Genetic Diversity and Differentiation of Brazilian Bitter and Sweet Manioc Varieties (Manihot esculenta Crantz, Euphorbiaceae) Based on SSR Molecular Markers

Manioc (Manihot esculenta Crantz) originated in Amazonia and is the main staple for more than 800 million people worldwide; it also had a fundamental role as a source of calories for many pre-Columbian peoples, especially in Amazonia, where it was domesticated. There are two major groups of manioc varieties: sweet varieties have low amounts of toxic substances (cyanogenic glycosides) and may be consumed with minimum processing, while bitter varieties have a high degree of toxicity and must be detoxified to be safe before consumption. These groups are outcomes of divergent selective pressures. Natural selection probably maintains large amounts of cyanogenic glycosides to serve as a plant defense when in cultivation. Human selection may reduce the toxicity of the plants when roots are directly consumed, but may be neutral when the roots are consumed after some kind of processing. Although farmers recognize the distinction of the two groups of varieties, the variation of cyanogenic glycosides is continuous among different varieties. Genetic differentiation between sweet and bitter varieties was detected with molecular markers, as well as different patterns of groupings of varieties from different regions of Brazil. The genetic distinctions suggest that the sweet varieties originated during the initial domestication in southwestern Amazonia and bitter varieties arose later during cultivation in Amazonia, as hypothesized by Arroyo-Kalin in a recent paper. They also suggest that these groups of varieties were dispersed independently, even though they are cultivated complementarily today, with sweet varieties in home-gardens and bitter varieties in swiddens

CULTIVO DE MANDIOCA DE MESA EM PLANTIO DIRETO E CONVENCIONAL SOBRE DIFERENTES CULTURAS DE COBERTURA

A erosão do solo no cultivo de mandioca causa os declínios no rendimento e na qualidade das raízes. Comparou-se o plantio convencional (CONV) da mandioca IAC 576-70, incorporando com aração e gradagem os resíduos das culturas de cobertura: Sorgo (S), Crotalária (C), Coquetel (S+C), Brachiaria decumbens e B. ruziziensis; com o sistema de plantio direto (SPD), mediante a roçada. Sorgo e B. ruziziensis aportaram em média 3,5 t ha-¹ de matéria seca, com taxa de cobertura do solo superior a 80 %, cuja produtividade de 23,9 t ha-¹ no SPD foi 7,0 t ha-¹ inferior ao convencional; porém, equivalentes o índice de colheita (53 %), a massa fresca total e o tempo de cozimento. A colheita da mandioca no SPD aos 10 meses acumulou 63,5 t ha-¹ de fitomassa fresca, minimizando a erosão

The Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration (SPIN) cohort : A data set for biomarker discovery and validation in neurodegenerative disorders

Altres ajuts: The SPIN cohort has received funding from CIBERNED; Instituto de Salud Carlos III; jointly funded by Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER), Unión Europea, "Una manera de hacer Europa"; Generalitat de Catalunya; Fundació "La Marató TV3" Fundació Bancària Obra Social La Caixa; Fundación BBVA; Fundación Española para el Fomento de la Investigación de la Esclerosis Lateral Amiotrófica (FUNDELA); Global Brain Health Institute; Fundació Catalana Síndrome de Down; and Fundació Víctor Grífols i Lucas. These funding sources had no role in study design; in the collection, analysis, and interpretation of data; in the writing of the report; or in the decision to submit the article for publication.The SPIN (Sant Pau Initiative on Neurodegeneration) cohort is a multimodal biomarker platform designed for neurodegenerative disease research following an integrative approach. Participants of the SPIN cohort provide informed consent to donate blood and cerebrospinal fluid samples, receive detailed neurological and neuropsychological evaluations, and undergo a structural 3T brain MRI scan. A subset also undergoes other functional or imaging studies (video-polysomnogram, 18 F-fluorodeoxyglucose PET, amyloid PET, Tau PET). Participants are followed annually for a minimum of 4 years, with repeated cerebrospinal fluid collection and imaging studies performed every other year, and brain donation is encouraged. The integration of clinical, neuropsychological, genetic, biochemical, imaging, and neuropathological information and the harmonization of protocols under the same umbrella allows the discovery and validation of key biomarkers across several neurodegenerative diseases. We describe our particular 10-year experience and how different research projects were unified under an umbrella biomarker program, which might be of help to other research teams pursuing similar approaches

