Effects of Genotype, Season and Nutrition on Sunflower Yield and Hollow Seededness in Gezira (Sudan)

A field experiment was conducted to study the effects of genotype, season and nutrition on sunflower seed yield and hollow seededness in Gezira. Five sunflower cultivars (Damazin-l, Hungarian-A, Rodio, Hysun-25 and Hysun-33), two nitrogen levels (0 and 129 kgN/ha) and two levels of phosphorus  (0 and 129 kg P205/ha) were used over two seasons (autumn and winter 2000) in a randomized complete block design with four replications. Data on 14 characters were collected. results showed that the percentage of empty seeds, self-compatibility 1000-seed weight and seed yield were significantly affected by and its interaction with season. The means of these characters were relatively higher in winter than in autumn season except for the empty seeds. The application of high doses of fertilizer had no significant effect on the percentage of empty seeds, and consequently lie phenomenon of empty seeds could be attributed mainly to genetical  and seasonal effects. The genotypes mean seed yields ranged from 1127 to 1899 kg/ha, with Hysun-33 giving the highest yield. Simple  and genotypic correlation analyses emphasized that seed yield was and positively correlated with days to flowering, harvest index , head diameter, seed number/head, self-compatibility, number filled seeds/head and percent seed set. Both analyses showed negative coefficients between seed yield and empty seeds. The percentage of empty seeds was positively and significantly correlated with plant height and number of heads/plant. The path analysis indicated that head diameter, percentage of seed set, days to flowering and seed weight  were the most important traits related to seed yield where as percentage of seed set, harvest index, and days to maturity were the  most important traits contributing to high degree of self-compatibility in sunflow

Study of heterosis in single-cross hybrids of sunflower

    This study was conducted to estimate the genetic variability and heterosis of 40 F1 hybrids of sunflower for seed yield and its components over two seasons (summer and winter) in 2007 at Sennar Research Station Farm in central Sudan. The plant material consisted of 14 sunflower parents            (4 females and 10 males) and their 40 F1-hybrids. The experiment was arranged in a randomized complete block design with three replicates. The traits measured were days to 50% flowering, plant height, head diameter, number of seeds per head, one thousand seed weight and seed yield.  Hybrids showed high genetic variability for all traits studied than their parents which suggested some degree of hybrid vigor. The direction and magnitude of heterosis varied from cross to cross. Over two seasons, the average mid-parent heterosis in preferred direction and magnitude depicted that the hybrid SA2 x SR41 followed by SA3 x SR41 for days to flowering, SA1 x SR14 for plant height, SA2 x SR14 for head diameter, SA2 x SR13 followed by SA3 x SR13 for number of seeds per head, and SA3 x SR7 for one thousand seed weight. With regard to seed yield, the best hybrids with positive average heterosis were SA3 x SR41 (53.42%), SA4 x SR45 (52.75%), SA4 x SR1 (52.25%) and SA3 x SR10 (40.63%) which also combined with high seed yield of 1581 kg/ha, 1479 kg/ha, 1474 kg/ha, and 1457 kg/ha, respectively. These hybrids (involving the female line SA3 or SA4 and the male lines (SR10, SR13, SR41 and SR45) can be used in our breeding program in an attempt to develop local sunflower hybrid (s) with high seed yield and other important agronomic traits and for testing their yield potential and stability across locations and seasons.  أجريت هذه الدراسة بهدف تقدير التباين الوراثي و قوة الهجن  للإنتاجية ومكوناتها لأربعين هجين مفرد من محصول زهرة الشمس، نتجت من تهجين أربعة أمهات ذات عقم ذكرى سايتوبلازمى مع عشرة آباء معيدة للخصوبة. أجريت التجربة بمحطة بحوث سنار فى وسط السودان بالقطاع المروي لموسين             (صيف وشتاء2007). أستخدم تصميم القطاعات العشوائية الكاملة بثلاثة مكررات. كانت الصفات المدروسة هى عدد الايام حتى 50% إزهار، طول النبات، قطر القرص، عدد البذور بالقرص، وزن الآلف حبة، وانتاج البذور. أظهرت النتائج فروقات معنوية لكل الصفات في الموسمين مع تفوق الهجن وتباينها وراثياً مقارنة بالآباء. وفي التحليل المشترك لحساب قوة الهجين لكل الصفات كنسبة زيادة أو نقصان من متوسط الأبويين، ظهر أنّ الهــجينينSA2 x SR41  وSA3 x SR 41 هما الأفضل للإزهار والنضج المبكر، الهجين SA1 x SR14 لطول النبات، الهـجين SA2 x SR14 لقطر القرص ، الهجينين SA2 x SR13  و SA3 x SR13 لعدد البذور بالقرص، الهجين SA3 x SR7 لوزن الألف بذرة. أما بخصوص إنتاجية البذور أظهرت بعض الهجن نسبة قوة هجين موجبة SA3 x SR41 ) (53.42%، (52.73% ) SA4 x SR45،   SA4 x SR1   (52.25%)و SA3 x SR10 ((40.63% وإنتاجية بذور تقدر بـ 1581 كيلوجرام للهكتار، 1479 كيلوجرام للهكتار، 1474 كيلوجرام للهكتار و1459 كيلوجرام للهكتار علي التوالي. ويستنتج من هذه الدراسة ان الهجن التي يدخل في تركبيها الأم SA3 أو الأم SA4 مع الآباء SR41 ، SR45، SR13      و SR10 هى هجن متفوقة لإنتاجية البذور والصفات الأخرى ، ويمكن استخدام تلك الأمهات والآباء في تطوير هجن محلية مفردة من محصول الزهرة واختبار ثبات إنتاجيتها عبر المواسم والمواقع المختلفة

