Characterization of Cynara cardunculus L. flower from Alentejo as a coagulant agent for cheesemaking

This work was supported by the project ValBioTecCynara (ALT2003-0145- FEDER-000038) - Economic valorisation of Cardoon (Cynara cardunculus): study of natural variability and biotechnological applications), cofinanced by FEDER under the Alentejo 2020 Program.The cardoon (Cynara cardunculus L.) is a mandatory vegetable coagulant for certain Protected Designation of Origin Portuguese cheeses. It grows wild in Portugal and is used without any type of control regarding flower picking or extract preparation, representing some uncertainty in cheese manufacture. The variability in technological properties, in the context of traditional cheese manufacture, of cardoon flower ecotypes from the Alentejo region was evaluated, including milk clotting and proteolytic activities, coagulation properties and potential cheesemaking yield of flower extracts. Multivariate statistics highlighted the variability of flower properties for cheesemaking, but allowed the aggregation of the ecotypes into five groups under the major influence of milk clotting activity and effect on gel firmness and micellar aggregation rate, followed by proteolytic activity. These differences may have an impact on cheese properties and therefore can allow the selection of cardoon flower for the manufacture of different types of cheese.publishersversionpublishe

Programa de melhoramento genético da manga e a nova cultivar BRS Ômega para o cerrado brasileiro.

ABSTRACT: Mango (Mangifera indica L.) is one of the most important tropical fruits cultivated in Brazil with area higer than 70 thousand hectares, production of 970 thousand tones. However, it was exported only 13,4% of this production, which is equivalent to 130 thousand tones, in 2003. Mango production and exportation are mostly developed at tropical Semi-arid condition in Northeast Brazil, which concentrated 80% on a cultivar only, Tommy Atkins. This is very dangerous though if a severe disease occrus at this specific genotype, mango production may have a strong loss and, or the whole Brazilian mango area might be destroyed. This cultivar has some negative characteristics, such as high susceptibility to mango malformation and pulp breakdown as well as low fruit quality in terms of taste. The mango breeding program of Embrapa Cerrados has the objective to develop superior cultivars to Tommy Atkins on productivity, resistance to diseases, free of physiological disorders and better fruit taste. Roxa Embrapa 141, Alfa Embrapa 142, Beta and Lita were cultivars released between 1998 and 2002, which have excellent characteristics not only for fresh consumption, but also for processing industry. Recently, seven new mango hybrid selections were evaluated at Cerrados conditions and are also being evaluated on other Brazilian ecosystems, such as Semi-arid in Northeast Brazil, in order to evaluate the response of genotype to the new environment. The cultivar Ômega (hybrid selection CPAC 23/86) has shown a mean yield of 345 fruits/plant. this new cultivar has presented a red-purplish to red-yeloowish fruit, very sweet and firm pulp. In general, this new cultivar showed lower disease incidence and pulp breakdown, but better pulp quality than the two commercial mango cultivars Tommy Atkins and Heidi. This is the first report on the new mango cultivar BRS Ômega (Selection CPAC 23/86) developed by Mango Breeding Program of Embrapa Cerrados.bitstream/CPAC-2009/26775/1/comtec_117.pd

LSST: from Science Drivers to Reference Design and Anticipated Data Products

(Abridged) We describe here the most ambitious survey currently planned in the optical, the Large Synoptic Survey Telescope (LSST). A vast array of science will be enabled by a single wide-deep-fast sky survey, and LSST will have unique survey capability in the faint time domain. The LSST design is driven by four main science themes: probing dark energy and dark matter, taking an inventory of the Solar System, exploring the transient optical sky, and mapping the Milky Way. LSST will be a wide-field ground-based system sited at Cerro Pach\'{o}n in northern Chile. The telescope will have an 8.4 m (6.5 m effective) primary mirror, a 9.6 deg$^2$ field of view, and a 3.2 Gigapixel camera. The standard observing sequence will consist of pairs of 15-second exposures in a given field, with two such visits in each pointing in a given night. With these repeats, the LSST system is capable of imaging about 10,000 square degrees of sky in a single filter in three nights. The typical 5$\sigma$ point-source depth in a single visit in $r$ will be $\sim 24.5$ (AB). The project is in the construction phase and will begin regular survey operations by 2022. The survey area will be contained within 30,000 deg$^2$ with $\delta<+34.5^\circ$, and will be imaged multiple times in six bands, $ugrizy$, covering the wavelength range 320--1050 nm. About 90\% of the observing time will be devoted to a deep-wide-fast survey mode which will uniformly observe a 18,000 deg$^2$ region about 800 times (summed over all six bands) during the anticipated 10 years of operations, and yield a coadded map to $r\sim27.5$. The remaining 10\% of the observing time will be allocated to projects such as a Very Deep and Fast time domain survey. The goal is to make LSST data products, including a relational database of about 32 trillion observations of 40 billion objects, available to the public and scientists around the world.Comment: 57 pages, 32 color figures, version with high-resolution figures available from https://www.lsst.org/overvie

