53 research outputs found

    A quantitative multivariate methodology for unsupervised class identification in pistachio (Pistacia vera L.) plant leaves size

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    Aim of study: Genetic diversity of pistachio, can be evaluated by using different descriptors, as adopted in international certification systems. Mainly the descriptors are morphological traits as leaf, which represents an important organ for its sensibility to growth conditions during the expansion phase. This study adopted a rapid and quantitative non-hierarchic clustering classification (k-means), to extract size classes basing on the contemporary combination of different morphological traits (i.e., leaf stalk length, terminal leaf length, terminal leaf width and terminal leaf ratio) of a varietal collection composed by 21 pistachio cultivars.Area of study: Worldwide.Material and methods: The unsupervised non-hierarchic clustering technique was adopted to the entire samples of pistachio leaves from k=2 to k=15 for both four morphological variables (i.e., leaf stalk length, terminal leaf length, terminal leaf width and terminal leaf ratio) and three morphological variables (i.e., terminal leaf length, terminal leaf width and terminal leaf ratio).Main results: A classification model only on the three morphological variables (for results of statistical analysis in which the groups resulted to be more separated and different for all the variables), with k= 5 (five groups), was constructed using a non-linear artificial neural network approach. The percentages of bad prediction in both training and testing resulted equal to 0%. The “terminal leaf length” returned the higher impact (44.89%).Research highlights: The contemporary combination of different morphological leaf traits, allowed to create an automatic classification of size classes of great importance for cultivar identification and comparison

    Brassinosteroids interact with nitric oxide in the response of rice root systems to arsenic stress

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    Brassinosteroids (BRs), an emerging class of phytohormones, affect numerous plant physiological and metabolic processes and can improve plant defense systems to counteract metalloid phytotoxicity. Nitric oxide (NO), a reactive nitrogen species (RNS), behaves as a signalling molecule activating plant cellular responses to various environmental conditions. Brassinosteroids induce NO synthesis through nitrate reductase (NR) and NO synthase (NOS) activities. Arsenite and arsenate, inorganic forms of the metalloid arsenic (As), cause both soil pollution and many disorders in numerous plants, including important crops like rice, due to the oxidative stress generated by the imbalance between RNS and reactive oxygen species (ROS). Rice is very susceptible to As toxicity because both As availability and solubility are high in flooded paddy fields in many cultivated areas. The research aims to investigate the effects of BRs on the rice root systems exposed to 10-4 M Na2HAsO40.7 H2O [As(V)] or 2.5 × 10-5 M NaAsO2 [As(III)], highlighting the induced cyto-histological events and dissecting the NO role in the root response. A specific concentration (10-7 M) of 24-epibrassinolide (24-eBL), an exogenously applied BR, increases lateral root (LR) formation of more than 50% in the presence of As(III) or As(V). In addition, eBL attenuates the thickening of the cell walls induced by As in the outermost root cortical layers of LRs and in the adventitious roots (ARs) by reducing of ⁓ 50% the lignin deposition, while it restores the As(v)-altered NO levels by increasing OsNOS1 expression and the cellular NO distribution

    Disorder of sex development: a rare case of a boy with an XY karyotype and Magnetic Resonance Imaging findings of hermaphroditism

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    Disorders of sexual differentiation are rare congenital conditions in which the chromosomal, anatomic or gonadal sex development is atypical. In some of these patients, chromosomal sex is inconsistent with phenotypic sex; in other cases, the phenotype is not classifiable as either male or female, resulting in a condition known as ambiguous genitalia. These are very complex cases in which diagnostic certainty is not always possible. A multidisciplinary team including geneticists, pediatricians, radiologists is certainly needed to approach these patients. We present the case of an 18-year-old boy with an XY karyotype, ambiguous genitalia, uterus and blind-ending vaginal pouch. The patient had not been previously diagnosed with a disorder of sex development. The patient underwent a panel of genetic analyses and diagnostic imaging investigations. Magnetic resonance imaging was decisive for the identification of the internal genital organs, especially the uterus. At the end of investigations, the patient was diagnosed with 46,XY disorder of sex development. Our purpose is to underline the role of imaging in the diagnosis and management of congenital disorders of sex differentiation

    Contenitori da trasporto dell'area siro-palestinese

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    Francesca De Caprariis, Cecilia Fiorini et Domenico Palombi, Contenitori da trasporto dell'area siro-palestinese, p. 305-320. Si segnala la presenza a Roma, in contesti di età flavia, relativi alla costruzione del foro Transitorio, di contenitori di probabile provenienza siro-palestinese assimilabili alle più tarde anfore note come Late Roman 4 e Late Roman 5-6, diffuse in occidente solo a partire dalla fine del IV sec. d.C. Le altre attestazioni finora note (nella stessa Roma, in Gran Bretagna, in Francia) sembrano presupporre un esportazione, anche se limitata, di tali contenitori già a partire dal I sec. d.C.De Caprariis Francesca, Fiorini Cecilia, Palombi Domenico. Contenitori da trasporto dell'area siro-palestinese. In: Mélanges de l'École française de Rome. Antiquité, tome 100, n°1. 1988. pp. 305-320

    Endothelin induces functional hypertrophy of peritubular smooth muscle cells

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    When chronically stimulated with agonists of contraction, smooth muscle cells (SMCs) undergo cell hypertrophy, a process defined as increase in size and potentiation of the contractile phenotype in the absence of proliferation. Hypertrophic response has long been associated to a number of pathologies of the cardiovascular and respiratory systems. We have investigated the phenotypic and functional response of SMCs to long-term treatment with endothelin. Our model was primary cultures of peritubular smooth muscle cells (PSMC) a testicular cell type target of locally produced endothelin and characterized by an unusual phenotypic stability when cultured in simple medium in complete absence of serum. We report the following responses of PSMC to 4-day exposure to ET-1: (i) increased protein synthesis without induction of cell proliferation; (ii) increase in cell size (evaluated by means of flow cytometry) and increased expression of SM-alpha-actin, desmin, caldesmon and calponin, markers of the contractile phenotype. In experiments of selective stimulation of either ETA or ETB receptor subtypes, both proved to be involved in inducing the observed hypertrophic responses. The hypertrophic cells exhibit the ultrastructural features of differentiated SMCs and are capable of calcium mediated contractile response when acutely stimulated with ET-1 specifically through ETA and/or ETB receptors, as evaluated by calcium imaging and scanning electron microscopy. These observations demonstrate that engagement of ET receptors is capable of inducing potentiation of the contractile phenotype and functional hypertrophy of PSMC
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