Effect of pepper and salt blends on microbial quality of quanta: Ethiopian dried red meat

This study was conducted to assess the effect of spice blends varying in salt and pepper concentrations on the microbial quality of Quanta: Ethiopian dried red meat. The experiment had seven treatments: 25% spices, 25% salt, and 50% pepper (T1); 25% spices, 20% salt, and 55% pepper (T2); 25% spices, 15% salt, and 60% pepper (T3); 25% spices, 10% salt, and 65% pepper (T4); 25% spices, 5% salt, and 70% pepper (T5); 100% spices (without salt and pepper), a positive control (T6); a negative control without any added ingredient (T7). Microbiological analyses were performed initially on the raw sliced meat and spice blends, and after application of the treatments on the 10th and 20th days of drying. High initial loads of total bacteria (APC) and Enterobacteriaceae (EC) were observed in the raw meat samples and spice blends and increased over the drying periods (10 and 20 days) in all treatments. No significant difference (p>0.05) was observed among the treatments (T1-T7) for APC and EC at a given drying period and between the drying periods. Salmonella spp. was not detected in any of the seven treatments either on the 10th and 20th days of drying. However, Escherichia coli was detected in six (T1-T6) of the dry meat samples except in T7 both on the 10th and 20th days of drying suggesting that the spice blends served as a source of contamination of the dried meat samples with E. coli. However, the spice blends used in combination with drying were effective in inhibiting the growth of Salmonella species in the dry meat samples. Spices as well as the raw meat used for Quanta preparation should be produced and handled under hygienic conditions to minimize the microorganisms that they harbor

Thermal Control of the Magnon-Photon Coupling in a Notch Filter coupled to a Yttrium-Iron-Garnet/Platinum System

We report thermal control of mode hybridization between the ferromagnetic resonance (FMR) and a planar resonator (notch filter) working at 4.74 GHz. The chosen magnetic material is a ferrimagnetic insulator (Yttrium Iron Garnet: YIG) covered by 6 nm of platinum (Pt). A current induced heating method has been used in order to enhance the temperature of the YIG/Pt system. The device permits us to control the transmission spectra and the magnon-photon coupling strength at room temperature. These experimental findings reveal potentially applicable tunable microwave filtering function.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figure

High-density molecular characterization and association mapping in Ethiopian durum wheat landraces reveals high diversity and potential for wheat breeding

Durum wheat (Triticum turgidum subsp. durum) is a key crop worldwide, and yet, its improvement and adaptation to emerging environmental threats is made difficult by the limited amount of allelic variation included in its elite pool. New allelic diversity may provide novel loci to international crop breeding through quantitative trait loci (QTL) mapping in unexplored material. Here, we report the extensive molecular and phenotypic characterization of hundreds of Ethiopian durum wheat landraces and several Ethiopian improved lines. We test 81 587 markers scoring 30 155 single nucleotide polymorphisms and use them to survey the diversity, structure, and genome-specific variation in the panel. We show the uniqueness of Ethiopian germplasm using a siding collection of Mediterranean durum wheat accessions. We phenotype the Ethiopian panel for ten agronomic traits in two highly diversified Ethiopian environments for two consecutive years and use this information to conduct a genome-wide association study. We identify several loci underpinning agronomic traits of interest, both confirming loci already reported and describing new promising genomic regions. These loci may be efficiently targeted with molecular markers already available to conduct marker-assisted selection in Ethiopian and international wheat. We show that Ethiopian durum wheat represents an important and mostly unexplored source of durum wheat diversity. The panel analysed in this study allows the accumulation of QTL mapping experiments, providing the initial step for a quantitative, methodical exploitation of untapped diversity in producing a better wheat

Genome wide association study to identify the genetic base of smallholder farmer preferences of Durum wheat traits

Smallholder agriculture involves millions of farmers worldwide. A methodical utilization of their traditional knowledge in modern breeding efforts may help the production of locally adapted varieties better addressing their needs. In this study, a combination of participatory approaches, genomics, and quantitative genetics is used to trace the genetic basis of smallholder farmer preferences of durum wheat traits. Two smallholder communities evaluated 400 Ethiopian wheat varieties, mostly landraces, for traits of local interest in two locations in the Ethiopian highlands. For each wheat variety, farmers provided quantitative evaluations of their preference for flowering time, spike morphology, tillering capacity, and overall quality. Ten agronomic and phenology traits were simultaneously measured on the same varieties, providing the means to compare them with farmer traits. The analysis of farmer traits showed that they were partially influenced by gender and location but were repeatable and heritable, in some cases more than metric traits. The durum wheat varieties were genotyped for more than 80,000 SNP markers, and the resulting data was used in a genome wide association (GWA) study providing the molecular dissection of smallholder farmers' choice criteria

