Host quality and composition of multi-host environment impact the maintenance of members of the wheat dwarf disease pathosystem in non-crop areas.

Harvest represents a challenge for the persistence of insect-transmitted viruses in agroecosystems. To overcome this challenge, some viruses infect non-crop plants as reservoirs for future introduction to newly sown fields. The wheat dwarf disease (WDD), one of the most important viral diseases on cereals, is caused by the wheat dwarf virus (WDV) and is transmitted by the leafhopper Psammotettix alienus.

Historic insights and future potential in wheat elaborated using a diverse cultivars collection and extended phenotyping.

Wheat is one of the most important staple crops worldwide. Wheat breeding mainly focused on improving agronomy and techno-functionality for bread or pasta production, but nutrient content is becoming more important to fight malnutrition. We therefore investigated 282 bread wheat cultivars from seven decades of wheat breeding in Central Europe on 63 different traits related to agronomy, quality and nutrients in multiple field environments.

Harnessing big data for enhanced genome-wide prediction in winter wheat breeding.

By combining data from different public and private breeding programs for genomic selection, we have increased the size and diversity of the training population, which has led to better predictions of grain yield and plant height in winter wheat compared to using individual training sets. The accuracy of genome-wide prediction is anticipated to improve with an increase in training population size. In our study, we assembled a comprehensive wheat data set consisting of about 18,000 inbred lines and phenotypic data from about 250,000 plots.

Breaking down data silos across companies to train genome-wide predictions: A feasibility study in wheat.

Big data, combined with artificial intelligence (AI) techniques, holds the potential to significantly enhance the accuracy of genome-wide predictions. Motivated by the success reported for wheat hybrids, we extended the scope to inbred lines by integrating phenotypic and genotypic data from four commercial wheat breeding programs. Acting as an academic data trustee, we merged these data with historical experimental series from previous public-private partnerships.

Periodontal damage after thermal inhalation injury - The impact of high temperature inhalation injury on long term periodontal health.

Purpose: Thermal inhalation injury is a common, life-threatening problem in burned patients. Whether or not this single event of damage to the oral integrity causes long term health problems is yet to be examined.

Material And Methods: All consecutive burn patients between 2014 and 2017 of Marienhospital Stuttgart (MHS), Germany, with at least 10% of burned skin surface were included and compared.

Oxygen, pH, Lactate, and Metabolism-How Old Knowledge and New Insights Might Be Combined for New Wound Treatment.

Over time, we have come to recognize a very complex network of physiological changes enabling wound healing. An immunological process enables the body to distinguish damaged cells and begin a cleaning mechanism by separating damaged proteins and cells with matrix metalloproteinases, a complement reaction, and free radicals. A wide variety of cell functions help to rebuild new tissue, dependent on energy provision and oxygen supply.

The successful use of polylactide wound dressings for chronic lower leg wounds: A retrospective analysis.

Chronic wounds are a challenging medical entity for patients, medical professionals and healthcare systems. Frequently, patients present themselves to wound specialists after months or even years of unsuccessful treatment. Recent developments have resulted in a multitude of different advanced wound dressings created to treat complex, chronic wounds, one of which is the polylactide dressing Suprathel.

[Impact of the COVID-19 crisis in Spring 2020 on trauma case numbers of an academic teaching hospital in Stuttgart : Trauma during a pandemic].

Background: To cope with the COVID-19 outbreak in Germany, the government imposed a lockdown, which led to restrictions and lifestyle changes for the population.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the impact of the lockdown on activities causing trauma and the consultation in emergency rooms.

Material And Methods: All consecutive trauma patients consulting the Emergency Department of the Marienhospital Stuttgart (MHS), Germany, during the 6 weeks preceding the lockdown, during and after the lockdown were included.

Made in Germany: A Quality Indicator Not Only in the Automobile Industry But Also When It Comes to Skin Replacement: How an Automobile Textile Research Institute Developed a New Skin Substitute.

Successful research and development cooperation between a textile research institute, the German Federal Ministry of Education and Research via the Center for Biomaterials and Organ Substitutes, the University of Tübingen, and the Burn Center of Marienhospital, Stuttgart, Germany, led to the development of a fully synthetic resorbable temporary epidermal skin substitute for the treatment of burns, burn-like syndromes, donor areas, and chronic wounds. This article describes the demands of the product and the steps that were taken to meet these requirements. The material choice was based on the degradation and full resorption of polylactides to lactic acid and its salts.

