Chemical outbreak for tobacco mosaic virus control

Tobacco mosaic virus (TMV) represents a paradigm in virology, and its control may open the way to effective treatment against phytoviruses. However, the use of chemicals to eliminate the virus from infected plants is very difficult. In this state of the art survey we include trials on a) natural compounds derived from organisms, b) synthetic compounds and c) plant or microorganism extracts, from 2006 to 2015. Plants have been the main source of natural products for anti-TMV tests in the last ten years, and Nicotiana tabacum was the main focus of research, particularly between 2014-2015. Since 2012, there has been a great increase in publications (+45%) and identified compounds (+241%). Between 2012-2015, an average of 31 papers were published and 140 compounds were tested each year, compared to 9 papers and 26 compounds in 2006-2011. Unfortunately, there is little information on the action mechanisms of newly discovered or modified compounds. Cross references to the basic structure of compounds is provided in this review. This chemical outbreak this massive interest in chemical solutions to TMV could be due to the increasing availability of instruments for the analysis of organic compounds. Alternatively Another explanation could be that the chemistry advances in synthesis, which have provided countless drugs with potential benefits for TMV control, have overwhelmed overloaded the plant pathology screening needed to discriminate between compounds and to provide useful agrochemicals for farmers

Cytokine inflammatory threat, but not LPS one, shortens GABAergic synaptic currents in the mouse spinal cord organotypic cultures

Background: Synaptic dysfunction, named synaptopathy, due to inflammatory status of the central nervous system (CNS) is a recognized factor potentially underlying both motor and cognitive dysfunctions in neurodegenerative diseases. To gain knowledge on the mechanistic interplay between local inflammation and synapse changes, we compared two diverse inflammatory paradigms, a cytokine cocktail (CKs; IL-1\u3b2, TNF-\u3b1, and GM-CSF) and LPS, and their ability to tune GABAergic current duration in spinal cord cultured circuits. Methods: We exploit spinal organotypic cultures, single-cell electrophysiology, immunocytochemistry, and confocal microscopy to explore synaptic currents and resident neuroglia reactivity upon CK or LPS incubation. Results: Local inflammation in slice cultures induced by CK or LPS stimulations boosts network activity; however, only CKs specifically reduced GABAergic current duration. We pharmacologically investigated the contribution of GABAAR \u3b1-subunits and suggested that a switch of GABAAR \u3b11-subunit might have induced faster GABAAR decay time, weakening the inhibitory transmission. Conclusions: Lower GABAergic current duration could contribute to providing an aberrant excitatory transmission critical for pre-motor circuit tasks and represent a specific feature of a CK cocktail able to mimic an inflammatory reaction that spreads in the CNS. Our results describe a selective mechanism that could be triggered during specific inflammatory stress

Detection of grapevine yellows symptoms in Vitis vinifera L. with artificial intelligence

Abstract Grapevine yellows (GY) are a significant threat to grapes due to the severe symptoms and lack of treatments. Conventional diagnosis of the phytoplasmas associated to GYs relies on symptom identification, due to sensitivity limits of diagnostic tools (e.g. real time PCR) in asymptomatic vines, where the low concentration of the pathogen or its erratic distribution can lead to a high rate of false-negatives. GY's primary symptoms are leaf discoloration and irregular wood ripening, which can be easily confused for symptoms of other diseases making recognition a difficult task. Herein, we present a novel system, utilizing convolutional neural networks, for end-to-end detection of GY in red grape vine (cv. Sangiovese), using color images of leaf clippings. The diagnostic test detailed in this work does not require the user to be an expert at identifying GY. Data augmentation strategies make the system robust to alignment errors during data capture. When applied to the task of recognizing GY from digital images of leaf clippings—amongst many other diseases and a healthy control—the system has a sensitivity of 98.96% and a specificity of 99.40%. Deep learning has 35.97% and 9.88% better predictive value (PPV) when recognizing GY from sight, than a baseline system without deep learning and trained humans respectively. We evaluate six neural network architectures: AlexNet, GoogLeNet, Inception v3, ResNet-50, ResNet-101 and SqueezeNet. We find ResNet-50 to be the best compromise of accuracy and training cost. The trained neural networks, code to reproduce the experiments, and data of leaf clipping images are available on the internet. This work will advance the frontier of GY detection by improving detection speed, enabling a more effective response to the disease

Delivery Mode Shapes the Composition of the Lower Airways Microbiota in Newborns

Radical alterations in the human microbiota composition are well-known to be associated with many pathological conditions. If these aberrations are established at the time of birth, the risk of developing correlated pathologies throughout life is significantly increased. For this reason, all newborns should begin their lives with a proper microbiota in each body district. The present study aimed at demonstrating a correlation between the mode of delivery and the development of a well-balanced microbiota in the lower airways of newborns. 44 pregnant women were enrolled in this study. Microbiological comparative analysis was carried out on tracheobronchial secretions of babies born through vaginal delivery (VD) or caesarean section (CS). All samples showed the presence of bacterial DNA, regardless of the mode of delivery. No viable cultivable bacteria were isolated from the CS samples. On the contrary, VD allowed colonization of the lower airways by alive cultivable bacteria. The identification of bacterial species revealed that Lactobacillus spp. and Bacteroides vulgatus were the most common microorganisms in the lower airways of vaginally-delivered newborns. Data obtained from quantitative PCRs showed a significantly higher total bacterial load, as well as Firmicutes and Lactobacillus spp. amount, in VD samples than CS ones, while no statistically significant difference was found in Torque Teno Virus (TTV) load between samples. Taken together, our findings confirm the hypothesis that passage through the maternal vaginal canal determines more beneficial colonization of the lower airways in newborns

Pain threshold is reduced in depression.

