Broomrape (Orobanche Cumana Wallr.) resistance breeding utilizing wild Helianthus species

Wild Helianthus species possess valuable resistance genes for sunflower broomrape (Orobanche cumana Wallr.), especially the 39 largely underutilized perennial species. Resistance to race F has been transferred into a cultivated background via bridging of interspecific amphiploids. More recently, a single dominant gene resistant to race G was identified in annual H. debilis ssp. tardi-florus and transferred into cultivated HA 89. Interspecific crosses between wild annual Helianthus species and cultivated lines are relatively easy compared to those involving wild perennial species, which were made easier only after the development of embryo rescue techniques. Interspecific amphiploids resulting from colchicine treatment of F1 hybrids provide bridging materials for transferring genes without relying on embryo rescue. Among the diploid, tetraploid, and hexaploid perennial species, the speed of gene utilization follows the ploidy level of diploids, tetraploids, and hexaploids due to the time-consuming backcrosses required to eliminate the extra chromosomes in the latter two groups. In the development of pre-breeding materials, the retention rate of genetic material of the wild species is another concern with each additional backcross. For crosses involving tetraploid and hexaploid wild perennials, the use of 2n=51 chromosome F1 or BC1F1 generation, as pollen source, could accelerate chromosome reduction to 2n=34 in BC1F1 or BC2F1, resulting in useful materials with fewer backcrosses for trait selection.This work is partially funded by a National Sclerotinia Grant awarded to C.C. Jan.Peer Reviewe

Relationships between serum HER2 ECD, TIMP-1 and clinical outcomes in Taiwanese breast cancer

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Serum levels of the extracellular domain of HER2/neu (HER2 ECD) have been demonstrated to be associated with clinical outcomes. A disintegrin and metalloproteinase-10, a sheddase of HER2/neu, can drive cancer progression and its activity is inhibited by tissue inhibitor of metalloproteinase-1 (TIMP-1). However, elevated TIMP-1 expression has been associated with a poor prognosis of breast cancer. Therefore, this study was performed to explore the relationships between serum HER2 ECD, TIMP-1 and clinical outcomes.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>One hundred and eighty-five female breast cancer patients, who received curative mastectomy without neo-adjuvant chemotherapy at Chang-Gung Memorial Hospital, were recruited with informed consent for this study. Pre-operative serum levels of HER2 ECD and TIMP-1 were measured using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Twenty-three cases (12.4%) were classified HER2 ECD positive. HER2 ECD positivity was significantly associated with age, lymph node involvement, histological grade, estrogen receptor status, progesterone receptor status, tissue HER2/neu overexpression, and disease-free survival (DFS). In an age, stage, ER and HER2/neu status matched subgroup (N = 41), the serum level of TIMP-1 was significantly associated with HER2 ECD positivity and DFS.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>A high serum TIMP-1 was significantly associated with HER2 ECD positivity and a poorer DFS among Taiwanese primary breast cancer patients with HER2 overexpression.</p

Linkage Mapping and Genome-Wide Association Studies of the Rf Gene Cluster in Sunflower (Helianthus annuus L.) and Their Distribution in World Sunflower Collections

Commercial hybrid seed production in sunflower currently relies on a single cytoplasmic male sterility (CMS) source, PET1 and the major fertility restoration gene, Rf1, leaving the crop highly vulnerable to issues with genetic bottlenecks. Therefore, having multiple CMS/Rf systems is important for sustainable sunflower production. Here, we report the identification of a new fertility restoration gene, Rf7, which is tightly linked to a new downy mildew (DM) resistance gene, Pl34, in the USDA sunflower inbred line, RHA 428. The Rf7 gene was genetically mapped to an interval of 0.6 cM on the lower end of linkage group (LG) 13, while Pl34 was mapped 2.1 cM proximal to the Rf7. Both the genes are located in a cluster of Rf and Pl genes. To gain further insights into the distribution of Rf genes in the sunflower breeding lines, we used a genome-wide association study (GWAS) approach to identify markers associated with the fertility restoration trait in a panel of 333 sunflower lines genotyped with 8,723 single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) markers. Twenty-four SNP markers on the lower end of LG13 spanning a genomic region of 2.47 cM were significantly associated with the trait. The significant markers were surveyed in a world collection panel of 548 sunflower lines and validated to be associated with the Rf1 gene. The SNP haplotypes for the Rf1 gene are different from Rf5 and the Rf7gene located in the Rf gene cluster on LG13. The SNP and SSR markers tightly flanking the Rf7 gene and the Pl34 gene would benefit the sunflower breeders in facilitating marker assisted selection (MAS) of Rf and Pl genes

