Performance of Some Durum Wheat Varieties at Kadawa, Kano State of Nigeria

A two-year trial was conducted during the 2001/02 and 2002/03 dry seasons at Kadawa (lat. 110 39'N, long. 080 27'E and 500 m above sea level) to evaluate the performance of twelve durum wheat varieties. The varieties were laid out in Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications. The results revealed that plant height of wheat was influenced by variety in 2002/03 season only while number of tillers/plant, number of grains/spike, grain weight/spike/ 1000-grain weight and grain yield were significantly affected in both seasons. Variety Tody-6 and Anser-8 outyielded the other varieties in 2001/02 and 2002/03, respectively. Thus, the two varieties could be selected for higher yields of durum wheat in the study area. Keywords: Durum wheat, Grain yield, Kadawa, Sudan savanna, Nigeria

Reactions of Improved Cowpea Genotypes to Some Major Diseases in a Sorghum-Based Cropping System in the Sudan Savanna of Nigeria

The study was carried out to investigate the susceptibilities of some improved cowpea genotypes to infection and damage due to bacterial blight, smut and cowpea aphid-borne mosaic virus CABMV in a sorghum-based cropping system during 1999 and 2000 at Minjibir, Kano, Nigeria. Treatments consisted of six (6) genotypes made up of one (1) local Danila and five (5) improved (IT90K-277-2, IT95K-1090-3, IT95K-222-14, IT96D-666 and IT96D-759) and in a four (4) row arrangements (1S:1C, 2S:2C, 1S:2C, and 2S:4C, reflecting millet to cowpea rows). These were laid out in a split plot design with three replications. There was a significant effect (P < 0.05) of cowpea genotype on bacterial blight. In both seasons IT96D-666 recorded the highest for bacterial blight and smut damage. In 1999, Danila along with improved genotypes recorded lower ratings for blight, while in 2000 only Danila and IT95K-277-2 recorded the highest protection against bacterial blight. For smut with the exception of IT96D-666, the other (Danila, IT95K-277-2, IT95K-1091-3, IT95K-222-14 and IT96D-759) recorded statistically comparable lower damage ratings. In both seasons IT95K-277-2 recorded the least incidence and severity of leaf virus. Although the other genotypes had virtually similar and higher ratings in both or one of the two seasons, Danila and IT95K-1091-3 recorded consistently higher values. In the two seasons Danila produced significantly higher Total Dry Matter (TDM) and the other semi-determinate genotypes had comparable values. In both seasons IT95K-222-14 consistently out-yielded the other genotypes but it had statistically similar grain yield with IT95K-277-2 in 2000. Row arrangement had a significant effect on bacterial blight in 1999, whereas planting cowpea at 1S:1C recorded the least infection while the highest rating was obtained at 2S:4C row arrangement. Incidence and severity of leaf virus were not affected by row arrangement. In both seasons TDM and grain yields were significantly higher at 2S:4C while the least values were recorded at 1S:1C row arrangement was superior to the row arrangement. The genotype and row arrangement interaction indicated that planting of IT95K-222-14 at 2S:4C row arrangement produced the highest grain yield

Corrosion Resistance of AA6063-Type Al-Mg-Si Alloy by Silicon Carbide in Sodium Chloride Solution for Marine Application

The present work focused on corrosion inhibition of AA6063 type Al-Mg-Si alloy in sodium chloride (NaCl) solution with a silicon carbide inhibitor, using the potentiodynamic electrochemical method. The aluminium alloy surface morphology was examined, in the as-received and as-corroded in the un-inhibited state, with scanning electron microscopy equipped with energy dispersive spectroscopy (SEM-EDS). The results obtained via linear polarization indicated a high corrosion potential for the unprotected as-received alloy. Equally, inhibition efficiency as high as 98.82% at 10.0 g/v silicon carbide addition was obtained with increased polarization resistance (Rp), while the current density reduced significantly for inhibited samples compared to the un-inhibited aluminium alloy. The adsorption mechanism of the inhibitor aluminium alloy follows the Langmuir adsorption isotherm. This shows that the corrosion rate of aluminium alloy with silicon carbide in NaCl environment decreased significantly with addition of the inhibito

