A survey of cherry leaf roll virus in intensively managed grafted english (Persian) walnut trees in Italy

Blackline disease, caused by Cherry leaf roll virus (CLRV), is considered a serious threat limiting English walnut (Juglans regia) production in Italy and the EU if walnut species other than J. regia e.g. \u2018Paradox\u2019 hybrid (J. regia 7 J. hindsii), French hybrid (J. regia 7 J. major or J. regia 7 J. nigra) or northern California black walnut (J. hindsii) are used as the rootstock. The virus transmissibility by pollen as well as latent infections can result in the spread of CLRVcontaminated propagative material, which is a major means of the virus dispersal by human activities. In 2014 and 2015 to ascertain the presence and the distribution of blackline symptoms in commercial orchards and to provide a description of the symptomatology, visual inspections and double antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (DAS-ELISA) analyses were carried out on 1,684 walnut trees in four different intensively managed grafted English walnut orchards in northeast Italy (Veneto Region). Trees with clear blackline symptoms at the scion-rootstock junction, often associated with general decline of the plant, were found only in one commercial orchard in northeast Italy on trees older than ten years of cvs. \u2018Tulare\u2019 and \u2018Chandler\u2019, grafted onto \u2018Paradox\u2019 rootstock. To our knowledge this is the first report of CLRV (blackline) decline and death in a commercial walnut orchard in Italy

Is Sofosbuvir Safer and More Effective Than Peginterferon for Treatment of Chronic Hepatitis C Virus Infection in Treatment-Naïve Patients?

Objective: The objective of this selective EBM review is to determine whether or not Sofosbuvir plus Ribavirin is safer and more effective than Peginterferon plus Ribavirin for treatment of chronic Hepatitis C Virus infection in treatment-naïve patients. Study Design: Systematic review of three English language primary studies, published in 2013. Data Sources: Three randomized control trials, two of which are open-label, activecontrolled and one that is double-blind, placebo-controlled, comparing Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin versus other chronic HCV modalities found via PubMed in peer-reviewed journals. Outcomes Measured: Safety was measured by self-reported adverse events, routine laboratory tests, physical exams, vital signs, and electrocardiography and graded using the Division of AIDS Table for Grading the Severity of Adult and Pediatric Adverse Events. Efficacy was determined by sustained virological response at 12 or 24 weeks post-treatment (SVR12 and SVR24, respectively), which is classified as a HCV RNA concentration below the limit of detection of 15 IU/mL or 25 IU/mL Results: Gane, et al compared the treatment effects of 400mg Sofosbuvir and Ribavirin (RBV) with that of Sofosbuvir plus RBV and Peginterferon (PEG) for 12 weeks in patients with chronic HCV. Analysis resulted in an equal incidence of SVR24, but with less adverse events in the experimental group. In Lawitz, Lalezari, et al, patients received 12 weeks with either 400mg Sofosbuvir, RBV, and PEG or placebo, PEG, and RBV. SVR24 was higher in the Sofosbuvir group, however more adverse events of fatigue were reported compared to the placebo group. Lawitz, Mangia, et al examined the difference in treatment with 12 weeks of 400mg Sofosbuvir and RBV versus 24 weeks of PEG and RBV. Statistical analysis showed an equal rate of SVR12 between the two groups, yet treatment with Sofosbuvir was safer. Conclusions: It can be deduced from these three RCTs that Sofosbuvir plus RBV is safer, yet, statistically, nearly equal in efficacy to treatment with PEG and RBV. Given that PEG is a weekly injection with many unfavorable side effects, it would be more beneficial to receive treatment with Sofosbuvir and RBV for treatment of chronic HCV infection

A Newtonian approach to the cosmological dark fluids

We review the hydrodynamics of the dark sector components in Cosmology. For this purpose we use the approach of Newtonian gravitational instability, and thereafter we add corrections to arrive to a full relativistic description. In Cosmology and Astrophysics, it is usual to decompose the dark sector into two species, dark matter and dark energy. We will use instead a unified approach by describing a single unified dark fluid with very simple assumptions, namely the dark fluid is barotropic and its sound speed vanishes.Comment: 13 pages, To be published in 'Selected Topics of Computational and Experimental Fluid Mechanics' Springer Book Series: Environmental Science and Engineering: Environmental Scienc

Red and blue shift in spherical and axisymmetric spacetimes and astrophysical constraints

