Attempt to silence genes of the RNAi pathways of the root-knot nematode, Meloidogyne incognita results in diverse responses including increase and no change in expression of some genes

Control of plant-parasitic nematodes (PPNs) via host-induced gene silencing (HIGS) involves rational selection of genes and detailed assessment of effects of a possible knockdown on the nematode. Some genes by nature may be very important for the survival of the nematode that knockdown may be resisted. Possible silencing and effects of 20 such genes involved in the RNA interference (RNAi) pathways of Meloidogyne incognita were investigated in this study using long double-stranded RNAs (dsRNAs) as triggers. Two of the genes, ego-1 and mes-2, could not be knocked down. Expression of six genes (xpo-1, pash-1, xpo-2, rha-1, ekl-4, and csr-1) were significantly upregulated after RNAi treatment whereas for 12 of the genes, significant knockdown was achieved and with the exception of mes-2 and mes-6, RNAi was accompanied by defective phenotypes in treated nematodes including various degrees of paralysis and abnormal behaviors and movement such as curling, extreme wavy movements, and twitching. These abnormalities resulted in up to 75% reduction in infectivity of a tomato host, the most affected being the J2s previously treated with dsRNA of the gfl-1 gene. For 10 of the genes, effects of silencing in the J2s persisted as the adult females isolated from galls were under-developed, elongated, and transparent compared to the normal saccate, white adult females. Following RNAi of ego-1, smg-2, smg-6, and eri-1, reduced expression and/or the immediate visible effects on the J2s were not permanent as the nematodes infected and developed normally in tomato hosts. Equally intriguing was the results of RNAi of the mes-2 gene where the insignificant change in gene expression and behavior of treated J2s did not mean the nematodes were not affected as they were less effective in infecting host plants. Attempt to silence drsh-1, mut-7, drh-3, rha-1, pash-1, and vig-1 through HIGS led to reduction in nematode infestation by up to 89%. Our results show that genes may respond to RNAi knockdown differently so an exhaustive assessment of target genes as targets for nematode control via RNAi is imperative

The Effect of Household Characteristics on Child Mortality in Ghana

The objective of this study was to establish the relationship between household characteristics and mortality among children under the ages of five in Ghana. Ghana’s under-five mortality rate stands at 82 deaths per 1000 live births and infant mortality rate of about 53 deaths per 1000 which is far above the world’s average in 2006 of 52 deaths per 1000 live births (GSS, MICS 2011). Again, according to (IGME 2012 report) in the 2011 under-five mortality league, Ghana is ranked 34 among 195 countries with child mortality rate of 78 per 1000. (Number 1 being the highest and 195 being the lowest in terms of child mortality). In order to address this problem, the authors used survey data on 4169 women respondents drawn from the 10 administrative regions of Ghana. Brass-type indirect techniques for mortality estimation were employed to establish the mortality rates. In addition, logistic regression analysis examined factors related with child mortality. Of the 1411 women who gave birth during the survey period about (295) 20.9% had given birth who later died. Findings show wide mortality differentials by Mothers’ age, mothers’ educational levels, place of residence, and household size. Breastfeeding, children ever born, material used for floor of the dwellings and region of residence were the four major variables highly associated with child mortality. The study concludes that household structure, source of drinking water and toilet facilities used were not related to child mortality. There is need for adult literacy, secondary and above education for women and sensitization about the effects of large households, exclusive breastfeeding and children ever born. Such studies provide insight into understanding the relationship between various household characteristics and child health outcomes. Keywords: Household, Characteristics, Child, Mortality, Ghan

Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting among Ghanaian Women: The Determinants

This study examines female genital mutilation/cutting (FGM) among Ghanaian women and the determining factors associated with the practice. We used a data set based on a longitudinal study from the fourth round Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS). This was a national survey conducted by Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in 2011 to monitor progress of women and children. A sample of 10,963 women within the reproductive age (15 – 49) years across the country between 2009 and 2011 were selected for the survey. A multiple logistic regression and bootstrap techniques were used to determine the relationship of socio-demographic factors and female circumcision. The estimated women who had undergone female circumcision was about 15.9% out of the 7666 women who responded to the question on female circumcision. This means that about 2 out of 10 women between 15 – 49 years have undergone circumcision. Female circumcision is very predominant among women in the Upper West region, Moslems and the Mole/Dagbanis. The factors observed to be highly significantly associated with female circumcision among Ghanaian women included marital status (p-value = 0.000), woman’s age (p-value = 0.000), region of residence (p-value = 0.000), educational level (p-value = 0.001), religion (p-value = 0.002) and ethnicity (p-value = 0.002). The results show that prevalence of FGM among more advantaged women is lower than less advantaged women. The findings further reveal that women from the northern part of Ghana are more prone to FGM than women who live elsewhere. Keywords: Female Genital Mutilation/Cutting, Reproductive age, Prevalence, Endemi

