Pedigree Research Articles

A Systematic Review on Buffalo Breeds, Lactation Performance, and Buffalo Milk Production Characteristics in Sri Lanka

Purpose: The current study aimed to systematically review the publications originating from Sri Lanka on buffalo milk to identify potential dairy buffalo breeds and their lactation performances, milk composition, physicochemical properties, and products originating from buffalo milk.Research Method: Articles published over the last 6 decades were found through Scopus and Google Scholar databases using keywords. Original Research articles which are relevant and published in English were only selected. The six-step selection process in line with the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-analysis Approach (PRISMA) was adopted.Findings: The majority of the publications focused on product development aspects rather than buffalo milk production aspects. Pure breeds of the locals, Murrah, Surti, and Nili-Ravi, and their crossbreeds are frequently cited in the literature. The daily average milk yields of Murrah, Local, Surti, and Nili-Ravi pure breeds were 4.7±2.3, 3.1±1.3, 3.0±1.19, and 1.2 L, respectively. Daily milk yields of the crossbreeds ranged from 1.1 – 5.0 L. Average lactation lengths were largely dependent on the breed in which Murrah recorded the highest (341±100 days). The average lactation length of the local breed was exceptionally shorter (156±27 days) than that of the exotic breeds (>235 days). The calving interval of the Murrah and Local buffaloes was the same (636 d). Pure breeds of Surti and Nili-Ravi recorded calving intervals of 489 and 411 d, respectively. Whereas, it ranged from 417-477 d among crossbreeds. Studies focused on milk compositions and physicochemical properties were extremely rare. Curd and cheese were the most focused products originating from buffalo milk.Value: This study summarises the buffalo milk production aspects in Sri Lanka and identifies research gaps in the area. Current literature reflects a satisfactory level of information relevant to the buffaloes reared in the Dry-Zone. This study recommends more research in milk composition analysis and lactation performance of the breeds and buffalo production in the Low-Country Wet Zone and Up-Country regions.

Lifetime milk production of Holstein cattle in the humid tropics compared to Holstein-Gyr and Holstein-Brahman crosses.

Crossbred cattle are commonly used for milk production in the tropics, combining the potential benefits of pure breeds with the heterosis effects of the offspring. However, no comprehensive assessment of lifetime productivity for crossbred versus purebred cattle in low-altitude tropical environments has been carried out. The present study compares the lifetime productivity of purebred Holstein (HO, n = 17,269), Gyr (GY4, n = 435), and Brahman (BR4, n = 622) with crossbreds Gyr × Holstein (GY × HO, n = 5521) and Brahman×Holstein (BR × HO, n = 5429) cows from dairy farms located in low and medium altitude tropical regions in Costa Rica. The production traits of interest were age at first calving (AFC), days open (DO), milk production per lactation (TMP), lactation length (LLEN), age at culling (ACUL), and number of lactations (NLAC). Estimates of heterosis were also calculated. The AFC for GY × HO crosses (33-34 months) was not significantly different (p > .05) from HO (33.8 months). For BR × HO crosses, a significant (p < .05) decrease in AFC (BR3HO1 35.6 months, BR2HO2 34.5 months, and BR1H03 33.3 months) was observed as the fraction of HO breed increased. Estimates of heterosis for AFC were favourable for both crosses, of a magnitude close to 3%. The DO for F1 crosses (GY2HO2 94 days; BR2HO2 96 days) was significantly (p < .05) lower than HO (123 days). Estimates of heterosis for DO were also favourable and above 15% for both crosses. The TMP and LLEN were higher for HO (TMP = 5003 kg; LLEN = 324 days) compared with GY × HO (TMP = 4428 to 4773 kg; LLEN = 298 to 312 days) and BR × HO (TMP = 3950 to 4761 kg; LLEN = 273 to 313 days) crosses. Heterosis for TMP was favourable but low for both crosses, with a magnitude below 3.0%. The NLAC for HO (4.6 lactations) was significantly (p < .05) lower than F1 (GY2HO2, 5.8 lactations; BR2HO2, 5.4 lactations). Heterosis for NLAC was above 6.0% for both crosses. Overall, estimates of lifetime income over feed costs per cow on average were USD 2637 (30.3%) and USD 734 (8.4%) higher in F1 GY × HO and BR × HO, respectively, compared to HO. In conclusion, crossbred animals, specifically those with Gyr and Brahman genetics, extend the productive lifespan, increasing economic returns.

