An international breeding project using a wild potato relative resulted in two new frost-tolerant native potato cultivars for the Andes and the Altiplano.

This breeding project, initiated at the United States Potato Genebank (USPG) in collaboration with Peruvian partners Instituto Nacional de Innovacion Agraria (INIA), International Potato Center, Peru (CIP), and local farmers, sought to enhance cold hardiness and frost tolerance in native potato cultivars in Peru. The Andes and Altiplano are often affected by frost, which causes significant reduction in yield; creating varieties with superior resilience is a critical undertaking. The goal was to transfer outstanding non-acclimated cold tolerance and acclimation capacity found in wild potato species .

Collecting wild potato species ( sect. Petota) in Peru to enhance genetic representation and fill gaps in collections.

Crop wild relatives (CWRs) are important sources of novel genes, due to their high variability of response to biotic and abiotic stresses, which can be invaluable for crop genetic improvement programs. Recent studies have shown that CWRs are threatened by several factors, including changes in land-use and climate change. A large proportion of CWRs are underrepresented in genebanks, making it necessary to take action to ensure their long-term conservation.

Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change: A Synopsis of Coordinated National Crop Wild Relative Seed Collecting Programs across Five Continents.

The Adapting Agriculture to Climate Change Project set out to improve the diversity, quantity, and accessibility of germplasm collections of crop wild relatives (CWR). Between 2013 and 2018, partners in 25 countries, heirs to the globetrotting legacy of Nikolai Vavilov, undertook seed collecting expeditions targeting CWR of 28 crops of global significance for agriculture. Here, we describe the implementation of the 25 national collecting programs and present the key results.

High flow nasal cannula versus standard low flow nasal oxygen during flexible bronchoscopy in children: A randomized controlled trial.

Background: Hypoxemia is the most frequent complication of fiberoptic bronchoscopy (FB) in children. Guidelines recommend oxygen supplementation and conventional nasal prongs (NC) are used for this purpose. The aim of this study was to evaluate if the use of high-flow nasal cannula therapy (HFNC) in children undergoing FB result in a lower incidence of hypoxemia than standard oxygen administration.

[Use of mass spectrometry for rapid diagnosis of positive blood cultures: Validation of a local algorythm].

Mass spectrometry (MS) is used in identification of positive blood culture, a contribution in the clinical management of septic patients. The protocol is labor intensive and disrupts the normal workflow in a clinical laboratory. We intended to make rapid diagnosis by using MS directly from shortly incubated blood agar plates (4 to 6 hours) comparing with results of the conventional method (MC).

Ex situ conservation priorities for the wild relatives of potato (solanum L. Section petota).

Crop wild relatives have a long history of use in potato breeding, particularly for pest and disease resistance, and are expected to be increasingly used in the search for tolerance to biotic and abiotic stresses. Their current and future use in crop improvement depends on their availability in ex situ germplasm collections. As these plants are impacted in the wild by habitat destruction and climate change, actions to ensure their conservation ex situ become ever more urgent.

Thrombocytosis and hematocrit as prognostic factors in renal carcinoma.

Objective: To examine the connection between preoperative thrombocytosis and hematocrit and survival in a group of patients operated for renal cell carcinoma.

Methods: Retrospective study with descriptive and statistical analysis of 139 patients with renal cell carcinoma treated surgically over the last 4 years in our Urology clinical unit. 116 (83,45%)were diagnosed at a localized clinical stage, whereas 23 (16,54%) presented as locally advanced or metastatic disease.

Quantitative gene expression analysis in a brain slice model: influence of temperature and incubation media.

We describe the RNA integrity (28S/18S ratio) and the messenger RNA (mRNA) expression of genes encoding glyceraldehyde 3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH), microtubule-associated serine/threonine kinase 2 (Mast2), and beta-actin in cortical brain slices incubated for up to 24h in Ringer's solution and Dulbecco's modified Eagle's medium (DMEM) at 25 and 37 degrees C. Our data reveal an optimal temporal working window between 1 and 6h when slices are incubated in Ringer's solution at 25 degrees C that allows experiments related to gene expression dynamics to be performed more suitably than those carried out at 37 degrees C. In addition, we show that reference gene expression may be modified in dynamic experiments and may compromise studies of gene expression.