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Background and Aims: Previous research has investigated widely the effects of irrigation application in red winegrape cultivars; however, white grape cultivars have been the subject of a lesser number of field trials. An experiment was undertaken for three seasons in a drip-irrigated, cv. Muscat of Alexandria/161-49C vineyard to define the most sustainable irrigation strategy for white winegrapes in eastern Spain. Methods and Results: The treatments were as follows: (I) Control, irrigated at 100% of estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc) for the entire season; (II) sustained deficit irrigation (SDI), irrigated at 50% of Control; (III) early deficit (ED), where pre-veraison irrigation was withheld, followed by 100% ETc; and (IV) late deficit (LD), irrigated as for the Control until veraison and thereafter at 25% ETc until harvest. Yield in ED and LD was reduced 25 and 15%, respectively, compared with that of Control. Yield under SDI did not differ significantly from that of the Control and was similar to that of the ED and LD treatments. All the deficit irrigation treatments had some carry-over effects because of a significant decrease in shoot fruitfulness and in bunch mass due to smaller berries. The ED treatment, however, led to a greater reduction in berry growth compared with that of LD. Full irrigation increased pruning mass and leaf area mainly due to larger secondary shoots, and besides delayed grape ripening. Conclusions: The SDI treatment resulted in the greatest water use efficiency, ensuring the high yield potential of the cultivar, providing that a threshold value of water stress integral of 35MPa day during the periods from anthesis to veraison and from veraison to harvest was not surpassed. In addition, it favoured an improved grape composition, particularly in terms of grape sugar accumulation. Significance of the Study: Sustained deficit irrigation at 50% of ETc should be applied where water is scarce or expensive, paying attention to possible carry-over effects if water withholding has to be continued for more than three seasons.

•We estimated the risk of major hemorrhage in non-valvular atrial fibrillation patients treated with oral anticoagulants and simultaneously exposed to potentially interacting drugs which may enhance this bleeding risk.•Both pharmacodynamic and pharmacokinetic interactions resulted in higher bleeding risk for vitamin K antagonists and for direct oral anticoagulants.•Our study underscores the potential impact of drug-drug interactions on cerebral and gastrointestinal bleeding risk in anticoagulated patients.•Proactive strategies, such as risk stratification or proton-pump inhibitors use, may improve patient safety by means of optimizing oral anticoagulants therapy. Interactions with anticoagulants causing an increase in their effect may potentially enhance the bleeding risk. We aimed to analyze the risk of major hemorrhage in anticoagulated patients simultaneously exposed to potentially interacting drugs which may enhance the bleeding risk. Case-control study nested in a cohort of anticoagulated patients in 2011–2020. Cases were all people hospitalized for a major hemorrhage (cerebral or gastrointestinal), matched to individuals without bleeding. The index date was the day of hospital admission for cases and the same date for the matched controls. Data sources: SIDIAP database, containing information from primary health care electronic records, and the database of diagnoses at hospital discharge in Catalonia, Spain. We analyzed exposure to interacting drugs during 3 months prior to the index date. The association between hemorrhage and exposure to interacting drugs was calculated through multivariate logistic regression models. We included 2,811 cases (77.9% cerebral and 22.1% gastrointestinal hemorrhages), matched to 28,054 controls. We found association between hemorrhage in patients receiving vitamin K antagonists (OR 1.30, 95% CI 1.16–1.47). All types of interactions resulted in higher bleeding risk for all anticoagulants. Proton pump inhibitors were found protective for gastrointestinal (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.46–0.65) but not for cerebral bleeding (OR 1.18, 95% CI 1.08-1.30). We estimated the risk of major hemorrhage in anticoagulated patients simultaneously exposed to potentially interacting drugs which may enhance bleeding risk. Our study underscores the potential impact of interactions on cerebral and gastrointestinal bleeding risk in anticoagulated patients.

If Dark Matter is made of Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) with masses below ∼ 20 GeV, the corresponding nuclear recoils in mainstream WIMP experiments are of energies too close, or below, the experimental threshold. Gas Time Projection Chambers (TPCs) can be operated with a variety of target elements, offer good tracking capabilities and, on account of the amplification in gas, very low thresholds are achievable. Recent advances in electronics and in novel radiopure TPC readouts, especially micro-mesh gas structure (Micromegas), are improving the scalability and low-background prospects of gaseous TPCs. Here we present TREX-DM, a prototype to test the concept of a Micromegas-based TPC to search for low-mass WIMPs. The detector is designed to host an active mass of ∼ 0.300  kg of Ar at 10 bar, or alternatively ∼ 0.160 kg of Ne at 10 bar, with an energy threshold below 0.4 keVee, and is fully built with radiopure materials. We will describe the detector in detail, the results from the commissioning phase on surface, as well as a preliminary background model. The anticipated sensitivity of this technique may go beyond current experimental limits for WIMPs of masses of 2–8 GeV.