Preoperative serum carcinoembryonic antigen, albumin and age are supplementary to UICC staging systems in predicting survival for colorectal cancer patients undergoing surgical treatment

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The aim of this study was to determine influence of prognostic factors in addition to UICC staging systems, on cancer-specific and overall survival rates for patients with colorectal cancer (CRC) undergoing surgical treatment.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Between January 1996 and December 2006, a total of 1367 CRC patients who underwent surgical treatment in Kaohsiung Medical University Hospital were analyzed. We retrospectively investigated clinicopathologic features of these patients. All patients were followed up intensively, and their outcomes were investigated completely.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of 1367 CRC patients, there were seven hundred and fifty-seven males (55.4%) and 610 (44.6%) females. The median follow-up period was 60 months (range, 3–132 months). A multivariate analysis identified that low serum albumin level (<it>P </it>= 0.011), advanced UICC stage (<it>P </it>< 0.001), and high carcinoembryonic antigen (CEA) level (<it>P </it>< 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of cancer-specific survival. Meanwhile, a multivariate analysis showed age over 65 years (<it>P </it>< 0.001), advanced UICC stage (<it>P </it>< 0.001), and high CEA level (<it>P </it>< 0.001) were independent prognostic factors of overall survival. Furthermore, combination of UICC stage, serum CEA and albumin levels as predictors of cancer-specific survival showed that the poorer the prognostic factors involved, the poorer the cancer-specific survival rate. Likewise, combination of UICC stage, age and serum CEA level as predictors of overall survival showed that the poorer the prognostic factors involved, the poorer the overall survival rate. Of these prognostic factors, preoperative serum CEA level was the only significant prognostic factor for patients with stage II and III CRCs in both cancer-specific and overall survival categories.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Preoperative serum albumin level, CEA level and age could prominently affect postoperative outcome of CRC patients undergoing surgical treatment. In addition to conventional UICC staging system, it might be imperative to take these additional characteristics of factors into account in CRC patients prior to surgical treatment.</p

Treatment results for hypopharyngeal cancer by different treatment strategies and its secondary primary- an experience in Taiwan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Purpose</p> <p>The aim of this study was to evaluate treatment results in our hypopharyngeal cancer patients.</p> <p>Patients and Methods</p> <p>A total of three hundred and ninety five hypopharyngeal cancer patients received radical treatment at our hospital; 96% were male. The majority were habitual smokers (88%), alcohol drinkers (73%) and/or betel quid chewers (51%). All patients received a CT scan or MRI for tumor staging before treatment. The stage distribution was stage I: 2 (0.5%); stage II: 22 (5.6%); stage III: 57 (14.4%) and stage IV: 314 (79.5%). Radical surgery was used first in 81 patients (20.5%), and the remaining patients (79.5%) received organ preservation-intended treatment (OPIT). In the OPIT group, 46 patients received radiotherapy alone, 156 patients received chemotherapy followed by radiotherapy (CT/RT) and 112 patients received concomitant chemo-radiotherapy (CCRT).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The five-year overall survival rates for stages I/II, III and IV were 49.5%, 47.4% and 18.6%, respectively. There was no significant difference in overall and disease-specific survival rates between patients who received radical surgery first and those who received OPIT. In the OPIT group, CCRT tended to preserve the larynx better (p = 0.088), with three-year larynx preservation rates of 44.8% for CCRT and 27.2% for CT/RT. Thirty-seven patients developed a second malignancy, with an annual incidence of 4.6%.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>There was no survival difference between OPIT and radical surgery in hypopharyngeal cancer patients at our hospital. CCRT may offer better laryngeal preservation than RT alone or CT/RT. However, prospective studies are still needed to confirm this finding. Additionally, second primary cancers are another important issue for hypopharyngeal cancer management.</p

