Sterile Insect Technique Programme against Mediterranean Fruit Fly in the Valencian Community (Spain)

Simple Summary

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.), is one of the most destructive fruit pests in the world. In the Valencian Community, it has become a key pest affecting many fruits, but mainly citrus, the most important crop cultivated. Traditionally, control of C. capitata has been based on the use of insecticides. In line with the trend in recent years to minimize the use of insecticides and promote environment-friendly techniques, in 2007 the Department of Agriculture of Valencia implemented an area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme for the suppression of C. capitata, in which the sterile insect technique (SIT) is the primary method of application integrated with other suppression methods. As a result, there has been a large reduction in the aerial spraying of insecticides as well as a growth trend in exports of citrus and fresh fruits from the Valencian Community in recent years.

Abstract

The Mediterranean fruit fly, Ceratitis capitata (Wied.), is an endemic pest in fruit-growing areas of the Spanish Mediterranean coast. In the Valencian Community, it represents a serious problem in the cultivation of citrus and numerous species of fruit, such as peach, cherry, apricot, persimmon, etc. For over 50 years, the Department of Agriculture of Valencia has led, promoted, and carried out a C. capitata control programme to protect crops, especially citrus fruits, because this community is the largest national producer and the leading region for fresh citrus exports in the world. Traditionally, pest control has been based on the use of insecticides. However, a reduction of more than 90% of a target wild population was achieved in the frame of a pilot integrated pest management (IPM) project based on the sterile insect technique (SIT), which was implemented from 2003 to 2006. Based on this successful result, in 2007 the Department of Agriculture of Valencia initiated an area-wide integrated pest management (AW-IPM) programme for the suppression of C. capitata, using the SIT as the primary control method. Complementary activities are implemented periodically in hotspots and during different time periods depending on the pest population dynamics. As a result, there has been a reduction of more than 90% in the use of insecticides by aerial means to control C. capitata, as well as a growth trend in exports of citrus and fresh fruits from the Valencian Community in recent years. This paper provides a historical review of the Valencian programme and briefly describes how technological innovations and decision-making tools have contributed to programme efficiency.

Unraveling the ultrafast behavior of nile red interacting with aluminum and titanium co-doped MCM41 materials

We report on the spectroscopy and photodynamic characterization of Brønsted and Lewis acid sites within solids with respect to the behavior of Nile Red (NR) upon interaction with single- and multi-metal(X)-doped MCM41 materials (X = Ti and/or Al) in dichloromethane (DCM) suspensions. The steady-state results show that the H-bonding ability of doped MCM41-based materials leads to different NR populations (monomers, H- and J-aggregates), wherein their contributions are related to the type of acidic site (Brønsted or Lewis) and percent of acid sites (Si/X atomic ratio) in the silica framework. While at different Al doping contents the interacting NR populations suffer slight modifications, an increase in the Ti content induces a substantial increase in J-aggregate formation. Moreover, the picosecond time-resolved data not only confirm the H-bonding interactions between the X-MCM41 hosts and the different types of NR populations, but also indicate that the S1 deactivation pathways of these populations are connected to the Brønsted and Lewis acidities of the host. The shortening in the emission lifetimes of NR species is significantly associated with increased Lewis acidities (Ti doping). The femtosecond dynamics of loaded NR in single and multiple metal doped MCM41 show that the charge separation (CS) state (formed in ∼200-370 fs) and the subsequent electron injection (EI) process (∼200 fs) are sensitive to the content and type of acid sites. These observations are based on the time shortening of the CS state formation from ∼350 fs in the NR/Al-MCM41 samples (at 1% of Al) to <200 fs in the NR/Ti-MCM41 composites. For NR/Ti-Al-MCM41 sample, the observed change is directly related to the Ti content. At 1% of Ti the CS is formed in ∼300 fs, whereas at 3% of Ti it decreases to <200 fs. The same behavior is observed for the EI event, wherein its probability is related to the Ti content - higher doping results in a faster EI process (from ∼250 fs to ∼150 fs). Therefore, the interactions of these co-metal-doped MCM41 materials (Ti-Al-MCM41) with NR show competition between the Brønsted (Al doping) and Lewis (Ti doping) acid sites. Our findings may help to achieve a better understanding of the reactivity within metal-doped mesoporous catalysts and could be used in related fields such as drug delivery and nanophotonics using-silica materials.

A pilot study of ranolazine in patients with intermittent claudication

AIM

This pilot study provides preliminary information regarding safety and changes in exercise performance during treatment with ranolazine extended-release in patients with reproducible claudication during exercise treadmill testing (ETT).

