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Biological control of plant diseases using soil amendments such as animal manure and composted materials can minimize organic waste and has been proposed as an effective strategy in crop protection. In this study, 35 organic amendments (OAs) and 16 compost mixtures were evaluated against Verticillium dahliae by assessing both the antagonistic effect on the mycelial growth of two representative isolates of V. dahliae and the effect on the reduction of microsclerotia viability of the pathogen in naturally infested soil. Eleven OAs and five compost mixtures showed a consistent inhibition effect in in vitro sensitivity tests, with solid olive‐oil waste compost one of the most effective. Therefore, a bioassay with olive plants was conducted to evaluate the suppressive effect against V. dahliae of these selected OAs and compost mixtures. Significant reduction in the severity of the symptoms of V. dahliae indicates the potential use of grape marc compost (100% disease severity reduction) and solid olive‐oil waste, combined with other OAs. Microorganism mixtures and dairy waste OAs had a potential suppressive effect when they were combined with compost, showing a 73% and 63% disease severity reduction, respectively. A mixture of agro‐industrial waste with other biological control agents is a promising strategy against verticillium wilt of olive. To the authors' knowledge, this is the first report on the effectiveness of compost extracts (compost teas) on the inhibition of natural microsclerotia of V. dahliae, and also on verticillium wilt suppression in olive with solid olive‐oil waste. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This work describes the granulometry of industrial cork residue (bark of Quercus suber L.) and its possible alteration during composting to eliminate the high content of phytotoxic substances. Because of the differences in density of the different-sized cork particles, expression of the granulometric distribution in relation to volume reflected the size distribution more accurately than its expression in relation to weight. As a consequence, predictions of the physical and hydrological behavior of the substrate, deduced from its granulometry, were more accurate when this was calculated in relation to volume. Objective parameters used for textural comparison, such as the geometric mean (d[subg]) and standard deviation of particle size (σ[subg]), which were previously used in soils, were tested. These permit the estimation of small differences in the particle size of different lots or the granulometric alteration occurring during composting. With the same purpose, a new diagram of textures for the classification of granular substrates was also studied. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Static hydrological properties [aeration capacity, easily available water, reserve water, water release curves: θ[subv](Ψ[subm]), and specific humidity curves] and dynamic hydrological properties (saturated and unsaturated hydraulic conductivity) of substrates based on industrial cork residue (the bark of Quercus suber L.) and cork compost were studied. Samples of similar granulometry have been used to establish the effect of cork composting on the aforementioned physical properties. Different models were tested to describe the mechanism of water release from these materials. Van Genuchten's model (Van Genuchten, 1978) was the best fit and produced specific humidity curves that revealed slight differences in the ratio of water capacity function. When cork residues were composted for 7 months, important changes occurred in hydrological properties of the material as it became more wettable. Water retention significantly increased from 45 % to 54 %, at a potential of 5 kPa, although this did not necessarily result in increased water available to plants. A study of the unsaturated hydraulic conductivity (K[subunsat]) of these materials revealed a significant decrease in the K[subunsat] water potential at 0-5 kPa, which corresponds to the range in which the irrigation with these substrates was usually carried out. The long composting process resulted in increased K[subunsat] between 4 and 5 times that of uncomposted material, which would improve the water supply to the plant. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Phlebitis is one of the most frequent complications in peripheral venous catheters. The aim was to compare the frequency of phlebitis before and after the implementation of the Flebitis Zero project, in order to ascertain its effectiveness and what factors were associated with this complication., Methods: Randomized pre-post intervention (Flebitis Zero project) study performed in the Hospital Universitario de Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) between 2015 and 2019. The intervention consisted of training of professionals along with the implementation of measures in order to lower the incidence of complications associated with the peripheral venous catheters. The control group (CG) was selected prior the intervention and the Intervention Group (IG) in the subsequent five years., Results: The study included 656 patients, 96 (14.6%) in the CG and 569 in the IG. Lower frequency of complications (49.0 vs 37.1%; p<0.001), especially accidental PVC exit (18.8 vs 8.1%), and of phlebitis (13.5 vs 11.8%). The intervention and the use of fully reinforced dressings were associated to happening of phlebitis. The implantation of the Flebitis Zero project prevented the occurrence of phlebitis (OR = 0.78; IC95%: 0.42-0.86; p = 0.042)., Conclusion: The implementation of the measures used in the Phlebitis Zero project was associated with a significant reduction of the complications linked to the use of the peripheral venous catheters; the frequency of phlebitis dropped, although nowhere near the recommended level.

