Potential for macro and micronutrients extraction from tomato plants with different soil water stresses

Different tomato cultivars may present differentiated water needs, making it indispensable to study water demand. Thus, the objective of this work was to evaluate the influence of six water stresses in the soil on the extraction potential of macro and micronutrients in the aerial part of tomato in vegetative stage, cultivar ‘Dominador’ F1, under protected cultivation and drip. The experiment was installed in a greenhouse with a randomized block design with four replications. The treatments consisted of six soil water stresses as indicative of the time of irrigation. The preset stresses were 20, 45, 70, 95, 120 and 145 kPa at 20 cm depth. At 140 days after transplanting, the variables evaluated were: the macro and micronutrient content of shoots. The results showed that to obtain higher levels of macro (P and S) and micronutrients (B and Cu) of the total aerial part of the ‘Dominador’ tomato plant F1, it was obtained at a voltage of 20 kPa, and its value was reduced linearly with the increase of the water tension in the soil

Incorporating oldman saltbush hay and prickly pear in diets for red Sindhi calves

This study was designed to evaluate the nutrient intake, digestibility, degradability, and ruminal characteristics of Sindhi heifers fed diets that contained a combined total of 75% oldman saltbush hay (hereafter saltbush hay) and prickly pear cactus. Eight 12-month old intact male red Sindhi calves (four fistulated and four non-fistulated) with an initial mean weight of 170 ± 5 kg were assigned to 4 × 4 Latin squares, where factors consisted of four diets, namely 15% hay and 60% cactus; 30% hay and 45% cactus; 45% hay and 30% cactus; and 60% hay and 15% cactus, and four times at which rumen fluid was collected. Neutral detergent fibre (NDF) and acid detergent fibre (ADF) intakes in kg/day and NDF in percentage live weight (LW), water intake, salinity, and conductivity increased with hay level. Intake and digestibility of non-fibrous carbohydrates were curvilinear with higher values in diets containing 30% saltbush hay. The apparent digestibility of dry matter (DM) and organic matter decreased linearly as the concentration of saltbush hay increased in the diet. The pH of the rumen fluid was within the acceptable range for favourable microbial growth. The low temperature and high salinity and conductivity indices in the diets should be viewed with caution at higher concentrations of saltbush hay, because of a possible decrease in nutrient absorption and the development of health problems in the animals. Apparent degradability coefficients of DM and NDF were affected significantly by inclusion of prickly pear and saltbush hay in the diets.Keywords: animal nutrition, apparent digestibility, Atriplex nummularia Lindl, Opuntia ficus, ruminal degradation, semi-arid environmen

Identification of Schistosoma mansoni microRNAs

Background: MicroRNAs (miRNAs) constitute a class of single-stranded RNAs which play a crucial role in regulating development and controlling gene expression by targeting mRNAs and triggering either translation repression or messenger RNA (mRNA) degradation. miRNAs are widespread in eukaryotes and to date over 14,000 miRNAs have been identified by computational and experimental approaches. Several miRNAs are highly conserved across species. In Schistosoma, the full set of miRNAs and their expression patterns during development remain poorly understood. Here we report on the development and implementation of a homology-based detection strategy to search for miRNA genes in Schistosoma mansoni. In addition, we report results on the experimental detection of miRNAs by means of cDNA cloning and sequencing of size-fractionated RNA samples. Results: Homology search using the high-throughput pipeline was performed with all known miRNAs in miRBase. A total of 6,211 mature miRNAs were used as reference sequences and 110 unique S. mansoni sequences were returned by BLASTn analysis. The existing mature miRNAs that produced these hits are reported, as well as the locations of the homologous sequences in the S. mansoni genome. All BLAST hits aligned with at least 95% of the miRNA sequence, resulting in alignment lengths of 19-24 nt. Following several filtering steps, 15 potential miRNA candidates were identified using this approach. By sequencing small RNA cDNA libraries from adult worm pairs, we identified 211 novel miRNA candidates in the S. mansoni genome. Northern blot analysis was used to detect the expression of the 30 most frequent sequenced miRNAs and to compare the expression level of these miRNAs between the lung stage schistosomula and adult worm stages. Expression of 11 novel miRNAs was confirmed by northern blot analysis and some presented a stage-regulated expression pattern. Three miRNAs previously identified from S. japonicum were also present in S. mansoni. Conclusion: Evidence for the presence of miRNAs in S. mansoni is presented. The number of miRNAs detected by homology-based computational methods in S. mansoni is limited due to the lack of close relatives in the miRNA repository. In spite of this, the computational approach described here can likely be applied to the identification of pre-miRNA hairpins in other organisms. Construction and analysis of a small RNA library led to the experimental identification of 14 novel miRNAs from S. mansoni through a combination of molecular cloning, DNA sequencing and expression studies. Our results significantly expand the set of known miRNAs in multicellular parasites and provide a basis for understanding the structural and functional evolution of miRNAs in these metazoan parasites

