Comparación de la eficacia de distintos productos químicos aplicados mediante tratamiento aéreo en el control del muérdago (Viscum album) sobre Pinus halepensis

El objetivo de este trabajo fue comparar la eficacia de diversos productos químicos en el control del muérdago (Viscum album var austriacum) sobre Pinus halepensis. La experiencia consistió en la aplicación mediante tratamiento aéreo de diversas concentraciones de etefon, ácido giberélico y glifosato. Las combinaciones de ácido giberélico y glifosato obtuvieron las mayores eficacias, especialmente la que aplicó 7,8 g/ha de ácido giberélico y 540 g/ha de glifosato.The aim of this work was to compare the effectiveness of several products (such as ethephon, giberelic acid and glyphosate) in the chemical control of mistletoe {Viscum album var austriacum) on Pinus halepensis. The experiment consisted in applying various concentrations of these products by aerial treatment. The combinations of giberelic acid and glyphosate appeared to be the most effective treatments, especially the treatment that applied giberelic acid - 7,8 g/ha and glyphosate - 540 g/ha

Observation of nano-indent induced strain fields and dislocation generation in silicon wafers using micro-raman spectroscopy and white beam x-ray topography

In the semiconductor manufacturing industry, wafer handling introduces micro-cracks at the wafer edge. During heat treatment these can produce larger, long-range cracks in the wafer which can cause wafer breakage during manufacture. Two complimentary techniques, micro-Raman spectroscopy (μRS) and White Beam Synchrotron X-ray Topography (WBSXRT) were employed to study both the micro-cracks and the associated strain fields produced by nano-indentations in Si wafers, which were used as a means of introducing controlled strain in the wafers. It is shown that both the spatial lateral and depth distribution of these long range strain fields are relatively isotropic in nature. The Raman spectra suggest the presence of a region under tensile strain beneath the indents, which can indicate a crack beneath the indent and the data strongly suggests that there exists a minimum critical applied load below which cracking will not initiate

Cambios Fisiológicos en Postcosecha de dos Cultivares de Rosa con Diferente Duración en Florero.

The postharvest behavior of rose (Rosa hybrida) was studied on cultivars Raphaella and Bettina of long and short vase life periods respectively. With this purpose, flower stems, with and without pretreated silver nitrate (1 g·L-1 for 30 min), were immersed for 3 h in the following preservative solutions: 1. 2% sucrose, 2.2% sucrose + 0.002 M silver thiosulphate (STS), 3. 2% sucrose + 200 mg·L-1 8- hydroxyquinoline citrate (8-HQC) and 4. 2% sucrose + 0.002 M STS + 200 mg·L-1 8- HQC. An equal number of flower stems treated with water were included as control. Evaluations were done 3, 6, and 9 days after treatments. According to the results obtained, the soluble sugars and reducing sugars contents found on petals were higher than on the leaves. However, the soluble sugar content of the leaves decreased significantly (p £ 0.05) 9 days after treatment in roses ‘Raphaella’ that were pretreated with silver nitrate. In petals, the reducing sugar content increased 6 days after treatment in response to pretreatment with silver nitrate and the sucrose concentration of the preservative solution. Starch content only increased in petals of flowers, pretreated with silver nitrate, after 6 days of being treated with preservative solutions containing 8-HQC. The silver nitrate pretreatment and the composition of the preservative solutions had no effect on ethylene production, but the evolution of the CO2 increased on flowers being treated with silver nitrate.    El comportamiento poscosecha de dos cultivares de rosa (Raphaella and Bettina) con diferente duración en florero fueron estudiado en relación a los cambios fisiológicos observados en pétalos y hojas según diferentes soluciones preservantes compuestas de 2 % de sacarosa, 200 mg·L-1 de 8-hiidroxiquinoleína (8-HQ) y tiosulfato de plata (TSP), en diferentes combinaciones, con y sin pre tratamiento de 1000 mg·L-1 de nitrato de plata, más un testigo solo con agua. Las evaluaciones se hicieron a los 3, 6 y 9 días después de tratadas. Los resultados demostraron un mayor contenido de azúcares totales y reductores en pétalos que en hojas, pero a los 9 días hubo un efecto del pre tratamiento con nitrato de plata, lo cual provocó una disminución significativa (p £ 0,05) de los azúcares totales de las hojas de rosas ‘Raphaella’. En azúcares reductores en pétalos, a los 6 días, también hubo efecto del pre tratamiento y de la solución con sacarosa ya que en ambos casos éstos aumentaron. En cuanto al contenido de almidón, solo en pétalos hubo un incremento a los 6 días por efecto del pre tratamiento pero en combinación con las soluciones que contenían 8-HQ. En la producción de etileno no se encontraron efectos significativos de ninguno de los factores. Por otro lado, en la respiración hubo un efecto del nitrato de plata en combinación con las soluciones produciendo un aumento del CO2. &nbsp

