Phytosanitary Interventions for Safe Global Germplasm Exchange and the Prevention of Transboundary Pest Spread: The Role of CGIAR Germplasm Health Units

The inherent ability of seeds (orthodox, intermediate, and recalcitrant seeds and vegetative propagules) to serve as carriers of pests and pathogens (hereafter referred to as pests) and the risk of transboundary spread along with the seed movement present a high-risk factor for international germplasm distribution activities. Quarantine and phytosanitary procedures have been established by many countries around the world to minimize seed-borne pest spread by screening export and import consignments of germplasm. The effectiveness of these time-consuming and cost-intensive procedures depends on the knowledge of pest distribution, availability of diagnostic tools for seed health testing, qualified operators, procedures for inspection, and seed phytosanitation. This review describes a unique multidisciplinary approach used by the CGIAR Germplasm Health Units (GHUs) in ensuring phytosanitary protection for the safe conservation and global movement of germplasm from the 11 CGIAR genebanks and breeding programs that acquire and distribute germplasm to and from all parts of the world for agricultural research and food security. We also present the challenges, lessons learned, and recommendations stemming from the experience of GHUs, which collaborate with the national quarantine systems to export and distribute about 100,000 germplasm samples annually to partners located in about 90 to 100 countries. Furthermore, we describe how GHUs adjust their procedures to stay in alignment with evolving phytosanitary regulations and pest risk scenarios. In conclusion, we state the benefits of globally coordinated phytosanitary networks for the prevention of the intercontinental spread of pests that are transmissible through plant propagation materials.

Ethical aspects of dying and death in clinical practice in anaesthesiology and intensive medicine departments

In clinical practice, modern medicine, especially intensive medicine, has made outstanding technological progress that has changed diagnostic and therapeutic paradigms. Nowadays, some patients for whom there were no treatments in the past not only survive but return to active life thanks to intensive medicine. However, in some cases intensive care will not help patients in a critical condition and merely prolong death. In such situations, the treatment is terminated or not extended, and the patient is allowed to die in dignity. In this specific situation all intensive procedures are terminated. Palliative care is the next stage. This is a sensitive issue that should be discussed with healthcare professionals and experts from other areas of life to ensure it is communicated appropriately to patients and their relatives.

Cousins, Siblings and Twins: A Review of the Geological Model’s Place in the Digital Mine

Digital mining is a broad term describing the enhancement of the physical mining method through the use of digital models, simulations, analytics, controls and associated feedbacks. Mining optimisation will be improved through increased digitisation and real-time interactions via a “digital twin”, however digitisation of the rock mass component of this system remains problematic. While engineered systems can be digitally twinned, natural systems containing inherent uncertainties present challenges, especially where human-intensive procedures are required. This is further complicated, since the mining system is designed not only to interact with, but to substantially and continually alter its surrounding environment. Considering digital twin requirements and geological modelling capabilities, we assess the potential for a mine’s synchronised digital twin to encompass the complex, uncertain, geological domain within which it interacts. We find that current geological (and indeed hydro-geological) models and simulations would support digitisation that could be considered to provide, at best, a digitised ‘cousin’. Based on this assessment, the digital twin’s value for medium term forecasting of mining operations may be limited and we discuss technological advancements that can mitigate this.

Artificial Intelligence and Human Rights: Four Realms of Discussion: Summary of Remarks

The term, Artificial Intelligence (AI), has changed since it was first coined by John MacCarthy in 1956. AI, believed to have been created with Kurt Gödel's unprovable computational statements in 1931, is now called deep learning or machine learning. AI is defined as a computer machine with the ability to make predictions about the future and solve complex tasks, using algorithms. The AI algorithms are enhanced and become effective with big data capturing the present and the past while still necessarily reflecting human biases into models and equations. AI is also capable of making choices like humans, mirroring human reasoning. AI can help robots to efficiently repeat the same labor intensive procedures in factories and can analyze historic and present data efficiently through deep learning, natural language processing, and anomaly detection. Thus, AI covers a spectrum of augmented intelligence relating to prediction, autonomous intelligence relating to decision making, automated intelligence for labor robots, and assisted intelligence for data analysis.

A New Method for Pedestrian Detection with Lightweight Backbone based on Yolov3 Network

The main purpose of YOLOv3, aiming to improve the detection speed and accuracy from current detection models, is to predict the center coordinates of (x, y) from the Bounding Box and its length, width through multiple layers of VGG Convolutional Neural Network (VGG-CNN) and uses the Darknet lightweight framework to process images at a faster speed. More specifically, our model has been reduced part of YOLOv3’s complex and computationally intensive procedures and improved its algorithms to maintain the efficiency and accuracy of object detection. By this method, it performs a higher quality on mass object detection tasks with fewer detection errors.