Correlation between floral bud development and the uninucleate to binucleate stage in Capsicum chinense "ají mochero"

Capsicum chinense, is a species of chili native to Peru, considered a culinary symbol in the La Libertad region, for its culinary characteristics, such as its distinctive aroma, high heat, uniform fruits, attractive color and significant resistance to pests, in addition to require little care during cultivation. Given the need to carry out research that favors the improvement of cultivable species, the research objective was to determine the correlation between the development of the floral bud and the stage from uninucleate to binucleate in Capsicum chinense "ají mochero". This activity was carried out by staining the anthers of 200 randomly selected ají mochero floral buds with the acetic orcein dye. The results revealed that the floral buds of Capsicum chinense "ají mochero" that are related to the uninucleate microspore phase have lengths ranging between 3.744 and 3.976 millimeters, with diameters of 2.644 to 2.828 millimeters. Similarly, the floral buds associated with the binucleate microspore phase are found in the length range of 4.674 to 4.917 millimeters and diameters of 2.923 to 3.001 millimeters. It is concluded that There is a positive correlation between the development of the floral bud and the binucleate stage of C. chinense "ají mochero", therefore, buds that have a corolla slightly smaller than the calyx are ideal for initiating an androgenesis process, which would contribute to the genetic improvement of C. chinense by obtaining pure lines.

Strand-Specific RNA Sequencing Reveals Gene Expression Patterns in F1 Chick Breast Muscle and Liver after Hatching.

Heterosis refers to the phenomenon where hybrids exhibit superior performance compared to the parental phenotypes and has been widely utilized in crossbreeding programs for animals and crops, yet the molecular mechanisms underlying this phenomenon remain enigmatic. A better understanding of the gene expression patterns in post-hatch chickens is very important for exploring the genetic basis underlying economically important traits in the crossbreeding of chickens. In this study, breast muscle and liver tissues (n = 36) from full-sib F1 birds and their parental pure lines were selected to identify gene expression patterns and differentially expressed genes (DEGs) at 28 days of age by strand-specific RNA sequencing (ssRNA-seq). This study indicates that additivity is the predominant gene expression pattern in the F1 chicken post-hatch breast muscle (80.6% genes with additivity) and liver (94.2% genes with additivity). In breast muscle, Gene Ontology (GO) enrichment analysis revealed that a total of 11 biological process (BP) terms closely associated with growth and development were annotated in the identified DEG sets and non-additive gene sets, including STAT5A, TGFB2, FGF1, IGF2, DMA, FGF16, FGF12, STAC3, GSK3A, and GRB2. Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) annotation presented that a total of six growth- and development-related pathways were identified, involving key genes such as SLC27A4, GLUL, TGFB2, COX17, and GSK3A, including the PPAR signaling pathway, TGF-beta signaling pathway, and mTOR signaling pathway. Our results may provide a theoretical basis for crossbreeding in domestic animals.

A Comprehensive study of wheat genotypes for combining ability and heritability in drought tolerance

A major challenge in wheat cultivation is the negative impact of water scarcity on growth and yield. Therefore, it is crucial to develop wheat varieties with both high productivity and resilience to drought stress to support food production and improve global food security. The study aims to identify general and specific combining abilities and to understand the genetic mechanisms responsible for key traits by employing half-diallel analysis. In the current study, a half-diallel set comprising 10 x 10 wheat genotypes was subjected to crosses in all feasible combinations, excluding reciprocals, under drought stress conditions. Significant mean squares were observed for both General Combining Ability (GCA) and Specific Combining Ability (SCA) components among the 10 parents and 45 F1 progenies across eleven traits. Assessment of variance components (s2g and s2s), narrow-sense heritability (Hn), broad-sense heritability (Hb) and the GCA/SCA ratio allowed for the determination of the relative contributions of additive and non-additive genetic components. High narrow-sense heritability was noted for traits such as days to 75 % flowering, spike length and biological yield, indicating their predominantly additive genetic control. Conversely, the remaining eight traits exhibited low narrow-sense heritability, suggesting their inheritance is primarily governed by non-additive genetic factors, thus indicating the potential benefits of heterosis breeding. Based on GCA effects, P5 demonstrated superior general combining ability across traits, except for biological yield. P1, P3, P8 and P9 exhibited better combining ability for grain yield per plant. Specific cross combinations including P7×P10, P3×P4 and P5×P6 displayed notable specific combining ability and could be leveraged to develop superior pure lines in subsequent breeding endeavors.

