Do Comprehensive Africa Agriculture Development Program (CAADP) Processes Make a Difference to Country Commitments to Develop Agriculture?

The CAADP is a commitment of African countries to pursue economic growth through agriculture-led development to reduce poverty and hunger on the continent. It stems from the failure of previous interventions on the continent largely attributed to their weak ownership. CAADP is expected to serve as a framework that adds value to national and regional strategies for the development of agriculture. Some of its key principles that are expected to add value are the building of partnerships, dialogue, peer review, and mutual accountability at all levels as well as exploitation of regional complementarities. CAADP countries are expected to achieve 6 percent growth in the agricultural sector and allocate at least 10 percent of the national budget to agriculture. The objective of this paper is primarily to understand how continental initiatives such as CAADP can and do influence country commitment to seek agriculture-led development. This paper employs Ghana as a case study to examine whether CAADP processes leading up to and including the country roundtable process enhance the visibility of the role of agriculture as a means of reducing poverty. The study explores whether countries take the leadership in adopting the CAADP framework. First, the paper provides perspective on the agricultural sector in Ghana and the role of agriculture in development strategies. Further, it reviews how the processes for implementation of CAADP have evolved and how they have influenced implementation in Ghana. It evaluates what impact CAADP may have on the content of agricultural policies in Ghana. Finally, the paper makes some suggestions for improving CAADP implementation.Agriculture, CAADP, Development strategies, NEPAD, Participation, values,

The In-Hospital Suicide: A Psychological Autopsy of a System Involving Borderline Dynamics

This manuscript reviews principles of hospital management in the care of severe borderline patients with concomitant affective syndromes. The case presented highlights a process of experiential learning in a novice clinician (a beginning psychiatric resident) and illustrates several critical areas of concern with these patients. The following four facets of clinical management are discussed: 1) Failed attempts to understand borderline dynamics and subsequent countertransference reactions; 2) Staff resistance to consistent, honest and open acknowledgement of suicide potential; 3) Special risks when borderline dynamics are combined with affective syndromes; and 4) Possible suicide preventive measures and their relative effectiveness

Health-related quality of life in older patients with heart failure from before to early after advanced surgical therapies: Findings from the SUSTAIN-IT study

BACKGROUND: Restoring health-related quality of life (HRQOL) is a therapeutic goal for older patients with advanced heart failure. We aimed to describe change in HRQOL in older patients (60-80 years) awaiting heart transplantation (HT) with or without pretransplant mechanical circulatory support (MCS) or scheduled for long-term MCS, if ineligible for HT, from before to 6 months after these surgeries and identify factors associated with change. METHODS: Patients from 13 US sites completed the EuroQol 5-dimension 3L questionnaire and Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-12 at baseline and 3 and 6 months after HT or long-term MCS. Analyses included univariate comparisons and multivariable linear regression. RESULTS: Among 305 participants (cohort mean age=66.2±4.7 years, 78% male, 84% White, 55% New York Heart Association class IV), 161 underwent HT (n=68 with and n=93 without pretransplant MCS), and 144 received long-term MCS. From baseline to 3 months, EuroQol 5-dimension visual analog scale scores improved in HT patients without pretransplant MCS (54.5±24.3 versus 75.9±16.0, CONCLUSIONS: In older heart failure patients, HRQOL improved from before to early after HT and long-term MCS. At 6 postoperative months, HRQOL of long-term MCS patients was lower than one or both HT groups. Understanding change in HRQOL from before to early after these surgeries may enhance decision-making and guide patient care. REGISTRATION: URL: https://www. CLINICALTRIALS: gov; Unique identifier: NCT02568930

Molecular classification of a complex structural rearrangement of the RB1 locus in an infant with sporadic, isolated, intracranial, sellar region retinoblastoma

Retinoblastoma is a childhood cancer of the retina involving germline or somatic alterations of the RB Transcriptional Corepressor 1 gene, RB1. Rare cases of sellar-suprasellar region retinoblastoma without evidence of ocular or pineal tumors have been described. A nine-month-old male presented with a sellar-suprasellar region mass. Histopathology showed an embryonal tumor with focal Flexner-Wintersteiner-like rosettes and loss of retinoblastoma protein (RB1) expression by immunohistochemistry. DNA array-based methylation profiling confidently classified the tumor as pineoblastoma group A/intracranial retinoblastoma. The patient was subsequently enrolled on an institutional translational cancer research protocol and underwent comprehensive molecular profiling, including paired tumor/normal exome and genome sequencing and RNA-sequencing of the tumor. Additionally, Pacific Biosciences (PacBio) Single Molecule Real Time (SMRT) sequencing was performed from comparator normal and disease-involved tissue to resolve complex structural variations. RNA-sequencing revealed multiple fusions clustered within 13q14.1-q21.3, including a novel in-frame fusion of RB1-SIAH3 predicted to prematurely truncate the RB1 protein. SMRT sequencing revealed a complex structural rearrangement spanning 13q14.11-q31.3, including two somatic structural variants within intron 17 of RB1. These events corresponded to the RB1-SIAH3 fusion and a novel RB1 rearrangement expected to correlate with the complete absence of RB1 protein expression. Comprehensive molecular analysis, including DNA array-based methylation profiling and sequencing-based methodologies, were critical for classification and understanding the complex mechanism of RB1 inactivation in this diagnostically challenging tumor

