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The need for reusing synthetic environment data that are employed in the field of modeling and simulation has recently been rising. SEDRIS (Synthetic Environment Data Representation & Interchange Specification) is a standard to exchange synthetic environment data, and is the specification utilized in various military simulations of the Pentagon for representing and exchanging three-dimensional data. SEDRIS represents environmental areas based on a data model; it can represent wind speed, wind directions, weather changes, and the information of buildings, as well as terrain data. In some situations, however, the synthetic environment data stored in SEDRIS format should be converted to various visualization formats. Firstly, because SEDRIS is a form of a super-set, it is necessary to verify whether large-scale SEDRIS files are stored successfully through visualization. In addition, the synthetic environment data should be visualized in some visualization programs for the simulation results to provide an immersive and realistic sense. In this study, we suggest several methods for visualizing synthetic environmental data stored in the SEDRIS format. We developed the converters for converting SEDRIS to the several visualization formats and developed the direct visualization programs using an open-source visualization engine. These results allow us to visualize the stored SEDRIS file and to verify whether the saving stage with native data is performed normally or not. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: Untreated hypothyroidism can lead to ovulatory dysfunction resulting in oligo-amenorrhea. Treatment with levothyroxine can reverse such dysfunction and thus should improve fertility. The purpose of this retrospective study was to assess whether in vitro fertilization (IVF) pregnancy rates differ in levothyroxine-treated women with hypothyroidism compared to women without thyroid dysfunction/disorders. Methods: Treated hypothyroid and euthyroid women undergoing IVF at an academic IVF center were studied after Institutional Review Board approval. Women with hypothyroidism were treated with levothyroxine 0.025-0.15 mg/day for at least 3 months to maintain baseline thyrotropin (TSH) levels of 0.35-4.0 μU/mL prior to commencing IVF treatment (HYPO-Rx group). Causes of infertility were similar in both groups with the exception of male factor, which was more common in the HYPO-Rx group. The main outcomes studied were implantation rate, clinical pregnancy rate, clinical miscarriage rate, and live birth rate. Results: We reviewed the first IVF retrieval cycle performed on 240 women aged 37 years or less during the period January 2003 to December 2007. Women with treated hypothyroidism ( n=21) had significantly less implantation, clinical pregnancy, and live birth rates than euthyroid women ( n=219). Conclusions: We conclude that, despite levothyroxine treatment, women with hypothyroidism have a significantly decreased chance of achieving a pregnancy following IVF compared to euthyroid patients. A larger prospective study is necessary to assess confounding variables, confirm these findings, and determine the optimal level of TSH prior to and during controlled ovarian hyperstimulation for IVF. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The agricultural traits that constitute basic plant breeding information are usually quantitative or complex in nature. This quantitative and complex combination of traits complicates the process of selection in breeding. This study examined the potential of genome-wide association studies (GWAS) and genomewide selection (GS) for breeding ten agricultural traits by using genome-wide SNPs. As a first step, a trait-associated candidate marker was identified by GWAS using a genetically diverse 567 Korean (K)-wheat core collection. The accessions were genotyped using an Axiom ® 35K wheat DNA chip, and ten agricultural traits were determined (awn color, awn length, culm color, culm length, ear color, ear length, days to heading, days to maturity, leaf length, and leaf width). It is essential to sustain global wheat production by utilizing accessions in wheat breeding. Among the traits associated with awn color and ear color that showed a high positive correlation, a SNP located on chr1B was significantly associated with both traits. Next, GS evaluated the prediction accuracy using six predictive models (G-BLUP, LASSO, BayseA, reproducing kernel Hilbert space, support vector machine (SVM), and random forest) and various training populations (TPs). With the exception of the SVM, all statistical models demonstrated a prediction accuracy of 0.4 or better. For the optimization of the TP, the number of TPs was randomly selected (10%, 30%, 50% and 70%) or divided into three subgroups (CC-sub 1, CC-sub 2 and CC-sub 3) based on the subpopulation structure. Based on subgroup-based TPs, better prediction accuracy was found for awn color, culm color, culm length, ear color, ear length, and leaf width. A variety of Korean wheat cultivars were used for validation to evaluate the prediction ability of populations. Seven out of ten cultivars showed phenotype-consistent results based on genomics-evaluated breeding values (GEBVs) calculated by the reproducing kernel Hilbert space (RKHS) predictive model. Our research provides a basis for improving complex traits in wheat breeding programs through genomics assisted breeding. The results of our research can be used as a basis for improving wheat breeding programs by using genomics-assisted breeding., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2023 Kang, Choi, Kim, Min and Kim.)

Plant breeding has a long history of developing new varieties that have ensured the food security of the human population. During this long journey together with humanity, plant breeders have successfully integrated the latest innovations in science and technologies to accelerate the increase in crop production and quality. For the past two decades, since the completion of human genome sequencing, genomic tools and sequencing technologies have advanced remarkably, and adopting these innovations has enabled us to cost down and/or speed up the plant breeding process. Currently, with the growing mass of genomic data and digitalized biological data, interdisciplinary approaches using new technologies could lead to a new paradigm of plant breeding. In this review, we summarize the overall history and advances of plant breeding, which have been aided by plant genomic research. We highlight the key advances in the field of plant genomics that have impacted plant breeding over the past decades and introduce the current status of innovative approaches such as genomic selection, which could overcome limitations of conventional breeding and enhance the rate of genetic gain.

Purpose: Pre-operative induction chemoradiotherapy has been used to downstage advanced rectal cancers. The variation in response rates is believed to be not only dependent on tumor size but also on the biological properties of individual tumors., Methods: We evaluated 17 rectal cancer patients treated with induction 5 Fluorouracil-based chemoradiotherapy and subsequent surgery. The pre-treatment biopsy specimens of these patients were analyzed with antibodies to Ki-67, p53, p21(wafl/cipl) MDM-2 and BCL-2 using an avidinbiotinylated peroxidase technique., Results: There were 5 patients with a complete response and 12 patients with a partial response. The overall expression of Ki-67 was 100%, p53-76%, p21(Wafl/cip) -64%, MDM-2-47%, and BCL-2-60%. Among the complete responders the expression was 100%, 80%, 60%, 20%, and 60%, respectively, whereas among the partial responders it was 100%, 75%, 67%, 57%,, and 16%, respectively. We found the expression of BCL2 was the only significant predictor of response to preoperative chemoradiation., Conclusions: The immunohistochemical analysis for Ki-67, p53, p21(waf1/cip1), and MDM-2 in pretreatment biopsy specimens of rectal cancer is not useful in predicting response to induction chemoradiotherapy in rectal cancers. BCL-2 expression was highly statistically significant for complete response.