The classification and identification of species within the genus
Pseudechiniscus
Thulin, 1911 has been considered almost a Sisyphean work due to an extremely high homogeneity of its members. Only ...recently have several contributions made progress in the taxonomy feasible through their detailed analyses of morphology and, crucially, by the re-description of the ancient, nominal species
P. suillus
(Ehrenberg, 1853). Herein, we focus on the Japanese representatives of this genus:
P. asper
, a rare species originally described from Hokkaido, and a new species
P. shintai
. Both taxa belong to the widespread
suillus-facettalis
complex. Detailed descriptions entailing DNA barcoding of four markers and illustrations of the ventral pillar patterns are indispensable for an accurate delineation of species within this genus.
Grapevine leafroll disease is an increasing problem in all grape-growing regions of the world. The most widespread agent of the disease, Grapevine leafroll-associated virus 3 (GLRaV-3), has never ...been shown to infect species outside of the genus Vitis. Virus transmission to several plant species used as model systems was tested using the vine mealybug, Planococcus ficus. We show that GLRaV-3 is able to infect Nicotiana benthamiana. Working with GLRaV-3 infected N. benthamiana revealed distinct advantages in comparison with its natural host Vitis vinifera, yielding both higher viral protein and virion concentrations in western blot and transmission electron microscopy observations, respectively. Immunogold labelling of thin sections through N. benthamiana petioles revealed filamentous particles in the phloem cells of GLRaV-3 positive plants. Comparison of assembled whole genomes from GLRaV-3 infected V. vinifera vs. N. benthamiana revealed substitutions in the 5′ UTR. These results open new avenues and opportunities for GLRaV-3 research.
•GLRaV-3 is able to infect the model organism Nicotiana benthamiana.•Virus infection of N. benthamiana was achieved using an insect vector.•Working with GLRaV-3 infected N. benthamiana revealed distinct advantages in comparison with its natural host Vitis vinifera.•The host range of GLRaV-3 may not be as narrow as previously thought.
A novel method for fast and efficient determination of classes of oil samples in routine analyses performed in food control laboratories is proposed. It is based on counterpropagation neural network, ...which offers a possibility for automatic classification. The fatty acid composition of 132 samples of different edible vegetable oils from the market, including pumpkin, sunflower, peanut, olive, soybean, rapeseed, corn and some mixed oils has been determined. Gas chromatography (GC) was used for qualitative and quantitative determination of methyl esters of palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, linolenic, eicosanoic and eicosenoic acids. The resulting fatty acid composition was evaluated by different chemometrics methods: (i) principal component analysis (PCA), (ii) the clustering method based on the Kohonen neural network, and (iii) the counterpropagation neural network method applied for the classification of oil samples. The first two methods were both successful to distinguish clusters of different oil samples. However, they are not suitable for an automatic prediction of oil classes, because they require a visual inspection of resulting classes and consequently the final decision by an expert. The counterpropagation neural network method was found to be a good model for the classification of different edible vegetable oils on the basis of their composition regarding seven fatty acids. After training with 95 oil samples, the network was able to ascribe correct classes to all samples. The assessment of the model by the leave-one-out cross validation procedure demonstrated 94 correct predictions (i.e. 98.95%) for 95 samples of known type of oil. For a comparison, the linear discriminant analysis (LDA) was performed, which resulted in 92 (i.e. 96.84%) correct predictions. The remaining 37 samples of mixed oils and oils of unknown origin were used to test the model for its ability to predict the composition of mixtures and to show the implementation of the model for predicting the most probable class of an unknown sample.
Objectives
Combinations of on-patent therapies (CTs) are increasingly common in oncology. They cause challenges for funding and affordability, and hence patient access, especially when constituent ...therapies are owned by different manufacturers. The aim of our study was to develop policy proposals for the assessment, pricing, and funding of CTs and identify which might be relevant in different European countries.
