Genetic diversity and relationship assessment among mulberry (Morus spp) genotypes by simple sequence repeat (SSR) marker profile

Mulberry (Morus L.) is essential for sericulture industry as the primary source of food for silkworm Bombyx mori L. In India, long tradition of practising sericulture includes the use of a large number of indigenous cultivars. Since knowledge on genetic divergence of these cultivars/varieties is imperative for conservation and gainful utilization, simple sequence repeat (SSR) profiling was employed to assess genetic relatedness among 17 mulberry genotypes maintained in the Germplasm Bank of Temperate Sericulture Institute, SKUAST Kashmir, Mirgund. Six SSR primers were utilised which generates 17 alleles among the genotypes. The polymorphism information content (PIC) value varied from 0.260 (MulSTR3) to 0.623 (MulSTR4), with an average of 0.438 per locus. The highest similarity value of 0.92 was observed between Lemoncina and Kanva-2, as compared to the lowest similarity coefficient of 0.15 was between SKM-48 and Chinese white. Clustering of the genotypes was done with unweight pair group method using arithmetic average (UPGMA) which generates five clusters. Cluster-2 contained maximum (six) genotypes.Keywords: Clustering, genetic relatedness, mulberry, SSRAfrican Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 12(21), pp. 3181-318

Heavy metals pollution sources of the surface water of the Tunggak and Balok River in the Gebeng Industrial Area, Pahang, Malaysia

The heavy metal contamination of surface water is regarded as one of the most serious environmental hazards. The purpose of this study is to identify the origins of 10 heavy metals found in surface water in the Gebeng industrial area rivers. The samples were gathered over the course of a year at ten stations along the Tunggak and Balok rivers. According to the Malaysian heavy metals standard, the surface water of the Gebeng rivers was contaminated with six heavy metals: Cd, Co, Cu, Pb, Mn, and Ni. Inductively Coupled Plasma Mass Spectrometry was used to analyze the data. SPSS version 22.0, a multivariate statistical tool, was used to identify the sources. The heavy metals have been divided into three components using principal component analysis, indicating that the pollution is due to anthropogenic causes. The stations were grouped into three groups using cluster analysis, with high pollution loading falling under industrial zone stations (IZ1, IZ2, and IZ3), indicating pollution from industrial sources. In general, the findings of this research will be useful in future studies aimed to reduce heavy metal contamination in the Gebeng rivers

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University

Student and Faculty Perceptions of Attendance Policies at a Polytechnic University The goal of an attendance policy is to improve the academic success of students. However,current literature does not provide clear conclusions whether enforcing an attendance policy actually improves student performance. This study explores student and faculty perceptions regarding the utility of attendance policies in undergraduate courses at a polytechnic university.Anonymous surveys were completed by 89 faculty members and 455 responses from five schools (Engineering, Engineering Technology and Management, Computer and Software Engineering, Architecture, and Arts and Sciences) on a single campus. Comparisons between theperceptions of students and faculty members are presented, as are comparisons between theperceptions of lower-level and upper-level students. Variations in perceptions based on major arealso highlighted. Finally, trends in perceptions regarding attendance policies in lower-level versus upper-level undergraduate courses are revealed.Students, regardless of major, class standing, or course level, reported attending more classes in courses that had attendance policies. The most significant impact of an attendance policy on class attendance was observed at the freshman level. While 84% of freshmen reported attending at least 90% of the classes in a course with an attendance policy, only 67% reported attending at that rate in a course without one. Qualitative data containing student and faculty attitudes towards attendance policies are also analyzed and discussed.Even though class attendance appeared to have improved as a result of attendance policies,students’ perceptions about these policies varied significantly. Overall, the majority of students(51%) believed that, for a course with an attendance policy, the policy positively affected final grades. For a course without an attendance policy, the majority (57%) felt that the lack of a policy had no impact of final grades. Faculty members’ perceptions about attendance policy likewise varied. Overall, 61% of the faculty members surveyed reported having an attendance policy in one or more of their courses. The majority of faculty members believed that an attendance policy led to improvements in students’ grades in lower-level courses, but not inupper-level courses. Collectively, this study can help instructors make better informed decisions about the use of attendance policies in their courses

