Double-pruning of ‘Syrah’ grapevines: a management strategy to harvest wine grapes during the winter in the Brazilian Southeast

Grape harvest in the major grapevine growing regions of Brazil occurs during the summer; a period with excessive rainfall. The climatic conditions during the Brazilian summer can have an adverse effect on fruit maturation and wine quality. This study compared the performance of 'Syrah' grapevines cultivated in two growing seasons. A double pruning management system was employed as a technique in the vineyard and the grapevines were cultivated in summer, a cycle normally adopted in the South and Southeast of Brazil and winter during 2005 and 2006 in a non-irrigated vineyard. Vine water stress was minimal for both growing seasons and photosynthetic rates were found to be lower in the winter than the summer. However, no differences in vegetative vigor were observed. The growing season was shorter in summer than in winter. This was predominately due to a faster ripening period in the summer. During the winter harvests, grapevines had a higher yield, accumulation of sugar, anthocyanins and total phenolic compounds, and the lowest rot incidence. Double-pruning proved to be a powerful tool to improve wine grape composition in the Brazilian Southeast. This management will allow the production of quality raw materials for the production of good wines, allowing Southeastern Brazil to enter the competitive globalized wine market.

Haptoglobin genotypes and refractory hypertension in type 2 diabetes mellitus patients

BACKGROUND: It has been suggested that haptoglobin polymorphism may influence the pathogenesis of microvascular and macrovascular complications in diabetic patients. OBJECTIVE: This cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the existence or not of an association between haptoglobin genotypes and prevalence of ischemic cardiovascular events (stable angina, unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction), systemic arterial hypertension, refractory hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia in 120 type-2 diabetes mellitus patients followed up at Hospital de Clínicas da UNICAMP in Campinas, São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. METHODS: Haptoglobin genotyping was performed by allele-specific polymerase chain reactions. The frequencies of the haptoglobin genotypes were compared with the presence/absence of cardiovascular disease, systemic arterial hypertension, refractory hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia; systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements; plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol (total, high density lipoprotein-HDL and low density lipoprotein-LDL) and triglycerides; and serum creatinine levels. RESULTS: Although no association between haptoglobin genotype and the presence of cardiovascular disease could be identified, we found a significant excess of patients with Hp2-1 genotype among those with refractory hypertension, who also had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and total and LDL cholesterol levels. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that type-2 diabetes mellitus patients with the Hp2-1 genotype may have higher chances of developing refractory hypertension. Further studies in other diabetic populations are required to confirm these findings.FUNDAMENTO: Tem sido sugerido que o polimorfismo da haptoglobina pode influenciar na patogênese das complicações microvasculares e macrovasculares em pacientes diabéticos. OBJETIVO: O objetivo principal deste estudo transversal foi de realizar uma investigação da existência ou não de uma associação entre os genótipos de haptoglobina e a prevalência de eventos isquêmicos cardiovasculares (angina estável, angina instável e infarto agudo do miocárdio), hipertensão arterial sistêmica, hipertensão refratária, obesidade e dislipidemia em 120 pacientes com diabete melito tipo 2, seguidos no Hospital Universitário da Unicamp, em Campinas, Estado de São Paulo. MÉTODOS: A genotipagem da haptoglobina foi realizada por reações em cadeia da polimerase alelo-específicas. As frequências dos genótipos de haptoglobina foram comparadas com a presença/ausência de doença cardiovascular, hipertensão arterial sistêmica, hipertensão refratária, obesidade e dislipidemia; medições de pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica; glicemia, colesterol (total, lipoproteínas de alta densidade - HDL e lipoproteínas de baixa densidade - LDL) e triglicerídeos; assim como níveis de creatinina sérica. RESULTADOS: Embora nenhuma associação entre o genótipo de haptoglobina e a presença de doença cardiovascular tenha sido identificada, encontramos um excesso significativo de pacientes com o genótipo Hp2-1 entre as pessoas com hipertensão refratária, que também apresentavam uma maior pressão arterial sistólica e diastólica e níveis de colesterol total e LDL. CONCLUSÃO: Nossos resultados sugerem que os pacientes com diabete melito tipo 2 com o genótipo Hp2-1 podem apresentar uma maior chance de desenvolver hipertensão refratária. Estudos adicionais em populações diabéticas são necessários para confirmar esses achados.33834

Starch accumulation and agronomical performance of Syrah under winter cycle: responses to pruning and ethephon management

In the Brazilian Southeast, 'Syrah' grape harvested during the winter reaches better quality index than those from summer harvest. However, the management of annual double pruning to produce two grapevine growth cycles (vegetative cycle: spring – summer; reproductive cycle: autumn – winter) has increased the vineyard production costs and the vine reserve accumulation can be compromised. This study had two main objectives to improve the winter cultivation: i) to validate single pruning carried out only in summer (February) (experiment 1); to increase the reserve accumulation by ethephon (ethrel) sprayed two months before yield pruning (experiment 2). Both experiments were carried out in south of Minas Gerais State using three years old field-grown 'Syrah' grapevines grafted onto '1103 Paulsen' and trained in a vertical shoot position. The results from experiment 1 showed that grapevines pruned in summer also need to be pruned during the winter after grape harvest to avoid bud infertility during the following autumn-winter season. Single pruning reduced the starch contents in shoots, trunks and roots sampled before yield pruning and the commercial grape harvest was completely unavailable due to unfruitful shoots. On the other hand, the autumn-winter cycle was improved by ethephon sprayed in the previous vegetative growing cycle (summer cycle). During the autumn-winter cycle, sprayed grapevines showed higher starch content in trunks, high vegetative vigor and the yield and grape quality were not negatively affected

