Diversity assessment among native Middle Egypt rabbit populations in North Upper-Egypt province by microsatellite polymorphism

[EN] Safeguarding biodiversity is an important goal for animal production in developed countries. This study investigated genetic diversity among native Middle-Egypt rabbit (NMER) populations in North Upper-Egypt province by using microsatellite polymorphism. Nineteen microsatellite loci were used in the study and an area of 231 km was surveyed, as native rabbits covered 14 points belonging to four Northern Upper Egypt governorates (South Giza, Fayoum, Beni Suef and Minya). Standard statistical parameters of genetic variability within and between populations confirmed that the highest genetic diversity was found towards the south. Among NMER populations, the mean number of alleles per locus was lowest in South Giza (5.32), while it was highest in Minya (6.00). This study found that NMER featured a high number of private alleles ranging between 7 and 11 (mean value was 10.5). Results also showed a high genetic diversity in NMER populations and that heterozygosity ranged between 0.384 and 0.445, strongly indicating extensive genetic variation in the NMER populations. The mean values of observed and expected heterozygosity were 0.405 and 0.612, respectively. Factorial correspondence analysis and neighbour joining trees (NJ) showed 2 main NMER rabbit groups: the Northern group (South Giza and Fayoum) and the Southern group (Beni Suef and Minya). All populations showed a high percentage of assignment in this study (0.913 to 0.946). The structure analysis showed that each population existed in separate clusters. This research provides an overview of genetic diversity of NMER populations in the Northern Upper Egypt province for the first time. In conclusion, results of this study could be used to designate priorities for conservation of NMER populations.Emam, A.; Azoz, A.; Mehaisen, G.; Ferrand, N.; Ahmed, N. (2017). 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In Proc.: 10th World Rabbit Congress, 3-6 September, 2012, Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.Bolet G., Brun J.M., Monnerot M., Abeni F., Arnal C., Arnold J., Bell D., Bergoglio G., Besenfelder U., Bosze S., Boucher S., Chanteloup N., Ducourouble M.C., Durand-Tardif M., Esteves P.J., Ferrand N., Gautier A., Haas C., Hewitt G., Jehl N., Joly T., Koehl P.F., Laube T., Lechevestrier S., Lopez M., Masoero G., Menigoz J.J., Piccinin R., Queney G., Saleil G., Surridge A., Van Der Loo W., Vicente J.S., Viudes De Castro M.P., Virag G., Zimmermann J.M. 2000. Evaluation and conservation of European rabbit (Oryctolagus cuniculus) genetic resources. First results and inferences, In Proc.: 7th World Rabbit Congress, 4-7 July, 2000, Valencia, Spain, 281-315.Emam A.M., Afonso S., Azoz A.A.A., González-Redondo P., Mehaisen G.M.K., Ahmed N.A., Ferrand N. 2016. Microsatellite polymorphism in some Egyptian and Spanish common rabbit breeds. In Proc.: 11th World Rabbit Congress, 15-18 June, 2016, Qingdao, China.El-Hentati H., Mhamdi N., Ben Hamouda M., Chriki A. 2013. Analysis of genetic variability within Tunisian Barbarine and Western thin Tail sheep using RAPD-PCR Method. Life Sci. J., 10: 2003-2009.EVANNO, G., REGNAUT, S., & GOUDET, J. (2005). Detecting the number of clusters of individuals using the software structure: a simulation study. Molecular Ecology, 14(8), 2611-2620. doi:10.1111/j.1365-294x.2005.02553.xFAO. 2007. The state of the world's animal genetic resources for food and agriculture, edited by Rischkowsky and Pilling. Rome.Fuller, S. J., Wilson, J. C., & Mather, P. B. (1997). Patterns of differentiation among wild rabbit populations Oryctolagus cuniculus L. in arid and semiarid ecosystems of north‐eastern Australia. Molecular Ecology, 6(2), 145-153. doi:10.1046/j.1365-294x.1997.00167.xGalal E.S.E., Khalil M.H. 1994. Development of rabbit industry in Egypt. 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Enhancement of clavulanic acid production by Streptomyces sp MU-NRC77 via mutation and medium optimization

