Olive growing in the arid valleys of Northwest Argentina (provinces of Catamarca, La Rioja and San Juan)

En este artículo se describe la situación del olivar en las provincias argentinas de Catamarca, La Rioja y San Juan

European consensus table on the use of botulinum toxin type A in adult spasticity.

Contains fulltext : 80790.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)A group of clinicians from across Europe experienced in the use of botulinum toxin type A for the treatment of spasticity following acquired brain injury gathered to develop a consensus statement on best practice in managing adults with spasticity. This consensus table summarizes the current published data, which was collated following extensive literature searches, their assessment for level of evidence and discussion among the whole group. Published information is supplemented by expert opinion based on clinical experience from 16 European countries, involving 28 clinicians, who treat an average of approximately 200 patients annually, representing many thousand spasticity treatments with botulinum toxin per year

Magnetic stripe domain pinning and reduction of in-plane magnet order due to periodic defects in thin magnetic films

In thin magnetic films with strong perpendicular anisotropy and strong demagnetizing field two ordered phases are possible. At low temperatures, perpendicularly oriented magnetic domains form a striped pattern. As temperature is increased the system can undergo a spin reorientation transition into a state with in-plane magnetization. Here we present Monte Carlo simulations of such a magnetic film containing a periodic array of non-magnetic vacancies. We find that the defects produce two effects. At low temperatures the vacancies can take the place of a high energy spin and lower the energy of a domain boundary. This results in pinning of the domain boundaries, which stabilizes parallel orientation of stripes against thermal fluctuations. At higher temperatures, when spins are canted, we find that vacancies produce a dilution effect arising from the reduced demagnetizing field. The defects favor perpendicular spin alignment and disrupt long range ordering of spin components parallel to the sample. This increases cone angle and reduces in-plane correlations, leading to a reduction in the spontaneous magnetization

Isolation and characterization of bacteria from acidic pristine soil environment able to transform iprodione and 3,5-dichloraniline

Iprodione is a fungicide commonly used in a range of crops resulting in its common detection in natural water resources. Biological degradation constitutes the major dissipation processes controlling its environmental dissipation. We aimed to isolate and characterize soil bacteria able to metabolize iprodione and its key metabolite 3,5-DCA. Initial microcosm laboratory studies in a pristine acidic soil (without previous exposure to the fungicide) showed a slow dissipation of iprodione. Subsequent enrichment cultures from the same soil as well as from a soil with previous exposure to iprodione resulted in the isolation of two bacterial cultures (C2.7 and A1.4) that degraded iprodione and 3,5-DCA respectively, both obtained from the pristine soil. Molecular fingerprinting revealed that C2.7 was composed of two strains, identified via cloning as Arthrobacter sp. (strain C1) and Achromobacter sp. (strain C2), whereas A1.4 was pure and it was identified as Pseudomonas sp. Degradation studies with the purified isolates Arthrobacter sp. strain C1, Achromobacter sp. strain C2 and their combination in minimal and rich media showed that Arthrobacter sp. strain C1 was the key iprodione-degrader, whereas Achromobacter sp. strain C2 was only able to slowly co-metabolize iprodione. Transformation of iprodione by Arthrobacter sp. strain C1 resulted in the formation of isopropylamine which could be used by the strain as C and N source. This finding suggests that iprodione degradation by our isolate proceeds via the formation of intermediate metabolites before final hydrolysis to 3,5-DCA. Arthrobacter sp. strain C1 showed maximal iprodione degradation and 3,5-DCA formation at the higher pH-temperature combination (7.5-35°C) and maintained its degradation capacity in the presence of a mixture of pesticides expected to co-occur in on-farm biobed systems. On-going studies will elucidate the metabolic pathway of iprodione by the isolated strains. © 2015 Elsevier Ltd