Background & Aims: The alteration of normal biological rhythms, also known as chronodisruption, may be associated with obesity development. For instance, those subject with preference for vespertinity seem to be prone to develop obesity. However, the current hypocaloric dietary treatment of obesity does not take into account these aspects. Therefore, the objective of this trial was to evaluate whether a diet adjusted to patient's chronotype is more effective that the current dietary recommendations., Methods: 209 subjects take part on a 3 month randomized, double-blind trial. 104 subjects followed a typical hypocaloric dietary treatment and the other 105 subjects undergone a diet with a daily caloric distribution adjusted to their chronotype. There were no sex or age differences between groups., Results: Baseline characteristics were similar in both groups. Dropout rate was also similar in both interventions (p = 0.683). Although both groups improved their anthropometrical parameters, the chronotype-adjusted diet group achieved a statistically significant greater reduction in percentage of total body weight loss (%TWL), BMI and waist circumference than the control group (p < 0.010 in all contrasts). The effect on clinical parameters was less pronounced., Conclusions: This randomized trial has demonstrated for the first time that in overweight/obese subjects, a chronotype-adjusted diet is more effective than the traditional hypocaloric dietary treatment, at least regarding the anthropometrical parameters. Further research will confirm if this intervention is also more effective in the long term., Trial Registration: NCT-ID: #NCT03755674, (available at: http://www.clinicaltrials.gov)., (Copyright © 2019 Elsevier Ltd and European Society for Clinical Nutrition and Metabolism. All rights reserved.)

Destruxin A is among the major secondary metabolites produced by the entomopathogenic ascomycete Metarhizium sp., and the lack of studies concerning production of destruxin A by the fungus is most likely the biggest obstacle for the registration of new fungal strains. Although several studies focus on the production of destruxin A in culture media, few studies examine destruxin A in vivo during host infection. In the current work, Galleria mellonella was used as an insect model to develop for the first time in vivo real-time PCR- and HPLC-MS-based quantification of fungal growth and metabolite production, respectively, during infection by two strains of M. brunneum. Total mortality of sixth instar G. mellonella larvae that were immersed in a suspension of 1.0×10 8 conidiamL -1 of M. brunneum EAMa 01/58-Su or BIPESCO5 strains reached 85.5% and 78.8%, respectively, and the percentage of cadavers with fungal outgrowth was low at 12.2% and 4.4%, respectively. The average survival time of treated larvae was 5.5days for both fungal strains. Using EAMa 01/58-Su and BIPESCO5 specific primer set, real-time PCR showed that the patterns of fungal growth were different for the two strains, whereas no significant differences were detected in the number of fungal sequence copies recovered from the infected larvae. EAMa 01/58-Su and BIPESCO5 strains secreted destruxin A from days 2 to 6 and from days 2 to 5 post treatment, respectively. For EAMa 01/58-Su and BIPESCO5, the maximum titer of destruxin A in the host was on day 4 at 0.369 and 0.06µg/larva, respectively, and throughout the pathogenic process, the total production was 0.6 and 0.09µg/larva, respectively. These results demonstrated that the strains pose a low hazard, if any, to humans and the environment. The methods used in this study to quantify fungal growth and metabolite production provided valuable data to better understand the role of destruxin A during the growth of M. brunneum in the host larvae and to monitor the fate of destruxin A in food chains., (Copyright © 2017 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.)

Background: Information is scarce regarding the impact of treatment on Health-Related Quality of Life (HRQL) of patients with Head and Neck (H&N) cancers. We assessed the effect of treatment on HRQL and its association with prognosis in H&N cancer., Patients and Methods: Patients with H&N cancer in whom HRQL was assessed before and after treatment. The European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer (EORTC) QLQ-C30 and QLQ-H&N35 instruments were used. Association of changes in patients' HRQL after treatment with Loco-Regional Recurrence (LRR) and Overall Survival (OS) was investigated., Results: One hundred sixty patients were included; scales of the baseline assessment of HRQL were moderately associated with LRR and OS, but the impact of treatment on most HRQL scales was strongly associated with OS. By multivariate analysis, baseline assessment of Global Health, Physical, HN Teeth, HN Dry mouth, and HN Cough scales, and impact of treatment on the Physical and Pain scales comprised independent variables associated with LRR. Male gender, positive lymph nodes, baseline assessment of Role, HN Pain, HN Cough, and impact of treatment on Emotion, Pain, Financial, HN Swallowing, HN Social contact, and the interaction of HN Pain-change in Pain scales were associated with OS. Both multivariate models were adjusted by the neoplasm's site of origin., Conclusion: Aside from well-known clinical-pathologic prognostic factors in H&N cancers, HRQL assessment, both prior to and after treatment, provides significant prognostic information and should be measured. Design of therapeutic clinical trials in patients with H&N cancers should consider these novel prognostic factors., (Copyright © 2016 Elsevier Ltd, BASO ~ the Association for Cancer Surgery, and the European Society of Surgical Oncology. All rights reserved.)

