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.
Multivariate analysis is based on a statistical principle involving observation and analysis of more than one statistical variable at a time. The variability of 434 accessions of rice (Oryza sativa ...L.) germplasm from Côte d’Ivoire was evaluated for 10 agro-morphological traits in upland conditions at M’bé, Côte d’Ivoire (7°5′ N, 5°1′ W) in 2002 using augmented experimental design and analyzed with multivariate methods. The unweighted pair group method of the average linkage (UPGMA) cluster analysis, canonical discriminant analysis, and principal component analysis (PCA) were used to analyze the data obtained. This enabled the assessment of the extent and pattern of variation of the germplasm and identification of the major traits contributing to the diversity. Seven cluster groups were obtained from the 10 agro-botanical traits using the UPGMA. Canonical discriminant analysis showed the contribution of each trait to the classification of the rice accessions into different cluster groups. The first three principal components explained about 72.4% of the total variation among the 10 characters. The results of canonical discriminant analysis and PCA suggested that traits such as plant height, leaf length, number of days to heading and maturity, tillering ability, and grain size (weight, length, width, and shape) were the principal discriminatory characteristics. It was concluded that variation exists in the germplasm, which provides opportunities for this collection to be useful for genetic improvement.
Isolated limb perfusion (ILP) is widely accepted as treatment for recurrent melanoma limited to the limbs. The use of ILP has decreased in recent years with the introduction of potentially effective ...new systemic therapies. We evaluated retrospectively if ILP still may be a treatment option in locally advanced melanoma. In Finland, ILP is centralized to the Comprehensive Cancer Center of Helsinki University Hospital. We included all ILP patients treated at our hospital between 2007 and 2018. Clinical factors and treatment outcomes were retrospectively evaluated. Altogether 60 patients received ILP. Toxicity was mostly transient. The overall response rate was 77% with 35% complete responses and 42% partial responses. The median progression-free survival (PFS) was 6.1 months (range 0.6-116.5 months) and the median melanoma-specific survival (MSS) was 29.9 months (range 3.5-138.7 months). Patients with CR had superior median PFS (19.7 months, range 2.5-116.5 vs. 4.5 months, range 0.6-39.7 months, P = 0.00003) and median MSS (median MSS not reached vs. 25.9 months, range 3.5-98.7 months, P = 0.0005) compared to other responders. Younger patients (<69 years) had longer median MSS (47.2 months, range 3.5-138.7 vs. 25.9 months, range 8.4-125.4 months, P = 0.015) compared to patients over 69 years. Treatment outcomes of Finnish ILP patients were comparable to earlier studies and some long-term survivors were observed in the group of complete responders. Median PFS and OS were longer for patients achieving a CR. Treatment was well-tolerated also among older patients.
Background: The healthcare delivery in Nigeria operates in a turbulent environment with professional rivalry leading to job dissatisfaction among players. This lack of cohesion, which has shown the ...need for appropriate leadership, has made healthcare professionals function in an environment of uncertainty, disorder, and ambiguity. Aims: This study assessed leadership styles and health workers' job satisfaction in tertiary hospitals in Ekiti State, Nigeria. Methods: This is a cross-sectional study. Multistage sampling technique was used to select respondents. Data were analyzed using IBM SPSS version 20.0 statistical software. Level of statistical significance was set at P < 0.05. Results: More than half, 205 (51.8%), of the employees were found to be within the third decade of life with a mean of 33.2 ± 7.2 years. Among the employees, only 6 (1.5%) had high job satisfaction; laissez faire style had negative relationship with job satisfaction (r = -0.084; P = 0.094). Age of the leader (r = -0.095), duration of tenure by the heads of units (r = -0.003) exhibited negative correlation with job satisfaction. Age of employees and contingent reward were found to be significantly predictive of job satisfaction (P < 0.05). Conclusion: Very few of the employees had high job satisfaction and leadership styles impacts health workers' job satisfaction differently. Transformational styles were more related to health workers' job satisfaction than the transactional styles. Laissez-faire exhibited a negative relationship with job satisfaction. There is need for leadership skills on the part of the healthcare leaders; age of leader and duration of tenure needs to be further benchmarked to improve job satisfaction among the healthcare workers.