Necessidades de água e produtividade económica da rega de milho em condições de escassez

A identificação das necessidades de rega do milho, uma das principais culturas regadas em Portugal Continental, constitui uma medida de preparação para enfrentar as secas e a escassez de água. Definiram-se várias estratégias de rega com o objectivo de redução da procura de água de rega com impactos aceitáveis na produção. O modelo de balanço hídrico e de simulação de calendários de rega SIMDualKc, anteriormente calibrado e validado para a cultura do milho em Portugal, foi utilizado para simular as necessidades de água para condições de seca severa e extrema. Este estudo foi realizado para milho regado por aspersão e aplicado a várias localidades: Vila Real, Bragança e Miranda do Douro no Norte, Coimbra e Viseu no Centro, e Beja, Évora e Elvas no Sul. As alternativas de rega foram avaliadas tendo em consideração a poupança de água de rega e o impacto nas produções; para inferir a viabilidade económica da rega deficitária foram determinados indicadores da produtividade física e económica da água recorrendo a dados sobre o valor da produção e desempenho de sistemas. Os resultados mostram que as estratégias de rega deficitárias poderão ser viáveis quando os défices hídricos forem muito baixos. Como alternativa poder-se-á optar pela satisfação das necessidades totais da cultura mas diminuindo a área cultivada

Lattice distortions in a sawtooth chain with Heisenberg and Ising bonds

An exactly solvable model of the sawtooth chain with Ising and Heisenberg bonds and with coupling to lattice distortion for Heisenberg bonds is considered in the magnetic field. Using the direct transfer-matrix formalism an exact description of the thermodynamic functions is obtained. The ground state phase diagrams for all regions of parameters values containing phases corresponding to the magnetization plateaus at $M=0,1/4$ and 1/2 have been obtained. Exact formulas for bond distortions for various ground states are presented. A novel mechanism of magnetization plateau stabilization corresponding to $M=1/4$ state is reported.Comment: 16 pages, 12 figure

EXAME ANATOMOPATOLÓGICO, MICROBIOLÓGICO, CITOLÓGICO E FÍSICO-QUÍMICO DAS ARTICULAÇÕES DE SUÍNOS ARTRÍTICOS NO MATADOURO

Estudou-se por meio de exames anatomopatológico, microbiológico, citológico e físico-químico, as articulações de 130 suínos abatidos em um matadouro localizado em Concórdia SC. Os animais foram escolhidos de forma direcionada e as articulações foram classificadas macroscopicamente de acordo com as lesões presentes na membrana sinovial, cartilagem articular e no linfonodo regional. Dos 130 suínos escolhidos, 25 apresentavam-se com as articulações normais, 36 com artrite causada pela osteocondrose, 50 com artrite infecciosa e 19 com artrite traumática. Em todos os casos de artrite infecciosa havia reação do linfonodo regional e, da mesma forma, sempre que os linfonodos regionais estavam reativos, havia artrite infecciosa no membro relacionado. Dos 50 casos de artrite infecciosa, 40 (80%) eram assépticos, de sete (14%) foi isolado o Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae e de três (6%), o Mycoplasma hyosynoviae, pela primeira vez isolado no Brasil. Nas demais categorias de artrite, não foram isolados nenhum agente infeccioso e nem visualizadas alterações nos linfonodos regionais. Conclui-se que as artrites infecciosas são acompanhadas de reação dos linfonodos regionais e as artrites causadas pela osteocondrose são estéreis. Pathological, microbiological, cytological and physical-chemical studies of joints from arthritic swines in the abattoir Abstract The joints of one hundred and thirty pigs from an abattoir in Concórdia - SC, were studied, by means of pathological, microbiological, cytological and physical-chemical procedures. The choice of the pigs was not made by random distribution and the joints were grouped grossly according of lesions of the synovial membrane, cartilage and of the draining lymph node. From 130 pigs, 36 showed lesions of osteochondrosis, 50 infectious arthritis, 19 traumatic arthritis and 25 normal joints. In all cases of infectious arthritis there was a reaction of the corresponding draining lymph node. Whenever the draining lymph node was reactive, there was infectious arthritis in the related limb. Of the 50 infectious arthritis, 40 (80%) were aseptic, 7 (14%) yielded Erysipelothrix rhusiopathiae and 3 (6%) yielded Mycoplasma hyosynoviae, for the first time isolated in Brazil. In the remaining arthritis categories, no infectious agents nor alterations in the draining lymph node was diagnosed

