Vivianite (ferrous phosphate) alleviates iron chlorosis in grapevine

Synthetic vivianite [Fe3(PO4)2·8H2O] has been reported to alleviate iron (Fe) chlorosis in crops growing on calcareous soils. To test the effectiveness of vivianite in grapevine we carried out three-year (2003 to 2005) experiments in vineyards located in six different areas of Spain with Denomination of Origin (Rioja, Ribera del Duero, La Mancha, Montilla-Moriles, Condado de Huelva, and Jerez), which differed in grapevine rootstock/variety, climate, and soil properties. In all cases there was at least one treatment in which a suspension of vivianite was injected into the soil at the beginning of the experiment in spring, one control (“–Fe”, no Fe fertilizer added) treatment, and one or more treatments with Fe chelate (FeEDDHA) or an Fe(II) salt applied yearly. The concentration of chlorophyll per unit leaf area was estimated with a portable chlorophyll meter (readings in SPAD units). The SPAD value and the trunk perimeter increment of the vines fertilized with vivianite were significantly higher than those of the control (-Fe) vines through the three years in all fields except the Jerez one. Vivianite was not significantly more effective than Fe-sulfate (in Rioja field) or Fe chelate (in La Mancha field). Our results suggest in summary that vivianite is effective in improving the Fe nutrition of vine and has a significant long-lasting effect of at least three years. This is ascribed to vivianite being incongruently dissolved to produce a poorly crystalline Fe oxide phase (lepidocrocite), which is considered to be a good source of Fe to plant. Vivianite is effective, readily prepared in the field, not easily leached from the soil, cheap, and environmentally safe, constituting thus an adequate Fe fertilizer for grapevine.

Photocatalytic fixation of NOx in soils

Nitrogen oxides (NOx = NO + NO2) are important atmospheric pollutants that are directly harmful to human health. Recently in urban and industrial areas, synthetic materials have been developed and deployed to photocatalytically oxidize NOx to nitrate (NO3−) in order to improve air quality. We show that the natural presence of small amounts (≤5%) of titanium oxides, such as anatase and rutile, can also drive NOx oxidation to nitrate in soils under UV–visible irradiation. The NO uptake coefficients ranged between 0.1 × 10−6 for sandy soils to 6.4 × 10−5 in the case of tropical clay soils; the latter comparable in efficiency to current industrial man-made catalysts. This photocatalytic N-fixation mechanism offers a new strategy for NOx mitigation from the atmosphere by transforming it into nitrate, and simultaneously provides an energy efficient source of essential fertilizer to agriculture

Time evolution of in vivo articular cartilage repair induced by bone marrow stimulation and scaffold implantation in rabbits

