Diversity in grain physico-chemical characteristics of West African rice, including NERICA genotypes, as compared to cultivars from the United States of America

Landraces from West Africa (WA), NERICA progenies derived from crosses between Oryza sativa and Oryza glaberrima, and improved O. sativa lines from Africa Rice Center were introduced to the Beaumont Rice Research Center in Texas, United States of America (USA) (29o57’ N and 94o30’ W) for in-situ evaluation and characterization. Milled samples of rice produced in Côte d’Ivoire (CI) (7.5o N - 8.5o N and 4.5o W and 5.5o W) were also introduced for chemical analysis. RVA profiles showed that Jaya has unusually strong paste viscosity features. Apparent Amylose content varied from 15% for Khao Dawk Mali 105 originally from Thailand, to 26% for CG 14, an O. glaberrima type. WAB 56-104, an improved O. sativa variety from Africa Rice Center, had the longest cooking time of 24 minutes. Jaya can be compared to Dixiebelle, a USA variety grown commercially under contract for the canning and processing industries. Total milling yield varied from 78% for Gnanle Gnan-Man, a landrace from WA, to 70% for the USA check Saber. Sierra, a USA check, had the highest value of 2-AP (1258 ng/g), followed by Bakue Danane and Cocote, both from CI. Comparing WA samples grown in CI with those grown in Texas, cooking and pasting parameters were not generally strongly affected by the environment. The variable most affected by environment was the setback which predicts the hardness of cooked rice. Diverse sources for grain quality traits were found in WA germplasm for use in the USA

Association Analysis of Three Diverse Rice (Oryza sativa L.) Germplasm Collections for Loci Regulating Grain Quality Traits

Rice ( L.) end-use cooking quality is vital for producers and billions of consumers worldwide. Grain quality is a complex trait with interacting genetic and environmental factors. Deciphering the complex genetic architecture associated with grain quality provides essential information for improved breeding strategies to enhance desirable traits that are stable across variable climatic and environmental conditions. In this study, genome-wide association (GWA) analysis of three rice diversity panels, the USDA rice core subset (1364 accessions), the minicore (MC) (173 accessions after removing non-), and the high density rice array–MC (HDMC) (383 accessions), with simple sequence repeats, single nucleotide polymorphic markers, or both, revealed large- and small-effect loci associated with known genes and previously uncharacterized genomic regions. Clustering of the significant regions in the GWA results suggests that multiple grain quality traits are inherited together. The 11 novel candidate loci for grain quality traits and the seven candidates for grain chalk identified are involved in the starch biosynthesis pathway. This study highlights the intricate pleiotropic relationships that exist in complex genotype–phenotypic associations and gives a greater insight into effective breeding strategies for grain quality improvement

Patterns of healthy lifestyle and positive health attitudes in older Europeans

Objectives: To determine (i) the extent to which recommended lifestyle healthy behaviors are adopted and the existence of positive attitudes to health; (ii) the relative influence of socio-demographic variables on multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health; (iii) the association between healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health. Design: two distinct healthy behavioral measures were developed: (i) healthy lifestyles based on physical activity, no cigarette smoking, no/moderate alcohol drinking, maintaining a "healthy" weight and having no sleeping problems and (ii) positive health attitudes based on having positive emotional attitudes. such as: self-perceived good health status, being calm, peaceful and happy for most of the time, not expecting health to get worse and regular health check-ups. A composite healthy lifestyle index, ranging from 0 (none of behaviors met) to 5 (all behaviors met) was calculated by summing up the individual's scores for the five healthy lifestyle items. Afterwards, each individual's index was collapsed into three levels: 0-2 equivalent to 'level 1' (subjectively regarded as 'too low'), a score of 3 equivalent to 'level 2 ('fair') and 4-5 as 'level 3' satisfactory 'healthy lifestyle' practices. The same procedure was applied to the positive health attitudes index. Multinomial logistic regression analyses by a forward selection procedure were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Participants: a multi-national sample consisting of 638 older Europeans from 8 countries, aged 65-74 and 75+, living alone or with others. Results and conclusions: maintaining a "healthy" weight was the most frequently cited factor in the healthy lifestyles index and therefore assumed to be the most important to the older Europeans in the study; positive attitudes to health were relatively low; participants achieved a 'satisfactory' level for healthy lifestyles index (level 3) more frequently than a satisfactory level for positive attitudes to health; having a satisfactory 'healthy lifestyle' was directly related to having a satisfactory level of positive attitudes to health based on the positive health attitudes index: income and geographical location in Europe appeared to be key predictors for meeting both the recommended healthy lifestyle factors in the index and having positive health attitudes however, the composition and nature of the study sample should be taken into consideration when considering the impact of the location on healthy lifestyles and attitudes to health across Europe

Patterns of healthy lifestyle and positive health attitudes in older Europeans

Objectives: To determine (i) the extent to which recommended lifestyle healthy behaviors are adopted and the existence of positive attitudes to health; (ii) the relative influence of socio-demographic variables on multiple healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health; (iii) the association between healthy lifestyle behaviors and positive attitudes to health. Design: two distinct healthy behavioral measures were developed: (i) healthy lifestyles based on physical activity, no cigarette smoking, no/moderate alcohol drinking, maintaining a "healthy" weight and having no sleeping problems and (ii) positive health attitudes based on having positive emotional attitudes. such as: self-perceived good health status, being calm, peaceful and happy for most of the time, not expecting health to get worse and regular health check-ups. A composite healthy lifestyle index, ranging from 0 (none of behaviors met) to 5 (all behaviors met) was calculated by summing up the individual's scores for the five healthy lifestyle items. Afterwards, each individual's index was collapsed into three levels: 0-2 equivalent to 'level 1' (subjectively regarded as 'too low'), a score of 3 equivalent to 'level 2 ('fair') and 4-5 as 'level 3' satisfactory 'healthy lifestyle' practices. The same procedure was applied to the positive health attitudes index. Multinomial logistic regression analyses by a forward selection procedure were used to calculate the adjusted odds ratio (OR) with 95% confidence interval (95% CI). Participants: a multi-national sample consisting of 638 older Europeans from 8 countries, aged 65-74 and 75+, living alone or with others. Results and conclusions: maintaining a "healthy" weight was the most frequently cited factor in the healthy lifestyles index and therefore assumed to be the most important to the older Europeans in the study; positive attitudes to health were relatively low; participants achieved a 'satisfactory' level for healthy lifestyles index (level 3) more frequently than a satisfactory level for positive attitudes to health; having a satisfactory 'healthy lifestyle' was directly related to having a satisfactory level of positive attitudes to health based on the positive health attitudes index: income and geographical location in Europe appeared to be key predictors for meeting both the recommended healthy lifestyle factors in the index and having positive health attitudes however, the composition and nature of the study sample should be taken into consideration when considering the impact of the location on healthy lifestyles and attitudes to health across Europe