We compute the red and blue shifts for astrophysical and cosmological sources. In particular, we consider low, intermediate and high gravitational energy domains. Thereby, we handle the binary system Earth-Mars as low energy landscape whereas white dwarfs and neutron stars as higher energy sources. To this end, we take into account a spherical Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime and an axially symmetric Zipoy-Voorhees metric to model all the aforementioned systems. Feasible outcomes come from modeling neutron stars and white dwarfs with the Zipoy-Voorhees metric, where quadrupole effects are relevant, and framing solar system objects using a Schwarzschild-de Sitter spacetime. In the first case, large delta parameters seem to be favorite, leading to acceptable bounds mainly for neutron stars. In the second case, we demonstrate incompatible red and blue shifts with respect to lunar and satellite laser ranging expectations, once the cosmological constant is taken to Planck satellite's best fit. To heal this issue, we suggest coarse-grained experimental setups and propose Phobos for working out satellite laser ranging in order to get more suitable red and blue shift intervals, possibly more compatible than current experimental bounds. Implications to cosmological tensions are also debated

Assessment of poststress left ventricular ejection fraction by gated SPECT: comparison with equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography

PURPOSE: We compared left ventricular (LV) ejection fraction obtained by gated SPECT with that obtained by equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography in a large cohort of patients. METHODS: Within 1 week, 514 subjects with suspected or known coronary artery disease underwent same-day stress-rest (99m)Tc-sestamibi gated SPECT and radionuclide angiocardiography. For both studies, data were acquired 30 min after completion of exercise and after 3 h rest. RESULTS: In the overall study population, a good correlation between ejection fraction measured by gated SPECT and by radionuclide angiocardiography was observed at rest (r=0.82, p<0.0001) and after stress (r=0.83, p<0.0001). In Bland-Altman analysis, the mean differences in ejection fraction (radionuclide angiocardiography minus gated SPECT) were -0.6% at rest and 1.7% after stress. In subjects with normal perfusion (n=362), a good correlation between ejection fraction measured by gated SPECT and by radionuclide angiocardiography was observed at rest (r=0.72, p<0.0001) and after stress (r=0.70, p<0.0001) and the mean differences in ejection fraction were -0.9% at rest and 1.4% after stress. Also in patients with abnormal perfusion (n=152), a good correlation between the two techniques was observed both at rest (r=0.89, p<0.0001) and after stress (r=0.90, p<0.0001) and the mean differences in ejection fraction were 0.1% at rest and 2.5% after stress. CONCLUSION: In a large study population, a good agreement was observed in the evaluation of LV ejection fraction between gated SPECT and radionuclide angiocardiography. However, in patients with perfusion abnormalities, a slight underestimation in poststress LV ejection fraction was observed using gated SPECT as compared to equilibrium radionuclide angiocardiography

Unusual cytotoxic sulfated cadinene-type sesquiterpene glycosides from cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum).

Two new sulfated cadinene-type sesquiterpene glycosides, 13-hydroxy-7-O-(60-O-sulfate-b-D-glucopyranosyl)-desoxyhemigossypol (1) and 13,15-dihydroxy-7-O-(60-O-sulfate-b-D-glucopyranosyl)-desoxyhemigossypol (2), have been isolated from whole cottonseed (Gossypium hirsutum). Their structures, which possess an unusual 6-O-sulfate-glucopyranosyl moiety, were determined through the interpretation of 2D NMR spectral data and H/D exchange ESI-MS experiments. Compounds 1 and 2 were screened for their toxicity on Jurkat cells. Both compounds inhibited cellular proliferation with IC50 values of 8.1 and 4.2 mg, respectively

Surrogate-based uncertainty and sensitivity analysis for bacterial invasion in multi-species biofilm modeling

