Quantification of virus syndrome in chili peppers

One of the most important problems to produce chili crops is the presence of diseases caused by pathogen agents, such as viruses, therefore, there is a substantial necessity to better predict the behavior of the diseases of these crops, determining a more precise quantification of the disease’s syndrome that allows the investigators to evaluate better practices, from handling to the experimental level and will permit producers to take opportunistic corrective action thereby, reducing production loses and increasing the quality of the crop. This review discussed methods that have been used for the quantification of disease in plants, specifically for chili peppers crops, thereby, suggesting a better alternative for the quantification of the disease’ syndromes in regards to this crop. The result of these reflections indicates that most methods used for quantification are based on visual assessments, discarding differences of data between distinctive evaluators. These methods generate subjective results.Key words: Quantification, plant diseases, severity, syndrome, viruses

Analogies between geminivirus and oncovirus: Cell cycle regulation

Geminiviruses are a large family of plant viruses whose genome is composed of one or two circular and single strand of DNA. They replicate in the cell nucleus being Rep protein, the only viral protein necessary for their replication process. Geminiviruses as same as animal DNA oncoviruses, like SV40, adenovirus and papillomavirus, use the host replication machinery to replicate their DNA. Consequently, they alter host cell cycle regulation to create a suitable environment for their replication. One of the events involved in this alteration would be the inactivation of the retinoblastoma protein (pRb) that negatively regulates the G1/S transition in cells. The discovery of one homologue of the pRb in plants and the finding that Rep protein of some geminiviruses interacts with human retinoblastoma protein, as well as animal virus oncoproteins, is very interesting. This finding laid the groundwork for subsequent detection of analogies between geminiviruses and animal DNA tumor viruses, especially in their interaction with pRb. Moreover, the finding allowed the determination of how this interaction affects the regulation of the cell cycle in plants and animals. Accumulated knowledge generates new interesting questions and possible implications, and so, in this document, we dare to watch in that direction.Key words: Geminivirus, oncovirus, retinoblastoma protein, cell cycle regulation, endoreduplication

Breastfeeding training for health professionals and resultant changes in breastfeeding duration

CONTEXT: Promotion of breastfeeding in Brazilian maternity hospitals. OBJECTIVE: To quantify changes in the breastfeeding duration among mothers served by hospitals exposed to the Wellstart-SLC course, comparing them with changes among mothers attended by institutions not exposed to this course. DESIGN: Randomized Institutional Trial. SETTING: The effects of training on breastfeeding duration was assessed in eight Brazilian hospitals assigned at random to either an exposed group (staff attending the Wellstart-SLC course) or a control group. SAMPLE: For each of the eight study hospitals, two cohorts of about 50 children were visited at home at one and six months after birth. The first cohort (n = 494) was composed of babies born in the month prior to exposure to the Wellstart-SLC course, and the second cohort (n = 476) was composed of babies born six months subsequent to this exposure. MAIN MEASUREMENTS: Kaplan-Meier curves were plotted to describe the weaning process and log-rank tests were used to assess statistical differences among survival curves. Hazard ratio (HR) estimates were calculated by fitting Cox proportional hazard regression models to the data. RESULTS: The increases in estimated, adjusted rates for children born in hospitals with trained personnel were 29% (HR = 0.71) and 20% (HR = 0.80) for exclusive and full breastfeeding, respectively. No changes were identified for total breastfeeding. CONCLUSION: This randomized trial supports a growing body of evidence that training hospital health professionals in breastfeeding promotion and protection results in an increase in breastfeeding duration.CONTEXTO: Promoção do aleitamento materno em maternidades brasileiras. OBJETIVO: Quantificar mudanças na duração do aleitamento materno de mães assistidas em maternidades expostas ao curso Wellstart-SLC, comparando-as com mudanças em mães assistidas por maternidades não expostas. TIPO DE ESTUDO: Ensaio institucional randomizado. LOCAL: Os efeitos do treinamento na duração do aleitamento materno foi avaliado em oito maternidades randomicamente alocadas ao grupo exposto (equipe freqüenta o curso Wellstart-SLC) ou controle. AMOSTRA: Em cada uma das oito maternidades, duas coortes de cerca de 50 crianças foram visitadas em suas casas ao completarem um e seis meses de vida. As primeiras coortes (n = 494) foram compostas de bebês nascidos no mês anterior ao treinamento, enquanto que as segundas coortes (n = 476) foram compostas por bebês nascidos seis meses após a exposição ao curso Weelstart-SLC. VARIÁVEIS ESTUDADAS: Para descrever o processo de desmame foram traçadas curvas de Kaplan-Meier. Para avaliar as diferenças estatísticas entre as curvas de sobrevivência foi utilizado o teste log-rank. Foram calculadas estimativas das razões de risco(HR) ajustando modelos de regressão de riscos proporcionais de Cox aos dados. RESULTADOS: O aumento estimado, a partir das razões ajustadas para crianças nascidas em hospitais com pessoal treinado, foi 29% (HR = 0,71) e 20% (HR = 0,80) para aleitamento exclusivo e pleno respectivamente. Não foram identificadas mudanças para o tempo de aleitamento total. CONCLUSÕES: Esse ensaio randomizado confirma evidências crescentes de que treinar profissionais de saúde em hospitais, na promoção e proteção do aleitamento materno, resulta em aumento do tempo de aleitamento materno.Universidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) Department of PediatricsUniversidade de Santo Amaro Maternal and Child Health Graduate ProgramUniversidade Federal de São Paulo (UNIFESP) School of Public HealthState of São Paulo State Health Secretariat Health InstituteUNIFESP, Department of PediatricsUNIFESP, School of Public HealthSciEL