ECONOMIC PERFORMANCE OF COMMUNITY BASED BEAN SEED PRODUCTION AND MARKETING IN THE CENTRAL RIFT VALLEY OF ETHIOPIA

Limited access to seed of improved varieties is an impediment to agricultural productivity in sub-Saharan Africa. Researchers in the national and international agricultural research systems have been piloting a community based seed multiplication and marketing enterprises (CBSME) model, as an alternative to the formal seed systems, in order to increase availability and accessibility to quality seed of improved common bean ( Phaseolus vulvaris L.) varieties by smallholder farmers. The objective of this study was to assess the profitability of CBSME as an enterprise for seed production and analyse factors that influence farmers\u2019 decisions to participate in it as seed producers or buyers of seed. Gross margins were computed to assess value addition at farm level; while Tobit and multivariate probit models used to respectively, analyse determinants of participation in community based seed multiplication enterprise and its use by producers as a seed source. The community based seed multiplication enterprises were found to be profitable, generating US$792 as gross margins and accessible to farmers for the bean seed, along other seed sources, i.e. formal and informal seed systems. These three seed production and delivery models competed at farm level, but complemented each other in terms of reaching users in different social groups and locations. Community based seed multiplication enterprises as sources of seed were used by farmers located in rural areas and those in farmer organisations/cooperatives. However, seed production through this model is concentrated closer to urban areas, where individual seed producers are easily linked to the formal seed system. This, however, makes the marketing of seed reliant on big buyers for redistribution among remote farming communities.L\u2019acc\ue8s limit\ue9 aux semences de vari\ue9t\ue9s am\ue9lior\ue9es est un obstacle \ue0 la productivit\ue9 agricole en Afrique sub-Saharienne. Les cherheurs dans les systems nationaux de recherches agricoles sont entrain de tester des mod\ue8les d\u2019entreprises communautaires de multiplication et de commercialisation (CBSME); comme une alternative aux syst\ue8mes semenciers formels, dans le but d\u2019accro\ueetre la disponibilit\ue9 et l\u2019accessibilit\ue9 aux semences de qualit\ue9 de l\u2019haricot commun ( Phaseolus vulvaris L.) par les petits producteurs. L\u2019objectif de cette \ue9tude \ue9tait d\u2019\ue9valuer la profitabilit\ue9 de CBSME comme une entreprise de production des semences et d\u2019analyser les facteurs qui influencent les d\ue9cisions des producteurs \ue0 y participer en tant que producteurs et acheteurs de semences. Les marges brutes \ue9taient calcul\ue9es pour \ue9valuer la value ajout\ue9e au niveau de l\u2019exploitation agricole, tandis que les mod\ue8les de Tobit et multivari\ue9 de Probit \ue9taient utilis\ue9s respectivelement, pour analyser les determinants de participation \ue0 l\u2019entreprise de multiplication des semences communautaires et son utilisation par les producteurs comme une source de semences. Les entreprises de multiplication des semences communautaires ont \ue9t\ue9 identifi\ue9es rentables, g\ue9n\ue9rant des marges brutes de 792 US dollars et les semences de l\u2019haricot sont accessibles aux producteurs, compar\ue9es \ue0 d\u2019autres sources de semences, c\u2019est-\ue0-dire les syst\ue8mes semenciers formel et informel. Ces trois mod\ue8les de production et de distribution des semences se rivalisent \ue0 l\u2019\ue9chelle de l\u2019exploitation agricole, mais se compl\ue8tent en atteignant differents groupes sociaux d\u2019utilisateurs dans de localit\ue9s diff\ue9rentes. Les entreprises de multiplication des semences communautaires comme sources de semences, \ue9taient utilis\ue9es par les producteurs situ\ue9s dans les milieux ruraux et ceux en organisations/coop\ue9ratives paysannes. N\ue9amoins, la production des semences \ue0 travers ce mod\ue8le est plus concentr\ue9e dans les zones urbaines, o\uf9 les producteurs individuels de semences entrent facilement en contact avec le syst\ue8me semencier formel. Ceci, cependant met la commercialisation de la semence en \ue9troit contact avec les grands acheteurs pour la redistribution des semences entre les communaut\ue9s paysannes isol\ue9es

Global Gene Expression Profiling in Lung Tissues of Rat Exposed to Lunar Dust Particles

