Complex regional pain syndrome - phenotypic characteristics and potential biomarkers

Complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) is a pain condition that usually affects a single limb, often following an injury. The underlying pathophysiology seems to be complex and probably varies between patients. Clinical diagnosis is based on internationally agreed-upon criteria, which consider the reported symptoms, presence of signs and exclusion of alternative causes. Research into CRPS biomarkers to support patient stratification and improve diagnostic certainty is an important scientific focus, and recent progress in this area provides an opportunity for an up-to-date topical review of measurable disease-predictive, diagnostic and prognostic parameters. Clinical and biochemical attributes of CRPS that may aid diagnosis and determination of appropriate treatment are delineated. Findings that predict the development of CRPS and support the diagnosis include trauma-related factors, neurocognitive peculiarities, psychological markers, and local and systemic changes that indicate activation of the immune system. Analysis of signatures of non-coding microRNAs that could predict the treatment response represents a new line of research. Results from the past 5 years of CRPS research indicate that a single marker for CRPS will probably never be found; however, a range of biomarkers might assist in clinical diagnosis and guide prognosis and treatment

Genomic-Assisted Enhancement in Stress Tolerance for Productivity Improvement in Sorghum

Sorghum [Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench], the fifth most important cereal crop in the world after wheat, rice, maize, and barley, is a multipurpose crop widely grown for food, feed, fodder, forage, and fuel, vital to the food security of many of the world’s poorest people living in fragile agroecological zones. Globally, sorghum is grown on ~42 million hectares area in ~100 countries of Africa, Asia, Oceania, and the Americas. Sorghum grain is used mostly as food (~55%), in the form of flat breads and porridges in Asia and Africa, and as feed (~33%) in the Americas. Stover of sorghum is an increasingly important source of dry season fodder for livestock, especially in South Asia. In India, area under sorghum cultivation has been drastically come down to less than one third in the last six decades but with a limited reduction in total production suggesting the high-yield potential of this crop. Sorghum productivity is far lower compared to its genetic potential owing to a limited exploitation of genetic and genomic resources developed in the recent past. Sorghum production is challenged by various abiotic and biotic stresses leading to a significant reduction in yield. Advances in modern genetics and genomics resources and tools could potentially help to further strengthen sorghum production by accelerating the rate of genetic gains and expediting the breeding cycle to develop cultivars with enhanced yield stability under stress. This chapter reviews the advances made in generating the genetic and genomics resources in sorghum and their interventions in improving the yield stability under abiotic and biotic stresses to improve the productivity of this climate-smart cereal

Selection of Gossypium hirsutum genotypes for interspecific introgression from G. arboreum using ovule culture

Ovule culture is one of the techniques currently used to introgress desirable traits from Gossypium arboreum germplasm into G. hirsutum cultivars. Twenty-six (26) G. hirsutum breeding lines were used as female parents in crosses with five G. arboreum accessions to determine if the G. hirsutum parent influenced the germination and recovery of plants from ovule culture. Variation in boll weight and the number of ovules per boll was observed for crosses with the G. hirsutum lines, but heavier bolls and a greater number of ovules per boll were not associated with a higher germination rate. Ovules derived from crosses with 16 G. hirsutum lines showed germination. Plants were recovered for seven of these lines (Acala GLS, DES 56, DES 119, Deltapine 50, Stoneville 132, Stoneville 506 and Stoneville 825) with vigorous growing plants derived from four crosses (DES 119 x PI 408763, Stoneville 506 x PI 408763, Acala GLS x PI 529779, and DES 119 x PI 615699). The breeding line DES 119 showed a better success rate and typically produced smaller bolls with fewer ovules. However, results would suggest the G. arboreum accessions had a greater influence on the success rate compared to the G. hirsutum lines.Keywords: Cotton, germplasm, immature embryo, tissue culture, wide-hybridization.