Correlação entre caracteres agronômicos, fisiológicos e fitoquímicos em variedades de Artemisia annua L

The aim of this study was to estimate the correlations among agronomic, physiological and phytochemical traits of two varieties of Artemisia annua and to identify correlations that can be used in selection and breeding processes for this species. The design was completely randomized and the treatments were for Artemisia annua varieties 2/39x5x3M and 2/39x1V, which were subjected to agronomic, physiological and phytochemical evaluations. The relationship among the studied traits was estimated with Pearson's correlation coefficient, and the significance level of correlations was established by the t-test using Genes software. A significant positive correlation was found between the traits canopy volume and essential oil yield for 2/39x5x3M variety, showing that the selection of plants with a larger canopy volume would facilitate indirect selection of the trait essential oil yield. This correlation was not found for the 2/39x1V variety. In both varieties, there was a significant negative correlation between canopy volume and artemisinin content, which suggested that the selection of plants with a large canopy volume and a large number of branches should be avoided if the goal is to increase artemisinin content.O objetivo deste trabalho foi estimar as correlações existentes entre caracteres agronômicos, fisiológicos e fitoquímicos em duas variedades de Artemisia annua e identificar correlações que possam ser utilizadas em processos de seleção e melhoramento da espécie. O delineamento foi inteiramente casualizado e os tratamentos foram às variedades 2/39x5x3M e 2/39x1V de Artemisia annua, submetidas a avaliações agronômicas, fisiológicas e fitoquímicas. A relação existente entre os caracteres estudados foi estimada através do coeficiente de correlação de Pearson e o nível de significância das correlações pelo teste t, realizadas no programa Genes. Encontrou-se correlação positiva e significativa entre os caracteres volume de dossel e rendimento de óleo essencial na variedade 2/39x5x3M, evidenciando que a seleção de plantas com maior volume de dossel possibilitaria a seleção indireta para o cárater rendimento de óleo essencial. Esta correlação não foi encontrada na variedade 2/39x1V. Em ambas as variedades, observou-se correlação negativa e significativa entre volume de dossel e teor de artemisinina indicando que deve-se evitar a seleção de plantas com grande volume de dossel e número de ramificações, se o interesse do melhoramento for maior teor de artemisinina.135141Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior (CAPES

Direct observation of the effective bending moduli of a fluid membrane: Free-energy cost due to the reference-plane deformations

Effective bending moduli of a fluid membrane are investigated by means of the transfer-matrix method developed in our preceding paper. This method allows us to survey various statistical measures for the partition sum. The role of the statistical measures is arousing much attention, since Pinnow and Helfrich claimed that under a suitable statistical measure, that is, the local mean curvature, the fluid membranes are stiffened, rather than softened, by thermal undulations. In this paper, we propose an efficient method to observe the effective bending moduli directly: We subjected a fluid membrane to a curved reference plane, and from the free-energy cost due to the reference-plane deformations, we read off the effective bending moduli. Accepting the mean-curvature measure, we found that the effective bending rigidity gains even in the case of very flexible membrane (small bare rigidity); it has been rather controversial that for such non-perturbative regime, the analytical prediction does apply. We also incorporate the Gaussian-curvature modulus, and calculated its effective rigidity. Thereby, we found that the effective Gaussian-curvature modulus stays almost scale-invariant. All these features are contrasted with the results under the normal-displacement measure

Genetic dissimilarity in varieties of Artemisia annua L. based on agronomic, physiological and phytochemical characters

