Development and functioning of the embryo sac in four triploid banana cultivars

O objetivo deste estudo foi investigar as causas da esterilidade em um novo conjunto de cultivares triploides de banana (Musa spp.) e avaliar as possibilidades de obter progênies por meio de polinização manual. Os estados de desenvolvimento do gametófito feminino foram histologicamente observados em óvulos de quatro cultivares de banana triploide. As amostras foram colhidas no dia da abertura das flores e da polinização e três dias depois. Os sacos embrionários morfologicamente maduros mostraram-se raros em dois clones do subgrupo 'Cavendish' e em 'Prata Anã'. Em 'Mysore', ocorreu a uma frequência variável e baixa. Em 'Terrinha', foi extremamente comum. Nos dois últimos casos, o processo de maturação dos sacos embrionários claramente continuava entre o dia da amostragem na floração e os três dias depois. Nenhum tubo polínico foi identificado em flores polinizadas nos integumentos de qualquer óvulo nos explantes mais velhos. Diferentes proporções de sacos embrionários são observadas entre os genótipos de bananas triploides. A presença de sacos embrionários não indica capacidade funcional. Outras causas de infertilidade em bananas cultivadas podem ser em razão de algum evento imediatamente antes ou depois da fertilização, como ausência de cariogamia ou aborto das sementes.The objective of this work was to investigate the causes of sterility in a new set of triploid banana (Musa spp.) cultivars and to assess the chances of obtaining some progenies by manual cross-pollination. The developmental stages of female gametophyte were histologically recorded in ovules of four distinct triploid banana cultivars. Samples were taken on the day of flower opening and pollination and three days later. Morphologically mature embryo sacs were very rare in the two clones of the 'Cavendish' subgroup and in 'Prata Anã'. In 'Mysore', it occurred at a variable and low frequency. In 'Terrinha', it was extremely common. In the last two cases, the embryo sac maturation process was clearly continuing between the sampling days of flower opening and three days later. No pollen tube was positively identified in pollinated flowers within the integuments of any ovule of the older explants. Different proportions of mature embryo sacs are observed among the studied triploid genotypes of banana. The presence of mature embryo sacs is not an indication of functional capacity. Other causes of infertility in cultivated bananas can be due to some event immediately before or after fertilization, for instance, pollination tube growth failure or seed abortion

Development and functioning of the embryo sac in four triploid banana cultivars

Abstract The objective of this work was to investigate the causes of sterility in a new set of triploid banana (Musa spp.) cultivars and to assess the chances of obtaining some progenies by manual cross-pollination. The developmental stages of female gametophyte were histologically recorded in ovules of four distinct triploid banana cultivars. Samples were taken on the day of flower opening and pollination and three days later. Morphologically mature embryo sacs were very rare in the two clones of the 'Cavendish' subgroup and in 'Prata Anã'. In 'Mysore', it occurred at a variable and low frequency. In 'Terrinha', it was extremely common. In the last two cases, the embryo sac maturation process was clearly continuing between the sampling days of flower opening and three days later. No pollen tube was positively identified in pollinated flowers within the integuments of any ovule of the older explants. Different proportions of mature embryo sacs are observed among the studied triploid genotypes of banana. The presence of mature embryo sacs is not an indication of functional capacity. Other causes of infertility in cultivated bananas can be due to some event immediately before or after fertilization, for instance, pollination tube growth failure or seed abortion

Abjection and alterity in the imagining of transgender in physical education and sport: a pedagogical approach in higher education

In physical education (PE) and sports there is little theoretical and empirical knowledge about transgender people, and particularly, on how they are and can be imagined within this context. In this paper, we present and analyze a pedagogical activity based on the reading and discussion of a fictional representation of a transgender person within a group of undergraduate students of Sport Sciences. Our theoretical frame situates abjection and alterity as opposing concepts on a continuum. Results show several ways in which a transgender person is imagined by students, as well as constraints and possibilities for the pedagogical proposal to promote moral imagining of transgender. Students situated in abjection justify their rejection of transgender persons, bringing up compassion (such as pity), genitalization, symbolic violence and stigmatization of transgender persons. The realm between abjection and alterity is characterized by tolerance of different normalities, as well as linguistic constraints hindering the acceptance of transgender people. In alterity, students acknowledge their limited ability to totally imagine what it is like to be transgender, and also, their will to encounter transgender persons face-to-face. Although results of this experience should not be interpreted in a prescriptive way, they show different ways to imagine transgender people in the domain of PE and sports, as well as the importance of considering the ethics of alterity as a means to advance in the moral imagining of transgender persons and, in general, of the distant Other

Cost-effectiveness analysis of pemetrexed versus docetaxel in the second-line treatment of non-small cell lung cancer in Spain: results for the non-squamous histology population

