Fungitoxicity of some fungicides against to pathogens responsible of olive trees decline in the Chebika’s area in Tunisia

The incidence of the disease seems very important on young trees and tends to bemoderate with the aging of the tree. In fact, olive trees have a shallow root system and arestill vulnerable to pathogens especially the irrigated varieties. Chemical and biological control against Fusarium solani, Fusarium oxysporum, Rhizoctonia solani and Verticillium dahliae have revealed that the application in vitro of Prodazim and of Methyl-thiophanatehave showed a very good efficacy up to 100%. Ridomil and Tachigaren have indicated aregular efficiency, while the two bio-fungicides Fungstop and the compost juice havedemonstrated a low efficiency. The two bio-control agents Trichoderma harzianum and Gliocladium virens have showed a relatively high effectiveness in vitro. In vivo, obtainedresults have revealed that the nature of the product, the doses applied and the condition ofthe olive trees are highly correlated factors. The treatment doesn’t appear to have apositive effect on the beginning of stage 1 and on plots presented a good structured soil.Going beyond this stage, whatever the product and the doses used, the attack isirreversible

Composición bioquímica y potencial antioxidante del pepino del mar Mediterráneo comestible Holothuria tubulosa

The sea cucumber or holothurian is a marine species which has been prized in some Asian coun­tries for its nutritional qualities. The purpose of this work was to study the biochemical composition and free radical scavenging and antioxidant activities of Holothuria tubulosa tegument from the Bizerta lagoon in north­ern Tunisia. The obtained data demonstrated that the extract of sea cucumber teguments exhibited high bio­chemical levels (such as moisture 80.77%, protein 7.07%, lipids 10.21%, energy value 13.64 Kcal/g ww), and an important nutritional value (including n-3/n-6: 2.11, EPA+DHA: 20.96, AI: 1.38 and TI: 0.54). High anti­oxidant activities were recorded in the integument by the radical scavenging tests of ABTS and DPPH as well as by the total antioxidant capacity and the FRAP in comparison with the BHT standard. Our results showed that H. Tubulosa tegument has high nutritional value with high antioxidant activities and could be considered a nutraceutical product.El pepino de mar o la holoturia es una especie marina apreciada en algunos países asiáti­cos por sus cualidades nutricionales. El propósito de este trabajo fue estudiar la composición bioquímica y las actividades antioxidantes y de eliminación de radicales libres del tegumento de Holothuria tubulosa de la laguna de Bizerta, en el norte de Túnez. Los datos obtenidos demuestran que el extracto de tegumentos de pepino de mar mostró altos niveles bioquímicos (como humedad 80,77%, proteína 7,07%, lípidos 10,21%, valor energético 13,64 Kcal/gww) y un valor nutricional importante (incluyendo n-3/ n-6: 2,11, EPA+DHA: 20,96, AI: 1,38 y TI: 0,54). Se registraron altas actividades antioxidantes en el tegumento mediante las pruebas de eliminación de radicales de ABTS y DPPH, así como por la capacidad antioxidante total y el FRAP, y esto, en comparación con el estándar BHT. Nuestros resultados mostraron que el tegumento de H. Tubulosa tiene un valor nutricional importante con una alta actividad antioxidante y podría considerarse un producto nutracéutico

Screening of fungi implicated in the dieback of olive trees (Olea europea) in Chebika’s area

Several surveys were conducted during spring 2008 in Chebika’s area in Tunisia. Samples were collected from infected plants showed different types of symptoms and they have been the subject of mycological analysis. The morphological identification of fungal colonies isolated from roots, crown and stems of two olive varieties Koroneiki and Chemlali Sfax, revealed the presence of a fungi complex including Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani, Verticillium dahliae, Cladosporium fulvum, Alternaria solani, Alternaria tenuis, Bispora punctata. and Cylindrocarpon .sp; Although,those fungi Fusarium oxysporum, Fusarium solani, Rhizoctonia solani and Verticillium dahliae are ubiquitous and the predominant one. Pathogenicity results revealed that the fungi isolated from olive trees exhibited typical symptoms on Koroneiki variety incontrolled conditions

Numerical Studies of Wave Generation Using Spiral Detonating Cord

Abstract. The control of underwater explosions is an industrial concern. In this paper, a comparison of experimental and numerical results of high-pressure generation using underwater explosion of spiral detonating cord is presented. To demonstrate that the converging process of underwater shock wave yields high pressure near the spiral center, the experimental investigation aims to compare underwater shock wave pressures obtained with several detonating cord geometrical configurations and study the wave converging process for a spiral cord. Because the experimental approach of these fast transient events is expensive and time-consuming, numerical simulations of experimental cases by using multi-material Eulerian formulation are carried out. The multi-material Eulerian, which is a particular multi-material ALE (Arbitrary Lagrangian Eulerian) formulation was successfully used in many industrial applications involving computational fluid dynamic problems. By using an explicit finite element method, a good agreement between numerical and experimental results will valid multi-material Eulerian formulation abilities to solve accurately underwater shock wave problems for spiral detonating cord in various shapes

Design of the Prototypical Cryomodule for the EUROTRANS Superconducting Linac for Nuclear Waste Transmutation

International audienceOne task of the accelerator workpackage of the EUROTRANS program for the design of a nuclear waste transmutation system is dedicated to the engineering and realization of a prototype cryomodule of the high energy section of the linac, equipped with elliptical superconducting niobium cavities. We review here the present status of the design and the planned program that foresees the experimental characterization of the fully equipped cavity and RF system under its nominal operating conditions