Role of Hypoxia and the Adenosine System in Immune Evasion and Prognosis of Patients with Brain Metastases of Melanoma: A Multiplex Whole Slide Immunofluorescence Study.

Following the introduction of immune checkpoint inhibitors, a substantial prolongation of the overall survival has been achieved for many patients with multiple brain metastases from melanoma. However, heterogeneity between individual tumor responses is incompletely understood. In order to determine the impact of the individual tumor phenotype on the prognosis of melanoma patients, we examined surgical sections from 33 patients who were treated with radiotherapy (whole-brain radiotherapy, WBRT, stereotactic radiotherapy, STX, or both) and Ipilimumab.

Aroma and quality of breads baked from old and modern wheat varieties and their prediction from genomic and flour-based metabolite profiles.

Bread aroma is the principal characteristic perceived by the consumer yet it is mostly disregarded in the product chain. The main aim of this study was to evaluate the potential to include bread aroma as a new target criterion into the wheat product chain. The objectives of our study were to (i) quantify the influence of genetic versus environmental factors on the bread aroma and quality characteristics, (ii) evaluate whether bread baked from modern wheat varieties differ in terms of aroma from those baked from old varieties, and (iii) compare genomic and metabolomic approaches for their efficiency to predict bread aroma and quality characteristics in a wheat breeding program.

Genome-Wide Association Mapping of Prostrate/Erect Growth Habit in Winter Durum Wheat.

By selecting for prostrate growth habit of the juvenile phase of the cycle, durum wheat cultivars could be developed with improved competitive ability against weeds, and better soil coverage to reduce the soil water lost by evaporation. A panel of 184 durum wheat ( subsp. ) genotypes, previously genotyped with DArT-seq markers, was used to perform association mapping analysis of prostrate/erect growth habit trait and to identify candidate genes.

Copy number variation of Ppd-B1 is the major determinant of heading time in durum wheat.

Background: Heading time is an important adaptive trait in durum wheat. In hexaploid wheat, Photoperiod-1 (Ppd) loci are essential regulators of heading time, with Ppd-B1 conferring photoperiod insensitivity through copy number variations (CNV). In tetraploid wheat, the D-genome Ppd-D1 locus is absent and generally, our knowledge on the genetic architecture underlying heading time lacks behind that of bread wheat.

Hybrid durum wheat: heterosis of grain yield and quality traits and genetic architecture of anther extrusion.

Hybrid durum has a promising yield potential coupled with good quality, but the efficiency of hybrid seed production must be improved. Hybrid breeding is a tremendous success story in many crops, but has not yet made a breakthrough in wheat, mainly due to inefficient hybrid seed production. In this study, we investigated the heterosis for grain yield and important quality traits in durum wheat of 33 hybrids built up from 24 parental lines, as well as the variation in anther extrusion and its genetic architecture in a vast collection of Central European elite durum lines.

Long-term survival of patients after ipilimumab and hypofractionated brain radiotherapy for brain metastases of malignant melanoma: sequence matters.

Purpose: Since the introduction of ipilimumab (IPI) for the treatment of patients with metastatic malignant melanoma, we have observed remarkable responses after hypofractionated whole brain irradiation (WBRT) or stereotactic radiotherapy (STX) for brain metastases of malignant melanoma. We sought to investigate the impact of the sequence of these treatment modalities.

Methods: We retrospectively evaluated the survival of melanoma patients with brain metastases who were treated with WBRT or STX and received IPI in close temporal relation between October 2010 and March 2015.

Assessing the variation and genetic architecture of asparagine content in wheat: What can plant breeding contribute to a reduction in the acrylamide precursor?

A large genetic variation, moderately high heritability, and promising prediction ability for genomic selection show that wheat breeding can substantially reduce the acrylamide forming potential in bread wheat by a reduction in its precursor asparagine. Acrylamide is a potentially carcinogenic substance that is formed in baked products of wheat via the Maillard reaction from carbonyl sources and asparagine. In bread, the acrylamide content increases almost linearly with the asparagine content of the wheat grains.