How policies affect the use of plant genetic resources: the experience of the CGIAR

There is growing recognition that sustainable intensification of agricultural production systems and their successful adaptation to changes in climate will depend upon the improved access to, and use of, genetic diversity. This paper analyzes how the collection, use and distribution of plant genetic resources by the Consortium of International Research Centers of the CGIAR are influenced by international and national policies, treaties and agreements. Some concerns exist among CGIAR scientists about continued access to, and distribution of, plant genetic resources. Study findings point to an increasing influence of international and national policies and legal frameworks on the conservation and use of plant genetic resources for food and agriculture (PGRFA) by the CGIAR centers and the dissemination of CGIAR-improved germplasm first to partners in agricultural research organizations and then to final users of new plant varieties developed through research partnerships. This situation may, in the longer term, have a serious impact on the utilization of plant genetic diversity to cope with current and predicted challenges to agricultural production and, in particular, climate change

Mid-sagittal plane detection for advanced physiological measurements in brain scans

Objective: The process of diagnosing many neurodegenerative diseases, such as Parkinson's and progressive supranuclear palsy, involves the study of brain magnetic resonance imaging (MRI) scans in order to identify and locate morphological markers that can highlight the health status of the subject. A fundamental step in the pre-processing and analysis of MRI scans is the identification of the mid-sagittal plane, which corresponds to the mid-brain and allows a coordinate reference system for the whole MRI scan set. Approach: To improve the identification of the mid-sagittal plane we have developed an algorithm in Matlab® based on the k-means clustering function. The results have been compared with the evaluation of four experts who manually identified the mid-sagittal plane and whose performances have been combined with a cognitive decisional algorithm in order to define a gold standard. Main results: The comparison provided a mean percentage error of 1.84%. To further refine the automatic procedure we trained a machine learning system using the results from the proposed algorithm and the gold standard. We tested this machine learning system and obtained results comparable to medical raters with a mean absolute error of 1.86 slices. Significance: The system is promising and could be directly incorporated into broader diagnostic support systems

Broadband Printed Antenna for Radiofrequency Energy Harvesting

In this work a broadband UHF antenna with high inductive input impedance for radiofrequency energy harvesting is presented. It consists of a small feeding loop and a biconical radiating dipole. A prototype has been fabricated on a FR4 substrate and tested. Experimental results show a - 3dB power transmission bandwidth of about 135MHz (840MHz−975MHz)

Central blood pressure assessment using 24-hour brachial pulse wave analysis

Maria Lorenza Muiesan, Massimo Salvetti, Fabio Bertacchini, Claudia Agabiti-Rosei, Giulia Maruelli, Efrem Colonetti, Anna Paini Clinica Medica, Department of Clinical and Experimental Sciences, University of Brescia, Brescia, Italy Abstract: This review describes the use of central blood pressure (BP) measurements during ambulatory monitoring, using noninvasive devices. The principles of measuring central BP by applanation tonometry and by oscillometry are reported, and information on device validation studies is described. The pathophysiological basis for the differences between brachial and aortic pressure is discussed. The currently available methods for central aortic pressure measurement are relatively accurate, and their use has important clinical implications, such as improving diagnostic and prognostic stratification of hypertension and providing a more accurate assessment of the effect of treatment on BP. Keywords: aortic blood pressure measurements, ambulatory monitoring, pulse wave analysi