Iron (Fe) toxicity is recognized as one of the most widely spread soil constraints for rice production especially in West Africa. Oryza glaberrima the cultivated rice species that originated from ...West Africa is well-adapted to its growing ecologies. The aim of this study was to identify the promising O. glaberrima accessions tolerant to Fe toxicity from the 2106 accessions held at the AfricaRice gene bank. The screenings were conducted over a four-year period and involved evaluating the entries under Fe-toxic field conditions in West Africa, selecting good yielding accessions and repeating the testing with newly selected lines. Three accessions (TOG 7206, TOG 6218-B and TOG 7250-A) were higher yielding than O. sativa checks under stress but with similar yields under control conditions. These accessions yielded over 300g/m2 under both Fe toxicity and control conditions. In conclusion, these materials could be used as donors in breeding programs for developing high yielding rice varieties suited to Fe toxicity affected areas in West Africa.
Understanding the genetics of field-based tolerance to high iron-associated (HIA) stress in rice can accelerate the development of new varieties with enhanced yield performance in West African ...lowland ecosystems. To date, few field-based studies have been undertaken to rigorously evaluate rice yield performance under HIA stress conditions. In this study, two NERICA ×
bi-parental rice populations and one
diversity panel consisting of 296 rice accessions were evaluated for grain yield and leaf bronzing symptoms over multiple years in four West African HIA stress and control sites. Mapping of these traits identified a large number of QTLs and single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) associated with stress tolerance in the field. Favorable alleles associated with tolerance to high levels of iron in anaerobic rice soils were rare and almost exclusively derived from the
subpopulation, including the most favorable alleles identified in NERICA varieties. These findings highlight the complex genetic architecture underlying rice response to HIA stress and suggest that a recurrent selection program focusing on an expanded
genepool could be productively used in combination with genomic selection to increase the efficiency of selection in breeding programs designed to enhance tolerance to this prevalent abiotic stress in West Africa.
First, to evaluate the sensitivity and positive predictive value (PPV) of intra-operative frozen section (FS) diagnosis in borderline ovarian tumors (BOTs), and to explore the factors affecting the ...diagnostic accuracy. Second, to assess the clinical outcomes of misdiagnosed BOT patients.
We performed a retrospective study of all patients diagnosed as BOT through FS or paraffin section (PS) at Qilu Hospital between January 2005 and December 2015. Clinical and pathologic data were extracted. Univariate analysis was performed using standard two-sided statistical tests. We also performed a meta-analysis to further validate the findings.
In our retrospective study, 155 patients were included. Agreement between FS and PS diagnosis was observed in 127/155 (81.9%) patients, yielding a sensitivity of 92.7% and a PPV of 87.6%. Under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis occurred in 22 cases (14.2%) and 6 cases (3.9%), respectively. In our univariate analysis of our retrospective study, tumor size (
=0.048) and surgery approach (
=0.024) were significantly associated with misdiagnosis. The pooled analysis of 13 studies including 1,577 patients indicated that the accuracy (69.2%), sensitivity (82.5%), and PPV (81.1%) were low; also under-diagnosis (20.2%) and over-diagnosis (10.5%) were frequent. The meta-analysis results showed that mucinous histology (
0.0001, OR=2.03 1.47-2.81) and unilateral tumors (
=0.001, OR=2.39 1.41-4.06) were associated with the misdiagnosis of BOT. In our retrospective study, there was no statistical significance of clinical outcome such as extent of surgery (
=0.838), recurrence (
=0.586), fertility (
=0.560), death (
=0.362) between misdiagnosed and accurately diagnosed BOT patients.
FS analysis of BOTs has low accuracy, sensitivity, and PPV. Under-diagnosis and over-diagnosis are frequent. Meta-analysis results verify that mucinous histology and unilateral tumors are associated with misdiagnosis of FS. Nevertheless, misdiagnosed patients have a good clinical outcome despite the high frequency of misdiagnosis through FS.