O presente estudo objetivou estimar a variabilidade genética existente entre caracteres agronômicos, fisiológicos e fitoquímicos em variedades de A. annua. O delineamento experimental foi inteiramente casualizado e os tratamentos foram as variedades Artemis, 2/39x5x3M, e 2/39x1V de A. annua, submetidas a avaliações agronômicas, fisiológicas e fitoquímicas. Para a realização das estimativas de distância genética foram geradas matrizes de dissimilaridade utilizando a distância Euclidiana e os métodos de agrupamento de Tocher e UPGMA. Além disso, avaliou-se a importância relativa dos caracteres para divergência genética pelo método de Singh. As análises foram realizadas pelo software Genes e os dendrogramas obtidos pelo NTSYS. A presença de variabilidade genética dentro das variedades permitiu a identificação de acessos dissimilares e com média elevada para as características estudadas. O número de ramificações, concentração intracelular de CO2, e o rendimento de óleo essencial foram os caracteres que mais contribuíram para a dissimilaridade genética de A. annua. Os acessos B24, C5 e C32 foram os mais promissores dentro das variedades e devem ser conservados para futuras hibridações, sendo que as hibridações mais promissoras na obtenção de populações segregantes desejadas são B24 x C5, B24 x C32 e C5 x C321621356363COORDENAÇÃO DE APERFEIÇOAMENTO DE PESSOAL DE NÍVEL SUPERIOR - CAPESsem informaçãoThis study aimed to estimate the genetic variability among agronomic, physiological, and phytochemical characters in varieties of A. annua. The experimental design was completely randomized and the treatments were the varieties Artemis, 2/39x5x3M and 2/39x1V of A. annua, subject to agronomic, physiological and phytochemical evaluations. To estimate the genetic distances, dissimilarity matrices were generated using the Euclidean distance and the Tocher and UPGMA grouping methods. Moreover, we evaluated the relative importance of the characters for genetic divergence through the method of Singh. The analyses were performed in the Genes software and the dendrograms were obtained from the NTSYS program. The presence of genetic variability within the varieties allowed the identification of dissimilar accessions with high average for all traits. The number of branches, intracellular concentration of CO2 and oil yield were the traits that contributed most to the genetic dissimilarity of A. annua. The accessions B24, C5 and C32 were the most promising within the populations and must be conserved for future crossings, and the most promising crosses to obtain the desired segregant populations were B24 x C5, B24 x C32 and C5 x C3

Genetic Mapping of QTLs Controlling Fatty Acids Provided Insights into the Genetic Control of Fatty Acid Synthesis Pathway in Peanut (Arachis hypogaea L.)

Peanut, a high-oil crop with about 50% oil content, is either crushed for oil or used as edible products. Fatty acid composition determines the oil quality which has high relevance to consumer health, flavor, and shelf life of commercial products. In addition to the major fatty acids, oleic acid (C18:1) and linoleic acid (C18:2) accounting for about 80% of peanut oil, the six other fatty acids namely palmitic acid (C16:0), stearic acid (C18:0), arachidic acid (C20:0), gadoleic acid (C20:1), behenic acid (C22:0), and lignoceric acid (C24:0) are accounted for the rest 20%. To determine the genetic basis and to improve further understanding on effect of FAD2 genes on these fatty acids, two recombinant inbred line (RIL) populations namely S-population (high oleic line ‘SunOleic 97R’ × low oleic line ‘NC94022’) and T-population (normal oleic line ‘Tifrunner’ × low oleic line ‘GT-C20’) were developed. Genetic maps with 206 and 378 marker loci for the S- and the T-population, respectively were used for quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis. As a result, a total of 164 main-effect (M-QTLs) and 27 epistatic (E-QTLs) QTLs associated with the minor fatty acids were identified with 0.16% to 40.56% phenotypic variation explained (PVE). Thirty four major QTLs (>10% of PVE) mapped on five linkage groups and 28 clusters containing more than three QTLs were also identified. These results suggest that the major QTLs with large additive effects would play an important role in controlling composition of these minor fatty acids in addition to the oleic and linoleic acids in peanut oil. The interrelationship among these fatty acids should be considered while breeding for improved peanut genotypes with good oil quality and desired fatty acid composition

Evaluation of Postsurgical Hyperalgesia and Sensitization After Open Inguinal Hernia Repair: A Useful Model for Neuropathic Pain?

