Effect of proline pretreatment on grapevine shoot-tip response to a droplet-vitrification protocol

Equipe DAVEM = Diversité et Adaptation de la Vigne et des Espèces MéditerranéennesProline has been shown to accumulate in plants in response to biotic and abiotic stresses. Exogenous proline has thus been used for improving some plant cryopreservation protocols. Further enhancement of cryopreservation efficiency for in vitro grapevines could be expected if stresses linked to cryopreservation procedures could be reduced. We therefore studied the possible beneficial effect of proline in grapevine cryopreservation. Single-node explants from in vitro grown grapevine plantlets (Vitis vinifera L. cv Portan) were cultured on shooting media (half-strength MS + 1 μM BAP) con- taining no proline (control) or 50, 500, or 2000 μM filter-sterilized L-proline. Shoot tips excised from these micro- shoots were subjected to a PVS2-based droplet-vitrification procedure. Control and rewarmed explants were grown on a recovery medium containing 1 μM BAP. Shoot development on control medium and lower proline concentrations did not notably differ whereas the highest concentration of proline inhibited shoot development. Carry-over effects were observed since lower survival and regrowth were obtained both for non-frozen or LN-treated explants excised from micro-shoots obtained on the 2000 μM proline medium. No significant differences in survival and regrowth were ob- served for non-frozen explants subjected to pretreatment without LN exposure. A slightly enhancing effect (although non-significant) on post-cryopreservation survival was observed for explants derived from shoots developed on 50 or 500 μM proline, but no significant improvement of regrowth percentage was observed for these two conditions. Al- though a slight increase in survival could be observed, no significant beneficial effect of proline pretreatment on post- cryoconservation regrowth could be evidenced in our conditions. However, the 2-week period before explant excision could have allowed at least partial metabolism and catabolism of exogenous proline; the results observed could thus have been the consequence of complex interactions. Shorter proline treatments applied closer to the actual LN exposure step might produce different results and allow for clearer interpretation

Syndromes of self-reported psychopathology for ages 18-59 in 29 societies

This study tested the multi-society generalizability of an eight-syndrome assessment model derived from factor analyses of American adults' self-ratings of 120 behavioral, emotional, and social problems. The Adult Self-Report (ASR; Achenbach and Rescorla 2003) was completed by 17,152 18-59-year-olds in 29 societies. Confirmatory factor analyses tested the fit of self-ratings in each sample to the eight-syndrome model. The primary model fit index (Root Mean Square Error of Approximation) showed good model fit for all samples, while secondary indices showed acceptable to good fit. Only 5 (0.06%) of the 8,598 estimated parameters were outside the admissible parameter space. Confidence intervals indicated that sampling fluctuations could account for the deviant parameters. Results thus supported the tested model in societies differing widely in social, political, and economic systems, languages, ethnicities, religions, and geographical regions. Although other items, societies, and analytic methods might yield different results, the findings indicate that adults in very diverse societies were willing and able to rate themselves on the same standardized set of 120 problem items. Moreover, their self-ratings fit an eight-syndrome model previously derived from self-ratings by American adults. The support for the statistically derived syndrome model is consistent with previous findings for parent, teacher, and self-ratings of 11/2-18-year-olds in many societies. The ASR and its parallel collateral-report instrument, the Adult Behavior Checklist (ABCL), may offer mental health professionals practical tools for the multi-informant assessment of clinical constructs of adult psychopathology that appear to be meaningful across diverse societies

The Generalizability of Older Adult Self-Report (OASR) Syndromes of Psychopathology Across 20 Societies

OBJECTIVES: As the world population ages, psychiatrists will increasingly need instruments for measuring constructs of psychopathology that are generalizable to diverse elders. The study tested whether syndromes of co-occurring problems derived from self-ratings of psychopathology by US elders would fit self-ratings by elders in 19 other societies. METHODS/DESIGN: The Older Adult Self-Report (OASR) was completed by 12,826 60- to 102-year-olds in 19 societies from North and South America, Asia, and Eastern, Northern, Southern, and Western Europe, plus the US. Individual and multi-group confirmatory factor analyses (CFAs) tested the fit of the 7-syndrome OASR model, consisting of the Anxious/Depressed, Worries, Somatic Complaints, Functional Impairment, Memory/Cognition Problems, Thought Problems, and Irritable/Disinhibited syndromes. RESULTS: In individual CFAs, the primary model fit index showed good fit for all societies, while the secondary model fit indices showed acceptable to good fit. The items loaded strongly on their respective factors, with a median item loading of .63 across the 20 societies; and 98.7% of the loadings were statistically significant. In multi-group CFAs, 98% of items demonstrated approximate or full metric invariance. Fifteen percent of items demonstrated approximate or full scalar invariance and another 59% demonstrated scalar invariance across more than half of societies. CONCLUSIONS: The findings supported the generalizability of OASR syndromes across societies. The seven syndromes offer empirically-based clinical constructs that are relevant for elders of different backgrounds. They can be used to assess diverse elders, and as a taxonomic framework to facilitate communication, services, research and training in geriatric psychiatry. This article is protected by copyright. All rights reserved

