Genotype-by-environment interactions and local adaptation shape selection in the US National Chip Processing Trial.

KEY MESSAGE: We find evidence of selection for local adaptation and extensive genotype-by-environment interaction in the potato National Chip Processing Trial (NCPT). We present a novel method for dissecting the interplay between selection, local adaptation and environmental response in plant breeding schemes. Balancing local adaptation and the desire for widely adapted cultivars is challenging for plant breeders and makes genotype-by-environment interactions (GxE) an important target of selection. Selecting for GxE requires plant breeders to evaluate plants across multiple environments. One way breeders have accomplished this is to test advanced materials across many locations. Public potato breeders test advanced breeding material in the National Chip Processing Trial (NCPT), a public-private partnership where breeders from ten institutions submit advanced chip lines to be evaluated in up to ten locations across the country. These clones are genotyped and phenotyped for important agronomic traits. We used these data to interrogate the NCPT for GxE. Further, because breeders submitting clones to the NCPT select in a relatively small geographic range for the first 3 years of selection, we examined these data for evidence of incidental selection for local adaptation, and the alleles underlying it, using an environmental genome-wide association study (envGWAS). We found genomic regions associated with continuous environmental variables and discrete breeding programs, as well as regions of the genome potentially underlying GxE for yield.

Seasonal Occurrence of Potato Psyllid (Bactericera Cockerelli) and Risk of Zebra Chip Pathogen (Candidatus Liberibacter Solanacearum) in Northwestern New Mexico.

Potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli) is one of the most important pests in potatoes (Solanum tuberosum L.) due to its feeding behavior and the transmission of a bacterium (Candidatus Liberibacter solanacearum) that causes zebra chip disease, altering the quality of the potato tuber and the fried potato chip or french fry. This pest is thus a threat to the chip potato industry and often requires preventive measures including the use of costly insecticides. The objectives of this research were to monitor the variation in B. cockerelli adult abundance and to evaluate the risk of zebra chip disease in northwestern New Mexico, USA. Yellow sticky traps were used to collect the pest at the Agricultural Experiment Station at Farmington, NM and in nearby commercial fields at the Navajo Agricultural Products Industry (NAPI) and Navajo Mesa Farms during the 2017-2019 period. The collected adult pests were analyzed at Texas A & M University for the presence of Candidatus L. solanacearum (Lso). The results showed field infestation by B. cockerelli in early June and that the population peaked during the second half of July and decreased as the potato growing season progressed. However, a second less important peak of the pest was revealed around mid- to late-August, depending on the growing season and field. While the B. cockerelli population increased linearly with average air temperature, it showed strong third order polynomial relationships with the accumulated thermal units and the Julian days. The test of B. cockerelli for the Lso infection revealed a low incidence of the pathogen varying from 0.22% to 6.25% and the infected adult B. cockerelli were collected during the population peak period. The results of this study may be helpful to potato growers in pest management decision-making and control. However, more study is needed to evaluate zebra chip disease in terms of its prevention and economic impact, and to develop economic thresholds and pest management programs for northwestern New Mexico and neighboring regions.

Population Dynamics of Six Major Insect Pests During Multiple Crop Growing Seasons in Northwestern New Mexico.

