Antifungal activities of the essential oil extracted from the tea of savanna (Lippia multiflora) in Côte d’Ivoire

The objective of this study was to evaluate the antifungal potency of the essential oil of tea of savanna (Lippia multiflora) on three fungal strains. The essential oil is extracted of Lippia multiflora by steam distillation and the antifungal activity in vitro was investigated on Apergillus flavus,  Asperguillus Niger and Fusarium sp species. This activity was realized by incorporation of the plant extract in Sabouraud medium prepared by a double dilution. The study revealed a sensitivity of these three species to the essential oil extracted from Lippia multiflora. It has been observed, in a descending order of sensitivity, a minimum fungicidal concentration (MFC) of 2.08 ± 0.58 µl / ml with Aspergillus flavus; 4.16 ± 1.17 µl / ml with Aspergillus Niger and 8.33 ± 2.35 µl / ml with Fusarium sp. The antifungal potency of the essential oil extracted from Lippia multiflora, allows  considering its use as a novel approach in the field of integrated management of cereal stocks in post-harvest.Keywords: Essential oil, Lippia multiflora, Antifungal, Aspergillus, Fusarium

Preliminary assessment of cadmium mobility in surface sediments of a tropical estuary

Cadmium is a toxic metal often found with a strong enrichment factor in coastal sediments. The sequential extraction procedure proposed by the BCR (Community Bureau of Reference) was applied for partitioning of Cd in tropical estuary sediments. The method showed satisfactory recoveries. The repartition of Cd in different phases of sediment was controlled by the residual phase (50.32 to 67.45 %). However, the exchangeable and acid soluble fraction (F1) was in general found to be the second most abundant fraction in the surface sediments (11.14 to 15.24 %), indicating that an important portion of Cd could be remobilized, thus becoming available to aquatic biota. Cd also showed different distribution patterns in the sediment phases due to the heterogeneity of the sediments, as well as the physical and chemical conditions along with the different sources of Cd in the bays. The risk assessment code investigation showed a medium risk of Cd in the estuary. KEY WORDS: Cadmium, Mobility, Sediment toxicity, Sequential extraction Bull. Chem. Soc. Ethiop. 2014, 28(2), 245-254. DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.4314/bcse.v28i2.

Aptitude of Groundwaters for Irrigation in Katiola Area

The increasing pressures of agricultural development surfaces on water resources availability of Katiola area obliged farmers to the use groundwater for food crops irrigation. However, groundwater used for irrigation makes an impact on soil quality. The aim of this study is to estimate the capability of Katiola area ground waters to irrigate food crops by using an approach based on Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) and Permeability Index (PI). The results show that most of the groundwater samples (67%) in the study area are suitable for irrigation, except few points located in south-east

Synthesis of Perfectly Oriented MAPb0.93Cr0.07Br3 Perovskite Crystals for Thin-Film Photovoltaic Applications

[EN] Wide band gap methylammonium lead halide perovskites (CH3NH3PbX3, X=halogen; CH3NH3: MA) are interesting materials for photovoltaic applications. They have recently gained substantial attention because of their high efficiency, low cost, superior optical properties. The most attractive and representative perovskites are methylammonium lead halides (CH3NH3PbX3,) denoted as MAPbX3, X = Br, Cl, I. usually the optical and structural properties of CH3NH3PbBr3 can be adjusted by introducing other extrinsic ions such as chloride and bromide. In this work, instead of replacing the halogens I or Cl with bromine (Br) as usual, we preferred to act on the post-transition metal (Pb). To this end, we replaced lead with chromium (Cr) which is a transition metal and may have the same oxidation state (+2) as lead. MAPb0.93Cr0.07Br3 thin films were deposited on ITO substrate by the spin coating process. X-ray diffraction analyses indicated the formation of a cubic perovskite with space group Pm3 m. The structural analysis reveals films with (110) and (220) as main peaks. Deposited films showed a strong absorbance in the UV¿vis range. The band gap values were estimated from absorbance measurements. It was found between 1.60 and 1.80 eV. SEM analysis shows a morphology with good coverage and no apparent crystal orientation.Soro, D.; Sidibé, M.; Fassinou, W.; Marí, B.; Sall, T.; Fofana, B.; Boko, A.... (2017). Synthesis of Perfectly Oriented MAPb0.93Cr0.07Br3 Perovskite Crystals for Thin-Film Photovoltaic Applications. International Journal of Innovative Research in Science, Engineering and Technology. IJIRSET (Online). 6(6):10170-10176. doi:10.15680/IJIRSET.2017.0606007S10170101766