TREX-DM is conceived to look for low-mass Weakly Interacting Massive Particles (WIMPs) using a gas Time Projection Chamber equipped with Micromegas readout planes at the Canfranc Underground Laboratory. The detector can hold in the active volume \\[\\sim 20~l\\] of pressurized gas up to 10 bar, corresponding to 0.30 kg of Ar or 0.16 kg of Ne. The Micromegas are read with a self-triggered acquisition, being thresholds below 0.4 keV (electron equivalent) at reach. A low background level in the lowest energy region is another essential requirement. To assess the expected background, all the relevant sources have been considered, including the measured fluxes of gamma radiation, muons and neutrons at the Canfranc Laboratory, together with the activity of most of the components used in the detector and ancillary systems, obtained in a complete assay program. The background contributions have been simulated by means of a dedicated application based on Geant4 and a custom-made code for the detector response. The background model developed for the detector presently installed in Canfranc points to levels from 1 to 10 counts \\[\\hbox {keV}^{-1}\\ \\hbox {kg}^{-1}\\ \\hbox {day}^{-1}\\] in the region of interest, making TREX-DM competitive in the search for low-mass WIMPs. A roadmap to further decrease it down to 0.1 counts \\[\\hbox {keV}^{-1}\\ \\hbox {kg}^{-1}\\ \\hbox {day}^{-1}\\] is underway.

The effects of mid-summer regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) treatments were investigated on Navel Lane Late citrus trees over four seasons. Water restrictions applied from July until mid-September were compared with irrigation at full crop evapotranspiration (ETc). Two degrees of water restrictions were imposed: (1) RDI-1, irrigated at around 50% ETc and, (2) RDI-2, irrigated at 30-40% ETc. In addition, threshold values of midday stem water potential (Is) of -1.3 to -1.5 MPa for RDI-1 and of -1.5 to -1.7 MPa for RDI-2 were also taken into account. Results showed that Navel Lane Late is a citrus cultivar sensitive to water deficit since both RDI strategies reduced fruit size every year and water use efficiency in RDI trees was similar to control trees. However, the RDI-1 strategy allowed water savings up to 19% without reduction in yield when the water stress integral did not surpass 70 MPa day. RDI improved fruit quality, increasing total soluble solids and titratable acidity, while the fruit maturity was delayed. In conclusion, we suggest that RDI-1 strategy since it did not significantly impair the economic return can be applied in commercial orchards in case of water scarcity. Nevertheless, Navel Lane Late fruit is sensitive to water deficit and the fruit weight can be detrimentally affected.

Background: Consumption of dietary fat is one of the key factors leading to obesity. High-fat diet (HFD)-induced obesity is characterized by induction of inflammation in the hypothalamus; however, the temporal regulation of proinflammatory markers and their impact on hypothalamic appetite-regulating neuropeptide Y/agouti-related peptide (NPY/AgRP) neurons remains undefined. Methods: Mice were injected with an acute lipid infusion for 24 h or fed a HFD over 8–20 weeks. Characterized mouse NPY/AgRP hypothalamic cell lines were used for in vitro experimentation. Immunohistochemistry in brain slices or quantitative real-time PCR in cell lines, was performed to determine changes in the expression of key inflammatory markers and neuropeptides. Results: Hypothalamic inflammation, indicated by tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α expression and astrocytosis in the arcuate nucleus, was evident following acute lipid infusion. HFD for 8 weeks suppressed TNF-α, while significantly increasing heat-shock protein 70 and ciliary neurotrophic factor, both neuroprotective components. HFD for 20 weeks induced TNF-α expression in NPY/AgRP neurons, suggesting a detrimental temporal regulatory mechanism. Using NPY/AgRP hypothalamic cell lines, we found that palmitate provoked a mixed inflammatory response on a panel of inflammatory and endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress genes, whereas TNF-α significantly upregulated IκBα, nuclear factor (NF)-κB and interleukin-6 mRNA levels. Palmitate and TNF-α exposure predominantly induced NPY mRNA levels. Utilizing an I kappa B kinase β (IKKβ) inhibitor, we demonstrated that these effects potentially occur via the inflammatory IKKβ/NF-κB pathway. Conclusions: These findings indicate that acute lipid and chronic HFD feeding in vivo , as well as acute palmitate and TNF-α exposure in vitro , induce markers of inflammation or ER stress in the hypothalamic appetite-stimulating NPY/AgRP neurons over time, which may contribute to a dramatic alteration in NPY/AgRP content or expression. Acute and chronic HFD feeding in vivo temporally regulates arcuate TNF-α expression with reactive astrocytosis, which suggests a time-dependent neurotrophic or neurotoxic role of lipids.