High frequency of low-count monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis in hospitalized COVID-19 patients

Low-count monoclonal B-cell lymphocytosis (MBLlo, <500 clonal B-cells/μL) is a highly prevalent condition in the general population (4% to 16% of otherwise healthy adults), which increases significantly with age.1-7 In most cases, clonal B-cells share phenotypic and cytogenetic features with chronic lymphocytic leukemia (CLL), but only a small fraction (≈1.8%) progresses to high-count MBL (MBLhi; ≥500 and <5000 clonal B-cells/μL)3 in the medium-term.8 However, previous reports showed that MBLlo subjects had an increased risk of severe infections in association with a (predominantly) secondary antibody deficiency,8-10 suggesting that MBLlo might be a risk marker for developing more severe infections.This work was supported by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación, Madrid, Spain, and FONDOS FEDER (a way to build Europe) grants CB16/12/00400 (CIBERONC), COV20/00386, and PI17/00399; the Consejería de Educación and the Gerencia Regional de Salud, Consejería de Sanidad from Junta de Castilla y León (Valladolid, Spain) grants SA109P20 and GRS-COVID-33/A/20; the European Regional Development Fund (INTERREG POCTEP Spain-Portugal) grant 0639-IDIAL-NET-3-3; and the CRUK (United Kingdom), Fundación AECC (Spain), and Associazione Italiana per la Ricerca Sul Cancro (Italy) “Early Cancer Research Initiative Network on MBL (ECRINM3)” ACCELERATOR award. G.O.-A. is supported by a grant from the Consejería de Educación, Junta de Castilla y León (Valladolid, Spain); B.F.-H. was supported by grant 0639-IDIAL-NET-3-3.Peer reviewe

Treatment with tocilizumab or corticosteroids for COVID-19 patients with hyperinflammatory state: a multicentre cohort study (SAM-COVID-19)

Objectives: The objective of this study was to estimate the association between tocilizumab or corticosteroids and the risk of intubation or death in patients with coronavirus disease 19 (COVID-19) with a hyperinflammatory state according to clinical and laboratory parameters. Methods: A cohort study was performed in 60 Spanish hospitals including 778 patients with COVID-19 and clinical and laboratory data indicative of a hyperinflammatory state. Treatment was mainly with tocilizumab, an intermediate-high dose of corticosteroids (IHDC), a pulse dose of corticosteroids (PDC), combination therapy, or no treatment. Primary outcome was intubation or death; follow-up was 21 days. Propensity score-adjusted estimations using Cox regression (logistic regression if needed) were calculated. Propensity scores were used as confounders, matching variables and for the inverse probability of treatment weights (IPTWs). Results: In all, 88, 117, 78 and 151 patients treated with tocilizumab, IHDC, PDC, and combination therapy, respectively, were compared with 344 untreated patients. The primary endpoint occurred in 10 (11.4%), 27 (23.1%), 12 (15.4%), 40 (25.6%) and 69 (21.1%), respectively. The IPTW-based hazard ratios (odds ratio for combination therapy) for the primary endpoint were 0.32 (95%CI 0.22-0.47; p < 0.001) for tocilizumab, 0.82 (0.71-1.30; p 0.82) for IHDC, 0.61 (0.43-0.86; p 0.006) for PDC, and 1.17 (0.86-1.58; p 0.30) for combination therapy. Other applications of the propensity score provided similar results, but were not significant for PDC. Tocilizumab was also associated with lower hazard of death alone in IPTW analysis (0.07; 0.02-0.17; p < 0.001). Conclusions: Tocilizumab might be useful in COVID-19 patients with a hyperinflammatory state and should be prioritized for randomized trials in this situatio

Mortality and pulmonary complications in patients undergoing surgery with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection: an international cohort study

