Land Use Change and Ecosystem Valuation in North Georgia

A model of land allocation at the aggregate watershed level was developed assuming profit/net benefit maximization under risk neutrality. The econometric land use model was analyzed as an equation by equation SURE model as all the independent variables were the same for both equations. In analyzing effect of land use change on water quality, we took year 2005 as our baseline and postulated three land use scenarios. We applied Benefit Transfer techniques to value water quality changes resulting from land use change and estimated lower bounds for WTP to improve water quality to meet the FCB criterion for drinking water supply and fishing waters and BOD (DO) criteria for fishing waters. Water quality modeling revealed that land use change would result in increased runoff, and associated increase in FCB and BOD/DO violations. But the BOD/DO violations could be curtailed by managing urban growth as evidenced absence of BOD violations in the managed growth scenario. Our study finds there may be problems of FCB under all postulated future land use scenarios. The findings also support existing literature that there are problems with FCB violation in the study area at the moment. Finally, it seems that the people of UCRB would be willing to pay a lower bound value between USD 15,785,740 and USD 16,141,230 per year to create and maintain quality standards for fishing and drinking water supply.Ecosystem, Economic value, North Georgia, land use, land use change, fish, water quality, structural time series, willingness to pay, benefit transfer, forecasting, vector autoregression, Upper Chattahoochee River, Environmental Economics and Policy, Land Economics/Use,

Urolithiasis in Nairobi, Kenya

Background: Urolithiasis is an emerging problem in Kenya previously thought to be very rare and in which the use of modern methods of treatment has not been widely practicedObjective: To review the presentation and management of patients presenting with urolithiasis in Nairobi, KenyaDesign: A retrospective study Setting: The Nairobi hospital and Upper Hill Medical Centre a day care facility next to the Nairobi hospitalSubjects: One hundred and twenty five males and fifty three females aged 9 to 75 yearsResults: One hundred and seventy eight patients were treated for urolithiasis over a five-and- half year period. Their mean age was 44.8 years, and the median was 45 years The 178 patients required 262 procedures to achieve stone clearance. One hundred and two patients had ESWL, with an overall stone clearance rate of 95%. Twentythreepatients had PCNL; 18 as the first procedure and 5 after failed ESWL. Fifty-one patients had ureteroscopicManagement: Fourty seven had laser or pneumatic lithotripsy while four had stone removal by Dormia basket. Seven patients had bladder calculi managed by either cystolitholapaxy or forceps retrieval.Conclusions: This study demonstrates a higher annual incidence of urolithiasis in Nairobi than earlier literature. Study demonstrates that ESWL and ureteroscopic methods are highly effective in the treatment of renal and ureteral calculi as day care procedures

Cancer of the penis: case report

Two patients with penile carcinoma are presented after management at a district hospital in Kenya. Both had undergone ritual circumcision as teenagers and presented late. HR was a 73 year old who presented with a fungating penile mass for which a partial penectomy was performed after wedge biopsy confirmed malignancy. He thereafter declined to have the surgical specimen sent for histology and took the amputated stump for burial in his compound to avoid bad omen. GK was 25 years old and presented with a fungating mass and underwent partial penectomy after a histological diagnosis was made. He absconded from follow-up after being informed of the need for further surgery due to tumour infiltration of the surgical margins. The history and clinical images are presented and we discuss the difficulties of cancer management at a rural district hospital