BackgroundThe objective of this study was to conduct a cost-effectiveness evaluation of pemetrexed compared to docetaxel in the treatment of advanced or metastatic non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) for patients with predominantly non-squamous histology in the Spanish healthcare setting.MethodsA Markov model was designed consisting of stable, responsive, progressive disease and death states. Patients could also experience adverse events as long as they received chemotherapy. Clinical inputs were based on an analysis of a phase III clinical trial that identified a statistically significant improvement in overall survival for non-squamous patients treated with pemetrexed compared with docetaxel. Costs were collected from the Spanish healthcare perspective.ResultsOutcomes of the model included total costs, total quality-adjusted life years (QALYs), total life years gained (LYG) and total progression-free survival (PFS). Mean survival was 1.03 years for the pemetrexed arm and 0.89 years in the docetaxel arm; QALYs were 0.52 compared to 0.42. Per-patient lifetime costs were € 34677 and € 32343, respectively. Incremental cost-effectiveness ratios were € 23967 per QALY gained and € 17225 per LYG.ConclusionsPemetrexed as a second-line treatment option for patients with a predominantly non-squamous histology in NSCLC is a cost-effective alternative to docetaxel according to the € 30000/QALY threshold commonly accepted in Spain

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Performance of CMS muon reconstruction in pp collision events at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

The performance of muon reconstruction, identification, and triggering in CMS has been studied using 40 inverse picobarns of data collected in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV at the LHC in 2010. A few benchmark sets of selection criteria covering a wide range of physics analysis needs have been examined. For all considered selections, the efficiency to reconstruct and identify a muon with a transverse momentum pT larger than a few GeV is above 95% over the whole region of pseudorapidity covered by the CMS muon system, abs(eta) < 2.4, while the probability to misidentify a hadron as a muon is well below 1%. The efficiency to trigger on single muons with pT above a few GeV is higher than 90% over the full eta range, and typically substantially better. The overall momentum scale is measured to a precision of 0.2% with muons from Z decays. The transverse momentum resolution varies from 1% to 6% depending on pseudorapidity for muons with pT below 100 GeV and, using cosmic rays, it is shown to be better than 10% in the central region up to pT = 1 TeV. Observed distributions of all quantities are well reproduced by the Monte Carlo simulation.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles at high transverse momenta in PbPb collisions at sqrt(s[NN]) = 2.76 TeV

The azimuthal anisotropy of charged particles in PbPb collisions at nucleon-nucleon center-of-mass energy of 2.76 TeV is measured with the CMS detector at the LHC over an extended transverse momentum (pt) range up to approximately 60 GeV. The data cover both the low-pt region associated with hydrodynamic flow phenomena and the high-pt region where the anisotropies may reflect the path-length dependence of parton energy loss in the created medium. The anisotropy parameter (v2) of the particles is extracted by correlating charged tracks with respect to the event-plane reconstructed by using the energy deposited in forward-angle calorimeters. For the six bins of collision centrality studied, spanning the range of 0-60% most-central events, the observed v2 values are found to first increase with pt, reaching a maximum around pt = 3 GeV, and then to gradually decrease to almost zero, with the decline persisting up to at least pt = 40 GeV over the full centrality range measured.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu channel in pp collisions at sqrt(s) = 7 TeV

A search for the standard model Higgs boson in the H to ZZ to 2l 2nu decay channel, where l = e or mu, in pp collisions at a center-of-mass energy of 7 TeV is presented. The data were collected at the LHC, with the CMS detector, and correspond to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 inverse femtobarns. No significant excess is observed above the background expectation, and upper limits are set on the Higgs boson production cross section. The presence of the standard model Higgs boson with a mass in the 270-440 GeV range is excluded at 95% confidence level.Comment: Submitted to JHE

Combined search for the quarks of a sequential fourth generation

Results are presented from a search for a fourth generation of quarks produced singly or in pairs in a data set corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 5 inverse femtobarns recorded by the CMS experiment at the LHC in 2011. A novel strategy has been developed for a combined search for quarks of the up and down type in decay channels with at least one isolated muon or electron. Limits on the mass of the fourth-generation quarks and the relevant Cabibbo-Kobayashi-Maskawa matrix elements are derived in the context of a simple extension of the standard model with a sequential fourth generation of fermions. The existence of mass-degenerate fourth-generation quarks with masses below 685 GeV is excluded at 95% confidence level for minimal off-diagonal mixing between the third- and the fourth-generation quarks. With a mass difference of 25 GeV between the quark masses, the obtained limit on the masses of the fourth-generation quarks shifts by about +/- 20 GeV. These results significantly reduce the allowed parameter space for a fourth generation of fermions.Comment: Replaced with published version. Added journal reference and DO

Measurement of the Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section in pp collisions at 7 TeV

The production of b jets in association with a Z/gamma* boson is studied using proton-proton collisions delivered by the LHC at a centre-of-mass energy of 7 TeV and recorded by the CMS detector. The inclusive cross section for Z/gamma* + b-jet production is measured in a sample corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 2.2 inverse femtobarns. The Z/gamma* + b-jet cross section with Z/gamma* to ll (where ll = ee or mu mu) for events with the invariant mass 60 < M(ll) < 120 GeV, at least one b jet at the hadron level with pT > 25 GeV and abs(eta) < 2.1, and a separation between the leptons and the jets of Delta R > 0.5 is found to be 5.84 +/- 0.08 (stat.) +/- 0.72 (syst.) +(0.25)/-(0.55) (theory) pb. The kinematic properties of the events are also studied and found to be in agreement with the predictions made by the MadGraph event generator with the parton shower and the hadronisation performed by PYTHIA.Comment: Submitted to the Journal of High Energy Physic