CMOS technology for increasing efficiency of clock gating techniques using tri-state buffer

Clock gating is an effective technique of decreasing dynamic power dissipation in synchronous design. One of the methods used to realize this goal is to mask the clock which goes to the unnecessary to use in specific time. This paper will present a comparative analysis of this clock gating technique in an 8-bit Arithmetic Logic Unit (ALU). The new clock gating method provides a solution to the problems in the existing techniques. The new proposed clock gating technique generating circuit uses tri-state buffer in a negative latch design, instead of OR gate logic. With the same function being performed, this circuit saves more power and reduces area used, irrespective of design performance. The minimum power gain realized 6.4 % percentage in total power consumption by executing 20 MHz frequency. It also used a 0.9 % occupation area. The proposed method was implemented by using ASIC design methodology, and 130 nm standard cell technology libraries were used for ASIC implementation. Furthermore, the architecture of the ALU was created using Verilog HDL language (32-Bit Quartus II 11.1 Web Edition). The simulation was carried out by using the Model Sim-Altera 10.0c (Quartus II 11.1 Starter Edition). Finally, the design will reduce complexity in hardware and similar clock power

Calcium Channel Blockers

Vasospasm refers to a condition in which an arterial spasm leads to vasoconstriction. This can lead to tissue ischemia and necrosis. Coronary vasospasm can lead to significant cardiac ischemia associated with symptomatic ischemia or cardiac arrhythmia. Cerebral vasospasm is an essential source of morbidity and mortality in subarachnoid hemorrhage patients. It can happen within 3–15 days with a peak incidence at 7 days after aneurysmal subarachnoid hemorrhage (SAH). Calcium channel blockers are widely used in the treatment of hypertension, angina pectoris, cardiac arrhythmias, and other disorders like SAH vasospasm related and Migraine. The specific treatment of cerebral vasospasm helps improving cerebral blood flow to avoid delayed ischemic neurologic deficit by reducing ICP, optimizing the rate of cerebral oxygen demand, and enhancing cerebral blood flow with one of the following approaches: indirect pharmacological protection of brain tissue or direct mechanical dilation of the vasospastic vessel. Nimodipine is the standard of care in aneurysmal SAH patients. Nimodipine 60 mg every 4 hours can be used for all patients with aneurysmal SAH once the diagnosis is made for 21 days

A unified framework for finding differentially expressed genes from microarray experiments

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>This paper presents a unified framework for finding differentially expressed genes (DEGs) from the microarray data. The proposed framework has three interrelated modules: (i) gene ranking, ii) significance analysis of genes and (iii) validation. The first module uses two gene selection algorithms, namely, a) two-way clustering and b) combined adaptive ranking to rank the genes. The second module converts the gene ranks into p-values using an R-test and fuses the two sets of p-values using the Fisher's omnibus criterion. The DEGs are selected using the FDR analysis. The third module performs three fold validations of the obtained DEGs. The robustness of the proposed unified framework in gene selection is first illustrated using false discovery rate analysis. In addition, the clustering-based validation of the DEGs is performed by employing an adaptive subspace-based clustering algorithm on the training and the test datasets. Finally, a projection-based visualization is performed to validate the DEGs obtained using the unified framework.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The performance of the unified framework is compared with well-known ranking algorithms such as t-statistics, Significance Analysis of Microarrays (SAM), Adaptive Ranking, Combined Adaptive Ranking and Two-way Clustering. The performance curves obtained using 50 simulated microarray datasets each following two different distributions indicate the superiority of the unified framework over the other reported algorithms. Further analyses on 3 real cancer datasets and 3 Parkinson's datasets show the similar improvement in performance. First, a 3 fold validation process is provided for the two-sample cancer datasets. In addition, the analysis on 3 sets of Parkinson's data is performed to demonstrate the scalability of the proposed method to multi-sample microarray datasets.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>This paper presents a unified framework for the robust selection of genes from the two-sample as well as multi-sample microarray experiments. Two different ranking methods used in module 1 bring diversity in the selection of genes. The conversion of ranks to p-values, the fusion of p-values and FDR analysis aid in the identification of significant genes which cannot be judged based on gene ranking alone. The 3 fold validation, namely, robustness in selection of genes using FDR analysis, clustering, and visualization demonstrate the relevance of the DEGs. Empirical analyses on 50 artificial datasets and 6 real microarray datasets illustrate the efficacy of the proposed approach. The analyses on 3 cancer datasets demonstrate the utility of the proposed approach on microarray datasets with two classes of samples. The scalability of the proposed unified approach to multi-sample (more than two sample classes) microarray datasets is addressed using three sets of Parkinson's Data. Empirical analyses show that the unified framework outperformed other gene selection methods in selecting differentially expressed genes from microarray data.</p

