Generación de una nueva fuente de tolerancia a herbicidas IMI mediante radiación gamma en trigo pan (T. aestivum L.)

El Laboratorio de Calidad Industrial de Granos ubicado en Barrow (Convenio INTA-MDA), Buenos Aires brinda apoyo a los Programas de Mejoramiento (PM) públicos y privados analizando líneas desde las primeras generaciones hasta aquellas que son promisorias para la presentación de legajos ante el Registro Nacional de Cultivares. Con 58 años de actividad es Laboratorio Oficial, referente zonal y nacional evaluando calidad comercial e industrial de cereales y oleaginosas. Anualmente se analizan más de 6000 muestras que incluyen diferentes cultivos, etapas del mejoramiento y prácticas de manejo. Para el análisis del trigo candeal es único en el país con equipos y metodologías adecuados para la selección de líneas en las distintas generaciones de acuerdo a lo requerido por la industria. En el centro sur bonaerense fue pionero en generar información sobre el comportamiento de los cultivares comerciales de trigo pan considerando la procedencia. Como parte de la articulación con la cadena productiva cumple servicios de asesoramiento, analizando la calidad de la materia prima de numerosas empresas ligadas a la segunda transformación. El trabajo conjunto entre INTA y MDA permite que la transferencia a productores y asesores se logre amplificar en jornadas y publicaciones sobre distintos tópicos de calidad. También participa en aéreas de investigación mediante convenios con universidades e institutos nacionales e internacionales incluyendo la formación de recursos humanos. La aplicación desde 2008 del Sistema de Gestión de la Calidad basado en Norma ISO 17025 asegura que los resultados emitidos sean comparables con cualquier otro laboratorio, valorizando la labor realizada

Impairments in attention in occasionally snoring children: An event-related potential study.

Objective: To determine whether minimal snoring is benign in children. Procedure: 22 rarely snoring children (mean age = 6.9 years, 11 females) and age- and sex-matched controls participated in an auditory oddball task wearing 128-electrode nets. Parents completed the Conners Parent Rating Scales–Revised Long (CPRS–R:L). Results: Snorers scored significantly higher on four CPRS-R:L subscales. Stepwise regression indicated that two ERP variables from a region of the ERP that peaked at 844 msec post-stimulus onset predicted CPRS-R:L Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD) Index scores. Conclusions: Occasional snorers, according to parental report, do exhibit ADHD-like behaviors. Basic sensory processing is longer than in controls, suggesting that delayed frontal activation requires more effort in snorers

Impairments in Attention in Occasionally Snoring Children: An Event-Related Potential Study

Objective—To determine whether minimal snoring is benign in children. Procedure—22 rarely snoring children (mean age=6.9 years, 11 females) and age- and sexmatched controls participated in an auditory oddball task wearing 128-electrode nets. Parents completed Conner’s Parent Rating Scales-Revised Long (CPRS-R:L). Results—Snorers scored significantly higher on 4 CPRS-R:L subscales. Stepwise regression indicated that two ERP variables from a region of the ERP that peaked at 844 ms post-stimulus onset predicted CPRS-R:L ADHD Index scores. Conclusions—Occasional snorers according to parental report do exhibit ADHD-like behaviors. Basic sensory processing is longer than in controls, suggesting that delayed frontal activation requires more effort in snorers

MEDUSA: Observation of atmospheric dust and water vapor close to the surface of Mars

Background: The study of airborne dust and water vapor properties at the Martian surface level is an important task for the achievement of some of the primary scientific goals of Mars exploration: to study the water cycle and present / past habitability, climate history and hazardous conditions. Method: The MEDUSA instrument has been designed for the direct in situ measurement of dust and water vapor properties, such as dust size distribution, number density, deposition rate and electrification, and water vapor abundance. Conclusion: The MEDUSA instrument reached a Technical Readiness Level > 5 within the ESA ExoMars mission development and it is well suited to be accommodated on landers and rovers for Mars exploration

Neurochemistry Predicts Convergence of Written and Spoken Language: A Proton Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy Study of Cross-Modal Language Integration