Purpose: Tissue engineering techniques were used to study cartilage repair over a 12-month period in a rabbit model. Methods: A full-depth chondral defect along with subchondral bone injury were originated in the knee joint, where a biostable porous scaffold was implanted, synthesized of poly(ethyl acrylate-co-hydroxyethyl acrylate) copolymer. Morphological evolution of cartilage repair was studied 1 and 2 weeks, and 1, 3, and 12 months after implantation by histological techniques. The 3-month group was chosen to compare cartilage repair to an additional group where scaffolds were preseeded with allogeneic chondrocytes before implantation, and also to controls, who underwent the same surgery procedure, with no scaffold implantation. Results: Neotissue growth was first observed in the deepest scaffold pores 1 week after implantation, which spread thereafter; 3 months later scaffold pores were filled mostly with cartilaginous tissue in superficial and middle zones, and with bone tissue adjacent to subchondral bone. Simultaneously, native chondrocytes at the edges of the defect started to proliferate 1 week after implantation; within a month those edges had grown centripetally and seemed to embed the scaffold, and after 3 months, hyaline-like cartilage was observed on the condylar surface. Preseeded scaffolds slightly improved tissue growth, although the quality of repair tissue was similar to non-preseeded scaffolds. Controls showed that fibrous cartilage was mainly filling the repair area 3 months after surgery. In the 12-month group, articular cartilage resembled the untreated surface. Conclusions: Scaffolds guided cartilaginous tissue growth in vivo, suggesting their importance in stress transmission to the cells for cartilage repair.This study was supported by the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through MAT2010-21611-C03-00 project (including the FEDER financial support), by Conselleria de Educacion (Generalitat Valenciana, Spain) PROMETEO/2011/084 grant, and by CIBER-BBN en Bioingenieria, Biomateriales y Nanomedicina. The work of JLGR was partially supported by funds from the Generalitat Valenciana, ACOMP/2012/075 project. CIBER-BBN is an initiative funded by the VI National R&D&i Plan 2008-2011, Iniciativa Ingenio 2010, Consolider Program, CIBER Actions and financed by the - Instituto de Salud Carlos III with assistance from the European Regional Development Fund.Sancho-Tello Valls, M.; Forriol, F.; Gastaldi, P.; Ruiz Sauri, A.; Martín De Llano, JJ.; Novella-Maestre, E.; Antolinos Turpín, CM.... (2015). 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P., Mizrahi, J., Elisseeff, J. H., & Seliktar, D. (2009). The differential effect of scaffold composition and architecture on chondrocyte response to mechanical stimulation. Biomaterials, 30(4), 518-525. doi:10.1016/j.biomaterials.2008.09.063Chung, C., & Burdick, J. A. (2008). Engineering cartilage tissue. Advanced Drug Delivery Reviews, 60(2), 243-262. doi:10.1016/j.addr.2007.08.027HUNZIKER, E. B., & ROSENBERG, L. C. (1996). Repair of Partial-Thickness Defects in Articular Cartilage. The Journal of Bone & Joint Surgery, 78(5), 721-33. doi:10.2106/00004623-199605000-00012Schulze-Tanzil, G. (2009). Activation and dedifferentiation of chondrocytes: Implications in cartilage injury and repair. Annals of Anatomy - Anatomischer Anzeiger, 191(4), 325-338. doi:10.1016/j.aanat.2009.05.003Umlauf, D., Frank, S., Pap, T., & Bertrand, J. (2010). Cartilage biology, pathology, and repair. 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Evaluation of Oxfendazole, Praziquantel and Albendazole against Cystic Echinococcosis: A Randomized Clinical Trial in Naturally Infected Sheep

Cystic Echinococcosis (CE) is a near-cosmopolitan parasitic zoonosis that causes economic losses in many regions of the world. This parasitic infection can be regarded as an emerging or re-emerging disease causing considerable losses in livestock production. CE is produced by the larval cystic stage (hydatid) of the dog parasite Echinococcus granulosus. After infective eggs are ingested, cysts develop mainly in lungs and liver of humans and animals (sheep, cattle, pigs, horses, etc). Infected people may require surgery and/or Albendazole-based chemotherapy. In this study, we evaluated the effects of Oxfendazole alone (an antiparasitic drug used in animals), Oxfendazole plus Praziquantel, and Albendazole plus Praziquantel against hydatid cysts in sheep over 4 to 6 weeks of treatment. All of the treatments in this study were efficacious in killing the larval stages and, therefore, in minimizing the risk of a dog acquiring new infections (taenias). These treatment schemes can be added to control measures in animals and eventually could be used for the treatment of human infection. Further investigations on different schedules of monotherapy or combined chemotherapy are needed, as well as studies to evaluate the safety and efficacy of Oxfendazole in humans

Gaia Focused Product Release: A catalogue of sources around quasars to search for strongly lensed quasars

Context. Strongly lensed quasars are fundamental sources for cosmology. The Gaia space mission covers the entire sky with the unprecedented resolution of $0.18$" in the optical, making it an ideal instrument to search for gravitational lenses down to the limiting magnitude of 21. Nevertheless, the previous Gaia Data Releases are known to be incomplete for small angular separations such as those expected for most lenses. Aims. We present the Data Processing and Analysis Consortium GravLens pipeline, which was built to analyse all Gaia detections around quasars and to cluster them into sources, thus producing a catalogue of secondary sources around each quasar. We analysed the resulting catalogue to produce scores that indicate source configurations that are compatible with strongly lensed quasars. Methods. GravLens uses the DBSCAN unsupervised clustering algorithm to detect sources around quasars. The resulting catalogue of multiplets is then analysed with several methods to identify potential gravitational lenses. We developed and applied an outlier scoring method, a comparison between the average BP and RP spectra of the components, and we also used an extremely randomised tree algorithm. These methods produce scores to identify the most probable configurations and to establish a list of lens candidates. Results. We analysed the environment of 3 760 032 quasars. A total of 4 760 920 sources, including the quasars, were found within 6" of the quasar positions. This list is given in the Gaia archive. In 87\% of cases, the quasar remains a single source, and in 501 385 cases neighbouring sources were detected. We propose a list of 381 lensed candidates, of which we identified 49 as the most promising. Beyond these candidates, the associate tables in this Focused Product Release allow the entire community to explore the unique Gaia data for strong lensing studies further.Comment: 35 pages, 60 figures, accepted for publication by Astronomy and Astrophysic