There is an increasing prevalence of celiac disease, which is gradually encroaching into Africa and Nigeria ranks first among sorghum-producing African countries. It is important to select starter ...cultures that can improve the functional properties of peculiar flour such as sorghum for the development of novel gluten-free diets. Therefore, this study aimed at screening of functionally important lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts as starter cultures for the development of sorghum-based sourdough. A total of 103 LAB and 20 yeast isolates obtained from Nigerian sorghum flour were screened for functional properties essential for sourdough preparation. Three LAB isolates were selected based on proteolytic activities, exopolysaccharide production and acidification properties, while one yeast strain was selected based on its gas production ability, low pH and acetic acid tolerance. Pediococcus pentosaceus SA8, Weissella confusa SD8 and P. pentosaceus LD7 showed highest proteolytic activity (24.7 mm), exopolysaccharide production (753.3mg/100 ml) and acidification property (0.25 g/100 g lactic acid) respectively. Saccharomyces cerevisiae YC1 had vigorous gas production (CO2 > 20 mm at 8 h), tolerated pH 2.5 and 0.1% acetic acid, and had highest leavening activities (60.87% at 1 h). The selected LAB and yeast strains possessed promising attributes as functional starter cultures for the production sourdoughs breads.
•Autochthonous lactic acid bacteria (LAB) and yeasts were isolated from sorghum sponge.•Selected LAB and yeasts possessed technological attributes and qualified presumption of safety.•Native sorghum was used as ingredient for sourdough employing selected functional starters.
Unpacking Pandora’s Box Shackleton, C. M.; Ruwanza, S.; Sanni, G. K. Sinasson ...
Ecosystems (New York),
06/2016, Volume:
19, Issue:
4
Journal Article
Peer reviewed
Research into the benefits that ecosystems contribute to human wellbeing has multiplied over the last few years following from the seminal contributions of the international Millennium Ecosystem ...Assessment. In comparison, the fact that some ecosystem goods and services undermine or harm human wellbeing has been seriously overlooked. These negative impacts have become known as ecosystem disservices. The neglect of ecosystem disservices is problematic because investments into the management or reduction of ecosystem disservices may yield better outcomes for human wellbeing, or at a lower investment, than management of ecosystem services. Additionally, management to optimise specific ecosystem services may simultaneously exacerbate associated disservices. We posit that one reason for the neglect of ecosystem disservices from the discourse and policy debates around ecosystems and human wellbeing is because there is no widely accepted definition or typology of ecosystem disservices. Here, we briefly examine current understandings of the term ecosystem disservices and offer a definition and a working typology to help generate debate, policy and management options around ecosystem disservices. We differentiate ecosystem disservices from natural hazards and social hazards, consider some of their inherent properties and then classify them into six categories. A variety of examples are used to illustrate the different types of, and management strategies to, ecosystem disservices.
We present a model of electromagnetic drift waves in the current sheet adjacent to magnetic reconnection at the subsolar magnetopause. These drift waves are potentially important in governing 3‐D ...structure of subsolar magnetic reconnection and in generating turbulence. The drift waves propagate nearly parallel to the X line and are confined to a thin current sheet. The scale size normal to the current sheet is significantly less than the ion gyroradius and can be less than or on the order of the wavelength. The waves also have a limited extent along the magnetic field (B), making them a three‐dimensional eigenmode structure. In the current sheet, the background magnitudes of B and plasma density change significantly, calling for a treatment that incorporates an inhomogeneous plasma environment. Using detailed examination of Magnetospheric Multiscale observations, we find that the waves are best represented by series of electron vortices, superimposed on a primary electron drift, that propagate along the current sheet (parallel to the X line). The waves displace or corrugate the current sheet, which also potentially displaces the electron diffusion region. The model is based on fluid behavior of electrons, but ion motion must be treated kinetically. The strong electron drift along the X line is likely responsible for wave growth, similar to a lower hybrid drift instability. Contrary to a classical lower hybrid drift instability, however, the strong changes in the background B and no, the normal confinement to the current sheet, and the confinement along B are critical to the wave description.
