Biocontrol capacity of wild and mutant Trichoderma harzianum (Rifai) strains on Rhizoctonia solani 618: effect of temperature and soil type during storage

Wild (Th11, Th12 and Th650) and mutant (Th11A80.1, Th12A40.1, Th12C40.1 and Th650-NG7) Trichoderma harzianum strains were stored for 180 days at 5\ubaC or at 22\ubaC, in two types of soils. Strains recovered at 90, 120 and 180 days from the two types of soils, retained their full capacity to biocontrol Rhizoctonia solani 618, that produces crown and root rot of tomatoes. Recovery, estimated as colony forming units (cfu) of the wild and mutant strains, showed that all increased their cfu after storage independently of the type of soil and temperature, although kinetic behavior differed among strains. Ratios of recovery after storage in type B soil/ type A soil or at 22\ubaC/5\ubaC, higher or lower than one respectively, allowed to establish that Th11 and Th12 were the most appropriate strains for the biocontrol of R. solani in conditions where growth of the phytopathogen is optimal

Biological control of Rhizoctonia solani in tomatoes with Trichoderma harzianum mutants

Biocontrol of Rhizoctonia solani in tomatoes cultivated under greenhouse and field conditions was analyzed using the Trichoderma harzianum mutants Th650-NG7, Th11A80.1, Th12A40.1, Th12C40.1 and Th12A10.1 and ThF2-1, respectively. Their innocuousness on tomato cultivars 92.95 and Gondola (greenhouse assays), and on cultivar Fortaleza (field assays) was established. Alginate pellets (1.7 g pellets/L soil) containing c.a1 x 105 colony forming units (cfu)/g pellet were applied to a soil previously inoculated with R. solani at transplant (greenhouse) or to a naturally infected soil (field). Controls considered parental wild strains, a chemical fungicide and no additions. Th11A 80.1, Th12A10.1 and Th650-NG7 prevented the 100% mortality of tomato plants cv. 92.95 caused by R. solani, and the 40% mortality in tomato plants cv. Gondola (greenhouse assays). Mortality reduction was reflected in canker level lessening and in plant parameters increases (development, fresh and dry weights). A different degree of susceptibility of tomato plants was observed, being Gondola cv. more resistant than 92.95 cv. to infection in a soil previously inoculated with R. solani. Tomato plants of cv. Fortaleza did not show mortality in naturally infected soils (field assays), where the mutant ThF2-1 reduced significantly the canker level caused by R. solani

Outcomes of off-label drug uses in hospitals: a multicentric prospective study

Purpose: The study aims to assess the clinical evidence, outcome and cost of off-label use of medicines in the hospital setting. Methods: A multicentric prospective cohort study of patients treated with off-label medicines was carried out in five tertiary hospitals from May 2011 to May 2012. Information on clinical characteristics of patients, drugs, outcomes and costs was collected. Patients were followed up to 6 months, and information was assessed by reviewing clinical records and interviewing physicians. Results: A total of 226 patients were included. The median (interquartile range (IQR)) age of patients was 46 (3362) years; 59 % were women. Patients had received a median of three previous treatments, and a lack of response (or suboptimal) was the main reason for off-label use (72.1 %). A total of 232 off-label medicines were administered for 102 different indications. The most frequent medicines were rituximab (49; 21.1 %), botulinum toxin (25; 10.7 %) and omalizumab (14; 6.0 %). In 117 (51.8 %) cases, the level of clinical evidence for their use was low. A partial clinical response was observed in 82 patients (36.3 %), complete response in 71 (31.4 %) and stabilization in 11 (4.9 %). A total of 58 (26.5 %) patients had adverse effects, which in 11 (4.9 %) were severe. The median (IQR) cost per patient was 2,943.07 (541.95,872.54). Conclusions: There was a high variability of off-label medicines and indications. Although the clinical evidence of off-label medicines was often low, clinical response was observed in many patients with previous multiple treatment failure, but at the expense of some adverse effects and a high cost. Registers of patients would be helpful for clinical decisions, although clinical trials are needed

A methodology for probabilistic assessment of solar thermal power plants yield

AIP Conference Proceedings 1850, 140006-1–140006-7A detailed knowledge of the solar resource is a critical point to perform an economic feasibility analysis of Concentrating Solar Power (CSP) plants. This knowledge must include its magnitude (how much solar energy is available at an area of interest over a long time period), and its variability over time. In particular, DNI inter-annual variations may be large, increasing the return of investment risk in CSP plant projects. This risk is typically evaluated by means of the simulation of the energy delivered by the CSP plant during years with low solar irradiation, which are typically characterized by annual solar radiation datasets with high probability of exceedance of their annual DNI values. In this context, this paper proposes the use meteorological years representative of a given probability of exceedance of annual DNI in order to realistically assess the inter-annual variability of energy yields. The performance of this approach is evaluated in the location of Burns station (University of Oregon Solar Radiation Monitoring Laboratory), where a 34- year (from 1980 to 2013) measured data set of solar irradiance and temperature is available

