Transcriptomic and biochemical investigations support the role of rootstock-scion interaction in grapevine berry quality.

BACKGROUND: In viticulture, rootstock genotype plays a critical role to improve scion physiology, berry quality and to adapt grapevine (Vitis vinifera L.) to different environmental conditions. This study aimed at investigating the effect of two different rootstocks (1103 Paulsen - P - and Mgt 101-14 - M) in comparison with not grafted plants - NGC - on transcriptome (RNA-seq and small RNA-seq) and chemical composition of berry skin in Pinot noir, and exploring the influence of rootstock-scion interaction on grape quality. Berry samples, collected at veraison and maturity, were investigated at transcriptional and biochemical levels to depict the impact of rootstock on berry maturation. RESULTS: RNA- and miRNA-seq analyses highlighted that, at veraison, the transcriptomes of the berry skin are extremely similar, while variations associated with the different rootstocks become evident at maturity, suggesting a greater diversification at transcriptional level towards the end of the ripening process. In the experimental design, resembling standard agronomic growth conditions, the vines grafted on the two different rootstocks do not show a high degree of diversity. In general, the few genes differentially expressed at veraison were linked to photosynthesis, putatively because of a ripening delay in not grafted vines, while at maturity the differentially expressed genes were mainly involved in the synthesis and transport of phenylpropanoids (e.g. flavonoids), cell wall loosening, and stress response. These results were supported by some differences in berry phenolic composition detected between grafted and not grafted plants, in particular in resveratrol derivatives accumulation. CONCLUSIONS: Transcriptomic and biochemical data demonstrate a stronger impact of 1103 Paulsen rootstock than Mgt 101-14 or not grafted plants on ripening processes related to the secondary metabolite accumulations in berry skin tissue. Interestingly, the MYB14 gene, involved in the feedback regulation of resveratrol biosynthesis was up-regulated in 1103 Paulsen thus supporting a putative greater accumulation of stilbenes in mature berries.

Grape Berry Acclimation to Excessive Solar Irradiance Leads to Repartitioning between Major Flavonoid Groups.

Warm viticulture regions are associated with inferior wines, resulting from the interaction between microclimate and fruit biochemistry. Solar irradiance triggers biosynthetic processes in the fruit and dominates its thermal balance. Therefore, deciphering its impact on fruit metabolism is pivotal to develop strategies for fruit protection and ameliorate its quality traits. Here, we modified light quality and intensity in the fruit-zone and integrated micrometeorology with grape and wine metabolomics, allowing a complete assessment, from field to bottle. We analyzed the dynamics of fruit's adaptation to altered conditions during ripening and constructed temporal-based metabolic networks. Micrometeorological modifications shifted the balance between the major flavonoids, associating increased solar exposure with lower levels of anthocyanins and flavan-3-ols, and higher flavonols. Differences were fixed from 2 weeks postveraison until harvest, suggesting a controlled acclimation response rather than external modulation. Differences in grape composition manifested in the wine and resulted in higher color intensity and improved wine hue under partial shading.

[Definition of acceptable operator exposure levels (AOELs) to pesticides]. / La definizione di livelli accettabili di esposizione ad antiparassitari per l'operatore (AOELs).

A guidance document entitled "Recommended method for the establishment of Acceptable Operator Exposure Levels" has been prepared within the EU 5th Framework program. The paper describes the main outcomes of the project and the issues that apply particularly to agricultural workers and bystanders and the difficulties in developing an agreed uniform approach. The scientific basis of the process is discussed, to be used by the European Commission and Member States when making decision about the inclusion of an active substance in Annex 1 of Directive 91/414/EEC.

Exposición ocupacional a pesticidas en el mundo en desarrollo: efectos sobre la salud y estrategias para su prevención / Occupational exposition to pesticides in the developed word: health effects and strategies for its prevention

A causa de su clima, en la mayoría de los países en desarrollo aumenta el uso de pesticidas y fertilizantes producidos en países industrializados. Sin embargo, la baja cantidad de denuncias sobre intoxicaciones agudas, debido frecuentemente a legislaciones deficientes, hace difícil probar la asociación entre pesticidas y la ocurrencia de efectos crónicos adversos. En los países en desarrollo deben ser desarrolladas nuevas estrategias que apunten a prevenir y reducir el riesgo asociado a la exposición humana a pesticidas. La prevención debería observarse tanto en la pre-comercialización de esos productos químicos como en la pos-comercialización. Un elemento clave en la fase previa es el testeo toxicológico de un producto. En la etapa pos-comercialización es esencial la promoción del manejo adecuado de los riesgos a la salud en el lugar de trabajo. La prevención debe ser complementada con programas nacionales que respondan a las características de cada país...