Key Points
Drift waves are potentially important in governing 3D structure of subsolar magnetic reconnection and in generating turbulence
Drift waves displace or corrugate the current sheet and potentially displace the electron diffusion region of magnetic reconnection
Parallel electric fields arise in the drift waves
Some basic questions regarding sheep’s ability to tolerate different levels of water intake (WI), especially when fed on a pelleted-complete diet (PCD) and reared under comfortable climatic ...conditions, are still open. To investigate the direct influence of different levels of WI in sheep fed PCD and reared under such conditions on the lambs' physiological (performance, thermal, blood and urine) status, 24 healthy male growing Najdi lambs were exposed under thermo-neutral conditions to three levels of WI (100%, 67%, and 33% of their ad libitum WI or water requirement) for 6 weeks. Meteorological, production performance, thermo-physiological, as well as blood and urine biochemical measurements, were all determined. The obtained findings clearly substantiate that reducing the level of water intake (p<0.05) produced tangible effects in both 67-WI and 33-WI lamb groups. However, 67-WI lambs showed resilience to limited water availability by inducing proportional physiological responses in their production performances, body temperatures, blood metabolites, and renal function but within the homeostatic ranges similar (p>0.05) to 100-WI lambs. Results collectively signify that diminishing WI up to 33% in lambs (fed on PCD and reared under comfortable conditions) would ensure that water is adequately conserved under prevailing water scarcity and can be implemented without compromising their homeostatic functions. Such applied approaches can consequently have a pragmatic aspect through improving water management approaches required for PCD-based sheep production under water scarcity conditions, which is crucial to economical animal production and responsible animal stewardship. Feasibility studies are thereby highly recommended.
...much more importantly is the access to vaccines, which has impacted positively in reducing deaths among children under-5 years of age group.1Vaccines are immuno-biological substances which produce ...specific protection against a given disease by stimulating immune system to protect the person, thereby producing immunization.2,3 Immunization has proven to be a cost effective interventions worldwide through which a number of childhood diseases have been prevented or eradicated.4 Since the introduction of the Expanded Programme on Immunization in 1974, vaccines have greatly reduced the morbidity and mortality due to vaccine preventable diseases worldwide. BCG had the highest coverage rate of 97.1% followed by the oral polio vaccine 1 (97%) and Pentavalent 1 with a coverage of 96.6% while measles vaccine had the lowest coverage of 88%.15 In Indonesia, only about a third of the children, 31.5%, were fully immunized.16 In Myanmar, 55.4% were fully immunized; and the complete immunization coverage differs across rural (50.9%) and urban settings (67.8%).17Similarly, a cross-sectional study in Ethiopia, in seven hard to reach areas, found that 77.4% of the children were fully immunized, 15.5% were partially immunized; and 7.1 yet to receive any of the antigens.18 In another study, the aggregate coverage was 38.3% and the specific vaccine coverage showed that Pentavalent3, OPV3, PCV3, Rota 2, and Measles were 56.1%, 60.4%, 51.9%, 58%, and 57.8%, respectively.19 In Angola, more than half (52.0%) of the 1,209 under 5 children studied had no vaccination history with a full vaccination coverage of 37.1% which was higher (55.0%) in children less than 1 year; and the coverage for BCG was 90.0%, 47.0% for monovalent Measles, and 43.0% for Yellow Fever.20 In Kakamega Central, Western Kenya, a full immunization coverage of 80.2% was obtained; but after adjusting for the stratified design, an estimated coverage value of 80.9% (95%CI: 76.9-85.3) was gotten. In the study, the vaccination coverage for BCG, OPV 3, Penta3, and Measles were 99.5%, 85.1%, 94.5% and 90.8% respectively.21 In Malawi,72% were fully vaccinated, 26% were under vaccinated while about 2% were non-vaccinated.22 A health-facility study conducted in