Tempranillo physiological and agronomical responses to heat and drought stress – perspectives on its vulnerability under climate change scenarios

With the aim to characterize the ability of Tempranillo grapevines, one of the most widely used varieties in Spain and Portugal, to withstand drought and heat stress, ecophysiological and agronomical data from irrigation experiments conducted in the hot and dry region of Alentejo, south of Portugal, are presented. The impact of different irrigation treatments on physiological parameters (leaf water potential, photosynthesis, and stomatal conductance) and water use efficiency are showed. Leaf senescence observed in non-irrigated and deficit irrigated plants and its consequences on cluster exposure and berry temperature are compared with those of fully irrigated plants. The consequences on berry ripening and juice composition are discussed in order to evaluate the vulnerability of Tempranillo to the expected global climatic changeinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

An attempt to quantify grapevine water stress in a mediterranean environment

Aiming to quantify the effects of the intensity and duration of grapevine water stress, physiological and agronomical data from an irrigation experiment conducted during 1999 at Alentejo, south of Portugal, with the red variety Aragonez (syn. Tempranillo) were correlated with an water stress index (Sψ). This index was calculated by the integral of predawn leaf water potential below –0.2 MPa between bloom and harvest. Significant relationships were found between the Sψ, yield components and berry composition. The multiple regression analysis shows that the Sψ in the period bloom-veraison has a higher contribution to explain the variation in berry weight, anthocyanins and phenolics concentration than the Sψ in the period veraison-harvest. The knowledge of those relationships, together with the relationship between available soil water content and predawn leaf water potential, may allow the adequate management of soil water availability to optimise the yield/quality ratio for each ecological situationinfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Rega da vinha no Alentejo. Dotações e época de aplicação

Apresenta-se um resumo dos principais resultados de três anos de ensaios (1997-99) de rega gota-a-gota na casta Aragonez em duas parcelas de vinha no Alentejo onde se compararam diferentes dotações e épocas de paragem da rega com uma testemunha não regada. Devido à maior capacidade de armazenamento de água do solo da parcela de Carvalhas (Estremoz) as diferenças ente modalidades foram, em qualquer dos anos, sempre de maior amplitude na parcela de Pinheiros, em Évora. Comparativamente à testemunha não regada, a rega reduziu a senescência foliar e induziu um efeito favorável no estado hídrico e na actividade fisiológica da folha ao longo de todo o dia, sobretudo durante o período de maturação e nas modalidades onde se aplicou maiores dotações de rega. Todavia, comparativamente à maior dotação, as menores dotações proporcionaram resultados agronómicos mais favoráveis. A paragem da rega ao pintor induziu um stress moderado e uma melhoria do microclima dos cachos durante o período de maturação, aspectos favoráveis à qualidade, sem ter afectado significativamente a produção comparativamente à rega até à vindimainfo:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

GWAS in Breast Cancer

Breast cancer is the most diagnosed cancer in women, and the second cause of cancer-related deaths among women worldwide. It is expected that more than 240,000 new cases and 40,450 deaths related to the disease will occur in 2016. It is well known that inherited genetic variants are drivers for breast cancer development. There are many mechanisms through which germline genetic variation affects prognosis, such as BRCA1 and BRCA2 genes, which account for approximately 20% of the increased hereditary risks. Therefore, it is evident that the genetic pathways that underlie cancer development are complex in which networks of multiple alleles confer disease susceptibility and risks. Global analyses through genome-wide association studies (GWAS) have revealed several loci across the genome are associated with the breast cancer. This chapter compiles all breast GWAS released since 2007, year of the first article published in this area, and discuss the future directions of this field. Currently, hundreds of genetic markers are linked to breast cancer, and understanding the underlying mechanisms of these variants might lead to the discover of biomarkers and targets for therapy in patients

Green manure in coffee systems in the region of Zona da Mata, Minas Gerais: characteristics and kinetics of carbon and nitrogen mineralization.

The use of green manure may contribute to reduce soil erosion and increase the soil organic matter content and N availability in coffee plantations in the Zona da Mata, State of Minas Gerais, in Southeastern Brazil. The potential of four legumes (A. pintoi, C. mucunoides, S. aterrimum and S. guianensis)to produce above-ground biomass, accumulate nutrients and mineralize N was studied in two coffee plantations of subsistence farmers under different climate conditions. The biomass production of C. mucunoides was influenced by the shade of the coffee plantation.C. mucunoides tended to mineralize more N than the other legumes due to the low polyphenol content and polyphenol/N ratio. In the first year, the crop establishment of A. pintoi in the area took longer than of the other legumes, resulting in lower biomass production and N2 fixation. In the long term, cellulose was the main factor controlling N mineralization. The biochemical characteristics, nutrient accumulation and biomass production of the legumes were greatly influenced by the altitude and position of the area relative to the sun

Human toxocariasis: contribution by Brazilian researchers

In the present paper the main aspects of the natural history of human infection by Toxocara larvae that occasionally result in the occurrence of visceral and/or ocular larva migrans syndrome were reviewed. The contribution by Brazilian researchers was emphasized, especially the staff of the Tropical Medicine Institute of São Paulo (IMT)