Effects of thermotherapy and virus status on yield, annual growth and grape composition of Sultana

A high yielding Sultana clone, H5, infected with yellow speckle and leafroll diseases was compared over 5 harvests with 6 heat-treated H5 clones, 3 of which still contained both diseases and 3 from which leafroll had been eliminated, and also with a Thompson Seedless clone (FV B6Vl HT91) from California. There were no differences between .the untreated H5 clone and the Thompson Seedless clone which was infected with only yeilow speckle for any of the measured variables in any season.The mean yield of heat-treated H5 clones was reduced by 6 % in those which still contained both diseases and was not affected in those from which leafroll had been eliminated. The yield reduction was related to fewer inflorescences.The mean weight of annual shoot growth, berry weight, calculated bunch. weight, sugar concentration and pH and titratable acidity of juice, did not differ between the 4 groups.Long periods of heat treatment (196-938 d) produced no clones with yields or annual shoot growth superior to the untreated source clone.Except for expression of leaf symptoms associated with leafroll, all 6 heat-treated H5 clones showed no obvious morphological differences from their original source clone, nor did the heat-treated Thompson Seedless clone.Der Einßuß von Thermotherapie und Virusbefall auf Traubenertrag, Holzproduktion und Traubenqualität der Rebsorte SultanaZusammenfassung. - Der an Yellow speckle und Leafroll erkrankte ertragsstarke Sultana-Klon H5 wurde 5 Ernteperioden lang mit 6 wärmebehandelten H5-Klonen - 3 davon noch mit beiden Krankheiten, 3 nur noch mit Yellow speckle behaftet - sowie mit einem Thompson-Seedless-Klon (FV B6Vl HT91) aus Kalifornien verglichen.Zwischen dem unbehandelten H5-Klon und dem Thompson-Seedless-Klon, der nur an Yellow speckle erkrankt war, wurden in keinem Jahr irgendwelche Unterschiede der erfaßten Meßgrößen festgestellt.Der mittlere Traubenertrag der wärmebehandelten H5-Klone war bei den doppelt erkrankten Reben um 6 % verringert und bei den Leafroll-freien Reben nicht beeinflußt. Der Ertragsrückgang war mit einer geringeren Anzahl von Infloreszenzen verbunden.Die 4 Versuchsgruppen zeigten keine Unterschiede bei jährlichem Holzzuwachs, Beerengewicht und kalkuliertem Traubengewicht sowie Zuckerkonzentration, pH und titrierbarer Säure des Beerensaftes.Lange Perioden der Wärmebehandlung (196-338 d) ergaben keine Klone, die in ihrem Traubenertrag oder der Holzproduktion dem unbehandelten Ausgangsklon überlegen gewesen wären.Abgesehen von den Leafroll-Symptomen der Blätter zeigten alle 6 wärmebehandelten H5-Klone keine erkennbaren morphologischen Abweichungen von ihrem Ausgangsklon; Entsprechendes gilt für den wärmebehandelten Thompson-Seedless-Klon

Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on ecosystem services (‘QEIA’). Report-2: integrated assessment

This project assessed the impacts of 741 potential land management actions, suitable for agricultural land in England, on the Farming & Countryside Programme’s Environmental Objectives (and therefore Environment Act targets and climate commitments) through 53 relevant environmental and cultural service indicators. The project used a combination of expert opinion and rapid evidence reviews, which included 1000+ pages of evidence in 10 separate reports with reference to over 2400 published studies, and an Integrated Assessment comprising expert-derived qualitative impact scores. The project has ensured that ELM schemes are evidence-based, offer good value for money, and contribute to SoS priorities for farming

Qualitative Impact Assessment of Land Management Interventions on Ecosystem Services (“QEIA”). Report-1: Executive Summary: QEIA Evidence Review & Integrated Assessment

The focus of this project was to provide an expert-led, rapid qualitative assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (ES) proposed for inclusion in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. This involved a review of the current evidence base for 741 land management actions on 33 Ecosystem Services and 53 Ecosystem Service indicators by ten teams involving 45 experts drawn from the independent research community in a consistent series of Evidence Reviews covering the broad topics of: • Air quality • Greenhouse gas emissions • Soils • Water management • Biodiversity: croplands • Biodiversity: improved grassland • Biodiversity: semi-natural habitats • Biodiversity: integrated systems-based actions • Carbon sequestration • Cultural services (including recreation, geodiversity and regulatory services). It should be noted that this piece of work is just one element of the wider underpinning work Defra has commissioned to support the development of the ELM schemes

Qualitative impact assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (‘QEIA’). Report-2: Integrated Assessment

