Strawberry has a limiting postharvest shelf life, especially because of soft rot. The antifungal activity of the essential oils (EOs) of Eucalyptus staigeriana, Lippia sidoides and Pimenta ...pseudocaryophyllus was tested in vitro against plant pathogen Rhizopus stolonifer. The chemical composition of the EO with the highest activity and its effects on pathogen morphology were verified. The in vivo antifungal activity of this EO associated with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) coating, in preventive and curative applications, was also evaluated. L. sidoides EO presented the highest in vitro antifungal activity. The analysis of the chemical composition of this EO showed a prevalence of the compound thymol and the scanning and transmission electron microscopy showed that L. sidoides EO was able to cause damage to the cell wall and the intracellular components of the pathogen. Strawberries treated with L. sidoides EO associated with CMC presented a reduction in disease severity, especially when treated in a curative way.
•L. sidoides EO, in vitro, was effective in the control of R. stolonifer, being more efficient by direct contact.•L. sidoides has a predominance of thymol and was capable of causing morphological alterations in the pathogen.•L. sidoides EO associated with CMC coatings was capable of reducing disease severity in strawberries.
Context.
The line strength of the near-infrared Ca II triplet (CaT) lines are a proxy for measuring metallicity from integrated and individual stellar spectra of bright red giant stars. In the latter ...case it is a mandatory step to remove the magnitude (proxy for gravity, temperature, and luminosity) dependence from the equivalent width (EW) of the lines before converting them into metallicities. For decades the working empirical procedure has been to use the relative magnitude with respect to the horizontal branch level or red clump, with the advantage that it is independent from distance and extinction.
Aims.
The
V
filter is broadly adopted as the reference magnitude, although a few works have used different filters (
I
and
Ks
, for example). In this work we investigate the dependence of the CaT calibration using the
griz
filters from the Dark Energy Camera (DECam) and the Gemini Multi-Object Spectrograph (GMOS), the
G
filter from
Gaia
, the
BVI
filters from the Magellanic Clouds photometric survey (MCPS), and the
YJKs
filters from the Visible and Infrared Survey Telescope for Astronomy (VISTA) InfraRed CAMera (VIRCAM). We use as a reference the FOcal Reducer and low dispersion Spectrograph 2 (FORS2)
V
filter used in the original analysis of the sample.
Methods.
Red giant stars from clusters with known metallicity and available CaT EWs were used as reference. Public photometric catalogues were taken from the Survey of the MAgellanic Stellar History (SMASH) second data release, VISTA survey of the Magellanic Clouds system (VMC),
Gaia
, MCPS surveys, plus VIsible Soar photometry of star Clusters in tApi’i and Coxi HuguA (VISCACHA) GMOS data, for a selection of Small Magellanic Cloud clusters. The slopes were fitted using two and three lines to be applicable to most of the metallicity scales.
Results.
The magnitude dependence of the CaT EWs is well described by a linear relation using any filter analysed in this work. The slope increases with wavelength of the filters. The zero point (i.e. reduced EW), which is the metallicity indicator, remains the same.
Conclusions.
If the same line profile function is used with the same bandpasses and continuum regions, and the total EW comes from the same number of lines (2 or 3), then the reduced EW is the same regardless the filter used. Therefore, any filter can be used to convert the CaT equivalent widths into metallicity for a given CaT calibration.
•L. sidoides EO fully halted pathogen (in vitro) through direct contact.•Thymol-rich L. sidoides EO morphologically altered pathogen hyphae.•The OE-based coating preserved total phenols and ...anthocyanins in the fruits.•CMC combined with L. sidoides EO enhances strawberry quality.
The highly perishable strawberry is susceptible to postharvest fungal infections, such as gray mold caused by Botrytis cinerea. Current control methods involve synthetic fungicides, which can leave residues, harm the environment, and lead to resistance. There is a rising interest in safe and eco-friendly pesticide alternatives like essential oils (EOs). In the present study, the antifungal activity of the EOs from Eucalyptus staigeriana, Lippia sidoides, and Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus was evaluated against B. cinerea. An in vitro experiment assessed the direct contact between the fungus and various EOs, identifying the most potent antifungal EO. This EO underwent chemical composition analysis, along with investigations into its impact on pathogen morphology, in vivo activity with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC), and effects on postharvest and sensory quality of strawberries. In vitro, L. sidoides EO exhibited the most significant antifungal activity, characterized by its major compound thymol, which induced dehydration and rupture of pathogen hyphae. In the in vivo experiment, strawberries treated with CMC and L. sidoides EO showed reduced disease severity. During the 18-day storage period, the postharvest quality of strawberries demonstrated enhancement, characterized by increased antioxidant activity and decreased mass loss, while exhibiting minimal changes in sensory attributes.
Summary
Background
There is a lack of any overview of changes over time and variation in the epidemiology of psoriasis with age and between genders.