Patterns and rates of exonic de novo mutations in autism spectrum disorders

Autism spectrum disorders (ASD) are believed to have genetic and environmental origins, yet in only a modest fraction of individuals can specific causes be identified1,2. To identify further genetic risk factors, we assess the role of de novo mutations in ASD by sequencing the exomes of ASD cases and their parents (n= 175 trios). Fewer than half of the cases (46.3%) carry a missense or nonsense de novo variant and the overall rate of mutation is only modestly higher than the expected rate. In contrast, there is significantly enriched connectivity among the proteins encoded by genes harboring de novo missense or nonsense mutations, and excess connectivity to prior ASD genes of major effect, suggesting a subset of observed events are relevant to ASD risk. The small increase in rate of de novo events, when taken together with the connections among the proteins themselves and to ASD, are consistent with an important but limited role for de novo point mutations, similar to that documented for de novo copy number variants. Genetic models incorporating these data suggest that the majority of observed de novo events are unconnected to ASD, those that do confer risk are distributed across many genes and are incompletely penetrant (i.e., not necessarily causal). Our results support polygenic models in which spontaneous coding mutations in any of a large number of genes increases risk by 5 to 20-fold. Despite the challenge posed by such models, results from de novo events and a large parallel case-control study provide strong evidence in favor of CHD8 and KATNAL2 as genuine autism risk factors

52 Genetic Loci Influencing Myocardial Mass.

BACKGROUND: Myocardial mass is a key determinant of cardiac muscle function and hypertrophy. Myocardial depolarization leading to cardiac muscle contraction is reflected by the amplitude and duration of the QRS complex on the electrocardiogram (ECG). Abnormal QRS amplitude or duration reflect changes in myocardial mass and conduction, and are associated with increased risk of heart failure and death. OBJECTIVES: This meta-analysis sought to gain insights into the genetic determinants of myocardial mass. METHODS: We carried out a genome-wide association meta-analysis of 4 QRS traits in up to 73,518 individuals of European ancestry, followed by extensive biological and functional assessment. RESULTS: We identified 52 genomic loci, of which 32 are novel, that are reliably associated with 1 or more QRS phenotypes at p < 1 × 10(-8). These loci are enriched in regions of open chromatin, histone modifications, and transcription factor binding, suggesting that they represent regions of the genome that are actively transcribed in the human heart. Pathway analyses provided evidence that these loci play a role in cardiac hypertrophy. We further highlighted 67 candidate genes at the identified loci that are preferentially expressed in cardiac tissue and associated with cardiac abnormalities in Drosophila melanogaster and Mus musculus. We validated the regulatory function of a novel variant in the SCN5A/SCN10A locus in vitro and in vivo. CONCLUSIONS: Taken together, our findings provide new insights into genes and biological pathways controlling myocardial mass and may help identify novel therapeutic targets

Why Are Outcomes Different for Registry Patients Enrolled Prospectively and Retrospectively? Insights from the Global Anticoagulant Registry in the FIELD-Atrial Fibrillation (GARFIELD-AF).

Background: Retrospective and prospective observational studies are designed to reflect real-world evidence on clinical practice, but can yield conflicting results. The GARFIELD-AF Registry includes both methods of enrolment and allows analysis of differences in patient characteristics and outcomes that may result. Methods and Results: Patients with atrial fibrillation (AF) and ≥1 risk factor for stroke at diagnosis of AF were recruited either retrospectively (n = 5069) or prospectively (n = 5501) from 19 countries and then followed prospectively. The retrospectively enrolled cohort comprised patients with established AF (for a least 6, and up to 24 months before enrolment), who were identified retrospectively (and baseline and partial follow-up data were collected from the emedical records) and then followed prospectively between 0-18 months (such that the total time of follow-up was 24 months; data collection Dec-2009 and Oct-2010). In the prospectively enrolled cohort, patients with newly diagnosed AF (≤6 weeks after diagnosis) were recruited between Mar-2010 and Oct-2011 and were followed for 24 months after enrolment. Differences between the cohorts were observed in clinical characteristics, including type of AF, stroke prevention strategies, and event rates. More patients in the retrospectively identified cohort received vitamin K antagonists (62.1% vs. 53.2%) and fewer received non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (1.8% vs . 4.2%). All-cause mortality rates per 100 person-years during the prospective follow-up (starting the first study visit up to 1 year) were significantly lower in the retrospective than prospectively identified cohort (3.04 [95% CI 2.51 to 3.67] vs . 4.05 [95% CI 3.53 to 4.63]; p = 0.016). Conclusions: Interpretations of data from registries that aim to evaluate the characteristics and outcomes of patients with AF must take account of differences in registry design and the impact of recall bias and survivorship bias that is incurred with retrospective enrolment. Clinical Trial Registration: - URL: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov . Unique identifier for GARFIELD-AF (NCT01090362)