This study was conducted to monitor the population dynamics of six major insect pests at the NMSU Agricultural Science Center at Farmington (ASC-Farmington) and within an adjacent commercial farm (Navajo Agricultural Products Industry, NAPI) for more effective and efficient pest management during the 2013-2019 period. Specific pheromone traps, sticky and net traps were used to collects moths of beet armyworm (Spodoptera exigua), cabbage looper (Trichoplusia ni), corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea), fall armyworm (Spodoptera frugiperda), potato psyllid (Bactericera cockerelli), and western bean cutworm (Striacosta albicosta). These insects generally appear in early June and their population decreases toward the end of August/early September with different peak times and magnitudes during July and August. Bactericera cockerelli was not substantially present in the commercial farm due to intensive insecticide application. Overall, all six insect species were present at ASC-Farmington, with relative abundance, in percent of the total collected moths by all traps, varying from 6.5 to 19% for Trichoplusia ni, 16 to 29.2% for Spodoptera exigua, 1.5 to 20.6% for Striacosta albicosta, 10 to 25% for Helicoverpa zea, 18.5 to 25.6% for Spodoptera frugiperda and 8.5 to 26.9% for Bactericera cockerelli. In NAPI's commercial field, while the potato psyllid Bactericera cockerelli was not recorded, Trichoplusia ni and Spodoptera exigua showed decreasing rates that varied from 27.5 to 4.2% and from 49.3 to 7.8%, respectively. Striacosta albicosta, Helicoverpa zea and Spodoptera exigua showed increasing rates varying from 2.9 to 28%, from 7.8 to 25.3% and from 10.9 to 52%, respectively. The results of this study could serve as a guideline for sustainable management strategies for each of the six species for production profitability.

Prevalence of sleep disorders and sleep problems in an elite super rugby union team.

The aim of this study was to determine the prevalence of sleep disorders in an elite rugby union team using in-laboratory polysomnography (PSG) and sleep questionnaires. Twenty-five elite rugby union players underwent a night of PSG during the "off-season" of the Super Rugby competition to assess their sleep. Of interest were measurements that detected the presence of obstructive sleep apnea (OSA; apnea-hypopnea index ≥5 events/hr) and the presence of moderate-severe periodic leg movements during sleep (PLMs; ≥15 events/hr). Players completed sleep-related questionnaires to assess daytime sleepiness, perception of insomnia, risk of OSA, and the presence of restless legs syndrome (RLS) and underwent basic anthropometric assessments including body mass index and neck circumference. OSA was present in 24% (n=6) of players and PLMs ≥15 events/hr in 12% (n=3). Questionnaire responses showed that all players had insomnia defined subthreshold insomnia and excessive daytime sleepiness, two players were identified as being at risk for OSA and none were classified as having RLS. In conclusion, sleep disorders and excessive sleepiness are common in elite rugby union players. A process to identify and manage sleep disorders should be considered by teams to optimise their physical recovery, athletic performance and to safeguard their health.

Caffeine use in a Super Rugby game and its relationship to post-game sleep.

OBJECTIVE: To examine the relationship between regular game-related caffeine consumption on sleep after an evening Super Rugby game. METHODS: Twenty elite rugby union players wore a wrist-activity monitor to measure sleep for three days before, three days after and on the night of an evening Super Rugby game (19:00-21:00). Players ingested caffeine as they would normally (i.e. before and sometimes during a game) and saliva samples were collected before (17:00) and after (21:30) the game for caffeine concentration. RESULTS: Compared to the nights leading up to the game, on the night of the game, players went to bed 3 h later (23:08 ± 66 min vs 02:11 ± 114 min; p < .001) and had 1:30 hh:mm less sleep (5:54 ± 2:59 vs 8:02 ± 1:24 hh:mm; p < .05) and four players did not sleep after the game. Post-game caffeine saliva concentrations were greater than pre-game levels in 17 players (Pre-game 0.40 µg/mL vs Post-game 2.77 µg/mL; p < .001). The increase in caffeine saliva concentrations was moderately associated with an increase in sleep latency (p < .05), a decrease in sleep efficiency (p < .05), and a trend for a decrease in sleep duration (p = .06) on game night. CONCLUSION: Caffeine consumption before a Super Rugby game markedly increases post-game saliva caffeine levels. This may contribute to the observed 3.5 h delay in time at sleep onset and the 1.5 h reduction in sleep duration on the night of the game. This study highlights the need for a strategic approach to the use of caffeine within a Super Rugby team considering the potential effect on post-game sleep.

