Effect of vernalization period and bulb size on bolting of onion cultivar “Texas Early Grano” grown under Gezira conditions, Sudan

     Texas Early Grano onion cultivar is very popular in Sudan and is used mainly as a salad vegetable. Unfortunately, this cultivar does not flower and produce seeds under Sudan conditions and seeds should be imported from abroad. Attempts to produce seeds of this cultivar under Gezira conditions have failed. Therefore, the objective of this research was to study the effects of bulb size and vernalization on the induction of flowering of Texas Early Grano onion cultivar. Experiments were conducted at the research farm of the Faculty of Agricultural Sciences, University of Gezira, Wad Medani, Sudan, during the  winter seasons of 2008/09 and 2009/10.   Treatments consisted of vernalization periods ranging from 45 to 180 days, storage temperatures of 4 to 50C, and bulb size which was small and medium. Treatments were arranged in a  randomized complete block design with three replicates. Results indicated that vernalization duration significantly affected emergence percentage. As vernalization duration increased, emergence percentage increased in both seasons. Bulb size had no significant effects on emergence percentage. Vernalization temperatures of 4 to 50C for 90 days or more was the key factor for the induction of bolting of Texas Early Grano cultivar. To obtain the highest bolting percentage and seed yield, a combination of venrnalization at 4 to 50C for 180 days and medium-sized bulbs should be recommended.       يعتبر صنف البصل "تكساس إيرلى جرانو" من الأصناف المعروفة في السودان التي تستخدم كأحد الخضر الرئيسية في طبق السلطة. محاولة إنتاج بذور هذا الصنف محلياً لم تعط نتائج إيجابية نسبة لعدم توفر درجات الحرارة المنخفضة اللازمة لتحفيز الإزهار تحت ظروف ولاية الجزيرة. لذا هدفت هذه الدراسة إلى تحفيز الإزهار لإنتاج البذور من هذا الصنف باستخدام ظاهرة الإرتباع (التخزين المبرد) لأحجام مختلفة من الأبصال. أجريت هذه الدراسة بمزرعة كلية العلوم الزراعية، جامعة الجزيرة، واد مدني، السودان خلال موسمي 2008/09 و 2009/10م. شملت التجارب فترات تخزين مبرد تراوحت ما بين 45- 180 يوما في درجات حرارة تراوحت ما بين 4 إلي 50 م ونوعين من حجم الأبصال (صغير ومتوسط).  استخدم تصميم القطاعات العشوائية الكاملة بثلاث مكررات. أشارت النتائج إلى أن التخزين المبرد في درجات الحرارة 4 - 5°م هو العامل الرئيسي المحفز للإزهار في صنف البصل "تكساس إيرلي جرانو". التخزين المبرد أظهر تاثيراً معنوياً في نسبة الانبات، فكلما زادت فترة التخزين المبرد زادت نسبة الانبات في كلا الموسمين، بينما لم يؤثر حجم الأبصال في نسبة الانبات. تم الحصول على أعلى نسبة للإزهار وإنتاجية البذور بزراعة الأبصال متوسطة الحجم والمخزنة في درجة حرارة 4 - 5°م لفترة 180 يوما. لذلك يوصى بتخزين الأبصال متوسطة الحجم في درجات حرارة تتراوح بين 4 - 5°م لفترة 180 يوما أو اكثر للحصول على بذور صنف البصل "تكساس إيرلي جرانو" تحت ظروف ولاية الجزيرة

Ultrasound- guided fine needle aspiration cytology and cell block in the diagnosis of focal liver lesions at Khartoum Hospital, Sudan

Background: The appropriate clinical management of various hepatic lesions depends on accurate diagnosis. Fine needle aspiration and cell block have gained popularity because they are convenient, minimally invasive, quick and have good performance profiles.Objective: To investigate the cytomorphological features of distinctive non-neoplastic and neoplastic lesions of the liver and to evaluate the sensitivity, specificity and diagnostic accuracy of ultrasound- guided (USG) fine needle aspiration cytology (FNAC) and cell block in the diagnosis ofliver diseases at Khartoum Teaching Hospital.Method: A cross-sectional study was conducted at Khartoum Teaching Hospital, Sudan during the period of November 2008 to October 2011. One hundred and five cytological materials were collected from patients with focal liver lesions who referred after initial clinical and radiologicalassessment for ultrasound–guided fine needle aspiration cytology (USG -FNAC).Results: The age of the patients ranged from 5- 60 years and 64 (61%) of these patients were males. Out of 105 investigated samples 76 (72.4%) and 41(39.0%) were malignant by cytology and cell block respectively. Out of these 105 samples, 71 were investigated by both cytology and cell blocks and were included in the final analyses of the FNAC in comparison to cell block. The sensitivity, specificity, positive predictive value and negative predictive value of the cytology were 100% (93.0 – 100%), 63.3% (45.2 – 79.0%), 78.8% (66.2 – 88.3%) and 0 (0 – 14.6%), respectively.Conclusion: Thus, USG -FNAC is a sensitive but not specific method in differentiating the benign and malignant focal liver lesions. Differentiation between primary liver malignant lesions and metastatic lesion needs adjunct techniqueKey words: neoplastic lesion, non-neoplastic lesio

