USING HIGH-LEVEL CONSUMER-RESEARCH METHODS TO CREATE A TOOL-DRIVEN GUIDEBOOK AND DATABASE FOR PRODUCT DEVELOPMENT AND MARKETING

We present aspects and data for a tool‐driven database for marketing and product development, which are publicly accessible. The objective is to create a method whereby knowledge of concepts and products can be archived using overviews of a specific product category. The first phase of the database comprises systematic analysis of product concepts, which contain elements dealing both with features and emotions. The concept phase provides an idea about responses to statements about product features, along with responses to emotional elements and brands. The second phase comprises an analysis of the competitive frame of products, even before systematic product development is initiated. This second phase identifies expected and thus reasonable ranges of product‐sensory features, levels of acceptance of typical products, relations between liking and sensory attributes and segmentation of sensory preferences. Together, the two phases provide a guide to product developers new in a category, archive current knowledge and provide a sourcebook for marketers and developers alike, which is accessible using research tools. The two phases allow product development to become more scientific, more based on common experience rather than individual expertise and thus more efficient, without compromising corporate knowledge of specific ingredients, processes or business opportunities.     

Transmission of Spiroplasma citri by the aster leafhopper Macrosteles fascifrons (Homoptera: Cicadellidae)

The aster leafhopper (Macrosteles fascifrons), injected with an isolate of Spiroplasma citri obtained from brittle root-diseased horseradish (Armoracia rusticana), transmitted the spiroplasma to horseradish and China aster (Callistephus chinensis.) After feeding on plants infected with S. citri, M. fascifrons transmitted the spiroplasma from aster to aster and horseradish, from yellow rocket (Barbarea vulgaris) to aster, and from turnip (Brassica rapa) to turnip. Symptoms in infected horseradish were chlorosis and stunting of newly formed leaves, discoloration of root phloem, and reduced plant growth typical of brittle root disease. Chlorosis, stunting, and asymmetry of young leaves occurred in affected aster and turnip. Flowers of infected aster were small and pale in colour and occasionally showed other symptoms including asymmetry, petal distortion, or light green petals. Spiroplasmas were isolated from all plants showing symptoms. Transmission rates by M. fascifrons which acquired S. citri by feeding on infected plants were very low, but injected leafhoppers transmitted more frequently. This is the first report of the transmission of S. citri from diseased to healthy plants by M. fascifrons.     

Effect of Light on Deamination and Oxidation of Adenylic Compounds in Cotyledons of Pharbitis nil

Since labelling of ureides from adenine-8-¹⁴C is higher in dark than in light, the influence of light on the deamination and the oxidation of adenylic compounds by cotyledon discs of Pharbitis nit was investigated. Among the three possible adenylic precursors for the deaminative step, adenine was found to be the best compound for the study of the deaminative rate, adenosine being easily hydrolyzed into adenine, and AMP undergoing an apparent complete hydrolysis before entering the cells. By analysis of adenine-8-¹⁴C metabolism for brief periods, it was determined that the rate of deamination of adenylic compounds was faster in light than in dark. In contrast, the activity of xanthine dehydrogenase was much higher in the dark than in light. The level of the activity of uricase was the same in both light and dark.     

Activité néformatrice d'acides ribonucléiques extraits de tumeurs végétales

RNAs extracted from crown-gall tumors, induced by Agrobacterium tumefaciens (strain B6) on stems of Datura stramonium L., have been isolated by the phenol method and purified through Biogel P 60 columns. These RNAs have been transformed into complexes with l -amino acids by incubation in a medium containing: Tris HCI buffer, pH 7.6, ATP, MgCl₂, a mixture of l -amino acids and a polypeptide synthetase purified from Alcaligenes faecalis. The inoculation of stems of Datura plants with these complexes induces the development of nodular outgrowths, whereas other complexes made from RNAs isolated from healthy Datura plants, from Agrobacterium tumefaciens, Escherichia coli and Alcaligenes faecalis do not cause any hyperplasia under our experimental conditions. The analysis of the results obtained, supported by histological studies of the outgrowths, suggests that these neoformations should be of tumoral nature.     

