SPPADBASE: the first on-line searchable database of PCR primers for phytopathogenic fungi

The fast and unambiguous identification of microbial pathogens affecting plants or plant products is an essential prerequisite for obtaining high-quality and safe production. Ecologically friendly practice of the modern agriculture requires the adoption of diagnostic techniques able to detect minimum inoculum levels of pathogens in soil, seeds, transplants or crops, to limit the raise of epidemics and to address the adoption of rational and efficient control means. Moreover, there is an increasing public and official awareness of the potential threat of bio-terrorism directed against food and agriculture (Monke, 2004). Rapid detection techniques for bioweapon agents are a critical need for the first-responder community. Among the nucleic acid-based diagnostic techniques, those involving the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR; Mullis and Faloona, 1987) are the most suited for early detection of phytopathogenic agents, due to their high sensitivity and the potential for automation. Many sequence source types could be selected and used as target for specific primer design. These may include, for instance, Random Amplified Polymorphic DNAs (Williams et al., 1990; Welsh and McClelland, 1990), internal transcribed spacer (ITS) regions of the ribosomal RNA genes (White et al., 1990) or other specific gene sequences. Primer sets can be designed to target specificity at the genus, species, or physiological race level, to distinguish a particular pathogen from closely related organisms. A common and tedious task for researchers and technicians is to search for and retrieve bibliographic references of published and validated specific primer sets for a given pathogen querying the Internet, abstract collections and monthly journals’ tables of contents. Very few examples of specific primer set collections for phytopathogenic agents have been released: a summary of primers for the diagnostic characterization of phytopathogenic bacteria seems to be the only one printed so far (Louws et al., 1999). Moreover, among 719 molecular biology databases publicly available recorded by Galperin (2006) or among the 2470 BMC biomedical databases catalog available at http://databases.biomedcentral.com/, no online repository of primer sets of this kind is accessible. To overcome this lack of information, we released the first online searchable database of primer sets useful for the detection and identification of plant pathogenic fungi

Exploring Thermal Processing of the Mildly Aqueously Altered Cm2 Eet 96029 Using Sulphide Mineralogy and Carbon Structure [abstract]

No abstract available

General Principles of EU Law: Systemic Implications of "Twin" TFEU Article 11 and EUCFR Article 37

Under the basic tenet of sustainable development, TFEU Article 11 compels the integration of environmental protection into the regulatory action of the European Union (EU). Such a provision is paralleled in the human rights framework by ‘twin’ EUCFR Article 37. What are the implications of this dual system? The analysis assesses the systemic implications of the inclusion of TFEU Article 11 and EUCFR Article 37 as core twin provisions in different sources of EU law, particularly in light of the foreseeable accession of the EU to the ECHR envisaged in TEU Article 6(2). Arguably, TFEU Article 11 and EUCFR Article 37 create an imbalance between the EU and ECHR legal systems and might foster the full establishment of environmental protection as a fundamental right in both EU law and the ECHR

Disentangling Conflicts Of Laws In EU And Member States’ Investment Agreements

The European Union (“EU”) is integrated into global markets via an open investment regime, which has fostered the development of wide economic relations. In 2019, the net investment outflow from EU Member States toward third countries totaled $42,6761 million, while inflow totaled$47,3196 million. To regulate investment disparities since the establishment of the common market in the 1950s, EU Member States have concluded about 1400 multilateral investment treaties (“MITs”) and bilateral investment treaties (“BITs”) with third countries. EU Member States have also negotiated around 190 MITs and BITs inter se, or intra-EU investment agreements. Since the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty in 2009, the EU has negotiated international investment agreements with economies such as Australia, Canada, China, Vietnam, Singapore, and the United States. Among these agreements, the Energy Charter Treaty (“ECT”) is both an intra-EU and extra-EU investment agreement, to which both the EU and Member States are parties. It is therefore of critical importance to establish a predictable legal framework governing investments within and outside of the EU

Climate Change, Regionalism, and Universalism: Elegy for the Arctic and the Antarctic?

