Survival and viability of ascospores of Erysiphe necator in Austrian vineyards

Grape powdery mildew caused by Erysiphe necator is a limiting factor in grape production. In order to develop effective management strategies, the factors influencing the survival of the fungus need to be identified and characterized accordingly. For this purpose, we focused on the effect of weather conditions during overwintering on the survival and viability of ascospores. In spring 2017 and 2018, grape leaf litter and bark samples were collected and examined to determine the density of chasmothecia and the viability of ascospores in various Austrian vine growing regions. There were obvious differences in the amounts of chasmothecia between both years and all examined vineyards. Lower quantities of chasmothecia were detected on the exfoliating bark compared to leaf litter, with up to 37% of chasmothecia containing viable ascospores. In comparison, chasmothecia from leaf litter showed a lower viability (up to 5%). The number of viable ascospores per head of vine ranged from 0 to 351 and from 0 to 251 in 2017 and 2018, respectively, and showed partly a strong variation within one location in both years. The infectivity of ascospores on detached leaves was confirmed. In a survival experiment, chasmothecia, when incubated at 7 °C, released more viable ascospores than chasmothecia incubated at 17 °C. After an incubation period of 30 weeks, only chasmothecia stored at the lower temperature contained viable ascospores. However, the mean temperature differences of 0.1 to 1.2 °C during the period of formation of chasmothecia to bud break in both years and six investigated areas did not explain differences in the viability of the ascospores. Differences in vineyard management seem to be of particular importance here.

Surface Labeling with Adhesion Protein FimH Improves Binding of Immunotherapeutic Agent Salmonella Ty21a to the Bladder Epithelium

BACKGROUND: Bladder cancer is the ninth most common cancer in men. 70% of these tumors are classified as non-muscle invasive bladder cancer and those patients receive 6 intravesical instillations with Mycobacterium bovis BCG after transurethral resection. However, 30% of patients show recurrences after treatment and experience severe side effects that often lead to therapy discontinuation. Recently, another vaccine strain, Salmonella enterica typhi Ty21a, demonstrated promising antitumor activity in vivo. Here we focus on increasing bacterial retention in the bladder in order to reduce the number of instillations required and improve antitumor activity. OBJECTIVE: To increase the binding of Ty21a to the bladder wall by surface labeling of the bacteria with adhesion protein FimH and to study its effect in a bladder cancer mouse model. METHODS: Binding of Ty21a with surface-labeled FimH to the bladder wall was analyzed in vitro and in vivo. The antitumor effect of a single instillation of Ty21a+FimH in treatment was determined in a survival experiment. RESULTS: FimH-labeled Ty21a showed significant (p < 0.0001) improved binding to mouse and human cell lines in vitro. Furthermore, FimH labeled bacteria showed ∼5x more binding to the bladder than controls in vivo. Enhanced binding to the bladder via FimH labeling induced a modest improvement in median but not in overall mice survival. CONCLUSIONS: FimH labeling of Ty21a significantly improved binding to bladder tumor cells in vitro and the bladder wall in vivo. The improved binding leads to a modest increase in median survival in a single bladder cancer mouse study.

Evaluation of Ferula Assa-Foetida Accessions for Germination Parameters Under Cold Stratification to Overcome Seed Dormancy and Effect of Media Mixtures on Seedling Growth

Ferula assa-foetida L. is a perennial of Apiaceae family having seed dormancy which inhibits the germination. Oleo-gum resin obtained from the rhizomes of Ferula assa-foetida plant has several medicinal properties and used for the treatment of various diseases, pharmaceutical industries and in cooking of food in some countries. In present study, three different temperature treatments (5°, 15° and 25°C) were used to break seed dormancy in six Ferula assa-foetida accessions repeatedly for two years. Also the seedling survival rate with other morphological parameters like plant height, no. of leaves, leaf width, leaf length, root length and root diameter were observed on 3 month old seedlings in six different media mixtures during year 2019-20. The germination ranges from 3.63 (EC968466 at 25°C) to 81.88 percent (EC966538 at 5°C) with an average of 31.14 percent over all temperatures and genotypes. The mean germination time was ranged from 19.69 to 42.71 days with an average of 30.14 days. The highest germination (66.9%) and least mean germination time was observed at 5ºC (20.85) which showed that this crop required a 5ºC chilling treatment of about 20 days for breaking seed dormancy. The results pertaining to seedling survival experiment showed that media mixture of sand, soil, FYM and cocopeat (1:2:2:1 and 1:1:1:1 ratio) gave higher seedling survival rate (87.66%) and other morphological traits. It was also observed that the genotype EC966538 and EC968470 were the best performer for overall germination as well as seedling survival parameters and could be used as base population in future selection and improvement breeding programs.

