Differentiation of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV) isolates by cleavase fragment length polymorphism (CFLP) analysis of the major coat protein gene

A panel of Citrus tristeza virus (CTV, genus Closterovirus, family Closteroviridae) isolates of different origins and with different biological properties were compared for polymorphisms in the major coat protein (CP) gene by cleavase fragment length polymorphism (CFLP) and single stranded conformation polymorphism (SSCP) analysis. The similarity between the CFLP patterns, which consisted of 15 to 20 bands, was estimated by the Pearson coefficient. The clustering patterns from the CFLP data were very similar to those from sequence data in an experiment with 16 cloned standards of the CP gene. By SSCP analysis on the other hand, most of the clones were not clustered in the same way. To assess the ability of CFLP to analyse biological samples, which may consist of a mixture of genomic variants, the CP gene of 12 CTV isolates was obtained directly from infected plants by immunocapture/RT-PCR and analysed. With few exceptions, the isolates were correctly clustered according to the sequences of the variants composing the isolates. In artificial mixed infections of mild and severe isolates the patterns obtained were more closely related to the severe isolate. Thus the CFLP method was an accurate method for the identification, typing and clustering of CTV isolates. The usefulness of this technique as an alternative to SSCP analysis is suggested and discussed

Co infection of OMMV and OLV-1 enhances symptoms and increases both viruses accumulation and viral derived siRNAs in plants

Previous extensive field surveys in olive orchards have revealed high levels of Olive mild mosaic virus (OMMV) and Olive latent virus 1 (OLV-1), frequently appearing in mixed infections. These viruses belong to genus Alphanecrovirus and their RNA dependent RNA polymerase (RdRp),as well as their p6 and p8 amino acid sequences share over 87% identity

The VISIR+ Project – Helping Contextualize Math in an Engineering Course

[EN]The long-term goal of engineering education is to prepare students to work as engineers. Being a practical profession, laboratories play a crucial role in illustrating concepts and principles as well as improving technical skills. In the last decades the use of online resources (simulators and remote labs) has been growing, either as a complementary and/or as an alternative way of developing experimental competences. In the scope of the VISIR+ Project, this work presents the first results of a didactical implementation using simultaneously the remote laboratory VISIR (Virtual Instrument Systems in Reality), simulation and calculus in a Math Course at the Federal University of Santa Catarina (UFSC). The preliminary results indicate that the use of several resources increases students’ performance, boosting their learning and competence development

Laboratórios Remotos e Simulações: Será que os estudantes percebem realmente a diferença?

Este trabalho descreve sumariamente implementações didáticas, levadas a cabo em duas Instituições de Ensino Superior: a Universidade Federal de Santa Catarina (Brasil) e o Instituto Superior de Engenharia, do Politécnico do Porto (Portugal), em duas unidades curriculares, respetivamente Cálculo IV e Física Aplicada, de cursos de Engenharia, no ano letivo de 2017.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Diffusion-Based smoothers for spatial filtering of gridded geophysical data

© The Author(s), 2021. This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License. The definitive version was published in Grooms, I., Loose, N., Abernathey, R., Steinberg, J. M., Bachman, S. D., Marques, G., Guillaumin, A. P., & Yankovsky, E. Diffusion-Based smoothers for spatial filtering of gridded geophysical data. Journal of Advances in Modeling Earth Systems, 13(9), (2021): e2021MS002552, https://doi.org/10.1029/2021MS002552.We describe a new way to apply a spatial filter to gridded data from models or observations, focusing on low-pass filters. The new method is analogous to smoothing via diffusion, and its implementation requires only a discrete Laplacian operator appropriate to the data. The new method can approximate arbitrary filter shapes, including Gaussian filters, and can be extended to spatially varying and anisotropic filters. The new diffusion-based smoother's properties are illustrated with examples from ocean model data and ocean observational products. An open-source Python package implementing this algorithm, called gcm-filters, is currently under development.I.G. and N.L. are supported by NSF OCE 1912332. R.A. is supported by NSF OCE 1912325. J.S. is supported by NSF OCE 1912302. S.B. and G.M. are supported by NSF OCE 1912420. A.G. and E.Y. are supported by NSF GEO 1912357 and NOAA CVP NA19OAR4310364

Next-generation Sequencing-based genomic profiling: Fostering innovation in cancer care?