Exposición ocupacional a pesticidas en el mundo en desarrollo: efectos sobre la salud y estrategias para su prevención / Occupational exposition to pesticides in the developed word: health effects and strategies for its prevention

A causa de su clima, en la mayoría de los países en desarrollo aumenta el uso de pesticidas y fertilizantes producidos en países industrializados. Sin embargo, la baja cantidad de denuncias sobre intoxicaciones agudas, debido frecuentemente a legislaciones deficientes, hace difícil probar la asociación entre pesticidas y la ocurrencia de efectos crónicos adversos. En los países en desarrollo deben ser desarrolladas nuevas estrategias que apunten a prevenir y reducir el riesgo asociado a la exposición humana a pesticidas. La prevención debería observarse tanto en la pre-comercialización de esos productos químicos como en la pos-comercialización. Un elemento clave en la fase previa es el testeo toxicológico de un producto. En la etapa pos-comercialización es esencial la promoción del manejo adecuado de los riesgos a la salud en el lugar de trabajo. La prevención debe ser complementada con programas nacionales que respondan a las características de cada país...(AU)

Biological Monitoring of Pesticide Exposure: a review. Introduction.

Pesticides are used worldwide in agriculture, industry, public health and for domestic applications: as a consequence, a great part of the population may be exposed to these compounds. In spite of this extensive use, knowledge on the health risks associated with prolonged exposure is rather poor, and major uncertainties still exist. Epidemiological observations in man have so far produced little conclusive information, mainly because of weaknesses in exposure assessment. Therefore, information on the type and levels of exposure is fundamental in order to better understand and characterize risk to human health. Exposure assessment can be carried out via measurement of environmental concentrations, as well as via determination of the chemical or its metabolites in body tissues (biological monitoring). Besides indices of internal dose, biological monitoring also includes measurements of early effects attributable to interaction between the chemical agent and the human body. Biological monitoring has the advantage, over environmental monitoring, of determining the dose actually absorbed via any possible route: differences in absorption can be taken into account. whether they are due to biological variability or to use of protective equipment. When, in some cases, a combination of occupational and non-occupational exposure occurs, this also can be taken into consideration by biological monitoring. Few reference documents have been published on biological monitoring of pesticides. For this reason, the Office of Occupational Health of the World Health Organization gave ICPS a mandate to prepare a monograph specifically addressed to reviewing methods for biological monitoring of pesticide exposure. This review is based on more than 300 studies published over the period 1980-1999. For the most representative chemical classes, the available biological exposure indices are reported. Both indices of internal dose and. when available, of early effects are discussed. The reported tests were used to monitor exposure of pesticide applicators in agriculture and public health, manufacturing and formulating workers. subjects poisoned after accidental exposure or attempted suicide, volunteers involved in pharmacokinetic studies, as well as sub-groups of the general population exposed to environmentally persistent pesticides. Single chapters deal with organophosphorus insecticides, carbamate pesticides, dithiocarbamates, phenoxyacids, quaternary ammonium compounds. coumarin rodenticides, synthetic pyrethroids, organochlorine pesticides, chlorotriazines, and pentachlorophenol.

Risk assessment and management of occupational exposure to pesticides.

Occupational exposure to pesticides in agriculture and public health applications may cause acute and long-term health effects. Prevention of adverse effects in the users requires actions to be undertaken in the pre-marketing and post-marketing phase of these products. The pre-marketing preventive actions are primary responsibility of industry and the public administration. Admission of pesticide use (registration) is carried out by considering the toxicological properties of each pesticide (hazard identification), determining the dose-response relationship (NOEL identification), assessing or predicting the exposure level in the various scenarios of their use, and characterising the risk. The decision about admission takes into consideration the balance between risks and benefits. The post-marketing preventive activities consist of the promotion of a proper risk management at the workplace. Such a management includes the risk assessment of the specific conditions of use, the adoption of proper work practices, and the health surveillance of the workers. Each country should develop an adequate National Plan for Prevention of Pesticide Risk which allocates different roles and tasks at the central, regional and local level.