Gaia Early Data Release 3 Acceleration of the Solar System from Gaia astrometry

Context. Gaia Early Data Release 3 (Gaia EDR3) provides accurate astrometry for about 1.6 million compact (QSO-like) extragalactic sources, 1.2 million of which have the best-quality five-parameter astrometric solutions. Aims. The proper motions of QSO-like sources are used to reveal a systematic pattern due to the acceleration of the solar systembarycentre with respect to the rest frame of the Universe. Apart from being an important scientific result by itself, the acceleration measured in this way is a good quality indicator of the Gaia astrometric solution. Methods. Theeffect of the acceleration was obtained as a part of the general expansion of the vector field of proper motions in vector spherical harmonics (VSH). Various versions of the VSH fit and various subsets of the sources were tried and compared to get the most consistent result and a realistic estimate of its uncertainty. Additional tests with the Gaia astrometric solution were used to get a better idea of the possible systematic errors in the estimate. Results. Our best estimate of the acceleration based on Gaia EDR3 is (2.32 +/- 0.16) x 10(-10) m s(-2) (or 7.33 +/- 0.51 km s(-1) Myr-1) towards alpha = 269.1 degrees +/- 5.4 degrees, delta = -31.6 degrees +/- 4.1 degrees, corresponding to a proper motion amplitude of 5.05 +/- 0.35 mu as yr(-1). This is in good agreement with the acceleration expected from current models of the Galactic gravitational potential. We expect that future Gaia data releases will provide estimates of the acceleration with uncertainties substantially below 0.1 mu as yr(-1).Peer reviewe

Gaia Focused Product Release: Radial velocity time series of long-period variables

The third Gaia Data Release (DR3) provided photometric time series of more than 2 million long-period variable (LPV) candidates. Anticipating the publication of full radial-velocity (RV) in DR4, this Focused Product Release (FPR) provides RV time series for a selection of LPVs with high-quality observations. We describe the production and content of the Gaia catalog of LPV RV time series, and the methods used to compute variability parameters published in the Gaia FPR. Starting from the DR3 LPVs catalog, we applied filters to construct a sample of sources with high-quality RV measurements. We modeled their RV and photometric time series to derive their periods and amplitudes, and further refined the sample by requiring compatibility between the RV period and at least one of the $G$, $G_{\rm BP}$, or $G_{\rm RP}$ photometric periods. The catalog includes RV time series and variability parameters for 9\,614 sources in the magnitude range $6\lesssim G/{\rm mag}\lesssim 14$, including a flagged top-quality subsample of 6\,093 stars whose RV periods are fully compatible with the values derived from the $G$, $G_{\rm BP}$, and $G_{\rm RP}$ photometric time series. The RV time series contain a mean of 24 measurements per source taken unevenly over a duration of about three years. We identify the great most sources (88%) as genuine LPVs, with about half of them showing a pulsation period and the other half displaying a long secondary period. The remaining 12% consists of candidate ellipsoidal binaries. Quality checks against RVs available in the literature show excellent agreement. We provide illustrative examples and cautionary remarks. The publication of RV time series for almost 10\,000 LPVs constitutes, by far, the largest such database available to date in the literature. The availability of simultaneous photometric measurements gives a unique added value to the Gaia catalog (abridged)Comment: 36 pages, 38 figure