METHODS

We enrolled 45 patients with documented peripheral arterial disease, reproducible claudication on ETT, and ankle-brachial indices <0.85 at rest that decreased by at least 0.15% or 20% immediately postexercise. Randomized patients received double-blind treatment with either ranolazine 1 000 mg b.i.d. (n=22) or placebo (n=23) for 4 weeks.

RESULTS

Compared with baseline, peak walking time (PWT) increased (mean+/-SEM) by 53+/-34 s with ranolazine (P=0.13) and by 41+/-33 s with placebo (P=0.22). Pain-free walking time during ETT increased by 62+/-18 s with ranolazine (P=0.002) and 36+/-18 s with placebo (P=0.045). Supplemental analyses, excluding patients with baseline exercise duration (16 min and (12 min, showed additional improvement with ranolazine on PWT.

CONCLUSIONS

Ranolazine was well tolerated and these data provide a rationale for proceeding with a definitive trial.

Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strains expressing nitrate reductase under control of the cabII-1 promoter: isolation of chlorate resistant mutants and identification of new loci for nitrate assimilation

The Chlamydomonas reinhardtii strain Tx11-8 is a transgenic alga that bears the nitrate reductase gene (Nia1) under control of the CabII-1 gene promoter (CabII-1-Nia1). Approximately nine copies of the chimeric CabII-1-Nia1 gene were found to be integrated in this strain and to confer a phenotype of chlorate sensitivity in the presence of ammonium. We have used this strain for the isolation of spontaneous chlorate resistant mutants in the presence of ammonium that were found to be defective at loci involved in MoCo metabolism and light-dependent growth in nitrate media. Of a total of 45 mutant strains analyzed first, 44 were affected in the MoCo activity (16 Nit(-), unable to grow in nitrate, and 28 Nit(+), able to grow in nitrate). All the Nit(-) strains lacked MoCo activity. Diploid complementation of Nit(-), MoCo(-) strains with C. reinhardtii MoCo mutants and genetic analysis indicated that some strains were defective at known loci for MoCo biosynthesis, while three strains were defective at two new loci, hereafter named Nit10 and Nit11. The other 28 Nit(+) strains showed almost undetectable MoCo activity or activity was below 20% of the parental strain. Second, only one strain (named 23c(+)) showed MoCo and NR activities comparable to those in the parental strain. Strain 23c(+) seems to be affected in a locus, Nit12, required for growth in nitrate under continuous light. It is proposed that this locus is required for nitrate/chlorate transport activity. In this work, mechanisms of chlorate toxicity are reviewed in the light of our results.

Immunosuppressive therapy and post-transplantation diarrhea

Gastrointestinal complications, including diarrhea, are among the anticipated adverse events secondary to immunosuppression. The reported overall rate of diarrhea may be affected by drug-specific effects, dose-response effects, interactions with other medications, drug formulation, the length of study follow-up, reporting bias and population characteristics such as ethnicity and baseline disease, including transplant organ type. The true incidence of diarrhea is often difficult to assess from the numerous published clinical trials. A number of deficiencies, including self-reporting, interstudy comparisons, lack of blinding, concomitant medications and a general lack of standardization and quantification of diarrhea may greatly obscure comparisons among the different immunosuppressive medications. This review considers each of these factors in assessing the overall incidence of post-transplantation diarrhea for the various immunosuppressive medications currently in use.

Sn-MCM-41--a heterogeneous selective catalyst for the Baeyer-Villiger oxidation with hydrogen peroxide

A new heterogeneous catalyst, Sn-MCM-41, is described for the Baeyer-Villiger reaction with hydrogen peroxide which selectively activates the carbonyl function for the nucleophilic attack by the oxidant, with high chemoselectivities when double bonds are present in the molecule.

ITQ-16, a new zeolite family of the beta group with different proportions of polymorphs A, B and C

ITQ-16 is a new zeolite family formed by polymorphs A, B and C of the beta intergrowth in which the proportion of polymorph C can be controlled by changing the organic structure directing agent and/or by changing the Ge content of the synthesis gel; ITQ-16 can be synthesised either in fluoride or fluoride-free medium and Al can be introduced in the framework giving a material with very strong Brönsted acidity.

