Timeliness Cost of Planting Field Operations at Badala Farm in Bauchi State Nigeria

Position and time data were recorded during corn planting in Badala Farm Bauchi State Nigeria for 140 ha. Corn was planted from mid-June to mid-July, 2009 into the ploughed and harrowed crop’s field. A questionnaire was used together with field experiment to evaluate timeliness cost. Vagaries of weather, optimum soil conditions, available field workdays, optimal level of machinery capacity were the significant explainers of yield variability. Maize yield was low 1.11ton/ha. Estimated number of work field days suitable for planting was 21 days. Operating speed was 2.2 Km/h. Field efficiency was 80 percent and the effective implement width as 6.4m. Keywords: Timeliness Cost, Planting, Harvesting, Machinery Capacity and Crop Yiel

Ebola virus disease: a review

Background: Ebola virus (EBV) is a member of the family, Filoviridae, and is the etiological agent of Ebola virus disease or Ebola hemorrhagic fever (EHF). This disease causes significant morbidity and mortality in humans and non-human primates, with human fatality rates reaching 90% during outbreaks. EVD is presently one of the world’s feared, and classified as a biological class 4 pathogen and its natural reservoir is not known. This review describes the epidemiology, clinical features diagnosis and treatment of EVD. The understanding of viral pathogenesis is limited. Therefore, further studies examining the pathogenic mechanisms of EBV are necessary to fully understand and effectively treat EVD. Aim: The aim of this review is to obtain information on Ebola virus disease, its Virology, pathogenesis, immune response and immune response evasion as well as some current diagnosis approaches. Conclusion: EVD is presently one of the world’s feared, and classified as a biological class 4 pathogen with its natural reservoir not known, it has been a serious threat to human individuals due to its highly infectious and lethal behavior, Since the spreads of the disease is mainly through the transmission of blood and body fluids from infected person Extra care should be observed, since yet no approved specific vaccine or antiviral drug to treat the infection. Key Words: Ebola virus Disease; Ebola hemorrhagic fever

An Assessment of the Wear Element Contamination of Food Processed by Wet Milling Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Technique

This paper ‘Assessment of Wear Elements in Food Products by Wet Milling Using Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy Technique’ was carried out to determine the levels of Wear Elements introduced into food consumed by humans after being wet milled. Samples were collected from a selected milling house in Yelwa area in Bauchi State Nigeria and were analyzed. The presence of heavy metals such as Cadmium (Cd) and Lead (Pb) as well as trace elements; Copper (Cu) and Zinc (Zn) contents in milled beans, tomatoes, sweet pepper and onions were determined using Atomic Absorption Spectrometry. The wear elements detected ranged from 0.008 to 0.017 mgkg?1 of Pb and 12.42 to 17.63 mgkg?1 of Fe and Cd went undetected being lower than the detection limits of 0.003 mgkg1.. However, the trace elements ranged from 6.75 to 11.84 mgkg?1 of Cu and 9.35 to 81.25mgkg?1 of Zn. The highest values of Pb, Cu, Zn and Fe in the milled products were observed in Onion paste (0.017mgkg?1), Tomato slurry (11.84mgkg?1), Beans paste (81.25 mgkg?1) respectively. The level of Fe and Zn in most of the samples was found to be above the permissible level of 15 mgkg?1 and 60 mgkg?1 respectively as set by WHO (2003). Other wear elements were found to be within the safe levels. Keywords: Wear Element, Atomic Absorption Spectroscopy, and Wet Milling

Compact patch MIMO antenna with low mutual coupling for WLAN applications

A compact triband microstrip patch MIMO antenna is proposed for WLAN applications. The antenna consists of two patches antenna elements, which are orthogonally placed to each other for high isolation at 2.4, 2.8 and 5.8 GHz frequency bands. On its ground plane, a Complementary Split Ring Resonators (CSRRs) is etched for size reduction and multiband generation. The proposed compact MIMO antenna covers an entire size of 58 x 45 x 1.6 mm3, with the patch size of 13.3 x 17.1 mm2. A 79% size reduction at 2.45 GHz was achieved for miniaturization, with a very low mutual coupling (S21 and S12) of -32 dB at all bands

Studies on the Moisture Dependent Physical Properties of Cowpea

Cowpea is a very important legume in Nigeria that is being utilized to Substitute high-cost animal protein for low-income people. The knowledge of some physical properties of various moisture contents is of utmost importance in the design of its handling and processing equipment and machinery, which is the aim of this work, which studied the physical properties of IT99K-573-1-1 (SAMPEA14) variety of Cowpea within 8.77 to 21.58 % db moisture content. The properties studied include Major, Intermediate, and Minor diameters, Sphericity, Surface area, Specific gravity, Volume, Bulk density, 50-tap density, 100-tap density, 1250-tap density, seed mass, Angle of repose, Geometric mean diameter, and Arithmetic mean diameter. The obtained results indicate that the Size, Sphericity, Geometric, Arithmetic diameter, Surface area, and seed mass increase linearly with an increase in moisture content by 13.8%, 27.4%, and 16.1% for the size, respectively. While sphericity rises by 7.5% and geometric mean diameter, arithmetic mean diameter, surface area, and grain mass increase by 22.2%, 20.7%, 24.9%, and 16.11%, respectively. Specific gravity, density, and repose angle were inversely linearly related to moisture content. Regression equations for each of the properties related to the grains' moisture content were developed