Purpose: To enhance clavulanic acid production using UV-mutagenesis on Streptomyces sp. NRC77.Methods: UV-mutagenesis was used to study the effect of Streptomyces sp. NRC77 on CA production. Phenotypic and genotypic identification methods of the promising mutant strain were characterized. Optimization of the fermentation medium and culture conditions were investigatedResults: Out of the screened mutants, 120A3 mutant isolate was selected as promising. The phenotypic properties of 120A3 mutant showed culture characteristics similar to those of Streptomyces species. Phylogenetic analysis of 16S rRNA gene sequence indicate that this strain has similarity (99 %) to Streptomyces sp.T2-7; therefore it was suggested as Streptomyces sp. MU-NRC77 and has Gen Bank accession no. KT953342.Conclusion: Improvement of CA yield by 48 % was obtained from fermentation medium and culture condition optimization. Further optimization by addition of H2O2 and activated charcoal to the production medium increased CA yield to 646.12 and 682.94 mg/L respectively, i.e., 83 % more than that obtained prior to addition.Keywords: Clavulanic acid, Medium optimization, Phenotypic and Genotypic identification, Streptomyces sp. MU-NRC77, UV-Mutagenesi

Cotton in the new millennium: advances, economics, perceptions and problems

Cotton is the most significant natural fibre and has been a preferred choice of the textile industry and consumers since the industrial revolution began. The share of man-made fibres, both regenerated and synthetic fibres, has grown considerably in recent times but cotton production has also been on the rise and accounts for about half of the fibres used for apparel and textile goods. To cotton’s advantage, the premium attached to the presence of cotton fibre and the general positive consumer perception is well established, however, compared to commodity man-made fibres and high performance fibres, cotton has limitations in terms of its mechanical properties but can help to overcome moisture management issues that arise with performance apparel during active wear. This issue of Textile Progress aims to: i. Report on advances in cotton cultivation and processing as well as improvements to conventional cotton cultivation and ginning. The processing of cotton in the textile industry from fibre to finished fabric, cotton and its blends, and their applications in technical textiles are also covered. ii. Explore the economic impact of cotton in different parts of the world including an overview of global cotton trade. iii. Examine the environmental perception of cotton fibre and efforts in organic and genetically-modified (GM) cotton production. The topic of naturally-coloured cotton, post-consumer waste is covered and the environmental impacts of cotton cultivation and processing are discussed. Hazardous effects of cultivation, such as the extensive use of pesticides, insecticides and irrigation with fresh water, and consequences of the use of GM cotton and cotton fibres in general on the climate are summarised and the effects of cotton processing on workers are addressed. The potential hazards during cotton cultivation, processing and use are also included. iv. Examine how the properties of cotton textiles can be enhanced, for example, by improving wrinkle recovery and reducing the flammability of cotton fibre

ISOLATION AND IDENTIFICATION OF AN ACARICIDAL GLYCOSIDE FROM Acacia saligna LEAVES

as sources of biologically active secondary metabolites including pesticides because of their eco-friendly nature. The present study indicated that the ethylacetate extract of the Acacia saligna leaves exhibited acaricidal activity against the phytophagous twospotted spider mite ( Tetranychus Urticae Koch ).                 The chromatographic separation methods led to isolation of a pure compound from Acacia saligna leaf ethylacetate extract which exerted acaricidal action against the tested mite with LC50 value of 74.13 mg.l-1 after 48 h. Based on chemical (acid hydrolysis) and spectroscopic (1H, C13- NMR and MS) methods, the isolated compound was identified for the first time from plants as 2-hydroxymethyl-9-hydroxy-9-methyl-undecanyl (O-α-L-arabinopyranosyl-β-D-galactopyranoside

CFD study of some factors affecting performance of HAWT with swept blades

Most modern high-power wind turbines are horizontal axis type with straight twisted blades. Upgrading power and performance of these turbines is considered a challenge. A recent trend towards improving the horizontal axis wind turbine (HAWT) performance is to use swept blades or sweep twist adaptive blades. In the present work, the effect of blade curvature, sweep starting point and sweep direction on the wind turbine performance was investigated. The CFD simulation method was validated against available experimental data of a 0.9 m diameter HAWT. The wind turbine power and thrust coefficients at different tip speed ratios were calculated. Flow field, pressure distribution and local tangential and streamwise forces were also analysed. The results show that the downstream swept blade has the highest Cp value at design point as compared with the straight blade profile. However, the improvement in power coefficient is accompanied by a thrust increase. Results also show that the best performance is obtained when the starting blade sweeps at 25% of blade radius for different directions of sweep

