We characterized the adventitious rooting response of Eucalyptus globulus Labill. to various concentrations of calcium, nitrogen, phosphorus, iron, manganese, zinc, boron and copper. The parameters analyzed were percent rooting, root number, root length and mean rooting time. Root number and root length were significantly affected by mineral nutrition, whereas mean rooting time and rooting percentage seemed to be closely related to auxin availability. Root number was affected by calcium, nitrogen source and zinc, whereas root length was influenced by concentrations of phosphorus, iron and manganese, and by nitrogen source. Based on these results, we evaluated various combinations of several concentrations of these minerals in each rooting phase. Cuttings that were rooted in an optimized mineral nutrient medium and acclimatized to ex-vitro conditions for two months showed significantly higher survival after transplanting and drought stress than cuttings rooted in basal medium and treated in the same way.

Storage cases for contact lenses receive microbiota from the environment, body, and eye, which can form biofilms. These biofilms, in addition to causing discomfort and cloudy vision, can cause local irritation, facilitate the adherence of microorganisms, and lead to infection. The objective of this study was to evaluate the presence of bacteria and Acanthamoeba spp. in the biofilm and solutions in contact lens storage cases, and to assess their relationships to the habits of contact lens wearers. Eighty-one volunteers assembled from the ophthalmology section of a public hospital and from the Central Campus of the federal university, both in the state of Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, provided the contact lens storage cases. The samples collected were inoculated into sheep blood agar, to isolate bacteria; and into 1.5% non-nutrient agar with an overlayer of Escherichia coli, to isolate free-living amoebas. Of the 81 samples analyzed, 58 (71%) showed bacterial growth and seven (8.6%) were positive for Acanthamoeba spp. The amoebas were identified according to the morphological criteria of Page (A new key to fresh water and soil gymnamoebae, Freshwater Biology Association, Ambleside, UK, 1988) and confirmed by PCR. The storage cases that were positive for Acanthamoeba spp. had a mean of 10(7) UFC/mL and belonged to individuals who had not taken sufficient care with hand washing.

Plants ordinarily face iron (Fe) deficiency, since this mineral is poorly available in soils under aerobic conditions. Nonetheless, wetland and irrigated rice plants can be exposed to excess, highly toxic Fe. Ferritin is a ubiquitous Fe-storage protein, important for iron homeostasis. Increased ferritin accumulation resulting from higher Fe availability was shown in some plant species. However, the role of ferritin in tolerance mechanisms to Fe overload in rice is yet to be established. In this study, recombinant rice ferritin was expressed in Escherichia coli, producing an anti-rice ferritin polyclonal antibody which was used to evaluate ferritin accumulation in two rice (Oryza sativa L.) cultivars, either susceptible (BR-IRGA 409) or tolerant (EPAGRI 108) to Fe toxicity. Increased ferritin mRNA and protein levels resulting from excess Fe treatment were detected in both cultivars, with higher ferritin protein accumulation in EPAGRI 108 plants, which also reached lower shoot Fe concentrations when submitted to iron overload. The tolerance mechanism to excess Fe in EPAGRI 108 seems to include both restricted Fe translocation and increased ferritin accumulation. This is the first work that shows higher accumulation of the ferritin protein in an iron-excess tolerant Oryza sativa cultivar, providing evidence of a possible role of this protein in iron tolerance mechanisms.