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Plant architecture modification (e.g. short-stature crops) is one of the key outcomes of modern crop breeding for high-yielding crop varieties. In cereals, delayed senescence, or stay-green, is an important trait that enables post-anthesis drought stress adaptation. Stay-green crops can prolong photosynthetic capacity during grain-filling period under post-anthesis drought stress, which is essential to ensure grain yield is not impacted under drought stress conditions. Although various stay-green quantitative trait loci have been identified in cereals, the underlying molecular mechanisms regulating stay-green remain elusive. Recent advances in various gene-editing technologies have provided avenues to fast-track crop improvement, such as the breeding of climate-resilient crops in the face of climate change. We present in this viewpoint the focus on using sorghum as the model cereal crop, to study PIN-FORMED (PIN) auxin efflux carriers as means to modulate plant architecture, and the potential to employ it as an adaptive strategy to address the environmental challenges posed by climate uncertainties. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background This prospective study assesses symptoms 3 months after severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) infection compared to test-negative and population controls, and the effect of vaccination prior to infection. Methods Participants enrolled after a positive (cases) or negative (test-negative controls) SARS-CoV-2 test, or after invitation from the general population (population controls). After 3 months, participants indicated presence of 41 symptoms and severity of 4 symptoms. Permutation tests were used to select symptoms significantly elevated in cases compared to controls and to compare symptoms between cases that were vaccinated or unvaccinated prior to infection. Results In total, 9166 cases, 1698 symptomatic but test-negative controls, and 3708 population controls enrolled. At 3 months, 13 symptoms, and severity of fatigue, cognitive impairment, and dyspnea were significantly elevated incases compared to controls. Of cases, 48.5% reported ≥1 significantly elevated symptom compared to 29.8% of test-negative controls and 26.0% of population controls. Effect of vaccination could be determined for cases aged <65 years, and was significantly protective for loss of smell and taste but not for other symptoms. Discussion Three months after SARS-CoV-2 infection, almost half of cases report symptoms, which was higher than background prevalence and test-negative prevalence. Vaccination prior to infection was protective against loss of smell and taste in cases aged <65 years. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The stay-green trait is recognized as a key drought adaptation mechanism in cereals worldwide. Stay-green sorghum plants exhibit delayed senescence of leaves and stems, leading to prolonged growth, a reduced risk of lodging, and higher grain yield under end-of-season drought stress. More than 45 quantitative trait loci (QTL) associated with stay-green have been identified, including two major QTL (Stg1 and Stg2). However, the contributing genes that regulate functional stay-green are not known. Here we show that the PIN FORMED family of auxin efflux carrier genes induce some of the causal mechanisms driving the stay-green phenotype in sorghum, with SbPIN4 and SbPIN2 located in Stg1 and Stg2 , respectively. We found that nine of 11 sorghum PIN genes aligned with known stay-green QTL. In transgenic studies, we demonstrated that PIN genes located within the Stg1 (SbPIN4), Stg2 (SbPIN2), and Stg3b (SbPIN1) QTL regions acted pleiotropically to modulate canopy development, root architecture, and panicle growth in sorghum, with SbPIN1 , SbPIN2 , and SbPIN4 differentially expressed in various organs relative to the non-stay-green control. The emergent consequence of such modifications in canopy and root architecture is a stay-green phenotype. Crop simulation modelling shows that the SbPIN2 phenotype can increase grain yield under drought. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background Aggregated claims data on medication are often used as a proxy for the prevalence of diseases, especially chronic diseases. However, linkage between medication and diagnosis tend to be theory based and not very precise. Modelling disease probability at an individual level using individual level data may yield more accurate results. Methods Individual probabilities of having a certain chronic disease were estimated using the Random Forest (RF) algorithm. A training set was created from a general practitioners database of 276 723 cases that included diagnosis and claims data on medication. Model performance for 29 chronic diseases was evaluated using Receiver-Operator Curves, by measuring the Area Under the Curve (AUC). Results The diseases for which model performance was best were Parkinson's disease (AUC =.89, 95% CI =.77–1.00), diabetes (AUC =.87, 95% CI =.85–.90), osteoporosis (AUC =.87, 95% CI =.81–.92) and heart failure (AUC =.81, 95% CI =.74–.88). Five other diseases had an AUC >.75: asthma, chronic enteritis, COPD, epilepsy and HIV/AIDS. For 16 of 17 diseases tested, the medication categories used in theory-based algorithms were also identified by our method, however the RF models included a broader range of medications as important predictors. Conclusion Data on medication use can be a useful predictor when estimating the prevalence of several chronic diseases. To improve the estimates, for a broader range of chronic diseases, research should use better training data, include more details concerning dosages and duration of prescriptions, and add related predictors like hospitalizations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most frequently reported tick-borne infection in Europe and North America. The aim of this study was to estimate the cost-of-illness of LB in the Netherlands. Methods: We used available incidence estimates from 2010 for tick bite consultations and three symptomatic LB outcomes: erythema migrans (EM), disseminated LB and Lyme-related persisting symptoms. The cost was estimated using these incidences and the average cost per patient as derived from a patient