Chemical variation among indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare in Israel.

The composition of hexane extract constituents of ripe mericarps ("achenes") of eleven indigenous populations of Foeniculum vulgare var. vulgare (Apiaceae) was studied. Natural populations were selected along a gradient of annual rainfall from ca. 1000 mm in the northern region down to 125 mm in the Negev desert. Eighteen constituents, with estragole, trans-anethole, fenchone, limonene and alpha-pinene as the major components were separated by GC-MS. Characterized by the level of estragole and trans-anethole, four different groups were obtained: (1) highest estragole (63%) and the lowest trans-ane-thole (3%) characterized the population of Mt. Meron; (2) estra-gole (39-47%) and trans-anethole (17-29%) in 3 mountainous populations; (3) estragole (21-29%) and trans-anethole (38-49%) in the coastal and lowland populations; (4) two exceptional populations with the lowest content of estragole (ca.8%) and high content of trans-anethole (55 and 74%). A reversed association between the content of estragole and trans-anethole suggests a common precursor. In habitats with a high precipitation, the content of estragole was high and that of trans-anethole was low, and vice versa under limited rainfall. It is proposed that the composition of oleoresins of F. vulgare var. vulgare could be governed by environmental conditions. Nevertheless, it is not ruled out that genetic variations account for the recorded differences.

Risk assessment and health surveillance of pesticide workers.

Occupational health has two main objectives: the protection of workers from health hazards associated with the working environment, and the promotion of workers' health. Fundamental aspects of health protection are health risk management, information and training, first aid and medical treatment. Risk management comprises risk characterization, and exposure assessment. Integrating information on the identified hazards and exposure levels, and assessing the likelihood and severity of health effects performs risk characterization. Health surveillance includes medical surveillance and biological monitoring. The physician in charge of the occupational health programme, taking into account the results of the risk assessment process should determine frequency and contents of periodical medical examinations. Pre-employment medical examinations should be carried out in order to determine the physical ability to do the job the candidate is recruited for. Periodical medical examinations are aimed at detecting, in an early and reversible phase, any adverse effect attributable to exposure. A worker should undergo a broad medical examination when returning to work after a significant illness. Records of occupational health programmes should be filed and kept for at least 30 years.

Programmes and activities of the International Centre for Pesticide Safety.

The International Centre for Pesticide Safety (ICPS) is a research unit of the National Health Service created by the Government of the Region of Lombardy at the proposal of the World Health Organization-Regional Office for Europe, in cooperation with the University of Milan, and in agreement with the Italian Ministry of Health. ICPS operates in the following areas of activity: information and documentation on pesticide toxicity to man and environment, epidemiological, toxicological and clinical research on effects of pesticides in man; training and education of personnel in public health, assessment of environmental and health impact of pesticides by means of Geographical Information Systems, laboratory research for development and standardisation of methods for residue measurement in environmental and biological media. ICPS is also a centre of international meetings and continuing education courses. A number of projects carried out or underway at ICPS are briefly described in this paper.

Health effects in man from long-term exposure to pesticides. A review of the 1975-1991 literature.

The scientific literature published over the period 1975-1991 on long-term health effects from prolonged exposure to pesticides has been reviewed, in order to document the state-of-knowledge on the mortality and morbidity of groups of the population exposed to pesticides. Specific aims of the review were to identify (1) which groups of the population have been more broadly surveyed, (2) which adverse effects have been consistently associated with specific pesticide exposures, (3) which are the pesticides of concern and (4) which health effects would require special attention in future research. The literature on acute effects and animal toxicology studies have not been considered at all in this monograph. In the period of interest, 440 papers have been published. Apart from 97 reviews and a small number of case reports, approximately half of the original investigations were of the case-control design (n = 108), while the remaining papers reported results from proportionate mortality (n = 10), cohort (n = 66) or cross-sectional studies (n = 51), carried out on pesticide applicators (n = 48), agricultural workers (n = 26) or people employed in the pesticide manufacturing industry (n = 50). Most of the case-control studies related to cases of cancer from various sites, especially myelolymphoproliferative disorders (MLP) and soft-tissue sarcomas (STS). When compared to the general population total mortality has been found to be consistently lower among pesticide manufacturers as well as among other groups of workers. This observation has been mostly attributed to the 'healthy worker effect' or, in the case of agricultural workers, to the healthier lifestyle of farm families. With the exception of deaths by accidental causes, non-cancer causes of death (mainly represented by cardiovascular diseases), were generally found to be less frequent than expected among manufacturers or users of pesticides, in particular among farmers. No consistent evidence of a global cancer mortality different from that of the general population has been reported among pesticide manufacturers or applicators. On the other hand, the papers examined have been strikingly consistent in reporting a low overall cancer risk among agricultural workers; life-style, clean air, low prevalence of smoking have been hypothesized so as to explain this observation. Numerous studies considered the possible link between exposure to phenoxyherbicides and occurrence of certain types of cancer, especially STS and MLP disorders.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 400 WORDS)

