Search

Growing consumer awareness about the environmental impact of their food purchase decisions means having to create labels that better communicate sustainability aspects. The aim of this study is to explore consumers’ responses to “sustainable irrigation” (SI)-labeled wine. To this end, the effect of two label factors, SI claims (no SI info, logo, and text), and their position (front- vs. back-labels) on consumer choice, reasons for choice, perceived sustainability, and willingness-to-pay is determined. Moreover, we determine, for the first time, for SI claims, the relationship between consumer choice and paid attention. Our results reveal that almost 90% of the 408 consumers participating in this study show an interest in the SI-labeled wines. The main reason for choosing the SI-labeled wines rather than the control (no SI info-label) was the following: ‘I think it’s more environmentally friendly’, with an increase of two points on a nine-point sustainability perception scale. Consumers prefer the logo-label to the text-label, mainly because they find it more attractive, and a close relationship between paid attention and product choice probability is determined. The vast majority of consumers are willing to pay an extra cost of 15% or more for SI-labeled wine vs. the control. These results have relevant implications for the industry because they show that the SI logo is a useful way to draw consumers’ attention to the sustainability of irrigation practices and positively affect their choice. Our findings indicate that this way of differentiating the product in the market can contribute to compensating the economic cost of implanting SI practices.

[EN] Composite concrete members without web reinforcement are often used in precast construction. The contribution of the cast-in-place concrete topping slab to vertical shear strength has been traditionally disregarded. However, significant cost savings can result from designing and assessing these structures if this contribution is considered. This paper presents the experimental study of a series of 21 monolithic and composite (precast beam and cast-in-place slab) specimens without web reinforcement, and with rectangular and T-shaped cross-sections, failing in shear. The vertical shear strength was analysed by the following test variables: cross-section shape, the existence of an interface between different aged concretes, strengths of the two concretes and the differential shrinkage effect. From these experimental tests, it was concluded that the slab contributed to shear strength, the use of high-strength concrete slightly increased specimens' shear strength and the differential shrinkage did not reduce shear strength. Specimens' failure modes were analysed based on their shear transfer mechanisms, noticing that the arching action in the slab was considerable after critical shear crack formation. The vertical shear strength experimental results were well predicted by the codes' formulations (Eurocode 2, Model Code 2010 and ACI 318-19) when composite beam depth was taken for the calculations instead of beam depth. Codes significantly underestimated the horizontal shear strengths of the composite specimens., This research has been supported by: the Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation through Research Project BIA2015-64672-C4-4-R and RTI2018-099091-B-C21-AR; the Regional Government of Valencia through Project AICO/2018/250; the European Union with FEDER funds. The experimental programme was developed in the Laboratory of Concrete of the Institute of Concrete Science and Technology (ICITECH) of the Universitat Politècnica de València (UPV) with concrete supplied by Caplansa. The Spanish Ministry of Science and Innovation supported Lisbel Rueda through grant BES-2016-078010.

[EN] Continuous reinforced concrete (RC) beams may develop significant plastic rotations to enable the redistribution of bending moments. These rotations occur at plastic hinges, which are subject to high shear forces. The influence of rotations on the shear strength for statically determined beams without shear reinforcement failing in shear after yielding of the flexural reinforcement has already been experimentally verified. However, this influence has not been studied in continuous members with shear reinforcement. An innovative tests system has been specially designed to develop shear failures before and after yielding of the flexural reinforcement in both statically determinate and indeterminate structures. Nine beams (9000 mm long, 250 mm wide, 450 mm high) with a shear reinforcement of phi 8/30 (rho(w) = 0.13%) and different longitudinal reinforcement ratios were tested under different load and support conditions. The shear strength provided by shear reinforcement and that provided by the other mechanisms of resistance (shear strength provided by concrete) for each specimen were calculated based on the critical shear crack width measurements performed by Digital Image Correlation (DIC). Bending rotation and crack rotation along the development length of the critical shear crack were also obtained by DIC. Based on the test results, the shear strength provided by concrete was studied in relation to the bending rotation and the average crack width in reinforced concrete beams with shear reinforcement. It was confirmed that the shear strength provided by concrete decreased with increasing both bending rotations and crack widths. The shear strength values predicted by different design codes (ACI 318-19, Eurocode 2 and Model Code 2010) were compared with the test results, and showed that these formulations did not properly capture the loss of shear strength caused by bending rotation., This research was funded with grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness to Research Project BIA2015-64672-C4-4-R. The experimental programme was developed in the Laboratory of Concrete of the Institute of Concrete Science and Technology (ICITECH) of the Universitat Politecnica de Valencia (UPV), with concrete supplied by Caplansa. Andrea Monserrat was supported by the Conselleria d'Educacio, Investigacio, Cultura i Esport of the Generalitat Valenciana (Order 6/2015, DOCV no. 7615 15.09.2015) with European Regional Development Funds (ERDF) allocated by the EU.

