Biological control of chestnut blight in Portugal

Plant protection is a multi-disciplinary subject and different strategies need to be addressed for sustainable plant health management Biological control is an ecosystem-based approach extending from lab based investigation to fie ld applications. Hipovirulence is a specific method for biological control of Chestnut Blight a lethal disease of the American and European chestnut. The causal pathogen of Chestnut Blight is Cryphonectria parasitica a fungus of Asian origin which is an A2 quarantine organism in Europe. Chestnut Blight was recorded in Portugal since 1990, one of the last European countries where Chestnut Blight has been introduced, and is now well established and widespread with a fast expansion in all regions of chestnut. Biological control with hypovirulent strains of C. parasitica is considered an efficient mean to control the disease and improve chestnut recovered. One of the first goa ls of this study is applying hipovirulence as a biological method for Chestnut Blight control and producing a solid scientific base to extend the method all over the chestnut region. it will have a very high practical impact on crop productivity, and on social perception of applied research. Field records and studies include parameters related to trees (dendrometric parameters and plant health status) and the physical characteristics of the plots (type of soil, exposure, geographic coordinates, age of trees, actual management of soil, etc.). Other scientific issues are related with population structure of the pathogen, namely: evolutionary forces that are present or dominate at population level (clonality, selfing, self-incompatibility, vc type structure, vc type segregation, CHV presence, CHV species). The effect of the founder population and driven forces on actual and future populations can be answered with the data generated by this work. The study can also be an innovative and a realistic approach and has potential for large and extended field application with a real positive impact in chestnut productionFCT -PTDC/AGR-PRO/4606/201

A organização hierárquica do conhecimento semântico em pacientes com afasia : o papel da partilha de atributos e função executiva

Tese de mestrado, Ciência Cognitiva, Universidade de Lisboa, Faculdade de Psicologia, Faculdade de Ciências, Faculdade de Medicina, Faculdade de Letras, 2013Vários estudos têm sido realizados sobre a organização hierárquica da memória semântica pela análise de défices semânticos em pacientes com vários distúrbios neurológicos, tais como pacientes com demência semântica e pacientes com afasia devido a acidente vascular cerebral (AVC) e com défices executivos. Os pacientes com demência semântica apresentam uma degradação do conhecimento semântico com prevalência do conhecimento sobreordenado (ex. animal, veículo) e maior comprometimento do conhecimento de nível básico (ex. elefante, camião). Os pacientes com afasia revelam um desempenho oposto com prevalência do conhecimento de nível básico. Estes últimos casos têm destacado a contribuição de processos executivos para a cognição semântica, nomeadamente para dirigir e controlar a ativação semântica de forma apropriada. Estes dois tipos de défices semânticos, parecem poder ser explicados pela partilha de atributos (Marques, 2011, 2012). Esta dimensão pode explicar a vantagem do nível sobreordenado na demência semântica pois estes conceitos reúnem um maior número absoluto de exemplares que partilham uma característica particular, tornando-os mais resistentes à degradação do conceito. Ao mesmo tempo, em termos relativos, os atributos são menos partilhados por membros de conceitos sobreordenados. Tal exige um maior controlo executivo, o que pode explicar melhor o desempenho no processamento de nível básico do que sobreordenado nos pacientes com afasia. O presente estudo avalia esta última hipótese. Para o efeito avaliaram-se pacientes com Afasia (AVC) e défices executivos, testando o seu desempenho numa tarefa de verificação de frases onde se variou o nível hierárquico dos conceitos (sobreordenado, básico) e o nível de partilha de atributos (pouco partilhado, muito partilhado). Os resultados mostraram que as frases que contêm atributos mais partilhados foram processadas mais rapidamente e com mais precisão do que as frases que envolvem atributos menos partilhados. Mais ainda, esta diferença foi mais evidente nos pacientes relativamente aos controlos. Estes resultados sugerem que défices na função executiva comprometem o processamento de atributos menos partilhados e que por sua vez levam a défices sobreordenados verificados nos pacientes com afasia e défices executivos.Several studies have been conducted on the hierarchical organization of semantic memory analyzing semantic deficits in patients with neurological disorders, such as patients with semantic dementia and patients with aphasia and executive impairments due to cerebrovascular accident (CVA). Patients with semantic dementia show a degradation of semantic knowledge with prevalence of superordinate knowledge (e.g. animal, vehicle) and greater impairment of basic level knowledge (e.g. elephant, lorry). Patients with aphasia, reveal an opposite performance showing basic level advantage. These recent cases have highlighted the contribution of executive processes in semantic memory, namely to appropriately direct and control semantic activation. These two types of semantic deficits seem to be explained by concepts level of feature sharedeness (Marques, 2011, 2012). This dimension may explain the advantage of the superordinate level in semantic dementia. In these concepts there is a greater absolute number of exemplars sharing a particular characteristic, making them more resistant to concept degradation. Simultaneously, in relative terms, features are less shared by superordinate level concepts requiring more executive control, which may explain the better performance in processing basic level concepts in patients with aphasia. The present study evaluates this last hypothesis. To this end we evaluated patients with stroke aphasia and executive deficits, testing their performance on sentence verification task varying concepts’ hierarchical level (superordinate, basic level) and feature sharedness (less shared, more shared). The results showed that the sentences with more shared features were processed faster and more accurately than sentences involving less shared features. Moreover, this difference was particularly salient in patients relative to control subjects. These results suggest that deficits in executive function compromise processing of less shared features which lead to the superordinate deficits usually observed in patients with aphasia and executive deficits