Recent studies have provided evidence of associations between neurochemistry and reading (dis)ability (Pugh et al., 2014). Based on a long history of studies indicating that fluent reading entails the automatic convergence of the written and spoken forms of language and our recently proposed Neural Noise Hypothesis (Hancock et al., 2017), we hypothesized that individual differences in cross-modal integration would mediate, at least partially, the relationship between neurochemical concentrations and reading. Cross-modal integration was measured in 231 children using a two-alternative forced choice cross-modal matching task with three language conditions (letters, words, and pseudowords) and two levels of difficulty within each language condition. Neurometabolite concentrations of Choline (Cho), Glutamate (Glu), gamma-Aminobutyric (GABA), and N- acetyl-aspartate (NAA) were then measured in a subset of this sample (n = 70) with Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy (MRS). A structural equation mediation model revealed that the effect of cross-modal word matching mediated the relationship between increased Glu (which has been proposed to be an index of neural noise) and poorer reading ability. In addition, the effect of cross-modal word matching fully mediated a relationship between increased Cho and poorer reading ability. Multilevel mixed effects models confirmed that lower Cho predicted faster cross-modal matching reaction time, specifically in the hard word condition. These Cho findings are consistent with previous work in both adults and children showing a negative association between Cho and reading ability. We also found two novel neurochemical relationships. Specifically, lower GABA and higher NAA predicted faster cross-modal matching reaction times. We interpret these results within a biochemical framework in which the ability of neurochemistry to predict reading ability may at least partially be explained by cross-modal integration

The proper name as starting point for basic reading skills

Does alphabetic-phonetic writing start with the proper name and how does the name affect reading and writing skills? Sixty 4- to 5½-year-old children from middle SES families with Dutch as their first language wrote their proper name and named letters. For each child we created unique sets of words with and without the child’s first letter of the name to test spelling skills and phonemic sensitivity. Name writing correlated with children’s knowledge of the first letter of the name and phonemic sensitivity for the sound of the first letter of the name. Hierarchical regression analysis makes plausible that both knowledge of the first letter’s name and phonemic sensitivity for this letter explain why name writing results in phonetic spelling with the name letter. Practical implications of the findings are discussed

The DREAMS experiment flown on the ExoMars 2016 mission for the study of Martian environment during the dust storm season

The DREAMS (Dust characterization, Risk assessment and Environment Analyser on the Martian Surface) instrument on Schiaparelli lander of ExoMars 2016 mission was an autonomous meteorological station designed to completely characterize the Martian atmosphere on surface, acquiring data not only on temperature, pressure, humidity, wind speed and its direction, but also on solar irradiance, dust opacity and atmospheric electrification; this comprehensive set of parameters would assist the quantification of risks and hazards for future manned exploration missions mainly related to the presence of airborne dust. Schiaparelli landing on Mars was in fact scheduled during the foreseen dust storm season (October 2016 in Meridiani Planum) allowing DREAMS to directly measure the characteristics of such extremely harsh environment. DREAMS instrument’s architecture was based on a modular design developing custom boards for analog and digital channel conditioning, power distribution, on board data handling and communication with the lander. The boards, connected through a common backbone, were hosted in a central electronic unit assembly and connected to the external sensors with dedicated harness. Designed with very limited mass and an optimized energy consumption, DREAMS was successfully tested to operate autonomously, relying on its own power supply, for at least two Martian days (sols) after landing on the planet. A total of three flight models were fully qualified before launch through an extensive test campaign comprising electrical and functional testing, EMC verification and mechanical and thermal vacuum cycling; furthermore following the requirements for planetary protection, contamination control activities and assay sampling were conducted before model delivery for final integration on spacecraft. During the six months cruise to Mars following the successful launch of ExoMars on 14th March 2016, periodic check outs were conducted to verify instrument health check and update mission timelines for operation. Elaboration of housekeeping data showed that the behaviour of the whole instrument was nominal during the whole cruise. Unfortunately DREAMS was not able to operate on the surface of Mars, due to the known guidance anomaly during the descent that caused Schiaparelli to crash at landing. The adverse sequence of events at 4 km altitude anyway triggered the transition of the lander in surface operative mode, commanding switch on the DREAMS instrument, which was therefore able to correctly power on and send back housekeeping data. This proved the nominal performance of all DREAMS hardware before touchdown demonstrating the highest TRL of the unit for future missions. The spare models of DREAMS are currently in use at university premises for the development of autonomous units to be used in cubesat mission and in probes for stratospheric balloons launches in collaboration with Italian Space Agency