Mutations in the leucine rich repeat kinase 2 (LRRK2) gene are a cause of familial and sporadic Parkinson’s disease (PD). Nonetheless, the biological functions of LRRK2 remain incompletely understood. Here, we observed that LRRK2 is recruited to lysosomes that have a ruptured membrane. Using unbiased proteomics, we observed that LRRK2 is able to recruit the motor adaptor protein JIP4 to permeabilized lysosomes in a kinase-dependent manner through the phosphorylation of RAB35 and RAB10. Super-resolution live cell imaging microscopy and FIB-SEM revealed that once at the lysosomal membrane, JIP4 promotes the formation of LAMP1-negative lysosomal tubules that release membranous content from ruptured lysosomes. Released vesicular structures are able to interact with other lysosomes. Thus, we described a new process that uses lysosomal tubulation to release vesicular structures from permeabilized lysosomes. LRRK2 orchestrates this process that we name LYTL (LYsosomal Tubulation/sorting driven by LRRK2) that, given the central role of the lysosome in PD, is likely to be disease relevant.

[EN] The accurate estimation of plant water needs is the first step for achieving high crop water productivity. The main objective of the work was to develop an irrigation scheduling procedure for mandarin orchards under Mediterranean conditions based on replacing the amount of consumed water using reference values of soil moisture according to different phenological periods. The proposed methodology includes a definition part where the threshold values were established relating the trees' stem water potential and the volumetric soil water content measured with Frequency Domain Reflectometry probes. A second part includes the steps for standardizing measurements from capacitance probes by using the LEACHM hydrological simulation model to take into account the sensor-to-sensor variations. Finally, an extrapolation procedure based on soil water retention curves was used for adapting critical soil water content thresholds to different soil conditions. Field evaluations were made in a citrus orchard located in eastern Spain during two seasons. Standardize critical soil water contents were: i) 24 % vol. for post-harvest, bloom - fruit set and phase III of fruit growth; ii) 27 % vol. for phase I of fruit growth, and iii) 29 % vol. for phase II of fruit growth with average daily air vapour pressure deficit values ranging between 0.2 - 0.4; 0.9-1.1 and 1.1-1.3 kPa, respectively. When implemented in the orchard, the sensor-based strategy resulted in water saving of 26 % respect to a control treatment, irrigated using the standard FAO-56 approach, without significant differences in yield and increasing the crop water productivity by 33 %. In conclusion, we suggest that the determination and use of the critical soil water content is a useful tool for scheduling irrigation. The proposed standardization and extrapolation methodology allows the irrigation strategy to be applied to other mandarin orchards under similar climatic conditions., This experiment was funded by European project WEAM4i Water & Energy Advanced Management for Irrigation, grant agreement 619061 and FEDER-MINECO projects EASYRIEGO IPT-2012-0950-310000, RISUB IPT-2012-0480-310000 and RIEGOTEL RTC-2016-4972-2. M.A. Martinez-Gimeno acknowledges the financial support received from the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture and Sports (MECD) program Formacion Profesorado Universitario (FPU). Juan G. Perez-Perez also gratefully acknowledges the post-doctoral contract in the `Ramon y Cajal' program, supplied by the Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness (MINECO). Authors would like to thank M. Jorda, C. Albert, F. Sanz and A. Yeves for the support on installation and maintenance of the equipment. Thanks also to Prof. G. Provenzano (University of Palermo) for his critical comments and suggestions.