Acute versus Chronic Myocardial Infarction: Diagnostic Accuracy of Quantitative Native T1 and T2 Mapping versus Assessment of Edema on Standard T2-weighted Cardiovascular MR Images for Differentiation.

Purpose To analyze the diagnostic accuracy of native T1 and T2 mapping compared with visual and quantitative assessment of edema on T2-weighted cardiac magnetic resonance (MR) images to differentiate between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Materials and Methods This study had institutional ethics committee approval. Written informed consent was obtained from 67 consecutive patients (57 years ± 12; 78% men) with a first acute myocardial infarction, who were prospectively enrolled between April 2011 and June 2015. Four serial 1.5-T MR imaging examinations were performed at 8 days ± 5, 7 weeks ± 2, 3 months ± 0.5, and 6 months ± 1.4 after infarction and included T2-weighted, native T1/T2 mapping, and late gadolinium enhancement MR imaging. Complete follow-up data were obtained in 42 patients. Regional native T1/T2 relaxation time, T2-weighted ratio, and extracellular volume were serially measured in infarcted and remote myocardium. Receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis was used to determine the diagnostic accuracy of the MR imaging parameters for discriminating between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Results Native T1 of infarcted myocardium decreased from 1286 msec ± 99 at baseline to 1077 msec ± 50 at 6 months (P < .0001), whereas T2 decreased from 84 msec ± 10 to 58 msec ± 4 (P < .0001). The T2-weighted ratio decreased from 4.1 ± 1.0 to 2.4 ± 0.6 (P < .0001). Of all the MR imaging parameters obtained, native T1 and T2 yielded the best areas under the ROC curve (AUCs) of 0.975 and 0.979, respectively, for differentiating between acute and chronic myocardial infarction. Visual analysis of the presence of edema at standard T2-weighted cardiac MR imaging resulted in an inferior AUC of 0.863 (P < .01). Conclusion Native T1 and T2 of infarcted myocardium are excellent discriminators between acute and chronic myocardial infarction and are superior to all other MR imaging parameters. Online supplemental material is available for this article.

An insect-inspired model for visual binding I: learning objects and their characteristics.

Visual binding is the process of associating the responses of visual interneurons in different visual submodalities all of which are responding to the same object in the visual field. Recently identified neuropils in the insect brain termed optic glomeruli reside just downstream of the optic lobes and have an internal organization that could support visual binding. Working from anatomical similarities between optic and olfactory glomeruli, we have developed a model of visual binding based on common temporal fluctuations among signals of independent visual submodalities. Here we describe and demonstrate a neural network model capable both of refining selectivity of visual information in a given visual submodality, and of associating visual signals produced by different objects in the visual field by developing inhibitory neural synaptic weights representing the visual scene. We also show that this model is consistent with initial physiological data from optic glomeruli. Further, we discuss how this neural network model may be implemented in optic glomeruli at a neuronal level.

An insect-inspired model for visual binding II: functional analysis and visual attention.

We have developed a neural network model capable of performing visual binding inspired by neuronal circuitry in the optic glomeruli of flies: a brain area that lies just downstream of the optic lobes where early visual processing is performed. This visual binding model is able to detect objects in dynamic image sequences and bind together their respective characteristic visual features-such as color, motion, and orientation-by taking advantage of their common temporal fluctuations. Visual binding is represented in the form of an inhibitory weight matrix which learns over time which features originate from a given visual object. In the present work, we show that information represented implicitly in this weight matrix can be used to explicitly count the number of objects present in the visual image, to enumerate their specific visual characteristics, and even to create an enhanced image in which one particular object is emphasized over others, thus implementing a simple form of visual attention. Further, we present a detailed analysis which reveals the function and theoretical limitations of the visual binding network and in this context describe a novel network learning rule which is optimized for visual binding.

Assessment of Left Ventricular Enlargement at Multidetector Computed Tomography.