Iron (Fe) toxicity is recognized as one of the most widely spread soil constraints for rice production especially in West Africa. Oryza glaberrima the cultivated rice species that originated from ...West Africa is well-adapted to its growing ecologies. The aim of this study was to identify the promising O. glaberrima accessions tolerant to Fe toxicity from the 2106 accessions held at the AfricaRice gene bank. The screenings were conducted over a four-year period and involved evaluating the entries under Fe-toxic field conditions in West Africa, selecting good yielding accessions and repeating the testing with newly selected lines. Three accessions (TOG 7206, TOG 6218-B and TOG 7250-A) were higher yielding than O. sativa checks under stress but with similar yields under control conditions. These accessions yielded over 300g/m2 under both Fe toxicity and control conditions. In conclusion, these materials could be used as donors in breeding programs for developing high yielding rice varieties suited to Fe toxicity affected areas in West Africa.
The traditional treatment has inevitable drawbacks of nonspecific lymph targeting, poor therapeutic efficiency and residual metastatic for advanced cancer patients with lymph node metastases. To ...overcome these shortcomings, we prepare a nano-carrier drug delivery system. Photosensitizer hematoporphyrin monomethyl ether (HMME)-loaded poly (
n
-butylcyanoacrylate) nanoparticles (PBCA-NPs) was prepared successfully. The particle size was approximately 160 nm, the envelopment rate was 87.9%, and the drug loading rate was about 13.4%. The drug release study in vitro showed that the cumulative release rates of HMME-PBCA-NPs group was much less than free HMME group. The drug distribution in different tissues showed that the peak-reach time was 3 h in free HMME group and 6 h in nanoparticles group. All of these results confirmed the slow release characteristic of nanoparticles. In lymph node tissues, the HMME concentrations in HMME-PBCA-NPs group were much higher than those of the free HMME group at any time points we tested, in which the maximum difference concentration of HMME appeared at 6 h (1.2884 ± 0.04695 vs. 0.0438 ± 0.00558 µg/mg) after drug delivery. The mesenteric lymph nodes of rabbits were enlarged obviously in the NP group than in free HMME group at 6 h after drug delivery. All of these results confirmed the slow release characteristic and the lymphatic targeting characteristic of nanoparticles. In summary, we developed a lymphatic targeting nanoparticles drug delivery system successfully, which showed perfect lymph targeting and has the potential to be a new therapy strategy for advanced cancer patients with lymph node metastasis.
Fela goes home Ngaujah, Sahr
The Observer (London),
05/2011
Journal Article
"Fela!" is on at Sadlers Wells from 20 July to 28 August 2011. The aim of presenting this show in New York and London, explains Sahr Ngaujah, who plays Fela Kuti in it, was to recreate Fela Kuti's ...world in the Nigeria of the 1970s, viewed from within his club, the Africa Shrine. The production is now being taken back to Nigeria, to bring Fela back to his own people, to recreate the Shrine of the 1970s at a big theatre built by his children, called the New Africa Shrine.
The timely availability of improved seeds at affordable prices is critical to improving food security, resilience, and livelihoods for smallholder farmers in Sierra Leone. Seed of improved varieties ...can deliver state-of-the-art technology to farmers including higher yields, disease and pest resistance, climate change adaptation, and improved nutrition. This report summarizes the key findings of the study conducted by The African Seed Access Index (TASAI) to appraise the structure and economic performance of Sierra Leone’s formal seed sector. With a focus on the four grain and legume crops important to national food and nutritional security (maize, rice, sorghum, and groundnut) the report covers 22 key performance indicators divided into five categories: Research and Development, Industry Competitiveness, Seed Policy and Regulations, Institutional Support, and Service to Smallholder Farmers. We conclude that Sierra Leone’s formal seed sector is in the nascent stage of development. The Sierra Leone Agricultural Research Institute faces human resource capacity constraints and is significantly underfunded, limiting the institution’s capacity to produce and maintain early generation seed for all crops. Since 2020, seed producers and seed companies have been required to register with the Sierra Leone Seed Certification Agency, which is a step toward enhancing the production and sale of quality certified seed in the country. The Seed Regulations have been aligned with the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) Harmonized Seed Regulations and will provide the seed industry in Sierra Leone with increased access to plant varieties already listed in the West Africa Catalogue of Plant Varieties and Species. However, to be useful to seed producers and farmers, the national variety catalogue needs to be updated more frequently. In addition to these highlights, the report discusses many positive developments as well as areas for improvement in Sierra Leone’s formal seed sector
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