Endovascular Selective Intra-Arterial Infusion of Mesenchymal Stem Cells Loaded With Delta-24 in a Canine Model

BACKGROUND Delta-24-RGD, an oncolytic adenovirus, shows promise against glioblastoma. To enhance virus delivery, we recently demonstrated that human bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells loaded with Delta-24-RGD (hMSC-D24) can eradicate glioblastomas in mouse models. There are no studies examining the safety of endovascular selective intra-arterial (ESIA) infusions of MSC-D24 in large animals simulating human clinical situations. OBJECTIVE To perform canine preclinical studies testing the feasibility and safety of delivering increasing doses of hMSCs-D24 via ESIA infusions. METHODS ESIA infusions of hMSC-D24 were performed in the cerebral circulation of 10 normal canines in the target vessels (internal carotid artery [ICA]/P1) via transfemoral approach using commercially available microcatheters. Increasing concentrations of hMSC-D24 or particles (as a positive control) were injected into 1 hemisphere; saline (negative control) was infused contralaterally. Toxicity (particularly embolic stroke) was assessed on postinfusion angiography, diffusion-weighted magnetic resonance imaging, clinical exam, and necropsy. RESULTS ESIA injections were performed in the ICA (n = 7) or P1 (n = 3). In 2 animals injected with particles (positive control), strokes were detected by all assays. Of 6 canines injected with hMSC-D24 through the anterior circulation, escalating dose from 2 × 106 cells/20 mL to 1 × 108 cells/10 mL resulted in no strokes. Two animals had ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes after posterior cerebral artery catheterization. A survival experiment of 2 subjects resulted in no complications detected for 24-h before euthanization. CONCLUSION This novel study simulating ESIA infusion demonstrates that MSCs-D24 can be infused safely at least up to doses of 1 × 108 cells/10 mL (107 cells/ml) in the canine anterior circulation using commercially available microcatheters. These findings support a clinical trial of ESIA infusion of hMSCs-D24.

Survival and growth performance of Heterobranchus bidorsalis larvae fed diet supplemented with e-probiotic 111®

Background and Objective: Larvae survival problem has bed eviled catfish hatchery in Nigeria. This is widely attributed to many factors including poor utilization of feed at the early stage as swim up larvae. Probiotics is one important supplement in the diet of aquatic animals as immune stimulant, for prevention of disease and enhance survival. Experiment was conducted to establish if commercial probiotic (E-PROBIOTIC 111®) will improve on the survival and growth of Heterobranchus bidorsalis larvae when added to the larvae feed and the influence on the intestinal microbial flora. Materials and method: Two weeks old larvae weaned on decapsulated artemia were reared on 0, 1.0, 2.0, and 3.0g/kg levels of E-probiotic 111®supplementedcommercial diet (Aqualis® fry powder) making up four dietary treatments allocated in triplicate in a completely randomized design. Survival, growth, and microbial constituent of larvae subjected to each treatment were monitored during a four weeks rearing. Results: The results obtained indicated that there was no significant variation (p>0.05) among the treatments with regards to survival rate. Larvae fed dietary treatments III (2g/kg) and IV (3.0g/kg) had significantly (p<0.05) increase in percent weight gain but with no significant variation (p>0.05) in length increase. The water quality parameters monitored were not significantly different (p>0.05) among the treatments and within recommended range for larvae survival. Conclusion: It can be concluded that the supplementation of the E-probiotics 111 in the diets of the larvae enhanced the percent occurrence of gut beneficial Bacillus spp. at 2g/kg of each which could have influenced the larvae better performance in terms of survival and growth.