The Potential of New Purple Yardlong Bean Varieties in Open-Field Organic Farming Compared with Chemicals Management under Plastic Net-House

The purple yardlong bean "Muang Rachamongkol" is a pure line variety and was improved under organic farming. To examine this variety potential, a randomized complete block design was planned with 4 replications of 20 plants each, in comparison with two varieties: “Sirindhorn#1” and “Laisua Jakkaparn”. These bean varieties were grown during September-November 2020 under 2 production systems; 1) organic system under open-field and 2) under plastic net-house. The results showed that the characteristics of the new variety such as flower, fruit, and seed characters differed from the comparative varieties. For plant growth including plant height and the number of branches, and the interaction between the production system and varieties during the 3rd-6th weeks after planting were found to be significantly different. Plants grown under a chemical system showed a higher plant height and number of branches than an organic system, and varieties “Muang Rachamongkol” and “Sirindhorn#1” showed the highest plant height in both conditions. In addition, the influence of the production system was observed with the chemical system which showed the high number of pods, total pod yield, and pod weight of 34.91 pod/plant, 815.11 g/plant, and 27.67 g/pod, respectively. “Muang Rachamongkol” showed 27.15 pod/plant, 611.83 g/plant, and 26.41 g/pod, which was similar to the responses of “Sirindhorn#1” for the growth, yield, uniformity score, and plant vigor score in both of organic and chemical conditions.

IMPACT OF SOIL STERILIZATION FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, WHEAT SEEDS CLEANING AND THEIR INTERACTIONS ON WEED CONTROL, AND YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS

IMPACT OF SOIL STERILIZATION FROM DIFFERENT LOCATIONS, WHEAT SEEDS CLEANING AND THEIR INTERACTIONS ON WEED CONTROL, AND YIELD AND YIELD COMPONENTS

Inbreeding Depression and Genetic Diversity of S1 Lines Corn Plants Under Drought Stress Conditionson Dry Land

Selfing was carried out on the F2 population of corn plants and the S1 line was produced. Selfing is carried out to form pure lines in order to create hybrids. The aim of the research was to determine the magnitude of inbreeding depression, genetic diversity and heritability of leaf angle trait, yield and harvest age of the S1 line of corn plants under drought stress conditions in dry land. The experiment was carried out from March to June 2023 in Gumantar village, North Lombok district. The design used was a randomized block design, two replications. The number of treatments was 31, namely 30 S1 lines and an F2 population. Plantings are given heavy stress. Observed variables include flowering, growth, harvest age, yield components and yield. The level of inbreeding depression is based on the F2 population and is expressed as a percent. Genetic diversity is calculated based on the results of analysis of variance at a significance level of 5 percent. The results showed that inbreeding depression in leaf angle and harvest age of the S1 lines were relatively low; while the yield is classified as high. Broad categories of genetic diversity were obtained in the yield; while the leaf angle and harvest age are relatively narrow. Broad sense heritability was relatively high in the yield; while the leaf angle is classified as medium and the harvest age is relatively low. The selection of S1 lines should be based on yield, namely lines that have the same yield as the F2 population.

Tip-enhanced Raman scattering and near-field optical imaging of semiconducting monolayer and few-layer MoTe2

Transition metal dichalcogenides (TMDs) offer exceptional platforms to study unique phenomena in two-dimensional (2D) materials. The understanding of phonon interactions in atomically thin TMDs is crucial for the development of novel applications. However, advancing our knowledge on phonon dynamics in TMDs under optical, thermal, electric, and strain perturbations requires comprehensive and minimally invasive chemical imaging techniques with nanoscale spatial resolution. Tip-enhanced Raman scattering (TERS) provides new promising avenues towards this goal while also enabling a detailed analysis of structural heterogeneity. Here, we demonstrate gap-mode TERS imaging of mechanically exfoliated monolayer and few-layer 2H–MoTe2. At 633 nm, 671 nm, and 785 nm laser excitations, we report an overwhelmingly selective TERS enhancement of the out-of-plane A1g phonon mode relative to in-plane E12g phonon mode for mono-to few-layer MoTe2. The pure near-field spectral line shapes are clearly distinct from the well-characterized far-field counterparts. We demonstrate that near-field interactions of selective phonon modes are extremely sensitive to the excitation wavelength, sample thickness, and structural defects. Our results therefore provide fundamental information for the nanoscale characterization of semiconducting MoTe2-based devices.