Chestnut blight in the Minho region. Population structure and genetic variability of Cryphonectria parasitica

O cancro do castanheiro (Cryphonectria parasitica) é considerado um dos principais fatores de mortalidade de Castanea sativa. Introduzido em Portugal e com desenvolvimento epidémico conhecido a partir da década de 90, manifestou elevada agressividade e uma dispersão muito rápida, tendo, atualmente, distribuição generalizada nas regiões de produção de castanheiro. Os meios de luta químicos, culturais e físicos não são eficazes no combate do cancro do castanheiro e apenas a luta biológica por Hipovirulência tem mostrado ser eficaz na Europa. A disseminação dos hipovírus está diretamente relacionada com os grupos de compatibilidade vegetativa (VCType), pelo que existe a necessidade de estudar a estrutura populacional de C. parasitica e identificar os VCType presentes em cada souto. Avaliou-se a incidência e severidade do cancro do castanheiro em três soutos da região do Minho, tendo-se obtido isolados de C. parasitica que foram posteriormente caracterizados quanto ao VCtype e avaliada a variabilidade genética das diferentes subpopulações através de box-PCR. Os isolados obtidos nos três soutos pertencem a cinco VCtype diferentes sendo o mais representativo o EU-11 (62% dos isolados), seguindo-se o EU-2 (20%), EU-1 e EU- 66 (5,5%) e EU-12 (7%). Os padrões de bandas obtidos por box-PCR não parecem refletir a virulência, origem geográfica ou VCtype dos isolados.Cryphonectria parasitica, the causal agent of chestnut blight, was considered one of the main factors of mortality of Castanea sativa. Introduced in Portugal in the 1990s, and with epidemic development, the disease has manifested high aggressiveness and a rapid dispersion. Currently it has a widespread distribution in the chestnut production regions. Chemical, physical and cultural control means are not effective to control Chestnut Blight and only biological control by hypovirulence has shown to be effective in Europe. The spread of the hypovirus is directly linked to the vegetative compatibility types (VCType) of the fungal populations, so there is a need to study the population structure of C. parasitica and identify the VCTypes present in each subpopulation. The incidence of Chestnut Blight was assessed in three chestnut groves in the Minho region, and the C. parasitica isolates obtained were further characterized. Each isolate was allocated to a VCType by matching with reference isolates, and the genetic variability of selected isolates was evaluated by BOX-PCR. The isolates obtained were functionally diverse comprising over five VCType, with EU-11 (62%), followed by EU-2 (20%), EU-1 e EU- 66 (5, 5%) and EU-12 (7%). Banding patterns obtained by box-PCR fingerprinting did not reflect geographical origin or the VCType of the isolate