In this work, we present a probabilistic analysis of a detailed one-dimensional biofilm model that explicitly accounts for planktonic bacterial invasion in a multi-species biofilm. The objective is (1) to quantify and understand how the uncertainty in the parameters of the invasion submodel impacts the biofilm model predictions (here the microbial species volume fractions); and (2) to spot which parameters are the most important factors enhancing the biofilm model response. An emulator (or “surrogate”) of the biofilm model is trained using a limited experimental design of size N=216 and corresponding to a Halton’s low-discrepancy sequence in order to optimally cover the uncertain space of dimension d=3 (corresponding to the three scalar parameters newly introduced in the invasion submodel). A comparison of different types of emulator (generalized Polynomial Chaos expansion – gPC, Gaussian process model – GP) is carried out; results show that the best performance (measured in terms of the Q2 predictive coefficient) is obtained using a Least-Angle Regression (LAR) gPC-type expansion, where a sparse polynomial basis is constructed to reduce the problem size and where the basis coordinates are computed using a regularized least-square minimization. The resulting LAR gPC-expansion is found to capture the growth in complexity of the biofilm structure due to niche formation. Sobol’ sensitivity indices show the relative prevalence of the maximum colonization rate of autotrophic bacteria on biofilm composition in the invasion submodel. They provide guidelines for orienting future sensitivity analysis including more sources of variability, as well as further biofilm model developments.BERC 2014-2017 (Basque Government); BCAM Severo Ochoa accreditation SEV-2013-0323 (Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness MINECO); PhD Grant "La Caixa 2014" (La Caixa Foundation)

An Italian expert consensus on the use of opioids for the management of chronic non-oncological pain in clinical practice: focus on buprenorphine

Purpose: The aim of the present work was to evaluate the knowledge and prescriptive habits of clinicians involved in the management of chronic non cancer pain (CNCP), with a special focus on the use of opioids. Methods: A Delphi method was used. A Board of specialists elaborated and discussed a series of statements, based on available literature and personal clinical expertise, about particularly controversial topics on pain pathophysiology and treatment. A Panel of experts in the field of pain management, selected by the Board, was invited to vote the proposed statements, indicating the level of agreement on a 5-point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree; 2: disagree; 3: partially agree; 4: agree; 5: strongly agree). The threshold for consensus was set at minimum 66.6% of the number of respondents with a level of agreement ≥4 (Agree or Strongly agree). Results: The Board included 5 pain therapists, 1 pharmacologist and 1 methodology expert and drew up a total of 36 statements (for a total of 40 requested answers)”. A total of 100 clinicians were included in the Expert Panel. Respondents were 89 (89%). Consensus was achieved for 32 out of 40 answers. Most of the lack of consensus was recorded for statements regarding opioids use, and resulted from a low level of agreement (3 on the Likert scale), suggesting a neutral position deriving from a lack of knowledge rather than a strong contrary opinion. Conclusion: Most of the proposed items reached consensus, suggesting a generally homogeneous approach to CNCP management. However, the lack of consensus recorded for several items regarding opioid use confirms the need to fill important gaps in the knowledge of available agents. A clear explanation of the peculiar pharmacological properties of drugs associated with potential clinical advantages (such as buprenorphine) will help optimize pain treatment in both primary care and hospital settings and improving pain control in CNCP patients

Free boundary problem for the role of planktonic cells in biofilm formation and development

The dynamics of biofilm lifecycle are deeply influenced by the surrounding environment and the interactions between sessile and planktonic phenotypes. Bacterial biofilms typically develop in three distinct stages: attachment of cells to a surface, growth of cells into colonies, and detachment of cells from the colony into the surrounding medium. The attachment of planktonic cells plays a prominent role in the initial phase of biofilm lifecycle as it initiates the colony formation. During the maturation stage, biofilms harbor numerous microenvironments which lead to metabolic heterogeneity. Such microniches provide conditions suitable for the growth of new species, which are present in the bulk liquid as planktonic cells and can penetrate the porous biofilm matrix. We present a 1D continuum model on the interaction of sessile and planktonic phenotypes in biofilm lifestyle which considers both the initial attachment and colonization phenomena. The model is formulated as a hyperbolic-elliptic free boundary value problem with vanishing initial value. Hyperbolic equations reproduce the transport and growth of sessile species, while elliptic equations model the diffusion and conversion of planktonic cells and dissolved substrates. The attachment is modelled as a continuous, deterministic process which depends on the concentrations of the attaching species. The growth of new species is modelled through a reaction term in the hyperbolic equations which depends on the concentration of planktonic species within the biofilm. Existence and uniqueness of solutions are discussed and proved for the attachment regime. Finally, some numerical examples show that the proposed model correctly reproduces the growth of new species within the biofilm and overcomes the ecological restrictions characterizing the Wanner-Gujer type models.Comment: 17 pages, 9 figures, preprint versio