Conductive cotton prepared by polyaniline in situ polymerization using laccase

The high-redox-potential catalyst laccase, isolated from Aspergillus, was first used as a biocatalyst in the oxidative polymerization of water-soluble conductive polyaniline, and then conductive cotton was prepared by in situ polymerization under the same conditions. The polymerization of aniline was performed in a water dispersion of sodium dodecylbenzenesulfonate (SDBS) micellar solution with atmospheric oxygen serving as the oxidizing agent. This method is ecologically clean and permits a greater degree of control over the kinetics of the reaction. The conditions for polyaniline synthesis were optimized. Characterizations of the conducting polyaniline and cotton were carried out using Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy, UV–vis spectroscopy, cyclic voltammetry, the fabric induction electrostatic tester, and the far-field EMC shielding effectiveness test fixture.This work was financially supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China (21274055, 51173071), the Program for New Century Excellent Talents in University (NCET-12-0883), the Natural Science Foundation of Jiangsu Province (BK2011157), the Fundamental Research Funds for the Central Universities (JUSRP51312B), and the Program for Changjiang Scholars and Innovative Research Team in University (IRT1135)

The Non-Catalytic Carboxyl-Terminal Domain of ARFGAP1 Regulates Actin Cytoskeleton Reorganization by Antagonizing the Activation of Rac1

The regulation of the actin cytoskeleton and membrane trafficking is coordinated in mammalian cells. One of the regulators of membrane traffic, the small GTP-binding protein ARF1, also activates phosphatidylinositol kinases that in turn affect actin polymerization. ARFGAP1 is a GTPase activating protein (GAP) for ARF1 that is found on Golgi membranes. We present evidence that ARFGAP1 not only serves as a GAP for ARF1, but also can affect the actin cytoskeleton.As cells attach to a culture dish foci of actin appear prior to the cells flattening and spreading. We have observed that overexpression of a truncated ARFGAP1 that lacks catalytic activity for ARF, called GAP273, caused these foci to persist for much longer periods than non-transfected cells. This phenomenon was dependent on the level of GAP273 expression. Furthermore, cell spreading after re-plating or cell migration into a previously scraped area was inhibited in cells transfected with GAP273. Live cell imaging of such cells revealed that actin-rich membrane blebs formed that seldom made protrusions of actin spikes or membrane ruffles, suggesting that GAP273 interfered with the regulation of actin dynamics during cell spreading. The over-expression of constitutively active alleles of ARF6 and Rac1 suppressed the effect of GAP273 on actin. In addition, the activation of Rac1 by serum, but not that of RhoA or ARF6, was inhibited in cells over-expressing GAP273, suggesting that Rac1 is a likely downstream effector of ARFGAP1. The carboxyl terminal 65 residues of ARFGAP1 were sufficient to produce the effects on actin and cell spreading in transfected cells and co-localized with cortical actin foci.ARFGAP1 functions as an inhibitor upstream of Rac1 in regulating actin cytoskeleton. In addition to its GAP catalytic domain and Golgi binding domain, it also has an actin regulation domain in the carboxyl-terminal portion of the protein

A glimpse of the ERM proteins

In all eukaryotes, the plasma membrane is critically important as it maintains the architectural integrity of the cell. Proper anchorage and interaction between the plasma membrane and the cytoskeleton is critical for normal cellular processes. The ERM (ezrin-radixin-moesin) proteins are a class of highly homologous proteins involved in linking the plasma membrane to the cortical actin cytoskeleton. This review takes a succinct look at the biology of the ERM proteins including their structure and function. Current reports on their regulation that leads to activation and deactivation was examined before taking a look at the different interacting partners. Finally, emerging roles of each of the ERM family members in cancer was highlighted

A Central Role of Abscisic Acid in Stress-Regulated Carbohydrate Metabolism

Background: Abiotic stresses adversely affect plant growth and development. The hormone abscisic acid (ABA) plays a central role in the response and adaptation to environmental constraints. However, apart from the well established role of ABA in regulating gene expression programmes, little is known about its function in plant stress metabolism. Principal Findings: Using an integrative multiparallel approach of metabolome and transcriptome analyses, we studied the dynamic response of the model glyophyte Arabidopsis thaliana to ABA and high salt conditions. Our work shows that salt stress induces complex re-adjustment of carbohydrate metabolism and that ABA triggers the initial steps of carbon mobilisation. Significance: These findings open new perspectives on how high salinity and ABA impact on central carbohydrate metabolism and highlight the power of iterative combinatorial approaches of non-targeted and hypothesis-driven experiments in stress biology