Organic spices farming in WEST Districts, Zanzibar: Its contribution to livelihood outcomes of smallholder farmers

MSc. DissertationIn recent years, organic agriculture has been gaining considerable importance. Many farmers today show interest all over the world in organic farming. Several of them have begun switching to this traditional method of cultivation as a means to produce safe foodstuffs and preserve the environment. The concept of organic farming is not new, but it has been scantly studied. An organic spice farming is a part of the organic farming which requires to be studied widely. Spice production is a popular economic activity in Zanzibar. The purpose of this study was to assess the contribution of organic spice farming to livelihood outcomes of the smallholder farmers. The study adopted a cross-sectional research design. A random sampling procedure was used to obtain 120 households. The households were categorized from three clusters namely: merely organic, certified organic and inorganic spice farming farmers. Data were collected using a household questionnaire survey, focus group discussion and key informant interview. Both quantitative and qualitative data were analyzed. Among the three types of spice farming, inorganic spice farming could an averagely produce 174.3 kg/household, followed by merely organic (86.3 kg/household) and certified organic (70.2 kg/household). However, certified spice farming households earned in average 565 900 TAS higher than others ((merely organic (361 170 TAS) and inorganic (350 500 TAS)). Further, certified spices contributed to 26.2% of the total household’s income, followed by merely organic (23.1%) and inorganic (19.0%) spices. The farmers who certified their spices had been food secured for about 43%, followed by merely organic spices (35%) and merely organic spices (30%). Generally, all the three types of spice farming led to the farmers affording to meet social services at above 70%. The study concludes that spice farming enhanced livelihood outcomes among households. There is, therefore, a need of putting more effort in spice farming improvement, particularly certified organic spice farming as it gives high earnings to the households

Phylogenetic analysis of the complete chloroplast genome of Prunus persica seed as the Chinese herbal medicine to China

The seed of Prunus persica is a kind of commonly used Chinese herbal medicine in orthopedics at China. In this study, we assembled and annotated the complete chloroplast genome of P. persica. The chloroplast genome size was 157,704 bp as a circle, which contained a large single-copy region (LSC, 85,883 bp), a small single-copy region (SSC, 19,061 bp) and a pair of inverted repeat regions (IR, 26,380 bp). The overall nucleotide composition is: 31.1% of A (49,092 bp), 32.1% T (50,709 bp), 18.8% C (29,625 bp) and 18.0% G (28,278 bp), with a total G + C content of the chloroplast genome 36.8% and A + T of 63.2%. The chloroplast genome of P. persica contains 123 genes, which included 78 protein-coding genes (PCG), 37 transfer RNA (tRNAs) and 8 ribosome RNA (rRNAs). Furthermore, the phylogenetic analysis based on 14 plants species confirmed the position of P. persica closely related to Prunus mongolica

Resistance training with blood flow restriction using the modulation of the muscle’s contraction velocity

There is an increasing interest in developing low-intensity resistance training methods to reduce both the mechanical stress on joints in individuals from different age groups and the risk of injuries in athletes. Blood Flow Restriction Resistance Training (BFRRT) has been shown to be an effective method for improving muscular function, using low and moderate load intensity. Therefore, the purpose of the present article is to highlight the main metabolic and neuromuscular adaptations to BFRRT and to suggest an alternative implementation of BFRRT through the modulation of the velocity of the muscle contraction

iTRAQ-Based Proteomic Analysis of APP Transgenic Mouse Urine Exosomes

Alzheimer’s disease (AD) is a common dementia disease in the elderly. To get a better understanding of the pathophysiology, we performed a proteomic analysis of the urine exosomes (U-exo) in AD model mice (J20). The polymer precipitation method was used to isolate U-exo from the urine of 3-month-old J20 and wild-type (WT) mice. Neuron-derived exosome (N-exo) was isolated from U-exo by immunoprecipitation. iTRAQ-based MALDI TOF MS/MS was used for proteomic analysis. The results showed that compared to WT, the levels of 61 and 92 proteins were increased in the J20 U-exo and N-exo, respectively. Gene ontology enrichment analysis demonstrated that the sphingolipid catabolic process, ceramide catabolic process, membrane lipid catabolic process, Aβ clearance, and Aβ metabolic process were highly enriched in U-exo and N-exo. Among these, Asah1 was shown to be the key protein in lipid metabolism, and clusterin, ApoE, neprilysin, and ACE were related to Aβ metabolism and clearance. Furthermore, protein–protein interaction analysis identified four protein complexes where clusterin and ApoE participated as partner proteins. Thus, J20 U-exo and N-exo contain proteins related to lipid- and Aβ-metabolism in the early stages of AD, providing a new insight into the underlying pathological mechanism of early AD

Time-Dependent Analysis of Plasmalogens in the Hippocampus of an Alzheimer’s Disease Mouse Model: A Role of Ethanolamine Plasmalogen

Plasmalogens are alkenyl-acyl glycerophospholipids and decreased in post-mortem Alzheimer’s disease (AD) brains. The aim of this study is to investigate the time-dependent changes of plasmalogens in the hippocampus of an AD model mouse (J20). Plasmalogen levels at 3, 6, 9, 12 and 15 months were analyzed by liquid-chromatography-targeted-multiplexed-selected-reaction-monitoring-tandem-mass-spectrometry (LC-SRM/MS). Reactive oxygen species (ROS) levels were evaluated using dichlorofluorescein diacetate (DCF-DA). Plasmalogen synthesizing enzyme glycerone-phosphate O-acyltransferase (GNPAT) and late endosome marker Rab7 levels were quantified by Western blotting. GNPAT localization, changes of neuronal and glial cell numbers were evaluated by immunostaining. Compared to wild-type mice (WT), total plasmalogen-ethanolamine, but not plasmalogen-choline levels, were increased at 9 months and subsequently decreased at 15 months in J20 mice. A principal component analysis of plasmalogen-ethanolamine species could separate WT and J20 mice both at 9 and 15 months. Both GNPAT and Rab7 protein were increased in J20 mice at 9 months, whereas GNPAT was decreased at 15 months. ROS levels were increased in J20 mice except for 9 months. Our results suggest that increased plasmalogen-ethanolamine could counteract ROS levels and contribute to the phagocytosis process in J20 mice at 9 months. Such results might indicate a transient protective response of plasmalogen-ethanolamine in AD conditions