Cutaneous mechanical hyperalgesia can be induced in healthy volunteers in early phase analgesic studies to model central sensitization, a key mechanism of persistent pain. However, such hyperalgesia is short-lived (a matter of hours), and is used only for assessing only single drug doses. In contrast, postsurgical peri-incisional hyperalgesia may be more persistent and hence be a more useful model for the assessment of the efficacy of new analgesics. We undertook quantitative sensory testing in 18 patients at peri-incisional and nonoperated sites before open inguinal hernia repair and up to the 24th postsurgical week. The spatial extent of punctate hyperalgesia and brush allodynia at the peri-incisional site were greatest at weeks 2 and 4, but had resolved by week 24. Heat allodynia, suggestive of local inflammation or peripheral sensitization, was not observed; instead, there were deficits in cold and heat sensory detection that persisted until week 24. The findings suggest that central sensitization contributes significantly to mechanical hyperalgesia at the peri-incisional site. The prolonged duration of hyperalgesia would be advantageous as a pain model, but there was considerable variability of mechanical hyperalgesia in the cohort; the challenges of recruitment may limit its use to small, early phase analgesic studies. PERSPECTIVE: Peri-incisional mechanical hyperalgesia persists for ≥4 weeks after open inguinal hernia repair and reflects central sensitization; this may have usefulness as a model of chronic pain to assess the potential of antineuropathic analgesics.Unrestricted educational grant from GlaxoSmithKline U

Thermal and Optical Characterization of Undoped and Neodymium-Doped Y3ScAl4O12 Ceramics

Y3–3xNd3xSc1Al4O12 (x = 0, 0.01, and 0.02) ceramics were fabricated by sintering at high temperature under vacuum. Unit cell parameter refinement and chemical analysis have been performed. The morphological characterization shows micrograins with no visible defects. The thermal analysis of these ceramics is presented, by measuring the specific heat in the temperature range from 300 to 500 K. Their values at room temperature are in the range 0.81–0.90 J g1–K–1. The thermal conductivity has been determined by two methods: by the experimental measurement of the thermal diffusivity by the photopyroelectric method, and by spectroscopy, evaluating the thermal load. The thermal conductivities are in the range 9.7–6.5 W K–1 m–1 in the temperature interval from 300 to 500 K. The thermooptic coefficients were measured at 632 nm by the dark mode method using a prism coupler, and the obtained values are in the range 12.8–13.3 × 10–6 K–1. The nonlinear refractive index values at 795 nm have been evaluated to calibrate the nonlinear optical response of these materials.This work is supported by the Spanish Government under projects MAT2011-29255-C02-01-02, MAT2013-47395-C4-4-R, and the Catalan Government under project 2014SGR1358. It was also funded by the European Commission under the Seventh Framework Programme, project Cleanspace, FP7-SPACE-2010-1-GA No. 263044

Slaughter weight rather than sex affects carcass cuts and tissue composition of Bisaro pigs

Carcass cuts and tissue composition were assessed in Bisaro pigs (n=64) from two sexes (31 gilts and 33 entire males) reared until three target slaughter body-weights (BW) means: 17 kg, 32 kg, and 79 kg. Dressing percentage and backfat thickness increased whereas carcass shrinkage decreased with increasing BW. Slaughter weight affected most of the carcass cut proportions, except shoulder and thoracic regions. Bone proportion decreased linearly with increasing slaughter BW, while intermuscular and subcutaneous adipose tissue depots increased concomitantly. Slaughter weight increased the subcutaneous adipose tissue proportion but this impaired intramuscular and intermuscular adipose tissues in the loin primal. The sex of the pigs minimally affected the carcass composition, as only the belly weight and the subcutaneous adipose tissue proportions were greater in gilts than in entire males. Light pigs regardless of sex are recommended to balance the trade-offs between carcass cuts and their non-edible compositional outcomes.Work included in the Portuguese PRODER research Project BISOPORC – Pork extensive production of Bísara breed, in two alternative systems: fattening on concentrate vs chesnut, Project PRODER SI I&DT Medida 4.1 “Cooperação para a Inovação”. The authors are grateful to Laboratory of Carcass and Meat Quality of Agriculture School of Polytechnic Institute of Bragança ‘Cantinho do Alfredo’. The authors are members of the MARCARNE network, funded by CYTED (ref. 116RT0503).info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio