A WIDE DISTRIBUTION OF A NEW VRN-B1c ALLELE OF WHEAT TRITICUM AESTIVUM L. IN RUSSIA, UKRAINE AND ADJACENT REGIONS: A LINK WITH THE HEADING TIME AND ADAPTIVE POTENTIAL

The adaptation of common wheat (T. aestivum L.) to diverse environmental conditions is greatly under the control of genes involved in determination of vernalization response (Vrn-1 genes). It was found that the variation in common wheat heading time is affected not only by combination of Vrn-1 homoeoalleles but also by multiple alleles at a separate Vrn-1 locus. Previously, we described the Vrn-B1c allele from T.aestivum cv. 'Saratovskaya 29' and found significant differences in the structure of the first (1st) intron of this allele when compared to another highly abundant Vrn-B1a allele, specifically, the deletion of 0.8 kb coupled with the duplication of 0.4 kb. We suggested that the changes in the intron 1 of Vrn-B1c allele caused earlier ear emergence in the near-isogenic line and cultivars, carrying this allele. In this study we investigate the distribution of the Vrn-B1c allele in a wide set of spring wheat cultivars from Russia, Ukraine and adjacent regions. The analysis revealed that 40% of Russian and 53% of Ukranian spring wheat cultivars contain the Vrn-B1c allele. The high distribution of the Vrn-B1c allele can be explained by a frequent using of 'Saratovskaya 29' in the breeding process inside the studied area. From the other hand, the predominance of the Vrn-B1c allele among cultivars cultivated in West Siberia and Kazakhstan may be due to the selective advantage of this allele for the region where there is a high risk of early fall frosts

DELLA MUTATIONS IN PLANTS WITH SPECIAL EMPHASIS ON WHEAT

DELLA proteins are a subfamily of transcriptional regulators from the GRAS protein family. They act as growth repressors. Gibberellins (GA) promote growth by overcoming the DELLA-mediated growth restraint. A number of dominant mutations in highly conserved orthologous DELLA genes are known in various plant species. These mutations reduce plant height owing to production of more active forms of growth repressors. The aim of the current study is to estimate the genetic similarity of DELLA nucleotide and amino acid sequences stored in GenBank and to identify mutant and wild type alleles that encode DELLAs in modern Ukrainian winter bread wheat varieties. We have performed nucleotide and amino acid sequence search and alignment of the Rht-D1 wheat dwarfing gene and DELLA-encoding genes of other plant species with BLAST and MUSCLE software. A dendrogram illustrating phylogenetic relations among DELLA sequences of 35 plant species has been constructed using MEGA v5. In addition, PCR-based genotyping for the major wheat dwarfing genes Rht-B1 and Rht-D1 has been performed in wheat cultivars from different regions of Ukraine. It is shown that the mutant Rht-D1b allele is the commonest dwarfing allele among those tested in Ukrainian wheat cultivars (68 %), but its distribution over Ukraine is not random

Supervised Learning and Reinforcement Learning of Feedback Models for Reactive Behaviors: Tactile Feedback Testbed

Robots need to be able to adapt to unexpected changes in the environment such that they can autonomously succeed in their tasks. However, hand-designing feedback models for adaptation is tedious, if at all possible, making data-driven methods a promising alternative. In this paper we introduce a full framework for learning feedback models for reactive motion planning. Our pipeline starts by segmenting demonstrations of a complete task into motion primitives via a semi-automated segmentation algorithm. Then, given additional demonstrations of successful adaptation behaviors, we learn initial feedback models through learning from demonstrations. In the final phase, a sample-efficient reinforcement learning algorithm fine-tunes these feedback models for novel task settings through few real system interactions. We evaluate our approach on a real anthropomorphic robot in learning a tactile feedback task.Comment: Submitted to the International Journal of Robotics Research. Paper length is 21 pages (including references) with 12 figures. A video overview of the reinforcement learning experiment on the real robot can be seen at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WDq1rcupVM0. arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1710.0855

