Multi-locus genome-wide association studies reveal novel alleles for flowering time under vernalisation and extended photoperiod in a barley MAGIC population

Optimal flowering time has a major impact on grain yield in crop species, including the globally important temperate cereal crop barley (Hordeum vulgare L.). Understanding the genetics of flowering is a key avenue to enhancing yield potential. Although bi-parental populations were used intensively to map genes controlling flowering, their lack of genetic diversity requires additional work to obtain desired gene combinations in the selected lines, especially when the two parental cultivars did not carry the genes. Multi-parent mapping populations, which use a combination of four or eight parental cultivars, have higher genetic and phenotypic diversity and can provide novel genetic combinations that cannot be achieved using bi-parental populations. This study uses a Multi-parent advanced generation intercross (MAGIC) population from four commercial barley cultivars to identify genes controlling flowering time in different environmental conditions. Genome-wide association studies (GWAS) were performed using 5,112 high-quality markers from Diversity Arrays Technology sequencing (DArT-seq), and Kompetitive allele-specific polymerase chain reaction (KASP) genetic markers were developed. Phenotypic data were collected from fifteen different field trials for three consecutive years. Planting was conducted at various sowing times, and plants were grown with/without additional vernalisation and extended photoperiod treatments. This study detected fourteen stable regions associated with flowering time across multiple environments. GWAS combined with pangenome data highlighted the role of CEN gene in flowering and enabled the prediction of different CEN alleles from parental lines. As the founder lines of the multi-parental population are elite germplasm, the favourable alleles identified in this study are directly relevant to breeding, increasing the efficiency of subsequent breeding strategies and offering better grain yield and adaptation to growing conditions

Electrochemical copper recovery from galvanic sludge

The feasibility of recovering copper from electronic industrial waste mud (galvanic sludge) using a combination of leaching and electrowinning has been examined. Leaching with sulfuric acid was found to be the most efficient and cost-effective way of extracting the copper from the sludge, and the optimum acid concentration and time were determined. The copper was then extracted by electrowinning in a batch recirculation electrochemical reactor (Porocell™) employing a three-dimensional carbon felt cathode. The influence of applied current, flow rate and the presence of other metal ion contaminates on the rate and current efficiency of copper electrowinning was investigated. An analysis of the experimental data showed that the current efficiency was lower than unity even though the limiting current for copper deposition was not exceeded. This low current efficiency was attributed to the occurrence of a side reaction, most likely the reduction of dissolved oxygen or oxygen-induced corrosion. The influence of this side reaction can be minimized by operating at relatively high currents and low flow rates

Adjunctive dexamethasone for tuberculous meningitis in HIV-positive adult

BACKGROUND Adjunctive glucocorticoids are widely used to treat human immunodeficiency virus (HIV)–associated tuberculous meningitis despite limited data supporting their safety and efficacy. METHODS We conducted a double-blind, randomized, placebo-controlled trial involving HIV-positive adults (≥18 years of age) with tuberculous meningitis in Vietnam and Indonesia. Participants were randomly assigned to receive a 6-to-8-week tapering course of either dexamethasone or placebo in addition to 12 months of antituberculosis chemotherapy. The primary end point was death from any cause during the 12 months after randomization. RESULTS A total of 520 adults were randomly assigned to receive either dexamethasone (263 participants) or placebo (257 participants). The median age was 36 years; 255 of 520 participants (49.0%) had never received antiretroviral therapy, and 251 of 484 participants (51.9%) with available data had a baseline CD4 count of 50 cells per cubic millimeter or less. Six participants withdrew from the trial, and five were lost to follow-up. During the 12 months of follow-up, death occurred in 116 of 263 participants (44.1%) in the dexamethasone group and in 126 of 257 participants (49.0%) in the placebo group (hazard ratio, 0.85; 95% confidence interval, 0.66 to 1.10; P=0.22). Prespecified analyses did not reveal a subgroup that clearly benefited from dexamethasone. The incidence of secondary end-point events, including cases of immune reconstitution inflammatory syndrome during the first 6 months, was similar in the two trial groups. The numbers of participants with at least one serious adverse event were similar in the dexamethasone group (192 of 263 participants [73.0%]) and the placebo group (194 of 257 participants [75.5%]) (P=0.52). CONCLUSIONS Among HIV-positive adults with tuberculous meningitis, adjunctive dexamethasone, as compared with placebo, did not confer a benefit with respect to survival or any secondary end point. (Funded by the Wellcome Trust; ACT HIV ClinicalTrials.gov number, NCT03092817. opens in new tab.

Effectiveness of cervical pessary compared to cervical cerclage with or without vaginal progesterone for the prevention of preterm birth in women with twin pregnancies and a short cervix : Study protocol for a two-by-two factorial randomised clinical trial

Peer reviewedPublisher PD

Building a transitional care checklist in rheumatology: A Delphi-like survey.

