Uptake and effects of a mixture of widely used therapeutic drugs in Eruca sativa L. and Zea mays L. plants

Pharmaceutically active compounds (PACs) are continuously dispersed into the environment due to human and veterinary use, giving rise to their potential accumulation in edible plants. In this study, Eruca sativa L. and Zea mays L. were selected to determine the potential uptake and accumulation of eight different PACs (Salbutamol, Atenolol, Lincomycin, Cyclophosphamide, Carbamazepine, Bezafibrate, Ofloxacin and Ranitidine) designed for human use. To mimic environmental conditions, the plants were grown in pots and irrigated with water spiked with a mixture of PACs at concentrations found in Italian wastewaters and rivers. Moreover, 10 7 and 100 7 concentrations of these pharmaceuticals were also tested. The presence of the pharmaceuticals was tested in the edible parts of the plants, namely leaves for E. sativa and grains for Z. mays. Quantification was performed by liquid chromatography mass spectroscopy (LC/MS/MS). In the grains of 100 7 treated Z. mays, only atenolol, lincomycin and carbamazepine were above the limit of detection (LOD). At the same concentration in E. sativa plants the uptake of all PACs was >LOD. Lincomycin and oflaxacin were above the limit of quantitation in all conditions tested in E. sativa. The results suggest that uptake of some pharmaceuticals from the soil may indeed be a potential transport route to plants and that these environmental pollutants can reach different edible parts of the selected crops. Measurements of the concentrations of these pharmaceuticals in plant materials were used to model potential adult human exposure to these compounds. The results indicate that under the current experimental conditions, crops exposed to the selected pharmaceutical mixture would not have any negative effects on human health. Moreover, no significant differences in the growth of E. sativa or Z. mays plants irrigated with PAC-spiked vs. non-spiked water were observed

Genomic stability in Arabidopsis thaliana transgenic plants obtained by floral dip

. The occurrence of DNA modification is an undesired phenomenon accompanying plant cell transformation. The event has been correlated with the stress imposed by the presently utilised transformation procedures, all depending on plant differentiation from in vitro cell culture, but other causes have not been excluded. In this work, transgenic Arabidopsis thaliana plants have been produced by an approach that does not require cell dedifferentiation, being based on in planta Agrobacterium-mediated gene transfer by flower infiltration, which is followed by recovery and selection of transgenic progeny. Genomic DNA changes in transgenic and control plants have been investigated by AFLP and RAMP analysis. Results show no statistically relevant genomic modifications in transgenic plants, as compared with control untreated plants. Variations were observed in callus-derived A. thaliana plants, thus supporting the conclusion that somaclonal variation is essentially correlated with the stress imposed by the in vitro cell culture, rather than with the integration of a foreign gene

Extended QCD(2) from dimensional projection of QCD(4)

We study an extended QCD model in (1+1) dimensions obtained from QCD in 4D by compactifying two spatial dimensions and projecting onto the zero-mode subspace. We work out this model in the large $N_c$ limit and using light cone gauge but keeping the equal-time quantization. This system is found to induce a dynamical mass for transverse gluons -- adjoint scalars in QCD(2), and to undergo a chiral symmetry breaking with the full quark propagators yielding non-tachyonic, dynamical quark masses, even in the chiral limit. We study quark-antiquark bound states which can be classified in this model by their properties under Lorentz transformations inherited from 4D. The scalar and pseudoscalar sectors of the theory are examined and in the chiral limit a massless ground state for pseudoscalars is revealed with a wave function generalizing the so called 't Hooft pion solution.Comment: JHEP class, 16 pages, 3 figures. Change in the title, some improvements in section 2, minors changes and comments added in introduction and conclusions. References added. Version appearing in JHE

Predictors of caregiving satisfaction in informal caregivers of people with dementia

