Molecular variation in Picea rubens and Picea mariana

Restriction fragment length polymorphism (RFLP) variation was examined among samples from the entire range of red spruce (Picea rubens Sarg.), the eastern complex of black spruce (Picea mariana (Mill.) B.S.P.), control-cross red-on-black hybrids, and natural populations of red and black spruce. Within-species and population variation was examined. In addition an accurate species index capable of identifying red spruce, black spruce and hybridization between the two species was developed. The nuclear rDNA repeat unit size in Picea ranged from a minimum of 32 kbp to greater than 40 kbp, two to three fold larger than the typical angiosperm rDNA unit. At a size greater than 32 kbp and a concentration averaging 1.2-1.3 $\times$ 10\sp4 copies per pg genomic DNA, the rDNA repeat constitutes approximately 4% of the spruce genome. The rDNA repeat units were found to be polymorphic within an individual genome with up to five distinct rDNA repeat unit types (alleles) evident. The RFLPs observed in the rDNA repeat were not species specific; however, noticeable trends in internal allelic frequencies were noticed which were useful for between-species differentiation. One marker (EMW 4.35) displayed a significant relationship with geographic origins and habitat suggesting that the observed between-species variation for this marker may be due to selection rather than the result of a true species difference. Variation in the nuclear rDNA repeat could not accurately differentiate hybrids from black spruce. Additional markers were required to identify hybrids. RFLPs were identified for the organelle genomes of red spruce, and black spruce. The organelle inheritance pattern was deduced using controlled-cross hybrids. Organelle markers were combined with allelic data from the nuclear rDNA repeat to derive a simple three character index capable of identifying red spruce, black spruce and hybridization between the two species. Significant gene flow was observed between red and black spruce populations located at Head Harbor, Isle au Haut, Maine but not on Mount Washington or Mount Lafayette. These findings suggest that hybridization and introgression between red and black spruce is influenced by not only proximity of the two species but also by habitat type

Oil Price Volatility, Monetary Policy and Economic Growth in Some Selected Africa Countries

This research work assessed the relationship among oil Price Volatility, Monetary Policy and Economic growth in oil exporting Africa Countries somewhere in the range of 1990 and 2018. Specifically, the investigation looked into the impacts of macroeconomic factors on economic growth and broke down the interrelationships among monetary approach transmission instruments, Oil value stuns and yield development of oil exporting Africa Countries. Information for the investigation was sourced from World Development Indicators distributed by the World Bank, IMF online Database and Central Banks of chosen nations. The investigation employed Westerlund Error Correction Based Panel Cointegration test and Structural Vector Autoregressive (SVAR) as estimation methods. The unit root test resultshowed that the factors of intrigue were coordinated of a similar request that is I(1). Results from SVAR Impulse Response Functions demonstrated that the reaction of yield development to stuns radiating from both financial approach factors and unrefined petroleum cost was sure and huge all through the examination time frame. The outcomes further indicated that expansionary money related strategy that animates a reduction in household loan fee was more viable in expanding the yield development than contractionary monetary formation that motivates an increment local financing cost. It was discovered from the investigation that oil price volatility increase was just prone to modestly affect economic growth while oil price reduction has a huge negative impact on economic growth. This shows that the fall in oil price volatility have deteriorating impact on conversion scale, while oil price increment was seen as unessential to swapping scale development in oil exporting Africa Countries. In light of these discoveries, the analysis in this manner infers that there is deviated relationship among oil price volatility, monetary policy and economic growth in oil exporting Africa Countries. Keywords: Monetary policy, Oil price and Economic growth DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-12-09 Publication date:June 30th 202

A Macro Economic Analysis of the Demand for Money in Nigeria

The demand for money plays a very essential role in macroeconomic analysis. This paper expresses a mathematical relationship between the quantity of money demanded and its various determinants which are; interest rate, income, price level, credit availability, frequency of payments, etc The analysis was done using the Vector Autoregressive method. The ADF and KPSS unit root tests were conducted. The co-integration test was established using the Johansen co-integration test. The study shows how the demand for money responds to shock in itself, shock in interest rate, shock in credit to private sector, shock in credit to government, and shock in domestic assets. The study also discovered that money demand has a major effect on the aggregate demand which accounts for the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the economy. This explains that by ensuring efficiency in demand for money, aggregate demand would be achieved and adequate sustained growth also will be achieved within the economy. Keywords: Interest Rate, Gross Domestic Product (GDP), Income, Aggregate Demand and Price. DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-6-05 Publication date:March 31st 202

