Caractérisation des techniques de séchage du cacao dans les principales zones de production en Côte d’Ivoire et détermination de leur influence sur la qualité des fèves commercialisées

Objectifs: Le séchage constitue une étape très importante dans la préparation du cacao marchand. Cette étude vise à caractériser les techniques utilisées par les producteurs en Côte d’Ivoire et déterminer leur influence sur la qualité des fèves. Méthodologie et résultats: Une enquête a été menée dans les principales zones de production (Est, Centre-Ouest et Sud-Ouest) en Côte d’Ivoire, afin de caractériser les techniques de séchage du cacao. Le questionnaire d’enquête a porté sur l’aire de séchage utilisée et la durée de l’opération. Par ailleurs, l’analyse au laboratoire des fèves prélevées après séchage a permis d’apprécier l’influence des techniques utilisées sur leur qualité. Les résultats obtenus ont révélé l’utilisation des claies préférentiellement par 90 % des producteurs pour le séchage dans l’Est du pays. Ceux du Centre-Ouest et du Sud-Ouest font simultanément usage des bâches noires et des aires cimentées. Respectivement 40 %, 38 % et 46 % des producteurs dans l’Est, le Centre-Ouest et Sud-Ouest ne déterminent pas la durée de séchage des fèves. Les durées déterminées sont relativement brèves et comprises entre 3 et 9 jours. Les analyses de qualité effectuées sur les échantillons collectés ont montré une corrélation linaire et négative (y = - 0,3706x + 9,9341 ; R = 0,8185) entre la durée de séchage et la teneur en eau des fèves. De même, le niveau d’impuretés à été plus élevé dans les échantillons prélevés au Centre-Ouest et au Sud-Ouest que dans ceux collectés à l’Est. La zone Est de la Côte d’Ivoire est caractérisée par l’usage des claies, un temps de séchage plus long et un cacao plus propre et plus sec. A l’opposé, le Centre-Ouest et le Sud-Ouest sont définis par l’utilisation des bâches noires et des aires cimentées, une durée de séchage relativement plus courte, surtout à Oumé, et un cacao moins propre et moins sec. Conclusion et application de résultats: Il ressort de cette étude que l’utilisation de la claie comme aire de séchage contribue à obtenir un cacao plus propre. Il est recommandé d’étendre son utilisation à l’ensemble des zones de production d’une part et d’autre part, prolonger la durée de séchage pour une bonne déshydratation des fèves, afin d’assurer une bonne qualité au cacao marchand. Mots clés: poste- récolte, aire de séchage, durée de séchage, cacao marchand, qualit

Determination of the antimicrobial susceptibility pattern of enterobacteriaceae in a tertiary health center of Northeastern Nigeria.

Gram negative resistance particularly amongst species of has emerged as a worldwide threat affecting the efficacy of our commonly used antimicrobial agents. These threats affect the quality of care and results in prolonged hospitalization and increase in health care cost. We set out to evaluate the occurrence and profile of antimicrobial resistance from clinical isolates of in a tertiary health center of north-eastern, Nigeria. Method: Confirmed species of isolated from 225 patients that were admitted in various units of University of Maiduguri Teaching Hospital (UMTH) Maiduguri were tested for susceptibility to 6 antimicrobial agents; ampicillin (10µg), aztreonam (30µg), gentamicin (10µg), ceftriaxone (30µg), ciprofloxacin (5µg) and amoxicillin/clavulanic acid (20/10µg) using the clinical and laboratory standards institute (CLSI) breakpoints. Results: A total of 225 clinical variants of were isolated during the study period. The specie with the highest proportion was with 73(32.4%) and this was followed closely by with 61(27.1%). The result of the susceptibility testing on this species of showed ampicillin (10µg) with the highest resistance of 118(52.4%) while aztreonam(30µg) has the lowest resistance of 58(25.8%). Conclusion: There is the existence of widespread resistance to mostly the beta lactam agents among species of with the exception of Aztreonam. Irrational use of antibiotics must be discouraged so as to reduce this emerging threat. Stringent infection control and antibiotic stewardship programshould be established and sustained in our hospitals nationwide

