Development of a risk prediction score for acute kidney injury in critically-ill septic Filipino patients admitted in perpetual succour hospital

Introduction@#Acute kidney injury (AKI) is a lethal complication of critical illness characterized by the rapid loss of the kidney's excretory function encountered in 50% of intensive care unit (ICU) admissions. Its impact on the outcome of critically ill patients makes AKI a significant cause of morbidity and mortality.@*Objectives@#To develop and validate an acute kidney injury risk prediction score based on routinely available variables and common laboratories of admitted critically-ill septic Filipino patients.@*Methods@#This is a prospective cohort study conducted in a tertiary hospital in Cebu from February to September 2020. The data of 2545 patients were identified by chart review but only 607 patients with a quick Sepsis Organ Failure Assessment Score (qSOFA) score of >2 were included in the pre-screening. After stratified sampling, a total of 198 septic ICU patients were enrolled. Demographic profile, laboratory results and outcome data were collated. Variables were screened then stepwise forward elimination was done to identify the significant predictors. An AKI risk score model was developed with binomial regression analysis by identifying independent prognostic factors. The diagnostic ability of the model was determined by the Area under the Receiver Operating Characteristics (AuROC).@*Results@#AKI developed in 155 (78%) patients. The significant predictors for Acute Kidney Injury were age, hypertension, atherosclerotic cardiovascular disease, weight, white blood count, creatinine, and BUN. An AKI prediction model with a cut off score of 161.9 was made with a fair diagnostic ability for predicting AKI at 0.79 based on AuROC.@*Conclusion@#The developed risk prediction tool using routinely available variables is found to be fairly accurate to predict the development of AKI among critically ill septic patients.

Stability Analysis and Heterotic Studies in Maize (Zea mays L.) Inbreds to Develop Hybrids With Low Phytic Acid and High-Quality Protein.

Maize is a major staple crop with high value as food and feed in the poultry sector. Considering the overall nutritional value, maize-based diets comprise two major constraints, i.e., higher phytic acid (PA) and lack of tryptophan. To overcome these issues, a set of identified stable donors for low PA (lpa) and higher tryptophan were crossed in a line × tester fashion, and the hybrids obtained were evaluated at three locations with two replications. Among the inbreds for yield, UMI 1201 and UMI 1205 were the stable good combiners, and for PA, UMI 447 and LPA-2-285 were identified as efficient combiners across locations. Subsequently, 72 hybrids developed from these inbreds had a reduced phytate and higher tryptophan compared with checks having alterations in their yield levels. From Additive Main Effects and Multiplicative Interaction (AMMI) and Genotype main effect plus genotype-by-environment interaction (GGE) biplots, DMR-QPM-09-13-1 × UMI 1099 (PA:9.38 mg/g, trp:0.06%, and yield:184.35 g) and UMI 1205 × UMI 467 (PA:7.04 mg/g, trp:0.06%, and yield:166.39 g) were stable for their high yield with medium PA and tryptophan. Also, across environments, UMI 1200 × UMI 467 had a stable average yield of 129.91 g along with the lowest PA of 4.50 mg/g and higher tryptophan of 0.07%. Thus, these hybrids could be selected and evaluated in upcoming biofortification trials to benefit the poultry sector. Furthermore, the parental inbreds utilized were grouped into heterotic pools to serve as a source population for the development of lpa hybrids in future programs.

Marker-aided selection and validation of various Pi gene combinations for rice blast resistance in elite rice variety ADT 43.

Rice blast caused by fungal pathogen Pyricularia oryzae has a major impact on reducing yield potential of rice. In this study, homozygous plants were selected using microsatellite markers from the BC3F2 population pyramided with four major genes in elite rice variety ADT 43. Background and selected lines with various blast resistance gene combinations were screened under natural conditions to study the effects of various gene combinations. Upon inspection of lines with different gene combinations, the three-gene pyramided line Pi54+Pi33+Pi1 was found to be highly resistant with the score of 3.3 followed by other three-gene pyramided lines Pi54+Pi2+Pi1 and Pi33+Pi2+Pi1, with the scores of 3.9 and 3.8, respectively. Two-gene pyramided lines Pi54+Pi1, Pi33+Pi1 and Pi2+Pi1 were found to be moderately resistant with a mean score of 4.0 each. In the case of monogenic lines, positive plants for Pi54 performed almost equal to three-gene pyramided lines with a mean score of 3.6. Lines with Pi and Pi1 were found to be moderately resistant and moderately susceptible with the mean scores of 4.1 and 4.5, respectively.