Crop wild relatives of the United States require urgent conservation action.

The contributions of crop wild relatives (CWR) to food security depend on their conservation and accessibility for use. The United States contains a diverse native flora of CWR, including those of important cereal, fruit, nut, oil, pulse, root and tuber, and vegetable crops, which may be threatened in their natural habitats and underrepresented in plant conservation repositories. To determine conservation priorities for these plants, we developed a national inventory, compiled occurrence information, modeled potential distributions, and conducted threat assessments and conservation gap analyses for 600 native taxa.

Data for the calculation of an indicator of the comprehensiveness of conservation of useful wild plants.

The datasets and code presented in this article are related to the research article entitled "Comprehensiveness of conservation of useful wild plants: an operational indicator for biodiversity and sustainable development targets". The indicator methodology includes five main steps, each requiring and producing data, which are fully described and available here. These data include: species taxonomy, uses, and general geographic information (dataset 1); species occurrence data (dataset 2); global administrative areas data (dataset 3); eco-geographic predictors used in species distribution modeling (dataset 4); a world map raster file (dataset 5); species spatial distribution modeling outputs (dataset 6); ecoregion spatial data used in conservation analyses (dataset 7); protected area spatial data used in conservation analyses (dataset 8); and countries, sub-regions, and regions classifications data (dataset 9).

An integrated assessment of the vascular plant species of the Americas.

The cataloging of the vascular plants of the Americas has a centuries-long history, but it is only in recent decades that an overview of the entire flora has become possible. We present an integrated assessment of all known native species of vascular plants in the Americas. Twelve regional and national checklists, prepared over the past 25 years and including two large ongoing flora projects, were merged into a single list.

Blood glucose level neural model for type 1 diabetes mellitus patients.

This paper deals with the blood glucose level modeling for Type 1 Diabetes Mellitus (T1DM) patients. The model is developed using a recurrent neural network trained with an extended Kalman filter based algorithm in order to develop an affine model, which captures the nonlinear behavior of the blood glucose metabolism. The goal is to derive a dynamical mathematical model for the T1DM as the response of a patient to meal and subcutaneous insulin infusion.

Tree-line changes along the Andes: implications of spatial patterns and dynamics.

The Andes provide an extensive latitudinal and topographical framework for studying the factors that control the spatial patterns of forests (timberlines) and their species components expressed through the presence of tree growth forms (tree lines). Despite consistent overall similarities in landscape patterns, many processes must be unique, given the dramatic differences in species richness and biophysical constraints along the Andes. In all cases evaluated to date, morphological plasticity is a common trait of plant species that dominate at tree lines.

Abrupt tropical climate change: past and present.

Three lines of evidence for abrupt tropical climate change, both past and present, are presented. First, annually and decadally averaged delta(18)O and net mass-balance histories for the last 400 and 2,000 yr, respectively, demonstrate that the current warming at high elevations in the mid- to low latitudes is unprecedented for at least the last 2 millennia. Second, the continuing retreat of most mid- to low-latitude glaciers, many having persisted for thousands of years, signals a recent and abrupt change in the Earth's climate system.

Illicit crops and armed conflict as constraints on biodiversity conservation in the Andes region.

Coca, once grown for local consumption in the Andes, is now produced for external markets, often in areas with armed conflict. Internationally financed eradication campaigns force traffickers and growers to constantly relocate, making drug-related activities a principal cause of forest loss. The impact on biodiversity is known only in general terms, and this article presents the first regional analysis to identify areas of special concern, using bird data as proxy.

Water sorption, solubility, and tensile bond strength of resilient denture lining materials polymerized by different methods after thermal cycling.

Statement Of Problem: The clinical properties of resilient denture lining materials may be influenced by the methods used to polymerize them.

Purpose: This study evaluated and compared water sorption, solubility, and tensile bond strength of 2 resilient liner materials polymerized by different methods after being thermal cycled.

Material And Methods: Two acrylic resin-based resilient liner materials were evaluated: 1 (Light Liner) polymerized by visible light, and 1 (Ever-Soft) processed by 2 different methods: hot water bath and microwave energy.

Effect of a denture cleanser on weight, surface roughness, and tensile bond strength of two resilient denture liners.

Statement Of Problem: Denture cleansers used in clinical practice can damage resilient denture lining materials.

Purpose: This study evaluated the effects of a denture cleanser on weight change, roughness, and tensile bond strength on 2 denture resilient lining materials.

Material And Methods: Forty specimens of microwave acrylic resin (Onda-Cryl), 30 mm in diameter and 4 mm thick, were prepared to verify weight change and surface roughness.