Resistance to frost and tuber soft rot in near-pentaploid Solanum tuberosum - S. commersonii hybrids

The objectives of the present study were to evaluate the tolerance to low temperatures and tuber soft rot in sexual near-pentaploid hybrids between incongruent 2x (1EBN) Solanum commersonii (CMM) and 4x (4EBN) S. tuberosum (TBR). For freezing resistance, killing temperatures both under non-acclimated and un- der acclimated conditions were determined using the ion leakage procedure. Values for the hybrids were dis- tributed between the wild and cultivated parental values. Some hybrids displayed an acclimation capacity close to 2.5°C, typical of hardy species. Artificial inoculation of tubers with Pectobacterium carotovorum ssp. carotovorum (formerly Erwinia carotovora ssp. carotovora) provided evidence of variability in disease response. Highly resistant hybrids were identified. After conventional phenotypic selection, wild genome content was estimated based on the presence of CMM-specific AFLP fragments. Seven primer combinations were used (Eco-AGG/Mse-CAA; Eco-ACC/Mse-CAT; Eco-ACT/Mse-CAC; Eco-ACT/Mse-CAG; Eco- ACT/Mse-CAA; Eco-ACT/Mse-CAT; Eco-AGG/Mse-CAG). The percentages of CMM-specific AFLPs ranged from 4.3% to 56.7%, with an average value of 28.1%. AFLP analysis was employed for the selection of the hybrids to be used for further breeding objectives

Peripartum patient with epigastric pain

A 44-year-old female, gravida 2, para 1, abortus 1, presented to the emergency department with epigastric pain, vomiting and nosebleed at 36 weeks gestation. She had right upper quadrant tenderness and was hypertensive at 138/90 mmHg. Laboratory studies demonstrated decreased platelets of 122 k/mcL, Hb of 11.2 g/dL and RBC of 3.48 M/mcL, elevated AST of 371 U/L and ALT of 522 U/L, and proteinuria of 13 mg/dL

Resistance traits and AFLP characterization of diploid primitive tuber-bearing potatoes.

ISSN: 0925-986

The metal-nonoate Ni(SalPipNONO) inhibits in vitro tumor growth, invasiveness and angiogenesis

Nitric oxide (NO) exerts conflicting effect on tumor growth and progression, depending on its concentration. We aimed to characterize the anti-cancer activity of a new NO donor, Ni(SalPipNONO) belonging to the class of metal-nonoates, in epithelial derived tumor cells, finally exploring its antiangiogenic properties. Tumor epithelial cells were screened to evaluate the cytotoxic effect of Ni(SalPipNONO), which was able to inhibit cell proliferation in a dose dependent manner, being more effective than the commercial DETA/NO. The human lung carcinoma cells A549 were chosen as model to study the anti-cancer mechanisms exerted by the compound. In these cells, Ni(SalPipNONO) inhibited clonogenicity and cell invasion, while promoting apoptosis. The antitumor activity was partly due to NO-cGMP dependent pathway, contributing to reduced cell number and apoptosis, and partly to the salicylaldehyde moiety and reactive oxygen species (ROS) activated ERK1/2 signaling converging on p53 dependent caspase-3 cleavage. An additional contribution by downstream cycloxygenase-2 (COX-2) derived cyclopentenones may explain the tumor inhibitory activities. As NO has been described to affect tumor angiogenesis, we checked this activity both on tumor and endothelial cell co-cultures and in Matrigel in vivo assay. Our data document that Ni(SalPipNONO) was able to both reduce angiogenic factor expression by tumor cells acting on hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1 α) level, and endothelial cell functions related to angiogenesis. Collectively, these data confirm the potential use of NO donors and in particular Ni(SalPipNONO) acting through multiple mechanisms, as an agent to be further developed to be used alone or in combination with conventional therapy

ENTraNCE for judges 2021 : selected case notes

This working paper includes a collection of case notes written by those national judges who attended the European Networking and Training for National Competition Enforcers (ENTraNCE Judges2021). The training programme was organised by RSCAS between November 2020 and October 2021, with the financial contribution of the DG Competition of the European Commission. The case notes included in the working paper summarise judgments from different EU Member States that relate to diverse aspects of competition law enforcement. This working paper thus aims to increase the understanding of the challenges that are faced by the national judiciaries in enforcing national and EU competition in the context of the decentralised regime of competition law enforcement that was introduced by Reg. 1/2003