HR-EBSD analysis of in situ stable crack growth at the micron scale

Understanding the local fracture resistance of microstructural features. such as brittle inclusions, coatings, and interfaces at the microscale under complex loading conditions is critical for microstructure-informed design of materials. In this study, a novel approach has been formulated to decompose the J-integral evaluation of the elastic energy release rate to the three-dimensional stress intensity factors directly from experimental measurements of the elastic deformation gradient tensors of the crack field by in situ high (angular) resolution electron backscatter diffraction (HR-EBSD). An exemplar study is presented of a quasi-static crack, inclined to the observed surface, propagating on low index {hkl} planes in a (001) single crystal silicon wafer

Chapter 11 - Agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU)

Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) plays a central role for food security and sustainable development. Plants take up carbon dioxide (CO2) from the atmosphere and nitrogen (N) from the soil when they grow, re-distributing it among different pools, including above and below-ground living biomass, dead residues, and soil organic matter. The CO2 and other non-CO2 greenhouse gases (GHG), largely methane (CH4) and nitrous oxide (N2O), are in turn released to the atmosphere by plant respiration, by decomposition of dead plant biomass and soil organic matter, and by combustion. Anthropogenic land-use activities (e.g., management of croplands, forests, grasslands, wetlands), and changes in land use / cover (e.g., conversion of forest lands and grasslands to cropland and pasture, afforestation) cause changes superimposed on these natural fluxes. AFOLU activities lead to both sources of CO2 (e.g., deforestation, peatland drainage) and sinks of CO2 (e.g., afforestation, management for soil carbon sequestration), and to non-CO2 emissions primarily from agriculture (e.g., CH4 from livestock and rice cultivation, N2O from manure storage and agricultural soils and biomass burning. The main mitigation options within AFOLU involve one or more of three strategies: reduction / prevention of emissions to the atmosphere by conserving existing carbon pools in soils or vegetation that would otherwise be lost or by reducing emissions of CH4 and N2O; sequestration - enhancing the uptake of carbon in terrestrial reservoirs, and thereby removing CO2 from the atmosphere; and reducing CO2 emissions by substitution of biological products for fossil fuels or energy-intensive products. Demand-side options (e.g., by lifestyle changes, reducing losses and wastes of food, changes in human diet, changes in wood consumption), though known to be difficult to implement, may also play a role. Land is the critical resource for the AFOLU sector and it provides food and fodder to feed the Earth's population of ~7 billion, and fibre and fuel for a variety of purposes. It provides livelihoods for billions of people worldwide. It is finite and provides a multitude of goods and ecosystem services that are fundamental to human well-being. Human economies and quality of life are directly dependent on the services and the resources provided by land. Figure 11.1 shows the many provisioning, regulating, cultural and supporting services provided by land, of which climate regulation is just one. Implementing mitigation options in the AFOLU sector may potentially affect other services provided by land in positive or negative ways. In the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Second Assessment Report (SAR) and in the IPCC Fourth Assessment Report (AR4), agricultural and forestry mitigation were dealt with in separate chapters. In the IPCC Third Assessment Report (TAR), there were no separate sectoral chapters on either agriculture or forestry. In the IPCC Fifth Assessment Report (AR5), for the first time, the vast majority of the terrestrial land surface, comprising agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU), is considered together in a single chapter, though settlements (which are important, with urban areas forecasted to triple in size from 2000 global extent by 2030), are dealt with in Chapter 12. This approach ensures that all land-based mitigation options can be considered together; it minimizes the risk of double counting or inconsistent treatment (e.g., different assumptions about available land) between different land categories, and allows the consideration of systemic feedbacks between mitigation options related to the land surface. Considering AFOLU in a single chapter allows phenomena common across land-use types, such as competition for land and water, co-benefits, adverse side-effects and interactions between mitigation and adaptation to be considered consistently. The complex nature of land presents a unique range of barriers and opportunities, and policies to promote mitigation in the AFOLU sector need to take account of this complexity. In this chapter, we consider the competing uses of land for mitigation and for providing other services. Unlike the chapters on agriculture and forestry in AR4, impacts of sourcing bioenergy from the AFOLU sector are considered explicitly in a dedicated appendix. Also new to this assessment is the explicit consideration of food / dietary demand-side options for GHG mitigation in the AFOLU sector, and some consideration of freshwater fisheries and aquaculture, which may compete with the agriculture and forestry sectors, mainly through their requirements for land and / or water, and indirectly, by providing fish and other products to the same markets as animal husbandry. This chapter deals with AFOLU in an integrated way with respect to the underlying scenario projections of population growth, economic growth, dietary change, land-use change (LUC), and cost of mitigation. We draw evidence from both "bottom-up" studies that estimate mitigation potentials at small scales or for individual options or technologies and then scale up, and multi-sectoral "top-down" studies that consider AFOLU as just one component of a total multi-sector system response. In this chapter, we provide updates on emissions trends and changes in drivers and pressures in the AFOLU sector, describe the practices available in the AFOLU sector, and provide refined estimates of mitigation costs and potentials for the AFOLU sector, by synthesising studies that have become available since AR4. We conclude the chapter by identifying gaps in knowledge and data, providing a selection of Frequently Asked Questions, and presenting an Appendix on bioenergy to update the IPCC Special Report on Renewable Energy Sources and Climate Change Mitigation (SRREN)

