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During a project investigating pea viruses in the United Kingdom and developing a workflow for high-throughput sequencing in crop surveillance, pea necrotic yellow dwarf virus (PNYDV) was identified at one site, along with pea enation mosaic virus-1, pea enation mosaic virus-2, pea enation mosaic virus satellite RNA, pea seedborne mosaic virus, and turnip yellows virus. Following an initial finding of small PNYDV contigs by an RNA sequencing protocol on MiSeq (Illumina), confirmation and prevalence testing by PCR and Sanger sequencing determined the average PNYDV prevalence to be 3%. This is the first report of PNYDV, and a nanovirus, in the United Kingdom. Initial characterization of the octopartite genome by PCR revealed that component DNA N had a truncated sequence that differed from those previously reported. This led to confirmation testing using rolling circle amplification (RCA) into MiSeq and then MinION (Oxford Nanopore). Sequences were obtained by both RCA-MiSeq and RCA-MinION, with MinION producing more complete genomes than RCA-MiSeq. Data obtained from sequencing were used to provide an initial estimation of the genomic formula of PNYDV. Previous work has looked into comparing each method; however, this study shows how these methods can be used together. The truncated sequence for DNA N was also found by RCA-MiSeq and RCA-MinION and confirmed by specific primers, but further work is required to understand the impact of this truncation. [Figure: see text] Copyright © 2023 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC-ND 4.0 International license.

Tomato brown rugose fruit virus (ToBRFV) is a contact-transmitted tobamovirus affecting many tomato growing regions of the world. This study investigated the effects of different glasshouse surfaces on the survival of the virus; the efficacy of different disinfectants; and heat treatment against ToBRFV (surfaces included steel, aluminium, hard plastic, polythene, glass and concrete). A bioassay followed by ELISA was used to check virus viability. ToBRFV survived for at least 7 days on all surfaces tested and on some for at least 6 months. The virus survived for over two hours on hands and gloves. Hand washing was shown to be unreliable for the removal of the virus. Glutaraldehyde and quaternary ammonium compound disinfectants were effective at one hour on all surfaces. Some other disinfectants were effective at one hour of contact time, on all surfaces except concrete. Sodium hypochlorite was partially effective against ToBRFV, even on concrete. A 5 min soak of plastic trays in water at 90 °C was effective at denaturing ToBRFV; however, 5 min at 70 °C was not. Heating infected sap showed the thermal inactivation point to be 90 °C, confirming the hot water treatment results and showing that deactivation was due to the heat treatment and not a washing effect of the water.

One of the key steps in plant micropropagation is rooting and acclimatization of microcuttings. The aim of the study was to investigate the suitability of commercial biopreparations, TotalHumus® and Bacterbase, to stimulate the growth of young fruit plants derived from in vitro propagation. TotalHumus® is made from brown coal. Bacterbase is a bacterial preparation containing Bacillus velezensis and Bacillus amyloliqefaciens (Skierniewickie Microorganisms) with antifungal properties that stimulates the growth and yielding of plants. Unrooted microshoots of strawberry ‘Grandarosaʼ and highbush blueberry ‘Chandlerʼ, and rooted in vitro microcuttings of hip rose ‘Konstancinʼ were planted in a peat substrate. Three weeks after planting ex vitro, the plants were treated with the biopreparations. Four times, at two-week intervals, the plants were drenched and simultaneously sprayed with mineral fertilizer 0.2% Hydrovit (control), 0.04% TotalHumus® and 0.03% Bacterbase, which were used separately or in combinations. In hip rose and strawberry, compared to the control, similar or better growth parameters of shoots and roots were observed after the use of TotalHumus® and/or Bacterbase. The plants were characterized by the highest fresh weight, longer shoots/runners and more shoots than in the control (mineral fertilization). In strawberry, root parameters were significantly improved by TotalHumus®, and in rose by Bacterbase. The use of both TotalHumus® and Bacterbase separately or in combination significantly reduced the occurrence of symptoms of rose leaf infection with powdery mildew. The biopreparations had no effect on highbush blueberry.

