Identification of genome regions controlling cotyledon, pod wall/seed coat and pod wall resistance to pea weevil through QTL mapping.

Pea weevil, Bruchus pisorum, is one of the limiting factors for field pea (Pisum sativum) cultivation in the world with pesticide application the only available method for its control. Resistance to pea weevil has been found in an accession of Pisum fulvum but transfer of this resistance to cultivated pea (P. sativum) is limited due to a lack of easy-to-use techniques for screening interspecific breeding populations. To address this problem, an interspecific population was created from a cross between cultivated field pea and P. fulvum (resistance source). Quantitative trait locus (QTL) mapping was performed to discover the regions associated with resistance to cotyledon, pod wall/seed coat and pod wall resistance. Three major QTLs, located on linkage groups LG2, LG4 and LG5 were found for cotyledon resistance explaining approximately 80 % of the phenotypic variation. Two major QTLs were found for pod wall/seed coat resistance on LG2 and LG5 explaining approximately 70 % of the phenotypic variation. Co-linearity of QTLs for cotyledon and pod wall/seed coat resistance suggested that the mechanism of resistance for these two traits might act through the same pathways. Only one QTL was found for pod wall resistance on LG7 explaining approximately 9 % of the phenotypic variation. This is the first report on the development of QTL markers to probe Pisum germplasm for pea weevil resistance genes. These flanking markers will be useful in accelerating the process of screening when breeding for pea weevil resistance.

Cirugía láser transoral para neoplasias laríngeas / Transoral laser surgery for laryngeal neoplasms

La cirugía con láser ha sido indicada para tratar todo tipo de lesiones benignas y malignas en otorrinolaringología y en cirugía de cabeza y cuello. Los cirujanos han aprendido las aplicaciones más importantes en este campo, y entre ellas aún persiste el tratamiento de las lesiones malignas de la hipofaringe, y especialmente de la laringe. En este artículo se describen detalladamente los tipos de láser, además de las indicaciones para llevar a cabo cirugía de laringe con láser. Se explican los diferentes pasos que se deben seguir, las medidas de seguridad y el tipo de lesiones que son susceptibles de ser resecadas…

Laser surgery has been indicated to treat all sorts of benign and malignant tumors in Otolaryngology. When performing head and neck surgery, surgeons have learned its true and most important applications in this field; among them remains the treatment of malignant lesions of the hypo pharynx and especially the larynx. In this article a description of the present types of laser energy, as well as the indications as to when to perform surgery in patients with larynx cancer is detailed. The different steps involved when a laser is used in the operating room, the safety measures, which lesions can be resected, etc., are described…

The significance of cutaneous spider naevi in children.

BACKGROUND: Cutaneous spider naevi are commonly considered to be a clinical sign of chronic liver disease. Little is known about their occurrence in children. AIM: To evaluate the occurrence of spider naevi in children with and without liver disease. METHODS: The presence of spider naevi was investigated in 460 children, 34 of whom had chronic liver disease. RESULTS: Of children without liver involvement, 38% had at least one spider naevus. The prevalence of spider naevi increased with age. Of control patients aged 5 to 15 years, 2.5% had more than five spiders present. Although eight of 10 children with cirrhosis had at least one spider naevus, only four of 34 children with chronic liver disease had five or more spiders present. Most spiders were on the hands and very few were >5 mm in size. CONCLUSIONS: Children with liver disease rarely have large numbers of spider naevi. Although the finding of five or more spider naevi is more common in liver disease, many normal children also have one or more of these lesions.

Training and manpower issues for specialist registrars in paediatrics. How are we doing and where are we going?

All Irish paediatric higher specialist trainees' opinions about the paediatric higher specialist training (HST) scheme and related manpower issues were surveyed. Information was obtained on 1) trainees' level of satisfaction with HST, 2) their ultimate career ambitions including location of final posts, 3) attitudes to both flexible training and consultancies and 4) demographics to assess the significance of gender variations. Fifty-two eligible trainees were identified using the Royal College of Physicians of Ireland database. The survey was administered as an anonymous postal survey. The response rate was 88%. Results indicated a high level of satisfaction with HST (78%) overall although problems were noted with the half-day release programme as only 63% were facilitated. Only 30% wish to practice as subspecialists, 76% of trainees wish to work in an urban hospital and 43.5% desire a flexible consultancy suggesting an incompatibility of trainees' desires with current Irish medical manpower policy. To address these difficulties we suggest establishing more rigorous audit of training posts to ensure deficiencies are corrected and the establishment of flexible training to address gender imbalance and to promote the concept of consultant job sharing.

Hashimoto's thyroiditis--a rare but treatable cause of encephalopathy in children.

Hashimoto's encephalopathy is a very rare complication of Hashimoto's thyroiditis. It is a progressive or relapsing encephalopathy associated with elevation of thyroid specific autoantibodies. Patients usually present when euthyroid and this diagnosis should be considered in any unexplained encephalopathy or progressive cognitive decline in the euthyroid patient.

Plant-insect coevolution and inhibition of acetylcholinesterase.

The theory of plant-insect coevolution provides for diffuse coevolution and the expectation that plants evolve broad-spectrum chemical defenses with which some insects coevolve by detoxifying and using the compounds as host-location cues. Specific biochemical modes of action have been assigned to relatively few such defense chemicals and one major class, the terpenoids, is investigated here. Six terpenoids inhibited the enzyme acetylcholinesterase (derived from electric eel) and elicited the appropriate in vivo effects of insect paralysis and mortality. The diterpene gossypol was a reversible uncompetitive inhibitor. Five monoterpenes, representing a range of functional groups, were reversible competitive inhibitors apparently occupying at least the hydrophobic site of the enzyme's active center. Such data suggest the involvement of acetylcholinesterase in the coevolved insect response to terpenoids.

Genetic control of acid phosphate isozymes in Arabidopsis thaliana (L.) heynh.

Starch gel electrophoresis in a discontinuous buffer system has enabled us to study two acid phosphatase systems (AcPh-1 and AcPh-2) in Arabidopsis thaliana. The AcPh-2 bands are much more prominent than those belonging to AcPh-1. Among the 17 geographic races, one variant for AcPh-2 was detected. A study of F1 hybrids and F2 segregating progenies showed that AcPh-2 variants are controlled by two codominant alleles (AcPh-2N and AcPh-2F) at one locus. The heterozygotes are characterized by an intermediated hybrid band in addition to the two parental ones, thus showing that these proteins are at least dimeric structures.