optimize the sensing and detection reactions. This sensor assembly was tested under different conditions, showing acceptable performance both in the determination of hydrogen peroxide concentrations, to evaluate rancidity markers in edible oil samples, and to quantify the glucose concentration in soft drinks. The analytical performance of the single electrode, electrochemiluminescent device showed a limit of detection for hydrogen peroxide of 1.02 µM, with a working range between 0.4 µM and 150 mM. The proposed approach represents the first example of a system that combines paperbased devices, single electrode electrochemistry, electrochemiluminescence, and smartphone image sensing. As such, it not only provides a convenient platform for the development of a variety of analytical applications but also broaden the versatility of ePADs.Fil: Vidal, Ezequiel Martin. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Domini, Claudia Elizabeth. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Bahía Blanca. Instituto de Química del Sur. Universidad Nacional del Sur. Departamento de Química. Instituto de Química del Sur; ArgentinaFil: Whitehead, Daniel C.. CLEMSON UNIVERSITY (CLEMSON UNIVERSITY);Fil: Garcia, Carlos D.. CLEMSON UNIVERSITY (CLEMSON UNIVERSITY)

anti-1′,6′,7′,8′,9′,14′,15′,16′-Octa­chloro­dispiro­[1,3-dioxolane-2,17′-penta­cyclo­[12.2.1.16,9.02,13.05,10]octa­decane-18′,2′′-1,3-dioxolane]-7′,15′-diene

The title compound, C22H20Cl8O4, was prepared as part of the synthesis of precursors for the preparation of fluorinated mol­ecular tweezers. The mol­ecule sits on an inversion center, thus requiring that the cyclo­octane ring adopt a chair conformation

Functional characterization of the sciarid BhC4-1 core promoter in transgenic Drosophila

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Core promoters are <it>cis</it>-regulatory modules to which bind the basal transcriptional machinery and which participate in the regulation of transcription initiation. Although core promoters have not been extensively investigated through functional assays in a chromosomal context, the available data suggested that the response of a given core promoter might vary depending on the promoter context. Previous studies suggest that a (-57/+40) fragment constitutes the core promoter of the <it>BhC4-1 </it>gene which is located in DNA puff C4 of the sciarid fly <it>Bradysia hygida</it>. Here we tested this (-57/+40) fragment in distinct regulatory contexts in order to verify if promoter context affects its core promoter activity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Consistent with the activity of a core promoter, we showed that in the absence of upstream regulatory sequences the (-57/+40) fragment drives low levels of reporter gene mRNA expression throughout development in transgenic <it>Drosophila</it>. By assaying the (-57/+40) fragment in two distinct regulatory contexts, either downstream of the previously characterized <it>Fbp1 </it>enhancer or downstream of the UAS element, we showed that the <it>BhC4-1 </it>core promoter drives regulated transcription in both the germline and in various tissues throughout development. Furthermore, the use of the <it>BhC4-1 </it>core promoter in a UAS construct significantly reduced salivary gland ectopic expression in third instar larvae, which was previously described to occur in the context of the GAL4/UAS system.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Our results from functional analysis in transgenic <it>Drosophila </it>show that the <it>BhC4-1 </it>core promoter drives gene expression regardless of the promoter context that was assayed. New insights into the functioning of the GAL4/UAS system in <it>Drosophila </it>were obtained, indicating that the presence of the SV40 sequence in the 3' UTR of a UAS construct does not preclude expression in the germline. Furthermore, our analysis indicated that ectopic salivary gland expression in the GAL4/UAS system does not depend only on sequences present in the GAL4 construct, but can also be affected by the core promoter sequences in the UAS construct. In this context, we propose that the sciarid <it>BhC4-1 </it>core promoter constitutes a valuable core promoter which can be employed in functional assays in insects.</p

Unfrustrated Qudit Chains and their Ground States

We investigate chains of 'd' dimensional quantum spins (qudits) on a line with generic nearest neighbor interactions without translational invariance. We find the conditions under which these systems are not frustrated, i.e. when the ground states are also the common ground states of all the local terms in the Hamiltonians. The states of a quantum spin chain are naturally represented in the Matrix Product States (MPS) framework. Using imaginary time evolution in the MPS ansatz, we numerically investigate the range of parameters in which we expect the ground states to be highly entangled and find them hard to approximate using our MPS method.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figures. Typos correcte

Extrapolations of the fusion performance in JET

n preparation of the forthcoming high power campaign with the reactor-relevant deuterium-tritium (DT) fuel mixture in the Joint European Torus (JET), significant efforts are being devoted to DT scenario extrapolation using computer modelling. We report on simulations aimed at optimizing external heating using neutral beam injection (NBI) and radiofrequency waves in the ion cyclotron range of frequencies (ICRF) for high DT fusion yield. Our results show that by increasing external heating power to the maximum power available, the fusion neutron rate can be enhanced by a factor of 4-5 with respect to the recent record values. The comparison of two ICRF schemes using different resonant ion species, i.e. 3He and H minority ions, shows that the 3He minority heating scenario achieves a higher fuel ion temperature but not necessarily a better fusion performance. Finally, we study the dependence of the performance of external heating on key experimental parameters