Population Growth and Unemployment in Nigeria

The Nigerian economy has been seriously bedeviled by a myriad of economic malaise that has explained the slow pace of its growth rate and a severe decline in development. It is in view of the above that the study critically examined the relationship between population growth and unemployment in Nigeria. The paper employed data from secondary sources which covered the period of 1991-2016, sourced from the World Bank data base. The method of analysis was the Johansen Cointegration and Error correction model. ADF unit root test was used to establish the order of integration of the variables. Granger causality test was used to examine the direction of causality among the variables. A positive relationship was found to exist between population growth and unemployment. The result of the regression analysis shows that population plays a major role in the increased level of unemployment in Nigeria. The findings showed that population growth has a strong impact on unemployment in Nigeria. This means that a rise in population growth leads to a rise in unemployment. The study concluded that to combat the acute unemployment in the country, the Government should ensure there is job creation especially in the agricultural and manufacturing sectors. Private sectors employers should be given subsidies so as to encourage them to employ more people. Keywords: Population growth, Unemployment, Corruption, Rural urban migration. JEL Classification: E24, J62, J11 DOI: 10.7176/JESD/11-2-10 Publication date: January 31st 202

The Effect of Government Expenditure on Agricultural Output in Nigeria (1981-2018)

The research analyzed the effect of government spending on agricultural output in Nigeria (1981-2018) empirically. Time series data on agricultural output, recurring government spending on agriculture, agricultural government capital expenditure, and gross domestic product were collected over a period of 37 years from the statistical bulletin of the Central Bank of Nigeria (CBN). Descriptive and econometric analysis methods such as the Augmented Dickey-Fuller test, the Johanson co-integration test and the Ordinary Least Square (OLS) were applied in this research. The result revealed that capital and recurring expenditure on agriculture by the federal government were found to be positively linked to agricultural output. This study recommends that Nigeria's federal government should preserve quality and stability in its agricultural expenditure in order to achieve the significant productivity required

Transient Activation of Meox1 Is an Early Component of the Gene Regulatory Network Downstream of Hoxa2

Hox genes encode transcription factors that regulate morphogenesis in all animals with bilateral symmetry. Although Hox genes have been extensively studied, their molecular function is not clear in vertebrates, and only a limited number of genes regulated by Hox transcription factors have been identified. Hoxa2 is required for correct development of the second branchial arch, its major domain of expression. We now show that Meox1 is genetically downstream from Hoxa2 and is a direct target. Meox1 expression is downregulated in the second arch of Hoxa2 mouse mutant embryos. In chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP), Hoxa2 binds to the Meox1 proximal promoter. Two highly conserved binding sites contained in this sequence are required for Hoxa2-dependent activation of the Meox1 promoter. Remarkably, in the absence of Meox1 and its close homolog Meox2, the second branchial arch develops abnormally and two of the three skeletal elements patterned by Hoxa2 are malformed. Finally, we show that Meox1 can specifically bind the DNA sequences recognized by Hoxa2 on its functional target genes. These results provide new insight into the Hoxa2 regulatory network that controls branchial arch identity.BBSRC grant: (BB/E017355/1); Manchester Academic Health Science Centre; Manchester NIHR Biomedical Research Centre; FCT grant: (PTDC/BIA-BCM/71619/2006); Centro de Biologia do Desenvolvimento grant: (POCTI-ISFL-4-664)

Modeling Ertapenem: The Impact of Body Mass Index on Distribution of the Antibiotic in the Body

Ertapenem is an antibiotic commonly used to treat a broad spectrum of infections and is part of a broader class of antibiotics called carbapenems. Unlike other carbapenems, ertapenem has a longer half-life and thus only has to be administered once a day. Previously, a physiologically-based pharmacokinetic (PBPK) model was developed to investigate the uptake, distribution, and elimination of ertapenem following a single one gram dose in normal height, normal weight males. Due to the absorption properties of ertapenem, the amount of fat in the body can influence how the drug binds, how quickly the drug passes through the body, and thus how effective the drug might be. Thus, we have revised the model so that it is applicable to males and females of differing body mass index (BMI). Simulations were performed to consider the distribution of the antibiotic in males and females with varying body mass indexes. These results could help to determine if there is a need for altered dosing regimens in the future