The focus of this project was to provide an expert-led, rapid qualitative assessment of land management interventions on Ecosystem Services (ES) proposed for inclusion in Environmental Land Management (ELM) schemes. This involved a review of the current evidence base for 741 land management actions on 33 Ecosystem Services and 53 Ecosystem Service indicators by ten expert teams drawn from the independent research community in a consistent series of ten Evidence Reviews covering the broad topics of; • Air quality • Greenhouse gas emissions • Soils • Water management • Biodiversity: croplands • Biodiversity: improved grassland • Biodiversity: semi-natural habitats • Biodiversity: integrated systems-based actions • Carbon sequestration • Cultural services (including recreation, geodiversity and regulatory services) These reviews were undertaken rapidly at Defra’s request by ten teams involving 45 experts who together captured more than 2,400 individual sources of evidence. This was followed by the Integrated Assessment (IA) reported here to provide a more accessible summary of these evidence reviews with a focus on capturing the actions with the greatest potential magnitude of change for the intended ES, and their potential co-benefits and trade-offs for the other ES

Aggression, anxiety and vocalizations in animals: GABA A and 5-HT anxiolytics

A continuing challenge for preclinical research on anxiolytic drugs is to capture the affective dimension that characterizes anxiety and aggression, either in their adaptive forms or when they become of clinical concern. Experimental protocols for the preclinical study of anxiolytic drugs typically involve the suppression of conditioned or unconditioned social and exploratory behavior (e.g., punished drinking or social interactions) and demonstrate the reversal of this behavioral suppression by drugs acting on the benzodiazepine-GABA A complex. Less frequently, aversive events engender increases in conditioned or unconditioned behavior that are reversed by anxiolytic drugs (e.g., fear-potentiated startle). More recently, putative anxiolytics which target 5-HT receptor subtypes produced effects in these traditional protocols that often are not systematic and robust. We propose ethological studies of vocal expressions in rodents and primates during social confrontations, separation from social companions, or exposure to aversive environmental events as promising sources of information on the affective features of behavior. This approach focusses on vocal and other display behavior with clear functional validity and homology. Drugs with anxiolytic effects that act on the benzodiazepine-GABA A receptor complex and on 5-HT 1A receptors systematically and potently alter specific vocalizations in rodents and primates in a pharmacologically reversible manner; the specificity of these effects on vocalizations is evident due to the effectiveness of low doses that do not compromise other physiological and behavioral processes. Antagonists at the benzodiazepine receptor reverse the effects of full agonists on vocalizations, particularly when these occur in threatening, startling and distressing contexts. With the development of antagonists at 5-HT receptor subtypes, it can be anticipated that similar receptor-specificity can be established for the effects of 5-HT anxiolytics.Peer Reviewedhttp://deepblue.lib.umich.edu/bitstream/2027.42/46351/1/213_2005_Article_BF02245590.pd

The P323L substitution in the SARS-CoV-2 polymerase (NSP12) confers a selective advantage during infection

Background The mutational landscape of SARS-CoV-2 varies at the dominant viral genome sequence and minor genomic variant population. During the COVID-19 pandemic, an early substitution in the genome was the D614G change in the spike protein, associated with an increase in transmissibility. Genomes with D614G are accompanied by a P323L substitution in the viral polymerase (NSP12). However, P323L is not thought to be under strong selective pressure. Results Investigation of P323L/D614G substitutions in the population shows rapid emergence during the containment phase and early surge phase during the first wave. These substitutions emerge from minor genomic variants which become dominant viral genome sequence. This is investigated in vivo and in vitro using SARS-CoV-2 with P323 and D614 in the dominant genome sequence and L323 and G614 in the minor variant population. During infection, there is rapid selection of L323 into the dominant viral genome sequence but not G614. Reverse genetics is used to create two viruses (either P323 or L323) with the same genetic background. L323 shows greater abundance of viral RNA and proteins and a smaller plaque morphology than P323. Conclusions These data suggest that P323L is an important contribution in the emergence of variants with transmission advantages. Sequence analysis of viral populations suggests it may be possible to predict the emergence of a new variant based on tracking the frequency of minor variant genomes. The ability to predict an emerging variant of SARS-CoV-2 in the global landscape may aid in the evaluation of medical countermeasures and non-pharmaceutical interventions

Thigh-length compression stockings and DVT after stroke

Controversy exists as to whether neoadjuvant chemotherapy improves survival in patients with invasive bladder cancer, despite randomised controlled trials of more than 3000 patients. We undertook a systematic review and meta-analysis to assess the effect of such treatment on survival in patients with this disease