Evolution of enhanced innate immune evasion by SARS-CoV-2

Emergence of SARS-CoV-2 variants of concern (VOCs) suggests viral adaptation to enhance human-to-human transmission1,2. Although much effort has focused on characterisation of spike changes in VOCs, mutations outside spike likely contribute to adaptation. Here we used unbiased abundance proteomics, phosphoproteomics, RNAseq and viral replication assays to show that isolates of the Alpha (B.1.1.7) variant3 more effectively suppress innate immune responses in airway epithelial cells, compared to first wave isolates. We found that Alpha has dramatically increased subgenomic RNA and protein levels of N, Orf9b and Orf6, all known innate immune antagonists. Expression of Orf9b alone suppressed the innate immune response through interaction with TOM70, a mitochondrial protein required for RNA sensing adaptor MAVS activation. Moreover, the activity of Orf9b and its association with TOM70 was regulated by phosphorylation. We propose that more effective innate immune suppression, through enhanced expression of specific viral antagonist proteins, increases the likelihood of successful Alpha transmission, and may increase in vivo replication and duration of infection4. The importance of mutations outside Spike in adaptation of SARS-CoV-2 to humans is underscored by the observation that similar mutations exist in the Delta and Omicron N/Orf9b regulatory regions

SARS-CoV-2 evolution during treatment of chronic infection

SARS-CoV-2 Spike protein is critical for virus infection via engagement of ACE21, and is a major 54 antibody target. Here we report chronic SARS-CoV-2 with reduced sensitivity to neutralising 55 antibodies in an immune suppressed individual treated with convalescent plasma, generating 56 whole genome ultradeep sequences over 23 time points spanning 101 days. Little change was 57 observed in the overall viral population structure following two courses of remdesivir over the 58 first 57 days. However, following convalescent plasma therapy we observed large, dynamic 59 virus population shifts, with the emergence of a dominant viral strain bearing D796H in S2 and 60 H69/V70 in the S1 N-terminal domain NTD of the Spike protein. As passively transferred 61 serum antibodies diminished, viruses with the escape genotype diminished in frequency, before 62 returning during a final, unsuccessful course of convalescent plasma. In vitro, the Spike escape 63 double mutant bearing H69/V70 and D796H conferred modestly decreased sensitivity to 64 convalescent plasma, whilst maintaining infectivity similar to wild type. D796H appeared to be 65 the main contributor to decreased susceptibility but incurred an infectivity defect. The 66 H69/V70 single mutant had two-fold higher infectivity compared to wild type, possibly 67 compensating for the reduced infectivity of D796H. These data reveal strong selection on SARS68 CoV-2 during convalescent plasma therapy associated with emergence of viral variants with 69 evidence of reduced susceptibility to neutralising antibodies.COG-UK is supported by funding from the Medical Research Council (MRC) part of UK Research & Innovation (UKRI), the National Institute of Health Research (NIHR) and Genome Research Limited, operating as the Wellcome Sanger Institute

Superspreaders drive the largest outbreaks of hospital onset COVID-19 infections.

SARS-CoV-2 is notable both for its rapid spread, and for the heterogeneity of its patterns of transmission, with multiple published incidences of superspreading behaviour. Here, we applied a novel network reconstruction algorithm to infer patterns of viral transmission occurring between patients and health care workers (HCWs) in the largest clusters of COVID-19 infection identified during the first wave of the epidemic at Cambridge University Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust, UK. Based upon dates of individuals reporting symptoms, recorded individual locations, and viral genome sequence data, we show an uneven pattern of transmission between individuals, with patients being much more likely to be infected by other patients than by HCWs. Further, the data were consistent with a pattern of superspreading, whereby 21% of individuals caused 80% of transmission events. Our study provides a detailed retrospective analysis of nosocomial SARS-CoV-2 transmission, and sheds light on the need for intensive and pervasive infection control procedures

Screening of healthcare workers for SARS-CoV-2 highlights the role of asymptomatic carriage in COVID-19 transmission

Significant differences exist in the availability of healthcare worker (HCW) SARS-CoV-2 testing between countries, and existing programmes focus on screening symptomatic rather than asymptomatic staff. Over a 3-week period (April 2020), 1,032 asymptomatic HCWs were screened for SARS-CoV-2 in a large UK teaching hospital. Symptomatic staff and symptomatic household contacts were additionally tested. Real-time RT-PCR was used to detect viral RNA from a throat+nose self-swab. 3% of HCWs in the asymptomatic screening group tested positive for SARS-CoV-2. 17/30 (57%) were truly asymptomatic/pauci-symptomatic. 12/30 (40%) had experienced symptoms compatible with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) >7 days prior to testing, most self-isolating, returning well. Clusters of HCW infection were discovered on two independent wards. Viral genome sequencing showed that the majority of HCWs had the dominant lineage B·1. Our data demonstrates the utility of comprehensive screening of HCWs with minimal or no symptoms. This approach will be critical for protecting patients and hospital staff

Combined Point-of-Care Nucleic Acid and Antibody Testing for SARS-CoV-2 following Emergence of D614G Spike Variant

Rapid COVID-19 diagnosis in the hospital is essential, although this is complicated by 30%–50% of nose/throat swabs being negative by SARS-CoV-2 nucleic acid amplification testing (NAAT). Furthermore, the D614G spike mutant dominates the pandemic and it is unclear how serological tests designed to detect anti-spike antibodies perform against this variant. We assess the diagnostic accuracy of combined rapid antibody point of care (POC) and nucleic acid assays for suspected COVID-19 disease due to either wild-type or the D614G spike mutant SARS-CoV-2. The overall detection rate for COVID-19 is 79.2% (95% CI 57.8–92.9) by rapid NAAT alone. The combined point of care antibody test and rapid NAAT is not affected by D614G and results in very high sensitivity for COVID-19 diagnosis with very high specificity