Effect of pruning strategy on 'Syrah' bud necrosis and fruitfulness in Brazilian subtropical Southeast

The change of wine grape harvest from wet season (summer) to dry season (winter) by changing the pruning management has improved quality of wines produced in the Brazilian Southeast. However, the vines need to be spur pruned twice a year, i.e. with a 1st pruning in August (winter pruning) for a vegetative cycle during the hot and wet summer, and a 2nd pruning in January (summer pruning) for a productive cycle during the cold and dry season. This double pruning strategy is made necessary by the fact that latent buds developed during the dry season cycle are not fruitful to support a productive cycle in the following year. This histological study, performed in the South of Minas Gerais State (Brazil), showed that annual single pruning done in the wet season (in January) displayed a high rate of necrosis on primary and secondary buds (bud necrosis – BN). In April, 99 days after summer pruning (DASP), the rates of BN were 40 % and 50 % at basal and apical node positions, respectively, reaching 80 % of BN in December (322 DASP). As a consequence of BN, bud potential fertility was drastically reduced from 0.5 inflorescence primordial (IP) per bud (in July) to 0.06 (in December) and bud burst in the next cycle from secondary and tertiary bud axes. Vines managed by double pruning system (submitted to summer and winter pruning) displayed a much higher fruitfulness potential, i.e. 1.46 IP per bud in December (112 days after winter pruning) and limited BN occurrence (20 %). On single pruned vines, we also observed a significant decrease of starch content in canes, trunks and roots. Internal bud anatomy showed that a random cell breakdown started 70 days DASP. At 211 DASP, all buds showed a large starch granule concentration, raphides and crystals of calcium oxalate inside idioblasts of leaf primordia and also in cortical parenchyma of the vegetative axis. The bud starch content was increased and a positive correlation between necrosis and starch accumulation was observed. The impact of carbohydrate availability on bud necrosis development was discussed. This study showed that the necrosis development towards secondary and tertiary axis of the dry season buds is the main reason of unfruitfulness in the vineyards managed by single pruning in the wet season, making the double pruning compulsory

Haptoglobin Genotypes And Refractory Hypertension In Type 2 Diabetes Mellitus Patients.

It has been suggested that haptoglobin polymorphism may influence the pathogenesis of microvascular and macrovascular complications in diabetic patients. This cross sectional study was carried out to investigate the existence or not of an association between haptoglobin genotypes and prevalence of ischemic cardiovascular events (stable angina, unstable angina and acute myocardial infarction), systemic arterial hypertension, refractory hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia in 120 type-2 diabetes mellitus patients followed up at Hospital de Clínicas da UNICAMP in Campinas, São Paulo state, southeastern Brazil. Haptoglobin genotyping was performed by allele-specific polymerase chain reactions. The frequencies of the haptoglobin genotypes were compared with the presence/absence of cardiovascular disease, systemic arterial hypertension, refractory hypertension, obesity and dyslipidemia; systolic and diastolic blood pressure measurements; plasma levels of glucose, cholesterol (total, high density lipoprotein-HDL and low density lipoprotein-LDL) and triglycerides; and serum creatinine levels. Although no association between haptoglobin genotype and the presence of cardiovascular disease could be identified, we found a significant excess of patients with Hp2-1 genotype among those with refractory hypertension, who also had higher systolic and diastolic blood pressure, and total and LDL cholesterol levels. Our results suggest that type-2 diabetes mellitus patients with the Hp2-1 genotype may have higher chances of developing refractory hypertension. Further studies in other diabetic populations are required to confirm these findings.97338-4

O distanciamento social como medida de saúde pública na terceira idade / Social distance as a measure of public health in the elderly

O distanciamento social determinado a todas as pessoas durante a pandemia de COVID-19 é necessário, principalmente, aos idosos. Tratando-se de um dos grupos de risco mais vulneráveis, o objetivo da pesquisa foi verificar se as pessoas da terceira idade estão cumprindo o distanciamento social e como eles estão se sentindo no período da pandemia. A pesquisa utilizada foi a qualitativa, pela abertura das questões e sua análise. O instrumento foi a entrevista. Participaram deste trabalho 20 idosos, acima de 60 anos. Os principais resultados da pesquisa foram:  os idosos em sua maioria receberam visitas no período da pandemia e relataram ter saído de casa; 11 entrevistados relataram ter tido algum problema de saúde, relacionados a doenças físicas e a transtornos psíquicos, como ansiedade e depressão. Espera-se que o trabalho realizado e divulgado possa ser uma contribuição para o conhecimento dos idosos durante o distanciamento social, devido à pandemia, e seu comportamento nesse período.