Vitis methods to understand and develop strategies for diagnosis and sustainable control of grapevine trunk diseases

Vitis vinifera is affected by many diseases every year, depending on causal agents, susceptibility of cultivars, and climate region. Some are caused by a single agent, such as gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea or powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe necator. Others result from the actions of a complex of pathogens such as grapevine trunk diseases (GTDs). GTDs are presently among the most devastating diseases in viticulture worldwide because both the economic losses and the long-term sustainability of vineyards are strongly affected. The complexity of GTDs results from the diversity of associated fungi, the undetermined period of latency within the vine (asymptomatic status), the erratic foliar symptom expression from one year to the next, and, probably correlated with all of these points, the lack of efficient strategies to control them. Distinct methods can be beneficial to improve our knowledge of GTDs. In vitro bioassays with cell suspensions, calli, foliar discs, full leaves, or plantlets, and in vivo natural bioassays with cuttings, grafted plants in the greenhouse, or artificially infected ones in the vineyard, can be applied by using progressive integrative levels of in vitro and in vivo, depending on the information searched. In this review, the methods available to understand GTDs are described in terms of experimental procedures, main obtained results, and deliverable prospects. The advantages and disadvantages of each model are also discussed

Avaliação de laboratórios brasileiros na determinação de alguns parâmetros de qualidade de biocombustíveis

This work shows the results of a Proficiency Testing performed by a partnership between INMETRO and ANP. The performance of 49 Brazilian laboratories (using the z-score statistical test) in determining 10 quality parameters of ethanol fuel and biodiesel was evaluated. The certified reference values were provided by INMETRO, allowing a more rigorous assessment of the laboratories. For hydrous ethanol, the acidity parameter showed the lowest number of laboratories with satisfactory results (48%), while 85% of the laboratories presented satisfactory results for ethanol content. For biodiesel, the percentage of laboratories with satisfactory results ranged from 46% (kinematic viscosity) to 92% (acid number)

Development studies of a new metronidazole certified reference material

Este artigo apresenta os resultados dos estudos realizados com o candidato a material de referência certificado (MRC) de metronidazol, primeiro MRC deste fármaco disponibilizado no mercado e segundo MRC de fármacos brasileiro. Os estudos incluem a determinação dos teores de impurezas orgânicas, inorgânicas e voláteis, validação do método analítico de cromatografia líquida de alta eficiência (CLAE), estudos de estabilidade em condições de transporte e estocagem, estudo de homogeneidade, determinação do teor de metronidazol por balanço de massa, confirmação deste valor por calorimetria exploratória diferencial (DSC) e cálculo de incertezas de medição. ____________________________________________________________________________________.This paper presents the results of the studies carried out with the candidate certified reference material (CRM) of metronidazole, first CRM of this active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) available on the market and second Brazilian CRM of an API. The investigation includes the determination of organic impurities, inorganic impurities and volatiles, validation of the HPLC‑DAD method, stability studies under transport and storage conditions, homogeneity testing, calculation of metronidazole content by mass balance, confirmation of the certified value by differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), and estimation of measurement uncertainties

Avaliação de laboratórios brasileiros na determinação de alguns parâmetros de qualidade de biocombustíveis Evaluation of Brazilian laboratories for determining quality parameters of biofuels

This work shows the results of a Proficiency Testing performed by a partnership between INMETRO and ANP. The performance of 49 Brazilian laboratories (using the z-score statistical test) in determining 10 quality parameters of ethanol fuel and biodiesel was evaluated. The certified reference values were provided by INMETRO, allowing a more rigorous assessment of the laboratories. For hydrous ethanol, the acidity parameter showed the lowest number of laboratories with satisfactory results (48%), while 85% of the laboratories presented satisfactory results for ethanol content. For biodiesel, the percentage of laboratories with satisfactory results ranged from 46% (kinematic viscosity) to 92% (acid number)