Health-related quality of life in older patients with advanced heart failure: Findings from the SUSTAIN-IT study

Background There is a paucity of research describing health-related quality of life (HRQOL) in older adults considered for advanced heart failure surgical therapies. Using data from our SUSTAIN-IT (Sustaining Quality of Life of the Aged: Heart Transplant or Mechanical Support) study, we aimed to compare HRQOL among 3 groups of older (60-80 years) patients with heart failure before heart transplantation (HT) or long-term mechanical circulatory support (MCS) and identify factors associated with HRQOL: (1) HT candidates with MCS, (2) HT candidates without MCS, or (3) candidates ineligible for HT and scheduled for long-term MCS. Methods and Results Patients from 13 US sites completed assessments, including self-reported measures of HRQOL (EuroQol-5 Dimension Questionnaire, Kansas City Cardiomyopathy Questionnaire-12), depressive symptoms (Personal Health Questionnaire-8), anxiety (State-Trait Anxiety Inventory-state form), cognitive status (Montreal Cognitive Assessment), and performance-based measures (6-minute walk test and 5-m gait speed). Analyses included ANOVA,

A randomized, placebo-controlled trial of fidaxomicin for prophylaxis of Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea in adults undergoing hematopoietic stem cell transplantation

Background: Clostridium difficile-associated diarrhea (CDAD) is common during hematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) and is associated with increased morbidity and mortality. We evaluated fidaxomicin for prevention of CDAD in HSCT patients. Methods: In this double-blind study, subjects undergoing HSCT with fluoroquinolone prophylaxis stratified by transplant type (autologous/allogeneic) were randomized to once-daily oral fidaxomicin (200 mg) or a matching placebo. Dosing began within 2 days of starting conditioning or fluoroquinolone prophylaxis and continued until 7 days after neutrophil engraftment or completion of fluoroquinolone prophylaxis/clinically-indicated antimicrobials for up to 40 days. The primary endpoint was CDAD incidence through 30 days after study medication. The primary endpoint analysis counted confirmed CDAD, receipt of CDAD-effective medications (for any indication), and missing CDAD assessment (for any reason, including death) as failures; this composite analysis is referred to as prophylaxis failure to distinguish from the pre-specified sensitivity analysis, which counted only confirmed CDAD (by toxin immunoassay or nucleic acid amplification test) as failure. Results: Of 611 subjects enrolled, 600 were treated and analyzed. Prophylaxis failure was similar in fidaxomicin and placebo recipients (28.6% vs 30.8%; difference 2.2% [-5.1, 9.5], P = .278). However, most failures were due to non-CDAD events. Confirmed CDAD was lower in fidaxomicin vs placebo recipients (4.3% vs 10.7%; difference 6.4% [2.2, 10.6], P = .0014). Drug-related adverse events occurred in 15.0% of fidaxomicin recipients and 20.0% of placebo recipients. Conclusions: While no difference was demonstrated between arms in the primary analysis, results of the sensitivity analysis demonstrated that fidaxomicin significantly reduced the incidence of CDAD in HSCT recipients. Clinical Trials Registration: NCT01691248

The Reckoning: The Return of Genomic Results to 1444 Participants Across the eMERGE3 Network

The goal of Electronic Medical Records and Genomics (eMERGE) Phase III Network was to return actionable sequence variants to 25,084 consenting participants from 10 different health care institutions across the United States. The purpose of this study was to evaluate system-based issues relating to the return of results (RoR) disclosure process for clinical grade research genomic tests to eMERGE3 participants

Comparison of Organic and Conventional Agriculture Systems on Crop Production

The majority of organic and conventional agriculture system comparisons are long-term experiments (\u3e10 years). Therefore, it is imperative to understand short-term impacts on soil and environmental quality during the transition period from a conventional system to a three-year, USDA-NOP certified organic system. The objectives of this project were to investigate the effects of two agricultural systems (organic and conventional) on greenhouse gas emissions (CO2, CH4, N2 O), soil carbon dynamics, soil quality, and crop productivit