Sex difference and intra-operative tidal volume: Insights from the LAS VEGAS study

BACKGROUND: One key element of lung-protective ventilation is the use of a low tidal volume (VT). A sex difference in use of low tidal volume ventilation (LTVV) has been described in critically ill ICU patients.OBJECTIVES: The aim of this study was to determine whether a sex difference in use of LTVV also exists in operating room patients, and if present what factors drive this difference.DESIGN, PATIENTS AND SETTING: This is a posthoc analysis of LAS VEGAS, a 1-week worldwide observational study in adults requiring intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery in 146 hospitals in 29 countries.MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Women and men were compared with respect to use of LTVV, defined as VT of 8 ml kg-1 or less predicted bodyweight (PBW). A VT was deemed 'default' if the set VT was a round number. A mediation analysis assessed which factors may explain the sex difference in use of LTVV during intra-operative ventilation.RESULTS: This analysis includes 9864 patients, of whom 5425 (55%) were women. A default VT was often set, both in women and men; mode VT was 500 ml. Median [IQR] VT was higher in women than in men (8.6 [7.7 to 9.6] vs. 7.6 [6.8 to 8.4] ml kg-1 PBW, P < 0.001). Compared with men, women were twice as likely not to receive LTVV [68.8 vs. 36.0%; relative risk ratio 2.1 (95% CI 1.9 to 2.1), P < 0.001]. In the mediation analysis, patients' height and actual body weight (ABW) explained 81 and 18% of the sex difference in use of LTVV, respectively; it was not explained by the use of a default VT.CONCLUSION: In this worldwide cohort of patients receiving intra-operative ventilation during general anaesthesia for surgery, women received a higher VT than men during intra-operative ventilation. The risk for a female not to receive LTVV during surgery was double that of males. Height and ABW were the two mediators of the sex difference in use of LTVV.TRIAL REGISTRATION: The study was registered at Clinicaltrials.gov, NCT01601223

Cryopreservation of grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) in vitro shoot tips

In this work, we compared the efficiency of encapsulation-dehydration and droplet-vitrification techniques for cryopreserving grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) cv. Portan shoot tips. Recovery of cryopreserved samples was achieved with both techniques; however, droplet-vitrification, which was used for the first time with grapevine shoot tips, produced higher regrowth. With encapsulationdehydration, encapsulated shoot tips were precultured in liquid medium with progressively increasing sucrose concentrations over a 2-day period (12 h in medium with 0.25, 0.5, 0.75 and 1.0 M sucrose), then dehydrated to 22.28% moisture content (fresh weight). After liquid nitrogen exposure 37.1% regrowth was achieved using 1 mm-long shoot tips and only 16.0% with 2 mm-long shoot tips. With droplet-vitrification, 50% regrowth was obtained following treatment of shoot tips with a loading solution containing 2 M glycerol + 0.4 M sucrose for 20 min, dehydration with half-strength PVS2 vitrification solution (30% (w/v) glycerol, 15% (w/v) ethylene glycol, 15% dimethylsulfoxide and 0.4 M sucrose in basal medium) at room temperature, then with full strength PVS2 solution at 0A degrees C for 50 min before direct immersion in liquid nitrogen. No regrowth was achieved after cryopreservation when shoot tips were dehydrated with PVS3 vitrification solution (50% (w/v) glycerol and 50% (w/v) sucrose in basal medium)

In vitro introduction of healthy and virus-infected genotypes of native Croatian grapevine cultivars

International audienceWe evaluated the response of eight economically important Croatian grapevine cultivars and studied the impact of their sanitary status on in vitro introduction, by comparing the response of healthy and virus-infected genotypes of one cultivar. Nodal explant survival on three media, M1 (half-strength MS), M2 (full-strength MS) or M3 (full-strength MS with 4.4 µM L−1 benzylaminopurine) was measured after 2 weeks and regrowth after 8 weeks. After 8 weeks, average shoot length and node number were significantly higher on M2 compared to M1 and M3. M3 induced significantly shorter average internode length, compared to M1 and M2. Survival of one healthy and of five cultivar Plavac mali genotypes infected with GFLV, GLRaV-1, GLRaV-3, GLRaV-3+GVA and GLRaV-1+GLRaV-3 was 97.5 and 82.8–87.5%, respectively. Regrowth of the healthy genotype reached 95.5%, but dropped to 5.5–31.4% in infected ones. The healthy genotype showed significantly higher shoot length (6.3 cm) and node number (7.3) compared to infected genotypes, with shoot length between 1.2–2.6 cm and node number between 1.2–3.0. By contrast, internode length was not significantly different between the healthy and the infected genotypes. The present work represents the first successful in vitro introduction for three of the eight native Croatian cultivars studied