PURPOSE: Because left ventricular (LV) enlargement (LVE) is indicative of an array of cardiac pathologies, including cardiomyopathic, ischemic, and valvular heart diseases, it is important to recognize it early in the course of these diseases. The recognition of LVE on nongated contrast-enhanced computed tomography (CT) scans should be facilitated by the availability of a dimensional index. To our knowledge, no CT index of LVE has been proposed. Therefore, the study aimed to define whether the maximum LV diameter (LVd) measured on nongated multidetector computed tomography can identify LVE when referencing echocardiography as the diagnostic standard. MATERIALS AND METHODS: The patient population consisted of 438 consecutive patients who had a contrast-enhanced, nongated 16- or 64-detector CT of the chest for evaluation of pulmonary embolism or aortic dissection between January 2006 and March 2008. One hundred fifty-five patients in this group also had an echocardiogram within 2 months of the CT study. The maximum LV cavity size, septal to lateral wall dimension, was measured perpendicularly to the long axis of the left ventricle on the axial CT scans by 2 observers blinded to the echocardiography data.An receiver operating characteristic analysis was performed to identify a highly specific cutoff for the diagnosis of LVE on CT, using echocardiogram as the standard of reference. Interobserver agreement was assessed using Bland-Altman analysis. RESULTS: A total of 84 females and 71 males were evaluated (female to male ratio of 1.09). The mean age for the 155 patients was 58 years. Six percent of these patients had a diagnosis of LVE on 2-dimensional echocardiography. The mean (SEM) LV internal diameter at nongated multidetector computed tomography between the group with normal LV and the group with LVE by echocardiography was 4.4 (0.7) cm for the normal LV and 5.9 (1.2) cm for the dilated LVs (P < 0.0001). With the use of threshold value of LVd of 5.6 cm, a sensitivity of 78%, specificity of 100%, positive likelihood ratio of 113.5, and negative likelihood ratio of 0.22 were calculated. The LVd measurements had an excellent agreement between observers on the Bland-Altman analysis. CONCLUSIONS: Left ventricular enlargement can be reliably identified on nongated contrast-enhanced multidetector CT when the maximum luminal diameter of the LV is greater than 5.6 cm. Nongated contrast-enhanced CT scan can be used to recognize LVE.

Low-intensity late gadolinium enhancement predominates in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

AIM: Assess the extent of low- versus high-intensity late gadolinium enhancement (LGE) in hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM). METHODS: Low- versus high-intensity LGE indexed volumes in 19 HCM patients were compared to 23 myocardial infarction (MI) patients. RESULTS: Total, low-, and high-intensity LGE volumes in HCM vs. MI were 7.6ml/m(2), 4.7, and 2.4 vs. 11.2, 2.5, and 7.1, respectively. Total LGE volume did not differ (P=.13), though low- and high-intensity did (P=.05, .004). 67% versus 26% of all LGE was low-intensity in HCM versus MI (P<.001). CONCLUSIONS: LGE in HCM is predominantly low-intensity, so a low threshold may be the most appropriate.

Advances in MR imaging assessment of adults with congenital heart disease.

Many novel cardiac MR sequences can be used for assessment of adult patients with congenital heart disease. Although most of these techniques are still primarily used in the research arena, there are many potential applications in clinical practice. Advanced cardiac MR assessment of myocardial tissue characterization, flow hemodynamics, and myocardial strain are promising tools for diagnostic and prognostic assessment late after repair of congenital heart diseases.

Cardiac radiology: centenary review.

During the past century, cardiac imaging technologies have revolutionized the diagnosis and treatment of acquired and congenital heart disease. Many important contributions to the field of cardiac imaging were initially reported in Radiology. The field developed from the early stages of cardiac imaging, including the use of coronary x-ray angiography and roentgen kymography, to nowadays the widely used echocardiographic, nuclear medicine, cardiac computed tomographic (CT), and magnetic resonance (MR) applications. It is surprising how many of these techniques were not recognized for their potential during their early inception. Some techniques were described in the literature but required many years to enter the clinical arena and presently continue to expand in terms of clinical application. The application of various CT and MR contrast agents for the diagnosis of myocardial ischemia is a case in point, as the utility of contrast agents continues to expand the noninvasive characterization of myocardium. The history of cardiac imaging has included a continuous process of advances in our understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the cardiovascular system, along with advances in imaging technology that continue to the present day.

