Harnessing landrace diversity empowers wheat breeding.

Harnessing genetic diversity in major staple crops through the development of new breeding capabilities is essential to ensure food security. Here we examined the genetic and phenotypic diversity of the A. E.

Analysing COVID-19 outcomes in the context of the 2019 Global Health Security (GHS) Index.

Introduction: The Global Health Security Index benchmarks countries' capacities to carry out the functions necessary to prevent, detect and respond to biological threats. The COVID-19 pandemic served as an opportunity to evaluate whether the Index contained the correct array of variables that influence countries' abilities to respond to these threats; assess additional variables that may influence preparedness; and examine how the impact of preparedness components change during public health crises.

Methods: Linear regression models were examined to determine the relationship between excess mortality per capita for the first 500 days of countries' COVID-19 pandemic and internal Index variables, as well as external variables including social cohesion; island status; perceived corruption; elderly population size; previous epidemic experience; stringency of non-pharmaceutical interventions; and social and political polarisation.

Heavy mineral variations in mid-Carboniferous deltaic sandstones: Records of a pre-depositional sediment history?

Sandstone composition is influenced by multiple factors, including acidic weathering, occurring during storage in the hinterland, prior to deposition. This study aims to better understand and constrain how the nature and duration of such pre-depositional factors might impact the final sediment composition. Mid-Carboniferous deltaic sandstones from the Clare Basin, western Ireland, for which depositional environments and provenance are well constrained, are the target of this study.

CerealsDB-new tools for the analysis of the wheat genome: update 2020.

CerealsDB (www.cerealsdb.uk.