Molecular Tools for Genebank Management and Evaluation

Molecular markers were developed for many species and enabled us to use them for the characterisation of genebank collections. We used the marker technology (microsatellites) for studying the genetic integrity of the self pollinating species wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) and the open pollinating species rye (Secale cereale L.). The study became possible, because at IPK both the ex situ collection, consisting of seeds from the most recent regeneration and a herbarium collection is maintained. In the herbarium collection from each accession samples of grains and complete spikes are deposited as vouchers when they are grown initially. For the wheat accessions investigated the comparison of the DNA fingerprints showed a high degree of idendity. No contamination due to foreign pollen or incorrect handling during the multiplication cycles was discovered. For the open pollinating species rye, however, major changes in allele frequencies were detected. Overall, nearly 50% of the alleles discovered in the original sample were not found in the material present in the ex situ collection now. In some cases alleles were detected in the most recently propagated subpopulations that were not observed in the investigated plants of the original one. In addition to the integrity studies we are in process of utilizing molecular markers for a marker assisted screening of genebank collections. Salt tolerance of barley has been shown as a case study in the present article

Evaluation of the genetic variability of homoeologous group 3 SSRs in bread wheat

Thorough characterization of the genetic variability in bread wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) is important for a better improvement of this key crop and to increase cereal yield in the context of sustainable agriculture to face human needs in the next decades. To study the genetic variability of SSRs on wheat homoeologous group 3 chromosomes, we characterized 38 hexaploid and two tetraploid wheat lines using a set of 165 microsatellites that we cytogenetically assigned to the 17 deletion bins for chromosomes group 3.Изучали вариабельность МС-локусов третьей гомеологичной группы хромосом T. aestivum L., осуществили сопоставление изменчивости микросателлитов в дистальных и проксимальных областях хромосом и физическое картирование МС-локусов с помощью делеционных, дителосомных, нуллитетрасомных линий и провели сравнительный анализ вариабельности микросателлитных локусов хромосом 3А, 3B и 3D.Вивчали варіабельність МС-локусів третьої гомеологічної групи хромосом T. aestivum L., здійснили порівняння мінливості мікросателітів у дистальних та проксимальних областях хромосом, а також фізичне картування МС-локусів за допомогою делеційних, дітелосомних, нулітетрасомних ліній та провели порівняльний аналіз варіабельності мікросателітних локусів хромосом 3А, 3B і 3D

Medical workers of health care institutions as a risk group for chemo-resistant tuberculosis: analysis of incidence, a clinical case.

The purpose of our study was to analyze the prevalence of morbidity of medical workers of health care institutions and anti-tuberculosis institutions, as well as the analysis of resistance of mycobacterium tuberculosis strains among medical personal of health facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Retrospective analysis for 2015 - 2017 of electronic database of the patients register (TB-manager), outpatient cards and case histories of patients which underwent treatment in pulmonary-tuberculosis and surgical departments of CI «DnepropetrovskRegional Clinical Treatment and Prophylactic Association "Phthisiology"» DRC» was conducted . The incidence of tuberculosis among medical workers in health care institutions of Ukraine remains at a fairly high, stable level (426 cases of tuberculosis in 2016, 389 cases in 2017) on the background of the decrease in the incidence among the general population (59.5 people per 100 thousand population in 2014 and 51.9 per 100 thousand population in 2017 ). In Ukraine among tuberculosis patients – medical workers,  the overwhelming majority are workers of establishments of the general medical network (GMN) - 351 people, while in anti-tuberculosis institutions (ATI) in 2017, 38 cases of tuberculosis were registered. The article presents the clinical case of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) in staff member of the pathoanatomical bureau, one of the medical institutions of the city Dnipro

Determination technique of quasireference value of a carrier radio signal frequency of uncooperated onboard lighting source during radio monitoring

The article discloses the technique defining quasireference value of a carrier radio signal frequency of uncooperated onboard lighting source by calculation and compensation of the Doppler shift at radio monitoring. Provided simulation results show checked operability of the offered technique with assessment of observation accuracy and received quasireference value of a carrier frequency accepted a radio signal compared with real sample under various conditions

Medical workers of health care institutions as a risk group for chemo-resistant tuberculosis: analysis of incidence, a clinical case.

The purpose of our study was to analyze the prevalence of morbidity of medical workers of health care institutions and anti-tuberculosis institutions, as well as the analysis of resistance of mycobacterium tuberculosis strains among medical personal of health facilities in the Dnipropetrovsk region. Retrospective analysis for 2015 - 2017 of electronic database of the patients register (TB-manager), outpatient cards and case histories of patients which underwent treatment in pulmonary-tuberculosis and surgical departments of CI «DnepropetrovskRegional Clinical Treatment and Prophylactic Association "Phthisiology"» DRC» was conducted . The incidence of tuberculosis among medical workers in health care institutions of Ukraine remains at a fairly high, stable level (426 cases of tuberculosis in 2016, 389 cases in 2017) on the background of the decrease in the incidence among the general population (59.5 people per 100 thousand population in 2014 and 51.9 per 100 thousand population in 2017 ). In Ukraine among tuberculosis patients – medical workers,  the overwhelming majority are workers of establishments of the general medical network (GMN) - 351 people, while in anti-tuberculosis institutions (ATI) in 2017, 38 cases of tuberculosis were registered. The article presents the clinical case of multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR) in staff member of the pathoanatomical bureau, one of the medical institutions of the city Dnipro