Aims: To identify potential biological control agents against Verticillium wilt in olive through a mass screening approach., Method and Results: A total of 47 strains and nine mixtures of micro-organisms were evaluated against Verticillium dahliae in a three stage screening: (i) in vitro, by the effect on the mycelial growth and spore germination of the pathogen; (ii) in natural infested soil, by the effect on the reduction of microsclerotia of the pathogen; (iii) in planta, by the effect on the infection of olive plants under controlled conditions. Various fungal and bacterial strains and mixtures inhibited the pathogen and showed consistent biocontrol activity against Verticillium wilt of olive., Conclusion: The screening has resulted in promising fungi and bacteria strains with antagonistic activity against Verticillium, such as two non-pathogenic Fusarium oxysporum, one Phoma sp., one Pseudomonas fluorescens and two mixtures of micro-organisms that may possess multiple modes of action., Significance and Impact of the Study: This study provides a practical basis for the potential use of selected strains as biocontrol agents for the protection of olive plants against V. dahliae infection. In addition, our study presented an effective method to evaluate antagonistic micro-organisms of V. dahliae in olive., (© 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Aims: The optimization of a simple protocol for the mass production of viable microsclerotia (MS) of Verticillium spp., even for recalcitrant isolates, to the inoculation of olive cuttings., Method and Results: Four Verticillium spp. isolates were characterized by growth rate and morphology. Then, the production ability and the viability of MS over time were assessed in seven solid culture media and five aqueous media. The best culture medium, according to the quantity and the quality (size) of the MS produced, was the alkaline-modified sodium polipectate (AMSP) aqueous medium. The MS viability was higher in peat moss substrates. Finally, the MS obtained in this work were infective causing 100% incidence of Verticillium wilt (VW) disease in inoculated olive plants., Conclusion: This study demonstrates that the modified sodium polipectate medium amended with 0·1% agar is the most suitable for the production of MS of Verticillium dahliae isolates that have lost the ability to produce MS in standard culture media., Significance and Impact of the Study: Mass production of MS for artificial infestation of soil is critical to the study of epidemiological and control aspects of the VW. To overcome the failure in the production of MS in recalcitrant isolates, a culture media was optimized and a successful plant inoculation experiment was carried out with artificial MS., (© 2016 The Society for Applied Microbiology.)

Urticaria multiforme is a cutaneous disorder that affects infants and small children. It is characterized by large, annular urticarial plaques with a violaceous center and is frequently accompanied by fever. Urticaria multiforme follows a benign, self-limiting course, but the striking appearance of the lesions can cause alarm and considerable anxiety among parents. We present 5 cases of urticaria multiforme seen in our hospital over a period of 18 months. All the cases were preceded by an infection of the upper airways or otitis, and they were all empirically with amoxicillin. It is important to be familiar with this condition to reassure parents and avoid unnecessary hospital admissions and tests., (Copyright © 2014 Elsevier España, S.L.U. y AEDV. All rights reserved.)

Case Report: A healthy 57-year-old woman presented with decreased vision in her right eye. Dilated fundus examination revealed central retinal vein occlusion (CRVO). The laboratory test results for hypercoagulability state showed an abnormal protein S. A few months later she developed an ovarian malignancy., Discussion: This case illustrates an association between CRVO and ovarian tumour. Coagulation disorders in cancer may be a mechanism for CRVO., (Copyright © 2011 Sociedad Española de Oftalmología. Published by Elsevier Espana. All rights reserved.)

