Armillaria mellea (Vahl ex Fr) Kummer is an aggressive pathogen which causes white root rot in a wide range of hosts. Most chemicals tested so far against Armillaria, both in vitro and in the field, ...have not been effective in reducing fungal growth and/or preventing plant decline and mortality. In the present work the effects of four DMI (sterol demethylation inhibitor) fungicides, cyproconazole, hexaconazole, propiconazole and tetraconazole, and another six downwardly mobile systemic chemicals, azoxystrobin, cubiet (copper bis(ethoxy-dihydroxy-diethylamino)sulfate), fosetyl-Al, potassium phosphite, sodium tetrathiocarbonate (STTC) and 2-(thiocyanomethylthio)benzothiazole (TCMTB), on the mycelial growth of A. mellea were compared and evaluated; the product yielding the best results in in vitro experiments was selected to determine its efficacy in preventing decline and mortality of grapevines in the field. Best results on in vitro fungal growth reduction were obtained with the four azoles tested, in particular with cyproconazole and hexaconazole, achieving 67-72% mycelial growth inhibition at the lowest dose. Results obtained in the field showed that a dose of 50 mg AI litre(-1) of cyproconazole once or twice a year was efficient in controlling the disease even in vines seriously affected by the pathogen. However, further research is required to study minimum effective doses, residual effects and the convenience of the application of annual dressings in damaged vineyards, so as to gradually reduce the pathogen inoculum potential in soil and control the disease while reducing chemical residues in the plant and preventing development of fungal resistance.
Summary
Aims
Fingolimod, an orally active immunomodulatory drug for relapsing‐remitting multiple sclerosis (RRMS), sequesters T cells in lymph nodes through functional antagonism of the ...sphingosine‐1‐phosphate receptor, reducing the number of potential autoreactive cells that migrate to the central nervous system. However, not all RRMS patients respond to this therapy. Our aim was to test the hypothesis that by immune‐monitoring RRMS patient's leukocyte subpopulations it is possible to find biomarkers associated with clinical response to fingolimod.
Methods
Prospective study. Analysis of peripheral blood mononuclear cell subpopulations by multiparametric flow cytometry, at baseline and +1, +3, +6, +12 months of follow‐up in 40 RRMS patients starting fingolimod therapy.
Results
Fingolimod treatment induced a severe lymphopenia affecting mainly T and B cells. A relative increase in Treg (memory Treg: 3.8 ± 1.0% baseline vs 8.8 ± 4.4% month +1; activated Treg: 1.5 ± 0.7% baseline vs 3.7 ± 2.1% month +1, P < 0.001) as well as transitional B cells (10.5 ± 12.3% baseline vs 18.7 ± 14.6% month +1, P < 0.001) was observed.
Interestingly, lymphocyte subpopulations were already at baseline significantly different in responder patients. The percentage of recent thymic emigrants (RTE) used to stratify fingolimod responder, and no responder patients was the best biomarker (4.0 ± 1.4% vs 7.4 ± 1.9%, respectively P < 0.001).
Conclusion
The results support that immune‐monitoring of lymphocyte subpopulations in peripheral blood is a promising tool to select RRMS candidate for fingolimod treatment.
Adoptive therapy with regulatory T cells or tolerance-inducing antigen (Ag)-presenting cells is innovative and promising therapeutic approach to control undesired and harmful activation of the immune ...system, as observed in autoimmune diseases, solid organ and bone marrow transplantation. One of the critical issues to elucidate the mechanisms responsible for success or failure of these therapies and define the specificity of the therapy is the evaluation of the Ag-specific T-cell responses. Several efforts have been made to develop suitable and reproducible assays. Here, we focus on dye-based proliferation assays. We highlight with practical examples the fundamental issues to take into consideration for implementation of an effective and sensitive dye-based proliferation assay to monitor Ag-specific responses in patients. The most critical points were used to design a road map to set up and analyze the optimal assay to assess Ag-specific T-cell responses in patients undergoing different treatments. This is the first step to optimize monitoring of tolerance induction, allowing comparison of outcomes of different clinical studies. The road map can also be applied to other therapeutic interventions, not limited to tolerance induction therapies, in which Ag-specific T-cell responses are relevant such as vaccination approaches and cancer immunotherapy.
DNA vaccines represent promising therapeutic strategies in autoimmune disorders such as multiple sclerosis (MS). However, the precise mechanisms by which DNA vaccines induce immune regulation remain ...largely unknown. Here, we aimed to expand previous knowledge existing on the mechanisms of action of DNA vaccines in the animal model of MS, experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), by treating EAE mice with a DNA vaccine encoding the myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein (MOG), and exploring the therapeutic effects on the disease-induced inflammatory and neurodegenerative changes.
EAE was induced in C57BL6/J mice by immunization with MOG₃₅₋₅₅ peptide. Mice were intramuscularly treated with a MOG-DNA vaccine or vehicle in prophylactic and therapeutic approaches. Histological studies were performed in central nervous system (CNS) tissue. Cytokine production and regulatory T cell (Treg) quantification were achieved by flow cytometry. Gene expression patterns were determined using microarrays, and the main findings were validated by real-time PCR.