Shedding light on the hidden benefit of Porphyridium cruentum culture

Microalgae can represent a reliable source of natural compounds with different activities. Here, we evaluated the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activity of sulfated exopolysaccharides (s-EPSs) and phycoerythrin (PE), two molecules naturally produced by the red marine microalga Porphyridium cruentum (CCALA415). In vitro and cell-based assays were performed to assess the biological activities of these compounds. The s-EPSs, owing to the presence of sulfate groups, showed biocompatibility on immortalized eukaryotic cell lines and a high antioxidant activity on cell-based systems. PE showed powerful antioxidant activity both in vitro and on cell-based systems, but purification is mandatory for its safe use. Finally, both molecules showed anti-inflammatory activity comparable to that of ibuprofen and helped tissue regeneration. Thus, the isolated molecules from microalgae represent an excellent source of antioxidants to be used in different fields.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Monge's transport problem in the Heisenberg group

We prove the existence of solutions to Monge transport problem between two compactly supported Borel probability measures in the Heisenberg group equipped with its Carnot-Caratheodory distance assuming that the initial measure is absolutely continuous with respect to the Haar measure of the group

Polynucleotide: Adenosine glycosidase is the sole activity of ribosome-inactivating proteins on DNA

Polynucleotide: adenosine glycosidases (PNAG) are a class of plant and bacterial enzymes commonly known as ribosome-inactivating proteins (RIP). They are presently classified as rRNA N-glycosidases in the enzyme nomenclature [EC 3.2.2.22]. Several activities on nucleic acids, other than depurination, have been attributed to PNAG: in particular modifications induced in circular plasmids, including linearisation and topological changes, and cleavage of guanidinic residues. Here we describe a chromatographic procedure to obtain nuclease-free PNAG by dye-chromatography onto Procion Red derivatized Sepharose®. Highly purified enzymes depurinate extensively pBR322 circular, supercoiled DNA at neutral pH and exhibit neither DNase nor DNA glycolyase activities, do not cause topological changes, and adenine is the only base released from DNA and rRNA, even at very high enzyme concentrations. A scanning force microscopy (SFM) study of pBR322 treated with saporin-S6 confirmed that (i) this PNAG binds extensively to the plasmid, (ii) the distribution of the bound saporin-S6 molecules along the DNA chain is markedly variable, (iii) plasmids already digested with saporin-S6 do not appear fragmented or topologically modified. The observations here described demonstrate that polynucleotide:adenosine glycosidase is the sole enzymatic activity of the four ribosome-inactivating proteins gelonin, momordin I, pokeweed antiviral protein from seeds and saporin-S6. These proteins belong to different families, suggesting that the findings here described may be generalized to all PNAG

An ascorbic acid-enriched tomato genotype to fight UVA-induced oxidative stress in normal human keratinocytes

UVA radiations contribute up to 95% of the total UV exposure and are known to induce cell damage, leading to apoptosis. Since the benefic effects of ascorbic acid on human health are well known, a new tomato genotype (namedDHO4), highly rich in ascorbic acid, has been recently obtained. Here,we compared the effects of ascorbic acid and hydrophilic DHO4 extracts in protecting human keratinocytes exposed to UVA stress. Keratinocytes were pre-incubated with ascorbic acid or with extracts from the ascorbic acid enriched tomato genotype and irradiated with UVA light. Then, ROS production, intracellular GSH and lipid peroxidation levels were quantified. Western blots were carried out to evaluate mitogen-activated protein kinases cascade, activation of caspase-3 and inflammation levels. We demonstrated that ROS, GSH and lipid peroxidation levels were not altered in cell exposed to UVA stress when cellswere pre-treatedwith ascorbic acid or with tomato extracts. In addition, no evidence of apoptosis and inflammationwere observed in irradiated pre-treated cells. Altogether,we demonstrated the ability of an ascorbic acid enriched tomato genotype to counteract UVA-oxidative stress on human keratinocytes. This protective effect is due to the high concentration of vitamin C that acts as free radical scavenger. This novel tomato genotype may be used as genetic material in breeding schemes to produce improved varieties with higher antioxidant levels

Evaluation of Auranofin Loading within Ferritin Nanocages

Auranofin (AF), a gold(I) compound that is currently used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and is in clinical trials for its promising anticancer activity, was encapsulated within the human H-chain and the horse spleen ferritin nanocages using the alkaline disassembly/reassembly protocol. The aim of the work was to highlight possible differences in their drug loading capacity and efficacy. The drug-loaded ferritins were characterized via UV-vis absorption spectroscopy and inductively coupled plasma-atomic emission spectroscopy to assess AF encapsulation and to define the exact amount of gold atoms trapped in the Ft cavity. The crystal structures allowed us to define the nature of AF interaction with both ferritins and to identify the gold binding sites. Moreover, the biological characterization let us to obtain preliminary information on the cytotoxic effect of AF when bound to the human H-chain