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Powdery mildew disease caused by Leveillula taurica induces significant losses in yield and quality of pepper. Therefore, this study is an attempt to evaluate some non-traditional methods (culture filtrate of Bacillus subtilis, fulvic acid, Artemisia cina and clove oil extracts as well as nanosilica) against powdery mildew of pepper under greenhouse conditions during 2010 and 2011 seasons. Carbendazim was used as recommended compound against powdery mildew fungus. All treatments were applied four times with 7 days intervals compared to control in each season. Results showed that all the treatments were effective against powdery mildew fungus of pepper compared to control. Fulvic acid was the most effective treatment against the disease, followed by filtrate of B. subtilis and then clove oil treatments, while A. cina extract, carbendazim and nanosilica were the lowest effective ones in both seasons. The results suggest the possible use of such natural products and nanosilica as effective and safe alternative control methods for powdery mildew of pepper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: This study investigated allergic fungal rhinosinusitis cases, and aimed to compare the detection of fungi in sinus aspirate by culture and by polymerase chain reaction assay, and to relate the presence of fungi in the nasal sinuses to the type of fungal allergen causing disease. Methods: Sixty-eight cases of allergic fungal rhinosinusitis underwent fungal culture and polymerase chain reaction assay for universal fungal, aspergillus and bipolaris DNA. Aspergillus-specific immunoglobulin E levels were measured in sinus aspirate, and total serum immunoglobulin E levels were calculated. A control group of 10 cases was included in the study. Results: Of the 68 allergic fungal rhinosinusitis cases, only 42 (61.7 per cent) had positive fungal cultures; of the 10 controls, only three (30 per cent) had positive cultures. Species from the dematiaceous family were most commonly grown, being isolated in 30 cases (71.4 per cent). Bipolaris was the most commonly isolated species (18 cases) followed by curvularia (11 cases) and alternaria (one case). Polymerase chain reaction assay detected fungal DNA in all the allergic fungal rhinosinusitis cases and also in four controls (40 per cent). Ten patients (of 68; 14.7 per cent) were positive for Aspergillus fumigatus specific immunoglobulin E. The mean concentration of this immunoglobulin was 11.32 ± 4.12 IU/ml in patients and 0 IU/ml in controls, a statistically significant difference. Conclusion: Detection of fungal DNA in nasal aspirate by polymerase chain reaction was superior to fungal cultures as a method of detecting fungal growth. In allergic fungal rhinosinusitis, fungal growth is not always accompanied by an allergic reaction. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

A simple and economic experimental sorptive -flotation procedure is presented for the removal of copper(II) species from aqueous solutions. It is based on using powdered marble wastes (PMW), which are widespread and inexpensive and may represent an environmental problem, as the effective inorganic sorbent and oleic (HOL) as the surfactant. The main parameters (i.e.initial solution pH, sorbent, surfactant and copper concentrations, stirring times, ionic strength, temperature and the presence of foreign ions) influencing the flotation of PMW and/or Cu(II) were examined. Nearly, 100 % of PMW and Cu(II) were removed from aqueous solutions at pH7 after stirring for 10 min and at room temperature, (~25°C). The procedure was successfully applied to recover Cu(II) spiked to some natural water samples. A mechanism for sorption and flotation is suggested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper deals with the status of the new hybrid desalination methods which need more research like thermal vapor compression and direct contact membrane distillation system. The objective of this research is to theoretically investigate the characteristics of a hybrid desalination system composed of a thermal vapor compression (TVC) and direct contact membrane distillation (DCMD) systems using parabolic trough concentrator as a heat source. The proposed hybrid system aims to recover the heat of the rejected brine from thermal vapor compression system in order to obtain the highest fresh water productivity and thermal efficiency and lowest cost of fresh water product from the system. The theoretical simulation of all the systems were developed and solved by Engineering equation solver (EES).After the validation of all the models, the design of thermal vapor compression and direct contact membrane distillation were selected. It was concluded that the best operating conditions to run the system is at motive steam pressure of 3000 kPa and boiling temperature of 70 ℃. The dynamic behavior of the hybrid system was conducted at the selected operating conditions at different seasons of the year in order to examine the performance of the system through the year. Finally, economic study was developed for the proposed dynamic hybrid desalination system. The results showed that both of the performance ratio and water productivity enhanced by 7.3 % by adding the DCMD as a secondary desalination unit. In addition, the dynamic hybrid system efficiency reached to 75%. Also, the cost of the fresh water product by dynamic hybrid desalination system was 0.0176 $/ L.

Powdery mildew, Oidiopsis taurica (Leveillula taurica) and early blight, Alternaria solani induce significant losses in yield and quality of tomato fruits. Therefore, this study was an attempt to evaluate some of non-traditional methods (culture filtrate of Bacillus subtilis, Artemisia cina and clove oil extracts as well as nanosilica) against powdery mildew and early blight of tomato under greenhouse conditions for two growing seasons; 2010 and 2011. Penconazole and Equation® Pro (cymoxanil + famoxadone) were used as a recommended compound against powdery mildew and early blight diseases, respectively. All treatments were applied four times with 7 days intervals relative to control in each season. Obtained results showed that all tested treatments were effective against the powdery mildew and the early blight diseases relative to control. Penconazole, B. subtilis filtrate and clove oil were the most effective treatments, followed by A. cina extract while nanosilica was the lowest effective one against powdery mildew in both seasons. B. subtilis filtrate and Equation-pro were the most effective against early blight, followed by clove oil, A. cina extracts and nanosilica treatments in both seasons. The results suggest possible use of natural products and nanosilica as effective and safe alternative control methods for powdery mildew and early blight diseases in tomato under greenhouse conditions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Wheat leaf rust caused by Puccinia triticina has been reported to be a serious disease in wheat growing areas in the world and in Egypt as well. There are two drowbacks of chemical control of the disease, one of which is enviromental polluation and the other is the cost. Therefore, ten non-traditional treatments were evaluated herein to stimulate and induce resistance against P. triticina with different applications and treatments. The results showed that the best applied treatment was spray before and after inocultion by 24 hrs, in which incubation, latent periods, infection types, number of pustules/cm2, pustule length, pustule width and total chlorophyll, followed by the treatment of spray befor inocultion by 24 hrs and treatment of seed treatment and spray before inocultion by 24 hrs. On the other hand, seed treatment was the lowest one. The best treatments were sumi-8, Art. 1% + 50 % sumi-8, Art. 2% + Zn and Art. 2% + Mn. Interstingly that the selected treatments showed significant reduction of electrolyte leakage (EL)%, increased activity of catalase (CAT) enzyme and decreased thereby the activities of peroxidase (POX) and polyphenoloxidase (PPO) compared to control tratement. Accordingly, this study suggests possible use of these effective treatments for controlling wheat leaf rust, especially treatments combined with Artemisia cina extract. Further studies are needed to evaluate the side effects of the used natural products to reflect their safety. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]