Brachypodium hybridum belongs to the Poaceae grass subfamily. It has a close genetic relationship with temperate cereal crops, which means that it can be used as a model for temperate cereal and grass crops. In order to improve knowledge on the genetic diversity of this species, 145 lines of B. hybridum representative of nine populations and all the ecoregions of Tunisia were characterized on the basis of 18 morpho-phenologic features. The results show a considerable variation between populations and ecoregions in all traits studied. Variation was relatively higher for reproductive than vegetative traits. The majority of traits showed very low to high heritability with low border value for average length of spikelet (ALS) and an average value of 0·64. It is noticeable that high values of heritability were observed for most vegetative descriptors, with low values for reproductive ones. Differentiation between populations (Q ST ) varied from 0·02 for ALS to 0·78 for average length of leaves with a mean value across traits of 0·4, which confirms the wide intra-population variation in Tunisian natural population of B. hybridum. Pairwise Q ST showed that the greatest differentiation among populations was registered between Ain Drahem and Jbel Zaghouan and the smallest between Haouria and Raoued. Overall, the Ain Draham population showed the largest differentiation from the rest of the populations. To infer the effect of geographic distribution of the species, a Mantel test was applied between observed pairwise differentiation and geographic distance between populations and between ecoregions: the results show a positive, but not significant, relationship. In addition a significant negative relationship was found between phenotypic diversity and altitude, indicating that genetic diversity decreased with increasing altitude. Taken together, the high levels of intrapopulation variation and the lack of correlation between genetic differentiation and geographic distribution suggest a potentially important rate of long-distance seed dispersal and confirm the role played by natural selection in the population structure of Tunisian natural populations of B. hybridum.

Purpose A substantial proportion of cancer survivors experience fatigue after diagnosis. Physical activity (PA) can impact fatigue after cancer. In this study, we evaluated the prevalence and association of fatigue and the practice of PA in a population with early cancer. Methods Using the national population‐based French cross‐sectional study Vie après le cancer 2 , we included 1984 patients with early breast (61.1%), prostate (21.5%), and colorectal (17.4%) cancer. Severe fatigue at 2 years postdiagnosis was defined by a score ≥40 in the European Organization for Research and Treatment of Cancer quality of life questionnaire (EORTC QLQ C30) fatigue subscale. PA was defined as (a) self‐reported PA before diagnosis (active/inactive) and (b) change in PA since diagnosis (increased/maintained exposure vs decreased exposure/remaining inactive). Multivariate regression examined associations of severe fatigue with PA, adjusting for baseline clinical and treatment variables. Results Median age was 52 years. 51.5% of patients experienced severe fatigue 2 years post‐diagnosis. 87.7% reported to be physically active before cancer diagnosis; 53.3% of patients either decreased PA or remained inactive at 2 years postdiagnosis. At 2 years postdiagnosis, severe fatigue was associated with a change in PA since diagnosis: patients with decreasing PA/remaining inactive from pre‐ to postdiagnosis had a higher risk of severe fatigue vs those with increasing/maintaining PA (adjusted odds ratio [95% confidence interval] 2.32 [1.85‐2.90]). Conclusion Fatigue continues to be a substantial problem for cancer survivors 2 years after cancer diagnosis and is associated with PA decreasing/remaining inactive since diagnosis. Interventions to maintain or increase PA for cancer survivors should be tested to mitigate long‐term fatigue after cancer.

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10069 Background: A substantial proportion of breast, colo-rectal and prostate cancer patients (pts) can expect long term disease free survival after their primary treatment. Among those, fatigue commonly persists after diagnosis (dx) and can be debilitating. In this study, we evaluated the incidence of fatigue 2 years (y) after cancer dx and its association with health behaviors. Methods: We used a French population based cross-sectional study, which included a representative sample of pts from 12 cancer types (VICAN2). VICAN2 surveyed 4347 pts 2 y after dx. There is a 99% completion rate of fatigue related questions. For this study, we included 2017 pts with breast (1237), colo-rectal (348) and prostate (432) cancer without evidence of metastases at dx or relapse 2y after dx and with fatigue information. Severe fatigue was defined as average score of EORTC QLQC30 fatigue subscale ≥40 at 2y after dx. There were <1% of missing values in the evaluated covariates. Multivariate logistic regression models looked at associations of fatigue with heatlh behaviors (Δ in exercise since dx, exercise at diagnosis, body mass index (BMI), Δ since dx, smoking), age, gender, comorbidities, education, employment, cancer type, radiation, chemotherapy, hormonal therapy. Results: 52% of pts reported severe fatigue at 2 y after dx (median fatique score: 44, range: 0-100). 2 y after dx, 47% of pts either stopped or decrease exercise and 16% had a ≥ 10% change in BMI. Factors associated with fatigue included health behaviors (Table), but also age (adjusted odds ratio [ aOR] for severe fatigue, 95% confidence interval [95% CI]: 0.97, 0.96-0.98), gender ( aOR, 95 CI male vs. female: 0.5, 0.3-0.8), comorbidities ( aOR, 95 CI yes vs. no: 2.0, 1.6-2.4) and treatment type ( aOR, 95 CI radiation vs. no: 1.5, 1.1-2.0). Conclusions: Fatigue continues to be a substantial problem for cancer survivors 2 y after dx. Some factors that may contribute to persistent fatigue (health behaviors) may be amenable to interventions. [Table: see text]

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Sulla carnosa (Desf.) is a diploid (2n = 16), allogamous, seed‐propagated species and has a vegetative shoot system characterized by an orthotropic main stem bearing some lateral plageotropic shoots. It is of interest for rangeland revegetation and production. In this study, we analyzed the genetic diversity of five S. carnosa populations using 15 quantitative traits and nine random amplified polymorphic DNA primers. A total of 14 and 41% of the total genetic variation was found among the populations for molecular and phenotypic traits, respectively (Gst = 0.14 and Qst = 0.41). Despite the relatively high level of gene flow among populations (Nm = 3.1 or 0.065 individuals per generation), results showed a significant isolation by distance. Correlations between characters as well as with climatic region were established. The most significant positive correlations were found between features related to plant strength, while the most significant negative correlations were found between the flowering time and traits related to plant strength. When correlated to climatic region, plant height (r = –0.75, P = 0.000) and flowering date (r = –0.71, P = 0.000) showed the most significant estimates, indicating a gradual variation of these phenotypic traits. These results suggest a prominent role for natural selection in accounting for patterns of genetic differentiation of quantitative traits among natural populations of S. carnosa.

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