The Moon's surface is covered by a layer of fine, potential reactive dust. Lunar dust contain about 12% respirable very fine dust (less than 3 micrometers). The habitable area of any lunar landing vehicle and outpost would inevitably be contaminated with lunar dust that could pose a health risk. The purpose of the study is to analyze the dynamics of global gene expression changes in lung tissues of rats exposed to lunar dust particles. F344 rats were exposed for 4 weeks (6h/d; 5d/wk) in noseonly inhalation chambers to concentrations of 0 (control air), 2.1, 6.8, 21, and 61 mg/m3 of lunar dust. Animals were euthanized at 1 day and 13 weeks after the last inhalation exposure. After being lavaged, lung tissue from each animal was collected and total RNA was isolated. Four samples of each dose group were analyzed using Agilent Rat GE v3 microarray to profile global gene expression of 44K transcripts. After background subtraction, normalization, and log transformation, t tests were used to compare the mean expression levels of each exposed group to the control group. Correction for multiple testing was made using the method of Benjamini, Krieger, and Yekuteli (1) to control the false discovery rate. Genes with significant changes of at least 1.75 fold were identified as genes of interest. Both low and high doses of lunar dust caused dramatic, dosedependent global gene expression changes in the lung tissues. However, the responses of lung tissue to low dose lunar dust are distinguished from those of high doses, especially those associated with 61mg/m3 dust exposure. The data were further integrated into the Ingenuity system to analyze the gene ontology (GO), pathway distribution and putative upstream regulators and gene targets. Multiple pathways, functions, and upstream regulators have been identified in response to lunar dust induced damage in the lung tissue

Mutation of A DNA Repair Enzyme Causes Lupus in Mice

A replication study of a previous genome-wide association study (GWAS) suggested that a SNP linked to the POLβ gene is associated with systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE). This SNP is correlated with decreased expression of Pol β, a key enzyme in the base excision repair (BER) pathway. To determine whether decreased Pol β activity results in SLE, we constructed a mouse model of POLβ that encodes an enzyme with slow DNA polymerase activity. We show that mice expressing this hypomorphic POLβ allele develop an autoimmune pathology that strongly resembles SLE. Of note, the mutant mice have shorter immunoglobulin heavy-chain junctions and somatic hypermutation is dramatically increased. These results demonstrate that decreased Pol β activity during the generation of immune diversity leads to lupus-like disease in mice, and suggest that decreased expression of Pol β in humans is an underlying cause of SLE

A Study of Reconfigurable Accelerators for Cloud Computing

Due to the exponential increase in network traffic in the data centers, thousands of servers interconnected with high bandwidth switches are required. Field Programmable Gate Arrays (FPGAs) with Cloud ecosystem offer high performance in efficiency and energy, making them active resources, easy to program and reconfigure. This paper looks at FPGAs as reconfigurable accelerators for the cloud computing presents the main hardware accelerators that have been presented in various widely used cloud computing applications such as: MapReduce, Spark, Memcached, Databases

Microgravity induces proteomics changes involved in endoplasmic reticulum stress and mitochondrial protection

On Earth, biological systems have evolved in response to environmental stressors, interactions dictated by physical forces that include gravity. The absence of gravity is an extreme stressor and the impact of its absence on biological systems is ill-defined. Astronauts who have spent extended time under conditions of minimal gravity (microgravity) experience an array of biological alterations, including perturbations in cardiovascular function. We hypothesized that physiological perturbations in cardiac function in microgravity may be a consequence of alterations in molecular and organellar dynamics within the cellular milieu of cardiomyocytes. We used a combination of mass spectrometry-based approaches to compare the relative abundance and turnover rates of 848 and 196 proteins, respectively, in rat neonatal cardiomyocytes exposed to simulated microgravity or normal gravity. Gene functional enrichment analysis of these data suggested that the protein content and function of the mitochondria, ribosomes, and endoplasmic reticulum were differentially modulated in microgravity. We confirmed experimentally that in microgravity protein synthesis was decreased while apoptosis, cell viability, and protein degradation were largely unaffected. These data support our conclusion that in microgravity cardiomyocytes attempt to maintain mitochondrial homeostasis at the expense of protein synthesis. The overall response to this stress may culminate in cardiac muscle atrophy

First experiences with a novel farmer citizen science approach: crowdsourcing participatory variety selection through on-farm triadic comparisons of technologies (TRICOT)

Rapid climatic and socio-economic changes challenge current agricultural R&D capacity. The necessary quantum leap in knowledge generation should build on the innovation capacity of farmers themselves. A novel citizen science methodology, triadic comparisons of technologies or tricot, was implemented in pilot studies in India, East Africa, and Central America. The methodology involves distributing a pool of agricultural technologies in different combinations of three to individual farmers who observe these technologies under farm conditions and compare their performance. Since the combinations of three technologies overlap, statistical methods can piece together the overall performance ranking of the complete pool of technologies. The tricot approach affords wide scaling, as the distribution of trial packages and instruction sessions is relatively easy to execute, farmers do not need to be organized in collaborative groups, and feedback is easy to collect, even by phone. The tricot approach provides interpretable, meaningful results and was widely accepted by farmers. The methodology underwent improvement in data input formats. A number of methodological issues remain: integrating environmental analysis, capturing gender-specific differences, stimulating farmers' motivation, and supporting implementation with an integrated digital platform. Future studies should apply the tricot approach to a wider range of technologies, quantify its potential contribution to climate adaptation, and embed the approach in appropriate institutions and business models, empowering participants and democratizing science