Search

Phytophthora cinnamomiis an important soil borne plant pathogen, associated to decline of cork and holm oak stands in Iberian Peninsula. This decline results from a complex of biotic and abiotic interactions culminating in root infection. Field observations in cork and holm oak sites suggested an enhancement of soil moisture and texture in decline processes. Greenhouse assays were developed to evaluate the impact of soil moisture and texture on the severity of root infection on both species. Seedlings were potted in P. cinnamomiinfested soils with different textures (loamy-sand, clay and silty- loam) combined with different watering regimes (flooding, normal irrigation, and irrigation till wilting and field capacity). The impact of P. cinnamomiinfection was assessed through plant biomass, water consumption and root severity. The infection caused either losses of plant biomass (root and shoot) as plants water consumption, in both species, depending on soil moisture and texture. Holm oak plants were more susceptible to P. cinnamomiinfection than cork oak, with higher mortality and root degradation. To minimize the risk of infection, watering managing appeared to be an essential condition to optimize plant growth and survival taking also into account the texture and moisture of the soil.

Lectins are proteins or glycoproteins of non-immunological origin capable of reversibly and specifically binding to glycoconjugates. They exist in free form or associated with cells and are widely distributed in nature, being found in plants, microorganisms, and animals. Due to their characteristics and mainly due to the possibility of reversible binding to glycoconjugates, lectins have stood out as important tools in research involving Neurobiology. These proteins have the ability to modulate molecular targets in the central nervous system (CNS) which may be involved with neuroplasticity, neurobehavioral effects, and neuroprotection. The present report integrates existing information on the activity of animal and plant lectins in different areas of Neuroscience, presenting perspectives to direct new research on lectin function in the CNS, providing alternatives for understanding neurological diseases such as mental disorders, neurodegenerative, and neuro-oncological diseases, and for the development of new drugs, diagnoses and therapies in the field of Neuroscience.

The influence of the compression-molding temperature on the range of cocontinuity in polystyrene (PS)/ethylene–vinyl acetate (EVA) copolymer blends was studied. The blends presented a broad range of cocontinuity when compression-molded at 160°C, and they became narrower when compression-molded at higher temperatures. A coarsening effect was observed in PS/EVA (60:40 vol %) blends upon compression molding at higher temperature with an increase in the phase size of the cocontinuous structure. Concerning PS/EVA (40:60 vol %) blends, an increase in the mixing and molding temperatures resulted in a change from a cocontinuous morphology to a droplet–matrix morphology. This effect was observed by selective extraction experiments and scanning electron microscopy. The changes in the morphology with the molding conditions affected the storage modulus. An increase in the storage modulus in blends compression-molded at 160°C was observed as a result of dual-phase continuity. An EVA copolymer with a higher vinyl acetate content (28 wt %) and a higher melt-flow index resulted in blends with a broader range of cocontinuity. This effect was more pronounced in blends with lower amounts of PS, that is, when EVA formed the matrix. © 2003 Wiley Periodicals, Inc. J Appl Polym Sci 89: 386–398, 2003