Maturation time, dispersion, crop and physiological quality of star flowers (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland) seeds

Neste trabalho, objetivou-se avaliar a ?poca de matura??o, dispers?o, colheita e a qualidade fisiol?gica de sementes de sempreviva (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland), em Diamantina, MG. Cap?tulos de S. elegans foram colhidos em cinco ?pocas (20/06/ 05, 20/07/05, 20/08/05, 20/09/05 e 20/10/05) em tr?s locais de produ??o natural, dentro do Campus da UFVJM em um Neossolo Quartzar?nico ?rtico T?pico (locais 1 e 2) e Neossolo Quartzar?nico Hidrom?rfico T?pico (local 3) e, posteriormente, submetidos a testes para avalia??o do vigor e germina??o das sementes. A qualidade fisiol?gica de sementes de S. elegans variou em fun??o da ?poca e local de colheita. Estrat?gias de manejo devem ser realizadas como a colheita ap?s o in?cio do per?odo de dispers?o das sementes (junho a outubro) e com os cap?tulos totalmente abertos.Funda??o de Amparo ? Pesquisa do Estado de Minas Gerais (FAPEMIG)Empresa de Pesquisa Agropecu?ria de Minas Gerais (EPAMIG)Conselho Nacional de Desenvolvimento Cient?fico e Tecnol?gico (CNPq)Coordena??o de Aperfei?oamento de Pessoal de N?vel Superior (CAPES)The aims of this work were to evaluate the maturation time, dispersion, crop and the physiological quality seeds of star flowers (Syngonanthus elegans (Bong.) Ruhland), in Diamantina, MG. S. elegans Chapters were picked up in five times (20/06/05, 20/07/05, 20/ 08/05, 20/09/05 and 20/10/05) in three places of natural production, inside the Campus of UFVJM in a Neossolo Quartzar?nico ?rtico T?pico (places 1 e 2) and Neossolo Quartzar?nico Hidrom?rfico T?pico (place 3) and after submitted to the germination and vigor tests. Physiological quality of seeds of S. elegans were affected by time and crop place. Crop management should be accomplished as the harvest after the beginning of the period of dispersion of seeds (june to october) and with the chapters totally open

Use of AFLP markers to estimate molecular diversity of Phakopsora pachyrhizi

Background: Asian soybean rust (SBR) caused by Phakopsora pachyrhizi Syd. & Syd., is one of the main diseases affecting soybean and has been reported as one of the most economically important fungal pathogens worldwide. Knowledge of the genetic diversity of this fungus should be considered when developing resistance breeding strategies. We aimed to analyze the genetic diversity of P. pachyrhizi combining simple sampling with a powerful and reproducible molecular technique. Results: We employed Amplified Fragment Length Polymorphism (AFLP) technique for the amplification of P. pachyrhizi DNA extracted from naturally SBR-infected plants from 23 production fields. From a total of 1919 markers obtained, 77% were polymorphic. The high percentage of polymorphism and the Nei's genetic diversity coefficient (0.22) indicated high pathogen diversity. Analysis of molecular variance showed higher genetic variation within countries than among them. Temporal analysis showed a higher genetic variation within a year than between years. Cluster, phylogenetic and principal co-ordinate analysis showed that samples group by year of collection and then by country sampled. Conclusions: The study proposed combining a simple collection of urediniospore with a subsequent analysis by AFLP was useful to examine the molecular polymorphism of samples of P. pachyrhizi collected and might have a significant contribution to the knowledge of its genetic diversity. Also, AFLP analysis is an important and potent molecular tool for the study of genetic diversity and could be useful to carry out wider genetic diversity studies

Joint and tendon involvement predict disease progression in systemic sclerosis: A EUSTAR prospective study

OBJECTIVE: To determine whether joint synovitis and tendon friction rubs (TFRs) can predict the progression of systemic sclerosis (SSc) over time. PATIENTS AND METHODS: We performed a prospective cohort study that included 1301 patients with SSc from the EUSTAR database with disease duration 643 years at inclusion and with a follow-up of at least 2 years. Presence or absence at clinical examination of synovitis and TFRs was extracted at baseline. Outcomes were skin, cardiovascular, renal and lung progression. Overall disease progression was defined according to the occurrence of at least one organ progression. RESULTS: Joint synovitis (HR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.59) and TFRs (HR: 1.32, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.70) were independently predictive of overall disease progression, as were also the diffuse cutaneous subset (HR: 1.30, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.61) and positive antitopoisomerase-I antibodies (HR: 1.25, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.53). Regarding skin progression, joint synovitis (HR: 1.67, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.64) and TFRs (HR: 1.69, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.77) were also independently predictive of worsening of the modified Rodnan skin score. For cardiovascular progression, joint synovitis was predictive of the occurrence of new digital ulcer(s) (HR: 1.45, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.96) and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (HR: 2.20, 95% CI 1.06 to 4.57); TFRs were confirmed to be an independent predictor of scleroderma renal crisis (HR: 2.33, 95% CI 1.03 to 6.19). CONCLUSIONS: Joint synovitis and TFRs are independent predictive factors for disease progression in patients with early SSc. These easily detected clinical markers may be useful for the risk stratification of patients with SSc

