Search Results (4)

Anthyllis barba-jovis is a salt and drought tolerant evergreen shrub, native of the western-central Mediterranean coasts, with ornamental characteristics that make it worthy to be exploited for commercial use as an ornamental and landscape plant. Therefore, the present study aimed to determine germination as affected by seed-coat, temperature, photoperiod, and seed storage period, as a first approach to introduce the species into the floriculture industry. Seeds scarified or non-scarified, recently harvested or after storage at room temperature in the dark for 12, 24, or 36 months were placed for germination in vitro on Murashige and Skoog (MS) medium, under 16 h photoperiod (LD) or continuous darkness, at 5–35 °C, at 5 °C intervals. Seed pre-treatment by mechanical scarification with sandpaper highly promoted their germinability. Seeds germinated in all treatments at varying percentages. Photoperiod had no significant effect on germination. Cardinal temperatures for germination were defined at 35 °C and 5 °C (possibly even lower, particularly for up to 1-year-old seeds, which germinated at 30–58% at 5 °C when scarified). Temperatures from 15 to 25 °C were optimal for germination of recently harvested or 1-year-old seeds (82–98% when scarified), whereas older seeds germinated at higher percentages at 20 °C (65–97% when scarified), thus long storage affected both the range of optimal temperatures for germination and the germination percentage. Storage reduced germination mostly of non-scarified seeds. Three years after harvesting A. barba-jovis seeds germinated at high percentages (77%) at 20 °C and LD when scarified, while without scarification germination was less than 10% in all treatments. Full article

Flow cytometric (FCM) analysis of the constant region 1 of the T-cell receptor β chain (TRBC1) expression for assessing Tαβ-cell clonality has been recently validated. However, its utility for the diagnosis of clonality of T-large granular lymphocytic leukemia (T-LGLL) needs to be confirmed, since more mature Tαβ cells (i.e., T-LGL normal-counterpart) show broader TRBC1⁺/TRBC1⁻ ratios vs. total Tαβ cells. We compared the distribution and absolute counts of TRBC1⁺ and TRBC1⁻ Tαβ-LGL in blood containing polyclonal (n = 25) vs. clonal (n = 29) LGL. Overall, polyclonal TRBC1⁺ or TRBC1⁻ Tαβ-LGL ranged between 0.36 and 571 cells/μL (3.2–91% TRBC1⁺ cells), whereas the clonal LGL cases showed between 51 and 11,678 cells/μL (<0.9% or >96% TRBC1⁺ cells). Among the distinct TCRVβ families, the CD28⁻ effector-memory and terminal-effector polyclonal Tαβ cells ranged between 0 and 25 TRBC1⁺ or TRBC1⁻ cells/μL and between 0 and 100% TRBC1⁺ cells, while clonal LGL ranged between 32 and 5515 TRBC1⁺ or TRBC1⁻ cells/μL, representing <1.6% or >98% TRBC1⁺ cells. Our data support the utility of the TRBC1-FCM assay for detecting T-cell clonality in expansions of Tαβ-LGL suspected of T-LGLL based on altered percentages of TRBC1⁺ Tαβ cells. However, in the absence of lymphocytosis or in the case of TαβCD4-LGL expansion, the detection of increased absolute cell counts by the TRBC1-FCM assay for more accurately defined subpopulations of Tαβ-LGL-expressing individual TCRVβ families, allows the detection of T-cell clonality, even in the absence of phenotypic aberrations. Full article

A single antibody (anti-TRBC1; JOVI-1 antibody clone) against one of the two mutually exclusive T-cell receptor β-chain constant domains was identified as a potentially useful flow-cytometry (FCM) marker to assess Tαβ-cell clonality. We optimized the TRBC1-FCM approach for detecting clonal Tαβ-cells and validated the method in 211 normal, reactive and pathological samples. TRBC1 labeling significantly improved in the presence of CD3. Purified TRBC1⁺ and TRBC1⁻ monoclonal and polyclonal Tαβ-cells rearranged TRBJ1 in 44/47 (94%) and TRBJ1+TRBJ2 in 48 of 48 (100%) populations, respectively, which confirmed the high specificity of this assay. Additionally, TRBC1⁺/TRBC1⁻ ratios within different Tαβ-cell subsets are provided as reference for polyclonal cells, among which a bimodal pattern of TRBC1-expression profile was found for all TCRVβ families, whereas highly-variable TRBC1⁺/TRBC1⁻ ratios were observed in more mature vs. naïve Tαβ-cell subsets (vs. total T-cells). In 112/117 (96%) samples containing clonal Tαβ-cells in which the approach was validated, monotypic expression of TRBC1 was confirmed. Dilutional experiments showed a level of detection for detecting clonal Tαβ-cells of ≤10⁻⁴ in seven out of eight pathological samples. These results support implementation of the optimized TRBC1-FCM approach as a fast, specific and accurate method for assessing T-cell clonality in diagnostic-FCM panels, and for minimal (residual) disease detection in mature Tαβ⁺ leukemia/lymphoma patients. Full article

The volatile compositions of three closely related Hypericum species growing wild on the island of Crete were studied, all belonging to the section Coridium. Hydro-distillation in a modified Clevenger-type apparatus was performed according to the Hellenic Pharmacopoeia in order to obtain the essential oils, which were analyzed by GC-MS. Identification of the compounds was carried out by comparison of MS spectra and retention indices with literature data, as well as by co-chromatography with authentic samples. In total, 123 different compounds were identified and the main compounds were by order of their abundance as follows: H. empetrifolium: α-pinene, germacrene D, β-pinene, E-caryophyllene; H. amblycalyx: β-elemene, β-selinene, α-pinene, E-caryophyllene, α-selinene; H. jovis: trans-calamenene, α-selinene, β-elemene. The chemical results revealed the differences and similarities (qualitative and quantitative) between the studied oils, supporting the hypothesis that essential oils from Hypericum spp. do not serve as chemotaxonomic markers. Moreover, the essential oils were subjected to antimicrobial screening. According to the given results, the essential oils possessed better antifungal and anticandidal activities than antibacterial activities. Full article