The importance of estimating spatially variable aquifer parameters such as transmissivity is widely recognized for studies in resource evaluation and contaminant transport. A useful approach for mapping such parameters is inverse modeling of data from series of pumping tests, that is, via hydraulic tomography. This inversion of field hydraulic tomographic data requires development of numerical forward models that can accurately represent test conditions while maintaining computational efficiency. One issue this presents is specification of boundary and initial conditions, whose location, type, and value may be poorly constrained. To circumvent this issue when modeling unconfined steady-state pumping tests, we present a strategy that analyzes field data using a potential difference method and that uses dipole pumping tests as the aquifer stimulation. By using our potential difference approach, which is similar to modeling drawdown in confined settings, we remove the need for specifying poorly known boundary condition values and natural source/sink terms within the problem domain. Dipole pumping tests are complementary to this strategy in that they can be more realistically modeled than single-well tests due to their conservative nature, quick achievement of steady state, and the insensitivity of near-field response to far-field boundary conditions. After developing the mathematical theory, our approach is first validated through a synthetic example. We then apply our method to the inversion of data from a field campaign at the Boise Hydrogeophysical Research Site. Results from inversion of nine pumping tests show expected geologic features, and uncertainty bounds indicate that hydraulic conductivity is well constrained within the central site area.

Background: Nasopharyngeal angiofibroma (NA) is a vascular tumor of the nasopharynx of young males which presents rarely. Our aim was to analyse outcome and prognostic factors of a case series of NA., Materials and Methods: We conducted a retrospective study of patients with diagnosis of NA treated at a single institution from 1981 to 2003. We evaluated clinical, radiological and therapeutic data for recurrence- and disease-free survival-associated prognostic factors. Bi- and multivariate analyses were performed., Results: Fifty-four males with NA constitute our study group. Age varied from 12 to 35 years (mean, 18.5 years; standard deviation [SD], 4.9). There were 18 recurrences; localization in nasopharynx, nasal fossae or maxillary antrum was not associated with recurrences. Invasion to pterygomaxillary fossae, to infratemporal fossae or to skull base and/or intracranial extension were associated with recurrences in two of 14, in five of 12, and in 11 of 18 cases, respectively. Tumors < or >or=6 cm were associated with zero and with 18 recurrences, respectively (p<0.01). Multivariate analyses conferred statistical significance (p<0.01) to a model including patterns of extension, tumor size in pterygomaxillary or anterior infratemporal fossa invasion, and surgical margins., Conclusion: Recurrence factors for NA are defined and consequently treatment design is suggested. Endoscopic approaches could be considered in patients with minor lateral extensions, while wide surgical approaches are indicated in invasive cases. Radiotherapy could be applied alone or combined with surgery for extensive intracranial involvement.

Aims: The aim of the present study is to define prognostic factors, particularly the impact of treatment on paranasal sinus and nasal cavity malignancies., Material and Methods: Retrospective study of patients with maxillary antrum and nasal fossae malignancies. A maxillectomy classification as performed to treat malignancies in our institution is described. Multivariate analysis of prognostic factors was done using the Cox's model., Results: One hundred and nine patients were evaluated. Squamous cell carcinoma was found in 62 cases and in 95 patients the epicentre of the tumour was located in the maxillary antrum. Ten patients were treated with surgery only, 39 patients with surgery and adjuvant radiation therapy, 37 cases received only radiotherapy, and 18 received radiotherapy followed by surgery; in five cases a combination of chemo-radiotherapy was used. Multivariate analysis identified T classification, orbit invasion, N classification, site of origin of tumour in nasal fossae, and no surgical resection as independent prognostic factors (p=0.0001)., Conclusion: T4 tumours with orbit invasion present bad prognosis as compared to other T4 tumours. Surgical resection should be included in the treatment strategy. Because of the high frequency of lymph-node metastasis, neck treatment should be considered in T4 tumours.

We studied the effect of an avocado oil-rich diet on (1) the blood pressure response to angiotensin II (AngII) and (2) the fatty acid composition of cardiac and renal membranes on male Wistar rats. The avocado oil-rich diet induced a slightly higher AngII-induced blood pressure response in the rats as compared to the control rats. In cardiac microsomes, avocado oil induced an increase in oleic acid content (13.18+/-0.33% versus 15.46+/-0.59%), while in renal microsomes, the oil decreased alpha-linolenic acid content (0.34+/-0.02% versus 0.16+/-0.12%), but increased the arachidonic acid proportion (24.02+/-0.54% versus 26.25+/-0.54%), compared to control. In conclusion, avocado oil-rich diet modifies the fatty acid content in cardiac and renal membranes in a tissue-specific manner. The rise in renal arachidonic acid suggests that diet content can be a key factor in vascular responses.