Études de quelques plantes thérapeutiques utilisées dans le traitement de l\'hypertension artérielle et du diabète : deux maladies émergentes en Côte d\'Ivoire

Des enquêtes ethnobotaniques réalisées sur les marchés d\'Abidjan (Côte d\'Ivoire) ont permis d\'inventorier 58 espèces de plantes commercialisées pour soigner 19 maladies courantes. Trente neuf (39) de ces plantes sont utilisées contre l\'hypertension artérielle et le diabète. Sur les 39 plantes, 27 sont antihypertensives, 19 sont antidiabétiques et 6 plantes sont utilisées pour traiter aussi bien l\'hypertension artérielle que le diabète. Il s\'agit de Catharanthus roseus (L.) G. Don, Ageratum conyzoides L., Vernonia colorata (Willd.) Drake, Alchornea cordifolia (Schum. & Thonn.) Müll. Arg., Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. et Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth.Investigations on medicinal plants in the markets of Abidjan (Côte d'Ivoire) allowed the inventory of 58 species of plants used to treat 19 current diseases. Thirty-nine (39) of these plants are used against arterial hypertension and diabetes. Among the 39 plants, 27 are antihypertensive, 19 are antidiabetic and 6 plants are used to treat arterial hypertension as well as diabetes. These plants are Catharanthus roseus (L.) G Don, Ageratum conyzoides L, Vernonia colorata (Willd.) Drake, Alchornea cordifolia (Schum. & Thonn.) Müll. Arg., Phyllanthus amarus Schum. & Thonn. and Parkia biglobosa (Jacq.) Benth. Keywords: Ethnomedicinal survey, medicinal plants, arterial hypertension, diabetes, Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire.Sciences & Nature Vol. 5 (1) 2008: pp. 39-4

Effect of two cytokinins in combination with acetic acid α-naphthalene on yams (Dioscorea spp.) genotypes’ response to in vitro morphogenesis

The effect of two growth regulator combinations was studied on the morphogenesis in vitro of 3 genotypes of yams (Kounondakou, Gnon-boya and RB 89579). Benzyl aminopurin (BAP) and zeatin (ZEAT) were tested, respectively at a concentration of 0.5 mg/l with the galzy glutamine basic medium containing naphtalene acetic acid (NAA) (0.5 mg/l). Stem fragments were used as explants. The number of stripped buds and explants having stem and roots are sampled after 2 weeks in culture. The dry matter content, the number of roots and leaves and the height of each young sprout were determined after 5 weeks in culture. The results obtained indicated that no break in leaf growth was observed on the control medium (without cytokinin) but media with BAP and zeatin presented a good plants aerial part development. A significant interaction (p < 0.05) was observed between the genotypes and the typeof cytokinin. However, the highest bud sprouting and shoot development were obtained with BAP. Thus, BAP can be considered as cytokinin having a good morphogenic aptitude when compared to zeatin for yam micropropagation.Keywords: Cytokinin, auxin, morphogenesis, yam, Beni

Customer Lifetime Value Prediction Using Embeddings

We describe the Customer LifeTime Value (CLTV) prediction system deployed at ASOS.com, a global online fashion retailer. CLTV prediction is an important problem in e-commerce where an accurate estimate of future value allows retailers to effectively allocate marketing spend, identify and nurture high value customers and mitigate exposure to losses. The system at ASOS provides daily estimates of the future value of every customer and is one of the cornerstones of the personalised shopping experience. The state of the art in this domain uses large numbers of handcrafted features and ensemble regressors to forecast value, predict churn and evaluate customer loyalty. Recently, domains including language, vision and speech have shown dramatic advances by replacing handcrafted features with features that are learned automatically from data. We detail the system deployed at ASOS and show that learning feature representations is a promising extension to the state of the art in CLTV modelling. We propose a novel way to generate embeddings of customers, which addresses the issue of the ever changing product catalogue and obtain a significant improvement over an exhaustive set of handcrafted features

Screening candidate genes required for CENP-A localization in Caenorhabditis elegans one-cell embryos

Poster Presentation: P-22Centromere is the specialized chromosomal region where the assembly of a large protein complex called the kinetochore takes place. The kinetochore functions in mediating the attachment of spindle fibres to sister chromatids during cell division. Successful formation of a complete kinetochore ensures proper spindle attachment, equal segregation of sister chromatids and hence faithful transmission of genetic information to daughter cells. Being an epigenetic marker of functional centromere, a histone H3 variant …postprin

WALK-OFF EFFECT ON THE GENERATION OF ULTRASHORT PULSES FROM CW LIGHT USING CROSS-PHASE MODULATION IN OPTICAL FIBERS

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Femtosecond dynamics of the optical Stark effect in semiconductor-doped glass

We report the observation of the optical Stark shift in CdSxSe1-x semiconductor-doped glass excited under nonresonant below gap condition and probed with femtosecond optical pulses. An ultrafast and pure light-induced shift of the bandedge is observed. The measured dependence of the band edge shift with the pump pulse peak intensity is linear for pump intensities up to 0.3 GW/cm(2) Above this value, departure from linearity is observed. For a pump intensity of 3 GW/cm(2), the band shifts by 11 meV. The response of the shift tracks the profile of the pumping pulse. (C) 1996 American Institute of Physics.6881093109

MODEL CALCULATION OF THE FEMTOSECOND CARRIER DYNAMICS IN AL0.48GA0.52AS

We present a model calculation capable of investigating the dynamics of photoexcited carriers in the Al0.48Ga0.52As indirect gap semiconductor. Nearly resonant excitation at the Gamma point produces low excess energy carriers, so that we use Boltzmann like equations and assume thermalized carrier distributions for each of the conduction valleys. Some aspects of the carrier dynamics are discussed and pump and probe measurements are compared to the calculated saturation bleaching, evidencing a very good agreement between theory and experiment. We obtain a value of 3.5 eV/Angstrom A for the D-Gamma X deformation potential.7663749375

Prevention of mother-to-child transmission of HIV programme: low vertical transmission in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa

Objective. To describe the operational effectiveness of the PMTCT programme at McCord hospital during the period from 1 March 2004 to 31 August 2005 Design. Observational cohort study Setting. McCord hospital, Durban, South Africa Subjects. Antenatal patients attending the PMTCT clinic Measurements and results. During the 18 months all 2624 women (100%) attending the antenatal clinic received HIV counselling resulting in 91% (2388) being tested for HIV. The prevalence of HIV in this cohort was 12.9% (95% confidence interval (CI) 11.6 to 14.2). Of the 302 (89%) HIV positive mothers who completed their pregnancy at the hospital, there were 3 intra-uterine deaths, 1 miscarriage, 1 maternal death (with baby in utero) and 297 live births with one early neonatal death. Only 11% (36 out of 338) were lost to follow-up. Of all women attending the antenatal clinic, a quarter (668) of partners was tested for HIV. Delivery in 70% (209) of live births was by caesarean section. Nevirapine was administered to 98% (290) of live babies and 76% (224) received AZT as well. The six week PCR baby test uptake was 81% (239 out of 296 live babies). Out of those tested 2.9% (95% CI 1.3-6.2) tested HIV positive. Conclusion. Despite the challenges faced by PMTCT providers in a resource constrained setting this state-aided hospital provides a comprehensive and integrated service and has achieved outcomes which compare favourably with those in the developed world