Is mass drug administration against lymphatic filariasis required in urban settings? The experience in Kano, Nigeria.

BACKGROUND The Global Programme to Eliminate Lymphatic Filariasis (GPELF), launched in 2000, has the target of eliminating the disease as a public health problem by the year 2020. The strategy adopted is mass drug administration (MDA) to all eligible individuals in endemic communities and the implementation of measures to reduce the morbidity of those suffering from chronic disease. Success has been recorded in many rural endemic communities in which elimination efforts have centered. However, implementation has been challenging in several urban African cities. The large cities of West Africa, exemplified in Nigeria in Kano are challenging for LF elimination program because reaching 65% therapeutic coverage during MDA is difficult. There is therefore a need to define a strategy which could complement MDA. Thus, in Kano State, Nigeria, while LF MDA had reached 33 of the 44 Local Government Areas (LGAs) there remained eleven 'urban' LGAs which had not been covered by MDA. Given the challenges of achieving at least 65% coverage during MDA implementation over several years in order to achieve elimination, it may be challenging to eliminate LF in such settings. In order to plan the LF control activities, this study was undertaken to confirm the LF infection prevalence in the human and mosquito populations in three urban LGAs. METHODS The prevalence of circulating filarial antigen (CFA) of Wuchereria bancrofti was assessed by an immuno-chromatography test (ICT) in 981 people in three urban LGAs of Kano state, Nigeria. Mosquitoes were collected over a period of 4 months from May to August 2015 using exit traps, gravid traps and pyrethrum knock-down spray sheet collections (PSC) in different households. A proportion of mosquitoes were analyzed for W. bancrofti, using dissection, loop-mediated isothermal amplification (LAMP) assay and conventional polymerase chain reaction (PCR). RESULTS The results showed that none of the 981 subjects (constituted of <21% of children 5-10 years old) tested had detectable levels of CFA in their blood. Entomological results showed that An. gambiae s.l. had W. bancrofti DNA detectable in pools in Kano; W. bancrofti DNA was detected in between 0.96% and 6.78% and to a lesser extent in Culex mosquitoes where DNA was detected at rates of between 0.19% and 0.64%. DNA analysis showed that An. coluzzii constituted 9.9% of the collected mosquitoes and the remaining 90.1% of the mosquitoes were Culex mosquitoes. CONCLUSION Despite detection of W. bancrofti DNA within mosquito specimens collected in three Kano urban LGAs, we were not able to find a subject with detectable level of CFA. Together with other evidence suggesting that LF transmission in urban areas in West Africa may not be of significant importance, the Federal Ministry of Health advised that two rounds of MDA be undertaken in the urban areas of Kano. It is recommended that the prevalence of W. bancrofti infection in the human and mosquito populations be re-assessed after a couple of years

Predicting flow reversals in chaotic natural convection using data assimilation

A simplified model of natural convection, similar to the Lorenz (1963) system, is compared to computational fluid dynamics simulations in order to test data assimilation methods and better understand the dynamics of convection. The thermosyphon is represented by a long time flow simulation, which serves as a reference "truth". Forecasts are then made using the Lorenz-like model and synchronized to noisy and limited observations of the truth using data assimilation. The resulting analysis is observed to infer dynamics absent from the model when using short assimilation windows. Furthermore, chaotic flow reversal occurrence and residency times in each rotational state are forecast using analysis data. Flow reversals have been successfully forecast in the related Lorenz system, as part of a perfect model experiment, but never in the presence of significant model error or unobserved variables. Finally, we provide new details concerning the fluid dynamical processes present in the thermosyphon during these flow reversals

