Substitutes for genome differentiation in tuber-bearing Solanum: interspecific pollen-pistil incompatibility, nuclear-cytoplasmic male sterility, and endosperm.

The cultivated potato, Solanum tuberosum L. (2n=4x=48), has a very large number of related wild and cultivated tuber-bearing species, widely distributed in the Americas. These species, grouped in 16 taxonomic series, range from the diploid to the hexaploid level. Polyploid species are either disomic or polysomic. Sexual polyploidization via genetically controlled 2n gametes has played a major role in their evolution. Species are separated in nature by geographical and ecological barriers. However, there are several examples of sympatric species that share the same niches but do not readily cross (i.e. the diploids S. commersonii and S. chacoense, in certain areas of Argentina). External barriers are, therefore, not sufficient to explain species integrity. In addition, there are no strong evidences indicating that genome differentiation is important in the group. Thus, evidences are presented in this review to support the assertion that interspecific pollen-pistil incompatibiliy, nuclear-cytoplasmic male sterility and endosperm are major forces that strengthen the external hybridization barriers allowing, at the same time and under specific circumstances, a certain amount of gene exchange without jeopardizing the integrity of the species

NSTX/NSTX-U theory, modeling and analysis results

The mission of the spherical tokamak NSTX-U is to explore the physics that drives core and pedestal transport and stability at high-β and low collisionality, as part of the development of the spherical tokamak (ST) concept towards a compact, low-cost ST-based pilot plant. NSTX-U will ultimately operate at up to 2 MA and 1 T with up to 12 MW of neutral beam injection power for 5 s. NSTX-U will operate in a regime where electromagnetic instabilities are expected to dominate transport, and beam-heated NSTX-U plasmas will explore a portion of energetic particle parameter space that is relevant for both _-heated conventional and low aspect ratio burning plasmas. NSTX-U will also develop the physics understanding and control tools to ramp-up and sustain high performance plasmas in a fullynoninductive fashion. NSTX-U began research operations in 2016, but a failure of a divertor magnetic field coil after ten weeks of operation resulted in the suspension of operations and initiation of recovery activities. During this period, there has been considerable work in the area of analysis, theory and modeling of data from both NSTX and NSTX-U, with a goal of understanding the underlying physics to develop predictive models that can be used for high-confidence projections for both ST and higher aspect ratio regimes. These studies have addressed issues in thermal plasma transport, macrostability, energetic particlet-driven instabilities at ion-cyclotron frequencies and below, and edge and divertor physics

Health care for older people in Italy: The U.L.I.S.S.E. Project (Un link informatico sui servizi sanitari esistenti per l'anziano - a computerized network on health care services for older people).

Objectives: The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is aimed at describing older patients who are cared for in hospitals, home care or nursing homes in Italy. Design: The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is an observational multicenter prospective 1-year study. Setting: Overall, 23 acute geriatric or internal medicine hospital units, 11 home care services and 31 nursing homes participated in the study. Measurements: The patient\u2019s evaluation was performed using comprehensive geriatric assessment instruments, i.e. the interRAI Minimum Data Set, while data on service characteristics were recorded using ad-hoc designed questionnaires. Results: The older subjects who are in need of acute and long term care in Italy have similar characteristics: their mean age is higher than 80 years, they have a high level of disability in ADL, an important multimorbidity, and are treated with several drugs. The prevalence of cognitive impairment is particularly high in nursing homes, where almost 70% of residents suffer from it and 40% have severe cognitive impairment. On the other hand, there is a shortage of health care services, which are heterogeneous and fragmented. Conclusions: Health care services for older people in Italy are currently inadequate to manage the complexity of the older patients. An important effort should be undertaken to create a more integrated health care system

Health care for older people in Italy: The U.L.I.S.S.E. Project (Un link informatico sui servizi sanitari esistenti per l'anziano - a computerized network on health care services for older people)

Objectives: The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is aimed at describing older patients who are cared for in hospitals, home care or nursing homes in Italy. Design: The U.L.I.S.S.E. study is an observational multicenter prospective 1-year study. Setting: Overall, 23 acute geriatric or internal medicine hospital units, 11 home care services and 31 nursing homes participated in the study. Measurements: The patient\u2019s evaluation was performed using comprehensive geriatric assessment instruments, i.e. the interRAI Minimum Data Set, while data on service characteristics were recorded using ad-hoc designed questionnaires. Results: The older subjects who are in need of acute and long term care in Italy have similar characteristics: their mean age is higher than 80 years, they have a high level of disability in ADL, an important multimorbidity, and are treated with several drugs. The prevalence of cognitive impairment is particularly high in nursing homes, where almost 70% of residents suffer from it and 40% have severe cognitive impairment. On the other hand, there is a shortage of health care services, which are heterogeneous and fragmented. Conclusions: Health care services for older people in Italy are currently inadequate to manage the complexity of the older patients. An important effort should be undertaken to create a more integrated health care system