Research Progress and Applications of Bovine Genome in the Tribe Bovini.

Various bovine species have been domesticated and bred for thousands of years, and they provide adequate animal-derived products, including meat, milk, and leather, to meet human requirements. Despite the review studies on economic traits in cattle, the genetic basis of traits has only been partially explained by phenotype and pedigree breeding methods, due to the complexity of genomic regulation during animal development and growth. With the advent of next-generation sequencing technology, genomics projects, such as the 1000 Bull Genomes Project, Functional Annotation of Animal Genomes project, and Bovine Pangenome Consortium, have advanced bovine genomic research. These large-scale genomics projects gave us a comprehensive concept, technology, and public resources. In this review, we summarize the genomics research progress of the main bovine species during the past decade, including cattle (Bos taurus), yak (Bos grunniens), water buffalo (Bubalus bubalis), zebu (Bos indicus), and gayal (Bos frontalis). We mainly discuss the development of genome sequencing and functional annotation, focusing on how genomic analysis reveals genetic variation and its impact on phenotypes in several bovine species.

Advances in Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) Breeding: Integrating Genomics for Enhanced Crop Improvement

Okra (Abelmoschus esculentus L.) holds significant importance as a vegetable crop, thriving in tropical and subtropical regions globally, especially in the warmer areas of temperate zones. Traditional breeding approaches tailored for self-pollinated crops have been utilized to enhance the genetic diversity of okra. These methods encompass various techniques such as plant introduction, pure line selection, hybridization combined with selection, mutation breeding, and heterosis breeding. Particularly in countries like India, pedigree selection and heterosis breeding have led to the development of numerous okra varieties and hybrids, significantly impacting local agricultural practices. Contemporary okra breeding focuses on traits crucial for optimal performance, including high yield potential, resistance to prevalent diseases like Yellow Vein Mosaic Virus (YVMV) and Okra Enation Leaf Curl Virus (OELCV), tolerance to sucking pests and borers, ease of harvest, deep green fruit coloration, and desirable plant architecture. Public sector institutions have played a pivotal role in introducing and disseminating improved okra varieties and hybrids, with more than 33 cultivars introduced in recent decades. Some of these varieties have demonstrated substantial improvements in okra production across India. This review offers an overview of the current state of okra breeding, encompassing genetic resources, cytogenetic relationships, breeding goals, varietal development processes, efforts in resistance breeding, biotechnological interventions, and future improvement strategies. By consolidating existing knowledge and highlighting ongoing research initiatives, this article aims to provide guidance and inspiration for further advancements in okra breeding and genomics, ultimately contributing to the sustainability and productivity of this essential vegetable crop.

Capillary-Electrophoresis-Based Species Barcoding of Big Cats: CR-mtDNA-Length Polymorphism.

This study aimed to provide an overview of the methodological approach used for the species determination of big cats. The molecular system described herein employs mitochondrial DNA control region (CR-mtDNA)-length polymorphism in combination with highly sensitive and precise capillary electrophoresis. We demonstrated that the described CR-mtDNA barcoding system can be utilized for species determination where the presence of biological material from big cats is expected or used as a confirmatory test alongside Sanger or massive parallel sequencing (MPS). We have also addressed the fact that species barcoding, when based on the analysis of mtDNA targets, can be biased by nuclear inserts of the mitochondrial genome (NUMTs). The CR-mtDNA barcoding system is suitable even for problematic and challenging samples, such as hair. CR-mtDNA-length polymorphisms can also distinguish hybrids from pure breeds.

