Analysis of yield-attributing traits for high-yielding wheat lines in southwestern Japan

Development of wheat cultivars that achieve high yields despite the short growing season is essential for increasing wheat production in southwestern Japan. The objectives of this study were to assess the genetic progress in grain yield and to clarify yield-attributing traits of high-yielding wheat lines in southwestern Japan. We conducted field experiments for two growing seasons (2012–2013 and 2013–2014) using three commercial wheat cultivars (Shiroganekomugi, Chikugoizumi, and Iwainodaichi) and four high-yielding wheat lines including Hakei W1380 developed in southwestern Japan. In an ancillary field experiment, we compared a commercial cultivar, Shiroganekomugi, and a high-yielding line, Hakei W1380, in the 2014–2015 season. Across the two seasons, grain yield of high-yielding lines was generally higher than commercial cultivars. Hakei W1380 achieved the highest grain yield across the two seasons, and successfully produced more than 900 g m−2 in the 2013–2014 season. Correlation analysis showed that recent yield progress of wheat lines in southwestern Japan was derived from enhanced biomass production and grain number m−2. Larger numbers of grains m−2 in high-yielding lines than in commercial cultivars were associated with higher crop growth rate at the pre-anthesis stage, and therefore higher spike dry weight m−2 at anthesis. Genotypic differences in crop growth rate from jointing to anthesis resulted mainly from differences in leaf area index. These results indicate that further improvements in grain yield in southwestern Japan could be achieved by increasing the amount of radiation intercepted at the pre-anthesis stage and grain number m−2

D-dimer predicts pulmonary embolism after low-risk spine surgery

Introduction: Pulmonary embolism (PE) is a risk of mortality following spine surgery. Many studies have demonstrated that deep venous thrombosis (DVT) may affect and actually advance to PE, but few studies have shown how venous thromboembolism (VTE), including PE and DVT, affect blood markers after spine surgery. In this study, we examined changes in blood markers with PE or DVT after low-risk spine surgery, namely cervical laminoplasty or lumbar laminectomy. Methods: Seventy-two spine surgery patients were studied. A 16-row multidetector computed tomography was performed before and 3 d after the surgery. Patients with a history of cerebral vascular accident or arterial thrombotic episode or pre-surgical asymptomatic PE or DVT were excluded. Plasma levels of soluble fibrin monomer complex, D-dimer, plasminogen activator inhibitor type-1 (PAI-1), and white blood cell and platelet counts were measured preoperatively and postoperatively at days 1, 3, and 7. Results: No patient developed symptomatic post-surgical VTE. Six patients with asymptomatic PE and six with asymptomatic DVT were detected post-surgery, including one patient with both. D-dimer postoperatively at days 3 and 7 was significantly higher in the post-op PE group than in the no-PE group. PAI-1 preoperatively was significantly higher in the DVT and VTE groups than in the no-DVT and no-VTE groups. Conclusions: Elevated D-dimer at postoperative days 3 and 7 is a predictive factor for the early diagnosis of PE after spine surgery. Moreover, elevated PAI-1 preoperatively is a predictive factor for the early diagnosis of DVT and VTE. Consequently, PE may occur through a pathway other than DVT

Assessing Correlation of High-Resolution NDVI with Fertilizer Application Level and Yield of Rice and Wheat Crops using Small UAVs

The aim of this study was to use small unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for determining high-resolution normalized difference vegetation index (NDVI) values. Subsequently, these results were used to assess their correlations with fertilizer application levels and the yields of rice and wheat crops. For multispectral sensing, we flew two types of small UAVs (DJI Phantom 4 and DJI Phantom 4 Pro)—each equipped with a compact multispectral sensor (Parrot Sequoia). The information collected was composed of numerous RGB orthomosaic images as well as reflectance maps with spatial resolution greater than a ground sampling distance of 10.5 cm. From 223 UAV flight campaigns over 120 fields with a total area coverage of 77.48 ha, we determined that the highest efficiency for the UAV-based remote sensing measurement was approximately 19.8 ha per 10 min while flying 100 m above ground level. During image processing, we developed and used a batch image alignment algorithm—a program written in Python language–to calculate the NDVI values in experimental plots or fields in a batch of NDVI index maps. The color NDVI distribution maps of wide rice fields identified differences in stages of ripening and lodging-injury areas, which accorded with practical crop growth status from aboveground observation. For direct-seeded rice, variation in the grain yield was most closely related to that in the NDVI at the early reproductive and late ripening stages. For wheat, the NDVI values were highly correlated with the yield ( R 2 = 0.601–0.809) from the middle reproductive to the early ripening stages. Furthermore, using the NDVI values, it was possible to differentiate the levels of fertilizer application for both rice and wheat. These results indicate that the small UAV-derived NDVI values are effective for predicting yield and detecting fertilizer application levels during rice and wheat production