Glauber theory of initial- and final-state interactions in (p,2p) scattering

We develop the Glauber theory description of initial- and final-state interactions (IFSI) in quasielastic A(p,2p) scattering. We study the IFSI-distortion effects both for the inclusive and exclusive conditions. In inclusive reaction the important new effect is an interaction between the two sets of the trajectories which enter the calculation of IFSI-distorted one-body density matrix for inclusive (p,2p) scattering and are connected with incoherent elastic rescatterings of the initial and final protons on spectator nucleons. We demonstrate that IFSI-distortions of the missing momentum distribution are large over the whole range of missing momentum both for inclusive and exclusive reactions and affect in a crucial way the interpretation of the BNL data on (p,2p) scattering. Our numerical results show that in the region of missing momentum p_{m}\lsim 100-150 MeV/c the incoherent IFSI increase nuclear transparency by 5-10\%. The incoherent IFSI become dominant at p_{m}\gsim 200 MeV/c.Comment: Accepted in Z. Phys.A, Latex, 26 pages, uuencoded 9 figure

On Polynomial Stability of Coupled Partial Differential Equations in 1D

We study the well-posedness and asymptotic behaviour of selected PDE-PDE and PDE-ODE systems on one-dimensional spatial domains, namely a boundary coupled wave-heat system and a wave equation with a dynamic boundary condition. We prove well-posedness of the models and derive rational decay rates for the energy using an approach where the coupled systems are formulated as feedback interconnections of impedance passive regular linear systems.Comment: 12 pages, 1 figure, accepted for publication in the Proceedings of "Semigroups of Operators: Theory and Applications", Kazimierz Dolny, Poland, October 201

Dent disease: A window into calcium and phosphate transport

This review examines calcium and phosphate transport in the kidney through the lens of the rare X-linked genetic disorder Dent disease. Dent disease type 1 (DD1) is caused by mutations in the CLCN5 gene encoding ClC-5, a Cl- /H+ antiporter localized to early endosomes of the proximal tubule (PT). Phenotypic features commonly include low molecular weight proteinuria (LMWP), hypercalciuria, focal global sclerosis and chronic kidney disease; calcium nephrolithiasis, nephrocalcinosis and hypophosphatemic rickets are less commonly observed. Although it is not surprising that abnormal endosomal function and recycling in the PT could result in LMWP, it is less clear how ClC-5 dysfunction disturbs calcium and phosphate metabolism. It is known that the majority of calcium and phosphate transport occurs in PT cells, and PT endocytosis is essential for calcium and phosphorus reabsorption in this nephron segment. Evidence from ClC-5 KO models suggests that ClC-5 mediates parathormone endocytosis from tubular fluid. In addition, ClC-5 dysfunction alters expression of the sodium/proton exchanger NHE3 on the PT apical surface thus altering transcellular sodium movement and hence paracellular calcium reabsorption. A potential role for NHE3 dysfunction in the DD1 phenotype has never been investigated, either in DD models or in patients with DD1, even though patients with DD1 exhibit renal sodium and potassium wasting, especially when exposed to even a low dose of thiazide diuretic. Thus, insights from the rare disease DD1 may inform possible underlying mechanisms for the phenotype of hypercalciuria and idiopathic calcium stones

A Low Power Multi-Class Migraine Detection Processor Based on Somatosensory Evoked Potentials

Migraine is a disabling neurological disorder that can be recurrent and persist for long durations. The continuous monitoring of the brain activities can enable the patient to respond on time before the occurrence of the approaching migraine episode to minimize the severity. Therefore, there is a need for a wearable device that can ensure the early diagnosis of a migraine attack. This brief presents a low latency, and power-efficient feature extraction and classification processor for the early detection of a migraine attack. Somatosensory Evoked Potentials (SEP) are utilized to monitor the migraine patterns in an ambulatory environment aiming to have a processor integrated on-sensor for power-efficient and timely intervention. In this work, a complete digital design of the wearable environment is proposed. It allows the extraction of multiple features including multiple power spectral bands using 256-point fast Fourier transform (FFT), root mean square of late HFO bursts and latency of N20 peak. These features are then classified using a multi-classification artificial neural network (ANN)-based classifier which is also realized on the chip. The proposed processor is placed and routed in a 180nm CMOS with an active area of 0.5mm(2). The total power consumption is 249 mu W while operating at a 20MHz clock with full computations completed in 1.31ms

