Characterisation of the grapevine cultivar Picolit by means of morphological descriptors and molecular markers

The phenotypic and genotypic variability of cv. Picolit, an ancient, female-flower cultivar from north-eastern Italy was investigated by means of ampelographic and ampelometric descriptors and by molecular markers, such as microsatellites and AFLPs. Thirty nine samples were collected from old plants (30-100 years old), which showed some differences in morphology and growth. In two samples (P6 and P7) morphological differences were found. These samples showed a different allelic profile at 18 out of the 21 SSRs analysed and were therefore considered not to belong to the cv. Picolit. Of the remaining samples, 35 gave the same allelic pattern at all SSRs and they were therefore considered ‘true-to-type’ Picolit, whereas two of them (P4 and P8) showed several variations, including extra alleles. One of the possible causes of such differences is chimerism. The AFLP analysis, from which samples P6 and P7 were excluded, enabled screening of a larger portion of the genome and confirmed the differences of the P4 and P8 samples from the remaining ones. P4 and P8 were different from the majority of samples at 13 and 37 AFLP loci respectively. A few further polymorphic bands were recorded in the remaining samples, but they were disregarded since they were not always reproducible. This research confirmed the appreciable somatic stability of SSR markers even in long-lived, vegetatively propagated plants, and the occasional occurrence of solid mutations and chimerisms.

The Design Development of Solar Box Cooker on Wheels as an Alternative for Philippine Rural Households

Cooking accounts for a significant share of the worldwide energy consumption issue. Solar box cookers are a good alternative in mitigating fossil fuels and biomass use, especially for tropical developing nations like the Philippines. Still, their broad acceptance is limited by their high dependence on sufficient sunlight for better performance. Thus, this research aims to develop a thermal-efficient, portable solar box cooker with sand-sensible heat storage materials, coconut coir (Cocos nucifera) agricultural waste insulators, and locally sourced building materials. The designed and constructed cooker was evaluated using three thermal performance tests: the Stagnation Temperature test from the Bureau of Indian Standards (BIS), the Cooking Power test from the American Societal of Agricultural Engineer (ASAE) Standards, and a rice cooking test. Data obtained from the three-day trials of each test were used to determine the first figure of merit (F1), the single measure of performance (Ps(50)), and its ability to cook 300 g of NFA rice with 500 mL of water, respectively. It was found that the cooker achieved an F1 of 0.06 Km2/w, a Ps(50) of 6.651 W, and cooked rice for one-third of the tests. Obtained experimental findings showed that the device is marked as a Grade-B solar cooker. Results indicated that the solar box cooker is capable of pasteurizing water and cooking rice

UFPRSheffield: Contrasting Rule-based and Support Vector Machine Approaches to Time Expression Identification in Clinical TempEval

We present two approaches to time expression identification, as entered in to SemEval2015 Task 6, Clinical TempEval. The first is a comprehensive rule-based approach that favoured recall, and which achieved the best recall for time expression identification in Clinical TempEval. The second is an SVM-based system built using readily available components, which was able to achieve a competitive F1 in a short development time. We discuss how the two approaches perform relative to each other, and how characteristics of the corpus affect the suitability of different approaches and their outcomes

Trend of decreasing length of cervical cone excision during the last 20 years

OBJECTIVE: The aim of the present investigation was to evaluate the cervical conizations performed in the last 20 years in a single institution, with a particular interest in analyzing the trend of the length of cone excisions.PATIENTS AND METHODS: A retrospective cohort study of women who underwent a CO2-laser cervical conization between January 1996 and December 2015. Cytological abnormalities on referral pap smear, colposcopic findings and pertinent clinical and socio-demographic characteristics of each woman were collected. In particular, the length of cone specimen was evaluated, taking into account all the factors potentially influencing the length of excision.RESULTS: A total of 1270 women who underwent cervical conization from January 1996 to December 2015 were included in the analysis. A mean cone length of 15.1 \ub1 5.7 mm was reported, and we observed a significant decrease in the length of cone excisions over the whole study period. Age (rpartial = 0.1543, p < 0.0001), see & treat procedure (rpartial = -0.1945, p < 0.0001) and grade II colposcopic findings (rpartial = 0.1540, p < 0.0001) were significantly associated with the length of cone excision on multivariate analysis.CONCLUSIONS: In the last 20 years, a significant decrease in the length of cone excision was observed. In our opinion, this can be due to the acquired awareness by the gynecologists of the potential disadvantages of wide cone excision in term of adverse obstetric outcomes in future pregnancies

Humoral and T-Cell Mediated Response after the Third Dose of mRNA Vaccines in Patients with Systemic Lupus Erythematosus on Belimumab