The relationship between the presence of anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide antibodies and clinical phenotype in very early rheumatoid arthritis

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Anti-cyclic citrullinated peptide (anti-CCP) antibodies are highly specific for RA, but are not detectable in all RA patients. The aim of this study was to establish whether the clinical phenotypes of anti-CCP positive and negative disease are distinct at the earliest clinically apparent phase of disease.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Patients were recruited from the Birmingham early inflammatory arthritis clinic. Participants were included in the current study if they presented within 3 months of symptom onset and fulfilled 1987 ACR criteria for RA at some point during an 18 month follow-up. Data were collected on demographic variables, joint symptoms and tender (n = 68) and swollen (n = 66) joint counts. CRP, ESR, rheumatoid factor and anti-CCP2 status were measured.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>92 patients were included (48 anti-CCP positive). The anti-CCP positive and negative groups were comparable in terms of demographic variables, inflammatory markers, joint counts and 1987 ACR classification criteria, except that more anti-CCP positive patients were rheumatoid factor positive (83.3% vs. 11.4%, p < 0.01). There was no significant difference in the pattern of joint involvement, except for an increased prevalence of knee joint swelling in anti-CCP positive patients (42.9% vs. 22.2%, p = 0.03).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Patients with and without anti-CCP antibodies present in a similar way, even within three months of clinically apparent disease that eventually develops into RA.</p

Rationale, design and protocol of a longitudinal study assessing the effect of total knee arthroplasty on habitual physical activity and sedentary behavior in adults with osteoarthritis

Background: Physical activity levels are decreased and sedentary behaviour levels are increased in patients with knee osteoarthritis (OA). However, previous studies have shown that following total knee arthroplasty (TKA), objectively measured physical activity levels do not change compared to before the surgery. Very few studies have objectively assessed sedentary behaviour following TKA. This study aims to assess patterns of objective habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour in patients with knee OA and to determine whether these change following TKA. Methods: Patients diagnosed with knee osteoarthritis and scheduled for unilateral primary total knee arthroplasty will be recruited from the Orthopaedic Division at the Charlotte Maxeke Johannesburg Academic Hospital. Eligible participants will have assessments completed one week before the scheduled arthroplasty, six weeks, and six months post-operatively. The primary outcomes are habitual physical activity and sedentary behaviour which will be measured using accelerometry (Actigraph GTX3+ and activPal monitors) at the specific time points. The secondary outcomes will be improvements in osteoarthritis-specific quality of life measures using the following questionnaires: Western Ontario and McMaster Universities Osteoarthritis Index (WOMAC), Knee injury and Osteoarthritis Outcome Score (KOOS), Oxford Knee Score (OKS), Knee Society Clinical Rating System (KSS), UCLA activity index; subjective pain scores, and self reported sleep quality.Discussion: The present study will contribute to the field of musculoskeletal health by providing a rich detailed description of the patterns of accumulation of physical activity and sedentary behaviour in patients with knee OA. These data will contribute to existing knowledge using an objective measurement for the assessment of functional ability after total knee arthroplasty. Although studies have used accelerometry to measure physical activity in knee OA patients, the data provided thus far have not delved into the detailed patterns of how and when physical activity is accumulated before and after TKA. Accurate assessment of physical activity is important for physical activity interventions that target special populations