Fetal chromosome abnormalities and congenital malformations: an Egyptian study

Objective: Our objective were to determine and evaluate the role of genetic counseling and amniocentesis in early detection of chromosomal abnormalities or congenital malformations among women at risk. Patients and Methods: The study was performed on 784 pregnant women. Results: The cause for seeking genetic counseling in 22.8% of the study cases was positive family history of CNS malformations, and in 17.9% was chromosomal abnormalities in previous child. Also, the results showed that the indications for amniocentesis in 60.8% were history of having previous child with Down syndrome, and in 15.3% were advanced maternal age. The results of chromosomal analysis of amniotic fluid samples; 21 cases (19.3%) had chromosomal abnormalities, where trisomy 21 (Down syndrome) was detected in 10 cases (9.2%), unbalanced translocation Down syndrome was detected in 9 cases (8.3%) and one had 46 XX, del (13-q), one had 45, XX, t (13;14) and 2.8% was 46, XX, +21, der (14;21) (q10;q10). The risk of complications of amniocentesis was associated with performing amniocentesis early in pregnancy, and with increased number of attempts. The results also showed that Multiple congenital anomalies (MCA) represented among 42.2%, congenital malformation of CNS represents 26.6%, congenital malformation of the skeletal system 20%, congenital polycystic kidney 8.8% and pyloric stenosis in 2.2%. Among the 21 women with abnormal karyotype of amniotic fluid, the decision to terminate the pregnancy was made in 3 (14.3%). Among the 45 cases with abnormal findings suggesting fetal congenital malformation, 16 (35.6%) chose termination of their pregnancy. In conclusion: Public awareness of the risks and difficulties facing a child with chromosomal anomalies or congenital malformations and the effect on their future health and living is of great importance for acceptance of prenatal screening. Prenatal diagnosis may affect the reproductive decision after genetic counseling. It is essential that genetic counseling is noncoercive and nonjudjemental. The couples decision (Even if it is different from the counselor's views) should be respected. Keywords: Genetic counselling, antenatal screening, amniocentesis. Egypt. J. Hum. Genet Vol. 8 (2) 2007: pp. 131-14

Appraisal of young farmers’ club programme in Abia state, Nigeria

This study appraised Young Farmers’ Clubs programme in secondary schools in Abia State. Data were collected using simple random sampling technique and structured interview schedule as instrument. Results showed that only a small proportion (about 27%) of the secondary schools had functional YFCs. Reasons for this situation were government, school authorities, agriculture teachers and student-related. The projects embarked upon by the YFCs were Agriculture, Home economics, Handicrafts, Educational and Managerial projects. The activities most frequently embarked upon by these clubs were crop production under Agriculture and food preparation under Home economics. The problems facing the YFCs in the state were related to the government, school authorities, agriculture teachers and students, with government-related problems predominating. It was recommended that government should create a fund similar to industrial training fund to provide logistic support to YFCs, and make mandatory the organization of YFCs programme in secondary schools.Key words: Young Farmers’ Clubs programme, secondary school

Prediction of far-field acoustic emissions from cavitation clouds during shock wave lithotripsy for development of a clinical device

This study presents the key simulation and decision stage of a multi-disciplinary project to develop a hospital device for monitoring the effectiveness of kidney stone fragmentation by shock wave lithotripsy (SWL). The device analyses, in real time, the pressure fields detected by sensors placed on the patient's torso, fields generated by the interaction of the incident shock wave, cavitation, kidney stone and soft tissue. Earlier free-Lagrange simulations of those interactions were restricted (by limited computational resources) to computational domains within a few centimetres of the stone. Later studies estimated the far-field pressures generated when those interactions involved only single bubbles. This study extends the free-Lagrange method to quantify the bubble–bubble interaction as a function of their separation. This, in turn, allowed identification of the validity of using a model of non-interacting bubbles to obtain estimations of the far-field pressures from 1000 bubbles distributed within the focus of the SWL field. Up to this point in the multi-disciplinary project, the design of the clinical device had been led by the simulations. This study records the decision point when the project's direction had to be led by far more costly clinical trials instead of the relatively inexpensive simulations. <br/

Distribution et incidence de la mosaïque du concombre (cmv) dans des bananeraies industrielles au sud-est de la côte d’ivoire.