OBJECTIVES: With the development of next-generation sequencing (NGS) technologies, DNA sequencing has been increasingly utilized in clinical practice. Our goal was to investigate the impact of genomic evaluation on treatment decisions for heavily pretreated patients with metastatic cancer. METHODS: We analyzed metastatic cancer patients from a single institution whose cancers had progressed after all available standard-of-care therapies and whose tumors underwent next-generation sequencing analysis. We determined the percentage of patients who received any therapy directed by the test, and its efficacy. RESULTS: From July 2013 to December 2015, 185 consecutive patients were tested using a commercially available next-generation sequencing-based test, and 157 patients were eligible. Sixty-six patients (42.0%) were female, and 91 (58.0%) were male. The mean age at diagnosis was 52.2 years, and the mean number of pre-test lines of systemic treatment was 2.7. One hundred and seventy-seven patients (95.6%) had at least one identified gene alteration. Twenty-four patients (15.2%) underwent systemic treatment directed by the test result. Of these, one patient had a complete response, four (16.7%) had partial responses, two (8.3%) had stable disease, and 17 (70.8%) had disease progression as the best result. The median progression-free survival time with matched therapy was 1.6 months, and the median overall survival was 10 months. CONCLUSION: We identified a high prevalence of gene alterations using an next-generation sequencing test. Although some benefit was associated with the matched therapy, most of the patients had disease progression as the best response, indicating the limited biological potential and unclear clinical relevance of this practice

Application of biotechnologies for the increment of calves’ production

La Incorporación de las técnicas de Inseminación artificial y transferencia embrionaria(en ambos casos a tiempo fijo) y la aplicación de herramientas de sincronización y resincronización de celos, han demostrado ser capaces de aumentar la cantidad de terneros nacidos, incrementando por consiguiente la productividad y rentabilidad de las explotaciones ganaderas.The incorporation of artificial insemination and embryonic transfer techniques (in both cases at fixed times) and the application of heat synchronization and re-synchronization tools have demonstrated to be useful methods to increase the number of calves born, consequently increasing the productivity and profitability of cattle exploitations. Furthermore, the use of semen and embryos involve the genetic improvement of the farms. Such biotechnical benefits require special features, with emphasis on the appropriate control of the rodeo that includes female identification and the correct execution of the reproductive, sanitarium and nutritional procedures.Fil: Bontemps, Sophie. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Marques, M. O.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Vieira, L. M.. Universidade de Sao Paulo; BrasilFil: Konrad, José Luis. Consejo Nacional de Investigaciones Científicas y Técnicas. Centro Científico Tecnológico Conicet - Nordeste; Argentina. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias. Departamento de Producción Animal; ArgentinaFil: Crudeli, Gustavo Angel. Universidad Nacional del Nordeste. Facultad de Cs.veterinarias. Departamento de Producción Animal; Argentin

TALENTO MOTOR: ESTUDO EXPLORATÓRIO EM ESCOLARES DO RIO GRANDE DO SUL

Encontrar indivíduos com talento é uma das preocupações de inúmeras áreas do conhecimento e se justifica pelo fato destas pessoas terem índices superiores, em alguma característica, em relação aos outros indivíduos de sua população, tendo assim, grande chance de excelência na realização das tarefas inerentes ao seu contexto. Impulsionados por isto, o objetivo deste estudo foi identificar a ocorrência de escolares que apresentam, perante o seu grupo, níveis significativos superiores de desempenho (percentil 98) nos componentes da bateria de testes de referenciada a detecção de talento motor (DTM). Para isto contamos com uma amostra de 3945 crianças e adolescentes, com idades entre 12 e 17 anos. Os componentes da aptidão física referenciada a detecção de talento motor (DTM) avaliados foram: (a) Força explosiva de membros superiores, (b) Força explosiva de membros, (c)Velocidade de deslocamento, (d) Agilidade, e (e) Resistência geral. Utilizamos como referência para a determinação de talento motor o percentil 98 (p98). Na análise dos dados foi usada a estatística descritiva. Os resultados demonstraram que cerca de 5,7% e 4,6% para meninos e meninas respectivamente atingiram o critério em pelo menos 1 dos testes da bateria DTM, sendo que apenas 0,3% dos escolares apresentaram índices superiores ao p98 em 2 testes. Após as análises, podemos concluir que estes indivíduos que possuem excelentes índices nas capacidades motoras são de fato talentos motores, tendo suas chances significativamente aumentadas de participarem de práticas esportivas bem sucedidas

Decreased incidence, virus transmission capacity, and severity of COVID-19 at altitude on the American continent

The coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) outbreak in North, Central, and South America has become the epicenter of the current pandemic. We have suggested previously that the infection rate of this virus might be lower in people living at high altitude (over 2,500 m) compared to that in the lowlands. Based on data from official sources, we performed a new epidemiological analysis of the development of the pandemic in 23 countries on the American continent as of May 23, 2020. Our results confirm our previous finding, further showing that the incidence of COVID-19 on the American continent decreases significantly starting at 1,000 m above sea level (masl). Moreover, epidemiological modeling indicates that the virus transmission rate is lower in the highlands (>1,000 masl) than in the lowlands (<1,000 masl). Finally, evaluating the differences in the recovery percentage of patients, the death-to-case ratio, and the theoretical fraction of undiagnosed cases, we found that the severity of COVID-19 is also decreased above 1,000 m. We conclude that the impact of the COVID-19 decreases significantly with altitude