Nitrite reductase mutants as an approach to understanding nitrate assimilation in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii

We constructed mutant strains lacking the nitrite reductase (NR) gene in Chlamydomonas reinhardtii. Two types of NR mutants were obtained, which either have or lack the high-affinity nitrate transporter (Nrt2;1, Nrt2;2, and Nar2) genes. None of these mutants overexpressed nitrate assimilation gene transcripts nor NR activity in nitrogen-free medium, in contrast to NR mutants. This finding confirms the previous role proposed for NR on its own regulation (autoregulation) and on the other genes for nitrate assimilation in C. reinhardtii. In addition, the NR mutants were used to study nitrate transporters from nitrite excretion. At high CO(2), only strains carrying the above high-affinity nitrate transporter genes excreted stoichiometric amounts of nitrite from 100 microM nitrate in the medium. A double mutant, deficient in both the high-affinity nitrate transporter genes and NR, excreted nitrite at high CO(2) only when nitrate was present at mM concentrations. This suggests that there exists a low-affinity nitrate transporter that might correspond to the nitrate/nitrite transport system III. Moreover, under low CO(2) conditions, the double mutant excreted nitrite from nitrate at micromolar concentrations by a transporter with the properties of the nitrate/nitrite transport system IV.

A randomized double-blind, multicenter plasma concentration controlled study of the safety and efficacy of oral mycophenolate mofetil for the prevention of acute rejection after kidney transplantation

BACKGROUND

Adding a fixed dose of 1 g b.i.d. of mycophenolate mofetil (MMF) to an immunosuppressive regimen consisting of cyclosporine and prednisone results in a 50% reduction in the incidence of acute rejection after kidney transplantation. This study was designed to investigate the relationship between pharmacokinetic data (mycophenolic acid area under the curve; MPA AUC) and the prevention of rejection after kidney transplantation.

METHODS

A total of 154 adult recipients of a primary or secondary cadaveric kidney graft were randomly allocated, in this double-blind trial, to receive MMF treatment aimed at three predefined target MPA AUC values (16.1, 32.2, and 60.6 microg x hr/ml). During the first 6 months after transplantation, plasma samples for nine AUCs were collected. After analysis of the samples, a coded dose adjustment advice was generated using a Bayesian algorithm, maintaining the double blinding. Immunosuppressive therapy further consisted of cyclosporine and prednisone. The primary end point of this study was the occurrence of biopsy-proven acute rejection within the 6-month study period.

RESULTS

A total of 150 patients were eligible for analysis. Although after day 21, the mean MMF dose was reduced, the mean MPA AUC gradually increased and target MPA AUC values were exceeded in all three groups. The incidences of biopsy-proven acute rejection in the low, intermediate, and high target MPA AUC groups were 14 of 51 (27.5%), 7 of 47 (14.9%), and 6 of 52 (11.5%), respectively. The incidences of premature withdrawal from the study due to adverse events in the three groups were 4 of 51 (7.8%), 11 of 47 (23.4%), and 23 of 52 (44.2%), respectively. Logistic regression analysis showed a highly statistically significant relationship between median ln(MPA AUC) and the occurrence of a biopsy-proven rejection (P<0.001). The logistic regression using median ln(Cpredose) was also statistically significant for this relationship (P=0.01), whereas it was not when using mean MMF dose (P=0.082). In contrast, the logistic regression using mean MMF dose for comparison of patients who successfully completed the study versus patients experiencing premature withdrawal due to adverse events was highly significant (P<0.001), whereas this was not significant when using median ln(Cpredose) (P=0.512) or median ln(MPA AUC) (P=0.434).

CONCLUSION

MPA Cpredose and MPA AUC are significantly related to the incidence of biopsy-proven rejection after kidney transplantation, whereas MMF dose is significantly related to the occurrence of adverse events.

Copying computer-generated-holographic interconnects by the use of partially coherent light

Dichromated gelatin, bleached photographic emulsion, photoresist, and silver halide-sensitived gelatin are studied as holographic recording materials for holographic optical interconnects. We make the analysis by using a copying process with a computer-generated interconnect, which produces 64 diffracted beams on axis, as a master. The experimental results obtained confirm that it is possible to obtain copies in which we improve the performance of the master.

Solid-state NMR study of ordered mesoporous aluminosilicate MCM-41 synthesized on a liquid-crystal template

A novel mesoporous aluminosilicate MCM-41, synthesized in a liquid-crystal system, was characterized by magic angle spinning NMR. Conventional Bloch decay and cross-polarization spectra were compared. The 27Al spectra showed that the calcined material was highly siliceous, while 29Si NMR proved that it was rich in single and geminal silanol groups. Two kinds of the silanol groups were detected: exchanging and non-exchanging protons with water on the timescale of the 1H experiment. The 13C spectra of the uncalcined material were consistent with the concept of the micellar arrangement of the cetyltrimethylammonium template inside MCM-41.