Genomic analysis and characterization of new loci associated with seed protein and oil content in soybeans.

Breeding for increased protein without a reduction in oil content in soybeans [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] is a challenge for soybean breeders but an expected goal. Many efforts have been made to develop new soybean varieties with high yield in combination with desirable protein and/or oil traits. An elite line, R05-1415, was reported to be high yielding, high protein, and low oil. Several significant quantitative trait loci (QTL) for protein and oil were reported in this line, but many of them were unstable across environments or genetic backgrounds. Thus, a new study under multiple field environments using the Infinium BARCSoySNP6K BeadChips was conducted to detect and confirm stable genomic loci for these traits. Genetic analyses consistently detected a single major genomic locus conveying these two traits with remarkably high phenotypic variation explained (R2 ), varying between 24.2% and 43.5%. This new genomic locus is located between 25.0 and 26.7 Mb, distant from the previously reported QTL and did not overlap with other commonly reported QTL and the recently cloned gene Glyma.20G085100. Homolog analysis indicated that this QTL did not result from the paracentric chromosome inversion with an adjacent genomic fragment that harbors the reported QTL. The pleiotropic effect of this QTL could be a challenge for improving protein and oil simultaneously; however, a further study of four candidate genes with significant expressions in the seed developmental stages coupled with haplotype analysis may be able to pinpoint causative genes. The functionality and roles of these genes can be determined and characterized, which lay a solid foundation for the improvement of protein and oil content in soybeans.

Genome-Wide Detection of Quantitative Trait Loci and Prediction of Candidate Genes for Seed Sugar Composition in Early Mature Soybean.

Seed sugar composition, mainly including fructose, glucose, sucrose, raffinose, and stachyose, is an important indicator of soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] seed quality. However, research on soybean sugar composition is limited. To better understand the genetic architecture underlying the sugar composition in soybean seeds, we conducted a genome-wide association study (GWAS) using a population of 323 soybean germplasm accessions which were grown and evaluated under three different environments. A total of 31,245 single-nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with minor allele frequencies (MAFs) ≥ 5% and missing data ≤ 10% were selected and used in the GWAS. The analysis identified 72 quantitative trait loci (QTLs) associated with individual sugars and 14 with total sugar. Ten candidate genes within the 100 Kb flanking regions of the lead SNPs across six chromosomes were significantly associated with sugar contents. According to GO and KEGG classification, eight genes were involved in the sugar metabolism in soybean and showed similar functions in Arabidopsis. The other two, located in known QTL regions associated with sugar composition, may play a role in sugar metabolism in soybean. This study advances our understanding of the genetic basis of soybean sugar composition and facilitates the identification of genes controlling this trait. The identified candidate genes will help improve seed sugar composition in soybean.

Effect of Planting Date and Cultivar Maturity in Edamame Quality and Harvest Window.

Edamame is a food-grade soybean [Glycine max (L.) Merr.] that is harvested immature between the R6 and R7 reproductive stages. To be labeled as a premium product, the edamame market demands large pod size and intense green color. A staggered harvest season is critical for the commercial industry to post-harvest process the crop in a timely manner. Currently, there is little information to assist in predicting the optimum time to harvest edamame when the pods are at their collective largest size and greenest color. The objectives of this study were to assess the impact of cultivar, planting date, and harvest date on edamame color, pod weight, and a newly minted Edamame Harvest Quality Index combining both aforementioned factors. And to predict edamame harvest quality based on phenological stages, thermal units, and planting dates. We observed that pod color and weight depended on the cultivar, planting date, and harvest date combination. Our results also indicated that edamame quality is increased with delayed planting dates and that quality was dependent on harvest date with a quadratic negative response to delaying harvest. Maximum quality depended on cultivar and planting and harvest dates, but it remained stable for an interval of 18-27 days around the peak. Finally, we observed that the number of days between R1 and harvest was consistently identified as a key factor driving edamame quality by both stepwise regression and neural network analysis. These research results will help define a planting and harvest strategy for edamame production in Arkansas and the United States Mid-South.

High adherence to malaria treatment: promising results of an adherence study in South Kivu, Democratic Republic of the Congo.

