Socio-Economic Impact of a Cocoa Integrated Crop and Pest Management Diffusion Knowledge Through a Farmer Field School Approach in Southern Cameroon

We focused on the Socio-Economic Evaluation of Farmer Field School Training on Integrated Pest Management in the humid forest region of Cameroon. The main objective was to assess the impact of training on integrated pest management (IPM) on cocoa farmer field school graduates. The results indicate that shade management, phytosanitary harvest, pruning, improved spraying practices and grafting of improved materials were adopted at the rate of 94, 93, 90, 66 and 35 % respectively, with the overall rate of adoption being 76 %. There was a 47 % reduction in the frequency of spraying fungicides and a 17 % reduction in the number of sprayers applied per treatment following the implementation of the training. Labour inputs increased significantly for pruning, phytosanitary harvest, and shade management but decreased for spraying. A partial budget analysis reveals that the IPM practices lowered overall costs of production by 11 % relative to previous practices. The poster presenting the synthesis of this work comprises a general introduction, a methodology and study area map, results and discussion which comprise two photographs of farmer field school activities, a graph and a table of different technical results, a short conclusion and recommendation.integrated pest management, farmer field school, adoption rate, Crop Production/Industries,

The evolution of industry in Uganda

The paper looks at the evolution of industry in Uganda examining drivers and constraints since the pre-colonial period in the 1940s to date. It is argued that the state played a central role in industrialization during the pre-colonial and immediate post-colonial period. The paper further looks at industrialisation during the liberal phase. The current structure, size and distribution of industry are discussed in light of the laissez fair paradigm. The non-direct interventionist policy to industrialization has not been adequate to propel industrial development in Uganda. State withdrawal from direct involvement in industrial development was prematurely done and should be revisite

Prevalence and anatomical pattern of the median artery among adult black Kenyans

Knowledge of the anatomy of median arteries is important in the diagnosis and management of carpal tunnel and pronator teres syndromes, reconstructive surgery in the forearm, minimizing inadvertent vascular injury as well as in limiting operative complications due to unexpected bleeding. The anatomical pattern displays ethnic differences but there are few studies on black Africans. This study therefore sought to describe the anatomy of median arteries in an adult black Kenyan population. A total of sixty two (62) upper limbs from thirty one (31) formalin-fixed cadavers were studied at the Department of Human Anatomy, University of Nairobi, Kenya. The prevalence, origin, types, relationship with median nerves and termination were determined. Median arteries were observed in 37 (59.7%) cases. Of these, the palmar type comprised 12 (32.4%) and antebrachial type 25 (67.6%) cases. It occurred bilaterally in 14 (45.2%) cases. The most common origin was the common interosseous artery (21; 56.8%) followed by anterior interosseous (13; 35.1%) and ulnar 3 (8.1%) arteries. The artery pierced the median nerve in 7 (18.9%) cases. The palmar type terminated by uniting with the ulnar artery to form a median-ulnar type of superficial palmar arterial arch in 8 (21.6%) cases and directly gave rise to the first, second and third common digital arteries in 4 (10.8%). In conclusion, the median artery occurs in nearly 60% of the population, much higher than in prevailing literature reports. Prevalence of the palmar type of median arteries and that of median arteries piercing median nerves are also higher than in other populations. Accordingly, presence of median artery and consequently other vascular and median nerve variations should be considered in the differential diagnosis of forearm entrapment neuropathies and due caution taken during forearm surgical procedures. We recommend preoperative ultrasound evaluation of the forearm and hand vascular system.Keywords: Median artery, origin, prevalence, median nerve, Kenya

Anti-putrefying properties of the aqueous extract of fresh leaves of Manihot esculenta (cassava) on dead laboratory Sprague Dawley rats

The leaves of Manihot esculenta (ME) have been used by ancestors, apart from food, to preserve human bodies before burial. Formalin remains the chemical agent of choice in modern times to preserve corpses. However, cost, associated health hazards and recent public health concerns meant that researchers must explore alternative means of continuing this age-long process of preservation of human remains. The present study aimed to explore the effectiveness of extracts from cassava (Manihot esculenta) leaves in the preservation of dead remains of corpses. Aqueous extracts from fresh leaves of M. esculenta (MELE) were used to preserve euthanised rats and the internal organs were harvested after 7 days for histological analysis. The histological sections of the stomach and liver were compared with those of control rats treated with 6 ml of formalin (10%). The low and intermediate doses of MELE preserved the tissues of the dead rats beyond 7 days, as evidenced by histological sections of the stomach and liver. Concentrations of MELE between 300 mg/kg and 1500 mg/kg showed adequate potency in preserving dead rats compared to formalin. However, the dead rats treated with doses of MELE greater than 1500 mg/kg showed rapid putrefaction after 7 days