Background and Aims: Early defoliation (ED) can reduce vine yield and improve fruit composition in vigorous vineyards. The objective of this study was to test the effectiveness of this technique for the Vitis vinifera (L.) cultivar Tempranillo under the temperate warm and semi-arid climatic conditions of south-eastern Spain. Methods and Results: Four treatments were applied over three seasons to drip-irrigated vines, planted with rows orientated north-south and shoots vertically positioned. Non-defoliated vines (control) were compared with vines defoliated either just before anthesis (phenological stage H, treatment ED) or at fruitset [phenological stage J, treatment late defoliation (LD)]. In the fourth treatment, only the leaves facing east were removed at phenological stage H (treatment east ED). In the fourth experimental season, all treatments were managed similarly. Defoliation did not reduce fruitset but reduced berry mass, particularly in the ED and the LD treatments. Defoliation, however, had a cumulative negative effect on vine bud fertility. Even in the fourth experimental season, the yield of the ED treatment was 18% lower than that of the control. Both the ED and particularly the LD treatments increased berry total soluble solids (TSS) and phenolic concentration. The effect of leaf removal on berry TSS and phenolic concentration was not significant in the east ED treatment. Conclusions: Defoliation at fruitset was the most effective treatment for increasing berry phenolics and TSS while maintaining must acidity. Growers should take into account, however, the important yield penalty because of defoliation, particularly in the mid-term. Significance of the Study: Early defoliation of Tempranillo grapes growing in semi-arid and temperate climates needs to be applied with caution and probably limited to specific seasons while consecutive defoliations should be avoided.

A field experiment was carried out over three seasons on Vitis vinifera cv. Tempranillo in order to compare pre-veraison and post-veraison water restrictions on vine performance and fruit composition. Rain-fed vines were compared with a treatment named MAX that was constantly irrigated at 75 % of the estimated crop evapotranspiration (ETc). In addition, an early (pre-veraison) water deficit strategy (ED) was applied by withholding irrigation until plant water stress experienced by vines surpassed a threshold value of midday stem water potential of -1.0 MPa. After that, 75 % of ETc was applied. A late season deficit (LD) treatment was irrigated as per the MAX up to veraison, and thereafter, water application was reduced to approximately 37 % of ETc. All irrigation regimes increased vine yield up to 58 % with respect to the rain-fed treatment, and no differences in yield among the irrigated treatments occurred. However, there were differences in berry composition among the different irrigation strategies. The ED strategy was more effective than the LD one in reducing berry growth leading to more concentrated berries in terms of sugars and anthocyanins. The LD water shortage impaired berry sugar accumulation due to the detrimental effect of water stress on leaf photosynthesis.

The effects of regulated deficit irrigation (RDI) and crop load on Japanese plum were investigated. RDI applied during phase II of fruit growth and post-harvest was compared with irrigation to match full crop evapotranspiration. Each irrigation treatment was thinned to a commercial crop load (described as medium) and to approximately 40% less than the commercial practice (described as low). The RDI strategy allowed for 30% water savings, increasing tree water use efficiency, with minimal effect on crop yield and fruit growth providing that plant water stress during the fruit growth period was low (stem water potential > -1.5 MPa), trees could recover optimum water status well before harvest, and crop load was low. However, the economic return, calculated from fruit weight distribution by commercial categories, was more affected by RDI than yield. The combination of medium crop load and RDI shifted fruit mass distribution towards the low value categories. This lead to similar or even higher economic returns in the RDI treatment with low crop level than with the medium one. In addition, since both, low crop level and RDI, increased fruit total soluble solids (TSS) concentration, fruit under RDI and low crop levels had the highest values of TSS.

Background and Aims Vineyards, one of the most widespread agricultural systems, have significant but scarcely evaluated carbon sequestration potential. Allometry is a cost‐effective approach to estimate plant biomass, but few studies – focused mainly on permanent structure carbon fixation – have dealt with it in grapevine. This study develops allometric models that accurately estimate grapevine standing biomass (total vine biomass at harvest), using extensive field‐collected data sets. Methods and Results Data were obtained in vineyards located in Spanish regions representative of the variability found in warm semi‐arid Mediterranean regions. We developed and validated functions to estimate vine biomass for all vine organs. The models obtained estimated accurately the biomass fixed by each organ separately and even more accurately at the whole plant scale. To illustrate the potential of the models, they satisfactorily assessed the influence of seasonal vine water status on vine biomass production and partitioning using an independent data set. Conclusions and Significance of the Study The models constitute a powerful tool to determine in a non‐destructive and cost‐effective manner standing biomass from simple vine measurements, which makes them suitable for quantifying carbon stocks and allocation patterns, and for evaluating the influence of climate or cultural practices at large scale to estimate better – at a regional or international level – the contribution of grapevine culture to CO2 balances.