Polychlorinated biphenyl congeners in adipose tissue lipid and serum of past and present transformer repair workers and a comparison group.

The concentrations of individual PCB's were determined in both serum and adipose tissue lipid from 35 transformer repair workers currently exposed to PCBs, mainly Aroclor 1260, 17 previous transformer repair workers, and 56 comparison workers never occupationally exposed to PCBs. The analysis used fused-silica capillary gas chromatography with electron capture detector (FSCGC/ECD) and FSCGC with negative ion chemical ionization mass spectrometry to verify PCB congener levels. Eighty-nine PCB peaks were identified and confirmed. More congeners were detected in adipose tissue. In serum approximately 50% of peaks were below the level of detection. Statistical techniques to account for left and interval censoring allowed comparison of concentration distributions even where data were incomplete. We found that unquantifiable levels were unlikely to contribute substantially to the true values for total [PCBs] over and beyond the contribution of the measured values. However, the total serum [PCBs] determined by FSCGC/ECD greatly exceeded that from standard packed cell gas chromatography (PCGC/ECD). The underestimation was less marked for adipose samples. In serum the total [PCBs] was highest in currently exposed workers and lowest in unexposed workers, with past-exposed workers clearly intermediate. In adipose tissue [PCBs] in the currently exposed group was much higher than in the other two groups, in whom the distribution of results was broadly similar. In all worker groups hexachlorinated and heptachlorinated species predominated followed by octachlorinated and pentachlorinated. The relative distribution of individual PCB congeners in the three groups was similar although the amounts varied. The seven major peaks in serum and adipose tissue were 2,3,5,6,3',4',5'/2,3,4,5,2',4',5' hepta-CB; 2,3,4,2',3',5' hexa-CB; 2,4,6,3',4',5'/2,4,5,2',4',5'/2,3,4,5,2',5' hexa-CB; 2,3,4,5,2',3',4' hepta-CB; 2,3,4,5,2',3',5',6'/2,3,4,5,6,2',3',5', octa-CB; 2,4,5,3',4',/3,4,5,2',3' penta-CB; and 2,3,4,2',3',4'/2,3,5,6,2',4',5'/2,3,4,5,2',4',6' multi-CB. The distribution of PCB peaks in our populations differs from that in capacitor workers (exposed to less highly chlorinated PCBs) and from Yu-Cheng patients suggesting differing toxic potentials from PCBs in these three circumstances.

Influence of sex, age, and smoking habits on the urinary excretion of D-glucaric acid.

Reference values for urinary D-glucaric acid and the influence of sex, age and smoking habits were evaluated with a low-pH enzymatic method. D-Glucaric acid measured on spot urine samples from 573 healthy subjects gave mean concentrations (mumol/1) and D-glucaric acid/creatinine ratios (mmol/mol creatinine) of 56.1 (+/- 22.9) and 3.05 (+/- 0.99) for males and 53.3 (+/- 20.9) and 3.35 (+/- 0.95) for females. No difference between morning and evening was observed for urinary D-glucaric acid/1 values, but D-glucaric acid/creatinine was higher in the evening samples for both sexes. There was a negative correlation between D-glucaric acid/1 values and age in males but not in females: the decrease of D-glucaric acid concentration was, however, quantitatively very small. Smoking produced a significant increase in D-glucaric acid concentration and in the D-glucaric acid/creatinine ratio for males and also partially for females.