Search

Fluoride is a major oligo element found in nature, at excessive amounts can cause enormous harm in mammalian cells. Fruits peel, considered most often as a waste of juice processing, could play an important role in attenuating metal cytotoxicity. The present study evaluated the effect of pomegranate peel (Punica granatum. L) methanolic extract (PPE) on the Fluoride-induced toxicity and redox status in the protozoa Tetrahymena pyriformis. Polyphenols of peel extract were extracted using methanol and characterized by spectrophotometric methods, total phenolic content (TPC), total flavonoids content (TFC), and in vitro, antioxidant properties were assessed using the Folin-Ciocalteu method and DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP. Pomegranate peel is a rich source of phenolic compounds TP (223.21 ± 15 mg GAE/g dw), TF (52.12 ± 1.36 mg Qu/g dw) and showed high antioxidant properties DPPH (EC50 0.043 ± 0.06 mg/ml), ABTS (EC50 0.06 ± 0.01 mg/ml) and FRAP (1.47 ± 0.01 mg AA equivalents/g dw). Cells were incubated with fluoride alone and in combination with PPE. NaF (0.8 mM) significantly decreased the cell viability, induced oxidative stress by decreasing antioxidants enzyme activities, and increased intracellular fluoride content. Treatment with NaF in combination with PPE decreases CAT, SOD, and GPx activities and alleviates GSH content. These findings suggest that pomegranate peel biomolecules may have a protective effect against fluoride induced-toxicity.

Faba bean (Vicia faba L.) is a grain legume widely cultivated in many countries for food and animal feed. The faba bean stem borer (Lixus algirus L.) (Coleoptera: Curculionidae) is considered one of the major biotic stresses of faba bean in some Mediterranean areas, including Morocco. The use of genetic resistance is the most economical and environmentally friendly control method of insect pests. Therefore, a set of 233 faba bean genotypes from two ICARDA sets (GCP Ref.Set-2015 and AYT-2015) was evaluated for resistance to L. algirus under open field and net cage conditions at Douyet and Marchouch Stations in Morocco. Twelve genotypes (11 from the GCP Ref.Set-2015 and one from AYT-2015) showed a low level of infestation by the stem borer in the field and under cages. The results of free-choice screening showed a significant egg-laying preference of stem borer for the susceptible cultivars Defes and Alfia, compared with the two germplasm accessions IG 11561 and IG 72498. The accession IG 72498 expressed the highest level of antibiosis; with 100% mortality of first or second instars, with no adult exit holes on any of the plants checked. These two accessions are being used in the ICARDA crossing program to develop recombinant inbred lines to study the genetics of resistance to faba bean stem borer. This is the first report of resistance to stem borer in faba bean with antixenotic and antibiotic categories of resistance.

The stem borer weevil

The weevil, Datonychus melanostictus, is one of the most damaging insect pest of mint crop Mentha spicata L. in Morocco. This insect causes significant damage by larval feeding on mint rhizomes. Th...

WOS: 000570975300032 Algae are well-known to be exceptionally rich sources for biologically active metabolites and have recently gained recognition for their therapeutic applications. This study is designed to assess the phenolic composition of five algae and evaluate their antioxidant and protective effects against hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced cytotoxicity in the protozoa Tetrahymena pyriformis. Successive fractionations of five algae using five solvents were performed. Spectrophotometric methods were used to determine the total phenolic and flavonoid contents. The antioxidant capacities of fractions of these five algae were assessed through three in vitro tests (DPPH, ABTS, and FRAP). The active fractions were further evaluated for their ability to attenuate H2O2 induced toxicity in T. pyriformis. Fucus spiralis has rich phenolic contents from chloroform (CHCl3) and ethyl acetate (EtOAc) fractions, averaging 65 +/- 0.90 mu g GAE/mg fraction and 429.81 +/- 9.36 mu g GAE /mg fraction, respectively. This algae also showed significant FRAP (261.53 +/- 5.40 and 117.66 +/- 0.40 mu g /mL), DPPH (IC50: 49.51 +/- 3.29 and 55.48 +/- 0.20 mu g) and ABTS (IC50: 50.73 +/- 2.62 and 219.82 +/- 5.47 mu g /mL) results. The treatment with 300 mu M H2O2-induced oxidative stress as shown by the significant decrease in the cell viability and the number of cells increases in CAT, SOD, GPx activities, and the levels of GSH and MDA. However, the treatment with EtOAc and CHCl3 fractions from F. spiralis appeared to be effective against cytotoxicity and the redox changes induced by H2O2. The results indicate that F. spiralis is a promising source of antioxidant and nutraceutical compounds for pharmaceutical purposes.

This study investigates the insecticidal effect of the essential oil of Mentha pulegium L. on the second and third instar larvae of Helicoverpa armigera (Hubner). Antifeedant, contact toxicity and systemic toxicity of M. pulegium essential oil were evaluated using four concentrations and an untreated control under laboratory conditions. M. pulegium essential oil showed high level of antifeedant activity at 74.15%, and 61.72% when applied on the second instar larva and third instar larvae, respectively. The second instar larva was also more susceptible to systemic toxicity than the third instar larva LC50 1.80% and 3.80% at 24 h, respectively. Contact toxicity induced with LC50 values of 1.31% and 1.085% after 3 and 6 h on the second instar larva, respectively, and with LC50 values of 2.39% and 2.33% after 3 and 6 h on the third instar larva, respectively. This study showed that there is potential for using M. pulegium essential oil to formulate a biopesticide for the control of H. armigera larvae on chickpea.

