Type of pollination and indices of fruit set of some Georgian grapevine varieties

Pollen characteristics (length, width, diameter, number of pores and stain ability), type of pollination, fruit set and number of seeds per berry of the eight Georgian autochthonous grapevine varieties Rkatsiteli, Saperavi, Gorula, Gorula no. 21, Tsulukidzis Tetra, Alexandrouli, Mujuretuli and Orbeluri Ojaleshi have been investigated. It is concluded that for fruitset of the tested hermaphrodite grapevine varieties, self-pollination plays a predominant role, but in addition crosspollination is necessary for their high fruitset.

Ampelographic study of Vitis vinifera L. varieties maintained in Shida Kartli (Georgia)

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Evaluation of eno-carpological traits in Georgian grapevine varieties from Skra germplasm repository

Eno-carpological traits were evaluated in twenty one colored and fifteen white Georgian autochthonous grapevine varieties grown in the Skra Germplasm Repository, during two years (2012 and 2013). Mostly of the studied accessions were minor varieties originated from various Georgian provinces. The spectrophotometric method proposed in the framework of the COST action FA1003 has been adopted for total anthocyanin and polyphenol analyses in skin and seed extracts. The obtained results showed that the content of phenolic compounds as well as other eno-carpological parameters varies greatly according to the variety. In general, the total phenol contents ranged from 546.7 to 2818.4 mg∙kg-1 of grape, and anthocyanins varied from 49.5 to 2826.6 mg∙kg-1 of grape. The highest content of total phenolics and total anthocyanins was found in the variety 'Saperavi Budeshuriseburi'

Genomic analyses of Mycobacterium tuberculosis from human lung resections reveal a high frequency of polyclonal infections

Polyclonal infections occur when at least two unrelated strains of the same pathogen are detected in an individual. This has been linked to worse clinical outcomes in tuberculosis, as undetected strains with different antibiotic resistance profiles can lead to treatment failure. Here, we examine the amount of polyclonal infections in sputum and surgical resections from patients with tuberculosis in the country of Georgia. For this purpose, we sequence and analyse the genomes of Mycobacterium tuberculosis isolated from the samples, acquired through an observational clinical study (NCT02715271). Access to the lung enhanced the detection of multiple strains (40% of surgery cases) as opposed to just using a sputum sample (0-5% in the general population). We show that polyclonal infections often involve genetically distant strains and can be associated with reversion of the patient's drug susceptibility profile over time. In addition, we find different patterns of genetic diversity within lesions and across patients, including mutational signatures known to be associated with oxidative damage; this suggests that reactive oxygen species may be acting as a selective pressure in the granuloma environment. Our results support the idea that the magnitude of polyclonal infections in high-burden tuberculosis settings is underestimated when only testing sputum samples

Characteristics and Treatment Outcomes of Patients with MDR and XDR Tuberculosis in a TB Referral Hospital in Beijing: A 13-Year Experience

Background: Information on treatment outcomes among hospitalized patients with multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extensively drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB) are scarce in China. Methodology/Principal Findings: We conducted this retrospective study to analyze the characteristics and treatment outcomes in MDR- and XDR-TB patients in the 309 Hospital in Beijing, China during 1996-2009. Socio-demographic and clinical data were retrieved from medical records and analyzed. Logistic regression analysis was performed to identify risk factors associated with poor treatment outcomes and Cox proportional hazards regression model was further used to determine risk factors associated with death in TB patients. Among the 3,551 non-repetitive hospitalized TB patients who had drug susceptibility testing (DST) results, 716 (20.2%) had MDR-TB and 51 (1.4%) had XDR-TB. A total of 3,270 patients who had medical records available were used for further analyses. Treatment success rates (cured and treatment completed) were 90.9%, 53.4% and 29.2% for patients with non-MDR-TB, patients with MDR-TB excluding XDR-TB and patients with XDR-TB, respectively. Independent risk factors associated with poor treatment outcomes in MDR-TB patients included being a migrant (adjusted OR = 1.77), smear-positivity at treatment onset (adjusted OR = 1.94) and not receiving 3 or more potentially effective drugs (adjusted OR = 3.87). Independent risk factors associated with poor treatment outcomes in XDR-TB patients were smear-positivity at treatment onset (adjusted OR = 10.42) and not receiving 3 or more potentially effective drugs (adjusted OR = 14.90). The independent risk factors associated with death in TB patients were having chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (adjusted HR = 5.25) and having hypertension (adjusted HR = 4.31). Conclusions/Significance: While overall satisfactory treatment success for non-MDR-TB patients was achieved, more intensive efforts should be made to better manage MDR- and XDR-TB cases in order to improve their treatment outcomes and to minimize further emergence of so-called totally drug-resistant TB cases. © 2011 Liu et al.published_or_final_versio

