BackgroundCork oak (Quercus suber) is one of the rare trees with the ability to produce cork, a material widely used to make wine bottle stoppers, flooring and insulation materials, among many other uses. The molecular mechanisms of cork formation are still poorly understood, in great part due to the difficulty in studying a species with a long life-cycle and for which there is scarce molecular/genomic information. Cork oak forests are of great ecological importance and represent a major economic and social resource in Southern Europe and Northern Africa. However, global warming is threatening the cork oak forests by imposing thermal, hydric and many types of novel biotic stresses. Despite the economic and social value of the Q. suber species, few genomic resources have been developed, useful for biotechnological applications and improved forest management.ResultsWe generated in excess of 7 million sequence reads, by pyrosequencing 21 normalized cDNA libraries derived from multiple Q. suber tissues and organs, developmental stages and physiological conditions. We deployed a stringent sequence processing and assembly pipeline that resulted in the identification of ~159,000 unigenes. These were annotated according to their similarity to known plant genes, to known Interpro domains, GO classes and E.C. numbers. The phylogenetic extent of this ESTs set was investigated, and we found that cork oak revealed a significant new gene space that is not covered by other model species or EST sequencing projects. The raw data, as well as the full annotated assembly, are now available to the community in a dedicated web portal at http://www.corkoakdb.org.ConclusionsThis genomic resource represents the first trancriptome study in a cork producing species. It can be explored to develop new tools and approaches to understand stress responses and developmental processes in forest trees, as well as the molecular cascades underlying cork differentiation and disease response.

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The introduction of oral tyrosine kinase inhibitors (TKIs) has dramatically improved outcomes in chronic myeloid leukemia (CML) patients. However, treatment success is directly related to good long-term adherence. Adherence to TKI therapy was evaluated in 137 CML patients over a period of 1 year. Three different methods were used to evaluate adherence: the Morisky questionnaire, a medication diary and the medication possession ratio (MPR). MPR was the most effective method of assessing adherence (median adherence 96.5%; p = 0.0001), duration of TKI treatment was the variable that most impacted adherence (p = 0.03), and the MPR was inversely correlated to the duration of therapy. Additionally, participation in clinical trials, better quality of life as reported by patients and higher socioeconomic status were all related to better compliance (p = 0.02, 0.007 and 0.01, respectively). For patients treated with imatinib for 24–48 months (n = 22), individuals with major molecular response (MMR) had a significantly better MPR than those who failed to achieve MMR (p = 0.04). In this group, the mean MPR was 87% for the population without apparent molecular response and 96% for those achieving MMR; however, only 24% of the patients were completely adherent to TKI treatment.

Treatment of chronic myeloid leukemia with BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase inhibitors requires full adherence in order to maximize the likelihood of achieving optimal responses, and to minimize healthcare costs. In this article, we review some of the methods available for assessing compliance, the main consequences of nonadherence on treatment outcomes, major factors commonly associated with poor compliance, a few successful measures for improving adherence and the most accepted recommendations for proactively managing adverse events.© 2014 Associação Brasileira de Hematologia, Hemoterapia e Terapia Celular. Published by Elsevier Editora Ltda. All rights reserved.

OBJECTIVE:To evaluate hematological, cytogenetic and molecular responses as well as the overall, progression-free and event-free survivals of chronic myeloid leukemia patients treated with a third tyrosine kinase inhibitor after failing to respond to imatinib and nilotinib/dasatinib.METHODS:Bone marrow karyotyping and real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction were performed at baseline and at 3, 6, 12 and 18 months after the initiation of treatment with a third tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Hematologic, cytogenetic and molecular responses were defined according to the European LeukemiaNet recommendations. BCR-ABL1 mutations were analyzed by Sanger sequencing.RESULTS:We evaluated 25 chronic myeloid leukemia patients who had been previously treated with imatinib and a second tyrosine kinase inhibitor. Nine patients were switched to dasatinib, and 16 patients were switched to nilotinib as a third-line therapy. Of the chronic phase patients (n=18), 89% achieved a complete hematologic response, 13% achieved a complete cytogenetic response and 24% achieved a major molecular response. The following BCR-ABL1 mutations were detected in 6/14 (43%) chronic phase patients: E255V, Y253H, M244V, F317L (2) and F359V. M351T mutation was found in one patient in the accelerated phase of the disease. The five-year overall, progression-free and event-free survivals were 86, 54 and 22% (p<0.0001), respectively, for chronic phase patients and 66%, 66% and 0% (p<0.0001), respectively, for accelerated phase patients. All blast crisis patients died within 6 months of treatment. Fifty-six percent of the chronic phase patients lost their hematologic response within a median of 23 months.CONCLUSIONS:Although the responses achieved by the third tyrosine kinase inhibitor were not sustainable, a third tyrosine kinase inhibitor may be an option for improving patient status until a donor becomes available for transplant. Because the long-term outcome for these patients is poor, the development of new therapies for resistant chronic myeloid leukemia patients is necessary.

