Review of agronomic and genetic diversity of Moroccan rice varieties, and their resistance to blast disease (Pyricularia oryzae)

Received: October 25th, 2022 ; Accepted: January 25th, 2023 ; Published: March 9th, 2023 ; Correspondence: [email protected] study on agronomic and genetic characteristics of rice has given us scope to select varieties with desirable characteristics to mitigate various constraints. Rice (Oryza sativa) is the staple food for half of the world's population. However, its production is hampered by a variety of biological constraints. The Blast disease (Pyricularia oryzae) is an important rice disease, and one of the most effective control methods is to use resistant varieties. Study areas in Morocco include the Gharb plains. For all methods, cultural practises like soil levelling seem to be important, but biological control is not widely adopted due to cost, efficacy, and climatic conditions. The bibliographic synthesis was carried out in this context with the main goals of contributing to a better understanding of rice cultivation in Morocco; to identify and characterise the structure of the rice blast pathogen (Pyricularia oryzae), which will allow us to characterise the effects of rice blast; and to research on the Gharb rice field, which resulted in resistant varieties, which will potentially allow producers to have resistant varieties to overcome the diseases. The introduction and development of new rice varieties with high agronomic and socioeconomic value; the selection of lines with high yield, good grain quality, and precocity that are adapted to Moroccan conditions; as well as the development of new lines from Moroccan rice, are among the specific goals

Investigación del efecto de la temperatura de recocido sobre las propiedades ópticas de películas delgadas de CdSe

Introduction: CdSe is an important II–VI semiconducting material dueto its typical optical properties such as small direct band gap (1.7 eV) anda high refractive index and, thus, a major concern is focused on the investigation of optical properties of CdSe thin films which is important topromote the performances of the devices of solid -state such as SC (solar cells), thin film transistors, LED (light-emitting diodes), EBPL (electron–beam pumped lasers) and electroluminescent devices. In the presentwork, CdSe thin films were deposited by thermal evaporation method andthe results have been analysed and presented. Materials and Methods:CdSe thin films has been deposited on glass microscopic slides as substrates of (75×25×1 mm) under room temperature using PVD technique.CdSe blended powders gets evaporated and condensed on the substrate.The film thickness (t = 100 5 nm) which is measured using Michelsoninterferometry method. Transmission spectrum, from 200-1100 nm, arescanned using two beams UV–VIS Spectrophotometer (6850 UV/Vis.Spectrophotometer-JENWAY). The deposited films then were annealedat temperature range of (1500C to 3500C) under vacuum to have a stable phase of the material and prevent surface oxidization. Results andDiscussion: A transmittance spectrum of CdSe thin film is scanned overwavelength range 200 to 1100 nm using a (6850 UV/Vis. Spectrophotometer-JENWAY) at room temperature. The transmittance percentagebetween the as-deposited film and the annealed films change varies from(17.0%) to (47.0%). It is clearly seen that there is a shift toward higher energy (Blue Shift) in the transmittance spectrum. As annealing temperatureincreased the transmittance edge is shifted to the longer wavelength (i.e.,after annealing the CdSe films shows red shifts in their optical spectra).The band gap was found within the range 1.966-1.7536 eV for CdSe thinfilm. As annealing temperature increases, the Eg continuously decreases.Conclusions: CdSe thin films have been deposited using Physical VaporDeposition (PVD) Technique. It is found that the transmission for asdeposited films is (17%) and increases to (47%) as annealing temperature increases. Beside this the energy gap for as- deposited CdSe film is(1.966eV) and decreased from (1.909 eV) to (1.7536eV) as the annealingtemperature increases. There is a strong red shift in optical spectrum ofthe annealed CdSe films. There is a gradual shift of the annealed filmsthin film spectra as compared of bulk CdSe film

THE EFFECTS OF TEMPERATURE DEPENDENT VISCOSITY AND VISCOUS DISSIPATION ON MHD CONVECTION FLOW FROM AN ISOTHERMAL HORIZONTAL CIRCULAR CYLINDER IN THE PRESENCE OF STRESS WORK AND HEAT GENERATION

Temperature dependent viscosity and Viscous Dissipation effects are considered on hydromagnetic natural convection flow from horizontal circular cylinder immersed in an electrically conducting fluid with viscosity proportional to a linear function of temperature in the presence of stress work and heat generation. The partial differential governing equations are transformed to dimensionless forms. The numerical computations are carried out for several values of physical parameters involved in the transformed equations. The resulting nonlinear system of partial differential equations is solved numerically by Keller box method which is an implicit finite difference technique with Newton's linearization method. The features of the flow and heat transfer characteristics for different values of the governing parameters are analyzed and discussed. To support the accuracy of the numerical results, a comparison is made with known results from the open literature for some particular cases of the present study and the results are found to be in good agreement

Brain and spinal stimulation therapies for phantom limb pain: a systematic review.

