Bioactivity of basil (Ocimum basicilum L.) on control of the spider mite (Tetranychus urticae Koch.) in peanut.

Essential plant oils contain biopesticides that could be used to control many crop pests. Tetranychus spp. are mites that cause damage to several crops and are primarily controlled by synthetic pesticides. Literature showed that mites can be controlled with essential oils of plants containing eugenol. In this work, we evaluated the bioactivity of basil (Ocimum basicilum) accessions for peanut-spider mites control based on molecular, biochemical and agronomic assays. RNA from four basil accessions, previously chosen by divergence genetic analysis, were used to estimate the expression of eugenol synthase (EGS I) transcripts, by semiquantitative and polymerase chain reaction (qPCR) assays. Chromatography was, thereafter, performed in order to estimate the eugenol concentration. Feeding bioassays were performed using basil leaf extracts in order to estimate oviposition and mortality of spider mites females. Finally, a validation assay was carried out in greenhouse, using peanut plants previously infested with spider mites and weekly sprayed with basil water-extract. One basil accession, OVRS, revealed high phytotoxicity to spider mite females, at 15% water-extract. The mortality rate was 75% and complete inhibition of fecundity was found in BOD assays. In the greenhouse assay, the most severe damage due to mite infestations was found to plant height, number of pods and pod yield, which were reduced to 28, 53 and 52% in non-treated plants (control). Considering that basil is a short-cycle plant, with easy reproduction and management, these results represent an accessible alternative to organic control spider mites in peanut

Digital subtraction radiographic analysis of the combination of bioabsorbable membrane and bovine morphogenetic protein pool in human periodontal infrabony defects

Objectives: This study assessed the bone density gain and its relationship with the periodontal clinical parameters in a case series of a regenerative therapy procedure. Material and Methods: Using a split-mouth study design, 10 pairs of infrabony defects from 15 patients were treated with a pool of bovine bone morphogenetic proteins associated with collagen membrane (test sites) or collagen membrane only (control sites). The periodontal healing was clinically and radiographically monitored for six months. Standardized presurgical and 6-month postoperative radiographs were digitized for digital subtraction analysis, which showed relative bone density gain in both groups of 0.034 ± 0.423 and 0.105 ± 0.423 in the test and control group, respectively (p>0.05). Results: As regards the area size of bone density change, the influence of the therapy was detected in 2.5 mm2 in the test group and 2 mm2 in the control group (p>0.05). Additionally, no correlation was observed between the favorable clinical results and the bone density gain measured by digital subtraction radiography (p>0.05). Conclusions: The findings of this study suggest that the clinical benefit of the regenerative therapy observed did not come with significant bone density gains. Long-term evaluation may lead to a different conclusions

Genomics and epidemiology for gastric adenocarcinomas (GE4GAC): a Brazilian initiative to study gastric cancer

Abstract Gastric cancer (GC) is the fifth most common type of cancer worldwide with high incidences in Asia, Central, and South American countries. This patchy distribution means that GC studies are neglected by large research centers from developed countries. The need for further understanding of this complex disease, including the local importance of epidemiological factors and the rich ancestral admixture found in Brazil, stimulated the implementation of the GE4GAC project. GE4GAC aims to embrace epidemiological, clinical, molecular and microbiological data from Brazilian controls and patients with malignant and pre-malignant gastric disease. In this letter, we summarize the main goals of the project, including subject and sample accrual and current findings