Chemical Composition, Antioxidant, Antimicrobial And Acetylcholinesterase Inhibitory Properties of Lannea Barteri (Anacardiaceae)

Abstract: Lannea barteri (Oliv.) Engl (Anacardiaceae) is a medicinal plant used in west African countries such as Côte d'Ivoire for the treatment of various diseases (wound, rheumatic, diarrhoea). Dichloromethane and methanol extracts from the roots and stem bark of L. barteri were screened for their antibacterial, antifungal, radical scavenging and acetylcholinesterase inhibitory activities. TLC bioautography and agar overlay assay for antifungal activity were run with Cladosporium cucumerinum, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. vasinfectum, Fusarium oxysporum f. sp. lycopersici and Candida albicans respectively. Also extracts were tested on bacteria (Staphylococcus aureus, Staphylococcus epidermis, Enterococcus faecalis, Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Escherichia coli), some of which were multidrug resistant bacteria. DPPH and Acetylcholinesterase solutions sprayed on TLC plates were used for radical scavengers and acetylcholinesterase inhibitors. L. barteri gave high positive responses in all four tests, exhibiting activity against bacteria, fungi, free radicals and acetycholinesterase. The phytochemical screening showed that all the extracts contained at least trace amount of steroids, terpenoïds, saponins, quinones, tannins and flavonoïds. This study which is the first report on the biological activities and phytochemicals of Lannea barteri, supports its traditional uses in the treatment of infectious and non infectious diseases

Effect of Photoperiod on Some Zootechnical Performances of Quail (Coturnix Coturnix Japonica) Raised in Cage in Côte D’Ivoire

A study was conducted in Ismorel farm at Adiake, Côte d'Ivoire, to determine effect of photoperiod on some zootechnical performances of the quail (Coturnix coturnix japonica). One-day-old quail was separated into two photoperiodic groups, including group A (NL: 12-AL: 12) and group B (NL: 12-AL: 0). After one week of age, each group was divided into two subgroups. Group A was divided into subgroups A1 (NL: 12-AL: 12) and A2 (NL: 12-AL: 4) while group B was divided into subgroups B1 (NL: 12-AL: 0) and B2 (NL: 12-AL: 4). The experiment lasted 18 months with 6 months for a repetition, it ran from November 2016 to May 2018. During this experiment, 2960 chicks were used for the experiment and 2775 eggs were collected to determine fertility rate and hatching rate. Results showed a significant effect (p <0.05) of photoperiod on body weight in favor of group A (NL: 12-AL: 12) and subgroup A1 (NL: 12-AL: 12).A significant difference (p <0.05) in photoperiod on egg weight, egg diameter, and egg laying rate was observed in favor of quail in A1 (NL: 12-AL: 12) and B1 (NL: 12-AL: 0). On the other hand, photoperiod had no influence (p> 0.05) on the length of eggs, fertility rate, hatching rate and mortality rate according to different subgroups formed

Aptitude of Groundwaters for Irrigation in Katiola Area

The increasing pressures of agricultural development surfaces on water resources availability of Katiola area obliged farmers to the use groundwater for food crops irrigation. However, groundwater used for irrigation makes an impact on soil quality. The aim of this study is to estimate the capability of Katiola area ground waters to irrigate food crops by using an approach based on Sodium Absorption Ratio (SAR) and Permeability Index (PI). The results show that most of the groundwater samples (67%) in the study area are suitable for irrigation, except few points located in south-east