Remembering Prof. Hassan Saidi: the pillar for young anatomists and trainee doctors

No Abstrac

Analysis of Alternative Pure-breeding Structures for Sheep in Smallholder and Pastoral Production Circumstances in the Tropics

The key issue in this study was to technically compare, through stochastic simulation, different breeding programmes that vary in the level of interaction between breeders and producers. The breeding structures considered were: (i) a single closed nucleus providing seed-stock to village flocks, (ii) a group of commercial flocks running a co-operative (‘ram circle’) breeding programme with no nucleus, (iii) an interactive two-tier open nucleus breeding scheme, comprising a nucleus and a commercial tier - the best males are used within the nucleus while the remainder migrate to the commercial flocks, with no female migration, and (iv) as scheme iii but with female migration between tiers. For the latter two schemes, 100% of the nucleus animals are distributed over village flocks every 3 years. The nucleus is then replaced by a new batch of selected males and females from the village flocks obtained through ‘interactive cycling screening’, based on ‘picking the best phenotype’ in the commercial flocks. Single trait selection was considered, and based on estimated breeding value, using either best linear unbiased prediction (BLUP) or the individual’s phenotype as a deviation from contemporaries in the same flock, year and season. The results showed that genetic merit increased slightly and inbreeding decreased significantly with increase in nucleus size. For instance, with BLUP selection and trait measurement on both sexes, and first record established at year 2, a nucleus size of 100 dams with 50 dams mated to each sire resulted in genetic merit of 0.118 units and an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.119 while that with 500 dams gave a response of 0.134 with an average inbreeding coefficient of 0.037. Running one closed nucleus had a 6-24% advantage over a ‘ram circle’ in terms of genetic gain. Decreasing the dam to sire ratio was a simple way to avoid inbreeding in breeding schemes of small size, with very little compromise towards genetic gain or even an increase in the longer term. Relative to a two-tier nucleus (scheme i), cyclic screening of commercial animals for use in the nucleus gave an almost optimum genetic response, while the villagers acquired superior breeding stock in return as an incentive to participate in genetic improvement. Participation of farmers offers them a sense of ownership of the breeding programme, and is likely to make it more sustainable in the long-term. This study provides insight into the advantages and disadvantages of designed breeding structures, especially the ‘interactive cyclic’ breeding schemes, which should be useful in deciding breeding programmes to adopt for sheep in developing countries in the tropics. Keywords: Sheep, Breeding Structures, Selection, Tropic

Human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 overexpression in gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma in patients seen at the University Teaching Hospital, Lusaka, Zambia

Background: There are scanty data on the occurrence of gastric tumours overexpressing human epidermal growth factor receptor 2 (HER2) in Africa. Objective: To assess HER2 protein overexpression in gastric and gastroesophageal junction adenocarcinoma (GGEAC) samples from a single centre in Zambia. Methodology: This was a cross-sectional study of formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded blocks with GGEAC. Prepared slides were first stained with Haematoxylin and Eosin and then evaluated for HER2 protein overexpression by immunohistochemistry. Results: A total of 57 gastric tissues were stained and evaluated for HER2 overexpression. Thirteen (23%) showed overexpression, 41/57 (72%) had negative and 3/57 (5%) had equivocal staining. The equivocal cases were excluded from the final analysis. Of the remaining 54 tissues, 28 (52%) were from females, and 26 (48%) were from males. The mean age was 59 years (SD 15 years). HER2 overexpression was highest in moderately differentiated tumours (p=0.0005). Intestinal type tumours had a higher occurrenc of HER2 overexpression than diffuse or mixed sub-types (p=0.0087). HER2 overexpression was not associated with age (p=0.27), sex (p=1.00) or anatomical location (p=1.00). Conclusion: The occurrence of GGEAC HER2 overexpression in Zambian patients is similar to proportions reported elsewhere, and it is associated with moderately differentiated tumours of the intestinal type

Application of Max-min Ant System in Modelling the Inspectional Tour of Main Sales Points of Ghacem In Ghana.