Parkinson’s disease (PD) is a common neurodegenerative motor disorder characterized in part by neuropathological lesions in the nigrostriatal pathway. While most cases of PD are sporadic in nature, several inherited monogenic syndromes exist that overlap clinically and pathologically with sporadic PD. Of these, loss of function mutations in DNAJC6 , which encodes the protein Auxilin, cause an aggressive form of juvenile onset PD. Auxilin and its homologues are known to play a role in clathrin-mediated trafficking, which is crucial for cellular function in all eukaryotes and plays a specialized role in synaptic transmission in higher organisms. Auxilin is the major neuronal uncoating protein for clathrin-coated vesicles required for delivery of cargo from the plasma membrane and trans -Golgi network to intracellular destinations. However, how mutations in Auxilin cause PD is currently not understood. To address this problem, we generated a novel mouse model carrying an endogenous pathogenic Auxilin mutation. When bred to homozygosity, this mutation induced neurological phenotypes that phenocopy clinical features observed in patients, including motor impairments reminiscent of bradykinesia and gait problems. Mapping the interactome of Auxilin confirmed clathrin and synaptic clathrin adaptor protein interactions and also identified novel Golgi-resident interactors. Critically, all tested pathogenic mutations in Auxilin retained clathrin adaptor protein binding but lost interaction with clathrin itself. These observations describe a mechanism by which impaired clathrin-mediated trafficking in R857G Auxilin mice, both at the Golgi and the synapse, results in neuropathological lesions in the nigrostriatal pathway. Collectively, these results provide novel insights for PD pathogenesis in Auxilin mutation carriers, reinforcing a key role for clathrin-mediated trafficking in PD, and expand our understanding of the cellular function of Auxilin. Highlights Auxilin interacts with Golgi-resident clathrin adaptor protein GGA2 Auxilin is involved with uncoating of CCVs at the Golgi and synapse Impaired clathrin-mediated trafficking underlies PD-like phenotypes in R857G Auxilin mice

Background PD is a complex polygenic disorder. In recent years, several genes from the endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway have been suggested to contribute to disease etiology. However, a systematic analysis of pathway-specific genetic risk factors is yet to be performed. Objectives To comprehensively study the role of the endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway in the risk of PD. Methods Linkage disequilibrium score regression was used to estimate PD heritability explained by 252 genes involved in the endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway including genome-wide association studies data from 18,869 cases and 22,452 controls. We used pathway-specific single-nucleotide polymorphisms to construct a polygenic risk score reflecting the cumulative risk of common variants. To prioritize genes for follow-up functional studies, summary-data based Mendelian randomization analyses were applied to explore possible functional genomic associations with expression or methylation quantitative trait loci. Results The heritability estimate attributed to endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway was 3.58% (standard error = 1.17). Excluding previously nominated PD endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway genes, the missing heritability was 2.21% (standard error = 0.42). Random heritability simulations were estimated to be 1.44% (standard deviation = 0.54), indicating that the unbiased total heritability explained by the endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway was 2.14%. Polygenic risk score based on endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway showed a 1.25 times increase of PD risk per standard deviation of genetic risk. Finally, Mendelian randomization identified 11 endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway genes showing functional consequence associated to PD risk. Conclusions We provide compelling genetic evidence that the endocytic membrane-trafficking pathway plays a relevant role in disease etiology. Further research on this pathway is warranted given that critical effort should be made to identify potential avenues within this biological process suitable for therapeutic interventions. © 2019 International Parkinson and Movement Disorder Society.

