Participatory Development of Demand-Driven Curriculum for Career-Ready E-Extension Services in Nigeria

This paper described and contextualized participatory development of demand-driven curriculum for career-ready e-extension services in Nigeria as introduced by the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education. The stages of participatory development were participatory need assessment, participatory stakeholders’ workshop and validation among 124 stakeholders selected as key informants in relation to agricultural extension training, delivery, end users and policy makers. The stakeholders were grouped as follows: community leaders and policy makers; extension agencies / organisations / institutions / employers; farmers; input suppliers / marketers / agro-based traders / other value actors; and potential candidate groups. Stakeholder meetings were held separately with different groups three times, and then a combined meeting took place. The aggregated major decisions/consensus were subjected to content analysis using ATLAS.ti. The validation process included reading of each agreed decision to all participants, then participants indicated their agreement or otherwise, which led to either rejection or acceptance of the decision. This paper concludes that participatory curriculum development has enhanced the stakeholders to identify areas of demand-driven training in response to community needs. The stakeholders preferred more online than face-to-face training. The major perceived advantages of e-extension were reduced risk, time and cost effectiveness while infrastructural and human challenges were the perceived challenges that could possibly hinder the smooth running of e extension

RNA-seq of newly diagnosed patients in the PADIMAC study leads to a bortezomib/lenalidomide decision signature.

Improving outcomes in multiple myeloma will involve not only development of new therapies but also better use of existing treatments. We performed RNA sequencing on samples from newly diagnosed patients enrolled in the phase 2 PADIMAC (Bortezomib, Adriamycin, and Dexamethasone Therapy for Previously Untreated Patients with Multiple Myeloma: Impact of Minimal Residual Disease in Patients with Deferred ASCT) study. Using synthetic annealing and the large margin nearest neighbor algorithm, we developed and trained a 7-gene signature to predict treatment outcome. We tested the signature in independent cohorts treated with bortezomib- and lenalidomide-based therapies. The signature was capable of distinguishing which patients would respond better to which regimen. In the CoMMpass data set, patients who were treated correctly according to the signature had a better progression-free survival (median, 20.1 months vs not reached; hazard ratio [HR], 0.40; confidence interval [CI], 0.23-0.72; P = .0012) and overall survival (median, 30.7 months vs not reached; HR, 0.41; CI, 0.21-0.80; P = .0049) than those who were not. Indeed, the outcome for these correctly treated patients was noninferior to that for those treated with combined bortezomib, lenalidomide, and dexamethasone, arguably the standard of care in the United States but not widely available elsewhere. The small size of the signature will facilitate clinical translation, thus enabling more targeted drug regimens to be delivered in myeloma.Wellcome Trust, Bloodwise, Cancer Research UK

Two-Dimensional (2D) Nanomaterials in Separation Science

The environment is continuously threatened with various kind of pollu�tants, which have detrimental effects not only on human health, but also on eco�systems. In general, the water body is an easy route to wastewater disposal where many contaminants of emerging concerns, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products etc. are present. Very recently, other classes of novel water pollu�tants occur which include nanoplastics and nanoparticles. Here, we discuss both classical and newly emerging water pollutants categories with their possible conse�quences. In addition, treatments and tackling techniques of these water pollutants are summarized. Ten different areas of concern to solve these problems and challenges of emerging water pollutants are highlighte

Emerging Water Pollutants and Wastewater Treatments

The environment is continuously threatened with various kind of pollutants, which have detrimental effects not only on human health, but also on eco-systems. In general, the water body is an easy route to wastewater disposal where many contaminants of emerging concerns, such as pharmaceuticals and personal care products etc. are present. Very recently, other classes of novel water pollutants occur which include nanoplastics and nanoparticles. Here, we discuss both classical and newly emerging water pollutants categories with their possible consequences. In addition, treatments and tackling techniques of these water pollutants are summarized. Ten different areas of concern to solve these problems and challenges of emerging water pollutants are highlighted

Novel acid treated biomass: Applications in Cu2+ scavenging, Rhodamine B/Cu2+ binary solution and real textile effluent treatment

A novel adsorbent prepared from the waste of Irvingia gabonensis nut (ADN) was used for scavenging of Cu from aqueous solution. Various adsorption operational parameters were investigated in order to establish the behavior of ADN before further studies. The efficacy of ADN in concurrent removal of rhodamine B (RhB) dye and Cu in a binary solution of RhB/Cu was also investigated. Finally the potency of ADN in the treatment of real textile effluent was ascertained. Optimum adsorption of Cu occurred at pH of 5.5 and high temperature favored Cu removal. Pseudo second order kinetic best described the uptake of Cu onto ADN. Maximum monolayer adsorption capacity was obtained to be 103.09 mg/g. The Dubinin Radushkevich (D-R) isotherm as well as thermodynamic parameter suggests that adsorption of Cu onto ADN was chemical in nature. Percentage removal of Cu in single solution at optimum time was 94.70 % while synergistic effect of RhB moved this to 99.54 % removal in the binary solution. ADN was highly efficient for the removal of dye and other organic pollutants in the real textile effluent with 100 % removal of some organic pollutant

Participatory Development of Demand-Driven Curriculum for Career-Ready E-Extension Services in Nigeria

This paper described and contextualized participatory development of demand-driven curriculum for career-ready e-extension services in Nigeria as introduced by the Sasakawa Africa Fund for Extension Education. The stages of participatory development were participatory need assessment, participatory stakeholders’ workshop and validation among 124 stakeholders selected as key informants in relation to agricultural extension training, delivery, end users and policy makers. The stakeholders were grouped as follows: community leaders and policy makers; extension agencies / organisations / institutions / employers; farmers; input suppliers / marketers / agro-based traders / other value actors; and potential candidate groups. Stakeholder meetings were held separately with different groups three times, and then a combined meeting took place. The aggregated major decisions/consensus were subjected to content analysis using ATLAS.ti. The validation process included reading of each agreed decision to all participants, then participants indicated their agreement or otherwise, which led to either rejection or acceptance of the decision. This paper concludes that participatory curriculum development has enhanced the stakeholders to identify areas of demand-driven training in response to community needs. The stakeholders preferred more online than face-to-face training. The major perceived advantages of e-extension were reduced risk, time and cost effectiveness while infrastructural and human challenges were the perceived challenges that could possibly hinder the smooth running of e-extension