Organização e tratamento de dados

Este livro aborda os seguintes tópicos: Orientações curriculares para o ensino da estatística, Investigações estatísticas, dados e variáveis, Tabelas e gráficos, Características amostrais, Probabilidade, Simulação.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Interventions for caregivers of heart disease patients in rehabilitation: scoping review

Map the interventions/components directed to the caregivers of heart disease patients in cardiac rehabilitation programs that promote their role and health. Methods: The Joanna Briggs Institute method was used to guide this scoping review. Two independent reviewers assessed articles for relevance and extracted and synthesized data. Inclusion criteria comprised articles published in English, Spanish, and Portuguese since 1950. The following databases were searched: CINAHL Complete (Via EBSCO), Medline (via PubMed), Scopus, PEDro, and Repositórios Científicos de Acesso Aberto de Portugal (RCAAP). Results: From 351 articles retrieved, 10 were included in the review. The interventions identified directed to the caregiver were: educational interventions and lifestyle changes; physical exercise; psychological interventions/stress management; and a category “Other” with training interventions in basic life support, elaboration of guidelines/recommendations, and training for the role of caregiver. Conclusions: It was found that most of the related cardiac rehabilitation interventions are aimed at the dyad heart failure patient and their caregivers/family. Including specific interventions targeting caregivers improves the caregiver’s health and empowers them. Patient care planning should include interventions specifically aimed at them that result in health gains for caregivers and patients, striving to improve the quality of care. This study was not registered.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Olmesartan-Associated Enteropathy: An Unexpected Cause of Chronic Diarrhoea

Olmesartan-associated enteropathy is a rare cause of severe enteropathy that should be considered in the differential diagnosis of patients with unexplained chronic diarrhoea. It may be difficult to recognise because of its clinical and histologic similarities to other clinical entities. The authors present the case of a 72-year-old woman with a 6-month clinical history of non-bloody diarrhoea and weight loss. Discontinuation of olmesartan resulted in clinical and histologic recovery, and therefore, physicians need to be aware of olmesartan-associated enteropathy in order to avoid unnecessary testing. Although rare, it is considered an emerging and underdiagnosed enteropathy

FTA-LAMP based biosensor for a rapid in-field detection of Globodera pallida—the pale potato cyst nematode

The combination of a sensitive and specific magnetoresistive sensing device with an easy DNA extraction method and a rapid isothermal amplification is presented here targeting the on-site detection of Globodera pallida, a potato endoparasitic nematode. FTA-cards were used for DNA extraction, LAMP was the method developed for DNA amplification and a nanoparticle functionalized magnetic-biosensor was used for the detection. The combinatorial effect of these three emerging technologies has the capacity to detect G. pallida with a detection limit of one juvenile, even when mixed with other related species. This combined system is far more interesting than what a single technology can provide. Magnetic biosensors can be combined with any DNA extraction protocol and LAMP forming a new solution to target G. pallida. The probe designed in this study consistently distinguished G. pallida (∆Vacbinding/Vacsensor above 1%) from other cyst nematodes (∆Vacbinding/Vacsensor below 1%). It was confirmed that DNA either extracted with FTA-cards or Lab extraction Kit was of enough quantity and quality to detect G. pallida whenever present (alone or in mixed samples), ensuring probe specificity and sensitivity. This work provides insights for a new strategy to construct advanced devices for pathogens in-field diagnostics. LAMP runs separately but can be easily integrated into a single device