Genetic diversity and structure of Iberian Peninsula cowpeas compared to world-wide cowpea accessions using high density SNP markers

Cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp) is an important legume crop due to its high protein content, adaptation to heat and drought and capacity to fix nitrogen. Europe has a deficit of cowpea production. Knowledge of genetic diversity among cowpea landraces is important for the preservation of local varieties and is the basis to obtain improved varieties. The aims of this study were to explore diversity and the genetic structure of a set of Iberian Peninsula cowpea accessions in comparison to a worldwide collection and to infer possible dispersion routes of cultivated cowpea.This study was supported by EUROLEGUME project. This project has received funding from the European Union’s Seventh Framework Programme for research, technological development and demonstration under grant agreement no 613781. European Investment Funds by FEDER/COMPETE/ POCI – Operational Competitiveness and Internationalization Programme, under Project POCI-01-0145-FEDER-006958 and National Funds by FCT – Portuguese Foundation for Science and Technology, under the project UID/AGR/04033/2013. MMA was partially supported by the Feed the Future Innovation Lab for Climate Resilient Cowpea (USAID Cooperative Agreement AID-OAA-A-13-00070), which is directed by TJC. The funding entities had no role in the design of the study, collection, analysis and interpretation of data, or in writing the manuscript.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Iron Behaving Badly: Inappropriate Iron Chelation as a Major Contributor to the Aetiology of Vascular and Other Progressive Inflammatory and Degenerative Diseases

The production of peroxide and superoxide is an inevitable consequence of aerobic metabolism, and while these particular "reactive oxygen species" (ROSs) can exhibit a number of biological effects, they are not of themselves excessively reactive and thus they are not especially damaging at physiological concentrations. However, their reactions with poorly liganded iron species can lead to the catalytic production of the very reactive and dangerous hydroxyl radical, which is exceptionally damaging, and a major cause of chronic inflammation. We review the considerable and wide-ranging evidence for the involvement of this combination of (su)peroxide and poorly liganded iron in a large number of physiological and indeed pathological processes and inflammatory disorders, especially those involving the progressive degradation of cellular and organismal performance. These diseases share a great many similarities and thus might be considered to have a common cause (i.e. iron-catalysed free radical and especially hydroxyl radical generation). The studies reviewed include those focused on a series of cardiovascular, metabolic and neurological diseases, where iron can be found at the sites of plaques and lesions, as well as studies showing the significance of iron to aging and longevity. The effective chelation of iron by natural or synthetic ligands is thus of major physiological (and potentially therapeutic) importance. As systems properties, we need to recognise that physiological observables have multiple molecular causes, and studying them in isolation leads to inconsistent patterns of apparent causality when it is the simultaneous combination of multiple factors that is responsible. This explains, for instance, the decidedly mixed effects of antioxidants that have been observed, etc...Comment: 159 pages, including 9 Figs and 2184 reference

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Global variation in anastomosis and end colostomy formation following left-sided colorectal resection

Background End colostomy rates following colorectal resection vary across institutions in high-income settings, being influenced by patient, disease, surgeon and system factors. This study aimed to assess global variation in end colostomy rates after left-sided colorectal resection. Methods This study comprised an analysis of GlobalSurg-1 and -2 international, prospective, observational cohort studies (2014, 2016), including consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency left-sided colorectal resection within discrete 2-week windows. Countries were grouped into high-, middle- and low-income tertiles according to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Factors associated with colostomy formation versus primary anastomosis were explored using a multilevel, multivariable logistic regression model. Results In total, 1635 patients from 242 hospitals in 57 countries undergoing left-sided colorectal resection were included: 113 (6·9 per cent) from low-HDI, 254 (15·5 per cent) from middle-HDI and 1268 (77·6 per cent) from high-HDI countries. There was a higher proportion of patients with perforated disease (57·5, 40·9 and 35·4 per cent; P < 0·001) and subsequent use of end colostomy (52·2, 24·8 and 18·9 per cent; P < 0·001) in low- compared with middle- and high-HDI settings. The association with colostomy use in low-HDI settings persisted (odds ratio (OR) 3·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·35 to 7·57; P = 0·008) after risk adjustment for malignant disease (OR 2·34, 1·65 to 3·32; P < 0·001), emergency surgery (OR 4·08, 2·73 to 6·10; P < 0·001), time to operation at least 48 h (OR 1·99, 1·28 to 3·09; P = 0·002) and disease perforation (OR 4·00, 2·81 to 5·69; P < 0·001). Conclusion Global differences existed in the proportion of patients receiving end stomas after left-sided colorectal resection based on income, which went beyond case mix alone

Effects of sucrose on development of cultures of some accessions of Dioscorea spp

The method of micropropagation was used to establish nodal cultures of D. rotundata, D. alata, D. praehensilis, D. dumetorum, D. esculenta and D. cayenensis on 6 ml or 8 ml MS medium supplemented with 2.5 &mu;M kinetin. The cultures were incubated at 28&ordm;C and 16 h photoperiod at 4500 Lux, on 3%, 5%, 7%, and 10% sucrose, with a sucrose-free medium as control in a CRD design. Generally, increase in sucrose concentration significantly (P&le;0.05) enhanced the rate of survival and growth of the Dioscorea cultures. Mean shoot height and root formation were high-est in D. rotundata cultures on full-strength MS medium containing 10% sucrose compared to half-strength MS medium. However, 7% sucrose stimulated the highest rate of vigorous growth of healthy cultures, leaf formation and plantlet production among the Dioscorea spp. It also enhanced development of bud primordia to regenerate plantlets in D. rotundata meristem cultures. There was a positive correlation (r=0.983) between the rate of leaf production and shoot height. It was evident that 5% and 7% sucrose were more effective for culture development towards multiple bud, lateral and terminal bud differentiation in most of the Dioscorea spp as well as re-duced the duration for plantlet development and the demand for regular sub-culturing since the growth phase of cultures could be prolonged. However, D. esculenta cultures appeared to grow better on 3% sucrose than the other Dioscorea spp tested, suggesting that the optimum sucrose concentration required to initiate and establish culture differs significantly among various Dioscorea species

Evaluation of agro-morphological diversity in some segregating lines of cowpea (Vigna un-guiculata L. WALP)

A study was conducted to evaluate agro-morphological characteristics of some segregating lines of eight accessions of cowpea (Vigna unguiculata L. Walp.) using seeds from a first cycle generation progenies. Eight cowpea accessions [GH36841 (red), GH3684B4 (mottle brown), GH 3684B5 (mottle brown), GH3684A2 (red), GH3684C2 (red), GHUCO1BL (black), GH3684BL, (black) and GH7184BL (black with spots)] and an out group IT97K-499-35 (white) were culti-vated under field conditions. Twenty three agro-morphological traits were assessed for thirty three lines of cowpea. A dendrogram generated using 23 agro-morphological characters distinguished the cowpea accessions into two lineages, with the out-group being the most diverse. Generally, morphological polymorphism revealed discriminations among the cowpea accessions studied. Seed weight, plant height, number of branches, length of branches, number of leaves, number of peduncles, length of peduncles and number of seeds per pod as well as number of pods per plant differed significantly (p &le; 0.05) among the cowpea accessions. The evidence showed that there were variations in morphological characteristics expressed by the cowpea ac-cessions and these were segregations in one trait or the other. The cowpea accession GH UCO1BL is possibly a cross between IT97K-499-35 x SARC-LO2. The segregation lines of GH 3684 had the greatest diversity probably due to genotype environment interactions