Chickpea leaf miner (Liriomyza cicerina R.) is one of the main insect pests damaging chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) in the Mediterranean region. This study assessed yield losses caused by the chickpea leaf miner on four improved kabuli varieties using two planting dates, winter and spring, with insecticide treatment at two locations. The grain yield losses caused by this pest were on average 20% for winter planting and 42% for spring planting. In addition, infestation by leaf miner was about 25, 43 and 3% for untreated winter planting, untreated spring planting and treated plots, respectively. The chickpea leaf miner could be effectively managed using several integrated pest management options such as winter planting and use of resistant varieties.

This data documents the reaction of synthetic hexaploid wheat accessions for resistance to Hessian fly

Domain specific modeling (DSM) has become popular in the software development field during these last years. It allows to design an application using a domain specific modeling language (DSML) and to generate an end-solution software product directly from models. However providing a new DSML is a complex and costly job. This can be reduced by the reuse of existing DSMLs to compose new ones trough a metamodel composition approach. This paper provides a composition rules based code generator facility for extending DSMLs. In doing so, it proposes three rules to compose DSMLs by composing there metamodels: reference rule, specialization rule and fusion rule. The results of an exploratory case study on using these rules are depicted. In addition a proof of concept of the code generator facility which generates the necessary infrastructure to quickly build new DSMLs is implemented and applied to the case study. The benefits of our approach are measured relying on three indicators: the reduced development time, the reused software components and the gain on learnability.

Mobile application development is a fastestgrowing domain in the software industry in recent years. The rapid development of hardware and software platforms for smartphones has resulted in a large number of mobile platforms (e.g. Apple iOS, Android OS, Windows phone, and BlackBerry OS). This diversity of platforms constitutes a challenge for application developers, who must write the same application separately for each operating system. MDD (Model Driven Development) approach based on DSL (Domain Specific Language), could provide a possible solution to solve this problem. In this proposal, we present a model-driven development method to develop native mobile applications. This approach proposes a new DSL to define GUI (Graphical User Interface) independently of the target mobile platforms and allows developers to automatically generate native code to these several platforms. Currently, our method has been implemented to support Android OS. The usefulness of the proposed approach is demonstrated through a concrete case study.

Various insect pests attack wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) that can cause significant grain yield losses to the crop. Farmers usually depend on pesticides, however, smallholder farmers often have limited and ill-timed access to control methods, including insecticides. Host plant resistance is an alternative to protect grain yield and reduce costs to farmers. Three of the most serious pests of wheat are Diuraphis noxia (Kurdjumov), Mayetiola destructor (Say), and Cephus pygmeaus L. These pests occur in most of the wheat growing areas. However, they are of high importance in North Africa and West Asia. The aim of this study was to evaluate a set of wheat—alien translocations for resistance against D. noxia, M. destructor and C. pygmeaus. Genotypes of this germplasm set have already been reported to carry resistance against certain wheat aphid species. Genotypes 1RSam.1AL and MA1S.1RLe(1B), displayed high levels of resistance against D. noxia and C. pygmeaus, respectively. While three genotypes showed resistance reaction against M. destructor: 1Re(1D), 7A.7S-L5, and 7A.7S-Gb5. Except for the resistant genotype to C. pygmeaus, the other four genotypes were previously reported to carry resistance against Sitobion avenae Fabricius, Rhopalosiphum padi L. and Schizaphis graminum (Rondani). These five wheat—alien translocations are currently being used in the bread-wheat breeding programs at CIMMYT and ICARDA to transfer the multiple pest resistance in elite germplasm.

Durum wheat (Triticum durum Desf.) is a major crop of North Africa. Here, its production is affected by Hessian fly (Mayetiola destructor, HF) epidemics. Genetic resistance against this pest exist, but its molecular basis remains unclear. Here, a panel of 159 modern durum lines were exposed to the Moroccan HF biotype. Association mapping studies revealed three major loci conferring resistance. QH.icd-2A was identified at LOD of 24.1 on the telomeric end of 2AL, and it is believed to represent a novel locus derived from T. dicoccum. QH.icd-5B was identified on 5BS at LOD of 9.5, and it appears as overlapping with H31. QHara.icd-6B was identified at LOD of 54.5. This locus confers resistance to five Moroccan released cultivars, including ‘Faraj’. A mapping population (MP) was obtained by crossing ‘Faraj’ and a HF-susceptible cultivar ‘Gidara2’. Challenging this MP with the Moroccan and Great Plains HF biotypes revealed 1:1 segregation ratio fitting of a single gene. Quantitative trait locus (QTL) analysis confirmed a single locus at LOD of 35 and 25 for the two biotypes, respectively, corresponding to QHara.icd-6B. This locus spans a 7.7 cM interval, and it is derived via introgression from a resistant T. araraticum. One KASP marker (BS00072387) was validated for use in breeding on a separate set of elite lines, to show r2 of 0.65 and accuracy of 0.98. Finally, field testing across sites did not identify any yield drag for QHara.icd-6B. The work presented here provides ideal tools to incorporate HF-resistant loci in durum cultivars via marker-assisted breeding.

Part 6: Industrial Control Systems Security; International audience; This chapter describes the formal modeling and machine-checking of a bump-in-the-wire device that secures field device communications in industrial control networks. Field devices serve as the connection points between computer-based control systems and the physical processes being controlled. Industrial control network traffic is routinely checked for transmission errors, but limited mechanisms are available for combating attacks that exploit industrial control protocols to target critical infrastructure assets.This chapter focuses on a bump-in-the-wire solution that can be retrofitted on field devices to provide security functionality. The TLA+ formal specification language in combination with the isolation guarantees provided by the seL4 microkernel are used to demonstrate that the bump-in-the-wire solution provides important security and liveness properties. The resulting machine-checked system correctly applies hash-based message authentication to verify the authenticity of incoming messages while being resistant to attacks.