La distribution et l’incidence du virus de la mosaïque du concombre (CMV) infectant le bananier ont été évaluées dans les bananeraies au Sud-Est de la Côte d’Ivoire. Pour ce faire, des prospections ont été effectuées dans des plantations industrielles des secteurs de Niéky (Dabou); Banacomoé (Abengourou) et Grand-fleuve (Tiassalé). Des données de relevés phytosanitaires relatives au CMV ont été recueillies et des échantillons de feuilles symptomatiques et asymptomatiques de bananiers de la variété ‘‘Grande naine’’ ont été collectés. Des diagnostics sérologiques utilisant les tests DAS-ELISA (Double Antibody Sandwich Enzyme Linked  Immunosorbent Assay), ont permis de confirmer la présence du CMV dans ces échantillons. Dans la pépinière du secteur Banacomoé, le CMV a été diagnostiqué dans environ 50 % de lots de plantules issus de micropropagation (vitroplants). L’incidence de la maladie enregistrée sur la base des symptômes observés dans les trois secteurs indiquent un taux variant de 5 % à 25 % avec une prédominance (66,25 %) des symptômes sévères (pourriture du coeur) sur les plants de 3 mois d’âges. Cependant, les plantations de plus de trois mois d’âge et les plants de la collection in vivo de pieds mères utilisés pour la micropropagation n’ont présenté que de rares plants infectés. La répartition du CMV dans les plantations de  moins de 3 mois a révélé une prédominance des foyers d’infection de type marginal.Mots clés : Cucumber Mosaic Virus, DAS-ELISA, incidence, distribution, Musa spp., Côte d’IvoireThis survey has been carried out in order to study the incidence and distribution of the Cucumber Mosaic Virus (CMV) infecting banana in the South-East part of Côte d’Ivoire. For this purpose, an assessment was conducted in the zones of Niéky (Dabou); Banacomoé (Abengourou) and Grand-fleuve (Tiassalé), in order to gather phytosanitary data concerning the occurrence of the CMV in the nursery and fields. Banana leaf samples of the ‘‘Grande naine’’variety showing CMV symptoms and some without symptom were collected. The presence of the virus has been confirmed by serological tests using DAS-ELISA (Double Antibody Sandwich Enzyme  Linked Immunosorbent Assay). About 50 % of the tissue culture derived banana batches composing the nursery in a plantation of Abengourou was found to be infected by CMV. Based on symptoms observed, the incidence of the disease in these production sectors visited, varied from 5 % to 25 % with a predominance (66,25 %) of severe symptoms (heart-rot, symptoms) on plants of less than 3 month of age. However, plants beyond three months showed less CMV infected plants and less severe symptoms. Similarly, only few plants were infected in the germplasm containing mother plants used for micropropagation. In the field, banana plants showing CMV symptoms were more frequently distributed at the edge of the fields

Interaction of the CERN Large Hadron Collider (LHC) Beam with Carbon Collimators

The LHC will operate at an energy of 7 TeV with a luminosity of 1034cm-2s-1. This requires two beams, each with 2808 bunches. The energy stored in each beam of 362 MJ. In a previous paper the mechanisms causing equipment damage in case of a failure of the machine protection system was discussed, assuming that the entire beam is deflected into a copper target [1, 2]. Another failure scenario is the deflection of beam into carbon material. Carbon collimators and beam absorbers are installed in many locations around the LHC to diffuse or absorb beam losses. Since the collimator jaws are close to the beam, it is very likely that they are hit first when the beam is accidentally deflected. Here we present the results of two-dimensional hydrodynamic simulations of the heating of a solid carbon cylinder irradiated by the LHC beam with nominal parameters, carried out using the BIG-2 computer code [3] while the energy loss of the 7 TeV protons in carbon is calculated using the well known FLUKA code [4]. Our calculations suggest that the LHC beam may penetrate up to about 10 m to 15 m in solid carbon, resulting in a substantial damage of collimators and beam absorbers

Single-cell transcriptional profiling reveals cellular diversity and intercommunication in the mouse heart

Characterization of the cardiac cellulome, the network of cells that form the heart, is essential for understanding cardiac development and normal organ function and for formulating precise therapeutic strategies to combat heart disease. Recent studies have reshaped our understanding of cardiac cellular composition and highlighted important functional roles for non-myocyte cell types. In this study, we characterized single-cell transcriptional profiles of the murine non-myocyte cardiac cellular landscape using single-cell RNA sequencing (scRNA-seq). Detailed molecular analyses revealed the diversity of the cardiac cellulome and facilitated the development of techniques to isolate understudied cardiac cell populations, such as mural cells and glia. Our analyses also revealed extensive networks of intercellular communication and suggested prevalent sexual dimorphism in gene expression in the heart. This study offers insights into the structure and function of the mammalian cardiac cellulome and provides an important resource that will stimulate studies in cardiac cell biology