Advances in Molecular Quantum Chemistry Contained in the Q-Chem 4 Program Package

A summary of the technical advances that are incorporated in the fourth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program is provided, covering approximately the last seven years. These include developments in density functional theory methods and algorithms, nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR) property evaluation, coupled cluster and perturbation theories, methods for electronically excited and open-shell species, tools for treating extended environments, algorithms for walking on potential surfaces, analysis tools, energy and electron transfer modelling, parallel computing capabilities, and graphical user interfaces. In addition, a selection of example case studies that illustrate these capabilities is given. These include extensive benchmarks of the comparative accuracy of modern density functionals for bonded and non-bonded interactions, tests of attenuated second order Møller–Plesset (MP2) methods for intermolecular interactions, a variety of parallel performance benchmarks, and tests of the accuracy of implicit solvation models. Some specific chemical examples include calculations on the strongly correlated Cr2 dimer, exploring zeolite-catalysed ethane dehydrogenation, energy decomposition analysis of a charged ter-molecular complex arising from glycerol photoionisation, and natural transition orbitals for a Frenkel exciton state in a nine-unit model of a self-assembling nanotube

Software for the frontiers of quantum chemistry:An overview of developments in the Q-Chem 5 package

This article summarizes technical advances contained in the fifth major release of the Q-Chem quantum chemistry program package, covering developments since 2015. A comprehensive library of exchange–correlation functionals, along with a suite of correlated many-body methods, continues to be a hallmark of the Q-Chem software. The many-body methods include novel variants of both coupled-cluster and configuration-interaction approaches along with methods based on the algebraic diagrammatic construction and variational reduced density-matrix methods. Methods highlighted in Q-Chem 5 include a suite of tools for modeling core-level spectroscopy, methods for describing metastable resonances, methods for computing vibronic spectra, the nuclear–electronic orbital method, and several different energy decomposition analysis techniques. High-performance capabilities including multithreaded parallelism and support for calculations on graphics processing units are described. Q-Chem boasts a community of well over 100 active academic developers, and the continuing evolution of the software is supported by an “open teamware” model and an increasingly modular design

Contributions of mean and shape of blood pressure distribution to worldwide trends and variations in raised blood pressure: A pooled analysis of 1018 population-based measurement studies with 88.6 million participants

© The Author(s) 2018. Background: Change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure could be due to both shifts in the entire distribution of blood pressure (representing the combined effects of public health interventions and secular trends) and changes in its high-blood-pressure tail (representing successful clinical interventions to control blood pressure in the hypertensive population). Our aim was to quantify the contributions of these two phenomena to the worldwide trends in the prevalence of raised blood pressure. Methods: We pooled 1018 population-based studies with blood pressure measurements on 88.6 million participants from 1985 to 2016. We first calculated mean systolic blood pressure (SBP), mean diastolic blood pressure (DBP) and prevalence of raised blood pressure by sex and 10-year age group from 20-29 years to 70-79 years in each study, taking into account complex survey design and survey sample weights, where relevant. We used a linear mixed effect model to quantify the association between (probittransformed) prevalence of raised blood pressure and age-group- and sex-specific mean blood pressure. We calculated the contributions of change in mean SBP and DBP, and of change in the prevalence-mean association, to the change in prevalence of raised blood pressure. Results: In 2005-16, at the same level of population mean SBP and DBP, men and women in South Asia and in Central Asia, the Middle East and North Africa would have the highest prevalence of raised blood pressure, and men and women in the highincome Asia Pacific and high-income Western regions would have the lowest. In most region-sex-age groups where the prevalence of raised blood pressure declined, one half or more of the decline was due to the decline in mean blood pressure. Where prevalence of raised blood pressure has increased, the change was entirely driven by increasing mean blood pressure, offset partly by the change in the prevalence-mean association. Conclusions: Change in mean blood pressure is the main driver of the worldwide change in the prevalence of raised blood pressure, but change in the high-blood-pressure tail of the distribution has also contributed to the change in prevalence, especially in older age groups