Effect of citrus sudden death on yield and quality of sweet orange cultivars in Brazil

Citrus sudden death (CSD) has greatly affected sweet orange cultivars grafted on Rangpur lime in São Paulo and Minas Gerais States, Brazil. To characterize and quantify CSD damage, fruit yield and quality were assessed in each combination of sweet orange cultivar (Hamlin, Pera, Natal, and Valencia), age class (3 to 5, 6 to 10, and 11 to 15 years old), and CSD severity class (0 = no symptom, 1 = initial symptoms, and 2 = severe symptoms). For each combination, 10 trees were harvested and 20 fruit were taken for quality analysis. Damage was characterized by reduc_ tion of: (i) total weight of fruit/tree (36 and 67% for severity class 1 and 2, respectively), (ii) number of fruit/tree (27 and 55%), (iii) fruit size (13 and 25% in diameter and height [stem to styler distance]), (iv) fruit weight (32 and 56%), (v) total soluble solids (TSS)/fruit (18 and 42%), and increase of (vi) Brix (14 and 34%), (vii) acidity (16 and 41%), and (viii) TSS/90-1b. box (21 and 33%). There was no alteration on Brix/acidity ratio and percentage of juice on fruit of affected trees. Sweet orange cultivars did not differ in percentage of reduction or increase of all yield and quality variables, with the exception of Pera, which expressed increases of Brix and acidity. For more severe affected trees, the youngest plants showed a higher reduction in fruit number/tree, whereas plants 6 to 10 years old showed a higher increase in fruit acidity and TSS/box. However, no differences in percentage of reduction or increase for other variables were observed among different age classes. The damage to the above probably was associated with reduced water absorption capacity of CSD-affected trees.

Proteomic analysis reveals suppression of bark chitinases and proteinase inhibitors in citrus plants affected by the citrus sudden death disease

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Sudden death of entanglement and teleportation fidelity loss via the Unruh effect

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

TOXIC DILATATION OF THE COLON IN CHAGAS-DISEASE

Toxic megacolon occurs in colitis of differing aetiology. This report describes 15 patients with chagasic megacolon with this complication. The clinical signs and symptoms in all patients were pain and progressive abdominal distension accompanied by fever, severe toxaemia and shock. Seven patients developed this clinical pattern after manual removal of faeces. The remaining patients had pain and abdominal distension followed by signs of severe toxaemia when first examined. Nine patients underwent total colectomy with ileostomy (one death), four partial colectomy (all died) and two received medical treatment (both died). At autopsy, three of the four patients undergoing partial colectomy had residual colitis and enteritis. The surgical procedure of choice for this complication of chagasic megacolon is total colectomy.

Degenerative process and cell death in salivary glands of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae) semi-engorged female exposed to the acaricide permethrin

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Cell Death in Salivary Glands of Rhipicephalus (Boophilus) microplus (Canestrini, 1887) (Acari: Ixodidae) Females at Semi-engorged Feeding Stage

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Presence of autoantibodies against small nuclear ribonucleoprotein epitopes in Chagas' patients' sera

We investigated the possibility that Chagas' patients develop an autoimmune response to human UsnRNPs (small nuclear ribonucleoprotein) or Sm epitopes. Using purified human UsnRNPs, we detected anti-human UsnRNPs antibodies in sera from patients suffering from Chagas' disease. The antibodies it-ere also detected using peptide enzyme-linked immunosorbent assays containing the Sm-motif 1 domain. The latter technique showed that 61% (31/51) of the Chagas' patients' sera contained antibodies against Sm-motif I. The detection of anti-UsnRNPs autoantibodies in Chagas patients' sera strongly encourages further studies using animal models to determine how these autoantibodies appear.

A function to predict the risk for death in the neonatal sepsis

This was a prospective study of 43 septic neonates at the NICU of the School of Medicine of Botucatu, São Paulo State University. Clinical and laboratory data of sepsis were analyzed based on outcome divided into two groups, survival and death. We calculated the discriminatory power of the relevant variables for the diagnosis of sepsis in each group, and using software for Discriminant Analysis, a function was proposed. There were 43 septic cases with 31 survivals and 12 deaths. The variables that had the highest discriminatory power were: n(o) of compromised systems, the SNAP, FiO2, and (A-a)O2. The study of these and others variables, such as birth weight, n(o) of risk factors, and pH using a Linear Discriminant Function(LDF) allowed us to identify the high-risk neonates for death with a low error rate (8.33%). The LDF was: F = 0.00043 (birth weight) + 0.30367 (n(o) of risk factors) - 0.1171 (n(o) of compromised systems) + 0.33223 (SNAP) + 2.27972 (pH) - 14.96511 (FiO2) + 0.01814 ((A-a)O2). If F > 22.77 there was high risk of death. This study suggests that the LDF at the onset of sepsis is useful for the early identification of the high-risk neonates that need special clinical and laboratory surveillance.

Early embryonic death in mares: clinical and hormonal aspects

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Serum uric acid levels in Chagas' disease

A uricemia foi estudada em uma amostra de 192 indivíduos de uma região altamente endêmica para a doença de Chagas (Bambuí, Estado de Minas Gerais, Brasil). A amostra continha 50 indivíduos sorologicamente negativos (controles) e os positivos foram classificados na base da presença de alterações eletrocardiográficas (63), esvaziamento esofagiano alterado (16), ou ausência de sinais ou sintomas da doença (76). Somente os indivíduos com a forma digestiva da doença de Chagas crônico mostraram hiperuricemia, quando comparados com controles adequados. Dados familiares sugerem que a hiperuricemia é um efeito da patologia digestiva em vez de causa, uma vez que os irmãos não afetados dos pacientes com megaesôfago não apresentaram níveis elevados de ácido úrico sérico. São postulados alguns mecanismos possivelmente responsáveis pelos achados.