Background: The impact of severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) on postoperative recovery needs to be understood to inform clinical decision making during and after the COVID-19 pandemic. This study reports 30-day mortality and pulmonary complication rates in patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection. Methods: This international, multicentre, cohort study at 235 hospitals in 24 countries included all patients undergoing surgery who had SARS-CoV-2 infection confirmed within 7 days before or 30 days after surgery. The primary outcome measure was 30-day postoperative mortality and was assessed in all enrolled patients. The main secondary outcome measure was pulmonary complications, defined as pneumonia, acute respiratory distress syndrome, or unexpected postoperative ventilation. Findings: This analysis includes 1128 patients who had surgery between Jan 1 and March 31, 2020, of whom 835 (74·0%) had emergency surgery and 280 (24·8%) had elective surgery. SARS-CoV-2 infection was confirmed preoperatively in 294 (26·1%) patients. 30-day mortality was 23·8% (268 of 1128). Pulmonary complications occurred in 577 (51·2%) of 1128 patients; 30-day mortality in these patients was 38·0% (219 of 577), accounting for 81·7% (219 of 268) of all deaths. In adjusted analyses, 30-day mortality was associated with male sex (odds ratio 1·75 [95% CI 1·28–2·40], p\textless0·0001), age 70 years or older versus younger than 70 years (2·30 [1·65–3·22], p\textless0·0001), American Society of Anesthesiologists grades 3–5 versus grades 1–2 (2·35 [1·57–3·53], p\textless0·0001), malignant versus benign or obstetric diagnosis (1·55 [1·01–2·39], p=0·046), emergency versus elective surgery (1·67 [1·06–2·63], p=0·026), and major versus minor surgery (1·52 [1·01–2·31], p=0·047). Interpretation: Postoperative pulmonary complications occur in half of patients with perioperative SARS-CoV-2 infection and are associated with high mortality. Thresholds for surgery during the COVID-19 pandemic should be higher than during normal practice, particularly in men aged 70 years and older. Consideration should be given for postponing non-urgent procedures and promoting non-operative treatment to delay or avoid the need for surgery. Funding: National Institute for Health Research (NIHR), Association of Coloproctology of Great Britain and Ireland, Bowel and Cancer Research, Bowel Disease Research Foundation, Association of Upper Gastrointestinal Surgeons, British Association of Surgical Oncology, British Gynaecological Cancer Society, European Society of Coloproctology, NIHR Academy, Sarcoma UK, Vascular Society for Great Britain and Ireland, and Yorkshire Cancer Research

All-cause mortality in the cohorts of the Spanish AIDS Research Network (RIS) compared with the general population: 1997Ł2010

Abstract Background: Combination antiretroviral therapy (cART) has produced significant changes in mortality of HIVinfected persons. Our objective was to estimate mortality rates, standardized mortality ratios and excess mortality rates of cohorts of the AIDS Research Network (RIS) (CoRIS-MD and CoRIS) compared to the general population. Methods: We analysed data of CoRIS-MD and CoRIS cohorts from 1997 to 2010. We calculated: (i) all-cause mortality rates, (ii) standardized mortality ratio (SMR) and (iii) excess mortality rates for both cohort for 100 personyears (py) of follow-up, comparing all-cause mortality with that of the general population of similar age and gender. Results: Between 1997 and 2010, 8,214 HIV positive subjects were included, 2,453 (29.9%) in CoRIS-MD and 5,761 (70.1%) in CoRIS and 294 deaths were registered. All-cause mortality rate was 1.02 (95% CI 0.91-1.15) per 100 py, SMR was 6.8 (95% CI 5.9-7.9) and excess mortality rate was 0.8 (95% CI 0.7-0.9) per 100 py. Mortality was higher in patients with AIDS, hepatitis C virus (HCV) co-infection, and those from CoRIS-MD cohort (1997. Conclusion: Mortality among HIV-positive persons remains higher than that of the general population of similar age and sex, with significant differences depending on the history of AIDS or HCV coinfection

Influence of light quality in growth and sporulation in &lt;i&gt;Metarhizium anisopliae&lt;/i&gt; (Metsch,) Sorokin

