Abstract Simultaneous analysis studies of several agronomic traits in cultivated plants make it possible to identify phenotypic and genotypic differences due to environmental variations, such as ...altitude. Therefore, the objective was to evaluate, through multivariate analysis of agronomic, physicochemical and physiological characters, passion fruit hybrids cultivated in different environments. The hybrids used were Gigante Amarelo, Rubi do Cerrado and Sol do Cerrado, cultivated in the southern region of Espírito Santo in four municipalities/environments: Marataízes (41 m), Jerônimo Monteiro (104 m), Alegre (711 m), and Ibitirama (1016 m). The agronomic characters of the plants, the physical-chemical characteristics of the fruits and the physical, biochemical and physiological qualities of the seeds were analyzed. The Singh method was used to determine the most important differentiating characters between hybrids growing in different environments. Based on these characters, a dissimilarity matrix was generated and a principal coordinate analysis was performed. It was observed that the pulp yield was influenced by altitude. The three hybrids showed greater performance in terms of agronomic characters at altitude (41 m) than at altitude (104 m). The Sol do Cerrado hybrid showed high performance in the physical-chemical characteristics of the fruits at altitude (104 m).
Resumo Estudos de análise simultânea de diversos caracteres agronômicos em plantas cultivadas permitem identificar diferenças fenotípicas e genotípicas devido a variações ambientais, como a altitude. Diante disso, objetivou-se avaliar através da análise multivariada de caracteres agronômicos, fisico-químicos e fisiológicos, híbridos de maracujazeiros cultivados em diferentes ambientes. Os híbridos utilizados foram Gigante Amarelo, Rubi do Cerrado e Sol do Cerrado, cultivados na região sul do Espírito Santo em quatro municípios/ambientes: Marataízes (41 m), Jerônimo Monteiro (104 m), Alegre (711 m), e Ibitirama (1016 m). Foram analisados os caracteres agronômicos das plantas, as características físico-químicas dos frutos e as qualidades físicas, bioquímicas e fisiológicas das sementes. O método Singh foi usado para determinar os caracteres diferenciadores mais importantes entre híbridos crescendo em diferentes ambientes. Com base nesses caracteres, uma matriz de dissimilaridade foi gerada e uma análise de coordenadas principais foi realizada. Observou-se que o rendimento de polpa foi influenciado pela altitude. Os três híbridos apresentaram maior desempenho em termos de caracteres agronômicos na altitude (41 m) do que na altitude (104 m). O híbrido Sol do Cerrado apresentou alto desempenho nas características físico-químicas dos frutos na altitude (104 m).
The electronic spectroscopy of isolated furfural (2-furaldehyde) in the gas phase has been investigated using high-resolution photoabsorption spectroscopy in the 3.5-10.8 eV energy-range, with ...absolute cross section measurements derived. Electron energy loss spectra are also measured over a range of kinematical conditions. Those energy loss spectra are used to derive differential cross sections and in turn generalised oscillator strengths. These experiments are supported by ab initio calculations in order to assign the excited states of the neutral molecule. The good agreement between the theoretical results and the measurements allows us to provide the first quantitative assignment of the electronic state spectroscopy of furfural over an extended energy range.
The XENON10 experiment at the Gran Sasso National Laboratory uses a 15 kg xenon dual phase time projection chamber to search for dark matter weakly interacting massive particles (WIMPs). The detector ...measures simultaneously the scintillation and the ionization produced by radiation in pure liquid xenon to discriminate signal from background down to 4.5 keV nuclear-recoil energy. A blind analysis of 58.6 live days of data, acquired between October 6, 2006, and February 14, 2007, and using a fiducial mass of 5.4 kg, excludes previously unexplored parameter space, setting a new 90% C.L. upper limit for the WIMP-nucleon spin-independent cross section of 8.8x10(-44) cm2 for a WIMP mass of 100 GeV/c2, and 4.5x10(-44) cm2 for a WIMP mass of 30 GeV/c2. This result further constrains predictions of supersymmetric models.
Doping strategies for increased performance in BiFeO3 KHOMCHENKO, V. A; KISELEV, D. A; RUBINGER, R. M ...