[Abstract] Objective. The prevalence of dementia is increasing and consequently the demands from families, institutions and healthcare system. Although a substantial amount of research on caregiving has emphasized the negative aspects of caregiving, specifically on caregiver burden and depression, less attention has been paid to the positive aspects of caregiving. The aim of the present work was to study the phenomenon of caregiving satisfaction in informal caregivers of people with dementia by assessing their likely predictors. Methods. A stress process model was used to study caregiver's satisfaction (measured using the Revised Caregiving Satisfaction Scale) on 101 informal caregivers of patients with dementia in relation to the caregiver's background and context, stress-related factors, and mediators. Results. The regression model has an adjusted R2 of 0.20, which indicates that having a consanguinity relationship with the care recipient, suffering from lower levels of subjective burden, and managing individuals with severe cognitive impairment are the most important predictors of higher caregiving satisfaction. Conclusion. Interventions focused on the enhancement of the caregiving satisfaction by increasing the understanding of the disease, should be especially addressed to caregivers without a consanguinity relationship and with high levels of subjective burden, and to those managing care recipients with mild or moderate stages of dementia.Ministerio de Industria, Energía y Turismo; AAL-2012-5-10

Chloroplast SSR markers to assess DNA diversity in wild and cultivated grapevines

Research Not

Prevalence, characteristics, and publication of discontinued randomized trials.

IMPORTANCE: The discontinuation of randomized clinical trials (RCTs) raises ethical concerns and often wastes scarce research resources. The epidemiology of discontinued RCTs, however, remains unclear. OBJECTIVES: To determine the prevalence, characteristics, and publication history of discontinued RCTs and to investigate factors associated with RCT discontinuation due to poor recruitment and with nonpublication. DESIGN AND SETTING: Retrospective cohort of RCTs based on archived protocols approved by 6 research ethics committees in Switzerland, Germany, and Canada between 2000 and 2003. We recorded trial characteristics and planned recruitment from included protocols. Last follow-up of RCTs was April 27, 2013. MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: Completion status, reported reasons for discontinuation, and publication status of RCTs as determined by correspondence with the research ethics committees, literature searches, and investigator surveys. RESULTS: After a median follow-up of 11.6 years (range, 8.8-12.6 years), 253 of 1017 included RCTs were discontinued (24.9% [95% CI, 22.3%-27.6%]). Only 96 of 253 discontinuations (37.9% [95% CI, 32.0%-44.3%]) were reported to ethics committees. The most frequent reason for discontinuation was poor recruitment (101/1017; 9.9% [95% CI, 8.2%-12.0%]). In multivariable analysis, industry sponsorship vs investigator sponsorship (8.4% vs 26.5%; odds ratio [OR], 0.25 [95% CI, 0.15-0.43]; P < .001) and a larger planned sample size in increments of 100 (-0.7%; OR, 0.96 [95% CI, 0.92-1.00]; P = .04) were associated with lower rates of discontinuation due to poor recruitment. Discontinued trials were more likely to remain unpublished than completed trials (55.1% vs 33.6%; OR, 3.19 [95% CI, 2.29-4.43]; P < .001). CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: In this sample of trials based on RCT protocols from 6 research ethics committees, discontinuation was common, with poor recruitment being the most frequently reported reason. Greater efforts are needed to ensure the reporting of trial discontinuation to research ethics committees and the publication of results of discontinued trials

Vineyard footprint on pollinators is mediated by flower vegetation, organic farming, seasonal and weather factors, a case study from North Italy