Coexistence of HBsAg/Anti-HBs and HBeAg/Anti-HBe in Sudanese Patients with Chronic Hepatitis B Virus Infection: A Cross-Sectional Study

Background: Seroconversion of hepatitis B surface antigen (HBsAg) to hepatitis B surface antibody (anti-HBs) is a recognized goal of HBV therapy. This dynamic transition responsible for the coexistence of HBsAg and anti-HBs is rarely detected in clinical cases. However, with vaccination and the use of various antiviral drugs, as well as the development of new medical technologies, recognizing the coexistence of HBsAg and anti-HBs has become more common. In addition, mutations in viral genomes, immune status, and human genetic factors may also contribute to such coexistence. The current study was designed to determine the prevalence of the coexistence of HBsAg and anti-HBs and HBeAg and anti-HBe in CHB patients in Sudan. Methods and Results: This was a descriptive cross-sectional study conducted in Khartoum state from November 2018 to January 2019. The study included 70 HBV-infected patients who were positive for HBsAg for more than six months. Blood samples were tested for HBsAg/Anti-HBs and HBeAg/Anti-HBe using Commercial ELISA Kits (Foresight, United Kingdom) and (PRECHEK, USA). Demographic data were collected using a structured questionnaire, and any antiviral agent and laboratory results were also recorded for each participant. The current study showed that one case (1.4%) was reactive for the coexistence of HBsAg/HBsAb and two cases (2.8%) for the coexistence of HBeAg/HBeAb. There was no statistical difference between the coexistence of HBsAg/HBsAb and HBeAg/HBeAb with age, gender, residence, and treatment status. Conclusion: Our study indicates that the frequencies of the coexistence of HBsAg/HBsAb and HBeAg/HBeAb among Sudanese patients with chronic HBV infection were low compared to previous studies in a different population

Global economic burden of unmet surgical need for appendicitis

Background: There is a substantial gap in provision of adequate surgical care in many low-and middle-income countries. This study aimed to identify the economic burden of unmet surgical need for the common condition of appendicitis. Methods: Data on the incidence of appendicitis from 170 countries and two different approaches were used to estimate numbers of patients who do not receive surgery: as a fixed proportion of the total unmet surgical need per country (approach 1); and based on country income status (approach 2). Indirect costs with current levels of access and local quality, and those if quality were at the standards of high-income countries, were estimated. A human capital approach was applied, focusing on the economic burden resulting from premature death and absenteeism. Results: Excess mortality was 4185 per 100 000 cases of appendicitis using approach 1 and 3448 per 100 000 using approach 2. The economic burden of continuing current levels of access and local quality was US $92 492 million using approach 1 and$73 141 million using approach 2. The economic burden of not providing surgical care to the standards of high-income countries was $95 004 million using approach 1 and$75 666 million using approach 2. The largest share of these costs resulted from premature death (97.7 per cent) and lack of access (97.0 per cent) in contrast to lack of quality. Conclusion: For a comparatively non-complex emergency condition such as appendicitis, increasing access to care should be prioritized. Although improving quality of care should not be neglected, increasing provision of care at current standards could reduce societal costs substantially

Laparoscopy in management of appendicitis in high-, middle-, and low-income countries: a multicenter, prospective, cohort study.