Journal of magnetism and magnetic materials,
06/2009, Letnik:
321, Številka:
11
Conference Proceeding, Journal Article
Recenzirano
Investigation of crystal structure, dielectric, magnetic and local ferroelectric properties of the diamagnetically substituted Bi1-xAxFeO3-x/2 (A=Ca, Sr, Pb, Ba; x=0.,0.3) polycrystalline samples has ...been carried out. It has been shown that the heterovalent A2+ substitution result in the formation of oxygen vacancies in the host lattice. The solid solutions have been found to possess a rhombohedrally distorted perovskite structure described by the space group R3c. Piezoresponse force microscopy has revealed signs of existence of the ferroelectric polarization in the samples at room temperature. Magnetization measurements have shown that the magnetic state of these compounds is determined by the ionic radius of the substituting elements. A-site substitution with the biggest ionic radius ions has been found to suppress the spiral spin structure of BiFeO3 giving rise to the appearance of room-temperature weak ferromagnetism.
•Ultrasound technique was viable to prepare placebo and drug-loaded NLC dispersions.•Miconazole was efficiently encapsulated in the lipid matrix of the NLC dispersion.•The NLC showed controlled ...miconazole release and improved its antifungal activity against Candida albicans.•NLC-based hydrogel was able to enhance the therapeutic efficacy of miconazole.
Miconazole is a widely used antifungal agent with poor aqueous solubility, which requires the development of drug delivery systems able to improve its therapeutic activity. For this purpose, a miconazole-loaded nanostructured lipid carriers (NLC) dispersion was prepared and characterized. Further, the dispersion was used to prepare a NLC-based hydrogel formulation proposed as an alternative system to improve the local delivery of miconazole to the oral mucosa. NLC dispersion showed particles in the nanometer range (≈200nm) with low polidispersity index (<0.3), good physical stability and high encapsulation efficiency (>87%). A controlled miconazole release was observed from NLC and NLC-based hydrogel formulations, in contrast to a commercial oral gel formulation, which demonstrated a faster release. Additionally, it was observed that the encapsulation of miconazole in the NLC improved its antifungal activity against Candida albicans. Therefore, it was demonstrated that the encapsulation of miconazole in NLC allows for obtaining the same therapeutic effect of a commercial oral gel formulation, using a 17-fold lower dose of miconazole.
It has recently been suggested that regular exercise reduces lung function decline and risk of chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) among active smokers; however, the mechanisms involved in ...this effect remain poorly understood. The present study evaluated the effects of regular exercise training in an experimental mouse model of chronic cigarette smoke exposure. Male C57BL/6 mice were divided into four groups (control, exercise, smoke and smoke+exercise). For 24 weeks, we measured respiratory mechanics, mean linear intercept, inflammatory cells and reactive oxygen species (ROS) in bronchoalveolar lavage (BAL) fluid, collagen deposition in alveolar walls, and the expression of antioxidant enzymes, matrix metalloproteinase 9, tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase (TIMP)1, interleukin (IL)-10 and 8-isoprostane in alveolar walls. Exercise attenuated the decrease in pulmonary elastance (p<0.01) and the increase in mean linear intercept (p=0.003) induced by cigarette smoke exposure. Exercise substantially inhibited the increase in ROS in BAL fluid and 8-isoprostane expression in lung tissue induced by cigarette smoke. In addition, exercise significantly inhibited the decreases in IL-10, TIMP1 and CuZn superoxide dismutase induced by exposure to cigarette smoke. Exercise also increased the number of cells expressing glutathione peroxidase. Our results suggest that regular aerobic physical training of moderate intensity attenuates the development of pulmonary disease induced by cigarette smoke exposure.
Adjuvant systemic treatments (AST) reduce mortality, but have associated short- and long-term toxicities. Careful selection of patients likely to benefit from AST is needed. We evaluated outcome of ...low-risk breast cancer patients of the EORTC 10041/BIG 3-04 MINDACT trial who received no AST.
Patients with estrogen receptor-positive, HER2-negative, lymph node-negative tumors ≤2 cm who received no AST were matched 1 : 1 to patients with similar tumor characteristics treated with adjuvant endocrine therapy (ET), using propensity score matching and exact matching on age, genomic risk (70-gene signature) and grade. In a post hoc analysis, distant metastasis-free interval (DMFI) and overall survival (OS) were assessed by Kaplan–Meier analysis and hazard ratios (HR) by Cox regression. Cumulative incidences of locoregional recurrence (LRR) and contralateral breast cancer (CBC) were assessed with competing risk analyses.