The Desire for last Birth among Ghanaian women: The Determinants

This study examines the desire for last birth among Ghanaian women and the determining factors associated with such desire. The study used a data set based on a longitudinal study from the fourth round Multiple Indicators Cluster Survey (MICS). This was a national survey conducted by Ghana Statistical Service (GSS) in 2011 to monitor progress of women and children. A sample of 10,963 women within the reproductive age (15 – 49) years across the country between 2009 and 2011 were selected for the survey. In this study, a multiple logistic regression and bootstrap techniques were used to determine the relationship of maternal factors and desire for more children. The estimated women who expressed no desire for the last birth was about 33.7% out of the 2873 women who gave birth within the survey period. This means that more than 3 in 10 women get pregnant when they are not prepared. The factors observed to be highly significantly associated with desire for more children among Ghanaian women included marital status (p-value = 0.000), parity (p-value = 0.000), mothers’ age (p-value = 0.000) and region of residence (p-value = 0.000). The results show that childbearing among more advantaged women are better planned than less advantaged women. The findings further reveal that about 30.7% of married women have an unmet need for family planning (unmet need for family planning defined as the percentage of married women who want to space their next birth or stop childbearing entirely but are not using contraception). Keywords: Desire for last birth, unmet need, maternal factors, determinant

Comparisons between sequenced and re-sequenced genomes of historical subterranean clover mottle virus isolates

We report comparisons between the complete genomic sequences of five historical Western Australian isolates of subterranean clover mottle virus (SCMoV) from 1989–2000, and an infectious clone of its 1989 isolate. Sanger Sequencing (SS) and High Throughput Sequencing (HTS), or both, were used to obtain these genomes. Four of the SCMoV isolates were sequenced by SS in 1999–2002, but re-sequenced again by HTS in 2020. The pairs of sequences obtained from these four isolates differed by only 18–59 nucleotides. This small difference resulted from the different sequencing methods, the < 1–5 years each isolate was host passaged before freeze-drying prior to HTS sequencing, or a combination of both. Since SCMoV has not been reported outside Australia, this similarity suggests the population sequenced represents the progeny of either an indigenous virus that spread from a native legume to subterranean clover after its introduction or a recent seed-borne incursion from elsewhere. The ORF1 was the most variable, and the phylogenetic tree constructed with ORF1s showed the isolates grouped according to their symptom severity in subterranean clover, indicating the probability that ORF1-encoded P1 protein is a symptom determinant. A satellite RNA was associated with all SCMoV genomes obtained by HTS but none derived by SS

Sustainable green chemical synthesis of discrete, well-dispersed silver nanoparticles with bacteriostatic properties from carrot extracts aided by polyvinylpyrrolidone

Large amounts of food products are disposed of around the world because they are below market standards. In Australia, low value, non-marketable carrots (Daucus carota) are ploughed into farmlands as green manure or are treated as waste. In recent years significant research interest has focused on developing waste valorisation strategies using new green chemistry-based sustainable processes. More importantly, strategies that also provide solutions for emerging challenges like the rising reports of resistance of bacteria to existing microbes are favourable. This study explored a facile synthesis process to reduce aqueous silver ions in aqueous carrot extracts to form silver nanoparticles that may have antibacterial properties. The synthesis process produced particles with surface plasmon resonance peaks typical of crystalline silver. The silver nanoparticles produced from pure carrot extracts were spherical and pseudo-spherical, 2 to 25 nm wide. However, with polyvinylpyrrolidone, much wider (10-50 nm), well-dispersed silver nanoparticles of various shapes including spherical, polygonal, rod-like and triangular types were produced. Several biomolecules which may act as reducing and capping agents for the process were identified; they included ascorbic, gallic and chlorogenic acids. The Ag nanoparticles produced significant zones of inhibition against the gram-negative E. coli and gram-positive S. epidermidis, indicating they had bacteriostatic properties. The study demonstrates that producing Ag nanoparticles with antibiotic properties from carrots is a good valorisation strategy because other uses for rejected carrot produce such as application as green manure may not be interrupted

Analysis of the transcriptome of the infective stage of the beet cyst nematode, H. schachtii

The beet cyst nematode, Heterodera schachtii, is a major root pest that significantly impacts the yield of sugar beet, brassicas and related species. There has been limited molecular characterisation of this important plant pathogen: to identify target genes for its control the transcriptome of the pre-parasitic J2 stage of H. schachtii was sequenced using Roche GS FLX. Ninety seven percent of reads (i.e., 387,668) with an average PHRED score > 22 were assembled with CAP3 and CLC Genomics Workbench into 37,345 and 47,263 contigs, respectively. The transcripts were annotated by comparing with gene and genomic sequences of other nematodes and annotated proteins on public databases. The annotated transcripts were much more similar to sequences of Heterodera glycines than to those of Globodera pallida and root knot nematodes (Meloidogyne spp.). Analysis of these transcripts showed that a subset of 2,918 transcripts was common to free-living and plant parasitic nematodes suggesting that this subset is involved in general nematode metabolism and development. A set of 148 contigs and 183 singletons encoding putative homologues of effectors previously characterised for plant parasitic nematodes were also identified: these are known to be important for parasitism of host plants during migration through tissues or feeding from cells or are thought to be involved in evasion or modulation of host defences. In addition, the presence of sequences from a nematode virus is suggested. The sequencing and annotation of this transcriptome significantly adds to the genetic data available for H. schachtii, and identifies genes primed to undertake required roles in the critical pre-parasitic and early post-parasitic J2 stages. These data provide new information for identifying potential gene targets for future protection of susceptible crops against H. schachtii