BACKGROUND: Although many treatments exist for phantom limb pain (PLP), the evidence supporting them is limited and there are no guidelines for PLP management. Brain and spinal cord neurostimulation therapies are targeted at patients with chronic PLP but have yet to be systematically reviewed. OBJECTIVE: To determine which types of brain and spinal stimulation therapy appear to be the best for treating chronic PLP. DESIGN: Systematic reviews of effectiveness and epidemiology studies, and a survey of NHS practice. POPULATION: All patients with PLP. INTERVENTIONS: Invasive interventions - deep brain stimulation (DBS), motor cortex stimulation (MCS), spinal cord stimulation (SCS) and dorsal root ganglion (DRG) stimulation. Non-invasive interventions - repetitive transcranial magnetic stimulation (rTMS) and transcranial direct current stimulation (tDCS). MAIN OUTCOME MEASURES: Phantom limb pain and quality of life. DATA SOURCES: Twelve databases (including MEDLINE and EMBASE) and clinical trial registries were searched in May 2017, with no date limits applied. REVIEW METHODS: Two reviewers screened titles and abstracts and full texts. Data extraction and quality assessments were undertaken by one reviewer and checked by another. A questionnaire was distributed to clinicians via established e-mail lists of two relevant clinical societies. All results were presented narratively with accompanying tables. RESULTS: Seven randomised controlled trials (RCTs), 30 non-comparative group studies, 18 case reports and 21 epidemiology studies were included. Results from a good-quality RCT suggested short-term benefits of rTMS in reducing PLP, but not in reducing anxiety or depression. Small randomised trials of tDCS suggested the possibility of modest, short-term reductions in PLP. No RCTs of invasive therapies were identified. Results from small, non-comparative group studies suggested that, although many patients benefited from short-term pain reduction, far fewer maintained their benefits. Most studies had important methodological or reporting limitations and few studies reported quality-of-life data. The evidence on prognostic factors for the development of chronic PLP from the longitudinal studies also had important limitations. The results from these studies suggested that pre-amputation pain and early PLP intensity are good predictors of chronic PLP. Results from the cross-sectional studies suggested that the proportion of patients with severe chronic PLP is between around 30% and 40% of the chronic PLP population, and that around one-quarter of chronic PLP patients find their PLP to be either moderately or severely limiting or bothersome. There were 37 responses to the questionnaire distributed to clinicians. SCS and DRG stimulation are frequently used in the NHS but the prevalence of use of DBS and MCS was low. Most responders considered SCS and DRG stimulation to be at least sometimes effective. Neurosurgeons had mixed views on DBS, but most considered MCS to rarely be effective. Most clinicians thought that a randomised trial design could be successfully used to study neurostimulation therapies. LIMITATION: There was a lack of robust research studies. CONCLUSIONS: Currently available studies of the efficacy, effectiveness and safety of neurostimulation treatments do not provide robust, reliable results. Therefore, it is uncertain which treatments are best for chronic PLP. FUTURE WORK: Randomised crossover trials, randomised N-of-1 trials and prospective registry trials are viable study designs for future research. STUDY REGISTRATION: The study is registered as PROSPERO CRD42017065387. FUNDING: The National Institute for Health Research Health Technology Assessment programme

Robotic Therapy for Phantom Limb Pain in Upper Limb Amputees

The system described in this paper combines virtual reality with haptic feedback to increase the level of immersion and invoke the sense of agency in patients with phantom limb pain with the aim of reducing perceived pain. This paper presents three case studies of an on-going clinical study. The initial results suggest an increased sense of embodiment of the virtual limb promotes a decrease in perceived levels of pain. The results strengthen the view that the cortical map does not fully “disappear” yet lays dormant