Apocynin Dietary Supplementation Delays Mouse Ovarian Ageing

Advanced maternal age is associated with higher infertility rates, pregnancy-associated complications, and progeny health issues. The ovary is considered the main responsible for these consequences due to a continuous decay in follicle number and oocyte quality. Intracellular imbalance between oxidant molecules and antioxidant mechanisms, in favour of the former, results in oxidative stress (OS) that is believed to contribute to ovarian ageing. This work is aimed at evaluating whether an age-related increase in ovarian OS, inflammation, and fibrosis may contribute to tissue dysfunction and whether specific antioxidant supplementation with a NADPH oxidase inhibitor (apocynin) could ameliorate them. Mice aged 8-12 weeks (reproductively young) or 38-42 weeks (reproductively aged) were employed. Aged mice were divided into two groups, with one receiving apocynin (5 mM) in the drinking water, for 7 weeks, upon which animals were sacrificed and their ovaries collected. Ovarian structure was similar at both ages, but the ovaries from reproductively aged mice exhibited lipofuscin deposition, enhanced fibrosis, and a significant age-related reduction in primordial and primary follicle number when compared to younger animals. Protein carbonylation and nitration, and markers of OS were significantly increased with age. Moreover, mRNA levels of inflammation markers, collagens, metalloproteinases (MMPs), and tissue inhibitor MMPs (TIMPs) were upregulated. Expression of the antifibrotic miRNA29c-3p was significantly reduced. Apocynin supplementation ameliorated most of the age-related observed changes, sometimes to values similar to those observed in young females. These findings indicate that there is an age-related increase in OS that plays an important role in enhancing inflammation and collagen deposition, contributing to a decline in female fertility. Apocynin supplementation suggests that the imbalance can be ameliorated and thus delay ovarian ageing harmful effects.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Fatty acids composition of microalgae Chlorella vulgaris can be modulated by varying carbon dioxide concentration in outdoor culture

Varying culture methods of Chlorella vulgaris (CV) has been associated with different nutrient composition. The aim of this study was to investigate the fatty acid contents and other nutrients of CV subjected to various culturing conditions. We found that CV cultured under 24 h light and 10% CO2 showed the best growth rates and contained higher lipid, protein and moisture contents compared to other culture conditions. Interestingly, the content of fatty acids of CV was dependent on the amount of CO2. Fatty acid analysis of CV by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry (GC-MS) showed the presence of cis-10-pentadecanoic acid (C15:1), palmitic acid (C16:0), palmitoleic acid (C16:1), heptadecanoic acid (C17:0), stearic acid (C18:0), oleic acid (C18:1n9c), linoleic acid (C18:2n6c), linolenic acids (C18:3n3) and arachidic acid (C20:0). Remarkably, polyunsaturated fatty acids (linoleic and linolenic acids) are found in abundance compared to other fatty acids in CV. The concentrations of palmitic, oleic, linoleic and linolenic acids increased when the amount of carbon dioxide was raised from 1 to 10% under both culture conditions (12 and 24 h light). This study shows the possibility of modifying lipid contents in freshwater microalgae by varying the amount of carbon dioxide and light.Key words: Chlorella vulgaris, microalgae, fatty acids, vitamins, minerals, carbon dioxide

Transport J<inf>c</inf> in Bulk Superconductors: A Practical Approach?

The characterisation of the critical current density of bulk high temperature superconductors is typically performed using magnetometry, which involves numerous assumptions including, significantly, that Jc within the sample is uniform. Unfortunately, magnetometry is particularly challenging to apply where a local measurement of Jc across a feature, such as a grain boundary, is desired. Although transport measurements appear to be an attractive alternative to magnetization, it is extremely challenging to reduce the cross-sectional area of a bulk sample sufficiently to achieve a sufficiently low critical current that can be generated by a practical current source. In the work described here, we present a technique that enables transport measurements to be performed on sections of bulk superconductors. Metallographic techniques and resin reinforcement were used to create an I-shaped sample of bulk superconductor from a section of Gd-Ba-Cu-O containing 15 wt % Ag2O. The resulting superconducting track had a cross-sectional area of 0.44 mm2. The sample was found to support a critical current of 110 A using a field criterion in the narrowed track region of 1 μV cm-1. We conclude, therefore, that it is possible to measure critical current densities in excess of 2.5 x 108 A m-2 in sections of a bulk superconductor.This work was supported by the Engineering and Physical Sciences Research Council, via a Doctoral Training Award (grant number is EP/L504920/1) and funding from grant number EP/K02910X/1. This work was also supported by the Boeing Company. All data are provided in full in the results section of this paper.This is the author accepted manuscript. The final version is available from IEEE via http://dx.doi.org/10.1109/TASC.2016.253764