Predictors of Multidrug- and Extensively Drug-Resistant Tuberculosis in a High HIV Prevalence Community

BACKGROUND: Multidrug-resistant (MDR) and extensively drug-resistant (XDR) tuberculosis (TB) have emerged in high-HIV-prevalence settings, which generally lack laboratory infrastructure for diagnosing TB drug resistance. Even where available, inherent delays with current drug-susceptibility testing (DST) methods result in clinical deterioration and ongoing transmission of MDR and XDR-TB. Identifying clinical predictors of drug resistance may aid in risk stratification for earlier treatment and infection control. METHODS: We performed a retrospective case-control study of patients with MDR (cases), XDR (cases) and drug-susceptible (controls) TB in a high-HIV-prevalence setting in South Africa to identify clinical and demographic risk factors for drug-resistant TB. Controls were selected in a 1:1:1 ratio and were not matched. We calculated odds ratios (OR) and performed multivariate logistic regression to identify independent predictors. RESULTS: We enrolled 116, 123 and 139 patients with drug-susceptible, MDR, and XDR-TB. More than 85% in all three patient groups were HIV-infected. In multivariate analysis, MDR and XDR-TB were each strongly associated with history of TB treatment failure (adjusted OR 51.7 [CI 6.6-403.7] and 51.5 [CI 6.4-414.0], respectively) and hospitalization more than 14 days (aOR 3.8 [CI 1.1-13.3] and 6.1 [CI 1.8-21.0], respectively). Prior default from TB treatment was not a risk factor for MDR or XDR-TB. HIV was a risk factor for XDR (aOR 8.2, CI 1.3-52.6), but not MDR-TB. Comparing XDR with MDR-TB patients, the only significant risk factor for XDR-TB was HIV infection (aOR 5.3, CI 1.0-27.6). DISCUSSION: In this high-HIV-prevalence and drug-resistant TB setting, a history of prolonged hospitalization and previous TB treatment failure were strong risk factors for both MDR and XDR-TB. Given high mortality observed among patients with HIV and drug-resistant TB co-infection, previously treated and hospitalized patients should be considered for empiric second-line TB therapy while awaiting confirmatory DST results in settings with a high-burden of MDR/XDR-TB

Evaluation of eno-carpological traits in Georgian grapevine varieties from Skra germplasm repository

Eno-carpological traits were evaluated in twenty one colored and fifteen white Georgian autochthonous grapevine varieties grown in the Skra Germplasm Repository, during two years (2012 and 2013). Mostly of the studied accessions were minor varieties originated from various Georgian provinces. The spectrophotometric method proposed in the framework of the COST action FA1003 has been adopted for total anthocyanin and polyphenol analyses in skin and seed extracts. The obtained results showed that the content of phenolic compounds as well as other eno-carpological parameters varies greatly according to the variety. In general, the total phenol contents ranged from 546.7 to 2818.4 mg 19kg-1 of grape, and anthocyanins varied from 49.5 to 2826.6 mg 19kg-1 of grape. The highest content of total phenolics and total anthocyanins was found in the variety 'Saperavi Budeshuriseburi'