The Survival Processing Advantage of Face: The Memorization of the (Un)Trustworthy Face Contributes More to Survival Adaptation

Researchers have found that compared with other existing conditions (e.g., pleasantness), information relevant to survival produced a higher rate of retrieval; this effect is known as the survival processing advantage (SPA). Previous experiments have examined that the advantage of memory can be extended to some different types of visual pictorial material, such as pictures and short video clips, but there were some arguments for whether face stimulus could be seen as a boundary condition of SPA. The current work explores whether there is a mnemonic advantage to different trustworthiness of face for human adaptation. In two experiments, we manipulated the facial trustworthiness (untrustworthy, neutral, and trustworthy), which is believed to provide information regarding survival decisions. Participants were asked to predict their avoidance or approach response tendency, when encountering strangers (represented by three classified faces of trustworthiness) in a survival scenario and the control scenario. The final surprise memory tests revealed that it was better to recognize both the trustworthy faces and untrustworthy faces, when the task was related to survival. Experiment 1 demonstrated the existence of a SPA in the bipolarity of facial untrustworthiness and trustworthiness. In Experiment 2, we replicated the SPA of trustworthy and untrustworthy face recognitions using a matched design, where we found this kind of memory benefits only in recognition tasks but not in source memory tasks. These results extend the generality of SPAs to face domain.

Gaps critical for the survival of exposed seeds during Cerrado fires

The fine-scale effects of fire and the consequences for seed survival are poorly understood, especially in the Cerrado (Brazilian savannas). Thus, we investigated whether vegetation gaps (bare soil patches) influence the survival of exposed seeds during fire events in the Cerrado by serving as safe sites. We performed field fire experiments in Central Brazil to examine how gap size (% of bare soil) influences fire heat (fire temperatures and residence time) and seed survival (Experiment 1) and to determine how seed survival is affected by fixed conditions: gaps vs grass tussocks during fires (Experiment 2). We used seeds of two common Cerrado legumes, Mimosa leiocephala Benth. and Harpalyce brasiliana Benth. Seed survival was analysed using GLMMs with a binomial distribution. In Experiment 1, seeds survived (38 and 35% for M. leiocephala and H. brasiliana respectively) only when the gaps had >40% of bare soil. In Experiment 2, all seeds under grass tussocks died when exposed to fire, whereas up to 40% of seeds survived in vegetation gaps, relative to their respective controls. Because vegetation gaps influence fire heat, they are important as safe sites for seed survival in the Cerrado, allowing a significant proportion of seeds to survive when exposed at the soil surface.

Laparoscopic transgastric circumferential stapler-assisted vs. endoscopic esophageal mucosectomy in a porcine model

Background and study aims Extensive endoscopic mucosal resection (EMR) for Barrett’s esophagus (BE) may lead to stenosis. Laparoscopic, transgastric, stapler-assisted mucosectomy (SAM) with the retrieval of a circumferential specimen is proposed. Methods SAM was evaluated in two phases. The feasibility of SAM and the quality of specimens were assessed in eight animals. The mucosal healing was evaluated in a 6-week survival experiment comparing SAM (n = 6) with EMR (n = 6). The ratio of the esophageal lumen width (REL) at the resection level measured on fluoroscopy at 6 weeks divided by the width immediately after resection was compared. Results In all animals, a circular mucosectomy specimen was successfully obtained, with a median area of 492 mm2 (interquartile range [IQR] 426 – 573 mm2) and 941 mm2 (IQR 813 – 1209 mm2) using a 21 mm and 25 mm stapler, respectively. In the survival experiments, symptomatic stenosis developed in two animals after EMR and in none after SAM. The REL was 0.27 (0.18 – 0.39) and 0.96 (0.9 – 1.04; P < 0.0001) for EMR and SAM, respectively. Conclusions SAM provides a novel technique for en bloc mucosectomy in BE. In contrast to EMR, mucosal healing after SAM was not associated with stenosis up to 6 weeks after intervention.