Implementation of an antibody characterization procedure and application to the major ALS/FTD disease gene C9ORF72

Antibodies are a key resource in biomedical research yet there are no community-accepted standards to rigorously characterize their quality. Here we develop a procedure to validate pre-existing antibodies. Human cell lines with high expression of a target, determined through a proteomics database, are modified with CRISPR/Cas9 to knockout (KO) the corresponding gene. Commercial antibodies against the target are purchased and tested by immunoblot comparing parental and KO. Validated antibodies are used to definitively identify the most highly expressing cell lines, new KOs are generated if needed, and the lines are screened by immunoprecipitation and immunofluorescence. Selected antibodies are used for more intensive procedures such as immunohistochemistry. The pipeline is easy to implement and scalable. Application to the major ALS disease gene C9ORF72 identified high-quality antibodies revealing C9ORF72 localization to phagosomes/lysosomes. Antibodies that do not recognize C9ORF72 have been used in highly cited papers, raising concern over previously reported C9ORF72 properties.

Mapping Histone Modifications in Low Cell Number and Single Cells Using Antibody-guided Chromatin Tagmentation (ACT-seq)

ABSTRACTModern next-generation sequencing-based methods have empowered researchers to assay the epigenetic states of individual cells. Existing techniques for profiling epigenetic marks in single cells often require the use and optimization of time-intensive procedures such as drop fluidics, chromatin fragmentation, and end repair. Here we describe ACT-seq, a novel and streamlined method for mapping genome-wide distributions of histone tail modifications, histone variants, and chromatin-binding proteins in a small number of or single cells. ACT-seq utilizes a fusion of Tn5 transposase to Protein A that is targeted to chromatin by a specific antibody, allowing chromatin fragmentation and sequence tag insertion specifically at genomic sites presenting the relevant antigen. The Tn5 transposase enables the use of an index multiplexing strategy (iACT-seq), which enables construction of thousands of single-cell libraries in one day by a single researcher without the need for drop-based fluidics or visual sorting. We conclude that ACT-seq present an attractive alternative to existing techniques for mapping epigenetic marks in single cells.

Television Rating Control in the Multichannel Environment Using Trend Fuzzy Knowledge Bases and Monitoring Results

The purpose of the study is to control the ratio of programs of different genres when forming the broadcast grid in order to increase and maintain the rating of the channel. In the multichannel environment, television rating control consists of selecting such content, ratings of which are completely restored after advertising. A hybrid approach combining the benefits of semantic training and fuzzy relational equations in simplification of the expert recommendation systems construction is proposed. The problem of retaining the television rating can be attributed to the problems of fuzzy resources control. The increase or decrease trends of the demand and supply are described by primary fuzzy relations. The rule-based solutions of fuzzy relational equations connect significance measures of the primary fuzzy terms. Rules refinement by solving fuzzy relational equations allows avoiding labor-intensive procedures for the generation and selection of expert rules. The solution set generation corresponds to the granulation of the television time, where each solution represents the time slot and the granulated rating of the content. In automated media planning, generation of the weekly TV program in the form of the granular solutions provides the decrease of the time needed for the programming of the channel broadcast grid.

The Impact of the Cosurgeon Model on Bilateral Autologous Breast Reconstruction

Background Microsurgical breast reconstructions (MBRs) are time and labor intensive procedures. To circumvent these barriers, plastic surgeons have started working together as cosurgeons (CSs). This study aims to evaluate the impact of the CS model (CSM) specifically on bilateral MBR. The hypothesis is that CS procedures reduce operative time and surgical complications. Study Design This was a single institutional retrospective cohort study, which included all consecutive patients who underwent bilateral MBR from 2014 to 2016. Patients were grouped into single surgeon (SS) or CSs based on the number of the attending plastic surgeons present. Demographic and clinical characteristics including age, body mass index, smoking, American Society of Anesthesiologist class, radiation, and the timing of the reconstruction were assessed. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed for outcomes including operative time and postoperative complications. Results Of the 136 patients included in the study, 41% had breast reconstruction performed by CSs, whereas 59% had a SS. Sociodemographic features were evenly distributed with the exception of a greater number of delayed reconstructions in the SS group (33 vs. 13%; p <0.01). Pedicle TRAMS (transverse rectus abdominis musculocutaneous flaps) were performed in 5 versus 0% of SS versus CS cases, respectively. Rates of major (4 vs. 16%) and minor (11 vs. 24%) complications were significantly lower in CS procedures. Multivariate analyses demonstrated CS operations required significantly shorter operative time by 73 minutes (p <0.001), and trended toward a reduced postoperative complication rate (p = 0.07). Conclusion The CSM is associated with improved operative efficiency for bilateral MBR. Further evaluation of the CSM may prove useful in other surgical disciplines with time and labor intense procedures.