Kothe dual of Banach lattices generated by vector measures

We study the Kothe dual spaces of Banach function lattices generated by abstract methods having roots in the theory of interpolation spaces. We apply these results to Banach spaces of integrable functions with respect to Banach space valued countably additive vector measures. As an application we derive a description of the Banach dual of a large class of these spaces, including Orlicz spaces of integrable functions with respect to vector measuresThe first author was supported by the Foundation for Polish Science (FNP). The second author was supported by the Ministerio de Economia y Competitividad (Spain) under Grant #MTM2012-36740-C02-02.Mastylo, M.; Sánchez Pérez, EA. (2014). Kothe dual of Banach lattices generated by vector measures. Monatshefte fur Mathematik. 173(4):541-557. https://doi.org/10.1007/s00605-013-0560-8S5415571734Aronszajn, N., Gagliardo, E.: Interpolation spaces and interpolation methods. Ann. Mat. Pura. Appl. 68, 51–118 (1965)Bartle, R.G., Dunford, N., Schwartz, J.: Weak compactness and vector measures. Canad. J. Math. 7, 289–305 (1955)Brudnyi, Yu.A., Krugljak, N.Ya.: Interpolation functors and interpolation spaces $$I$$ I . North-Holland, Amsterdam (1991)Curbera, G.P.: Operators into $$L^1$$ L 1 of a vector measure and applications to Banach lattices. Math. Ann. 293, 317–330 (1992)Curbera, G.P., Ricker, W.J.: The Fatou property in $$p$$ p -convex Banach lattices. J. Math. Anal. Appl. 328, 287–294 (2007)Delgado, O.: Banach function subspaces of $$L^1$$ L 1 of a vector measure and related Orlicz spaces. Indag. Math. 15(4), 485–495 (2004)Diestel, J., Jr., Uhl, J.J.: Vector measures, Amer. Math. Soc. Surveys 15, Providence, R.I. (1977)Fernández, A., Mayoral, F., Naranjo, F., Sánchez-Pérez, E.A.: Spaces of $$p$$ p -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure. Positivity 10, 1–16 (2006)Ferrando, I., Rodríguez, J.: The weak topology on $$L_p$$ L p of a vector measure. Topol. Appl. 155, 1439–1444 (2008)Ferrando, I., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Tensor product representation of the (pre)dual of the $$L_p$$ L p -space of a vector measure. J. Aust. Math. Soc. 87, 211–225 (2009)Galaz-Fontes, F.: The dual space of $$L^p$$ L p of a vector measure. Positivity 14(4), 715–729 (2010)Kamińska, A.: Indices, convexity and concavity in Musielak-Orlicz spaces, dedicated to Julian Musielak. Funct. Approx. Comment. Math. 26, 67–84 (1998)Kantorovich, L.V., Akilov, G.P.: Functional analysis, 2nd edn. Pergamon Press, New York (1982)Krein, S.G., Petunin, Yu.I., Semenov, E.M.: Interpolation of linear operators. In: Translations of mathematical monographs, 54. American Mathematical Society, Providence, R.I., (1982)Lewis, D.R.: Integration with respect to vector measures. Pacific. J. Math. 33, 157–165 (1970)Lewis, D.R.: On integrability and summability in vector spaces. Ill. J. Math. 16, 583–599 (1973)Lindenstrauss, J., Tzafriri, L.: Classical Banach spaces II. Springer, Berlin (1979)Lozanovskii, G.Ya.: On some Banach lattices, (Russian). Sibirsk. Mat. Z. 10, 419–430 (1969)Musielak, J.: Orlicz spaces and modular spaces. In: Lecture Notes in Math. 1034, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1983)Okada, S.: The dual space of $$L^1(\mu )$$ L 1 ( μ ) of a vector measure $$\mu$$ μ . J. Math. Anal. Appl. 177, 583–599 (1993)Okada, S., Ricker, W.J., Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Optimal domain and integral extension of operators acting in function spaces, operator theory. Adv. Appl., vol. 180, Birkhäuser, Basel (2008)Rao, M.M., Zen, Z.D.: Applications of Orlicz spaces. Marcel Dekker, Inc., New York (2002)Rivera, M.J.: Orlicz spaces of integrable functions with respect to vector-valued measures. Rocky Mt. J. Math. 38(2), 619–637 (2008)Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Compactness arguments for spaces of $$p$$ p -integrable functions with respect to a vector measure and factorization of operators through Lebesgue-Bochner spaces. Ill. J. Math. 45(3), 907–923 (2001)Sánchez Pérez, E.A.: Vector measure duality and tensor product representation of $$L_p$$ L p spaces of vector measures. Proc. Amer. Math. Soc. 132, 3319–3326 (2004)Zaanen, A.C.: Integration. North Holland, Amsterdam (1967

