EFFECT OF FLOWER THINNING ON YIELD AND QUALITY OF ‘`STANLEY`’ PLUM (PRUNUS DOMESTICA L.)

Plum is the most important fruit crop for cultivation in Serbia. However, a small amount of plum fruit is sold as fresh fruit due to its poor quality. In order to improve fruit quality and obtain regular and high yield chemical blossom thinning agents were applied. The experiment was conducted on seven-year-old plum trees of cultivar `Stanley` which were planted on distance 5x5 m. Ammonium thiosulphate and ethephon were applied in the next treatments: 1) ammonium thiosulphate 1.5% (ATS); 2) ethephon 0.015% (E); 3) ammonium thiosulphate 1.5% + ethephon 0.015% (ATS + E); 4) hand thinning (HT); 5) untreated control treatment (UTC). Chemical thinning treatments were performed once during the phase of full bloom, while hand thinning treatment was performed after the fall of unfertilized fruitlets at the end of May. Parameters analyzed were yield, fruit size, fruit weight, pit weight, fruit firmness, fruit shape index, soluble solids content, total acid content and the amount of harvested fruits per time unit. The obtained results have shown that ATS + E, ATS and HT treatments significantly reduced the number of fruits on the trees compared to the control treatment. However, yield per tree was reduced significantly only in the ATS + E treatment. Other treatments compensated for the smaller number of fruits per tree with a significantly larger fruit size. Since the fruit size was larger on treated trees, the amount of harvested fruits per time unit was significant compared to control treatment. There were no significant differences among the applied treatments in terms of fruit firmness, soluble solids and total acid content

Acute onset of tinnitus in patients with sudden deafness

Objective: We made hypotheses that tinnitus will appear more likely in patients with sudden deafness with superior hearing in unaffected ear or with more severe acute hearing loss. Methods: A retrospective cohort study was performed. Five hundred forty-one patients were identified with idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss (ISSHL) from January 1995 to August 2006. The exclusion criteria for this study were as follows: bilateral sudden hearing loss and Meniere disease, previous tinnitus or bilateral tinnitus at initial evaluation, and onset of hearing loss less than 7 days. The cohort enrolled 454 patients. The enrolled patients were classified into two groups: patient with acute onset tinnitus in the affected ear and patients without tinnitus at initial visit. Main outcome measures were patient age, the presence or absence of vertigo and tinnitus, audiometric patterns, the severity of hearing loss, and hearing in the unaffected ear. Results: Better contralateral hearing (n = 220 versus n = 72, P < 0.001) and younger age (48 versus 55 years, P < 0.001) were independently associated with the acute onset of tinnitus in patients with ISSHL. The degree of asymmetry between the ears did not differ significantly between patients with and without tinnitus. The sex, presence of vertigo, shape of audiogram, and severity of hearing loss were not correlated with tinnitus occurrence. Conclusions: Tinnitus triggered by ISSHL was more frequent in patients with better contralateral hearing and of a younger age, irrespective of the severity of hearing loss on the affected side or the asymmetry between the ears

LTBP4, SPP1, and CD40 Variants: Genetic Modifiers of Duchenne Muscular Dystrophy Analyzed in Serbian Patients

Background: Clinical course variability in Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) is partially explained by the mutation location in the DMD gene and variants in modifier genes. We assessed the effect of the SPP1, CD40, and LTBP4 genes and DMD mutation location on loss of ambulation (LoA). Methods: SNPs in SPP1-rs28357094, LTBP4-rs2303729, rs1131620, rs1051303, rs10880, and CD40-rs1883832 were genotyped, and their effect was assessed by survival and hierarchical cluster analysis. Results: Patients on glucocorticoid corticosteroid (GC) therapy experienced LoA one year later (p = 0.04). The modifying effect of SPP1 and CD40 variants, as well as LTBP4 haplotypes, was not observed using a log-rank test and multivariant Cox regression analysis. Cluster analysis revealed two subgroups with statistical trends in differences in age at LoA. Almost all patients in the cluster with later LoA had the protective IAAM LTBP4 haplotype and statistically significantly fewer CD40 genotypes with harmful T allele and &ldquo;distal&rdquo; DMD mutations. Conclusions: The modifying effect of SPP1, CD40, and LTBP4 was not replicated in Serbian patients, although our cohort was comparable in terms of its DMD mutation type distribution, SNP allele frequencies, and GC-positive effect with other European cohorts. Cluster analysis may be able to identify patient subgroups carrying a combination of the genetic variants that modify LoA