At 8 years, DMFI rates were 94.8% 95% confidence interval (CI) 92.7% to 96.9% in 509 patients receiving no AST, and 97.3% (95% CI 95.8% to 98.8%) in 509 matched patients who received only ET absolute difference: 2.5%, HR 0.56 (95% CI 0.30-1.03). No statistically significant difference was seen in 8-year OS rates, 95.4% (95% CI 93.5% to 97.4%) in patients receiving no AST and 95.6% (95% CI 93.8% to 97.5%) in patients receiving only ET absolute difference: 0.2%, HR 0.86 (95% CI 0.53-1.41). Cumulative incidence rates of LRR and CBC were 4.7% (95% CI 3.0% to 7.0%) and 4.6% (95% CI 2.9% to 6.9%) in patients receiving no AST versus 1.4% (95% CI 0.6% to 2.9%) and 1.5% (95% CI 0.6% to 3.1%) in patients receiving only ET.
In patients with stage I low-risk breast cancer, the effect of ET on DMFI was limited, but overall significantly fewer breast cancer events were observed in patients who received ET, after the relatively short follow-up of 8 years. These benefits and side-effects of ET should be discussed with all patients, even those at a very low risk of distant metastasis.
•Patients who received no AST had a 2.5% lower 8-year DMFI rate than that observed in matched patients who received ET.•Slightly more locoregional recurrences and contralateral breast cancers were observed in patients who received no AST.•These effects and side-effects of ET should be discussed with patients even at a very low risk of distant metastasis.
Abstract
Understanding the formation and evolution of our Galaxy requires accurate distances, ages, and chemistry for large populations of field stars. Here, we present several updates to our ...spectrophotometric distance code, which can now also be used to estimate ages, masses, and extinctions for individual stars. Given a set of measured spectrophotometric parameters, we calculate the posterior probability distribution over a given grid of stellar evolutionary models, using flexible Galactic stellar-population priors. The code (called StarHorse) can accommodate different observational data sets, prior options, partially missing data, and the inclusion of parallax information into the estimated probabilities. We validate the code using a variety of simulated stars as well as real stars with parameters determined from asteroseismology, eclipsing binaries, and isochrone fits to star clusters. Our main goal in this validation process is to test the applicability of the code to field stars with known Gaia-like parallaxes. The typical internal precisions (obtained from realistic simulations of an APOGEE+Gaia-like sample) are ${\simeq } 8\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ in distance, ${\simeq } 20\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ in age, ${\simeq } 6\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ in mass, and ≃ 0.04 mag in AV. The median external precision (derived from comparisons with earlier work for real stars) varies with the sample used, but lies in the range of ${\simeq } 0,2\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ for distances, ${\simeq } 12,31\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ for ages, ${\simeq } 4,12\,\,\rm{per\,\,cent}$ for masses, and ≃ 0.07 mag for AV. We provide StarHorse distances and extinctions for the APOGEE DR14, RAVE DR5, GES DR3, and GALAH DR1 catalogues.
The production of seedlings of the passion fruit tree, usually, is sexual, and the seeds are not uniform in the seedling emergence, and soaking treatments of seeds can provide faster and more uniform ...germination. It was aimed to study the action of plant growth regulators and the mobilization of reserves in the stages of soaking of yellow passion fruit seeds. The seeds were soaked for five hours in solutions containing plant growth regulators, in a completely randomized design, in a factorial 8 x 4, with four replications. The first factor corresponds to eight plant growth regulators: T1 - distilled water (control); T2 - 6-benzylaminepurine 500 mg L-1; T3 - 4-(3-indolyl) butyric acid 500 mg L-1; T4 - gibberellic acid 500 mg L-1; T5 - spermine 250 mg L-1; T6 - spermine 750 mg L-1; T7 - spermidine 750 mg L-1; T8 - spermidine 1250 mg L-1; and the second factor, to the four soaking times: zero, four, 72 and 120 hours, corresponding, respectively, to the dry seed, and to phases I, II, and III of the imbibition curve. It was evaluated the biochemical composition of seeds (lipids, soluble sugars and starch). The seeds showed accumulation of lipids in phase III; the content of soluble sugars increased in phase I and decreased in phase II. The starch content increased until the phase II and decreased in phase III. Starch is the main reserve in the seeds and the main source of energy used in phase III; soaking the seeds in polyamines generates an accumulation of lipids in the seeds and soaking in plant growth regulators increases the burning of starch.
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