A visual motion detecting module for dragonfly-controlled robots.

When imitating biological sensors, we have not completely understood the early processing of the input to reproduce artificially. Building hybrid systems with both artificial and real biological components is a promising solution. For example, when a dragonfly is used as a living sensor, the early processing of visual information is performed fully in the brain of the dragonfly. The only significant remaining tasks are recording and processing neural signals in software and/or hardware. Based on existing works which focused on recording neural signals, this paper proposes a software application of neural information processing to design a visual processing module for dragonfly hybrid bio-robots. After a neural signal is recorded in real-time, the action potentials can be detected and matched with predefined templates to detect when and which descending neurons fire. The output of the proposed system will be used to control other parts of the robot platform.

CMR assessment of right ventricular function in patients with combined pulmonary stenosis and insufficiency after correction of tetralogy of Fallot.

BACKGROUND: Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is one of the most common types of congenital heart disease and requires prompt surgical correction. Post-correction pulmonary insufficiency (PI) often ensues in adulthood. At times, the PI is accompanied by residual pulmonary stenosis (PS). Little is known regarding right ventricular (RV) function in the setting of combined PS and PI. PURPOSE: To compare cardiac magnetic resonance (CMR) parameters for the assessment of RV function between patients with combined pulmonary stenosis and pulmonary insufficiency (PSPI) and isolated PI following surgical repair of TOF. MATERIAL AND METHODS: Retrospective review of patients with comparable corrected TOF and similar PI was performed. Seventeen patients (median age, 24 years; range, 10-52 years) had combined PSPI and 30 patients (median age, 30 years; range, 6-70 years) had isolated PI. Cine magnetic resonance (MR) images (Philips Medical Systems, Best, The Netherlands) in the short-axis plane were used to calculate end-systolic, end-diastolic, and stroke volumes (RVESV, RVEDV, RVSV) and to measure RV wall thickness. Velocity-encoded cine MR images were used to measure pulmonary regurgitation fraction (PRF) by calculating the ratio of backward flow and total forward flow, obtained from the main pulmonary flow analysis. Peak pressure gradient across the pulmonary valve was obtained from spectral Doppler echocardiography. RESULTS: RVEF was 51 ± 8% in the PSPI patients and 39 ± 11%, in the patients with isolated PI (P = 0.001). Additionally, RV wall thickness was 5.2 ± 0.8 mm in the PSPI patients compared to 2.6 ± 0.9 mm in the isolated PI patients (P = 0.001). RVESVi and RVEDVi were significantly lower (P < 0.05) in patients with combined PSPI (60 ± 21 mL/m(2), 121 ± 35 mL/m(2), respectively) compared to the patients with isolated PI (95 ± 48 mL/m(2), 152 ± 61 mL/m(2), respectively). CONCLUSION: RV function is preserved in patients with PSPI when compared to patients with PI following surgical repair of TOF.

Cardiovascular MR imaging after surgical correction of tetralogy of Fallot: approach based on understanding of surgical procedures.