РІВЕНЬ ІНФОРМОВАНОСТІ ТА СТАВЛЕННЯ СТУДЕНТІВ ВИЩИХ МЕДИЧНИХ НАВЧАЛЬНИХ ЗАКЛАДІВ ДО ПРОБЛЕМИ ТУБЕРКУЛЬОЗУ

The aim of the work – determination of the degree of students’ awareness in State Institution “Dnipropetrovsk Medical Academy of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” about various issues of tuberculosis, their attitude to patients with tuberculosis and people who have recovered from tuberculosis, as well as studying students’ views about the relevance of this disease.The main body. We analyzed the questionnaires of 491 students of the 4th year of medical faculties of State Institution “Dnipro­petrovsk Medical Academy of the Ministry of Health of Ukraine” at the age from 21 to 30 years. This questioning was conducted at the first practical lesson, before the beginning of the lecture cycle on Phthisiology. The majority of respondents (93.9 %) have considered the problem with tuberculosis in our country relevant and important for their future practical activities. 77.6 % of fourth-year students have noted the importance of social risk factors for the development of tuberculosis. Students have been well-oriented in the main symptoms of the disease and the ways of transmission of the infection, but have showed insufficient knowledge in the methods of detection, diagnosis, treatment of patients. In addition, students have had of fear of becoming ill while on the cycle.Conclusions. The analysis has showed insufficient awareness of students of higher medical schools about issues of tuberculosis, low motivation to study the discipline. Students have poorly informed about methods of detection and diagnosis of the disease, its initial symptoms, high-risk groups and so on. Misunderstandings of relevance of the problem of tuberculosis and prejudiced, inhuman attitude to the patient can contribute to the formation of low doctor’s alertness to this disease in the future and prevent them from implementing the basic principles of TB control – timely detection and prevention of the disease.Мета роботи – аналіз сучасного стану та досвіду викладання педіатрії англомовним студентам 4-го та 5-го років навчання на кафедрі педіатрії № 2 Харківського національного медичного університету.Основна частина. Викладання педіатрії англомовним студентам вимагає високого рівня професійної підготовки, педагогічної майстерності та вільного володіння англійською мовою. Для підвищення якості підготовки іноземних студентів на кафедрі проводиться постійний пошук та впровадження сучасних інноваційних технологій, регулярне оновлення методичних матеріалів, створення навчальних посібників та підручників з урахуванням міжнародних стандартів надання медичної допомоги дітям.Висновок. Зменшення кількості студентів у групах та лекційних потоках, удосконалення матеріально-технічної бази (комп’ютеризація, розвиток фантомних класів тощо) дозволить поліпшити якість навчання та оволодіння практичними навичками

The distribution of genetic diversity in a Brassica oleracea gene bank collection related to the effects on diversity of regeneration, as measured with AFLPs

The ex situ conservation of plant genetic resources in gene banks involves the selection of accessions to be conserved and the maintenance of these accessions for current and future users. Decisions concerning both these issues require knowledge about the distribution of genetic diversity within and between accessions sampled from the gene pool, but also about the changes in variation of these samples as a result of regenerations. These issues were studied in an existing gene bank collection of a cross-pollinating crop using a selection of groups of very similar Dutch white cabbage accessions, and additional groups of reference material representing the Dutch, and the global white cabbage gene pool. Six accessions were sampled both before and after a standard regeneration. 30 plants of each of 50 accessions plus 6 regeneration populations included in the study were characterised with AFLPs, using scores for 103 polymorphic bands. It was shown that the genetic changes as a result of standard gene bank regenerations, as measured by AFLPs, are of a comparable magnitude as the differences between some of the more similar accessions. The observed changes are mainly due to highly significant changes in allele frequencies for a few fragments, whereas for the majority of fragments the alleles occur in similar frequencies before and after regeneration. It is argued that, given the changes of accessions over generations, accessions that display similar levels of differentiation may be combined safely