Introgression Of Stay-Green Trait Into a Kenyan Farmer Prefered Sorghum Variety

Backcross breeding enables breeders to transfer a desired trait from a Genetic Improvement of Kenyan sorghum variety for drought resistance donor parent, into the favoured genetic background of a recurrent parent. This study utilised back-cross breeding to transfer stay green quantitative trait locus (QTLs) from the donor parental line E36-1 into a Kenyan farmer-preferred variety, Ochuti as the recurrent parental line. The parental lines E36-1 has 3 stay green QTLs, SBI-01, SBI-07 and SBI-10 located at various chromosomes. The transfer of these QTLs was confirmed with the help of Simple Sequence Repeats (SSRs) molecular markers. Five foreground markers that were polymorphic among the two parental genotypes were used to identify individuals of F1 generation that had stay green QTLs transferred into Ochuti. A maximum of two QTLs, namely, SBI-07 and SBI-10 were identified as having been transferred into three individual genotypes. Two other F1 genotypes had only one QTL (SBI-10) transferred into Ochuti. The heterozygous F1 genotypes were used as the female parents in the generation of BC1F1. About 25% of the BC1F1 progenies that were genotyped had at least One QTL introgressed. As is the case in all marker-assisted back-cross breeding, the rate of success in introgressing QTL from donor to recurrent parental lines depends on the number of plants screened.L'am\ue9loration par croisement en retour permet les am\ue9lirateurs \ue0 transf\ue9rer le trait d\ue9sir\ue9 d'une vari\ue9t\ue9 de sorgho Kenyan g\ue9n\ue9tiquement am\ue9lior\ue9 pour parent donneur de r\ue9sistance \ue0 la s\ue9cheresse, en parent r\ue9current d'un pass\ue9 g\ue9n\ue9tiquement favori. Cette \ue9tude a utilis\ue9 le croisement en retour pour transf\ue9rer le trait quantitatif locus de la persistance chlorophyllienne (QTLs) d'une lign\ue9e de parent donneur E36-1 dans la vari\ue9t\ue9 Kenyan pr\ue9f\ue9r\ue9e par les fermiers, Ochuti comme lign\ue9e parentale r\ue9currente. La lign\ue9e parentale E36-1 a 3 QTL de persistence chlorophyllienne SBI-01, SBI-07 et SBI-10 localis\ue9s sur divers chromosomes. Le transfert de ces QTL \ue9tait confirm\ue9 avec l'aide des marqueurs mol\ue9culaires \ue0 r\ue9p\ue9tition simple de s\ue9quences (RSS). Cinq marqueurs rapproch\ue9s qui \ue9taient polymorphoques parmi les deux g\ue9notypes parentaux \ue9taient utilizes pour identifier les individus de g\ue9n\ue9ration F1 qui avaient le QTL de persistence chlorophyllienne transf\ue9r\ue9e dans Ochuti. Un maximum de deux QTLs appel\ue9s SBI-07 et SBI-10 \ue9taient identifi\ue9 comme ayant \ue9t\ue9 transf\ue9r\ue9s dans trois g\ue9notypes individuels. Deux autres g\ue9notypes F1 avaient un QTL (SBI-10) transf\ue9r\ue9 dans Ochuti. Les g\ue9notypes h\ue9terozygotes F1\ue9taient utilis\ue9s comme de parents femelles dans la g\ue9n\ue9ration de BC1F1. Environ 25 % de prog\ue9nies BC1F1 qui \ue9taient g\ue9notyp\ue9s avaient au moins un QTL introgress\ue9. Comme c'est le cas dans toute amelioration par croisement de retour avec marqueur assist\ue9, le taux de r\ue9ussite en introgressant le QTL du donneur aux lign\ue9es parantales r\ue9currentes d\ue9pend du nombre de plants test\ue9s

Knowledge, Attitude and Perceptions of Village Residents on the Health Risks Posed by Kadhodeki Dumpsite in Nairobi, Kenya.

This study sought to assess the knowledge, attitude and perceptions of the residents of Kadhodeki village on the health risks posed by the Kadhodeki dumpsite. Using households as units of sampling, a descriptive cross sectional survey was carried out in June 2012. Random data were collected using a face-to-face researcher administered structured questionnaire and 323 participants were interviewed. Chi square was used to determine the association between the different variables. Findings indicate that residents possess a significantly low knowledge and a positive attitude (χ2 (1) = 224.03, p < 0.01; χ2 (1) = 8.697, p < 0.01) towards the Kadhodeki dumpsite. They were however no differences in risk perceptions. Participant’s age, duration one had lived in the village and their level of education, were proxy measures of knowledge, attitude and perception. Odds ratio analysis indicates that age and duration did not influence participant’s knowledge, attitude or perceptions. Rudimentary however, education accounted for a non significant 28% variation in respondents’ attitude towards the health risks of the dumpsite (OR= 1.282; CI 0.828- 1.997). Also adequate education significantly accounted for 67% variation in respondents’ health risk perception (OR= 1.671; CI 1.304-2.140). This study would recommend that the ministry of Health come up with health education programmes for the general population on the dangers of uncontrolled waste disposal sites

Improving Drought Tolerance in Sorghum bicolor L. Moench: Marker-Assisted Transfer of the Stay-Green Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) from a Characterized Donor Source into a Local Farmer Variety

Drought stress is a major constraint to sorghum production in Kenya, especially during flowering stage. This study aimed at developing drought tolerant sorghum varieties by transferring the stay green trait that confers drought tolerance in sorghum from a mapped and characterized donor source into an adapted farmer preferred variety. The drought tolerance donor source, E36-1 originally from Ethiopia was backcrossed into a Kenyan farmer-preferred variety, Ochuti until BC2F1 generation and the stay-green Quantitative Trait Loci (QTL) were transferred through Marker Assisted Breeding (MAB) strategy. Five polymorphic Simple Sequence Repeat (SSR) markers were used to select the 3 stay green QTL of E36-1 found in SBI-01, SBI-07 and SBI-10 linkage groups. In the F1 generation, two of these QTL, were transferred into three genotypes. In the BC1F1 generation, 32 genotypes had at least one QTL incorporated. From a population of 157 BC2F1 progenies, 45 genotypes had incorporated either one or two of the stay-green QTL. Despite a few number of genotypes obtained through the backcrosses, the results showed that stay-green QTL and consequently drought tolerance can be transferred successfully into farmer preferred sorghum varieties through MAB