BACKGROUND: Appendicitis is the most common abdominal surgical emergency worldwide. Differences between high- and low-income settings in the availability of laparoscopic appendectomy, alternative management choices, and outcomes are poorly described. The aim was to identify variation in surgical management and outcomes of appendicitis within low-, middle-, and high-Human Development Index (HDI) countries worldwide. METHODS: This is a multicenter, international prospective cohort study. Consecutive sampling of patients undergoing emergency appendectomy over 6 months was conducted. Follow-up lasted 30 days. RESULTS: 4546 patients from 52 countries underwent appendectomy (2499 high-, 1540 middle-, and 507 low-HDI groups). Surgical site infection (SSI) rates were higher in low-HDI (OR 2.57, 95% CI 1.33-4.99, p = 0.005) but not middle-HDI countries (OR 1.38, 95% CI 0.76-2.52, p = 0.291), compared with high-HDI countries after adjustment. A laparoscopic approach was common in high-HDI countries (1693/2499, 67.7%), but infrequent in low-HDI (41/507, 8.1%) and middle-HDI (132/1540, 8.6%) groups. After accounting for case-mix, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.55, 95% CI 0.42-0.71, p < 0.001) and SSIs (OR 0.22, 95% CI 0.14-0.33, p < 0.001). In propensity-score matched groups within low-/middle-HDI countries, laparoscopy was still associated with fewer overall complications (OR 0.23 95% CI 0.11-0.44) and SSI (OR 0.21 95% CI 0.09-0.45). CONCLUSION: A laparoscopic approach is associated with better outcomes and availability appears to differ by country HDI. Despite the profound clinical, operational, and financial barriers to its widespread introduction, laparoscopy could significantly improve outcomes for patients in low-resource environments. TRIAL REGISTRATION: NCT02179112

Pooled analysis of WHO Surgical Safety Checklist use and mortality after emergency laparotomy

Background The World Health Organization (WHO) Surgical Safety Checklist has fostered safe practice for 10 years, yet its place in emergency surgery has not been assessed on a global scale. The aim of this study was to evaluate reported checklist use in emergency settings and examine the relationship with perioperative mortality in patients who had emergency laparotomy. Methods In two multinational cohort studies, adults undergoing emergency laparotomy were compared with those having elective gastrointestinal surgery. Relationships between reported checklist use and mortality were determined using multivariable logistic regression and bootstrapped simulation. Results Of 12 296 patients included from 76 countries, 4843 underwent emergency laparotomy. After adjusting for patient and disease factors, checklist use before emergency laparotomy was more common in countries with a high Human Development Index (HDI) (2455 of 2741, 89.6 per cent) compared with that in countries with a middle (753 of 1242, 60.6 per cent; odds ratio (OR) 0.17, 95 per cent c.i. 0.14 to 0.21, P <0001) or low (363 of 860, 422 per cent; OR 008, 007 to 010, P <0.001) HDI. Checklist use was less common in elective surgery than for emergency laparotomy in high-HDI countries (risk difference -94 (95 per cent c.i. -11.9 to -6.9) per cent; P <0001), but the relationship was reversed in low-HDI countries (+121 (+7.0 to +173) per cent; P <0001). In multivariable models, checklist use was associated with a lower 30-day perioperative mortality (OR 0.60, 0.50 to 073; P <0.001). The greatest absolute benefit was seen for emergency surgery in low- and middle-HDI countries. Conclusion Checklist use in emergency laparotomy was associated with a significantly lower perioperative mortality rate. Checklist use in low-HDI countries was half that in high-HDI countries.Peer reviewe

Global variation in anastomosis and end colostomy formation following left-sided colorectal resection

Background End colostomy rates following colorectal resection vary across institutions in high-income settings, being influenced by patient, disease, surgeon and system factors. This study aimed to assess global variation in end colostomy rates after left-sided colorectal resection. Methods This study comprised an analysis of GlobalSurg-1 and -2 international, prospective, observational cohort studies (2014, 2016), including consecutive adult patients undergoing elective or emergency left-sided colorectal resection within discrete 2-week windows. Countries were grouped into high-, middle- and low-income tertiles according to the United Nations Human Development Index (HDI). Factors associated with colostomy formation versus primary anastomosis were explored using a multilevel, multivariable logistic regression model. Results In total, 1635 patients from 242 hospitals in 57 countries undergoing left-sided colorectal resection were included: 113 (6·9 per cent) from low-HDI, 254 (15·5 per cent) from middle-HDI and 1268 (77·6 per cent) from high-HDI countries. There was a higher proportion of patients with perforated disease (57·5, 40·9 and 35·4 per cent; P < 0·001) and subsequent use of end colostomy (52·2, 24·8 and 18·9 per cent; P < 0·001) in low- compared with middle- and high-HDI settings. The association with colostomy use in low-HDI settings persisted (odds ratio (OR) 3·20, 95 per cent c.i. 1·35 to 7·57; P = 0·008) after risk adjustment for malignant disease (OR 2·34, 1·65 to 3·32; P < 0·001), emergency surgery (OR 4·08, 2·73 to 6·10; P < 0·001), time to operation at least 48 h (OR 1·99, 1·28 to 3·09; P = 0·002) and disease perforation (OR 4·00, 2·81 to 5·69; P < 0·001). Conclusion Global differences existed in the proportion of patients receiving end stomas after left-sided colorectal resection based on income, which went beyond case mix alone