A pantropical population genetics study on cashew crop: uncovering genetic diversity and agrobiodiversity hotspots

XIX ENBE Annual Meeting of the Portuguese Association for Evolutionary Biology, 18-19 December 2023, Lisboninfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Biocontrol of Chromolaena odorata in Timor Leste

Chromolaena odorata (L.) King and Robinson (Asteraceae) is a major weed in Timor Leste, affecting grazing lands and subsistence farms, reducing productivity and food security. It was the focus of a biocontrol project funded by the Australian Government from 2005-2009. During this period, the gall fly Cecidochares connexa (Macquart) (Diptera: Tephritidae) was introduced from Papua New Guinea and Indonesia, where it is widespread. From these initial releases, the gall fly established at seven sites and was subsequently re-distributed to most areas in Timor Leste where chromolaena was a problem. It established at most of the release sites that were revisited and caused a visible reduction in plant density and height. Overall, control of chromolaena by the gall fly in Timor Leste is limited by the severe dry season and the widespread use of fire in clearing lands for agriculture, both of which reduce the ability of gall fly populations to persist at damaging levels. Thus additional agents that can tolerate prolonged dry periods are required to increase the level of control of chromolaena

Inter- and intrafractional 4D dose accumulation for evaluating ΔNTCP robustness in lung cancer.

BACKGROUND AND PURPOSE Model-based selection of proton therapy patients relies on a predefined reduction in normal tissue complication probability (NTCP) with respect to photon therapy. The decision is necessarily made based on the treatment plan, but NTCP can be affected when the delivered treatment deviates from the plan due to delivery inaccuracies. Especially for proton therapy of lung cancer, this can be important because of tissue density changes and, with pencil beam scanning, the interplay effect between the proton beam and breathing motion. MATERIALS AND METHODS In this work, we verified whether the expected benefit of proton therapy is retained despite delivery inaccuracies by reconstructing the delivered treatment using log-file based dose reconstruction and inter- and intrafractional accumulation. Additionally, the importance of two uncertain parameters for treatment reconstruction, namely deformable image registration (DIR) algorithm and α/β ratio, was assessed. RESULTS The expected benefit or proton therapy was confirmed in 97% of all studied cases, despite regular differences up to 2 percent point (p.p.) NTCP between the delivered and planned treatments. The choice of DIR algorithm affected NTCP up to 1.6 p.p., an order of magnitude higher than the effect of α/β ratio. CONCLUSION For the patient population and treatment technique employed, the predicted clinical benefit for patients selected for proton therapy was confirmed for 97.0 % percent of all cases, although the NTCP based proton selection was subject to 2 p.p. variations due to delivery inaccuracies

Additive manufacturing of carbon black immunosensors based on covalent immobilization for portable electrochemical detection of SARS-CoV-2 spike S1 protein

The global pandemic of the COVID-19 disease has emphasized the need to develop clinical tests which are simple, fast and inexpensive. In this aspect, electrochemical biosensors are alternatives capable to attend such requirements and providing reliable results, highly required in clinical analysis. Associating the quality of electrochemical biosensors with additive manufacturing technology (3D printing) ensures the production of sensors on a large scale, at a reduced cost, and in an automated way. In this regard, the present work proposes the development of an additive-manufactured electrochemical immunosensor, based on the covalent immobilization of antibodies on electrodes obtained from lab-made conductive filaments, composed of carbon black and polylactic acid, for the detection of the spike S1 protein of the SARS-CoV-2 virus. Due to the readily available carboxylic groups on the surface of the additive-manufactured sensor, it was possible to produce an immunosensor without the need for modification steps with metallic particles. Therefore, the proposed immunosensor showed satisfactory results, with a linear range varying from 0.01 to 4.5 nmol L−1 and a detection limit of 2.7 pmol L−1, with a sensitivity of 7.606 µA nmol−1 L. The 3D-printed immunosensor was fully designed for in loco application and all results were obtained from portable equipment, making it a highly viable alternative to be applied as a point-of-care device

Eficiência de fungicidas para controle de manchas foliares do trigo: resultados dos Ensaios Cooperativos - Safras 2018 e 2019.

As manchas foliares em trigo são doenças de importância econômica global (Kremneva et al, 2020). O complexo de manchas foliares em trigo é causado por um grupo de fungos, sendo os principais patógenos Drechslera triticirepentis (mancha bronzeada ou mancha amarela), Bipolaris sorokiniana (mancha marrom) e Stagonospora nodorum (mancha da gluma). Esses patógenos possuem em comum a alta habilidade saprofítica, os sintomas formam lesões necróticas com halo clorótico e possuem capacidade de sobreviver nas sementes e restos culturais (Fernandes; Picinini, 1999).bitstream/item/224433/1/CircTec-64-o.pd