questionnaire. We estimated the cost from a societal perspective, including healthcare cost, patient cost and production loss, using the friction cost method and a 4% annual discount rate. Results: Tick bites and LB in 2010 led to a societal cost of €19.3 million (95% CI 15.6-23.4; 16.6 million population) for the Netherlands. Healthcare cost and production loss each constituted 48% of the total cost (€9.3 and €9.2 million/year), and patient cost 4% (€0.8 million/year). Of the total cost, 37% was related to disseminated LB, followed by 27% for persisting symptoms, 22% for tick bites and 14% for EM. Per outcome, for an individual case the mean cost of disseminated LB and Lyme-related persisting symptoms was both around €5700; for EM and GP consultations for tick bites this was €122 and €53. As an alternative to the friction cost method, the human capital method resulted in a total cost of €23.5 million/year. Conclusion: LB leads to a substantial societal cost. Further research should therefore focus on additional preventive interventions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise in healthcare expenditures has raised doubts about the sustainability of health systems and instigated a discussion on their design. Policy making in this field requires a proper understanding of how healthcare expenditures evolve throughout an individual's lifetime, and of how they vary between individuals. Given the lack of data on healthcare expenditures during an individual's lifetime, we developed a new nearest neighbour resampling approach to construct realistic individual life cycles of healthcare expenditures based on cross-sectional data from the Netherlands. This approach provides insight into lifetime healthcare expenditures. Our main finding is that the inequality in lifetime healthcare expenditures is much smaller than the inequality as derived from cross-sectional healthcare expenditures. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Lyme borreliosis (LB) is the most commonly reported tick-borne infection in Europe and North America. In the last 15 years a 3-fold increase was observed in general practitioner consultations for LB in the Netherlands. To support prioritization of prevention and control efforts for LB, we estimated its burden expressed in Disability-Adjusted Life Years (DALYs). Methods: We used available incidence estimates for three LB outcomes: (i) erythema migrans (EM), (ii) disseminated LB and (iii) Lyme-related persisting symptoms. To generate DALYs, disability weights and duration per outcome were derived using a patient questionnaire including health-related quality of life as measured by the EQ-5D. Results: We estimated the total LB burden for the Netherlands in 2010 at 10.55 DALYs per 100000 population (95% CI: 8.80-12.43); i.e. 0.60 DALYs for EM, 0.86 DALYs for disseminated LB and 9.09 DALYs for Lyme-related persisting symptoms. Per patient this was 0.005 DALYs for EM, 0.113 for disseminated LB and 1.661 DALYs for a patient with Lyme-related persisting symptoms. In a sensitivity analysis the total LB burden ranged from 7.58 to 16.93 DALYs per 100000 population. Conclusions: LB causes a substantial disease burden in the Netherlands. The vast majority of this burden is caused by patients with Lyme-related persisting symptoms. EM and disseminated Lyme have a more modest impact. Further research should focus on the mechanisms that trigger development of these persisting symptoms that patients and their physicians attribute to LB. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Peer-to-peer (P2P) systems are imposing a heavy burden on internet services providers (ISPs). P2P caching is an effective way of easing this burden. We focus on the cache deployment problem as it has a significant impact on the effectiveness of caching. An ISP backbone network is usually abstracted to a graph comprising nodes representing core routers and links connecting adjacent core routers. While deploying P2P caches at nodes (NCD, node-based cache deployment) can reduce the amount of P2P traffic transmitted from access networks to the ISP backbone network, deploying P2P caches on links (LCD, link-based cache deployment) can directly reduce the amount of P2P traffic on the ISP backbone network. However, neither NCD nor LCD maximizes the performance of P2P caches. In this paper, we propose a node-link-based cache deployment method (NLCD), which optimally selects nodes or links as deployment locations during the cache deployment process. First, we propose an analysis model and define an optimal cache deployment problem for NLCD. Then, we prove that this problem is NP complete and develop a corresponding deployment algorithm. Experimental results show that the average link utilization of NLCD is 5–15% lower than that of LCD, and 7–30% lower than that of NCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background It is not clear whether recent increases in life expectancy are accompanied by a concurrent postponement of activity limitations. The objective of this study was to give best estimates of the trend in the prevalence of activity limitations among the non-institutionalized population aged 55–84 years over the period 1990–2007 in The Netherlands.Methods We examined self-reports on 12 measures of moderate or severe activity limitations in stair climbing, walking and getting dressed as assessed by OECD long-term disability questionnaire or Short Form-36 (SF-36) items, using original data from five population-based cross-sectional and longitudinal surveys (n = 54 847 respondents). To account for heterogeneity between surveys, we used meta-analyses to study time trends.Results Time trends of 10 out of the 12 activity limitation variables studied were stable. The prevalence of at least moderate activity limitations in stair climbing [odds ratio (OR) = 1.03)] and getting dressed (OR = 1.04) based on OECD items increased over the study period. Age- and gender-stratified time trend analyses showed consistent patterns.Conclusions No declines were observed in the prevalence of activity limitations in the Dutch older population over the period 1990–2007. The increase in life expectancy in this period is accompanied by a stable prevalence of most activity limitations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]