Lome, Togo, among 797 children aged 12-23momths,obtained a complete vaccination coverage of 69.3%.23 In Nigeria, the immunization coverage rates of less than 80% and under five mortality rates above 100/1000 is an indication of the gap in routine immunization services in these countries.8 The official estimate showed that BCG coverage was 53%, while Penta 1 and Penta 3 were 49% and 33% respectively.24 Using WHO cluster survey, in a rural area of Southwest Nigeria, only 29.5% of the children were fully immunized, 65.7% partially immunized; and 4.8% not immunized.6Across ruralurban divide, OPV coverage was consistently higher in the urban areas than rural areas, sometimes coverage in the urban areas was twice that in the rural areas. In Bangladesh, full immunization coverage was significantly higher among children who lived in the urban area division (p<0.001), were 48-59 months old (p=0.013), lived in a medium size family (p<0.001), had parents with a higher education (p=0.006) and from richest families (p<0.001).15The likelihood of being partially or unimmunized was higher among children whose father is their sole healthcare decision-maker (p<0.012).15 In Indonesia, children from rural areas, older children and children of mothers (aged 30-39years)were significantly more likely to be unimmunized.16 In another study in Mysore, India, it was found that parents who obtained optional vaccinations for their children, believed in vaccines' effectiveness, and asked doctors or nurses about vaccination were significantly more likely to report complete vaccination.27 In Ethiopia, maternal education and health care utilization, urban city, and mothers' awareness of vaccination and perceived health care support have significant associations with immunization coverage.28 The study also identified occupation, number of antenatal care visits and distance to vaccination sites as predictors of vaccination status in the study among children 12-23 months.28 In another study in Ghana29, there seems to be less evidence for an association between immunization completeness and socio-economic status while in Ethiopia18, birth order of the child, mothers' educational status, family size, travel distance to health facility, place of delivery and ANC follow-up were significantly associated with children's full immunization status.
Background: Community-based health insurance (CBHI) has emerged as a more efficient and equitable approach to healthcare financing. It was designed to ensure that sufficient resources are made ...available for members to access effective healthcare. This study assessed the willingness to pay (WTP) for CBHI among artisans in a town in Ekiti State, South West Nigeria.
Methods: This was a cross-sectional survey conducted among 416 artisans in a town in Ekiti State. A semi-structured interviewer-administered questionnaire was designed and used for data collection on sociodemographic data and WTP for CBHIS. Data entry and analysis was done using IBM SPSS software version 25.0.
Results: The mean age and standard deviation of the respondents was 29.7±10.9 years with male to female ratio of 1:1.4. Most of the respondents were willing to pay (86.3%) and willing to enroll other household members (73.6%) in the CBHI. A large percentage (44.3%) of those willing to pay were ready to pay between ₦1,000-₦5,000 (US$2.63–US$13.16) per year while 39.6% preferred frequency of payment to be annually. Positive predictors of WTP for CBHI were age groups ≥50 years and 40-49 years than <20 years (AOR:13.270, 95%CI: 1.597-110.267; AOR:142.996, 95%CI: 10.689-1913.009). Females than males (AOR:9.155, 95%CI: 3.680-22.775), tertiary level of education than no formal of education (AOR:23.420, 95%CI: 1.648-850.921), no children than ≥5 children (AOR:20.099, 95%CI: 2.705-149.364), earn ≥₦30,000 (US$78.95) than <₦30,000 (AOR:2.248, 95%CI: 1.278-6.499). often and somethings fall ill than seldom fall ill (AOR:6.505, 95%CI: 1.623-26.065; AOR:4.889, 95%CI: 1.674-14.279)
Conclusion: WTP for CBHI was high among the artisans, however, there is a variation across the amount and frequency of payment. Therefore, policy that is flexible enough to allow artisans enroll and pay a premium that is affordable, at an acceptable frequency, should be formulated by the Government.
PDF