Joint and tendon involvement predict disease progression in systemic sclerosis: A EUSTAR prospective study

Objective: To determine whether joint synovitis and tendon friction rubs (TFRs) can predict the progression of systemic sclerosis (SSc) over time. Patients and methods We performed a prospective cohort study that included 1301 patients with SSc from the EUSTAR database with disease duration ≤3 years at inclusion and with a follow-up of at least 2 years. Presence or absence at clinical examination of synovitis and TFRs was extracted at baseline. Outcomes were skin, cardiovascular, renal and lung progression. Overall disease progression was defined according to the occurrence of at least one organ progression. Results: Joint synovitis (HR: 1.26, 95% CI 1.01 to 1.59) and TFRs (HR: 1.32, 95% CI 1.03 to 1.70) were independently predictive of overall disease progression, as were also the diffuse cutaneous subset (HR: 1.30, 95% CI 1.05 to 1.61) and positive antitopoisomerase-I antibodies (HR: 1.25, 95% CI 1.02 to 1.53). Regarding skin progression, joint synovitis (HR: 1.67, 95% CI 1.06 to 2.64) and TFRs (HR: 1.69, 95% CI 1.02 to 2.77) were also independently predictive of worsening of the modified Rodnan skin score. For cardiovascular progression, joint synovitis was predictive of the occurrence of new digital ulcer(s) (HR: 1.45, 95% CI 1.08 to 1.96) and decreased left ventricular ejection fraction (HR: 2.20, 95% CI 1.06 to 4.57); TFRs were confirmed to be an independent predictor of scleroderma renal crisis (HR: 2.33, 95% CI 1.03 to 6.19). Conclusions: Joint synovitis and TFRs are independent predictive factors for disease progression in patients with early SSc. These easily detected clinical markers may be useful for the risk stratification of patients with SSc

Outcomes of patients with systemic sclerosis treated with rituximab in contemporary practice: a prospective cohort study.

Objective To assess the safety and efficacy of rituximab in systemic sclerosis (SSc) in clinical practice. Methods We performed a prospective study including patients with SSc from the European Scleroderma Trials and Research (EUSTAR) network treated with rituximab and matched with untreated patients with SSc. The main outcomes measures were adverse events, skin fibrosis improvement, lung fibrosis worsening and steroids use among propensity score-matched patients treated or not with rituximab. Results 254 patients were treated with rituximab, in 58% for lung and in 32% for skin involvement. After a median follow-up of 2 years, about 70% of the patients had no side effect. Comparison of treated patients with 9575 propensity-score matched patients showed that patients treated with rituximab were more likely to have skin fibrosis improvement (22.7 vs 14.03 events per 100 person-years; OR: 2.79 [1.47-5.32]; p=0.002). Treated patients did not have significantly different rates of decrease in forced vital capacity (FVC)>10% (OR: 1.03 [0.55-1.94]; p=0.93) nor in carbon monoxide diffusing capacity (DLCO) decrease. Patients having received rituximab were more prone to stop or decrease steroids (OR: 2.34 [1.56-3.53], p<0.0001). Patients treated concomitantly with mycophenolate mofetil had a trend for better outcomes as compared with patients receiving rituximab alone (delta FVC: 5.22 [0.83-9.62]; p=0.019 as compared with controls vs 3 [0.66-5.35]; p=0.012). Conclusion Rituximab use was associated with a good safety profile in this large SSc-cohort. Significant change was observed on skin fibrosis, but not on lung. However, the limitation is the observational design. The potential stabilisation of lung fibrosis by rituximab has to be addressed by a randomised trial

Metadata record for: COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset on psychological and behavioural consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak

This dataset contains key characteristics about the data described in the Data Descriptor COVIDiSTRESS Global Survey dataset on psychological and behavioural consequences of the COVID-19 outbreak. Contents: 1. human readable metadata summary table in CSV format 2. machine readable metadata file in JSON forma

Reduced Cancer Incidence in Huntington's Disease: Analysis in the Registry Study

Background: People with Huntington's disease (HD) have been observed to have lower rates of cancers. Objective: To investigate the relationship between age of onset of HD, CAG repeat length, and cancer diagnosis. Methods: Data were obtained from the European Huntington's disease network REGISTRY study for 6540 subjects. Population cancer incidence was ascertained from the GLOBOCAN database to obtain standardised incidence ratios of cancers in the REGISTRY subjects. Results: 173/6528 HD REGISTRY subjects had had a cancer diagnosis. The age-standardised incidence rate of all cancers in the REGISTRY HD population was 0.26 (CI 0.22-0.30). Individual cancers showed a lower age-standardised incidence rate compared with the control population with prostate and colorectal cancers showing the lowest rates. There was no effect of CAG length on the likelihood of cancer, but a cancer diagnosis within the last year was associated with a greatly increased rate of HD onset (Hazard Ratio 18.94, p < 0.001). Conclusions: Cancer is less common than expected in the HD population, confirming previous reports. However, this does not appear to be related to CAG length in HTT. A recent diagnosis of cancer increases the risk of HD onset at any age, likely due to increased investigation following a cancer diagnosis