Differential tolerance of sugarcane cultivars to clomazone

Weed control is one of the most relevant costs of sugarcane production. If weeds are not controlled at the right time, the productivity and longevity of sugarcane plantations are reduced. In this crop, chemical control is the most used method, since it is efficient and it has a lower cost. Differentiated tolerance of sugarcane cultivars to the herbicide clomazone has been observed in the fields. However, there is no scientific evidence of this effect on the productivity of crops. This study evaluated the effects of clomazone on three sugarcane cultivars (RB966928, RB93579 and RB867515). Herbicide application was performed 40 days after the emergence of sugarcane plants and 7, 14, 21 and 28 days after the application, the toxicity caused by the herbicide in the culture was evaluated through grades ranging from 0 (no toxicity) to 100 (plant death). The harvest was performed 580 days after the herbicide application. On this occasion, the length and diameter of the stem, number of tillers, tons of stems per hectare, total soluble solids of the juice, sucrose of the juice, apparent purity of the juice, sugarcane fiber, reducing sugars and total recoverable sugars were evaluated. The differential tolerance among sugarcane cultivars in response to clomazone application in the early stages of crop development was confirmed. Nevertheless, in all cultivars, the symptoms of intoxication disappeared over time and did not reflect on crop productivity. It was concluded that plant control in the sugarcane crop with clomazone, following the recommendation of the manufacturer, does not interfere negatively in the growth, development and productivity of the crop.As plantas daninhas, se não controladas no momento adequado, reduzem a produtividade e longevidade dos canaviais. Nesta cultura, o método químico de controle das plantas daninhas, por ser eficiente e de menor custo, é o mais utilizado. No campo, tem-se observado tolerância diferenciada de cultivares de cana-de-açúcar ao herbicida clomazone. Contudo, não existe comprovação científica desse efeito sobre a produtividade dos cultivares. Neste trabalho foram avaliados os efeitos do clomazone em três cultivares de cana-de-açúcar (RB966928, RB93579 e RB867515). A aplicação do herbicida foi feita aos 40 dias após emergência das plantas de cana, e aos 7, 14, 21 e 28 dias após a aplicação foram avaliadas as intoxicações causadas pelo herbicida na cultura, atribuindo-se notas que variaram de 0 (ausência de intoxicação) até 100 (morte das plantas). Aos 580 dias após a aplicação foi realizada a colheita da cultura. Nessa ocasião, foram avaliados o comprimento e diâmetro do colmo, número de perfilho, tonelada de colmos por hectare, sólidos solúveis totais do caldo, sacarose do caldo, pureza aparente do caldo, fibra da cana, açúcares redutores e açúcares totais recuperáveis. Foi confirmada a tolerância diferenciada entre cultivares de cana-de-açúcar à aplicação do clomazone no início de desenvolvimento da cultura. Entretanto, os sintomas de intoxicação desapareceram ao longo do tempo e não refletiram na produtividade da cultura. Concluiu-se que o controle de plantas na cultura da cana-de-açúcar com o clomazone, seguindo a recomendação do fabricante, não interfere no crescimento, no desenvolvimento e na produtividade da cultura

Generation of arbitrary two dimensional motional state of a trapped ion

We present a scheme to generate an arbitrary two-dimensional quantum state of motion of a trapped ion. This proposal is based on a sequence of laser pulses, which are tuned appropriately to control transitions on the sidebands of two modes of vibration. Not more than $(M+1)(N+1)$ laser pulses are needed to generate a pure state with upper phonon number $M$ and $N$ in the $x$ and $y$ direction respectively.Comment: to appear in PR

Generation of two-mode nonclassical states and a quantum phase gate operation in trapped ion cavity QED

We propose a scheme to generate nonclassical states of a quantum system, which is composed of the one-dimensional trapped ion motion and a single cavity field mode. We show that two-mode SU(2) Schr\"odinger-cat states, entangled coherent states, two-mode squeezed vacuum states and their superposition can be generated. If the vibration mode and the cavity mode are used to represent separately a qubit, a quantum phase gate can be implemented.Comment: to appear in PR

Transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) maintains follicular ultrastructure and stimulates preantral follicle growth in caprine ovarian tissue cultured in vitro