Intensive, industrialized agriculture is considered a major driver of pollinator decline and viticulture may play a relevant role in this context. A global priority is to find ways to decrease the agricultural impact on biodiversity and to undertake an ecological intensification of farms, especially for maintaining pollinator biodiversity. To recommend practical ways to support pollinators, we explored if they react to the intensive vineyard production in a valley in Northern Italy: we tested if environmental, weather and management parameters could be responsible for shaping pollinator abundance, diversity and functional trait distribution across different wine farms, sampled with observation plots and transect walks. Results demonstrated both some effects shared across pollinator groups and some idiosyncratic responses. Generally, management factors including the herbaceous vegetation cover, weed height and its flower diversity showed strong and positive linear relationships with the abundance (+13 % by unit) and diversity of pollinators (+15 % by unit), while organic farming was associated with a slight decline in the abundance of the overall pollinators (-10 % by unit) and of hoverflies and butterflies. Regarding the temporal and weather factors, pollinators decreased with wind intensity and seasonal progression, while a positive effect was found for intermediate values of air temperature and sampling hour, thus affecting insect activity. The community composition analysis showed that environmental and management factors translated in specific distributions of bee and hoverfly functional traits across sites. Farming practices allowing herbaceous cover, weed height and flower diversity are overwhelmingly important for pollinators to assure shelter and nutritional resources and should be systematically incorporated to mitigate vineyard impact. Furthermore, measures that support pollinators should also consider pollinator phenological dynamics associated with temporal and environmental parameters to accordingly modulate the time of agricultural treatment application. Overall, our study provides a knowledge basis for the development of pollinator-friendly vineyard practices to foster the ecological value of farms

Non-Hermitian diluted banded random matrices: Scaling of eigenfunction and spectral properties

Here we introduce the non-Hermitian diluted banded random matrix (nHdBRM) ensemble as the set of $N\times N$ real non-symmetric matrices whose entries are independent Gaussian random variables with zero mean and variance one if $|i-j|<b$ and zero otherwise, moreover off-diagonal matrix elements within the bandwidth $b$ are randomly set to zero such that the sparsity $\alpha$ is defined as the fraction of the $N(b-1)/2$ independent non-vanishing off-diagonal matrix elements. By means of a detailed numerical study we demonstrate that the eigenfunction and spectral properties of the nHdBRM ensemble scale with the parameter $x=\gamma[(b\alpha)^2/N]^\delta$, where $\gamma,\delta\sim 1$. Moreover, the normalized localization length $\beta$ of the eigenfunctions follows a simple scaling law: $\beta = x/(1 + x)$. For comparison purposes, we also report eigenfunction and spectral properties of the Hermitian diluted banded random matrix ensemble.Comment: 11 pages, 6 figures. arXiv admin note: substantial text overlap with arXiv:1701.01484, arXiv:1611.0669

Haplotype richness in refugial area of Maritime Alps: phylogeographical structure of Saxifraga callosa.

Saxifraga callosa is a species spread in South-Eastern France and Italy with high diffusion in Maritime Alps. This species lives in more or less vertical limestone rocks at an altitude of between 200 and 2,000 m and it ranges from Southewestern Alps (Cottian and MaritimeAlps, Provence) through the Apuane Alps and the Apennines to southern Italy, Sardinia and Sicily (Webb & Gornall, 1989). The diffusion of the species occurs exclusively through seeds. A multiple molecular approach, using ITS, AFLP, cpDNA markers and chloroplast microsatellite (cpSSR), allowed a comprehension of the infraspecific relationships and the construction of haplotype network. By sequencing of ITS regions confirmed that the subsp. catalaunica is clearly a separate species. The application of the ‘NewHybrids’ software to AFLP data-sets recognised S. lantoscana as a natural outcross between S. callosa subsp. callosa and S. cochlearis. Genetic variability within populations was estimated by determing: i), the number of haplotypes per polymorphic population, ii), the haplotype diversity and iii), the Shannon index. Genetic structure was estimated through molecular variance analysis (AMOVA). Total genetic diversity in variance components was calculated in and out the Maritime Alps and in its north and south areal. The size variant of all tested loci amounts to 11 different haplotypes in S. callosa. A haplotype network was constructed by using chloroplast microsatellite (cpSSR).The highest number of haplotypes was found in the Maritime Alps. Analysis of the haplotype distribution showed that population subdivision across all populations was high and the existence of a strong genetic divergence between north and south areals (38%). The study of haplotypes legitimated conclusions on phylogeographical inferences across the species assortment and on the identification of a centre of diversità in the Ligurian Alps to be interpreted as a peripheral glacial refugia during the Ice Ages