Gaia Early Data Release 3: Summary of the contents and survey properties

ABSTRACT: Context. We present the early installment of the third Gaia data release, Gaia EDR3, consisting of astrometry and photometry for 1.8 billion sources brighter than magnitude 21, complemented with the list of radial velocities from Gaia DR2. Aims. A summary of the contents of Gaia EDR3 is presented, accompanied by a discussion on the differences with respect to Gaia DR2 and an overview of the main limitations which are present in the survey. Recommendations are made on the responsible use of Gaia EDR3 results. Methods. The raw data collected with the Gaia instruments during the first 34 months of the mission have been processed by the Gaia Data Processing and Analysis Consortium and turned into this early third data release, which represents a major advance with respect to Gaia DR2 in terms of astrometric and photometric precision, accuracy, and homogeneity. Results. Gaia EDR3 contains celestial positions and the apparent brightness in G for approximately 1.8 billion sources. For 1.5 billion of those sources, parallaxes, proper motions, and the (GBP ? GRP) colour are also available. The passbands for G, GBP, and GRP are provided as part of the release. For ease of use, the 7 million radial velocities from Gaia DR2 are included in this release, after the removal of a small number of spurious values. New radial velocities will appear as part of Gaia DR3. Finally, Gaia EDR3 represents an updated materialisation of the celestial reference frame (CRF) in the optical, the Gaia-CRF3, which is based solely on extragalactic sources. The creation of the source list for Gaia EDR3 includes enhancements that make it more robust with respect to high proper motion stars, and the disturbing effects of spurious and partially resolved sources. The source list is largely the same as that for Gaia DR2, but it does feature new sources and there are some notable changes. The source list will not change for Gaia DR3. Conclusions. Gaia EDR3 represents a significant advance over Gaia DR2, with parallax precisions increased by 30 per cent, proper motion precisions increased by a factor of 2, and the systematic errors in the astrometry suppressed by 30-40% for the parallaxes and by a factor ~2.5 for the proper motions. The photometry also features increased precision, but above all much better homogeneity across colour, magnitude, and celestial position. A single passband for G, GBP, and GRP is valid over the entire magnitude and colour range, with no systematics above the 1% levelThe Gaia mission and data processing have financially been supported by ; the Spanish Ministry of Economy (MINECO/FEDER, UE) through grants ESP2016-80079-C2-1-R, ESP2016-80079-C2-2-R, RTI2018-095076-B-C21, RTI2018-095076-B-C22, BES-2016-078499, and BES-2017-083126 and the Juan de la Cierva formación 2015 grant FJCI-2015-2671, the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports through grant FPU16/03827, the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation (MICINN) through grant AYA2017-89841P for project “Estudio de las propiedades de los fósiles estelares en el entorno del Grupo Local” and through grant TIN2015-65316-P for project “Computación de Altas Prestaciones VII

Elective Cancer Surgery in COVID-19-Free Surgical Pathways During the SARS-CoV-2 Pandemic: An International, Multicenter, Comparative Cohort Study.

PURPOSE: As cancer surgery restarts after the first COVID-19 wave, health care providers urgently require data to determine where elective surgery is best performed. This study aimed to determine whether COVID-19-free surgical pathways were associated with lower postoperative pulmonary complication rates compared with hospitals with no defined pathway. PATIENTS AND METHODS: This international, multicenter cohort study included patients who underwent elective surgery for 10 solid cancer types without preoperative suspicion of SARS-CoV-2. Participating hospitals included patients from local emergence of SARS-CoV-2 until April 19, 2020. At the time of surgery, hospitals were defined as having a COVID-19-free surgical pathway (complete segregation of the operating theater, critical care, and inpatient ward areas) or no defined pathway (incomplete or no segregation, areas shared with patients with COVID-19). The primary outcome was 30-day postoperative pulmonary complications (pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, unexpected ventilation). RESULTS: Of 9,171 patients from 447 hospitals in 55 countries, 2,481 were operated on in COVID-19-free surgical pathways. Patients who underwent surgery within COVID-19-free surgical pathways were younger with fewer comorbidities than those in hospitals with no defined pathway but with similar proportions of major surgery. After adjustment, pulmonary complication rates were lower with COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.2% v 4.9%; adjusted odds ratio [aOR], 0.62; 95% CI, 0.44 to 0.86). This was consistent in sensitivity analyses for low-risk patients (American Society of Anesthesiologists grade 1/2), propensity score-matched models, and patients with negative SARS-CoV-2 preoperative tests. The postoperative SARS-CoV-2 infection rate was also lower in COVID-19-free surgical pathways (2.1% v 3.6%; aOR, 0.53; 95% CI, 0.36 to 0.76). CONCLUSION: Within available resources, dedicated COVID-19-free surgical pathways should be established to provide safe elective cancer surgery during current and before future SARS-CoV-2 outbreaks