Quasi ALE finite element method for nonlinear water waves

This paper presents a newly developed quasi arbitrary Lagrangian-Eulerian finite element method (QALE-FEM) for simulating water waves based on fully nonlinear potential theory. The main difference of this method from the conventional finite element method developed by one of authors of this paper and others (see, e.g., [11] and [22]) is that the complex mesh is generated only once at the beginning and is moved at all other time steps in order to conform to the motion of the free surface and structures. This feature allows one to use an unstructured mesh with any degree of complexity without the need of regenerating it every time step, which is generally inevitable and very costly. Due to this feature, the QALE-FEM has high potential in enhancing computational efficiency when applied to problems associated with the complex interaction between large steep waves and structures since the use of an unstructured mesh in such a case is likely to be necessary. To achieve overall high efficiency, the numerical techniques involved in the QALE-FEM are developed, including the method to move interior nodes, technique to re-distribute the nodes on the free surface, scheme to calculate velocities and so on. The model is validated by water waves generated by a wavemaker in a tank and the interaction between water waves and periodic bars on the bed of tank. Satisfactory agreement is achieved with analytical solutions, experimental data and numerical results from other methods

Investing in antibiotics to alleviate future catastrophic outcomes : what is the value of having an effective antibiotic to mitigate pandemic influenza?

Over 95% of post-mortem samples from the 1918 pandemic, which caused 50 to 100 million deaths, showed bacterial infection complications. The introduction of antibiotics in the 1940s has since reduced the risk of bacterial infections, but growing resistance to antibiotics could increase the toll from future influenza pandemics if secondary bacterial infections are as serious as in 1918, or even if they are less severe. We develop a valuation model of the option to withhold wide use of an antibiotic until significant outbreaks such as pandemic influenza or foodborne diseases are identified. Using real options theory, we derive conditions under which withholding wide use is beneficial, and calculate the option value for influenza pandemic scenarios that lead to secondary infections with a resistant Staphylococcus aureus strain. We find that the value of withholding an effective novel oral antibiotic can be positive and significant unless the pandemic is mild and causes few secondary infections with the resistant strain or if most patients can be treated intravenously. Although the option value is sensitive to parameter uncertainty, our results suggest that further analysis on a case-by-case basis could guide investment in novel agents as well as strategies on how to use them

blaKPC and rmtB on a single plasmid in Enterobacter amnigenus and Klebsiella pneumoniae isolates from the same patient

Enterobacter amnigenus (EA76) and Klebsiella pneumoniae (KP76) isolates with multidrug-resistant (MDR) patterns were identified from the same patient in the neurosurgery department of our hospital. An outbreak of MDR K. pneumoniae had also occurred in this department. To characterize the resistance mechanism and molecular epidemiology of these isolates, sequential experiments including antimicrobial susceptibility testing, polymerase chain reaction (PCR), plasmid analysis, pulsed field gel electrophoresis (PFGE), and multilocus sequence typing (MLST) were performed. EA76 and KP76 were resistant to all of the antibiotics tested, except colistin and tigecycline. blaKPC-2, blaTEM-1, blaSHV-12, blaCTX-M-3, blaCTX-M-14, and rmtB genes were identified in both isolates, with blaKPC-2, blaTEM-1, blaCTX-M-14, and rmtB being co-carried on one plasmid in each isolate. Further analysis showed different restriction patterns between the two KPC-carrying plasmids. Of the 11 carbapenem-resistant isolates found in the outbreak, all were resistant to all of the β-lactams tested, with 63.64% (7/11) also exhibiting resistance to aminoglycosides and 72.73% (8/11) exhibiting resistance to quinolones. PCR analysis and molecular typing of the 11 K. pneumoniae strains revealed that the seven aminoglycoside-resistant isolates shared the same antibiotic-resistant gene pattern and identical or one-band-difference PFGE profiles relative to KP76. In addition, all of the eight aminoglycoside-resistant isolates, including KP76, belonged to the national epidemic clone ST11. The overall results indicate the emergence of E. amnigenus and outbreak of ST11 K. pneumoniae, with both co-harboring blaKPC and rmtB genes on a single plasmid in our neurosurgery wards

Evaluating synergy between marbofloxacin and gentamicin in Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains isolated from dogs with otitis externa

The aim of this study was to determine antimicrobial susceptibility of Pseudomonas aeruginosa strains to marbofloxacin and gentamicin, and investigate the possible synergistic, additive, indifferent or antagonistic effects between the two agents. P. aeruginosa strains can develop resistance quickly against certain antibiotics if used alone, thus the need emerges to find synergistic combinations. A total of 68 P. aeruginosa strains isolated from dogs were examined. In order to describe interactions between marbofloxacin and gentamicin the checkerboard microdilution method was utilized. The MICs (minimum inhibitory concentrations) for marbofloxacin and gentamicin were in the range 0.25–64 mg/L and 0.25–32 mg/L, respectively. The combination of marbofloxacin and gentamicin was more effective with a MIC range of 0.031–8 mg/L and a MIC90 of 1 mg/L, compared to 16 mg/L for marbofloxacin alone and 8 mg/L for gentamicin alone. The FIC (fractional inhibitory concentration) indices ranged from 0.0945 (pronounced synergy) to 1.0625 (indifference). Synergy between marbofloxacin and gentamicin was found in 33 isolates. The mean FIC index is 0.546, which represents a partial synergistic/additive effect close to the full synergy threshold. In vitro results indicate that marbofloxacin and gentamicin as partially synergistic agents may prove clinically useful in combination therapy against P. aeruginosa infections. Although marbofloxacin is not used in the human practice, the interactions between fluoroquinolones and aminoglycosides may have importance outside the veterinary field