Mouse allergen, lung function, and atopy in Puerto Rican children

Objective: To examine the relation between mouse allergen exposure and asthma in Puerto Rican children. Methods: Mus m 1, Der p 1, Bla g 2, and Fel d 1 allergens were measured in dust samples from homes of Puerto Rican children with (cases) and without (controls) asthma in Hartford, CT (n = 449) and San Juan (SJ), Puerto Rico (n = 678). Linear or logistic regression was used for the multivariate analysis of mouse allergen (Mus m 1) and lung function (FEV1 and FEV1/FVC) and allergy (total IgE and skin test reactivity (STR) to ≥1 allergen) measures. Results: Homes in SJ had lower mouse allergen levels than those in Hartford. In multivariate analyses, mouse allergen was associated with higher FEV1 in cases in Hartford (+70.6 ml, 95% confidence interval (CI) = 8.6-132.7 ml, P = 0.03) and SJ (+45.1 ml, 95% CI = -0.5 to 90.6 ml, P = 0.05). In multivariate analyses of controls, mouse allergen was inversely associated with STR to ≥1 allergen in non-sensitized children (odds ratio [OR] for each log-unit increment in Mus m 1 = 0.7, 95% CI = 0.5-0.9, P<0.01). In a multivariate analysis including all children at both study sites, each log-increment in mouse allergen was positively associated with FEV1 (+28.3 ml, 95% CI = 1.4-55.2 ml, P = 0.04) and inversely associated with STR to ≥1 allergen (OR for each log-unit increment in Mus m 1 = 0.8, 95% CI = 0.6-0.9, P<0.01). Conclusions: Mouse allergen is associated with a higher FEV1 and lower odds of STR to ≥1 allergen in Puerto Rican children. This may be explained by the allergen itself or correlated microbial exposures. © 2012 Forno et al

A comprehensive database of quality-rated fossil ages for Sahul's Quaternary vertebrates.

The study of palaeo-chronologies using fossil data provides evidence for past ecological and evolutionary processes, and is therefore useful for predicting patterns and impacts of future environmental change. However, the robustness of inferences made from fossil ages relies heavily on both the quantity and quality of available data. We compiled Quaternary non-human vertebrate fossil ages from Sahul published up to 2013. This, the FosSahul database, includes 9,302 fossil records from 363 deposits, for a total of 478 species within 215 genera, of which 27 are from extinct and extant megafaunal species (2,559 records). We also provide a rating of reliability of individual absolute age based on the dating protocols and association between the dated materials and the fossil remains. Our proposed rating system identified 2,422 records with high-quality ages (i.e., a reduction of 74%). There are many applications of the database, including disentangling the confounding influences of hypothetical extinction drivers, better spatial distribution estimates of species relative to palaeo-climates, and potentially identifying new areas for fossil discovery

Safety outcomes during pediatric GH therapy: final results from the prospective GeNeSIS observational program