To design a transitional care checklist to be used by and facilitate the work of health professionals in providing transitional care for children with a chronic rheumatologic disease and their families. A Delphi-like study among an international expert panel was carried out in four steps: (1) a working group of 6 specialists established a draft; (2) a web-survey among a panel of international experts evaluated it; (3) a 2-day consensus conference with an expert panel discussed items not reaching agreement; (4) a web-survey among the panel of international experts with the list of reformulated items. The first draft of the checklist included 38 items in 3 phases of transition and 5 age groups. Thirty-three international experts evaluated the checklist reaching≥80% agreement for 26 items and ≤80% for 12. The consensus conference of 12 experts discussed and redefined the 12 items. Twenty-five international experts filled out the web-survey and all items reached a minimum of 80% agreement except one. The final checklist was reached. This Delphi-like study defined what themes should be included and at what age they need to be addressed with patients with a chronic rheumatology disease and their families during transition. This checklist reached a strong international and interdisciplinary consensus while examining transition in a broad way. It should now be spread widely to health professionals to be used by all those who care for adolescents aged≥12 years at times of transition. It could be transposed to most chronic conditions. Recommendations for further research are given

Seroepidemiology and Carriage of Diphtheria in Epidemic-Prone Area and Implications for Vaccination Policy, Vietnam

In 2019, a community-based, cross-sectional carriage survey and a seroprevalence survey of 1,216 persons 1–55 years of age were conducted in rural Vietnam to investigate the mechanism of diphtheria outbreaks. Seroprevalence was further compared with that of an urban area that had no cases reported for the past decade. Carriage prevalence was 1.4%. The highest prevalence, 4.5%, was observed for children 1–5 years of age. Twenty-seven asymptomatic Coerynebacterium diphtheriae carriers were identified; 9 carriers had tox gene–bearing strains, and 3 had nontoxigenic tox gene–bearing strains. Child malnutrition was associated with low levels of diphtheria toxoid IgG, which might have subsequently increased child carriage prevalence. Different immunity patterns in the 2 populations suggested that the low immunity among children caused by low vaccination coverage increased transmission, resulting in symptomatic infections at school-going age, when vaccine-induced immunity waned most. A school-entry booster dose and improved infant vaccination coverage are recommended to control transmissions

Measurement of the cross section for isolated-photon plus jet production in pp collisions at √s=13 TeV using the ATLAS detector

The dynamics of isolated-photon production in association with a jet in proton–proton collisions at a centre-of-mass energy of 13 TeV are studied with the ATLAS detector at the LHC using a dataset with an integrated luminosity of 3.2 fb−1. Photons are required to have transverse energies above 125 GeV. Jets are identified using the anti- algorithm with radius parameter and required to have transverse momenta above 100 GeV. Measurements of isolated-photon plus jet cross sections are presented as functions of the leading-photon transverse energy, the leading-jet transverse momentum, the azimuthal angular separation between the photon and the jet, the photon–jet invariant mass and the scattering angle in the photon–jet centre-of-mass system. Tree-level plus parton-shower predictions from Sherpa and Pythia as well as next-to-leading-order QCD predictions from Jetphox and Sherpa are compared to the measurements

A search for resonances decaying into a Higgs boson and a new particle X in the XH → qqbb final state with the ATLAS detector

A search for heavy resonances decaying into a Higgs boson (H) and a new particle (X) is reported, utilizing 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data at collected during 2015 and 2016 with the ATLAS detector at the CERN Large Hadron Collider. The particle X is assumed to decay to a pair of light quarks, and the fully hadronic final state is analysed. The search considers the regime of high XH resonance masses, where the X and H bosons are both highly Lorentz-boosted and are each reconstructed using a single jet with large radius parameter. A two-dimensional phase space of XH mass versus X mass is scanned for evidence of a signal, over a range of XH resonance mass values between 1 TeV and 4 TeV, and for X particles with masses from 50 GeV to 1000 GeV. All search results are consistent with the expectations for the background due to Standard Model processes, and 95% CL upper limits are set, as a function of XH and X masses, on the production cross-section of the resonance

Combination of searches for Higgs boson pairs in pp collisions at \sqrts = 13 TeV with the ATLAS detector

This letter presents a combination of searches for Higgs boson pair production using up to 36.1 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at a centre-of-mass energy root s = 13 TeV recorded with the ATLAS detector at the LHC. The combination is performed using six analyses searching for Higgs boson pairs decaying into the b (b) over barb (b) over bar, b (b) over barW(+)W(-), b (b) over bar tau(+)tau(-), W+W-W+W-, b (b) over bar gamma gamma and W+W-gamma gamma final states. Results are presented for non-resonant and resonant Higgs boson pair production modes. No statistically significant excess in data above the Standard Model predictions is found. The combined observed (expected) limit at 95% confidence level on the non-resonant Higgs boson pair production cross-section is 6.9 (10) times the predicted Standard Model cross-section. Limits are also set on the ratio (kappa(lambda)) of the Higgs boson self-coupling to its Standard Model value. This ratio is constrained at 95% confidence level in observation (expectation) to -5.0 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0 (-5.8 &lt; kappa(lambda) &lt; 12.0). In addition, limits are set on the production of narrow scalar resonances and spin-2 Kaluza-Klein Randall-Sundrum gravitons. Exclusion regions are also provided in the parameter space of the habemus Minimal Supersymmetric Standard Model and the Electroweak Singlet Model. For complete list of authors see http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.physletb.2019.135103</p