Breeding Strategies for Simultaneous Improvement in Anthracnose Disease Resistance and Economically Important Traits in French Bean

Background: French bean (Phaseolus vulgaris L.) production in the tropics is threatened by heavy incidence of anthracnose disease causing substantial crop loss when infection is at the early growth stages. Breeding strategies for tolerance against anthracnose disease along with enhanced productivity, and high pod protein content are to be formulated. Methods: Genotypes having broad genetic base and phenotypic diversity in 5 bush and 1 pole types were crossed in a 6 × 6 half diallel mating design to estimate combining ability, mode of gene action, and extent of heterosis for 11 quantitative traits. Result: The additive genetic effect was evident for percent disease index (PDI) of anthracnose and 10 pod weight. Rapid genetic gain can be achieved due to predominance of additive gene action in their control and can therefore be selected in early generation through simple breeding methods. Rest of the economic traits controlled by additive and non-additive gene effects could be improved through biparental mating, reciprocal recurrent selection, or diallel selective mating. Anthracnose disease tolerant and high yielding cultivars of might be developed utilizing parents, ‘Laxmi’, ‘Arka Sharath’ and ‘Vaishnavi-264’ with high gca effects. Although two cross combinations ‘Arka Sharath × Lakshmi’ and ‘Arjun × Arka Sharath’ showed significant heterobeltiosis in desired direction for PDI of anthracnose and other desirable horticultural traits but could not be exploited at commercial level due to complexity in hybridization. Identifying pure lines with tolerance against anthracnose disease and favorable horticultural attributes could be accomplished in segregating generations of the prospective hybrids.

Morphological Characterization and Assessment of Genetic Variability, Heritability and Genetic Advance in Bread Wheat (Triticum aestivum L.)

Genetic based knowledge of different growth traits including morphological, physiological and developmental play’s fundamental role in the improvement of wheat. Genetic divergence allows superior recombinants which are essential in any crop development project. The present investigation was involving forty-four genotypes were assessed for 13 morphological traits undertaken to study the genetic variability, heritability (bs), genetic advance, genetic advance as percent of mean analysis. Among the genotypes, almost all the traits exhibited highly significant variation. The higher extent of genotypic (GCV) as well as phenotypic coefficients of variation (PCV) were noticed for number of productive tillers per plant and grain yield per plant indicted high degree of variability in these quantitative traits and suggested the possibility of yield improvement through these traits. High heritability (in broad sense) estimates were obtained highest for biological yield per plant, spike length, grain yield per plant, protein content, 1000 grain weight, plant height, productive tillers per plant, days to maturity and spikelets per spike including that these traits are mainly controlled by the genetic factor and selection based on these factors will be rewarding. Moderate estimates of genetic advance were obtained for two traits viz., plant height and biological yield per plant. A suitable combination of these traits can be used for development of high yielding genotypes. For plant height and the number of grains per spike, there was a combination of high heritability and moderate genetic advance. As a result, these qualities are controlled by additive gene action and should be chosen for further development through the use of pedigree breeding.

Errant Equine Lines: Ornament and Embodiment in Kafka’s Drawings

This article makes a case for marginalia itself, arguing that precisely the peripheral status of these newly published sketches constitutes their contribution to Kafkan esthetics. Focusing on depictions of horses and riders will provide a fuller picture of the interpretative ambiguity of Kafka’s art, revealing an esthetic that is at moments more ornamental than representational. What Judith Butler identifies as a desire to disappear into pure line tends toward abstraction and estheticism: the fleeting edges of the artwork redescribe the outlines of what it means to constitute a corpus in the first place.

Оцінка товарних кондицій помісей першого покоління антонінсько-зозуленецьких та галицьких рамчастих коропів

Purpose. To characterize age-1+ hybrids obtained from the crossing of Galician framed carp (GFC) and Antoniny-Zozulenets framed carp (AZFC) according to a set of commercial conditions in comparison with parental lines. Methodology. The objects of the study were age-1+ hybrids of the reciprocal crossing of Galician and Antoniny-Zozulenets carps grown in pond conditions of the “Karpatskyi Vodogray” LLC. The study was conducted at the end of the growing season according to methodological recommendations. The body of the experimental carp for analysis was divided into its constituent parts: scales, fillet with skin, entrails, fins and bones. In the process of work, blood was removed, its weight was attributed to the entrails. The head was separated from the carcass by breaking it off between the occipital bone and the first vertebra.Each part was weighed separately and presented as a percentage of the total body weight. Findings. The obtained results showed that the yield of the main part of the fillet with skin in crossbred groups of age-1+ carp was 48.7–52.0% and was higher compared to purebred offspring.In comparison with the original maternal line, crossbred age-1+ ♀GFC ×♂AZFC had a higher index of relative fillet weight by 3.15%, and the similar 1.6% superiority was observed in crossbreds ♀AZFC × ♂GFC. At the same time, with an increase in the average weight of age-1+ by 28.9–68.6% in the 2023 studies, the relative weight of the carcass increased by 2.4–11.0%. At the same time, the relative weight of the head decreased by 5.3-6.1%, and the relative weight of the entrails increased by 0.7-4.7%. In general, the inedible part of the studied groups of fish was in the range of 27.2–32.4%. In terms of the yield of fillets per 1 ha of fattening pond, the superiority of interbreeding groups of age-1+ was 31.5–62.7%. The obtained results indicate the expediency of their use as new highly productive commercial lines in pond farms of the Polissiya zone. Originality. For the first time, a comparative analysis of the nutritional value parameters of age-1+ carp from reciprocal crossings of Galician and Antoniny-Zozulenet framed carp and the original pure lines cultivated in the conditions of Ukrainian Polissiya was carried out. Practical value. The obtained results will complement the studies of previous years and will allow providing recommendations on the use of these hybrids for commercial cultivation in the Polissiya zone of Ukraine. Keywords: carp, weight, market conditions, edible and inedible body parts.