Mobile Pantry of Lowell Survey

The Mobile Pantry (MP) program of the Merrimack Valley Food Bank in Lowell, Massachusetts provides supplementary food to ensure that their clients have a sufficient amount of appropriate foods for a nutritious diet. The purpose of this project was to assess the effectiveness of MP services and explore opportunities for providing more healthful foods. The project was a descriptive cross-sectional study surveying MP clients, who are homebound, low-income elderly and/or disabled individuals residing in Greater Lowell. The survey took place between October 10 and November 16, 2011. Participation was anonymous and voluntary. The primary client from each of 77 households out of 309 responded to the questionnaire. Most of the respondents were white, female, and over age 65. Most respondents agreed strongly that with MP’s aid they ate more fruits, vegetables, and healthy foods; ate a balanced diet; were more physically and socially active; and generally felt healthier. Most respondents also stated that they would skip more meals and spend less on other necessities if they did not have help from MP. The program may be essential for the health, nutritional well-being, and food security of the low-income elderly and/or disabled in the Greater Lowell community. The results of this study may be utilized to improve MP services and food variety

TALE and NF-Y co-occupancy marks enhancers of developmental control genes during zygotic genome activation in zebrafish [preprint]

Animal embryogenesis is initiated by maternal factors, but zygotic genome activation (ZGA) shifts control to the embryo at early blastula stages. ZGA is thought to be mediated by specialized maternally deposited transcription factors (TFs), but here we demonstrate that NF-Y and TALE – TFs with known later roles in embryogenesis – co-occupy unique genomic elements at zebrafish ZGA. We show that these elements are selectively associated with early-expressed genes involved in transcriptional regulation and possess enhancer activity in vivo. In contrast, we find that elements individually occupied by either NF-Y or TALE are associated with genes acting later in development – such that NF-Y controls a cilia gene expression program while TALE TFs control expression of hox genes. We conclude that NF-Y and TALE have a shared role at ZGA, but separate roles later during development, demonstrating that combinations of known TFs can regulate subsets of key developmental genes at vertebrate ZGA

Efficacy of mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccine in cancer patients during systemic therapy. A single-centre experience

Introduction: A novel coronavirus, causing severe acute respiratory syndrome 2 (SARS-CoV-2) has spread globally since its emergence in December 2019. The mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccines have been proven to be efficient and safe disease control means among adult patients without immunocompromising conditions. However, cancer patients were among the group of people that was initially excluded from the registration trials. Material and methods: 60 patients, enrolled to this study, had been voluntarily vaccinated either with BNT162b2 or mRNA-1273 SARS-CoV-2 vaccine between March and June 2021 andhad been currently undergoing systemic treatment in Clinical Oncology Unit of University Clinical Center of the Medical University of Silesia in Katowice, Poland. Patients received 2 injections of vaccine 21 days apart and were tested with Elecsys® Anti-SARS-CoV-2 immunoassay (Roche Diagnostics, France) for presence of anti-S protein antibodies in patients serum. The serum samples were collected after 2 to 8 weeks after receiving second dose of vaccine. Results: The BNT162b2 vaccine was administered to 57 patients, while mRNA-1273 vaccine – to 3 patients. Seroconversion was achieved in 83.33% of patients. The median amount of anti S protein antibodies was 75,9 U/ml.There were no statistically significant differences in terms of age between group with seroconversion and group without seroconversion (U Mann-Whitney test p = 0.762). There was no statistically significant correlation between neither BMI (Spearman test, p = 0.079) norage (Spearman test, p = 0.762)and anti S protein antibody levels. Just as the diagnosis(primary tumor localization), clinical stage, type of modality (chemotherapy, chemoradiotherapy, immunotherapy) and the goal of treatment (radical, palliative) were not statistically significant in terms of anti S protein antibody levels. Conclusions: Due to high number of unresponsive or poorly responsive results, patients undergoing systemic therapy should be advised to maintain other measures of disease control such as distancing, usage of masks. Nevertheless, implementing mRNA SARS-CoV-2 vaccinesinimmunocompromised patientsduring systemic therapyis reasoned, valuable and safe