O presente trabalho verificou a influência da qualidade da luz na esporulação e crescimento radial do fungo entomopatogênico &lt;i&gt;Metarhizium anisopliae&lt;/i&gt; (Metsch.) Sorokin. Para isso utilizaram-se seis linhagens: A&lt;sub&gt;4&lt;/sub&gt;, A&lt;sub&gt;19&lt;/sub&gt;, E&lt;sub&gt;9&lt;/sub&gt;, K, M e P; três meios de cultura: Meio Completo (MC), Meio de Arroz (MA) e Batata-dextrose ágar (BDA); seis tratamentos com luz: ?BL? (?black light?), azul, verde, amarelo, vermelho e dia, e uma testemunha (escuro). Verificou-se que o crescimento radial foi mais influenciado pelo meio de cultura do que pela luz. A produção total de conídios aumentou, em média 116%, quando as linhagens foram cultivadas sob luz, mas a amplitude da resposta foi função do meio de cultura, da linhagem e da qualidade de da luz. Linhagens com baixa produção de conídios em MC e BDA recuperaram a capacidade de esporulação em MA mesmo sem tratamento luminoso. A viabilidade dos conídios diminuiu significativamente na linhagem E&lt;sub&gt;9&lt;/sub&gt;, quando cultivado em MC e iluminada com luzes azul, verde, vermelho, amarelo ou dia.The present work was carried out in order to study the influence of the quality of light in the radial growth and sporulation of the entomopathogenic fungus &lt;i&gt;Metarhizium anisopliae&lt;/i&gt; (Metsch.) Sorokin. It was used six fungus strains, three growth media (complete medium - CM, rice medium - RM and potato-dextrose-agar - PDA). The types of light used were: ?black-light? (BL), blue, green, yellow, red and day lights, and also a check treatment (dark). The radial growth was less influenced by the qualities of light that by the growth media. The best medium was the CM; PDA was superior to the RM. The total yield of conidia increased, in average, 116% when the strains were under light, in relation to dark. The magnitude of response, however was function of the growth medium, the strain, and the quality of light. Strains with low conidia production, where grown on CM and PDA, recovered their capacity of sporulation in RM, even in the dark. The strain E&lt;sub&gt;9&lt;/sub&gt; had its conidia viability reduced significantly when grown on MC, under blue, green, red, yellow or day light. Every quality of light increase significantly the production of conidia, but for a maximum yield, it is necessary to determinate the best light, in relation to each strain and growth medium

Diallel crosses in cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz.)

