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Cognitive impairment is present in several neurodegenerative disorders. The clock-drawing test (CDT) represents a useful screening instrument for assessing the evolution of cognitive decline. The aim of this study was to investigate the sensitivity of the CDT in monitoring and differentiating the evolution of cognitive decline in Alzheimer's dementia (AD), vascular dementia (VaD), and Parkinson's disease (PD).This study involved 139 patients, including 39 patients with PD and mild cognitive impairment, 16 demented PD patients, 21 VaD patients with mild cognitive impairment, 17 patients with VaD, 33 patients with mild cognitive impairment due to AD, and 13 patients with probable AD. All participants completed the CDT. The Mini-Mental State Examination was administered to establish patients' cognitive functioning.Comparisons of quantitative and qualitative CDT scores showed significant differences between the various diseases. Impairment of executive functioning seems to be more pronounced in PD and VaD than in AD. Patients with AD committed more errors related to a loss of semantic knowledge, indicating a severely reduced capacity in abstract and conceptual thinking.Results support the usefulness and sensitivity of the CDT in the detection of different dementia subtypes. Qualitative error analysis of the CDT may be helpful in differentiating PD, VaD, and AD, even in the early stages of each disease.

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A field experiment has been conducted in Southern Italy (Valenzano, Bari) under open field conditions to evaluate the use of proximate sensing techniques for monitoring potato (Solanum tuberosum L.) development and growth under different water regimes. Three water levels have been applied, rainfed (I0), 50 % of irrigation requirements (I50) and full irrigation (I100), in order to assess the impact of water stress on the crop growth and physiology. The irrigation scheduling has been managed via an Excel-based irrigation tool that employed meteorological, soil and crop data for a day-by-day estimation of the soil water balance in the effective root zone. This study aims to establish a comprehensive dataset with different types of measurements in order to link a set of spectral vegetative indexes (such as Simple Ratio, Normalized Difference Vegetation Index, Soil Adjusted Vegetation Index and the Water Index) as well as the thermal crop water stress index (CWSI), with some eco-physiological and biometric crop parameters. The variations of the physiological functions of potato at different phenological stages have been monitored under the three water regimes. The preliminary results indicated that under the water stress a reduction of stomatal conductance is observed which affected the rate of photosynthesis, canopy cover and biomass production and yield. Both the CWSI and the Water Index have shown a high sensitivity to the level of plant water status, with a clear correlation with the level of stomatal conductance and other physiological parameters, confirming the reliability of the indexes to detect the relative level of water stress when properly applied at the leaf scale. On the other side, with respect to the VIs applied at canopy scale, the spectral vegetation indices NDVI and SAVI showed generally a good level of correlation with leaf area index and fraction of ground cover, although NDVI seemed to reach a saturation level for values of LAI around 3, while SAVI seems to require a better parameterization of the effect of the soil background under the different levels of effective ground cover. Based on these preliminary findings, it can be confirmed that proximate sensing techniques and derived indexes could be powerful and effective methods to support the real-time monitoring of crop water status for a more appropriate irrigation scheduling

“Early” potato is a typical crop grown in most of the Mediterranean countries, and it is one of the most important horticultural crops exported towards the Northern European markets. In order to improve market value of early potatoes, growers are more and more involved in choosing new potato varieties and constantly looking for methods to improve the commercial quality of tubers. One of the most increasingly used agro-techniques is chemical haulm desiccation, which aims to simplify harvesting and can help to manipulate tuber size distribution and tuber skin-set. Its effect on yield and quality aspects of early potato remains to be better evaluated. This paper resumes results of trials and analysis conducted during 2007 concerning the effect of the application of a chemical desiccant (gluphosinate ammonium) on some relevant nutritional parameters of three early potato varieties (Spunta, Ditta, and Krone) grown in Southern Italy. Tubers from the trials were analyzed for tuber size distribution, flesh and skin colour, dry matter, nitrate, soluble carbohydrates, total and resistant starch, vitamin C, phenol content, and total antioxidant activity. Results indicate that chemical desiccation does not affect the levels of vitamin C and those of other molecules with antioxidant properties as well as those of total soluble carbohydrates. On the other hand, it induces a significant decrease in starch storage and an increase in the percentage of resistant starch (a component of dietary fibre).

BACKGROUND: Glufosinate-ammonium (GA) is used for chemical vine killing of potato crop before harvest. Over two years we tested the effect of GA, applied at 0.48 kg ha-1 of active ingredient, on desiccation of haulms, yield and some qualitative traits of tubers of three cultivars of early potatoes, a typical crop of southern Italy and large areas of the Mediterranean countries. RESULTS: Seven days after treatment desiccation reached 90% of leaves for all cultivars. At harvest, the highest desiccation percentage of haulms was 85% in Spunta. The desiccant did not affect yield in either year during which the analysis was carried out, but it increased the percentage of tubers in the range of 35-70 mm in diameter. In the first year, the treatment decreased dry matter and vitamin C content and increased free sugar concentration in tubers. In the second year, no negative effects on the nutritional traits were observed. Strong differences were found on yield and quality between the two years as a result of the different climatic conditions. CONCLUSION: In the two experiments GA had no influence on yield, but increased the percentage of potato tubers in the 35-70 mm range. From a qualitative standpoint in 2004 the chemical vine-killing treatment had some negative effects (decreased dry matter and vitamin C content, increased free sugar concentrations), whereas no such negative effects were observed in 2005. Copyright © 2009 Society of Chemical Industry