Studies on the Conditions Required for Optimum Recovery of Tetrahymena pyriformis Strain S (Phenoset A) after Freezing to and Thawing from –196 C

The toxicity of several cryoprotective agents was tested at room temperature (23 C) against Tetrahymena pyriformis strain S (Phenoset A) at different stages of the growth cycle. Polyvinylpyrrolidone (PVP-40) at 10% (v/v) concentration was without effect at any stage in the growth cycle, while 1.2 M glycerol immobilized the cells which were disrupted very shortly afterwards. The toxicity of 0.25 M glucose was largely independent of the position of the cells in the growth cycle, but the toxicity of 0.25 M sucrose and 1.4 M dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) was most marked in late log- and stationary-phase cells. After log-phase cells had been equilibrated with 1.4 M DMSO for 1 hr, the number of cells surviving cooling at defined rates from 0.45 to 12 C/min decreased as the final temperature decreased from –30 to –60 C. A temperature of –53 C was found to be the optimum from which cells cooled at a given rate could be cooled rapidly to –196 C. Nevertheless, when cells were cooled at defined rates to –35, –45, or –53 C and then rapidly to –196 C the optimum rate of cooling to these temperatures was found to be 1 C/min. The optimum rate of cooling to –60 C prior to plunging into liquid nitrogen was found to be 2.7 C/min.     

Molecular evidence for the hybrid origin of a new endemic species of Stylosanthes Sw. (Fabaceae) from the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula

Stylosanthes aff. calcicola is a formally undescribed tetraploid species from the Mexican Yucatán Peninsula, showing morphological similarities to the diploid species S. calcicola , but distinct in a number of characters. We used uni- and biparentally inherited molecular markers to infer the hybrid origin of this species in relation to known diploid species of Stylosanthes . Molecular characterization was based on length and/or DNA sequence variation of nuclear sequence-tagged site (STS) markers, the internal transcribed spacer (ITS) region of nuclear rDNA and the trnL intron of chloroplast DNA (cpDNA). Stylosanthes aff. calcicola contains a distinct cpDNA haplotype and nuclear DNA fragment, with closest relationship to the diploid species S. calcicola . In contrast, the DNA sequences of two nuclear loci reveal a closer relationship to the diploid species S. angustifolia , S. hispida , S. humilis , S. leiocarpa and S. viscosa . The majority of the STS markers showed additivity of PCR fragments in S. aff. calcicola , representing the combination of two genetically different genomes. We postulate that S. aff. calcicola is a distinct species of allotetraploid origin that appears to have originated once from hybridization between two divergent genomes, of which the maternal and paternal parent are closely related to, or derived from, a member of the lineages represented by S. calcicola and S. viscosa , respectively.  © 2002 The Linnean Society of London, Botanical Journal of the Linnean Society , 140 , 1–13.     

Hydrogenosomes of Laboratory‐Induced Metronidazole‐Resistant Trichomonas vaginalis Lines are Downsized While Those from Clinically Metronidazole‐Resistant Isolates Are Not

ABSTRACT. Trichomonas vaginalis is the most common sexually transmitted protozoan in the world and its resistance to metronidazole is increasing. The purpose of this study was to demonstrate that clinical metronidazole resistance in T. vaginalis does not occur via the same mechanism as laboratory‐induced metronidazole resistance—that is, via hydrogenosome down sizing. Ultrathin sections of this parasite were examined using transmission electron microscopy and the size and area of the cell and hydrogenosomes were compared between drug‐resistant laboratory lines and clinically resistant isolates. Clinical metronidazole‐resistant T. vaginalis had similar‐sized hydrogenosomes as a metronidazole‐sensitive isolate. Inducing metronidazole resistance in both of these isolates caused down sizing of hydrogenosomes. Inducing toyocamycin resistance did not cause any ultrastructural changes to the cell or to the hydrogenosome. No correlation between hydrogenosome number and the drug‐resistant status of T. vaginalis isolates and lines was observed. This report demonstrates that clinical metronidazole resistance is not associated with down‐sized hydrogenosomes, thus indicating that an alternative resistance mechanism is used by T. vaginalis.