Abstract 7425: UMI-nea: A fast and robust UMI analysis approach to accurately identify and quantify TCR repertoire from targeted RNA sequencing with wide range of input molecules

Abstract The T-cell receptor (TCR) population in humans is comprised of highly diversified heterodimers, regulating the recognition of antigen-major histocompatibility complex. Tremendous TCR sequence diversity is produced by somatic recombination of several TCR gene loci each consisting of multiple gene segments. Next-generation sequencing has enabled comprehensive profiling of the TCR repertoire from different physiological and disease conditions ushering in much interest in using TCR-seq to assess T-cell diversity. However, during NGS library construction and sequencing, errors and enzymatic inefficiencies can compromise the accuracy of the final data, particularly around calling of the VD and VDJ recombined regions and subsequent clonotype assignment. To increase the accuracy of NGS sequencing, Unique Molecular Identifiers (UMIs), consisting of short random nucleotide bases, can be used to mark original molecules in NGS library allowing for error and bias corrections. There are two well studied technical limitations to apply UMIs: 1.) UMI sequences tend to collide when input molecule number is large 2.) UMI sequences are not insulated from PCR and sequencing errors. To address these limitations, many computational approaches had been published. Among them, very few can be used to solve UMI colliding errors and over-simplified error models were implemented for UMI sequencing error handling. Here we report a novel strategy and UMI structure which uses more complex UMIs that is longer and of different length. This results in minimizing UMI collision while maximizing sequencing quality. Our UMI analysis pipeline, “UMI-nea” is able to handle not only substitution errors but also indel errors and UMIs with different lengths. We developed a novel computational framework to parallelly process sequence comparisons to mitigate the elevated computational burden. To account for the varied dispersion of PCR efficiency for different molecules and error bearing UMIs from libraries with different input and with different sequencing depth, we also developed a statistical framework leveraging negative binomial model and single-cell knee plot to set a dynamic threshold for original molecule estimate. We verified UMI-nea with several simulated data and demonstrated that UMI-nea can achieve &amp;gt;99% completeness and homogeneity to recover the original molecule count with various error rates and UMI lengths, outperforming existing tools and methods in comparison. We applied UMI-nea to profile TCR for 8 PBMC samples sequenced on different Illumina platforms with different sequencing depths. We observed &amp;gt;85% reproducibility of clonotype calls on all samples. To test the sensitivity and specificity of UMI-nea, we sequenced pure cell line samples and cell line spike-in samples with different ratios and discovered very high recall and precision rates. Citation Format: Jixin Deng, Jingxiao Zhang, Song Tian, Samuel J. Rulli, Hong Xu, John DiCarlo, Eric Lader. UMI-nea: A fast and robust UMI analysis approach to accurately identify and quantify TCR repertoire from targeted RNA sequencing with wide range of input molecules [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the American Association for Cancer Research Annual Meeting 2024; Part 1 (Regular Abstracts); 2024 Apr 5-10; San Diego, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Cancer Res 2024;84(6_Suppl):Abstract nr 7425.