An evaluation of sampling methodology for assessing settlement of temperate fish in seagrass meadows

All demersal fish with planktonic larvae settle at some point early in life, generally around the transformation from larvae to juveniles or soon after. Sampling pre-settlement or very young, settled fish is challenging due to spatial concretions within the habitat and the pulsed, rapid nature of the settlement process. There is a lack of robust methods that enable this sampling, but information on the settlement, that represents a mortality bottleneck, is crucial for the follow-up of populations for fisheries and conservation purposes. An empirical evaluation of sampling methods has not been conducted in temperate habitats. Here, we compare six different sampling methods to collect pre- and post-settlement stages of fish to determine the best combination of techniques to utilise in Posidonia oceanica, an endemic Mediterranean seagrass that provides a key nursery habitat for coastal fish. We considered three types of pelagic nets (bongo net, neuston net and ring net), two types of light-traps (Quatrefoil and Ecocean CARE®) to sample pre-settled stages and a low-impact epibenthic trawl for recent settlers. Our results show a significantly different size-spectrum for each method, with a continuous range of sizes from 2 mm to 200 mm. The smallest sizes were collected by the bongo net, followed by the ring net, the neuston net, the Quatrefoil, the Ecocean and finally the epibenthic trawl. Our results suggest that an appropriate strategy for collecting and estimating the abundance of key littoral fish species around settlement size is the combination of the Ecocean light trap and the epibenthic trawl

The Association between Inflammatory Biomarkers and Cardiovascular Autonomic Dysfunction after Bacterial Infection.

Heart rate variability (HRV) is a known measure of cardiac autonomic function. A cardiovascular autonomic dysfunction (CAD), measured as changes in HRV, is usually presented after an infectious process. The aim of the present study is to assess the association between serum inflammatory markers and CAD. For this purpose, 50 volunteers (13 of them recovering from an infection) were recruited and followed-up for 6 weeks. Their serum inflammatory biomarkers (CRP, IL1, IL4, IL6, IL10, and TNFalpha) were quantified throughout those weeks, along with their HRV resting, in response to the Valsalva maneuver, metronome breathing, standing and sustained handgrip. The correlation of within-subject changes in both HRV and inflammatory biomarkers was assessed to evaluate the concurrent changes. An inverse within-subject correlation was found between CRP and HRV in response to the Valsalva maneuver (rho (95% CI)

Conflict during learning reconfigures the neural representation of positive valence and approach behavior

Punishing and rewarding experiences can change the valence of sensory stimuli and guide animal behavior in opposite directions, resulting in avoidance or approach. Often, however, a stimulus is encountered with both positive and negative experiences. How is such conflicting information represented in the brain and resolved into a behavioral decision? We address this question by dissecting a circuit for sexual conditioning in C. elegans. In this learning paradigm, an odor is conditioned with both a punishment (starvation) and a reward (mates), resulting in odor approach. We find that negative and positive experiences are both encoded by the neuropeptide pigment dispersing factor 1 (PDF-1) being released from, and acting on, different neurons. Each experience creates a distinct memory in the circuit for odor processing. This results in the sensorimotor representation of the odor being different in naive and sexually conditioned animals, despite both displaying approach. Our results reveal that the positive valence of a stimulus is not represented in the activity of any single neuron class but flexibly represented within the circuit according to the experiences and predictions associated with the stimulus

Inflammatory Cytokines Are Associated with Cognitive Dysfunction and Depressive State during Acute Bacterial Infections and the Recovery Phase

During a bacterial infection, individuals may present with behavioral changes referred to as sickness behavior, which has been suggested is induced by the inflammatory markers that are released because of the infective immunological challenge. However, few studies have explored this multidimensional phenomenon in naturally occurring conditions. A longitudinal observational study was conducted to explore the role of inflammatory cytokines in mediating the sickness behavior during a bacterial infection. There were 13, 11 and 37 participants in the infection, hospital control and healthy groups, respectively. They were all followed up for 6 weeks and their inflammatory markers were quantified throughout those weeks. Cognitive function and depressive state were assessed by means of the Mini-Mental State Examination (MMSE) and Cornell Scale for Depression in Dementia (CSDD). Reductions in proinflammatory markers C-Reactive protein (CRP), interleukin – 6 (IL6) and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNFα) and increments in anti-inflammatory markers (interleukin – 4 (IL4)) were associated with an improvement in CSDD and MSEE in patients recovering from a bacterial infection. The correlation between inflammatory makers and CSDD was statistically significant for the CRP (r = 0.535, p = 0.001), the IL6 (r = 0.499, p < 0.001), the TNFα (r = 0.235, p = 0.007) and the IL4 (r = −0.321, p = 0.018). Inflammatory cytokines may mediate sickness behavior during acute illness. These results may enhance the understanding of the pathophysiology and potential treatment strategies to palliate this sickness behavior