An annotated checklist of the jumping plant-lice (Insecta: Hemiptera: Psylloidea) from the Mercantour National Park, with seven new records for France and one new synonymy

A total of 68 psyllid species are listed from the Mercantour National Park in Southeast France, where a targeted collecting campaign was conducted between 2009 and 2012, as part of the project "ATBI+M" Mercantour. The insects were collected using Malaise traps, flight intercept traps and sweep nets to sample in the vegetation. Additional information on distribution, biology and host-plants is provided for each species. Seven species are recorded for the first time from France: Craspedolepta artemisiae (Foerster, 1848), Craspedolepta nebulosa (Zetterstedt, 1828), Cacopsylla propinqua (Schaefer, 1949), Cyamophila prohaskai (Priesner, 1927), Eryngiofaga cf. refuga (Loginova, 1966), Bactericera parastriola Conci, Ossiannilsson & Tamanini, 1988 and Trioza flixiana Burckhardt & Lauterer, 2002. Trioza (Trioza) rapisardai Conci & Tamanini, 1984 is a new subjective synonym of Trioza brachyceraea Hodkinson & White, 1979, which was previously known only from the male holotype. The abundance, distribution and introduction status of some species are discussed

Point-of-care assessment of platelet reactivity in the emergency department may facilitate rapid rule-out of acute coronary syndromes: a prospective cohort pilot feasibility study

Objective: Accurate, efficient and cost-effective disposition of patients presenting to emergency departments (EDs) with symptoms suggestive of acute coronary syndromes (ACS) is a growing priority. Platelet activation is an early feature in the pathogenesis of ACS; thus, we sought to obtain an insight into whether point-of-care testing of platelet function: (1) may assist in the rule-out of ACS; (2) may provide additional predictive value in identifying patients with non-cardiac symptoms versus ACS-positive patients and (3) is logistically feasible in the ED. Design: Prospective cohort feasibility study. Setting: Two urban tertiary care sites, one located in the USA and the second in Argentina. Participants: 509 adult patients presenting with symptoms of ACS. Main outcome measures Platelet reactivity was quantified using the Platelet Function Analyzer-100, with closure time (seconds required for blood, aspirated under high shear, to occlude a 150 µm aperture) serving as the primary endpoint. Closure times were categorised as ‘normal’ or ‘prolonged’, defined objectively as the 90th centile of the distribution for all participants enrolled in the study. Diagnosis of ACS was made using the standard criteria. The use of antiplatelet agents was not an exclusion criterion. Results: Closure times for the study population ranged from 47 to 300 s, with a 90th centile value of 138 s. The proportion of patients with closure times ≥138 s was significantly higher in patients with non-cardiac symptoms (41/330; 12.4%) versus the ACS-positive cohort (2/105 (1.9%); p=0.0006). The specificity of ‘prolonged’ closure times (≥138 s) for a diagnosis of non-cardiac symptoms was 98.1%, with a positive predictive value of 95.4%. Multivariate analysis revealed that the closure time provided incremental, independent predictive value in the rule-out of ACS. Conclusions: Point-of-care assessment of platelet reactivity is feasible in the ED and may facilitate the rapid rule-out of ACS in patients with prolonged closure times

Feature guidance by negative attentional templates depends on search difficulty

Prior knowledge about an upcoming target can bias attention and facilitate visual search performance. However, whether knowledge about distractors can likewise enhance search, biasing attention away from to-be-avoided items, is less clear. Here, we investigated whether the utilization of such attentional templates is affected by search difficulty. Results from two experiments revealed search efficiency to be reliably increased when positive cues provide information about the upcoming target (relative to neutral, baseline cues) irrespective of whether search was easy (low target-nontarget similarity) or difficult (high target-nontarget similarity). By contrast, negative cues that inform about a to-be-avoided distractor were found to facilitate performance only during difficult (but not easy) search, that is, when responses were relatively slow. This suggests that, contrary to positive target templates, negative distractor templates can be used effectively only when the search task is difficult, which provides sufficient time for processes of distractor inhibition to operate

Secuenciación Parcial del Genoma de Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa Empleando Nuevas Tecnologías

La espiga negra o rayado bacteriano es una enfermedad causada por la bacteria Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa. Esta enfermedad se manifiesta sobre las hojas con manchas estriadas marrones, mientras que los granos y tallos adquieren un aspecto marrón oscuro de apariencia húmeda. Se manifiesta en cultivos de trigo (Triticum spp), cebada (Hordeum vulgare), centeno (Secale cereale) y avena (Avena sp), donde las epidemias son de carácter esporádico, dependiendo del manejo del cultivo, condiciones climáticas y genotipos utilizados. Eventualmente podrían representar una limitante para la producción en estos cultivos.Hasta el momento, no se ha secuenciado ningún aislamiento de esta bacteria en Argentina, limitando estudio y comprensión de su patogenicidad. Con el objetivo de conocer aspectos genómicos básicos de dicha bacteria, se purificó ADN a partir de colonias aisladas a partir de trigo con síntomas y se secuenció empleando la tecnología MinION (Oxford Nanopore), de pequeño tamaño y bajo costo. Como resultado se obtuvieron 2.9x103 lecturas contabilizando un total de 500Mb secuenciados. En el ensamblaje final se obtuvo un solo contig de aproximadamente 4.5Mb con una cobertura promedio de 70X y con una identidad a nivel de nucleótidos cercanas al 96% respecto de la secuencia referencia de Xanthomonas translucens pv. undulosa cepa ICMP11055 (CP009750). En el proceso de anotación de genes se identificaron 6 rDNA, 57 RNAt y más de 5000 CDSs (secuencias codificantes). Se continúa trabajando en la determinación del repertorio de genes que codifican para proteínas efectorasy otras regiones genómicas asociadas a la patogenicidad.Los resultados expuestos permiten valorar el empleo de las nuevas tecnologías de secuenciación para el conocimiento de diferentes genomas. Las mismas deben ser consideradas como una herramienta económicamente accesible, versátiles ya que no requieren de equipo pesado ni condiciones exigentes para su uso y rápidas, indispensables para el estudio de diferentes agentes fitopatógenos

O USO DA TERAPIA GÊNICA NO TRATAMENTO DE DOENÇAS

O presente estudo tem por objetivo destacar a importânciado uso da terapia gênica no tratamento de doenças. Trata-se de uma revisão de literatura, onde foram utilizadosartigos científicos, periódicos de revistas e livros. A TerapiaGênica é o procedimento destinado a introduzir em umorganismo, com o uso de técnicas de DNA recombinante,genes selvagens para substituir genes mutados. Resumidamente,as etapas envolvidas em um experimento de terapiagênica são: o isolamento do gene de interesse, a construçãode um vetor para transferência do gene para a célula-alvo,e as técnicas de transferência do gene. A utilização da terapiagênica como forma de tratamento está relatada nasdoenças como Imunodeficiência Severa Combinada, câncer,doenças cardiovasculares, doença de Parkinson e cancro demama. Novas pesquisas ainda são necessárias para aplicaçãodessa metodologia em doenças a fim de obter um tratamentode sucesso