Non-destructive, dynamic detectors for Bose-Einstein condensates

We propose and analyze a series of non-destructive, dynamic detectors for Bose-Einstein condensates based on photo-detectors operating at the shot noise limit. These detectors are compatible with real time feedback to the condensate. The signal to noise ratio of different detection schemes are compared subject to the constraint of minimal heating due to photon absorption and spontaneous emission. This constraint leads to different optimal operating points for interference-based schemes. We find the somewhat counter-intuitive result that without the presence of a cavity, interferometry causes as much destruction as absorption for optically thin clouds. For optically thick clouds, cavity-free interferometry is superior to absorption, but it still cannot be made arbitrarily non-destructive . We propose a cavity-based measurement of atomic density which can in principle be made arbitrarily non-destructive for a given signal to noise ratio

ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE1gene a member of the AS2/LOB family, controls proximal-distal patterning in Arabidopsis petals

The formation and the development of the floral organs require an intercalate expression of organ-specific genes. At the same time, meristem-specific genes are repressed to complete the differentiation of the organs in the floral whorls. In an Arabidopsis activation tagging population, a mutant affected in inflorescence architecture was identified. This gain-of-function mutant, designateddownwards siliques1 (dsl1-D), has shorter internodes and the lateral organs such as flowers are bending downwards, similar to the loss-of-function brevipedicellus (bp) mutant. The affected gene in dsl1-D appeared to be ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2-LIKE1 (ASL1)/LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIESdomain gene 36 (LBD36), which is a member of the ASYMMETRIC LEAVES2 (AS2)/LATERAL ORGAN BOUNDARIES (LOB) domain gene family. Analysis of the loss-of-function mutant asl1/lbd36 did not show morphological aberration. Double mutant analysis of asl1/lbd36 together with as2, the ASL1/LBD36 closest homologue, demonstrates that these two members of the AS2/LOB family act partially redundant to control cell fate determination in Arabidopsis petals. Moreover, molecular analysis revealed that overexpression of ASL1/LBD36 leads to repression of the homeobox gene BP, which supports the model that an antagonistic relationship between ASL/LBD and homeobox members is required for the differentiation of lateral organ

The understanding of information about oral chemotherapy treatment among outpatients at a University Hospital in Ceará, Brazil

This study assessed the understanding of information about oral chemotherapy treatment, among patients attending the hematology outpatients' ward of a University hospital. A questionnaire with patient data and details of the treatment was applied to 147 outpatients. The analysis of variables and classification of the level of understanding about the treatment followed methods established in the literature with some adjustments. The study found a significant association between the level of understanding about treatment with the level of education and the occupation of the respondents. Regarding the correct acquisition and administration of the medicine-its name, dose and frequency of administration-there was agreement between the medical prescriptions and the responses for 90.7, 88.0 and 99.3 % of patients, respectively. Patients had less knowledge about the duration and side-effects of the treatment. The level of treatment understanding was classified as good for 74.1 % of those interviewed, suggesting a rational use of oral chemotherapy by the majority of patients.Colegio de Farmacéuticos de la Provincia de Buenos Aire