Modes of cell death in the hypopharyngeal gland of the honey bee (Apis mellifera L)

Different modes of cell death have been revealed in the regressing hypopharyngeal glands of worker honey bees. The hypopharyngeal gland, which is well developed in young nursing bees to produce protein for larval food, was seen to regress naturally in foraging adult worker bees. A range of techniques including histology, cytochemistry, in situ TUNEL, Annexin V and Comet assays indicated that cells within the gland demonstrate progressive symptoms of apoptosis, necrosis and a vacuolar form of programmed cell death. The latter mode of cell death did not display chromatin margination, but was accompanied by an enhanced level of autophagic and hydrolytic activity in which a cytosolic source of acid phosphatase became manifest in the extra-cisternal spaces. Normal and annexin-positive cells were found to occur in the younger nursing bees, whilst necrosis and an aberrant vacuolar type of apoptosis predominated in the older foraging bees. The relevance of these results to the classification of programmed cell death is discussed. (C) 2000 Academic Press.

Programmed cell death in the larval salivary glands of Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera, Apidae)

The morphological and histochemical features of degeneration in honeybee (Apis mellifera) salivary glands were investigated in 5th instar larvae and in the pre-pupal period. The distribution and activity patterns of acid phosphatase enzyme were also analysed. As a routine, the larval salivary glands were fixed and processed for light microscopy and transmission electron microscopy. Tissue sections were subsequently stained with haematoxylin-eosin, bromophenol blue, silver, or a variant of the critical electrolyte concentration (CEC) method. Ultrathin sections were contrasted with uranyl acetate and lead citrate. Glands were processed for the histochemical and cytochemical localization of acid phosphatase, as well as biochemical assay to detect its activity pattern. Acid phosphatase activity was histochemically detected in all the salivary glands analysed. The cytochemical results showed acid phosphatase in vesicles, Golgi apparatus and lysosomes during the secretory phase and, additionally, in autophagic structures and luminal secretion during the degenerative phase. These findings were in agreement with the biochemical assay. At the end of the 5th instar, the glandular cells had a vacuolated cytoplasm and pyknotic nuclei, and epithelial cells were shed into the glandular lumen. The transition phase from the 5th instar to the pre-pupal period was characterized by intense vacuolation of the basal cytoplasm and release of parts of the cytoplasm into the lumen by apical blebbing; these blebs contained cytoplasmic RNA, rough endoplasmic reticule and, occasionally, nuclear material. In the pre-pupal phase, the glandular epithelium showed progressive degeneration so that at the end of this phase only nuclei and remnants of the cytoplasm were observed. The nuclei were pyknotic, with peripheral chromatin and blebs. The gland remained in the haemolymph and was recycled during metamorphosis. The programmed cell death in this gland represented a morphological form intermediate between apoptosis and autophagy.

Fipronil-induced cell death in salivary glands of Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari: Ixodidae) semi-engorged females

Fundação de Amparo à Pesquisa do Estado de São Paulo (FAPESP)

Markers of cell death in salivary glands of males of the tick Rhipicephalus sanguineus (Latreille, 1806) (Acari, Ixodidae)

The salivary glands of Rhipicephalus sanguineus males at stages: unfed (control), at day seven post-attachment, and at days three and seven post-detachment from the host were examined using methods of enzymatic analysis and cell viability. At these stages of feeding, different staining patterns were observed in the cells of type IV, III, II and I acini, which were affected by degeneration in this sequence. Acid phosphatase reaction was inversely proportional to that of ATPase, while ATPase reaction was proportional to membrane integrity.Salivary gland cells of unfed males exhibited intact nucleus and plasma membrane, suggesting that the acid phosphatase detected may participate in the normal physiology of acini. In males at day seven post-attachment, intact membranes were observed in almost all types of acini, as well as stronger reaction for acid phosphatase, nuclear changes, and decrease in ATPase reaction, changes associated with the degenerative process. At days three and seven post-detachment degeneration progress, being observed loss of membrane integrity, nuclear changes, prominent decrease in ATPase reaction, and an increase in acid phosphatase reaction in the first case and a decreased of it at day seven post-detachment from the host. During cell death, alterations occurred in the following sequence: a) nuclear changes, b) loss of ATPase reaction, c) loss of integrity of the plasma membrane, and d) increase of acid phosphatase. The latter might be associated with the late degradation of cytoplasmic remnants, characterizing the process of cell death in glands of R. sanguineus males as atypical or non-classic apoptosis. (C) 2008 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

Nuclear alterations associated to programmed cell death in larval salivary glands of Apis mellifera (Hymenoptera : Apidae)

The silk glands of bees are a good model for the study of cell death in insects. With the objective to detect the nuclear features during glandular regression stage, larvae at the last instar and pre-pupae were collected and their silk glands were dissected and processed for ultrastructural analysis and histologically for cytochemical and imunocytochemical analysis. The results showed that the cellular nuclei exhibited characteristics of death by atypical apoptosis as well as autophagic cell death. Among the apoptosis characteristic were: nuclear strangulation with bleb formation in some nuclei, DNA fragmentation in most of the nuclei and nucleolar fragmentation. Centripetal chromatin compaction was observed in many nuclei, forming a perichromatin halo differing from typical apoptotic nuclei. With regards to the characteristics of autophagic-programmed cell death, most relevant was the delay in the collapse of many nuclei. (C) 2006 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.