Identification of Durum Wheat Salt Tolerance Sources in Elite Tunisian Varieties and a Targeted FIGS Subset from ICARDA Gene Bank: Non-Destructive and Easy Way

The success of durum wheat breeding program for salt tolerance improvement depends on sources of tolerance, the screening method and the selection of target traits. In this study, we used morpho-physiological traits to elucidate the phenotypic and genetic variation in salinity tolerance of a 50 internationally derived durum wheat genotypes. Four Australian lines containing salt tolerance Nax genes from CSIRO (The Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation in Australia); six Tunisian old and new cultivars (Kerim, Khiar, Maali, Mahmoudi, Nasr and Selim) and forty ICARDA’s gene bank landraces selected basing on FIGS Method (Focused Identification of Germplasm Strategy) were evaluated in semi controlled conditions at the INRAT Ariana experimental station. Significant genotypic variation and Pearson's correlations were found among the evaluated traits. The data were converted to salt tolerance indexes (STI) before statistical analysis.The high positive and significantly correlation of STI of grain yield and those of tillering (r=0.46), mean daily evapotranspiration (r=0.46), shoot dry weight (r=0.74), number of spikes per plant (r=0.74), spike length (r=0.30), thousand grain weight (r=0.36) and the chlorophyll content at 79 day after sowing (r=0.30) indicated that salt stress induces a high reduction in these parameters, leading to the reduction in grain yield. Therefore we can consider these parameters as the most relevant for salinity tolerance screening criterion in durum wheat breeding programs. Among the analysed genotypes the ICARDA’s landrace IG-85714 from Greece showed better performances under salt stress. Among the analysed Tunisian varieties Maali and Nasr exhibited some level of tolerance. Approximately half of the analysed genotypes showed a moderate to high level of salt tolerance. These are the first sources for the salt tolerance in durum wheat identified in the ICARDA gene bank. This demonstrated that FIGS was effective for sampling large ex situ germplasm collections when seeking novel genetic sources of salt tolerance.

An analysis of the true notional bond system applied to the CBOT T-bond futures

The conversion factor system (CFS) is used in the determination of the invoice price of the Chicago Board of Trade Treasury-bond futures. As an alternative to the CFS, Oviedo [Oviedo, R.A., 2006. Improving the design of Treasury-Bond futures contracts. The Journal of Business 79, 1293-1315] proposed the True Notional Bond System (TNBS), and showed that it outperforms the CFS when interest rates are deterministic. The main purpose of this paper is to compare the effectiveness of the two systems in a stochastic environment. In order to do so, we price the CBOT T-bond futures as well as all its embedded delivery options under both the CFS and the TNBS. Our pricing procedure is an adaptation of the Dynamic Programming algorithm described in Ben-Abdallah et al. [Ben-Abdallah, R., Ben-Ameur, H., Breton, M., 2007. Pricing CBOT Treasury Bond futures. Les Cahiers du GERAD G-2006-77]. Numerical illustrations show that, in a stochastic framework, TNBS does not always outperform the CFS. However, as the long-term mean moves away from the level of the notional rate, the TNBS performs increasingly better than the CFS.Futures Asset pricing Dynamic programming Delivery options

Pancreatic surgery outcomes: multicentre prospective snapshot study in 67 countries

Background: Pancreatic surgery remains associated with high morbidity rates. Although postoperative mortality appears to have improved with specialization, the outcomes reported in the literature reflect the activity of highly specialized centres. The aim of this study was to evaluate the outcomes following pancreatic surgery worldwide.Methods: This was an international, prospective, multicentre, cross-sectional snapshot study of consecutive patients undergoing pancreatic operations worldwide in a 3-month interval in 2021. The primary outcome was postoperative mortality within 90 days of surgery. Multivariable logistic regression was used to explore relationships with Human Development Index (HDI) and other parameters.Results: A total of 4223 patients from 67 countries were analysed. A complication of any severity was detected in 68.7 percent of patients (2901 of 4223). Major complication rates (Clavien-Dindo grade at least IIIa) were 24, 18, and 27 percent, and mortality rates were 10, 5, and 5 per cent in low-to-middle-, high-, and very high-HDI countries respectively. The 90-day postoperative mortality rate was 5.4 per cent (229 of 4223) overall, but was significantly higher in the low-to-middle-HDI group (adjusted OR 2.88, 95 per cent c.i. 1.80 to 4.48). The overall failure-to-rescue rate was 21 percent; however, it was 41 per cent in low-to-middle-compared with 19 per cent in very high-HDI countries.Conclusion: Excess mortality in low-to-middle-HDI countries could be attributable to failure to rescue of patients from severe complications. The authors call for a collaborative response from international and regional associations of pancreatic surgeons to address management related to death from postoperative complications to tackle the global disparities in the outcomes of pancreatic surgery (NCT04652271; ISRCTN95140761)