BACKGROUND: In resource-poor settings, treatment adherence is a major determinant of response to anti-malarial drugs as most are taken at home without medical supervision. Evidence on adherence to artemisinin-based combination therapy (ACT) is limited. The study aimed to measure adherence and identify reasons for non-adherence to a 3-day, fixed-dose combination (FDC) of artesunate-amodiaquine (ASAQ), the first-line treatment for uncomplicated malaria in the Médecins Sans Frontières project in the Shabunda Health Zone, South Kivu, Democratic Republic of Congo, a highly malarious and conflict-affected area. METHODS: The study took place in the health centres/outpatient departments of the Shabunda general hospital, the quarter Mbangayo, and participant households. Patients prescribed FDC ASAQ were visited at home on the day after their regimen finished and asked to complete an adherence questionnaire. Patients/caretakers were also interviewed when exiting the outpatient department to understand their attitude towards FDC ASAQ and assess the quality of the prescribing process. RESULTS: 148 patients/caretakers completed the adherence questionnaire: 11.5 % (17/148, 95 % CI 7-17) had ≥1 tablet left at the time of the home visit and were defined as certainly non-adherent; 13.5 % (20/148, 95 % CI 8-19) were probably non-adherent; thus total non-adherence was 25.0 % (37/148, 95 % CI 18-32). 75 % (111/148, 95 % CI 68-82) were defined as probably adherent. In exit interviews, 87.5 % (105/120) knew they had malaria or could name the correct signs/symptoms. 89 % (107/120) could identify FDC ASAQ as anti-malarials among all tablets given and correctly repeat the intake instructions given at the outpatient department. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first study to assess adherence to an FDC of ACT under real treatment conditions in a context of high instability. High quality prescribing of anti-malarials at health centre level and patient adherence to the correct intake of ACT were possible in this setting. Adherence to treatment regimen requires careful and constant monitoring which might be better guaranteed at health centre rather than community level. It could, nevertheless, be a precondition to the successful introduction of home- or community based management of malaria.

Screening a Diverse Soybean Germplasm Collection for Reaction to Purple Seed Stain Caused by Cercospora kikuchii.

Purple seed stain (PSS), caused by Cercospora kikuchii, is a prevalent soybean disease that causes latent seed infection, seed decay, purple seed discoloration, and overall quality deterioration. The objective of this research was to screen soybean accessions from the United States Department of Agriculture germplasm collection for resistance to PSS. In total, 123 plant introductions (PI) from 28 different countries, representing maturity groups (MG) III, IV, and V, were screened. Incidence of Cercospora leaf blight (% CLB), visual PSS (% PSS), and seed infected by C. kikuchii (% C. kikuchii) in harvested seed were determined. In 2007, % C. kikuchii was 2 to 51% for MG III, 2 to 35% for MG IV, and 0 to 33% for MG V. In 2008, % C. kikuchii was 0 to 45% for MG III, 1 to 71% for MG IV, and 0 to 15% for MG V. In total, four and ten PI from MG III and IV, respectively, were identified as resistant to PSS in both years. Highly positive correlations were found for inoculated versus noninoculated treatments and for % PSS versus % C. kikuchii infection. The PSS-resistant PI identified in this study will be valuable to breeders in developing resistant cultivars.

A vuelo de pájaro. Una mirada a la Salud Pública de Etiopía / No disponible

Pienso en Etiopía y no sé por dónde empezar, mezcla de sentimientos y mucha, pero mucha información… La vida y la muerte pueden convivir tan de cerca que cualquier experiencia se tiñe de una matiz especial. También llamada Abissinia, Etiopia sigue siendo hoy día tierra mítica y gracias a Lucy Australopithecus Afarensis es reconocida antropológicamente como el posible lugar de origen del género humano. Al mismo tiempo, es uno de los países en vías de desarrollo con indicadores de salud por debajo de la media mundial y un sistema relativamente joven que aun no termina de responder a las necesidades de su población. Al igual que otros países en las mismas características, los etíopes recurren a una mezcla de medicina tradicional vs servicios halopáticos mientras que las políticas nacionales siguen tratando de dar las pautas acordes a los lineamientos y metas mundiales, dando como resultado un panorama interesante para un salubrista público y cualquier personal sanitario interesado en la situación sanitaria de otros lugares (AU)

I think about Ethiopia and I am not clear how to start, a mixture of feelings and a lot of information is surrounding me… The life and death can stay so close that any experience has a special tone. Named Abissinia as well, Ethiopia is still today a mythic land. Due to “Lucy” Australopithecus Afarensis finding, it is acknowledged like the starting point of human being. In addition, it is one of the developing countries with core health indicators under world´ standard line and a “Fresh Health System” which still doesn’t cover properly the population’s needs. Like another country in this situation, the Ethiopian look for a mixture of Traditional medicine Vs Western one, meanwhile the National policies are trying of reach the aims and outlines fixed in the world. Like a result, there is an interesting landscape to any Public Health specialist and/or someone who can be interested in abroad sanitarian status (AU)

Evaluación de las constantes hematológicas determinadas por un autoanalizador / Evaluation of the hematological constants determined by self-analyzer