Pain and depression may share common neurochemical substrates, therefore the study of pain sensation in depression might be valuable in the investigation of the pathophysiology of depression itself. In order to investigate the sensation of pain in depression, we measured pain threshold and sensory threshold by means of a dental tester, comparing a group of depressed patients with healthy volunteers. The results showed the presence of a higher sensory threshold and pain threshold in patients than in controls. This may be related to a hyperfunction of the opiate system, which in turn might be primary or secondary to a decreased modulatory function of other neurotransmitters, in particular of serotonin, whose abnormalities in depressive states are well-documented

The monitoring program of grapevine phytoplasmas in Tuscany (Italy): results of a four year survey

Quantitative PCR protocols for phytoplasma detection were used tomonitor grapevine yellows (GY) in 373 vineyards located in nine Tuscan districts. Among more than 70,000 plants visually monitored, 1.867 plants were sampled and “flavescence dorée” phytoplasmas (FD) were detected in 122 plants and mainly identified as trains belonging to 16SrV-C subgroup. The “bois noir” (BN) phytoplasma was found in 734 samples, with prevalence of tufB type-b strains. The 2013–2015 monitoring program was strongly influenced by the first survey (2012) in which FD was found consistently in the North West (15 samples), whereas only a few cases were observed in the East territory (2 samples). Both areas were thoroughly monitored in the following years: few foci were found in the East (2 in 2014, 1 in 2015), while several infected areas were found in the North West (6, 10 and 22 foci in 2013, 2014 and 2015, respectively). Definitely, the novel FD foci detected in the survey (17, 6, 12 and 23 in each year of survey) and the widespread of BN, suggest a dangerous distribution of GY in Tuscany

Influência do glicerol e etilenoglicol e da criopreservação sobre o complexo DNA-Proteina de espermatozóides em garanhões

The cryopreservation process cause stress physical and chemical to the spermatozoa, causing biochemistry alteration, irreversible reduction of the spermatic motility, increase of the DNA degeneration and intrcellular enzyme and lipids release. The aim of this study was to evaluate the influence of non-breeding and breeding seasons, glycerol and ethylene glycol, cryopreservation and thawing processes on stallion spermatozoa DNA-protein complex. It was compared fresh semen, diluted semen frozen without cryoprotectants, diluted semen exposured to cryoprotectants but not frozen and d) diluted semen frozen with cryoprotectants. Six stallions had 12 semen collections each. DNA-protein complex pathology was assessed by optical microscopy (1000x) using spermatozoa treated with ethanol-acetic acid 3:1 (v/v), HCl 4N at room temperature and toluidin blue 0,025% in McIlavaine buffer. Results showed that DNA-protein complex were different between frozen and not frozen spermatozoa groups (P<0,05). Frozen semen without cryoprotectants had no increasing of DNA-protein complex pathology compared to semen cryopreserved with cryoprotectant, but both showed increasing in relation to fresh and diluted semen exposured to cryoprotectants. The influence of non breeding and breeding season showed significant difference (P<0,05) in the fresh semen and fresh semen frozen without cryoprotectants. Cryopreservation process had negative influence on spermatozoa DNA-protein complex.O processo de criopreservação causa estresse físico e químico aos espermatozóides, acarretando alterações bioquímicas, diminuição irreverssível da motilidade espermática, aumento da degeneração do DNA e liberação intracelular de enzimas e lipídeos. No presente estudo, foram estudadas a influência das estações não reprodutiva e reprodutiva, dos crioprotetores glicerol e etilenoglicol e do processo de congelação e descongelação sobre o complexo DNA-proteína de espermatozóides em garanhões. Foi comparados o sêmen puro, o sêmen puro e congelado sem crioprotetores, o sêmen diluído e exposto aos crioprotetores sem congelação e o sêmen diluído e congelado com crioprotetores. Foram utilizados seis garanhões, colhendo 12 ejaculados cada. A patologia do complexo DNA-Proteína foi avaliada em espermatozóides fixados com etanol-ácido-acético glacial 3:1 (v/v), tratados com HCL 4N a 25ºC e corados com azul de toluidina a 0,025% em tampão McIlvaine, empregando microscopia óptica com aumento de 1000x. Os resultados mostraram que a anomalia do complexo DNA-Proteína dos espermatozóides diferem entre os grupos congelados e não congelados (P<0,05). O sêmen congelado sem crioprotetor não apresentou aumento significativo de patologia do complexo DNA-Proteína em relação ao sêmen congelado com crioprotetores, mas ambos mostraram aumento em relação ao sêmen puro ou diluído e exposto aos crioprotetores. A influência da estação reprodutiva mostrou diferença significativa (P<0,05) somente no sêmen puro e no sêmen puro e congelado sem crioprotetor. Conclui-se que o processo de congelação exerce influência negativa sobre o complexo DNA-Proteína de espermatozóides em garanhões

RFID microchip internal implants: effects on grapevine histology

SUMMARY Interesting applications for traceability in agriculture have recently been developed using radiofrequency identification (RFID) technology. A preliminary report of survival and growth in grapevine suggested pith not only as optimal microchip localization within the plant, but only continuous monitoring of performances, supported by histological observation of tissues around microchips, can validate this approach as a long-term strategy for grapevine identification. In this study, histological assays of grapevine plants are reported, considering different strategies in RFID marking. Microchip insertion after direct drilling of pith from a distal cut on rootstocks did not show any differences in tissue status compared to control, and this can be adequately correlated to an absence of effect in plant growth. Conversely, a “U” cut performed laterally on the rootstock to insert the microchip, which involved tissues from bark to pith, caused development of callus tissues, restoring transversal continuity, but with a partial loss of functionality in terms of open vessels. This phenomenon can be considered permanent damage to plant vascular function, but with limited extension