A multiplicação vegetativa possibilita reproduzir infinitas vezes o mesmo genótipo sem que sejam perdidos os efeitos positivos das interações alélicas e não-alélicas. Essa possibilidade faz com que os parentais sejam melhor avaliados pela freqüência de genótipos superiores na progênie do que pela média de suas progênies. Sete parentais de mandioca (Vassourinha, Branca de Santa Catarina, Santa, Carapé, Taquari, Mico e Cigana) foram intercruzadas em forma dialética. Avaliou-se a fertilidade dos parentais através da quantidade e quaIidade das sementes botânicas. Na primeira multiplicação vegetativa quantificou-se a resistência à bacteriose nas progênies, e na segunda foram analisados os seguintes caracteres: peso de raízes (PR), peso de parte aérea (PA), peso total (PT), índice de coIheita (IC) e número de raízes (NR). Nessa segunda multiplicação vegetativa avaliaram-se apenas 21 cruzamentos e quatro autofecundações, uma vez que não se dispunha do número mínimo de indivíduos para avaliar os parentais restantes. Analisou-se o dialeto pelo método 4 de Griffing, considerando-se como fixos os efeitos de tratamentos. A fertiIidade dos cruzamentos variou de 0,6 a 232,5 sementes botânicas por planta, onde a quantidade e qualidade foram determinadas principalmente pelo parental feminino. A freqüência de genótipos resistentes à bacteriose foi diretamente proporcionaI à resistência dos parentais. Os resultados indicam que cruzamentos envolvendo parentais suscetíveis devem ter progênies suficientemente grandes, visando à manutenção de variabilidade genética adequada para outros caracteres, após intensa pressão de seleção para resistência à bacteriose. A precisão experimental obtida foi satisfatória (CV = 12,6%) na segunda multiplicação vegetativa. A média geral do ensaio foi de 7,78kgenótipo, considerada muito boa, em se tratando de material não selecionado. Para esse grupo de materiais não se detectou efeito recíproco. Também, o efeito de endogamia, avaliado de forma indireta, não se mostrou muito pronunciado. A capacidade geral de combinação (CGC) foi a principal responsável pela variação entre as médias em todas as características. O parentaI com maior efeito foi Taquari e o menor foi Santa. Também fez-se análise dialélica com as médias dos genótipos selecionados, dentro de cada cruzamento, para PR (dez, cinco, dois e o genótipo com maior PR dentro de cada parcela), sendo que cada parcela continha 20 genótipos avaliados com cinco plantas). Verificou-se que, com o aumento da pressão de seleção, a variância da CGC permaneceu aproximadamente constante, mas a variância da CEC cresceu em importância relativa com o rigor da seleção. Na análise com seleção, Mico e Branca de santa Catarina foram os parentais com maior CGC enquanto Santa teve a menor CGC em qualquer nível de seleção. Os cruzamentos com maior CEC foram: Mico x Taquari (avaliado com os cinco melhores clones) e Carapé x Mico (avaliados com os dois melhores e com o melhor clone). Os cruzamentos com maiores médias foram: Mico x Taquari sem seleção e pressões de seleção moderadas, Mico x Carapé, com pressões de seleções altas, porque neste último cruzamento somaram-se a CGC da Mico com a CEC do cruzamento. As estimativas dos coeficientes de herdabilidade, do coeficiente de variação genético e do progresso esperado com seleção, evidenciam boas perspectivas de progresso com seleção dentro de cruzamentos. Os cruzamentos promissores, normalmente, envolvem cruzamentos entre Mico com os demais e entre 'Branca de Santa Catarina com os demais, devido provavelmente à alta capacidade geral de combinação de ambos. O cruzamento Taquari x Mico também se mostrou promissor, devido, provavelmente, à alta capacidade específica de combinação. As estimativas das correlações genéticas entre PR e PA foram normalmente altas (em média 0,66), indicando que um descarte inicial de material, baseado em PA e em baixa intensidade, pode ser realizado, agilizando os trabalhos de campo na seleção.The vegetative propagation enhances the possibility of multiplication of a genotype, maintaining the positive aspects of the non-allelic and allelic interactions. Crosses in this kind of plants are better evaluated, based on the frequency of selected genotypes rather than on family means. Seven cassava cultivars, Vassourinha, Branca de Santa Catarina, Santa, Carapé, Taquari, Mico and Cigana were intercrossed, following the dialleI mating design. The male and female fertiIity of the parents were evaluated by the number and the quality of the botanical seeds obtained from crosses. In the first generation of vegetative propagation, the bacterial resistance of the seedlings was measured. ln the second generation of vegetative multiplication the evaluations were made for the following characteristics: root yield (PR), stem yield (PA), total yield (PT), harvest index (IC) and number of roots (NR). In this generation, the available plant material allowed the evaluation of only 21 crosses and four selfed parents.The statisticaI analysis was according to Griffings mode I IV, and the effects of treatments were considered to be fixed. The number of botanicaI seeds per plant ln the female parents ranged from 0.6 to 232.5 and their quantity and quality were dependent mainly on the female parent. The frequency of bacterial resistant genotypes was directly proportional to the resistance of the parents. The results showed that, when susceptible parents are involved in the crosses. It is necessary to obtain progenies large enough to permit the maintenance of necessary genetic variability for the selection of the other traits, after the strong selection for disease resistance. The CV value of 12.6% ln the second vegetative generation shows that the experimental precision for root yield was rather good. The general mean of 7.78kgenotype may be considered very good, for non selected genotypes. ln this group of was detected no reciprocal effects. Also, the inbreeding depression was not very expressive. In all characteristics, the generaI combining abilility (CGC) was the main source of variations among genotype means. Taquari was the parent that showed the highest CGC; the smallest CGC was found in Santa. The diallel analysis also was performed after selection of the 10, 5, 2, and 1 best genotype from the original 20 plants/plot. With increasing selection pressure, the CGC variance was rather constant; while the CEC increased in relative importance, following the increase in selection. With selection, Mico and Branca de Santa Catarina were the parents with the highest CGC. Again, Santa showed the smallest value. The crosses with highest CEC were: Mico x Taquari', when the 10 and the 5 best genotypes were analysed; and Carapé x Mico, for the two best genotypes.The cross with the highest mean without and with moderated seIection was Mico x Taquari; under strong seIection, the highest mean occured in Mico x Carapé, where the high CEC of the cross was added to the high CGC of Mico.The estimates of the coefficient of broad sense heritability, of the coefficient of genetic variation and the expected gain show the good perspectives of genetic advance with the selection within the crosses. In this way, crosses with Mico and Branca de Santa Catarina are the most promising ones, due to the high CGC of these parents. The cross Taquari x Mico aIso showed superior performance, due to the high CEC of the cross. The estimates of genetic correlations between PR and PA where very high, averaging 0.66, showing that the initial selection for PA, may contribute to increase the efficiency of field selection