De novo analysis of the transcriptome of Pratylenchus zeae to identify transcripts for proteins required for structural integrity, sensation, locomotion and parasitism

The root lesion nematode Pratylenchus zeae, a migratory endoparasite, is an economically important pest of major crop plants (e.g. cereals, sugarcane). It enters host roots, migrates through root tissues and feeds from cortical cells, and defends itself against biotic and abiotic stresses in the soil and in host tissues. We report de novo sequencing of the P. zeae transcriptome using 454 FLX, and the identification of putative transcripts encoding proteins required for movement, response to stimuli, feeding and parasitism. Sequencing generated 347 443 good quality reads which were assembled into 10 163 contigs and 139 104 singletons: 65% of contigs and 28% of singletons matched sequences of free-living and parasitic nematodes. Three-quarters of the annotated transcripts were common to reference nematodes, mainly representing genes encoding proteins for structural integrity and fundamental biochemical processes. Over 15 000 transcripts were similar to Caenorhabditis elegans genes encoding proteins with roles in mechanical and neural control of movement, responses to chemicals, mechanical and thermal stresses. Notably, 766 transcripts matched parasitism genes employed by both migratory and sedentary endoparasites in host interactions, three of which hybridized to the gland cell region, suggesting that they might be secreted. Conversely, transcripts for effectors reported to be involved in feeding site formation by sedentary endoparasites were conspicuously absent. Transcripts similar to those encoding some secretory-excretory products at the host interface of Brugia malayi, the secretome of Meloidogyne incognita and products of gland cells of Heterodera glycines were also identified. This P. zeae transcriptome provides new information for genome annotation and functional analysis of possible targets for control of pratylenchid nematodes

Early Detection of Stroke for Ensuring Health and Well-Being Based on Categorical Gradient Boosting Machine

Stroke is believed to be among the leading causes of adult disability worldwide. It is wreaking havoc on African people, families, and governments, with ramifications for the continent’s socio-economic development. On the other hand, stroke research output is insufficient, resulting in a dearth of evidence-based and context-driven guidelines and strategies to combat the region’s expanding stroke burden. Indeed, for African and other developing economies to meet the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), particularly SDG 3, which aims to guarantee healthy lifestyles and promote well-being for people of all ages, the issue of stroke must be addressed to reduce early death from non-communicable illnesses. This study sought to create a robust predictive model for early stroke diagnosis using an understandable machine learning (ML) technique. We implemented a categorical gradient boosting machine model for early stroke prediction to protect patients’ health and well-being. We compared the effectiveness of our proposed model to existing state-of-the-art machine learning models and previous studies by empirically testing it on a real-world public stroke dataset. The proposed model outperformed the others when compared to the other methods using the research data, achieving the maximum accuracy (96.56%), the area under the curve (AUC) (99.73%), F1-measure (96.68%), recall (99.24%), and precision (93.57%). Functional outcome prediction models based on machine learning for stroke were verified and shown to be adaptable and helpful

Assessment of Heavy Metal Contamination and Distribution in Surface Soils and Plants along the West Coast of Ghana

Onshore oil drilling activity is ongoing at Jubilee oil fields, Ghana. This activity could lead to heavy metal exposure with consequential adverse effects on public health in nearby coastal communities. Therefore, we assessed heavy metal levels and spatial distribution in soils and plants from the west coast of Ghana to obtain baseline values for monitoring heavy metal exposure. Surface soils were collected from six coastal communities, and analyzed for arsenic, cadmium, copper, mercury, lead, selenium and zinc using atomic absorption spectrophotometer. Mean heavy metal concentrations in soil samples were 2.06, 6.55, 0.016, 21.59, 0.18 and 39.49mg/kg for arsenic, copper, mercury, lead, selenium and zinc, respectively. Mean heavy metal concentrations in plants were 2.70, 17.47, 3.17, 91.74, 1.51 and 9.88mg/kg for arsenic, cadmium, copper, lead, selenium and zinc, respectively. Concentrations of arsenic, cadmium and lead in plants exceeded WHO/FAO permissible limits. Enrichment factor for arsenic was significant and extremely high for selenium, while geoaccumulation index showed moderate pollution for selenium. Soil contamination factors for arsenic, lead, and selenium indicated considerable contamination. In view of these findings remediation methods must be adopted to safeguard the communities. The data will be useful for future monitoring of heavy metal exposure in the communities and to assess the impact of the ongoing crude oil drilling activity on the environment