Assessment of pre- and post-harvest anti-sprouting treatments to replace CIPC for potato storage

To avoid losses from sprouting during potato storage, the anti-sprouting agent chlorpropham [CIPC] has been widely used over the past few decades. However, the European Union recently decided not to authorize the renewal of CIPC, prompting the value chain to find alternative treatments. We assessed for three years the potential of pre- and post-harvest anti-sprouting treatments to replace CIPC using four potato-processing varieties. Pre-harvest application of maleic hydrazide [MH] and post-harvest applications of 3-decen-2-one, 1,4-dimethylnapthalene [1,4-DMN] and CIPC were performed following supplier’s recommendations. In addition, we evaluated the potential of 3-decen-2-one and 1,4-DMN to prolong the efficacy of pre-harvest MH treatment anti-sprouting activity during storage. All molecules significantly reduced sprouting after seven months of storage compared with the untreated control group. MH, 3-decen-2-one, 1,4-DMN and CIPC displayed respectively 86.9 %; 77.9 %, 73.6 % and 99.8 % of efficacy to control sprout weight and 79.4 %; 73.4 %, 68.4 % and 96.9 % of efficacy to control sprout length. Our results suggest that using 3-decen-2-one and 1,4-DMN in combination with MH do not bring additional benefit to control sprouting. Because differences in dormancies could be observed between varieties, we also showed that the efficacy of post-harvest treatments is genotype-dependent, while MH pre-harvest treatment is effective equally for all varieties. Applications of CIPC and MH led to detectable residues in tubers, while no residue of 1,4-DMN has been detected in tubers treated with this molecule (< LOQ). We concluded that treatments with MH, 1,4-DMN and 3-decen-2-one are valuable alternatives to CIPC to control sprouting of processing potatoes

Multilocal field trials to test alternative products to reduce copper applications to control potato late blight in organic systems

The main objective of those trials was to determine alternatives to massive copper utilization to control potato late blight (Phytophthora infestans (Mont.) de Bary) in organic systems. To reach such a target, we first performed a screening of candidates products and additives under controlled conditions in the laboratory. Thereafter, the most promising products were tested in the field in 2006. Those trials were set up in three different sites, two sites in Belgium and one site in France. Herseaux (B) and Loos-en-Gohelle (F) are situated near by see level in an important potato culture basin with silty soil. Libramont is located at 500 m of altitude, far from any potato culture basin, with a sandy-loamy and stony soil. The cultivar Ditta was used in Belgium while the cultivar Juliette was planted in France. Their resistance to foliage late blight is, respectively, medium and medium-high. In total 8 modalities were compared. The products were applied in accordance to the advice of the local late blight warning system. The control was sprayed, at each advice, with 3 kg/ha of copper sulphate (Bordeaux mixture). We tested two additives to Bordeaux mixture, used at the 3 kg/ha rate as well, the first one is a short chain amino-acid extract, used to enhance rainfastness, while the other one is an hydrogen peroxide stabilised with an organic molecule. This second product was used for its disinfectant effect added to the protection effect of copper sulphate. We also tested the efficiency of a formulation presenting a low copper concentration (Glutex CU 90 with 10% copper) and of an association between a potassium phosphite and a copper tallate (Solucuivre with 5% copper). Those two components were also evaluated separately. Finally, we tested a product containing rhamnolipid biosurfactant (Zonix) supposed to physically destroy the zoospore's membrane. The 2006 climatic conditions were very particular. June and July were very dry while August was very wet with optimum late blight development conditions. The disease development was very slow during July and radically increased during August

Prédiction de la dormance des pommes de terre pendant le stockage

Potato sprouting during storage occurs after a break in dormancy, leading to a decrease in quality and consequently economic losses. We used 3379 records from multi-year and multi-environment trials of 537 potato varieties to identify the main factors driving potato dormancy and to develop predictive models for an efficient sprouting forecast. The variety explained the majority of the dormancy variability (60.3%), followed by the year (13.9%) and the location (5.4%). About 250 predictors were considered to develop a predictive model of potato dormancy. The selected model had a validation precision of 14.59 days; it used the variety class and the sum of the daily maximum temperatures in the air during the period from planting to harvest as predictors. The predictions of the selected model were supported by results of the in vivo trial using dormancy measurements from potato varieties grown under different temperature regimes in greenhouse conditions. With the growing impact of climate change on crop production, predictive models as developed here can provide an efficient and cost-effective tool to optimize the control of potato sprouting during storage.2. Zero hunge

Long‐term overall survival and toxicities of ABVD vs BEACOPP in advanced Hodgkin lymphoma: A pooled analysis of four randomized trials

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Rare coding variants in PLCG2, ABI3, and TREM2 implicate microglial-mediated innate immunity in Alzheimer's disease

We identified rare coding variants associated with Alzheimer’s disease (AD) in a 3-stage case-control study of 85,133 subjects. In stage 1, 34,174 samples were genotyped using a whole-exome microarray. In stage 2, we tested associated variants (P<1×10-4) in 35,962 independent samples using de novo genotyping and imputed genotypes. In stage 3, an additional 14,997 samples were used to test the most significant stage 2 associations (P<5×10-8) using imputed genotypes. We observed 3 novel genome-wide significant (GWS) AD associated non-synonymous variants; a protective variant in PLCG2 (rs72824905/p.P522R, P=5.38×10-10, OR=0.68, MAFcases=0.0059, MAFcontrols=0.0093), a risk variant in ABI3 (rs616338/p.S209F, P=4.56×10-10, OR=1.43, MAFcases=0.011, MAFcontrols=0.008), and a novel GWS variant in TREM2 (rs143332484/p.R62H, P=1.55×10-14, OR=1.67, MAFcases=0.0143, MAFcontrols=0.0089), a known AD susceptibility gene. These protein-coding changes are in genes highly expressed in microglia and highlight an immune-related protein-protein interaction network enriched for previously identified AD risk genes. These genetic findings provide additional evidence that the microglia-mediated innate immune response contributes directly to AD development

New insights into the genetic etiology of Alzheimer's disease and related dementias

Characterization of the genetic landscape of Alzheimer's disease (AD) and related dementias (ADD) provides a unique opportunity for a better understanding of the associated pathophysiological processes. We performed a two-stage genome-wide association study totaling 111,326 clinically diagnosed/'proxy' AD cases and 677,663 controls. We found 75 risk loci, of which 42 were new at the time of analysis. Pathway enrichment analyses confirmed the involvement of amyloid/tau pathways and highlighted microglia implication. Gene prioritization in the new loci identified 31 genes that were suggestive of new genetically associated processes, including the tumor necrosis factor alpha pathway through the linear ubiquitin chain assembly complex. We also built a new genetic risk score associated with the risk of future AD/dementia or progression from mild cognitive impairment to AD/dementia. The improvement in prediction led to a 1.6- to 1.9-fold increase in AD risk from the lowest to the highest decile, in addition to effects of age and the APOE ε4 allele