Postharvest regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) is an effective strategy to hasten flowering and harvest in loquat (Eriobotrya japonica Lindl.) trees, which in the Mediterranean countries has been related to an increase in the economic return. The success of an RDI strategy, however, depends on the duration and severity of the water stress reached by the trees. When RDI is applied, then, it is important to regularly monitor the plant water status. The measurement of the trunk diameter variations by means of stem dendrometers, which can be automated to remotely determine the plant water status, is a proven method for many fruit trees. In loquat, however, its use has not been yet assessed. In this experiment performed in a loquat orchard planted with the cv. 'Cardona' during the summer of 2009, the suitability of using stem dendrometers to detect plant water stress was assessed by taking measurements in fully irrigated and trees subjected to a drought cycle of 47 days. Results showed that at the beginning of the drought cycle period there was an increase in the maximum daily trunk shrinkage (MDS) in non-irrigated trees even before that clear differences in stem water potential (Psi(s)) could be detected between treatments. However, when plant water stress became more severe (Psi(s) lower than -1.4 MPa), MDS did not increase further. The maximum trunk diameter (MXTD) evolution in control trees showed a steadily increase in trunk growth during the whole experimental period. In non-irrigated trees, however, MXTD remained stable until the end of the treatment when irrigation was resumed. The Psi(s) was the most sensitive indicator to water stress due to its very low tree-to-tree variability in comparison with the other indicators. Overall results show that trunk diameter variations have some limitations to monitor plant water status in loquat RDI orchards and therefore new alternatives should be explored. (C) 2014 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.

The response of persimmon trees to deficit irrigation applied in three different phenological stages was evaluated during three consecutive seasons in a commercial orchard planted with the cv. ‘Rojo Brillante’, the most important cultivar in the Mediterranean basin. The experiment was performed in a drip-irrigated orchard located in Valencia, Spain, planted with eight-year-old trees at a spacing of 5.5 m × 4 m and grafted on the rootstock Diospyrus lotus . Three regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) regimes were tested and compared to a Control treatment irrigated at full water requirements. In the RDI treatments, moderate water restrictions (50% of Control irrigation), were applied during one of three periods (i) RDI spring , where water restrictions were applied from late May to mid July; (ii) RDI summer , deficit irrigated from mid July to late August and; (iii) RDI fall , in which water restrictions were applied from late August early September to mid November. Results showed that persimmon fruit growth was sensitive to water stress. RDI reduced final fruit weight being this reduction more marked in the most stressed treatment (RDI summer ). This decrease in fruit weight was also because spring and specially summer RDI treatments increased the number of fruit harvested. Thus, RDI techniques allowed water savings of up to 20% without any reduction in yield increasing significantly the water use efficiency. In spite of the similar yields obtained in RDI and control trees, the economic return was negatively affected by deficit irrigation, because the lower fruit weight resulted in a decrease in the fruit commercial value. In conclusion, fruit growth of persimmon cv. ‘Rojo Brillante’ was shown as highly sensitive to deficit irrigation. Based on the results obtained, RDI would need further research in order to define an RDI strategy that could increase water use efficiency without affecting the economic return.

Retinal pigment epithelium has a crucial role in the physiology and pathophysiology of the retina due to its location and metabolism. Oxidative damage has been demonstrated as a pathogenic mechanism in several retinal diseases, and reactive oxygen species are certainly important by-products of ethanol (EtOH) metabolism. Autophagy has been shown to exert a protective effect in different cellular and animal models. Thus, in our model, EtOH treatment increases autophagy flux, in a concentration-dependent manner. Mitochondrial morphology seems to be clearly altered under EtOH exposure, leading to an apparent increase in mitochondrial fission. An increase in 2′,7′-dichlorofluorescein fluorescence and accumulation of lipid peroxidation products, such as 4-hydroxy-nonenal (4-HNE), among others were confirmed. The characterization of these structures confirmed their nature as aggresomes. Hence, autophagy seems to have a cytoprotective role in ARPE-19 cells under EtOH damage, by degrading fragmented mitochondria and 4-HNE aggresomes. Herein, we describe the central implication of autophagy in human retinal pigment epithelial cells upon oxidative stress induced by EtOH, with possible implications for other conditions and diseases.