Objectives
To perform a systematic review of ...published population‐based studies on variations in psoriasis incidence and prevalence with age and between genders, and to explore trends in psoriasis epidemiology over time.
Methods
Eleven electronic and regional databases were searched from their inception dates to October 2019. No language restrictions were applied. Studies were eligible if they reported on changes in psoriasis incidence and/or prevalence over time and/or by age group and gender.
Results
In total 308 papers were critically appraised, from which 90 studies from 22 countries were included. Incidence data confirmed a clear bimodal age pattern in psoriasis onset, with the first and second peaks at around 30–39 and 60–69 years of age, respectively, and evidence suggesting that it presents slightly earlier in women than in men. Prevalence data showed an increasing trend with age until around 60 or 70 years, after which it decreases. Although there was lack of agreement on specific gender differences in psoriasis incidence and prevalence, a slight male predominance was reported in several studies. Studies worldwide suggested a stable or slightly decreasing trend in psoriasis incidence, while an increasing trend in psoriasis prevalence has been consistently reported. One particular challenge faced was the vastly different methodologies used in the included studies, which contributed to some of the heterogeneity of the results.
Conclusions
Studies on changes over time in the occurrence of psoriasis have contributed to a greater appreciation of the increasing burden of the disease. However, further research is required to determine the reasons driving the increase in psoriasis prevalence over time.
What is already known about this topic?
Systematic reviews examining the global epidemiology of psoriasis have explored variations in the incidence and prevalence of psoriasis in children and adults, and in the overall population.
The extent to which the occurrence of psoriasis varies over time, as well as by gender and with age, has not been systematically explored.
What does this study add?
Incidence data confirm a clear bimodal age pattern in psoriasis onset, with evidence suggesting it presents slightly earlier in women than in men.
Psoriasis prevalence shows an increasing trend with age until 60 or 70 years, after which it decreases.
There is lack of agreement on specific gender differences in psoriasis incidence and prevalence; however, several studies report a slight male predominance.
The increasing trend in psoriasis prevalence, despite a stable or a slightly decreasing trend in its incidence, warrants further investigation.
Plain language summary available online
ABSTRACT We obtained spectra of red giants in 15 Small Magellanic Cloud (SMC) clusters in the region of the Ca ii lines with FORS2 on the Very Large Telescope. We determined the mean metallicity and ...radial velocity with mean errors of 0.05 dex and 2.6 km s−1, respectively, from a mean of 6.5 members per cluster. One cluster (B113) was too young for a reliable metallicity determination and was excluded from the sample. We combined the sample studied here with 15 clusters previously studied by us using the same technique, and with 7 clusters whose metallicities determined by other authors are on a scale similar to ours. This compilation of 36 clusters is the largest SMC cluster sample currently available with accurate and homogeneously determined metallicities. We found a high probability that the metallicity distribution is bimodal, with potential peaks at −1.1 and −0.8 dex. Our data show no strong evidence of a metallicity gradient in the SMC clusters, somewhat at odds with recent evidence from Ca ii triplet spectra of a large sample of field stars. This may be revealing possible differences in the chemical history of clusters and field stars. Our clusters show a significant dispersion of metallicities, whatever age is considered, which could be reflecting the lack of a unique age-metallicity relation in this galaxy. None of the chemical evolution models currently available in the literature satisfactorily represents the global chemical enrichment processes of SMC clusters.
•E. staigeriana and P. pseudocaryphyllus presented low action on pathogen.•L. sidoides inhibited pathogen mycelial growth at 250 μl/L by direct contact.•L. sidoides mainly has thymol and caused ...morphological alteration on fungus hyphae.•L. sidoides reduced the severity of anthracnose in strawberries.
The antifungal activity of the essential oils (EOs) of Eucalyptus staigeriana, Lippia sidoides and Pimenta pseudocaryophyllus was evaluated in vitro, by direct contact and by exposure to volatiles, against Colletotrichum acutatum, an important pathogen of strawberry. The chemical composition of the EO with the highest activity and its effects on the morphology of the pathogen were verified. The in vivo antifungal activity of this EO associated with carboxymethylcellulose (CMC) coating, in preventive and curative applications, was also evaluated. L. sidoides EO presented the highest antifungal activity in vitro, being more efficient by direct contact than by volatilization. This EO has a predominance of the compound thymol and was able to cause dehydration and rupture of the pathogen hyphae. In vivo, strawberries treated with CMC associated with L. sidoides EO presented a reduction in disease severity, when treated in a curative way. Thus, the association of L. sidoides EO with CMC can be a potential alternative for the control of this disease.
•A multidisciplinary lab was created to test surgical masks due to COVID outbreak.•435 mask prototypes were tested during the emergency according to the EU standard.•Masks were analyzed according to ...the material and the number of layers.•A control of aerosol droplet size in the bacterial filtration was found critical.•The standard norm protocols are discussed and best practices are provided.