A neonate with left pulmonary artery thrombosis and left lung hypoplasia: a case report

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Introduction</p> <p>Spontaneous intrauterine arterial thrombosis and congenital pulmonary hypoplasia are rare conditions and have not been reported to occur together. The literature rather includes two reports of babies with neonatal pulmonary artery occlusion and post-infarction cysts of the lungs.</p> <p>Case presentation</p> <p>We report a case of a live Caucasian male newborn with left lung hypoplasia that occurred in association with left pulmonary artery thrombosis. Despite a critical neonatal course, including extracorporeal membrane oxygenation, this infant is alive and well at 18 months of age without any neurodevelopmental sequelae or reactive airway disease.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This association suggests the possibility of an intrauterine vascular event between the fifth and eighth weeks of gestation during early pulmonary artery and lung development.</p

Scoliodon laticaudus, Spadenose Shark

The Spadenose Shark (Scoliodon laticaudus) is a small (to 91 cm total length) shark that occurs in the northern Indian Ocean from the Gulf of Oman to Myanmar. It is common in coastal and estuarine waters at depths of 10-75 m, but more typically less than 50 m and prefers muddy and sandy substrates and often occurs near large freshwater outflows. It is highly productive with annual large litters of 6–20 pups, early maturation at two years and a short generation length of 4.5 years. The species is caught mainly by trawl and gillnet in industrial and artisanal fisheries and is retained for human consumption. It is the dominant shark landed in Pakistan, northern India, and Bangladesh and fishing pressure is intenseacross most of its range. The high productivity of the species and short generation length likely provide it with resilience to fishing pressure, however, the intense and ongoing fishing pressure on this species is a cause for concern. It is suspected that the Spadenose Shark has undergone a population reduction of 20–29% over the past three generation lengths (14 years) and is close to reaching the population reduction threshold due to levels of exploitation, and it is assessed as Near Threatened (nearly meeting Vulnerable A2d)

Maternal and perinatal outcomes of dengue in PortSudan, Eastern Sudan

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To investigate maternal and perinatal outcomes (maternal death, preterm delivery, low birth weight and perinatal mortality) of dengue at PortSudan and Elmawani hospitals in the eastern Sudan.</p> <p>Method</p> <p>This was a retrospective Cohort study where medical files of women with dengue were reviewed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>There were 10820 deliveries and 78 (0.7%) pregnant women with confirmed dengue IgM serology at the mean (SD) gestational age of 29.4(8.2) weeks. While the majority of these women had dengue fever (46, 58.9%), hemorrhagic fever and dengue shock syndrome were the presentations in 18 (23.0%) and 12, (15.3%) of these women, respectively. There were 17(21.7%) maternal deaths. Fourteen (17.9%) of these 78 women had preterm deliveries and 19 (24.3%) neonates were admitted to neonatal intensive care unit. Nineteen (24.3%) women gave birth to low birth weight babies. There were seven (8.9%) perinatal deaths. Eight (10.2%) patients delivered by caesarean section due to various obstetrical indications.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Thus dengue has poor maternal and perinatal outcomes in this setting. Preventive measures against dengue should be employed in the region, and more research on dengue during pregnancy is needed.</p

Nicotinamide riboside augments the aged human skeletal muscle NAD+ metabolome and induces transcriptomic and anti-inflammatory signatures

Nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide (NAD+) is modulated by conditions of metabolic stress and has been reported to decline with aging in preclinical models, but human data are sparse. Nicotinamide riboside (NR) supplementation ameliorates metabolic dysfunction in rodents. We aimed to establish whether oral NR supplementation in aged participants can increase the skeletal muscle NAD+ metabolome and if it can alter muscle mitochondrial bioenergetics. We supplemented 12 aged men with 1 g NR per day for 21 days in a placebo-controlled, randomized, double-blind, crossover trial. Targeted metabolomics showed that NR elevated the muscle NAD+ metabolome, evident by increased nicotinic acid adenine dinucleotide and nicotinamide clearance products. Muscle RNA sequencing revealed NR-mediated downregulation of energy metabolism and mitochondria pathways, without altering mitochondrial bioenergetics. NR also depressed levels of circulating inflammatory cytokines. Our data establish that oral NR is available to aged human muscle and identify anti-inflammatory effects of NR