Abstract Background In response to the growing prevalence of physical and emotional burnout amongst medical students and practicing physicians, we sought to find a new methodology to scope a five-year undergraduate curriculum in detail to assess for teaching, learning objectives and experiences that seek to promote resilience in medical students. This was undertaken to test whether this methodology would enable curriculum discussions to enhance training for future cohorts through the introduction of a curriculum dedicated to the development of resilience and resourcefulness. Methods Based on literature review, a rating-scale was devised to generate quantitative data in four key areas of resilience; internal resources, lifestyle factors, external resources (self-mediated) and external resources (agent mediated). This scale was used to evaluate the entire five-year undergraduate curriculum of a medical school in the north of England through systematic evaluation of learning outcomes and planned activities. The methodology used was a four-stage process including i) identifying the learning objectives, ii) mapping them onto the criteria outlined, iii) assessing them against clear objective standards (planned, explicit, universal and quantifiable), and iv) rating data collected. Results The evaluation provided a clear, quantitative overview of the curriculum in terms of resilience building. Strengths and gaps were identified and work was undertaken leading to suggestions for change. This facilitated helpful discussions with course leaders and planners, received universally positive feedback and led to new learning objectives, activities and experiences that have been identified and begun to be implemented. Conclusions “The HYMS CARE Criteria” and our methodology for assessing it in a medical school curriculum context, offers a valuable perspective to aid the planning of improvements in curricula. This model for scoping and structuring resilience related learning experiences is offered for consideration by other schools.

To expand the gene pool and introduce new traits to the tetraploid cultivars of Vaccinium corymbosum from wild diploid species V. myrtillus, it is necessary to double the chromosome number in diploid species in order to overcome a post zygotic crossing barrier and a strong triploid block, existing within the genus Vaccinium. Five genetically diverse bilberry genotypes were selected from 21 accessions taken from the breeding collection of the National Institute of Horticultural Research (Skierniewice, Poland) for this study. The bilberry genotypes were derived from the Polish locations of Bolimów Landscape Park, Budy Grabskie and forest complex Zwierzyniec (Łódź Province), and habitats in Norway. The selection of genotypes was made based on the analysis of amplified fragment length polymorphism (AFLP-PCR). Analysis of the Jaccard similarity indexes and the UPGMA method revealed that the examined accessions formed two main groups on the dendrogram. The first group consisted of accessions from Norway, while the second group agglomerated Polish accessions. A further two classes were distinguished in the Polish group: the first included accessions from Budy Grabskie and the second from Zwierzyniec, located ca. 9 km from Budy Grabskie. In order to obtain plant material for in vitro polyploidisation, in vitro shoot cultures of the selected accessions were initiated and multiplied. Both antimitotics used, colchicine and APM, induced tetraploids for all of the accessions. The obtained tetraploids were multiplied, rooted ex vitro and grown in a greenhouse and then in a field. The first flowering was observed in 1.5-year-old plants, either diploid or tetraploid. Diploids bloomed slightly earlier and more profusely than tetraploid plants. Compared to diploids, autotetraploids had significantly larger flowers by ca. 64% and larger pollen tetrads by ca. 35%. The germination capacity of pollen tetrads was high in tetraploids (87.8%), although slightly lower than in diploids (94.3%). After pollinating the flowers of three highbush blueberry cultivars with pollen from the bilberry tetraploid accession, J-4-4x, the plants formed fruits, some of which contained properly formed seeds. The effectiveness of interspecific crossing between V. corymbosum and tetraploid V. myrtillus, defined as the percentage of obtained seedlings in relation to the number of pollinated flowers, was highest (53.3%) in the blueberry ‘Liberty’, and lower in ‘Bluecrop’ and ‘Northland’, 14.8% and 10.0%, respectively. Before using the seedlings for further breeding, their hybridity will be confirmed by molecular markers and the phenotype will be evaluated.