The outbreak of SARS-CoV-2 pandemic highlighted the worldwide lack of surgical masks and personal protective equipment, which represent the main defense available against respiratory diseases as COVID-19. At the time, masks shortage was dramatic in Italy, the first European country seriously hit by the pandemic: aiming to address the emergency and to support the Italian industrial reconversion to the production of surgical masks, a multidisciplinary team of the University of Bologna organized a laboratory to test surgical masks according to European regulations. The group, driven by the expertise of chemical engineers, microbiologists, and occupational physicians, set-up the test lines to perform all the functional tests required. The laboratory started its activity on late March 2020, and as of the end of December of the same year 435 surgical mask prototypes were tested, with only 42 masks compliant to the European standard. From the analysis of the materials used, as well as of the production methods, it was found that a compliant surgical mask is most likely composed of three layers, a central meltblown filtration layer and two external spunbond comfort layers. An increase in the material thickness (grammage), or in the number of layers, does not improve the filtration efficiency, but leads to poor breathability, indicating that filtration depends not only on pure size exclusion, but other mechanisms are taking place (driven by electrostatic charge).
The study critically reviewed the European standard procedures, identifying the weak aspects; among the others, the control of aerosol droplet size during the bacterial filtration test results to be crucial, since it can change the classification of a mask when its performance lies near to the limiting values of 95 or 98%.
The main purpose of the present work was to evaluate if low laser level therapy (LLLT) can improve the effects of Biosilicate®/PLGA (BS/PLGA) composites on cell viability and bone consolidation using ...a tibial defects of rats. The composites were characterized by scanning electron microscope (SEM) and reflection Fourier transform infrared spectrometer (FTIR). For the in vitro study, fibroblast and osteoblast cells were seeded in the extract of the composites irradiated or not with LLLT (Ga-Al-As, 808nm, 10J/cm2) to assess cell viability after 24, 48 and 72h. For the in vivo study, 80 Wistar rats with tibial bone defects were distributed into 4 groups (BS; BS+LLLT; BS/PLGA and BS/PLGA+LLLT) and euthanized after 2 and 6weeks. Laser irradiation Ga-Al-As (808nm, 30J/cm2) in the rats was performed 3 times a week. The SEM and FTIR results revealed that PLGA were successfully inserted into BS and the microparticles degraded over time. The in vitro findings demonstrated higher fibroblast viability in both BS/PLGA groups after 24h and higher osteoblast viability in BS/PLGA+LLLT in all periods. As a conclusion, animals treated with BS/PLGA+LLLT demonstrated an improved material degradation and an increased amount of granulation tissue and newly formed bone.
•The microparticles of PLGA inserted into BS degraded over time, leaving pores into the material.•Biosilicate®/PLGA composites irradiated with LLLT improve the osteoblasts viability.•Biosilicate®/PLGA associated to LLLT were effective in stimulating bone formation in an experimental model of tibial defect.
The circadian rhythms originate within the organism and synchronize with cyclic fluctuations in the external environment. It has been demonstrated that part of the human genome is under control of ...the circadian clock and that a synchronizer that helps to maintain daily rhythms is Melatonin, a neuro-hormone primarily synthesized by the pineal gland during the night. The chronic disruption of circadian rhythm has been linked to many conditions such as obesity, metabolic syndrome, type 2 diabetes, cancer, and neurodegenerative diseases. Studies in the mice showed that the disruption of the retinal circadian rhythm increases the decline during the aging of photoreceptors, accelerating age-related disruption of cone cell structure, function, and viability and that the melatonin receptor deletion seems to influence the health of retinal cells, speeding up their aging. In conclusion, preserving the circadian rhythms could be to add to the prevention and treatment of age-related degenerative retinal diseases, and although additional studies are needed, melatonin could be a valid support to favor this “chronoprotection action”.
Within EURADOS Working Group 6 'Computational Dosimetry', the micro and nanodosimetry task group 6.2 has recently conducted a Monte Carlo (MC) exercise open to participants around the world. The aim ...of this exercise is to quantify the contribution to the uncertainty of micro and nanodosimetric simulation results arising from the use of different electron-impact cross-sections, and hence physical models, employed by different MC codes (GEANT4-DNA, PENELOPE, MCNP6, FLUKA, NASIC and PHITS). Comparison of the participants' simulation results for both micro and nanodosimetric quantities using different MC codes was the first step of the exercise. The deviation between results is due to different cross-sections but also different tracking methods and particle transport cut-off energies. The second step of the exercise will involve using identical cross-section datasets to account only for the other variations in the first step, thus enabling the determination of the uncertainty contribution due to different cross-sections. This paper presents a comparison of the MC simulation results obtained in the first part of the exercise. For the microdosimetric simulations, particularly in the configuration where the electron source is contained within the micrometric target, the choice of MC code has a small influence on the results. For the nanodosimetric results, on the other hand, the mean ionisation cluster size distribution (ICSD) was sensitive to the physical models used in the MC codes. The ICSD was therefore chosen to study the influence of different cross-section data on the uncertainty of simulation results.
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