Search Results (3)

Dicamba is a post-herbicide, showing some activity in soil, and its dynamics can be influenced by several factors, including the presence of straw. Brazil has more than 50% of its production area in a no-till system; thus, a good amount of the herbicide is intercepted by the straw. This study aimed to evaluate dicamba dynamics in straw and weed control efficacy when sprayed as a PRE herbicide. For this, five different studies were conducted: we utilized different straw amounts (1) and different drought periods (2) for straw sprayed with dicamba and dicamba + glyphosate to evaluate its release from straw, different straw amounts (3), different drought periods (4), and wet and dry straw (5) to evaluate pre-emergence weed control (Bidens pilosa and Ipomoea grandifolia) and dicamba availability in medium-texture soil. Around 80% of dicamba was released from the straw after 100 mm of rainfall. One day after dicamba application, 65–70% of dicamba was released from the straw with 20 mm of rainfall, while for 7 and 14 DAA, 60% was released. Dicamba was efficient in controlling the pre-emergence of both species studied, and the amount of straw did not interfere in weed control; however, dicamba was less available in the soil after rainfall when sprayed in the straw than when sprayed directly in the soil. Up to 80% of dicamba can be released from the straw after 100 mm of rainfall and weed control was efficient for the species studied; however, the carryover effect in sensitive crops might become an issue. Full article

Advancements in nucleic acid sequencing technology combined with an unprecedented availability of metadata have revealed that 45% of the human genome constituted by transposable elements (TEs) is not only transcriptionally active but also physiologically necessary. Dysregulation of TEs, including human retroviral endogenous sequences (HERVs) has been shown to associate with several neurologic and autoimmune diseases, including Myalgic Encephalomyelitis/Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (ME/CFS). However, no study has yet addressed whether abnormal expression of these sequences correlates with fibromyalgia (FM), a disease frequently comorbid with ME/CFS. The work presented here shows, for the first time, that, in fact, HERVs of the H, K and W types are overexpressed in immune cells of FM patients with or without comorbid ME/CFS. Patients with increased HERV expression (N = 14) presented increased levels of interferon (INF-β and INF-γ) but unchanged levels of TNF-α. The findings reported in this study could explain the flu-like symptoms FM patients present with in clinical practice, in the absence of concomitant infections. Future work aimed at identifying specific genomic loci differentially affected in FM and/or ME/CFS is warranted. Full article

Fibromyalgia (FM) and myalgic encephalomyelitis/chronic fatigue syndrome (ME/CFS) are diseases of unknown etiology presenting complex and often overlapping symptomatology. Despite promising advances on the study of miRNomes of these diseases, no validated molecular diagnostic biomarker yet exists. Since FM and ME/CFS patient treatments commonly include polypharmacy, it is of concern that biomarker miRNAs are masked by drug interactions. Aiming at discriminating between drug-effects and true disease-associated differential miRNA expression, we evaluated the potential impact of commonly prescribed drugs on disease miRNomes, as reported by the literature. By using the web search tools SM2miR, Pharmaco-miR, and repoDB, we found a list of commonly prescribed drugs that impact FM and ME/CFS miRNomes and therefore could be interfering in the process of biomarker discovery. On another end, disease-associated miRNomes may incline a patient’s response to treatment and toxicity. Here, we explored treatments for diseases in general that could be affected by FM and ME/CFS miRNomes, finding a long list of them, including treatments for lymphoma, a type of cancer affecting ME/CFS patients at a higher rate than healthy population. We conclude that FM and ME/CFS miRNomes could help refine pharmacogenomic/pharmacoepigenomic analysis to elevate future personalized medicine and precision medicine programs in the clinic. Full article