Distinct strains of the re‐emergent Cassava common mosaic virus (Genus: Potexvirus) infecting cassava in Argentina

Cassava common mosaic disease (CCMD) has been reported in all regions where cassava is grown in the Americas and the causal agent, Cassava common mosaic virus (CsCMV) was identified as a mechanically transmitted potexvirus (Fam. Alphaflexiviridae). In Argentina, cassava is grown mainly in the North East region (NEA) that shares borders with Brazil and Paraguay. Increasing incidences of CCMD were observed during the years 2014 to 2016 associated to severe leaf mosaic symptoms and yield reductions where the occurrence of CsCMV was confirmed by RT-PCR and sequencing. In this work we successfully purified the virus and developed a double-antibody sandwich (DAS) ELISA test from an Argentinean field-isolate of CsCMV, to extend the diagnostics of the disease. A collection of 726 samples was screened and CsCMV was detected with 100% prevalence in the NEA region. Additional co-infecting viruses were detected in some plants (64.4%); in these, CCMD symptoms correlated with CsCMV only, although more severe symptoms could be observed in mixed infected plants. Sequence analysis of the conserved RdRp domain showed a wider diversity of CsCMV isolates. Interestingly, a separate cluster was formed by sequences isolates from NEA samples which only share 77.1 to 80.3% nucleotide identity with the other clusters. These results indicated the presence of mixed strains occurring in the NEA region and suggest the presence of geographically distinct strains of CsCMV in South America

Spallation reactions. A successful interplay between modeling and applications

The spallation reactions are a type of nuclear reaction which occur in space by interaction of the cosmic rays with interstellar bodies. The first spallation reactions induced with an accelerator took place in 1947 at the Berkeley cyclotron (University of California) with 200 MeV deuterons and 400 MeV alpha beams. They highlighted the multiple emission of neutrons and charged particles and the production of a large number of residual nuclei far different from the target nuclei. The same year R. Serber describes the reaction in two steps: a first and fast one with high-energy particle emission leading to an excited remnant nucleus, and a second one, much slower, the de-excitation of the remnant. In 2010 IAEA organized a worskhop to present the results of the most widely used spallation codes within a benchmark of spallation models. If one of the goals was to understand the deficiencies, if any, in each code, one remarkable outcome points out the overall high-quality level of some models and so the great improvements achieved since Serber. Particle transport codes can then rely on such spallation models to treat the reactions between a light particle and an atomic nucleus with energies spanning from few tens of MeV up to some GeV. An overview of the spallation reactions modeling is presented in order to point out the incomparable contribution of models based on basic physics to numerous applications where such reactions occur. Validations or benchmarks, which are necessary steps in the improvement process, are also addressed, as well as the potential future domains of development. Spallation reactions modeling is a representative case of continuous studies aiming at understanding a reaction mechanism and which end up in a powerful tool.Comment: 59 pages, 54 figures, Revie

Quasistatic delamination of sandwich-like Kirchhoff-Love plates

A quasistatic rate-independent adhesive delamination problem of laminated plates with a finite thickness is considered. By letting the thickness of the plates go to zero, a rate-independent delamination model for a laminated Kirchhoff-Love plate is obtained as limit of these quasistatic processes. The same dimension reduction procedure is eventually applied to processes which are sensitive to delamination modes, namely opening vs. shearing is distinguishe

Reducing the environmental impact of surgery on a global scale: systematic review and co-prioritization with healthcare workers in 132 countries

Background Healthcare cannot achieve net-zero carbon without addressing operating theatres. The aim of this study was to prioritize feasible interventions to reduce the environmental impact of operating theatres. Methods This study adopted a four-phase Delphi consensus co-prioritization methodology. In phase 1, a systematic review of published interventions and global consultation of perioperative healthcare professionals were used to longlist interventions. In phase 2, iterative thematic analysis consolidated comparable interventions into a shortlist. In phase 3, the shortlist was co-prioritized based on patient and clinician views on acceptability, feasibility, and safety. In phase 4, ranked lists of interventions were presented by their relevance to high-income countries and low–middle-income countries. Results In phase 1, 43 interventions were identified, which had low uptake in practice according to 3042 professionals globally. In phase 2, a shortlist of 15 intervention domains was generated. In phase 3, interventions were deemed acceptable for more than 90 per cent of patients except for reducing general anaesthesia (84 per cent) and re-sterilization of ‘single-use’ consumables (86 per cent). In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for high-income countries were: introducing recycling; reducing use of anaesthetic gases; and appropriate clinical waste processing. In phase 4, the top three shortlisted interventions for low–middle-income countries were: introducing reusable surgical devices; reducing use of consumables; and reducing the use of general anaesthesia. Conclusion This is a step toward environmentally sustainable operating environments with actionable interventions applicable to both high– and low–middle–income countries