The Arctic lays north of the Arctic Circle, at a minimum latitude of 66.33°, that is, the most northerly of the major circles of the Earth’s latitude. The Arctic Circle is essentially an ocean surrounded by land; it includes portions of the territories of the United States, Canada, Denmark (notably Greenland), Norway, Sweden, Finland, and Russia, as well as parts of Iceland’s continental shelf. Part of the Arctic territory is subject to temperatures that are permanently lower than the freezing point of water and thus constitutes the “permafrost.” To a large extent, ice covers the Arctic Ocean, halving in summer and expanding in fall and winter. Only 28 percent of the ice pack is multiannual, with a thickness that is up to 3-4 meters and ridges up to 20 meters

The 15N-enrichment in dark clouds and Solar System objects

The line intensities of the fundamental rotational transitions of H13CN and HC15N were observed towards two prestellar cores, L183 and L1544, and lead to molecular isotopic ratios 140 6 14N/15N 6 250 and 140 6 14N/15N 6 360, respectively. The range of values reflect genuine spatial variations within the cores. A comprehensive analysis of the available measurements of the nitrogen isotopic ratio in prestellar cores show that molecules carrying the nitrile functional group appear to be systematically 15N-enriched com- pared to those carrying the amine functional group. A chemical origin for the differential 15N-enhance- ment between nitrile- and amine-bearing interstellar molecules is proposed. This sheds new light on several observations of Solar System objects: (i) the similar N isotopic fractionation in Jupiter's NH3 and solar wind N+; (ii) the 15N-enrichments in cometary HCN and CN (that might represent a direct inter- stellar inheritance); and (iii) 15N-enrichments observed in organics in primitive cosmomaterials. The large variations in the isotopic composition of N-bearing molecules in Solar System objects might then simply reflect the different interstellar N reservoirs from which they are originating

Towards a Peremptory Duty to Curb Greenhouse Gas Emissions?

Is international law developing towards the recognition of a peremptory obligation for States and international organizations to stabilize anthropogenic greenhouse gas (“GHG”) emissions, so as to collectively attain a sustainable global average temperature increase? Do States have an obligation to cooperate and achieve this objective? Does such an obligation extend to non-State subjects? This Article explores the possibility that a new peremptory norm is progressively emerging in international law to contain global average temperature increase within sustainable limits, currently well below 2°C and possibly even 1.5°C above pre-industrial levels under the Paris Agreement, as well as its nature and scope. Arguably, the international and domestic practice of sovereign entities, civil society and NGOs is supportive, including the quasi-universal participation of States and international organizations in the UNFCCC and related instruments. Furthermore, the fundamental and shared nature of the atmosphere and climate, which cannot be adequately protected via conventions, compels thinking in terms of a goaloriented erga omnes duty akin to an obligation of result, triggering universal invocation of responsibility, sanctions, and enforcement. In light of the evolution of international law, the obligation to achieve sustainable anthropogenic GHG emissions could also address non-State natural and legal persons as both duty-bearers and right-holders, waiving immunity and triggering universal jurisdiction

Design of general-purpose sampling strategies for geometric shape measurement

Quality inspection is a preliminary step for different further analyses (process monitoring, control and optimisation) and requires one to select a measuring strategy, i.e., number and location of measurement points. This phase of data gathering usually impacts on inspection times and costs (via sample size) but it also affects the performance of the following tasks (process monitoring, control and optimisation). While most of the approaches for sampling design are specifically presented with reference to a target application (namely, monitoring, control or optimisation), this paper presents a general-purpose procedure, where the number and location of measurement points are selected in order to retain most of the information related to the feature under study. The procedure is based on principal component analysis and its application is shown with reference to a real case study concerning the left front window of a car. A different approach based on multidimensional scaling is further applied as validation tool, in order to show the effectiveness of the PCA solution