Prevention and control strategies against Agrobacterium vitis in grapevine multiplication material

Agrobacterium vitis is the etiological agent of grapevine crown gall disease, an abnormal tissue growth occurring mostly in the basal part of the trunk. The infection starts at wound sites and it is often caused by freezing temperature. The pathogen does immediately not cause the tumour, but it can stay latent in the plant for a long time, without clear damage. Infections occurring in the first years of planting lead to debilitation of infected grapevines, together with poor quality and quantity of grape production. The research activities include: i) monitoring of soils and mother plants in the Verona area; ii) monitoring and optimization of procedures in the grapevine production chain; iii) experimental trials to verify the effectiveness of Trichoderma spp. treatments of grafts and rootlings; iv) cleaning of multiplication material by chemical or alternative agents; v) hot water treatments; and vi) molecular characterization of A. vitis strains in order to establish molecular markers for traceability of infection sources

Enhancing data visualization modes through a physical representation: the “Makerometer” solution

In this work we investigate how a physical representation of a large amount of data could increase not only their value but also their understanding by the final users. Indeed, the use of visual metaphors related to a three-dimensional environment, specific of a physical representation, makes the access to the related information easier and “natural” if compared to those used in an only-digital environment. In this context, digital fabrication tools can be useful for fast prototyping and testing of different tools. In this work, we show one application of these concepts, “Makerometer”, a solution installed at Maker Faire Rome 2015, which collects and visualizes the data related to this exhibition

Focal Ischemic Injury to the Early Neonatal Rat Brain Models Cognitive and Motor Deficits with Associated Histopathological Outcomes Relevant to Human Neonatal Brain Injury

Neonatal arterial ischemic stroke is one of the more severe birth complications. The injury can result in extensive neurological damage and is robustly associated with later diagnoses of cerebral palsy (CP). An important part of efforts to develop new therapies include the on-going refinement and understanding of animal models that capture relevant clinical features of neonatal brain injury leading to CP. The potent vasoconstrictor peptide, Endothelin-1 (ET-1), has previously been utilised in animal models to reduce local blood flow to levels that mimic ischemic stroke. Our previous work in this area has shown that it is an effective and technically simple approach for modelling ischemic injury at very early neonatal ages, resulting in stable deficits in motor function. Here, we aimed to extend this model to also examine the impact on cognitive function. We show that focal delivery of ET-1 to the cortex of Sprague Dawley rats on postnatal day 0 (P0) resulted in impaired learning in a touchscreen-based test of visual discrimination and correlated with important clinical features of CP including damage to large white matter structures

Biological and Agronomical Strategies for Controlling Skin-pitting of Kiwifruit

Skin-pitting of kiwifruit is a post-harvest disease caused by Cadophora luteo-olivacea. Inoculation occurs in the field but symptoms appear after about three months of cold storage. Incidence of the pathology is very variable over time but it can be quite high causing considerable damage. The aim of this study was to search for biological and agronomical control measures, which can reduce skin-pitting. For biological control, isolates of potential antagonists were made from the surface of stored kiwifruit sourced from fruit produced in two different orchards: one with high and the other with low incidence of disease. Five and nine different microorganisms were obtained from fruit of the first and second orchard, respectively. Isolated microorganisms were inoculated on PDA plates together with C. luteo-olivacea. The majority of the isolates did not influence pathogen growth, except for two strains very closely related to Pseudomonas libanensis (P. fluorescens subgroup), isolated from fruit from the orchard with low incidence of symptoms. The bacteria were tested in vitro against five isolates of each of the two most frequent strains of C. luteo-olivacea (A and B); all were significantly inhibited in growth, presenting a compact, mucous and orange-brown mycelium. The strong antagonistic activity of the two P. libanensis strains represented a promising result for further studies. For agronomical control, it is known that light has a positive effect on calcium accumulation in fruits and that a low calcium content contributes towards creating favourable conditions for pathogen development. In 2009, heavy summer pruning and calcium chloride treatments were practiced in three different orchards, to verify whether a higher light availability and an increase of the calcium content would have a positive effect on reducing disease incidence. Skin-pitting incidence was monitored during storage

Plants of the Araceae family for malaria and related diseases: a review

ABSTRACTIn the current work we performed a review of the Araceae family species traditionally used to treat malaria and its symptoms. The aim is to reveal the large number of antimalarial Araceae species used worldwide and their great unexplored potential as sources of antimalarial natural products. The SciFinder Scholar, Scielo, PubMed, ScienceDirect and Google books search engines were consulted. Forty-three records of 36 species and 23 genera of Araceae used for malaria and symptoms treatment were found. The neotropical genera Philodendron Schott and Anthurium Schott were the best represented for the use in the treatment of malaria, fevers, liver problems and headaches. Leaves and tubers were the most used parts and decoction was the most common preparation method. The extracts of Araceae species inhibit the in vitro growth of the human malaria parasite, the Plasmodium falciparum Welch, and significant median inhibitory concentrations (IC50) for extracts of guaimbê-sulcado (Rhaphidophora decursiva (Roxb.) Schott), aninga (Montrichardia linifera (Arruda) Schott), Culcasia lancifolia N.E. Br. and forest anchomanes (Anchomanes difformis (Blume) Engl.) have been reported demonstrating the antimalarial and cytotoxicity potential of the extracts and sub-fractions. In the only report about the antimalarial components of this family, the neolignan polysyphorin and the benzoperoxide rhaphidecurperoxin presented strong in vitro inhibition of the D6 and W2 strains of Plasmodiumfalciparum (IC50 = 368-540 ng/mL). No live study about antimalarial activity in animal models has been conducted on a species of Araceae. More bioguided chemical composition studies about the in vitro and also thein vivo antimalarial activity of the Araceae are needed in order to enhance the knowledge about the antimalarial potential of this family

Modelling the dopamine and noradrenergic cell loss that occurs in Parkinson's disease and the impact on hippocampal neurogenesis

Key pathological features of Parkinson's Disease (PD) include the progressive degeneration of midbrain dopaminergic (DA) neurons and hindbrain noradrenergic (NA) neurons. The loss of DA neurons has been extensively studied and is the main cause of motor dysfunction. Importantly, however, there are a range of 'non-movement' related features of PD including cognitive dysfunction, sleep disturbances and mood disorders. The origins for these non-motor symptoms are less clear, but a possible substrate for cognitive decline may be reduced adult-hippocampal neurogenesis, which is reported to be impaired in PD. The mechanisms underlying reduced neurogenesis in PD are not well established. Here we tested the hypothesis that NA and DA depletion, as occurs in PD, impairs hippocampal neurogenesis. We used 6-hydroxydopamine or the immunotoxin dopamine-β-hydroxylase-saporin to selectively lesion DA or NA neurons, respectively, in adult Sprague Dawley rats and assessed hippocampal neurogenesis through phenotyping of cells birth-dated using 5-bromo-2'-deoxyuridine. The results showed no difference in proliferation or differentiation of newborn cells in the subgranular zone of the dentate gyrus after NA or DA lesions. This suggests that impairment of hippocampal neurogenesis in PD likely results from mechanisms independent of, or in addition to degeneration of DA and NA neurons