Moscatel de grano menudo rosa

6 Pags.- 6 Tabls.- Fots.Resultado de los trabajos de recuperación de variedades antiguas de vid. En torno al proyecto INIA RF2012-00027-C5-02 para la prospección y recuperación de variedades antiguas de vid, se han localizado en 17 comunidades autónomas, más de 300 variedades desconocidas o minoritarias entre las que se encuentra el Moscatel de Grano Menudo Rosa. EVENA ha desarrollado un trabajo de recuperación de cepajes de esta variedad cuyos detalles y resultados se recogen en este artículo. Gracias a este estudio ha sido posible recuperar en el viñedo antiguo de Navarra individuos de Moscatel de Grano Menudo Rosa.Los resultados moleculares junto con el color de la baya nos identifican este material como Moscatel de Grano Menudo Rosa, mutación somática del Moscatel de Grano menudo Blanco. Ha sido posible recuperar en el viñedo antiguo de Navarra individuos de Moscatel de Grano Menudo Rosa, una rareza vitícola, de la cual se están desarrollando los tres biotipos seleccionados. Estos tres biotipos pasan a formar parte del conservatorio de cepas de Olite, donde su comportamiento tanto agronómico como enológico está siendo validado según el protocolo establecido. Finalmente, se busca incluir esta variedad en la relación de variedades autorizadas para su cultivo en la Comunidad Foral de Navarra. A partir de los resultados del estudio, el material genuino de Moscatel de Grano Menudo Rosa recuperado puede ser utilizado para la implantación de futuros viñedos y la elaboración de vinos rosados originales, de calidad, manteniendo siempre la tipicidad de los vinos de Moscatel de Grano Menudo navarros.La ca racter izac i ón molecular en es te t rabajo ha sido f inanciada por el IN IA a través de l p royecto RF2012-00027-C5-02, titulado Documentación, caract erización y racionalización del germoplasma de vid prospectado y conservado en España. Creación de una colección nuclearPeer reviewe

FunFOLDQA: a quality assessment tool for protein-ligand binding site residue predictions

The estimation of prediction quality is important because without quality measures, it is difficult to determine the usefulness of a prediction. Currently, methods for ligand binding site residue predictions are assessed in the function prediction category of the biennial Critical Assessment of Techniques for Protein Structure Prediction (CASP) experiment, utilizing the Matthews Correlation Coefficient (MCC) and Binding-site Distance Test (BDT) metrics. However, the assessment of ligand binding site predictions using such metrics requires the availability of solved structures with bound ligands. Thus, we have developed a ligand binding site quality assessment tool, FunFOLDQA, which utilizes protein feature analysis to predict ligand binding site quality prior to the experimental solution of the protein structures and their ligand interactions. The FunFOLDQA feature scores were combined using: simple linear combinations, multiple linear regression and a neural network. The neural network produced significantly better results for correlations to both the MCC and BDT scores, according to Kendall’s τ, Spearman’s ρ and Pearson’s r correlation coefficients, when tested on both the CASP8 and CASP9 datasets. The neural network also produced the largest Area Under the Curve score (AUC) when Receiver Operator Characteristic (ROC) analysis was undertaken for the CASP8 dataset. Furthermore, the FunFOLDQA algorithm incorporating the neural network, is shown to add value to FunFOLD, when both methods are employed in combination. This results in a statistically significant improvement over all of the best server methods, the FunFOLD method (6.43%), and one of the top manual groups (FN293) tested on the CASP8 dataset. The FunFOLDQA method was also found to be competitive with the top server methods when tested on the CASP9 dataset. To the best of our knowledge, FunFOLDQA is the first attempt to develop a method that can be used to assess ligand binding site prediction quality, in the absence of experimental data