The effects of chronic food restriction on cue-induced heroin seeking in abstinent male rats

Rationale and objectives Previous research with an animal model of relapse has shown that acute food deprivation will reinstate extinguished drug seeking. Recent evidence with humans, however, suggests that chronic food restriction rather than acute food deprivation is related to increases in drug taking and relapse, emphasizing a need for an animal model to elucidate the neural mechanisms mediating the effects of chronic food restriction on drug seeking. Here we studied the effects of chronic food restriction during a period of abstinence on heroin seeking in rats. Methods Rats were trained to self-administer heroin over 10 days (0.1 mg/kg/infusion; i.v.). Rats were then removed from the operant conditioning chambers and exposed to a mild food restriction (resulting in 10–15 % decrease in body weight) or given unrestricted access to food for 14 days while abstinent. The abstinence period was followed by a drug-seeking test under extinction conditions. Subsequent experiments manipulated the length of restriction and test conditions. Results Rats that were food restricted throughout the abstinence period demonstrated a robust increase in cue-induced heroin seeking compared to sated rats. Re-feeding prior to testing or decreasing the length of the food restriction period prevented the augmentation of drug seeking. Conclusions A combination of chronic food restriction and a concurrent state of hunger appears to be necessary for an increase in cue-induced heroin seeking following abstinence. The procedure presented here may serve as a useful model to study the increased risk for relapse following dietary manipulations in abstinent subjects

Some discussions of D. Fearnhead and D. Prangle's Read Paper "Constructing summary statistics for approximate Bayesian computation: semi-automatic approximate Bayesian computation"

This report is a collection of comments on the Read Paper of Fearnhead and Prangle (2011), to appear in the Journal of the Royal Statistical Society Series B, along with a reply from the authors

Stress-Induced Reinstatement of Drug Seeking: 20 Years of Progress

In human addicts, drug relapse and craving are often provoked by stress. Since 1995, this clinical scenario has been studied using a rat model of stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. Here, we first discuss the generality of stress-induced reinstatement to different drugs of abuse, different stressors, and different behavioral procedures. We also discuss neuropharmacological mechanisms, and brain areas and circuits controlling stress-induced reinstatement of drug seeking. We conclude by discussing results from translational human laboratory studies and clinical trials that were inspired by results from rat studies on stress-induced reinstatement. Our main conclusions are (1) The phenomenon of stress-induced reinstatement, first shown with an intermittent footshock stressor in rats trained to self-administer heroin, generalizes to other abused drugs, including cocaine, methamphetamine, nicotine, and alcohol, and is also observed in the conditioned place preference model in rats and mice. This phenomenon, however, is stressor specific and not all stressors induce reinstatement of drug seeking. (2) Neuropharmacological studies indicate the involvement of corticotropin-releasing factor (CRF), noradrenaline, dopamine, glutamate, kappa/dynorphin, and several other peptide and neurotransmitter systems in stress-induced reinstatement. Neuropharmacology and circuitry studies indicate the involvement of CRF and noradrenaline transmission in bed nucleus of stria terminalis and central amygdala, and dopamine, CRF, kappa/dynorphin, and glutamate transmission in other components of the mesocorticolimbic dopamine system (ventral tegmental area, medial prefrontal cortex, orbitofrontal cortex, and nucleus accumbens). (3) Translational human laboratory studies and a recent clinical trial study show the efficacy of alpha-2 adrenoceptor agonists in decreasing stress-induced drug craving and stress-induced initial heroin lapse

Can dissonance engineering improve risk analysis of human–machine systems?

The paper discusses dissonance engineering and its application to risk analysis of human–machine systems. Dissonance engineering relates to sciences and technologies relevant to dissonances, defined as conflicts between knowledge. The richness of the concept of dissonance is illustrated by a taxonomy that covers a variety of cognitive and organisational dissonances based on different conflict modes and baselines of their analysis. Knowledge control is discussed and related to strategies for accepting or rejecting dissonances. This acceptability process can be justified by a risk analysis of dissonances which takes into account their positive and negative impacts and several assessment criteria. A risk analysis method is presented and discussed along with practical examples of application. The paper then provides key points to motivate the development of risk analysis methods dedicated to dissonances in order to identify the balance between the positive and negative impacts and to improve the design and use of future human–machine system by reinforcing knowledge