CONTEXT: Safety concerns regarding premature mortality, diabetes, neoplasia and cerebrovascular disease in association with growth hormone (GH) therapy have been raised. OBJECTIVE: To assess incidence of key safety outcomes. DESIGN: Prospective, multinational, observational study (1999-2015). SETTING: 22,311 GH-treated children from 827 investigative sites in 30 countries. PATIENTS: Children with growth disorders. INTERVENTIONS: GH treatment. MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Standardized mortality (SMR) and incidence (SIR) ratios with 95% confidence intervals (CI) for mortality, diabetes, and primary cancer, using general population registries. RESULTS: Predominant short stature diagnoses were GH deficiency (63%), idiopathic short stature (13%), and Turner syndrome (8%), with mean±SD follow-up of 4.2±3.2 years (∼92,000 person-years [PY]). Forty-two deaths occurred in patients with follow-up, with SMR (95% CI) of 0.61 (0.44-0.82); the SMR was elevated for patients with cancer-related organic GH deficiency (5.87 [3.21-9.85]). Based on 18 cases, Type 2 diabetes (T2DM) risk was elevated (SIR 3.77 [2.24-5.96]), but 72% had risk factors. In patients without cancer history, 14 primary cancers were observed (SIR 0.71 [0.39-1.20]). Second neoplasms occurred in 31/622 (5.0%) cancer survivors (10.7 [7.5-15.2] cases/1000 PY), and intracranial tumor recurrences in 67/823 (8.1%) tumor survivors (16.9 [13.3-21.5] cases/1000 PY). All 3 hemorrhagic stroke cases had risk factors. CONCLUSIONS: GeNeSIS data support the favourable safety profile of pediatric GH treatment. Overall risk for death or primary cancer was not elevated in GH-treated children, and no hemorrhagic strokes occurred in patients without risk factors. T2DM incidence was elevated compared to the general population, but most cases had diabetes risk factors

Abatement of styrene waste gas emission by biofilter and biotrickling filter: comparison of packing materials and inoculation procedures

The removal of styrene was studied using 2 biofilters packed with peat and coconut fibre (BF1-P and BF2-C, respectively) and 1 biotrickling filter (BTF) packed with plastic rings. Two inoculation procedures were applied: an enriched culture with strain Pseudomonas putida CECT 324 for biofilters and activated sludge from a municipal wastewater treatment plant for the BTF. Inlet loads (ILs) between 10 and 45 g m-3 h-1 and empty bed residence times (EBRTs) from 30 to 120 s were applied. At inlet concentrations ranging between 200 and 400 mg Nm-3, removal efficiencies between 70 and 95% were obtained in the 3 bioreactors. Maximum elimination capacities (ECs) of 81 and 39 g m-3 h-1 were obtained for the first quarter of the BF1-P and BF2-C, respectively (IL of 173 g m-3 h-1 and EBRT of 60 s in BF1-P; IL of 89 g m-3 h-1 and EBRT of 90 s in BF2-C). A maximum EC of 52 g m-3 h-1 was obtained for the first third of the BTF (IL of 116 g m-3 h-1, EBRT of 45 s). Problems regarding high pressure drop appeared in the peat biofilter, whereas drying episodes occurred in the coconut fibre biofilter. DGGE revealed that the pure culture used for biofilter inoculation was not detected by day 105. Although 2 different inoculation procedures were applied, similar styrene removal at the end of the experiments was observed. The use as inoculum of activated sludge from municipal wastewater treatment plant appears a more feasible option

Reaction rates and transport in neutron stars

Understanding signals from neutron stars requires knowledge about the transport inside the star. We review the transport properties and the underlying reaction rates of dense hadronic and quark matter in the crust and the core of neutron stars and point out open problems and future directions.Comment: 74 pages; commissioned for the book "Physics and Astrophysics of Neutron Stars", NewCompStar COST Action MP1304; version 3: minor changes, references updated, overview graphic added in the introduction, improvements in Sec IV.A.

Search for Dark Matter Annihilation in the Galactic Center with IceCube-79

The Milky Way is expected to be embedded in a halo of dark matter particles, with the highest density in the central region, and decreasing density with the halo-centric radius. Dark matter might be indirectly detectable at Earth through a flux of stable particles generated in dark matter annihilations and peaked in the direction of the Galactic Center. We present a search for an excess flux of muon (anti-) neutrinos from dark matter annihilation in the Galactic Center using the cubic-kilometer-sized IceCube neutrino detector at the South Pole. There, the Galactic Center is always seen above the horizon. Thus, new and dedicated veto techniques against atmospheric muons are required to make the southern hemisphere accessible for IceCube. We used 319.7 live-days of data from IceCube operating in its 79-string configuration during 2010 and 2011. No neutrino excess was found and the final result is compatible with the background. We present upper limits on the self-annihilation cross-section, \left, for WIMP masses ranging from 30 GeV up to 10 TeV, assuming cuspy (NFW) and flat-cored (Burkert) dark matter halo profiles, reaching down to $\simeq 4 \cdot 10^{-24}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$, and $\simeq 2.6 \cdot 10^{-23}$ cm$^3$ s$^{-1}$ for the $\nu\overline{\nu}$ channel, respectively.Comment: 14 pages, 9 figures, Submitted to EPJ-C, added references, extended limit overvie