Las constantes hematológicas determinadas por métodos manuales han sido por muchos años un buen índice para estimar la normalidad o patología de las células rojas sanguíneas y según sus valores se han clasificado morfológicamente las anemias. El uso de los autoanalizadores hematológicos ha permitido aumentar la precisión de los parámetros de un hemograma, sin embargo, de las tres constantes determinadas, sólo el volumen corpuscular medio (VCM) es medido directamente, en cambio la hemoglobina corpuscular media (HCM) y la concentración de hemoglobina corpuscular media (CHCM) son calculadas por el instrumento. Nuestro propósito fue evaluar la utilidad de las constantes hematológicas determinadas por un autoanalizador, asociándolas con las características morfológicas de los eritrocitos. Se analizaron 1000 hemogramas realizados en un autoanalizador Cell-Dyn 1400 (Abbott), de pacientes que acuden al consultorio Miraflores en un período de dos meses. En cada caso se observaron las características de los hematíes al frotis. El análisis estadístico se efectuó mediante pruebas t Student, análisis de varianza, comparaciones múltiples de Bonferroni, prueba de Chi2 y regresión logística como modelo predictivo para la determinación de sensibilidad, especificidad y valores predictivos. Los resultados mostraron que el 83 por ciento de los casos con VCM normal presentó normocitosis y el 17 por ciento microcitosis. De los casos con HCM normal, el 97,5 por ciento se asoció con normocromía y el 2,5 por ciento presentó hipocromía. Respecto a la CHCM normal, el 79 por ciento presentó normocromía y en el 21 por ciento se observó hipocromía. Al calcular la sensibilidad y especificidad de las constantes se obtuvo para el VCM: 86,8 por ciento y 87,8 por ciento, para la HCM: 97,5 por ciento y 74,7 por ciento, para la CHCM: 21,5 por ciento y 99 por ciento respectivamente. Se concluye que, de las constantes hematológicas evaluadas, la CHCM no se presenta como una medida válida, ya que en un alto porcentaje de los pacientes con hipocromía al frotis, el autoanalizador entregó un CHCM normal (78 por ciento de falsos negativos), por el contrario, la HCM presentó una alta sensibilidad y un buen rendimiento en la predicción de la hipocromía al frotis (2,5 por ciento de falsos negativos)

Suplementación de hierro en lactantes mapuches de la Provincia de Cautin, Chile / Iron supplementation in Chilean Mapuche infants

Con el propósito de profundizar la caracterización del metabolismo del hierro, en lactantes mapuches, se realizó un estudio de suplementación con Sulfato Ferroso (Fer-In-Sol) de 1.8 ml diarios durante 90 días, a 76 lactantes mapuches de 12 meses de edad, de ambos sexos, rurales, de la Provincia de Cautín. se evaluó la nutrición de hierro antes y después de la suplementación, mediante: Hemoglobina, Hematocrito, Saturación de Transferrina (Fe/IBC) y Ferritina Sérica. Para confirmar la ingesta del suplemento, se tomó en el domicilio de los lactantes, muestras de deposiciones para medir el hierro excretado. Para estudiar el aporte de hierro dietario, se aplicó la Encuesta Recordatorio 24 hrs (ER) y análisis Químico Proximal (AQP), en muestras de comidas obtenidas en los hogares de los lactantes. La prevalencia de anemia a los meses, antes de iniciar la suplementación fue de 28.3 por ciento, la que desapareció complementamente como producto de la intervención. El 65.3 por ciento de los lactantes, aumentaron su Hemoglobina en 1 g o más, lo que índica que eran anémicos al iniciar la suplementación. Es decir, mediante esta prueba terapéutica se pesquizó un 31 por ciento más de lactantes anémicos, lo que indica mayor sensibilidad de este método. La alta prevalencia de anemia se debe fundamentalmente, a la baja ingesta de hierro dietético, que según la ER alcanza un promedio de 2.8 ñ 1.2 mg de Fe/día, versus 4.8 ñ 4.0 mg de Fe/día, según AQP. La diferencia entre ambos aportes demostró que hay un proceso de contaminación ambiental de los alimentos, por el uso de utensilios de hierro y el gran contacto con la tierra. Este hecho también se pudo comprobar por la alta excreción de Fe a través de las deposiciones (140 mg de Fe/100 g deposiciones), cifra considerablemente más alta, que las reportadas en lactantes urbanos (30 mg de Fe/100 g deposiciones). Este método para medir la excreción de Fe del suplemento, no discrimina entre la excreción de la ingesta y la contaminación ambiental, que es extremadamente alta. Sin embargo, en el grupo suplementado, la excreción fue considerablemente más alta que en el grupo control, lo que estaría comprobado la ingesta de Fe. Para prevenir el desarrollo de anemia por carencia de hierro, en los lactantes, se hace imprescindible, dar un alimento fortificado con hierro, a partir de los 6 meses de vida como complemento de la leche materna