O objetivo desse estudo foi investigar se o TGF-β afeta a sobrevivência, ativação e crescimento de folículos primordiais caprinos inclusos no córtex ovariano após o cultivo in vitro. Ovários de cabras foram coletados em abatedouro e fragmentos de tecido ovariano foram cultivados por um e sete dias em meio essencial mínimo alfa (α-MEM+) sozinho ou suplementado com TGF-β (1, 5, 10 ou 50ng/mL). Fragmentos ovarianos não cultivados e cultivados foram processados para análise histológica e ultraestrutural. Os resultados mostraram que, comparado ao controle fresco, houve diminuição no percentual de folículos morfologicamente normais em todos os tratamentos somente após sete dias de cultivo. O TGF-β não afetou a ativação folicular independente da concentração testada, contudo, o diâmetro folicular foi superior (P<0.05) no tratamento com 10ng/mL de TGF-β quando comparado ao controle fresco e aos demais tratamentos. Além disso, essa mesma concentração manteve a ultraestrutura normal dos folículos após sete dias de cultivo. Em conclusão, o TGF-β apresentou efeito adicional no crescimento folicular e na manutenção da integridade ultraestrutural de folículos pré-antrais caprinos inclusos no tecido ovariano quando utilizado na concentração de 10ng/mL durante sete dias de cultivo.The objectives of this study were to investigate whether TGF-β affect the survival, activation and further growth of goat primordial follicles enclosed in ovarian cortex after in vitro culture. Goat ovaries were collected from an abattoir and pieces of ovarian tissues were cultured for one or seven days in a supplemented alpha Minimum Essential Medium, alone or containing TGF-β (1, 5, 10 or 50ng/mL). Ovarian tissues from the fresh control as well as those cultured were processed for histological and ultrastructural studies. The results showed that when compared with fresh control, there was decrease in the percentages of histologically normal follicles in all treatments only after seven days culture. TGF-β did not affect the activation of preantral follicles regardless of its concentration, however, larger follicles diameter (P<0.05) was observed using 10ng/mL TGF-β than in the fresh control and other treatments. Moreover, this concentration maintained the normal ultrastructure after seven days of culture. In conclusion, TGF-β showed additional effect on the follicle growth and the maintenance of ultrastructural integrity of goat preantral follicles enclosed in ovarian tissue when used at 10ng/mL during seven days of culture

Vibrational pair cat states

Published versio

A device for feasible fidelity, purity, Hilbert-Schmidt distance and entanglement witness measurements

A generic model of measurement device which is able to directly measure commonly used quantum-state characteristics such as fidelity, overlap, purity and Hilbert-Schmidt distance for two general uncorrelated mixed states is proposed. In addition, for two correlated mixed states, the measurement realizes an entanglement witness for Werner's separability criterion. To determine these observables, the estimation only one parameter - the visibility of interference, is needed. The implementations in cavity QED, trapped ion and electromagnetically induced transparency experiments are discussed.Comment: 6 pages, 3 figure

Microbial Translocation Is Associated with Extensive Immune Activation in Dengue Virus Infected Patients with Severe Disease

Background:Severe dengue virus (DENV) disease is associated with extensive immune activation, characterized by a cytokine storm. Previously, elevated lipopolysaccharide (LPS) levels in dengue were found to correlate with clinical disease severity. In the present cross-sectional study we identified markers of microbial translocation and immune activation, which are associated with severe manifestations of DENV infection.Methods:Serum samples from DENV-infected patients were collected during the outbreak in 2010 in the State of São Paulo, Brazil. Levels of LPS, lipopolysaccharide binding protein (LBP), soluble CD14 (sCD14) and IgM and IgG endotoxin core antibodies were determined by ELISA. Thirty cytokines were quantified using a multiplex luminex system. Patients were classified according to the 2009 WHO classification and the occurrence of plasma leakage/shock and hemorrhage. Moreover, a (non-supervised) cluster analysis based on the expression of the quantified cytokines was applied to identify groups of patients with similar cytokine profiles. Markers of microbial translocation were linked to groups with similar clinical disease severity and clusters with similar cytokine profiles.Results:Cluster analysis indicated that LPS levels were significantly increased in patients with a profound pro-inflammatory cytokine profile. LBP and sCD14 showed significantly increased levels in patients with severe disease in the clinical classification and in patients with severe inflammation in the cluster analysis. With both the clinical classification and the cluster analysis, levels of IL-6, IL-8, sIL-2R, MCP-1, RANTES, HGF, G-CSF and EGF were associated with severe disease.Conclusions:The present study provides evidence that both microbial translocation and extensive immune activation occur during severe DENV infection and may play an important role in the pathogenesis