Effects on Berry Shrinkage in Vitis vinifera. L cv. ‘Merlot’ From Changes in Canopy/Root Ratio: A Preliminary Approach

A trial was conducted to find a possible relationship between the canopy/root ratio and the incidence and severity of premature berry shrinkage, and to propose an alternative to avoid this phenomenon in ‘Merlot’ grapevines. The ratio was changed by cutting foliage at a certain height 15 days before véraison, and by delaying the removal of trunk shoots. Treatments were the control (T1), 50% foliage area of control (T2), 75% foliage area of control (T3), and delayed trunk shoot removal (T4). Foliage area and the canopy/root ratio were lower in the T2 and T3 treatments. T4 was ineffective in changing the parameters. The incidence of berry shrinkage was lower for the T2 and T3 treatments, with the percentage of affected plants dropping from the 52% of the control to 22.9% and 31.3% for T2 and T3 respectively, and from 52.4% of the affected bunches to 16.6% and 21.2% for the same treatments respectively. The percentage of affected bunches falling into the range of moderate to severe damage fell from the 24% of the control to 5.2% and 3.9% for T2 and T3 respectively. Therefore, it is possible to avoid the incidence and severity of berry shrinkage by decreasing the canopy/root ratio in ‘Merlot’ grapevines

Pruning cuts affect wood necrosis but not the percentage of budburst or shoot development on spur pruned vines for different grapevine varieties

Two experimental studies were performed in this trial. In the first, the aim was to quantify wood necrosis generated by pruning cuts on aboveground permanent (arms and trunks) and non-permanent (spurs) woody structures of 'Cabernet Sauvignon' vines. In the second, the goal was to evaluate the effect of cutting distance from the basal end of the shoot in spur pruned vines on budburst and further shoot development for 'Grenache', 'Cabernet Franc' and 'Malbec' varieties. Based upon the first experiment, the area and depth of wood necrosis was highly influenced by the distance where the pruning cut was performed over the node. Furthermore, the diameter of the spur that was cut was not significantly related to either the area or the depth of the necrotic wood generated after the cut. Aboveground vine wood necrotic area ranged from 9 to 44 % of the total wood area measured in 'Cabernet Sauvignon' cordon trained spur pruned 25-year-old grapevines. For each vine a larger proportion of the necrotic wood (20 to 46 % of necrotic area) was present in the arms when compared to the trunks (1 to 28 % of necrotic area). As a result of the second experiment, spur budburst and further shoot development was not affected by the distance from the node where the pruning cut was performed for any of the cultivars considered in the study contrary to what is commonly believed

Timing of surgery for hip fracture and in-hospital mortality: a retrospective population-based cohort study in the Spanish National Health System

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>While the benefits or otherwise of early hip fracture repair is a long-running controversy with studies showing contradictory results, this practice is being adopted as a quality indicator in several health care organizations. The aim of this study is to analyze the association between early hip fracture repair and in-hospital mortality in elderly people attending public hospitals in the Spanish National Health System and, additionally, to explore factors associated with the decision to perform early hip fracture repair.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A cohort of 56,500 patients of 60-years-old and over, hospitalized for hip fracture during the period 2002 to 2005 in all the public hospitals in 8 Spanish regions, were followed up using administrative databases to identify the time to surgical repair and in-hospital mortality. We used a multivariate logistic regression model to analyze the relationship between the timing of surgery (< 2 days from admission) and in-hospital mortality, controlling for several confounding factors.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Early surgery was performed on 25% of the patients. In the unadjusted analysis early surgery showed an absolute difference in risk of mortality of 0.57 (from 4.42% to 3.85%). However, patients undergoing delayed surgery were older and had higher comorbidity and severity of illness. Timeliness for surgery was not found to be related to in-hospital mortality once confounding factors such as age, sex, chronic comorbidities as well as the severity of illness were controlled for in the multivariate analysis.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Older age, male gender, higher chronic comorbidity and higher severity measured by the Risk Mortality Index were associated with higher mortality, but the time to surgery was not.</p

Non-Targeted Metabolite Profiles and Sensory Properties Elucidate Commonalities and Differences of Wines Made with the Same Variety but Different Cultivar Clones

Grapes, one of the oldest agricultural crops, are cultivated to produce table fruits, dried fruits, juice, and wine. Grapevine variety is composed of clones that share common morphological traits. However, they can differ in minor genetic mutations which often result in not only notorious morphological changes but also in other non-visible sensorial distinctive attributes. In the present work, we identified three Vitis vinifera cv. Pinot noir clones grown under identical field conditions that showed different grape cluster types. Here, sensorial analysis together with non-targeted metabolite profiles by Ultra High performance Liquid Chromatography (UPLC) couples to Ultra High Resolution Mass Spectrometry (FT-ICR-MS) of wines elaborated from the three different grape cluster types was studied with the aim of (i) finding sensorial differences among these three types of wines, and, if there were, (ii) determining the molecular features (metabolites) associated with these sensorial attributes by a multivariate statistical approach