Methods
Following a review of available literature, seven hypothetical policy proposals were developed and subsequently assessed through 19 semi-structured interviews with health policy, pricing, technology assessment and legal experts in seven European countries to identify those most likely to gain traction.
Results
Experts saw a need for agreed approaches within a country to manage affordability and funding challenges for CTs. Changes to health technology assessment (HTA) and funding models were considered unlikely, but other policy proposals were seen as mostly useful, with country-specific adaptations. Bilateral discussions between manufacturers and payers were deemed important, and less challenging and protracted than arbitrated dialogue between manufacturers. Usage-specific pricing, possibly using weighted average prices, was considered a prerequisite for the financial management of CTs.
Conclusions
There is a growing need to ensure that CTs are affordable to health systems. It would appear that there is no one set of policies that is appropriate for all countries in Europe, so countries wishing to ensure that patients have (or continue to have) access to CTs of value to them must explore and implement the policies that are best suited to their general approach to funding health care and to the assessment and reimbursement of medicines.
The phenotypic and genetic relationships among five Pinus sylvestris populations in the western part of the Carpathian Mountains were analyzed based on seven morphological needle traits and 67 loci ...using 10 RAPD primers. Three of the studied populations were on the western side (Macelowa Gora, Czubatka, Łazowa Skałka) and two were located in the central part (Sokolica, Zamkowa Gora) of the Pieniny National Park. The examined populations had short needles, which is characteristic for mountain habitats of the Scots pine. The populations from the Pieniny Mts. had fewer rows of stomata on both sides of the needles than others studied stands of Eurosiberian Scots pine. The number of stomata on both flat and convex sides of the needles was similar to the values observed for populations growing on the nearby Tatra Mountains. Moreover, when these two traits are considered, the populations from Sokolica and Łazowa Skałka share the highest degree of similarity.. Nei’s genetic distances and genetic identities between the populations were calculated on the basis of RAPD loci. The results show that the lowest Nei’s distance exists between the populations from the western part of the Pieniny Mts. – Macelowa Gora and Czubatka, and its central part – Sokolica and Zamkowa Gora, with the highest values recorded between the populations of Zamkowa Gora and Czubatka, and Łazowa Skałka and Czubatka. A similar pattern of phenotypic and genetic relations that was observed between the populations in both regions of the Pieniny Mountains could be the result of planting-seed material sourced from the central Pieniny Mts. in the area of western Pieniny Mts.
The appreciable growth in pharmaceutical expenditure has resulted in multiple initiatives across Europe to lower generic prices and enhance their utilization. However, considerable variation in their ...use and prices.
Assess the influence of multiple supply and demand-side initiatives across Europe for established medicines to enhance prescribing efficiency before a decision to prescribe a particular medicine. Subsequently utilize the findings to suggest potential future initiatives that countries could consider.
An analysis of different methodologies involving cross national and single country retrospective observational studies on reimbursed use and expenditure of PPIs, statins, and renin-angiotensin inhibitor drugs among European countries.
Nature and intensity of the various initiatives appreciably influenced prescribing behavior and expenditure, e.g., multiple measures resulted in reimbursed expenditure for PPIs in Scotland in 2010 56% below 2001 levels despite a 3-fold increase in utilization and in the Netherlands, PPI expenditure fell by 58% in 2010 vs. 2000 despite a 3-fold increase in utilization. A similar picture was seen with prescribing restrictions, i.e., (i) more aggressive follow-up of prescribing restrictions for patented statins and ARBs resulted in a greater reduction in the utilization of patented statins in Austria vs. Norway and lower utilization of patented ARBs vs. generic ACEIs in Croatia than Austria. However, limited impact of restrictions on esomeprazole in Norway with the first prescription or recommendation in hospital where restrictions do not apply. Similar findings when generic losartan became available in Western Europe.
Multiple demand-side measures are needed to influence prescribing patterns. When combined with supply-side measures, activities can realize appreciable savings. Health authorities cannot rely on a "spill over" effect between classes to affect changes in prescribing.
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