Assessment of Efficiency of Breeding Methods in Accelerating Genetic Gain in Rice

The pedigree, bulk, and single-seed descent-based rapid generation advance methods are commonly practiced breeding methods in rice. But the efficiency of these breeding methods in enhancing genetic gain has not been investigated yet. In this study, we compared the pedigree and bulk method-derived breeding lines of five crosses with RGA-derived lines. The RGA method was found to be almost two times more efficient in capturing high-yielding lines with a high breeding value and thus accelerated genetic gain much more than the bulk and pedigree methods. The RGA method is not only more efficient but also significantly cheaper (~24%) compared to pedigree methods. The cost per kilogram of genetic gain in yield for the RGA lines is almost 3 times lower than the bulk method and 4.5 times lower than the pedigree method, and it can be achieved in half the time required for line development with either the bulk or pedigree method.

PDRs4All. VII. The 3.3 μm aromatic infrared band as a tracer of physical properties of the interstellar medium in galaxies

Aromatic infrared bands (AIBs) are a set of broad emission bands at 3.3, 6.2, 7.7, 8.6, 11.2, and 12.7 mu m, seen in the infrared spectra of most galaxies. With the James Webb space telescope (JWST), the 3.3 mu m AIB can in principle be detected up to a redshift of $ 7$. Relating the evolution of the 3.3 mu m AIB to local physical properties of the interstellar medium (ISM) is thus of paramount importance. By applying a dedicated machine learning algorithm to JWST NIRSpec observations of the Orion Bar photodissociation region obtained as part of the PDRs4All Early Release Science (ERS) program, we extracted two template spectra capturing the evolution of the AIB-related emission in the 3.2-3.6 range, which includes the AIB at 3.3 and its main satellite band at 3.4 um. In the Orion Bar we analyzed the spatial distribution of the templates and their relationship with the ro-vibrational H$_2$ line at 2.12 the pure rotational line of H$_2$ at 4.69 and the Pfund delta line at 3.29 um. We find that one template (AIB$_ Irrad $) traces regions of neutral atomic gas with strong far-UV fields, while the other template (AIB$_ Shielded $) corresponds to shielded regions with lower FUV fields and a higher molecular gas fraction. We then show that these two templates can be used to fit the NIRSpec AIB-related spectra of nearby galaxies. The relative weight of the two templates (AIB$_ Irrad/Shielded $) is a tracer of the radiative feedback from massive stars on the ISM. We derive an estimate of AIB$_ Irrad/Shielded $ in a $z=4.22$ lensed galaxy and find that it has a lower value than for local galaxies. This pilot study illustrates how a detailed analysis of AIB emission in nearby regions can be used to probe the physical conditions of the extragalactic ISM.

Bicavitary effusion in cats: retrospective analysis of signalment, clinical investigations, diagnosis and outcome.

The aim of this study was to describe the clinical and diagnostic findings and outcome of cats with bicavitary effusion presenting to a referral centre. Medical records of cats presenting with bicavitary effusion were identified and their history, physical examination findings, clinicopathological data, diagnostic imaging findings, aetiology of bicavitary effusions (cardiac disease, neoplasia, infectious disease, sterile inflammatory disease, severe hypoalbuminaemia, trauma, coagulopathy or 'open' if no definitive diagnosis was reached) and outcome were recorded. Cox regression analysis was performed to identify independent predictors of death in cats with bicavitary effusion. Kaplan-Meier curves were generated for survival analysis. In total, 103 cats with bicavitary effusion were included. Neoplasia and cardiac disease were the most common aetiologies of bicavitary effusion, in 21 (20.4%) and 20 (19.4%) cats, respectively, followed by infectious disease (n = 11, 10.7%), trauma (n = 13, 12.6%), hypoalbuminaemia (n = 6, 5.8%), sterile inflammatory disease (n = 4, 3.9%) and coagulopathy (n = 1, 1.0%). The median survival time for all cats with bicavitary effusion was 3 days. Cats with a neoplastic aetiology had a 2.03 times greater risk of death compared with cats in which no diagnosis was achieved. Neoplasia (P = 0.030) and pedigree breed status (P = 0.016) were independent predictors of death in the multivariable Cox regression model. This study highlights that bicavitary effusions in cats generally carry a guarded to poor prognosis, particularly if neoplasia is the underlying aetiology or if the cat is a pedigree breed. Cardiac disease appeared to be associated with a better prognosis, suggesting that assessment for congestive heart failure should be considered early when evaluating cats with bicavitary effusion. The prognosis for cats with feline infectious peritonitis is likely to be markedly improved by the advent of novel antiviral drugs, compared with the historical cohort of cats presented here.