Objective: To evaluate humoral and T-cell cellular-mediated immune response after three doses of SARS-CoV-2 mRNA vaccines in patients with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE) under Belimumab. Patients and methods: 12 patients on Belimumab and 13 age-matched healthy volunteers were recruited. Patients were in remission or in low disease activity, and they were taking no corticosteroids or only low doses. None of the patients and controls had detectable anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies due to previous exposure to the virus. All the patients received three doses of mRNA anti-SARS-CoV-2 vaccines and the humoral and cellular-mediated response were tested 4 weeks after the second dose (T0), 6 months after the second dose (T1) and 4 weeks after the third dose (T2). Comparison with the control group was performed at time T0 (i.e., 4 weeks after the second dose). Total anti-SARS-CoV-2 RBD antibodies were analyzed using a diagnostic assay, while cellular-mediated response was evaluated using the interferon-gamma release assay (IGRA). Results: A humoral response was documented in all the patients at T0 (median 459; IQR 225.25–758.5), but the antibody titer significantly declined from T0 to T1 (median 44.7; IQR: 30.3–202; p = 0.0066). At T2, the antibody titer significantly increased from T1 (median 2500; IQR: 2500–2500), and it was not different from T0 (respectively p < 0.0001, p = 0.66). Cellular-mediated response significantly declined from T0 to T1 (p = 0.003) but not from T0 to T2 (p = 0.3). No differences were found between patients and controls at T0 as regards both humoral and cellular responses (p = 1.0 and p = 0.09 for humoral and cellular responses, respectively). Conclusion: The third dose of mRNA COVID-19 vaccine can restore both humoral and cellular immune response in SLE patients on Belimumab

Production and evaluation of leukocyte- and thrombocyte-rich fibrin membranes in birds

The aim of this study was the preparation and histological evaluation of Leukocyte- and Thrombocyte-Rich Fibrin (L-TRF) membranes obtained from the blood of four bird species. Forty adult healthy birds were divided into four groups of equal size: G1 – macaws, G2 – domestic chickens, G3 – parrots, G4 – toco toucans. A total of 0.5 mL of blood was collected from each bird, put into a glass tube without anticoagulant and centrifuged at 3000 rpm for 10 min. L-TRF membranes produced after compression of the clot were processed for histological analysis. The ratio of thrombocytes/area was not significantly different among Groups G2, G3 and G4, but a significant difference was found between Groups G1 and G2 with the highest thrombocyte concentration/area in G1. The groups did not differ statistically in the number of leukocytes/area. The fibrin-to-cells ratio did not vary statistically among Groups G1, G2 and G3, but this ratio was significantly higher in Group G4 than in the other groups. The thrombocyte-to-leukocyte ratio was the highest in Group G1, but it did not differ among Groups G2, G3 and G4. In conclusion, the centrifugation protocol allowed the production of L-TRF membranes in the four bird species studied. Histologically, cell ratios were analogous in domestic chickens and parrots, and macaws had the highest ratio of thrombocytes

Analysis of Temporal Expressions Annotated in Clinical Notes

Annotating the semantics of time in language is important. THYME is a recent temporal annotation standard for clinical texts. This paper examines temporal expressions in the first major corpus released under this standard. It investigates where the standard has proven difficult to apply, and gives a series of recommendations regarding temporal annotation in this important domain

Detection of sputum cofilin-1 as indicator of malignancy

Cofilin-1 (CFL1), a small protein of 18 kDa, has been studied as a biomarker due to its involvement in tumor cell migration and invasion. Our aim was to evaluate CFL1 as an indicator of malignancy and aggressiveness in sputum samples. CFL1 was analyzed by ELISA immunoassay in the sputum of 73 lung cancer patients, 13 cancer-free patients, and 6 healthy volunteers. Statistical analyses included ANOVA, ROC curves, Spearman correlation, and logistic regression. Sputum CFL1 levels were increased in cancer patients compared to cancer-free patients and volunteers (P1.475 pg/mL showed augmented chance of death, suggesting lung cancer aggressiveness. CFL1 presented diagnostic value in detecting lung cancer and was associated to tumor aggressiveness.São Paulo Research Foundation (FAPESP No. 2010/11005-5) and the National Council for Scientific and Technological Development (CNPq No. 471939/2010-2 and No. 483005/2012-info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

What can managers learn online? Investigating possibilities for active understanding in the online MBA classroom

Online MBAs have become integral to business schools’ portfolios and the number of MBA students opting for an online version looks set to grow. In the wake of well documented critiques of traditional MBA formats, this expansion prompted us to examine the potential for critically reflexive learning ideals in asynchronous MBA learning environments. Building the Community of Inquiry (CoI) model we elaborate elements of Bakhtin and Shotter’s dialogism to develop the notion of ‘active understanding’ as a means to study an online MBA classroom. We present two illustrative episodes to show how aspects of active understanding may unfold and we point to the role of infrastructure, curriculum and instructor interventions in developing more genuine dialogical exchanges. Our findings suggest that online MBA course designers can learn from CoI approaches to which we add that critically reflexive learning is situationally sensitive; requiring the capacity to create and recognize nuance and difference in the written communication; making the other the focus of learning. We conclude with implications for pedagogy and technology infrastructure