Bioactive Steroids from the Red Sea Soft Coral Sinularia polydactyla

Six new (1, 2, 6, 8, 13, and 20) and twenty previously isolated (3-5, 7, 9-12, 14-19, and 21-26) steroids featuring thirteen different carbocycle motifs were isolated from the organic extract of the soft coral Sinularia polydactyla collected from the Hurghada reef in the Red Sea. The structures and the relative configurations of the isolated natural products have been determined based on extensive analysis of their NMR and MS data. The cytotoxic, anti-inflammatory, anti-angiogenic, and neuroprotective activity of compounds 3-7, 9-12, 14-20, and 22-26, as well as their effect on androgen receptor-regulated transcription was evaluated in vitro in human tumor and non-cancerous cells. Steroids 22 and 23 showed significant cytotoxicity in the low micromolar range against the HeLa and MCF7 cancer cell lines, while migration of endothelial cells was inhibited by compounds 11, 12, 22, and 23 at 20 µM. The results of the androgen receptor (AR) reporter assay showed that compound 11 exhibited the strongest inhibition of AR at 10 µM, while it is noteworthy that steroids 10, 16, and 20 displayed increased inhibition of AR with decreasing concentrations. Additionally, compounds 11 and 23 showed neuroprotective activity on neuron-like SH-SY5Y cells

A Controlled Experiment of a Method for Early Requirements Triage Utilizing Product Strategies

[Context and motivation] In market-driven product development of software intensive products large numbers of requirements threaten to overload the development organization. It is critical for product management to select the requirements aligned with the overall business goals, product strategies and discard others as early as possible. Thus, there is a need for an effective and efficient method that deals with this challenge and supports product managers in the continuous effort of early requirements triage [1, 2] based on product strategies. This paper evaluates such a method - A Method for Early Requirements Triage Utilizing Product Strategies (MERTS), which is built based on the needs identified in literature and industry. [Question/problem] The research question answered in this paper is "If two groups of subjects have a product strategy, one group in NL format and one in MERTS format, will there be a difference between the two groups with regards to effectiveness and efficiency of requirements triage?" The effectiveness and efficiency of the MERTS were evaluated through controlled experiment in a lab environment with 50 software engineering graduate students as subjects. [Principal ideas/results] It was found through results that MERTS method is highly effective and efficient. [Contribution] The contribution of this paper is validation of effectiveness and efficiency of the product strategies created through MERTS method for requirements triage, prior to industry trials. A major limitation of the results is that the experiment was performed with the graduate students and not the product managers. However, the results showed that MERTS is ready for industry trials

Vis‐nir spectroscopy and satellite landsat‐8 oli data to map soil nutrients in arid conditions: A case study of the northwest coast of egypt

The mapping of soil nutrients is a key issue for numerous applications and research fields ranging from global changes to environmental degradation, from sustainable soil management to the precision agriculture concept. The characterization, modeling and mapping of soil properties at diverse spatial and temporal scales are key factors required for different environments. This paper is focused on the use and comparison of soil chemical analyses, Visible near infrared and shortwave infrared VNIR‐SWIR spectroscopy, partial least‐squares regression (PLSR), Ordinary Kriging (OK), and Landsat‐8 operational land imager (OLI) images, to inexpensively analyze and predict the content of different soil nutrients (nitrogen (N), phosphorus (P), and potassium (K)), pH, and soil organic matter (SOM) in arid conditions. To achieve this aim, 100 surface samples of soil were gathered to a depth of 25 cm in the Wadi El‐Garawla area (the northwest coast of Egypt) using chemical analyses and reflectance spectroscopy in the wavelength range from 350 to 2500 nm. PLSR was used firstly to model the relationship between the averaged values from the ASD spectroradiometer and the available N, P, and K, pH and SOM contents in soils in order to map the predicted value using Ordinary Kriging (OK) and secondly to retrieve N, P, K, pH, and SOM values from OLI images. Thirty soil samples were selected to verify the validity of the results. The randomly selected samples included the spatial diversity and characteristics of the study area. The prediction of available of N, P, K pH and SOM in soils using VNIR‐SWIR spectroscopy showed high performance (where R2 was 0.89, 0.72, 0.91, 0.65, and 0.75, respectively) and quite satisfactory results from Landsat‐8 OLI images (correlation R2 values 0.71, 0.68, 0.55, 0.62 and 0.7, respectively). The results showed that about 84% of the soils of Wadi El‐Garawla are characterized by low‐to‐moderate fertility, while about 16% of the area is characterized by high soil fertility. © MDPI AG. All rights reserved