Prevalence of Human Papillomavirus infection by age and cervical cytology in Thika, Kenya

Human papillomavirus (HPV) infections cause cervical cancer and premalignant dysplasia. Data on HPV and cervical cancer in Kenya are scarce. Type-specific HPV prevalence data provides a basis for assessing the impact of HPV vaccination programs on cervical cytology and how HPV based screening will influence cervical cancer prevention. To investigate HPV infections in a population in Kenya, we obtained cervical cells specimen from 498 women in a population in Thika district. We report HPV type specific prevalence and distribution data for 498 women (age range 18-74 years; mean age 36 years) recruited into the study in relation to age and cervical cytology. The study was conducted between January to May 2010. Pap smears were performed, HR HPV DNA were detected by Digene Hybrid capture 2® (hc2) test and HPV genotyping was performed with Multiplex Luminex HPV genotyping kit (Multimetrix, Progen, Germany). Samples from 106 women (21.3%) tested positive for HPV. Multiple HPV types were detected in 40 (37.7% of HC2-positive samples) and the rest had infection with single HPV type. The most common HR HPV type at all ages was HPV16, 52, 56, 66, and 18. There was a marked decline in the prevalence of HR-HPV with age. The pattern of HR HPV distribution in this population was slightly different from existing literature, which has important consequences for HPV vaccination and prevention programs

Fine-scale metabolic discontinuity in a stratified prokaryote microbiome of a Red Sea deep halocline

Deep-sea hypersaline anoxic basins are polyextreme environments in the ocean’s interior characterized by the high density of brines that prevents mixing with the overlaying seawater, generating sharp chemoclines and redoxclines up to tens of meters thick that host a high concentration of microbial communities. Yet, a fundamental understanding of how such pycnoclines shape microbial life and the associated biogeochemical processes at a fine scale, remains elusive. Here, we applied high-precision sampling of the brine–seawater transition interface in the Suakin Deep, located at 2770 m in the central Red Sea, to reveal previously undocumented fine-scale community structuring and succession of metabolic groups along a salinity gradient only 1 m thick. Metagenomic profiling at a 10-cm-scale resolution highlighted spatial organization of key metabolic pathways and corresponding microbial functional units, emphasizing the prominent role and significance of salinity and oxygen in shaping their ecology. Nitrogen cycling processes are especially affected by the redoxcline with ammonia oxidation processes being taxa and layers specific, highlighting also the presence of novel microorganisms, such as novel Thaumarchaeota and anammox, adapted to the changing conditions of the chemocline. The findings render the transition zone as a critical niche for nitrogen cycling, with complementary metabolic networks, in turn underscoring the biogeochemical complexity of deep-sea brines.Versión del edito

Prevalence and risk factors for active convulsive epilepsy in rural northeast South Africa

Rationale: Epilepsy is among the most common neurological disorders worldwide. However,there are few large, population-based studies of the prevalence and risk factors for epilepsy in southern Africa. Methods: From August 2008 to February 2009, as part of a multi-site study, we undertook a three-stage, population-based study, embedded within the Agincourt health and socio-demographic surveillance system, to estimate the prevalence and identify risk factors of active convulsiveepilepsy (ACE) in a rural South African population. Results: The crude prevalence of ACE, after adjusting for non-response and the sensitivity of the screening method, was 7.0/1,000 individuals (95%CI 6.4—7.6) with significant geographic hetero-geneity across the study area. Being male (OR = 2.3; 95%CI 1.6—3.2), family history of seizures(OR = 4.0; 95%CI 2.0—8.1), a sibling with seizures (OR = 7.0; 95%CI 1.6—31.7), problems after deliv-ery (OR = 5.9; 95%CI 1.2—24.6), and history of snoring (OR = 6.5; 95%CI 4.5—9.5) were significantlyassociated with ACE. For children, their mother’s exposure to some formal schooling was pro-tective (OR = 0.30; 95%CI 0.11—0.84) after controlling for age and sex. Human immunodeficiencyvirus was not found to be associated with ACE. Conclusions: ACE is less frequent in this part of rural South Africa than other parts of sub-SaharanAfrica. Improving obstetric services could prevent epilepsy. The relationship between snoring and ACE requires further investigation, as does the relative contribution of genetic and environmental factors to examine the increased risk in those with a family history of epilepsy