Runoff processes in glacier and páramo catchments in the Andean region are of interest as they are vitally important to serve the water needs of surrounding communities. Particularly in Northern Ecuador, the runoff processes are less well-known due to the high variability of precipitation, young volcanic ash soil properties, soil moisture dynamics and other local factors. Previous studies have shown that the melting of glaciers contributes to runoff generation and that the páramo ecosystem plays an important role in regulating runoff during periods of low precipitation. Data collection and experimental investigations were carried out in a catchment of 15.2 km2 and altitude ranging between 4000 and 5700 m above sea level. Environmental tracers and hydrochemical catchment characterization were used for identifying runoff sources and their respective contributions during dry and wet conditions. Dry conditions are defined as periods where precipitation was absent for at least three consecutive days and wet conditions imply rainfall events. This study highlights the importance of the páramo on contributing to total runoff during baseflow (70% of total runoff) and the capacity of the páramo to dissipate the stream energy and buffer the peak flow during rainfall conditions. Electrical conductivity together with stable isotopes were identified as conservative tracers that characterize the end-member concentrations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Hydrological data collection requires deployment of physical infrastructure like rain gauges, water level gauges, as well as use of expensive equipment like echo sounders. Many countries around the world have recorded a decrease in deployment of physical infrastructure for hydrological measurements; developing countries especially have less of this infrastructure and, where it exists, it is poorly maintained. Satellite remote sensing can bridge this gap, and has been applied by hydrologists over the years, with the earliest applications in water body and flood mapping. With the availability of more optical satellites with relatively low temporal resolutions globally, satellite data are commonly used for mapping of water bodies, testing of inundation models, precipitation monitoring, and mapping of flood extent. Use of satellite data to estimate hydrological parameters continues to increase due to use of better sensors, improvement in knowledge of and utilization of satellite data, and expansion of research topics. A review of applications of satellite remote sensing in surface water modelling, mapping and parameter estimation is presented, and its limitations for surface water applications are also discussed.

Gross primary production (GPP) in climate change studies with multi- species and elevation variables are difficult to measure and simulate. Models tend to provide a representation of dynamic process through long-term analysis by using generalized parameterizations. Even, current approaches of modelling do not contemplate easily the variation of GPP at different elevations for different vegetation types in regions like páramos, mainly due to data unavailability. In these models information from cells is commonly averaged, and therefore average elevation, ecophysiology of vegetation, as well as other parameters is generalized. The vegetation model BIOME- BGC was applied to the Ecuadorian Andean region for elevations greater than 4000 masl with the presence of typical vegetation of páramo for 10 years of simulation (period 2000-2009). An estimation of the difference of GPP obtained using a generalized altitude and predominant type of vegetation could lead to a better estimation of the uncertainty in the magnitude of the errors in global climate models. This research explores GPP from 3 different altitudes and 3 vegetation types against 2 main climate drivers (Short Wave Radiation and Vapor Pressure Deficit). Since it is important to measure the possible errors or difference in the use of averaged meteorological and ecophysiological data, here we present a multivariate analysis of the dynamic difference of GPP in time, relative to an altitude and type of vegetation. A copula multivariable model allows us to identify and classify the changes in GPP per type of vegetation and altitude. The Frank copula model of joint distributions was our best fit between GPP and climate drivers and it allowed us to understand better the dependency of the variables. These results can explore extreme situations where averaged simplified approaches could mislead. The change of GPP over time is essential for future climate scenarios of the ecosystem storage and release of carbon to the atmosphere. Our findings suggest that a classification of the difference is highly important to be extended to cells that have similar properties.

An evaluation of vulnerability to sea level rise is undertaken for the Niger Delta based on 17 physical, social and human influence indicators of exposure, susceptibility and resilience. The assessment used geographic information systems (GIS) techniques to evaluate and analyse the indicators and the index of coastal vulnerability to floods, if sea level rise conditions are occurring. Each indicator value is based on data extracted from various sources, including remote sensing, measured historical data series and a literature search. Further on, indicators are ranked on a scale from 1 to 5 representing "very low" to "very high" vulnerability, based on their values. These ranks are used to determine a similar rank for the defined coastal vulnerability index (CVSLRI). Results indicate that 42.6% of the Niger Delta is highly vulnerable to sea level rise, such areas being characterised by low slopes, low topography, high mean wave heights, and unconfined aquifers. Moreover, the analysis of social and human influences on the environment indicate high vulnerability to sea level rise due to its ranking for type of aquifer, aquifer hydraulic conductivity, population growth, sediment supply and groundwater consumption. Such results may help decision makers during planning to take proper adaptive measures for reducing the Niger Delta's vulnerability, as well as increasing the resilience to potential future floods.