MOG-DNA treatment reduced the clinical and histopathological signs of EAE when administered in both prophylactic and therapeutic settings. Suppression of clinical EAE was associated with dampening of antigen (Ag)-specific proinflammatory Th1 and Th17 immune responses and, interestingly, expansion of Treg in the periphery and upregulation in the CNS of genes encoding neurotrophic factors and proteins involved in remyelination.
These results suggest for the first time that the beneficial effects of DNA vaccines in EAE are not limited to anti-inflammatory mechanisms, and DNA vaccines may also exert positive effects through hitherto unknown neuroprotective mechanisms.
Camellia japonica (CJ) has oil-rich seeds, but the study of these oils has received little attention and has mainly focused only on their health properties. In the present work the relative ...composition of the fatty acid (FA) components of the triglycerides in cold-pressed oil from CJ is studied by 1H-NMR. The results obtained were: 75.75%, 6.0%, 0.17% and 18.67%, for oleic, linoleic, linolenic and saturated FA respectively. Levels of C18 unsaturated FA found in CJ oil were similar to those reported for olive oils. We also checked the possibility of using 13C-NMR spectroscopy; however, the results confirmed the drawback of 13C over 1H-NMR for the study of FA components of CJ triglycerides due to its low gyromagnetic ratio and its very low natural abundance.
•Most eucalypt stands in NW Spain were mainly affected by Teratosphaeria Diseases (TD).•TD and MD severity was high in Eucalyptus globulus plantations.•The most prevalent species was Teratosphaeria ...nubilosa, followed by Teratosphaeria parva and Teratosphaeria molleriana.•These three fungal species were responsible for the highest levels of disease severity.•New records of eucalypt host-fungal pathogen association are presented.
The incidence and diversity of fungal species causing Mycosphaerella Diseases (MD) and Teratosphaeria Diseases (TD), and the disease severity, were studied in 190 stands of Eucalyptus globulus, 17 of Eucalyptus nitens, 3 of Eucalyptus viminalis and 1 of Eucalyptus obliqua in NW Spain. Results showed that MD and especially TD were present in practically all E. globulus plantations, in many of them with a high severity, suggesting they might be suffering important wood yield reductions, and extended with low severity to E. nitens, E. viminalis and E. obliqua stands. Eleven species were identified, namely Mycosphaerella aurantia, Mycosphaerella madeirae, Mycosphaerella marksii, Pseudocercospora pseudoeucalyptorum, Teratosphaeria africana, Teratosphaeria molleriana, Teratosphaeria nubilosa, Teratosphaeria parva, Teratosphaeria readeriellophora, Uwebraunia commune and Uwebraunia dekkeri.
All species were found in juvenile foliage, and most also in adult leaves, in E. globulus stands. Less fungal diversity was recorded for E. nitens, E. obliqua and E. viminalis plantations. T. africana on E. globulus is a new record for Spain. M. aurantia on E. globulus, P. pseudoeucalyptorum and U. commune on E. nitens, M. madeirae and T. molleriana on E. obliqua, and T. nubilosa and T. parva on E. viminalis are first records in Europe.
The most frequently isolated species was T. nubilosa, followed by T. parva and T. molleriana. These three fungi were responsible for the highest levels of disease severity.
Environmental Toxicology Botana, Luis M; Vilarino, Natalia; Rodriguez, Ines ...
2018, 2018-05-22
eBook
Organic and inorganic chemicals frequently exhibit toxic, mutagenic, carcinogenic, or sensitizing properties when getting in contact with the environment. This comprehensive introduction discusses ...risk assessment and analysis, environmental fate, transport, and breakdown pathways of chemicals, as well as methods for prevention and procedures for decontamination.
There are few continuous palaeoenvironmental records spanning the Holocene in Andean Southern Patagonia near the Northern Patagonian Ice Field (~47°S). Insights into the environmental context for ...human–landscape interactions have relied mostly on data extrapolated from distant extra-Andean locations that suggest limited environmental change during the Holocene. La Frontera (46°52′S), a high altitude site on the southern beech forest–steppe ecotone boundary in the Río Zeballos valley, provides lithostratigraphical and palaeoecological evidence, constrained by 14C dating and tephrochronology, for dynamic environmental change during the last ~8000 years. An initial amelioration in environmental conditions after c. 8210 cal. BP was followed by a reversal to colder conditions between c. 7420 and 6480 cal. BP, coincident with initial human occupation within the Paso Roballos and Lago Pueyrredón basin. Between c. 6480 and 3700 cal. BP, the woodland/steppe composition continued to fluctuate in response to climatic change. After c. 3700 cal. BP, a gradual shift to more stable and temperate conditions, punctuated by increased fire activity, is contemporary with the later phases of human occupation extending up into the Paso Roballos–Río Zeballos corridor.
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