Threshold FlipThem:when the winner does not need to take all

We examine a FlipIt game in which there are multiple resources which a monolithic attacker is trying to compromise. This extension to FlipIt was considered in a paper in GameSec 2014, and was there called FlipThem. Our analysis of such a situation is focused on the situation where the attacker’s goal is to compromise a threshold of the resources. We use our game theoretic model to enable a defender to choose the correct configuration of resources (number of resources and the threshold) so as to ensure that it makes no sense for a rational adversary to try to attack the system. This selection is made on the basis of the relative costs of the attacker and the defender

Age-related differences in the functional topography of the locus coeruleus and their implications for cognitive and affective functions

The locus coeruleus (LC) is an important noradrenergic nucleus that has recently attracted a lot of attention because of its emerging role in cognitive and psychiatric disorders. Although previous histological studies have shown that the LC has heterogeneous connections and cellular features, no studies have yet assessed its functional topography in vivo, how this heterogeneity changes over aging, and whether it is associated with cognition and mood. Here, we employ a gradient-based approach to characterize the functional heterogeneity in the organization of the LC over aging using 3T resting-state fMRI in a population-based cohort aged from 18 to 88 years of age (Cambridge Centre for Ageing and Neuroscience cohort, n=618). We show that the LC exhibits a rostro-caudal functional gradient along its longitudinal axis, which was replicated in an independent dataset (Human Connectome Project [HCP] 7T dataset, n=184). Although the main rostro-caudal direction of this gradient was consistent across age groups, its spatial features varied with increasing age, emotional memory, and emotion regulation. More specifically, a loss of rostral-like connectivity, more clustered functional topography, and greater asymmetry between right and left LC gradients was associated with higher age and worse behavioral performance. Furthermore, participants with higher-than-normal Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS) ratings exhibited alterations in the gradient as well, which manifested in greater asymmetry. These results provide an in vivo account of how the functional topography of the LC changes over aging, and imply that spatial features of this organization are relevant markers of LC-related behavioral measures and psychopathology

Deleted in Liver Cancer 1 (DLC1) Utilizes a Novel Binding Site for Tensin2 PTB Domain Interaction and Is Required for Tumor-Suppressive Function

Background: Deleted in liver cancer 1 (DLC1) is a Rho GTPase-activating protein (RhoGAP) frequently deleted and underexpressed in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) as well as in other cancers. Recent independent studies have shown interaction of DLC1 with members of the tensin focal adhesion protein family in a Src Homology 2 (SH2) domain-dependent mechanism. DLC1 and tensins interact and co-localize to punctate structures at focal adhesions. However, the mechanisms underlying the interaction between DLC1 and various tensins remain controversial. Methodology/Principal Findings: We used a co-immunoprecipitation assay to identify a previously undocumented binding site at 375-385 of DLC1 that predominantly interacted with the phosphotyrosine binding (PTB) domain of tensin2. DLC1-tensin2 interaction is completely abolished in a DLC1 mutant lacking this novel PTB binding site (DLC1ΔPTB). However, as demonstrated by immunofluorescence and co-immunoprecipitation, neither the focal adhesion localization nor the interaction with tensin1 and C-terminal tensin-like (cten) were affected. Interestingly, the functional significance of this novel site was exhibited by the partial reduction of the RhoGAP activity, which, in turn, attenuated the growth-suppressive activity of DLC1 upon its removal from DLC1. Conclusions/Significance: This study has provided new evidence that DLC1 also interacts with tensin2 in a PTB domain-dependent manner. In addition to properly localizing focal adhesions and preserving RhoGAP activity, DLC1 interaction with tensin2 through this novel focal adhesion binding site contributes to the growth-suppressive activity of DLC1. © 2009 Chan et al.published_or_final_versio

Grip Force Reveals the Context Sensitivity of Language-Induced Motor Activity during “Action Words

Studies demonstrating the involvement of motor brain structures in language processing typically focus on \ud time windows beyond the latencies of lexical-semantic access. Consequently, such studies remain inconclusive regarding whether motor brain structures are recruited directly in language processing or through post-linguistic conceptual imagery. In the present study, we introduce a grip-force sensor that allows online measurements of language-induced motor activity during sentence listening. We use this tool to investigate whether language-induced motor activity remains constant or is modulated in negative, as opposed to affirmative, linguistic contexts. Our findings demonstrate that this simple experimental paradigm can be used to study the online crosstalk between language and the motor systems in an ecological and economical manner. Our data further confirm that the motor brain structures that can be called upon during action word processing are not mandatorily involved; the crosstalk is asymmetrically\ud governed by the linguistic context and not vice versa