-This study was conducted to evaluate how parental trees and seed storage duration influenced subsequent seedling physiological status and growth. Seedling emergence rate was higher than 90% independently of the duration of seed storage or parental trees. Seed storage shortened significantly the time and increased the uniformity of seedling emergence. Consequently, the delayed seedling emergence from fresh seeds could be explained by epicotyl dormancy. Seed size varied with parental tree. Seedling growth rate was greatly affected by seed size, independently of storage treatment. Seedlings originating from large seeds (>5 g) had the fastest growth rates and seedlings from the smallest seeds (<4 g) had the slowest. Final shoot height, however, depended on the duration of seed storage. The seed size and the duration of storage had a great effect on the initial rate of leaf production, but did not affect the final number of leaves. Leaf chlorophyll concentration was reduced as the duration of seed storage increased but was independent of parental tree (i.e., seed size). Seedling biomass was positively related to seed size. The duration of seed storage reduced the shoot/root ratio, but no significant effect was observed among parental trees. The shoot/root value of seedlings from stored seed was about 1.5 and the one of seedlings from fresh seed was about 2. seed storage / seed size / seedling growth / shoot / root ratio / Quercus suber Résumé -Effet de l'arbre producteur et de la durée de conservation des glands sur l'état physiologique des plants de chêne liège (Quercus suber L.). Quel que soit l'âge des glands ou l'arbre producteur, l'émergence des plants est supérieure à 90 %. La durée et l'uniformité de l'émergence des plants sont significativement affectées par la conservation des glands ; par conséquent le retard dans l'émer-gence des plants issus des glands frais peut être expliqué par l'existence d'une dormance épicotylaire. La croissance des plants est rythmique : elle est caractérisée par une alternance de périodes d'allongement et de périodes de repos. Le rythme de croissance est fortement affecté par la taille des glands quel que soit leur âge. En effet, la croissance des plants issus des gros glands (>5 g) est plus rapide que celles des plants issus des petits glands (<4 g), mais la hauteur finale dépend de l'âge des glands. La taille des glands et leur conservation affectent fortement le rythme d'apparition des feuilles mais pas le nombre final. La concentration en chlorophylle des feuilles diminue chez les plants issus des glands conservés quel que soit l'arbre producteur. La biomasse des différentes parties du plant est réduite pour les petits glands conservés. La conservation des glands influe sur le rapport système aérien/système souterrain, mais aucun effet de l'arbre producteur n'est observé. Sa valeur est de 1,5 pour les plants issus des glands conservés et de 2 pour ceux issus des glands frais.conservation des glands / taille des glands / croissance des plants / rapport système aérien/...

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Résumé -Des glands mûrs ont été séparément récoltés sur 12 arbres sélectionnés dans un peuplement de chêne liège situé au Sud du Portugal (Herdade da Palma). Après ressuyage, les glands sont conservés dans 3 types de sacs (2 en polyéthylène de 30 µm et 50 µm d'épaisseur et 1 en plastique avec mailles) durant 6 mois à 0 ºC. Au moment de la dissémination, les glands de la plupart des arbres du même peuplement sont dans un même état de maturité morphologique et physiologique. Leur teneur en eau oscille entre 44 % et 47 % et leur taux final de germination est supérieur à 92 %. À la récolte, la germination est très lente en raison de l'existence d'une dormance embryonnaire qui semble dépendre de l'arbre producteur. Cette germination s'améliore durant la conservation traduisant une levée progressive de la dormance. Le temps moyen de germination est d'environ 10 jours pour les glands frais et n'est que de 4 jours après 6 mois de conservation. Une relation entre la viabilité des glands et leur teneur en eau a été observée. Le temps moyen de germination des glands ressuyés ou celui des glands conservés 4 mois dans les sacs à mailles est d'environ 13 jours. Cependant, une teneur en eau inférieure à 30 % est préjudiciable à la germination des glands.conservation / germination / teneur en eau / pertes d'électrolytes / semence / Quercus suber Abstract -Physiological behaviour of cork-oak acorns (Quercus suber L.) during storage and variation between trees. The mature acorns were harvested on twelve selected trees from a cork oak population in Southern Portugal (Herdade da Palma). After drying, the seed lots were stored on three types bags (polyethylene with 30 µm and 50 µm thick and plastic mesh), for six months at 0 ºC. At the time of natural dissemination, the acorns from the majority of the trees from the same population were under the same state of morphological and physiological maturity. The moisture content was about 44-47% and a germination rate above 92%. At this time, the germination was very slow because of the existent embryonic dormancy that seems to be dependent on the individual trees. During the storage, germination rate is improved. This might be explained by the breaking dormancy during storage. The mean germination time was on an average 10 days for fresh seeds and decreased to about 4 days after 6 months storage. A relationship between viability and seed moisture content was observed. The Mean Germination Time of dried seed and stored seed for 4 months in plastic mesh bag increased to about 13 days. The germination capacity was strongly decreased when the seed moisture content was below 30%. storage / germination / moisture content / electrolyte leakage / seed / Quercus suber Ann. For. Sci. 58 (2001) 143-153 143