Search

Leaf cutter ants are one of the most important pests to agriculture and forestry in the Neotropics. One environmentally friendly solution to control them is biological control with the use of conidia of some fungi, such as Beauveria bassiana. We tested several isolates of this fungus (obtained from leaf cutter ants) by inoculating ants from seven colonies of Acromyrmex lundii with 5 × 106 conidia ml-1 suspensions. All the isolates proved to be good controllers, but isolate 5 (B5) was found to be the best performing option, because it caused the death of 92.3% of the ants in 4-5 days. Isolate 7 (B7) was the second-best option and used for comparative purposes. Further assays were performed with the isolate B5 to optimise yield production. Three types of rice (brown, parboiled and white rice), soybean hull and yerba mate (Ilex paraguariensis leaves) were tested as substrates, and following that, different conditions of solid-state fermentation (SSF) were changed so as to select the most productive combination. Among treatments, we selected brown rice as substrate and a temperature of 28°C and 75-85% relative humidity in the SSF chamber because this allowed a production of 6.4 × 108 and 1.2 × 109 conidia of B5 and B7 per gram of final substrate with a 98% and 97.5% of germination, in 10 days, respectively. The differences in yield obtained under the same conditions for both isolates show that yield is isolate-dependent. A description of the customised design of the SSF chamber used is included. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Technological innovations in agricultural tractors have revolutionised farming, increased labour productivity and reduced operator's hazards. The purpose of this paper is to analyse the relation between agricultural tractors’ technological innovations and farm size, as well as users’ attitude on environmental impact of agricultural tractors according to their age and years of activity in the farm. Results, concerning Italy, highlight that high technological innovations of tractors are associated to larger farms, which are managed professionally by more efficient and sophisticated agricultural machineries. Empirical evidence also shows that the older the tractor adopters are and the longer they have been working in agriculture, the higher is their commitment to environment protection and safe working conditions. These results could be important for critical strategic management implications to spur technological innovation in agricultural tractors that better satisfy farmer's needs and to support the fruitful adoption of innovations for an efficient and safe modern agriculture. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This article estimates the impact of financial development on industry-level Total Factor Productivity (TFP) growth using a largely unexploited panel of 77 countries with data for 26 manufacturing industries for the years 1965 to 2003. A significant relationship is found between financial development and industry-level TFP growth when controlling for country-time and industry-time fixed effects. The results are both statistically and economically significant. TFP growth can accelerate up to 0.6% per year, depending on the external finance requirement of industries, following a one SD increase in financial development. The results are robust to different samples and specifications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The involvement of the synovium is common in phlogistic processes of various joint diseases. A part from synoviocytes and the other cells in the synovial tissue, circulating cells recruited from peripheral blood also participate in the phlogistic process. The increased expression of adhesion molecules on both circulating and endothelial cell surface may further this recruitment. We studied 15 patients affected by serious gonarthrosis requiring a prosthetic implant (GPI) and 7 with knee prosthesis aseptic loosening (KPL) to evaluate adhesion molecule expression and phlogistic infiltration in the synovium using immunohistochemistry and microscopic analysis. As control we studied 10 subjects affected by degenerative meniscopathies undergoing a selective arthroscopic surgical meniscectomy. Analysis with Kruskal-Wallis test showed no statistical significant differences in the expression of CD54, CD11a, CD11b and CD18 in three groups examined. The model of variance analysis (Friedman test), showed that CD54 expression is greater in patients with GPI and KPL in comparison with the other molecules. Adhesion molecules and their functions are important in arthropathies not only because their evaluation can allow us to identify the degree of inflammation and to predict its evolution, but also because pharmacological control of their expression could have important therapeutic implications. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Chronic Idiopathic Urticaria (CIU) is a cutaneous disorder for which there is no identifiable specific etiologic agent. Some recent evidences suggest that CIU might be an autoimmune disease. We analyzed immunological features occurring in CIU and evaluated effectiveness and tolerance of Cyclospotin A (CsA) treatment in patients unresponsive to antihistaminic treatment. Twenty patients with CIU were recruited after a selective diagnostic protocol and were divided into two groups. CsA was prescribed for group 1 and Prednisone for group 2 as control, for 8 weeks. Before and after the therapy we performed on all patients immunological studies. For all patients symptoms disappeared after a few days of therapy. Before therapy all patients showed activated B cells (CD19+CD23+ cells) and among B CD19+ cells, about 20% were CD5+ (cells that synthesize natural autoantibodies). After treatment with Prednisone in group 2, a significant reduction of CD4+ lymphocytes (p = 0,01) was observed. Our findings might support the CIU autoimmune pathogenetic hypothesis. The clinical remission in the CsA-treated group confirmed the therapeutic effectiveness of this therapy in antihistaminic unresponsive CIU and, at dosage used, side effects were rare, mild and reversible. Thus, CsA might be a good therapeutic alternative in CIU patients unresponsive to conventional treatments. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]