Tetralogy of Fallot (TOF) is one of the most common congenital heart diseases for which patients are referred for postoperative magnetic resonance (MR) imaging evaluation. The most common surgical procedures for TOF repair include infundibulectomy, transannular pulmonary artery patch repair, and right ventricle-pulmonary artery conduit placement. In the past few decades, surgery has proved successful, but most patients require repeat imaging throughout their lives. MR imaging is now frequently used for morphologic and functional evaluation after TOF repair. The most common late postoperative sequelae and residual lesions include right ventricular outflow tract aneurysm and dyskinesis, conduit failure, pulmonary regurgitation, tricuspid regurgitation, right ventricular failure, residual main and branch pulmonary artery stenosis, branch pulmonary artery aneurysm, left pulmonary artery kinking, and residual or recurrent ventricular septal defect. The imaging approach for the evaluation of patients with repaired TOF should be guided by the surgical procedure used and the complications that are expected. Knowledge of the most common postoperative problems and their cardiovascular MR imaging appearances is essential for good radiology practice in this clinical setting.

Delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging in nonischemic myocardial disease.

This review highlights the role of delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging for the diagnosis of patients with nonischemic myocardial disease. The authors discuss the use of delayed enhancement for differentiation between ischemic and nonischemic myocardial disease and for narrowing the differential diagnosis when nonischemic etiologies are suspected. In addition, special focus is given to the prognostic applications of delayed enhancement magnetic resonance imaging.

Magnetic resonance imaging of hypertrophic cardiomyopathy.

Hypertrophic cardiomyopathy (HCM) is a genetically inherited disease with a wide spectrum of phenotypic presentations. It is crucial to establish an early diagnosis and identify patients at high risk for sudden death. Cardiac magnetic resonance can provide subclinical diagnosis, quantification of severity of known disease, risk stratification, and assessment of response to therapy for HCM. This pictorial review summarizes the main magnetic resonance appearances of HCM and its differential diagnosis.

Zoonotic infections among employees from Great Smoky Mountains and Rocky Mountain National Parks, 2008-2009.

U.S. National Park Service employees may have prolonged exposure to wildlife and arthropods, placing them at increased risk of infection with endemic zoonoses. To evaluate possible zoonotic risks present at both Great Smoky Mountains (GRSM) and Rocky Mountain (ROMO) National Parks, we assessed park employees for baseline seroprevalence to specific zoonotic pathogens, followed by evaluation of incident infections over a 1-year study period. Park personnel showed evidence of prior infection with a variety of zoonotic agents, including California serogroup bunyaviruses (31.9%), Bartonella henselae (26.7%), spotted fever group rickettsiae (22.2%), Toxoplasma gondii (11.1%), Anaplasma phagocytophilum (8.1%), Brucella spp. (8.9%), flaviviruses (2.2%), and Bacillus anthracis (1.5%). Over a 1-year study period, we detected incident infections with leptospirosis (5.7%), B. henselae (5.7%), spotted fever group rickettsiae (1.5%), T. gondii (1.5%), B. anthracis (1.5%), and La Crosse virus (1.5%) in staff members at GRSM, and with spotted fever group rickettsiae (8.5%) and B. henselae (4.3%) in staff at ROMO. The risk of any incident infection was greater for employees who worked as resource managers (OR 7.4; 95% CI 1.4,37.5; p=0.02), and as law enforcement rangers/rescue crew (OR 6.5; 95% CI 1.1,36.5; p=0.03), relative to those who worked primarily in administration or management. The results of this study increase our understanding of the pathogens circulating within both parks, and can be used to inform the development of effective guidelines and interventions to increase visitor and staff awareness and help prevent exposure to zoonotic agents.

Tracking improves performance of biological collision avoidance models.

Collision avoidance models derived from the study of insect brains do not perform universally well in practical collision scenarios, although the insects themselves may perform well in similar situations. In this article, we present a detailed simulation analysis of two well-known collision avoidance models and illustrate their limitations. In doing so, we present a novel continuous-time implementation of a neuronally based collision avoidance model. We then show that visual tracking can improve performance of these models by allowing an relative computation of the distance between the obstacle and the observer. We compare the results of simulations of the two models with and without tracking to show how tracking improves the ability of the model to detect an imminent collision. We present an implementation of one of these models processing imagery from a camera to show how it performs in real-world scenarios. These results suggest that insects may track looming objects with their gaze.