Ant colony optimization (ACO) has widely been applied to solve combinatorial optimization problems in recent years. There are few studies, however, on its convergence time, which re?ects how many iteration times ACO algorithms spend in converging to the optimal solution. This study aims at using a Max-Min Ant System (MMAS), which belongs to Ants Algorithm to obtain optimal tour of the Travelling Salesman Problem of Ghacem. The study considered a twelve city node graph (major sales point of Ghacem) with the nodes representing the twelve cities, and the edges representing the major roads linking the cities. Secondary data of the inter-city driving distances was obtained from the Ghana Highway Authority. The results showed that the objective of finding the minimum tour from the Symmetric Travelling Salesman Problem (STSP) model by using Max-Min Ants System (MMAS) Algorithm was successfully achieved. The optimal route of total cost distance was found to be 1873Km. Therefore, Ghacem could minimize the cost of transportation  as the  Directors of Ghacem Ghana go on a tour to check on the sales performance  of the twelve key Distributors in the  major sales points in Ghana, starting from Tema where the company’s Head office is sited. It is very prudent for the company to rely on MMAS model to reduce fuel cost in order to maximize profit. In doing so it go along way to increase the tax revenue of the state. Keywords: Max-Min Ants System (MMAS), Ant Colony Optimization (ACO), Algorithm, Travelling Salesman (TSP), Ghace

An Epidemiological Model of Malaria at Techiman Municipality, Ghana

The study examined the prevalence of Malaria in the Techiman Municipality of Ghana. We used  model to analyze, model and predict the prevalence of Malaria disease in the municipality. The study is made up of two sections. An  model without the vital dynamics and an  with vital dynamics were used to explain the spread of the Malaria in the Techiman Municipality followed by the Fred Brauer simple treatment model ( ) to determine whether the treatment of malaria in the municipality is beneficial. The model has two equilibrium states: the disease-free equilibrium and the endemic equilibrium states respectively. The stability condition of each equilibrium point is discussed. The basic reproductive number  of Malaria without the vital dynamics is estimated to be  and the basic reproductive number  of Malaria with the vital dynamics is estimated to be in the Techiman Municipality. The basic reproductive numbers of the  model and the modified malaria model were also estimated to be  and  respectively. Our work shows that the reproductive number () of Malaria infection at Techiman Municipality is less than 1(). Our work also shows that malaria treatment is beneficial in the municipality. According to the results of this study whenever the transmission rate coefficient in any of the models is increased, , but when the transmission rate coefficient is reduced, . We recommend that Malaria control measures should be intensified in the municipality so as to decrease the rate of transmission. Keywords: SIRS model, Stability analysis, Equilibrium points, Mathematical model, Epidemiological model

Six rounds of annual praziquantel treatment during a national helminth control program significantly reduced schistosome infection and morbidity levels in a cohort of schoolchildren in Zimbabwe

BackgroundThe World Health Organization recommends that schistosomiasis be treated through Mass Drug Administration (MDA). In line with this recommendation, Zimbabwe commenced a national helminth control program in 2012 targeting schoolchildren throughout the country for 6 years. This study, part of a larger investigation of the impact of helminth treatment on the overall health of the children, determined the effect of annual praziquantel treatment on schistosome infection and morbidity in a cohort of children during Zimbabwe's 6-year national helminth control program.Methodology/principal findingsA school-based longitudinal study was carried out in 35 sentinel sites across Zimbabwe from September 2012 to November 2017. The sentinel sites were selected following a countrywide survey conducted in 280 primary schools. Schistosoma haematobium was diagnosed using the urine filtration technique. Schistosoma mansoni was diagnosed using both the Kato-Katz and formol-ether concentration techniques. S. haematobium morbidity was determined through detection of macro and microhaematuria. A cohort of children aged 6-15 years old was surveyed annually before MDA and 6 weeks post treatment. Maximum treatment coverage reached 90% over the 6 rounds of MDA. At baseline S. haematobium infection prevalence and intensity were 31.7% (95% CI = 31.1-32.2) and 28.75 eggs/10ml urine (SEM = 0.81) respectively, while S. mansoni prevalence and intensity were 4.6% (95% CI = 4.4-4.8) and 0.28 eggs/25mg (SEM = 0.02). Prior to the 6th round of MDA, S. haematobium infection prevalence had reduced to 1.56% (pConclusionZimbabwe's helminth control program significantly reduced schistosome infection intensity and prevalence and urogenital schistosomiasis morbidity prevalence in a cohort of school-aged children, moving the schistosome prevalence in the children from moderate to low by WHO classification. These findings will inform the design of the country's next stage interventions for helminth control and eventual elimination