Bio-techniques for improvement of qualitative and quantitative traits in walnut (Juglans regia)

Walnut, Juglans regia (L.) is an economically significant plant for its immense nutritive and economic value. The breeding character of walnut has lent it a wide diversity in genetic characteristics. The principal vegetative and common traditional agronomic traits together with biochemical characterization i.e., karyotyping and isoenzyme expression have been the early research methods. However, these techniques are time-consuming and susceptible to the environmental variations. Literature is meager in the distribution, applied applications in general and the use of agriculture biotechnology in particular in case of walnut plants. The bio-techniques like molecular markers are adequate in number and there is little or no diversity in the method employed for research on walnuts. Despite basic research method, the organization of information, its retrieval and presentation structures, form elaboration experienced immense advancement via molecular markers such as RFLP, ISSR, RAPD AFLP, SSR and SNP. This appraisal in its first part provides detailed information regarding the present scenario of data on biogeographical distribution, health benefits of walnut worldwide and current applications in the agroforestry management, biochemical evaluations and applied uses of a walnut tree which is relevant for both basic and applied research. The review in its second part sheds light on the application of sophisticated agricultural biotechnology techniques such as use of molecular markers to evaluate, realize the full potential of walnut for increasing its quality, quantity and for its sustainable production which cannot be obtained through usual breeding techniques to meet the demands of a projected world population

Factors associated with financial security, food security and quality of daily lives of residents in Nigeria during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic

An online survey was conducted to identify factors associated with financial insecurity, food insecurity and poor quality of daily lives of adults in Nigeria during the first wave of the COVID-19 pandemic. The associations between the outcome (experience of financial loss, changes in food intake and impact of the pandemic on daily lives) and the explanatory (age, sex, education level, anxiety, depression, HIV status) variables were determined using logistic regression analysis. Of the 4439 respondents, 2487 (56.0%) were financially insecure, 907 (20.4%) decreased food intake and 4029 (90.8%) had their daily life negatively impacted. Males (AOR:0.84), people who felt depressed (AOR:0.62) and people living with HIV -PLHIV- (AOR:0.70) had significantly lower odds of financial insecurity. Older respondents (AOR:1.01) had significantly higher odds of financial insecurity. Those depressed (AOR:0.62) and PLHIV (AOR:0.55) had significantly lower odds of reporting decreased food intake. Respondents who felt anxious (AOR:0.07), depressed (AOR: 0.48) and who were PLHIV (AOR:0.68) had significantly lower odds of reporting a negative impact of the pandemic on their daily lives. We concluded the study findings may reflect a complex relationship between financial insecurity, food insecurity, poor quality of life, mental health, and socioeconomic status of adults living in Nigeria during the COVID-19 pandemic

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations

Anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age in low- and middle-income countries between 2000 and 2018

Anemia is a globally widespread condition in women and is associated with reduced economic productivity and increased mortality worldwide. Here we map annual 2000–2018 geospatial estimates of anemia prevalence in women of reproductive age (15–49 years) across 82 low- and middle-income countries (LMICs), stratify anemia by severity and aggregate results to policy-relevant administrative and national levels. Additionally, we provide subnational disparity analyses to provide a comprehensive overview of anemia prevalence inequalities within these countries and predict progress toward the World Health Organization’s Global Nutrition Target (WHO GNT) to reduce anemia by half by 2030. Our results demonstrate widespread moderate improvements in overall anemia prevalence but identify only three LMICs with a high probability of achieving the WHO GNT by 2030 at a national scale, and no LMIC is expected to achieve the target in all their subnational administrative units. Our maps show where large within-country disparities occur, as well as areas likely to fall short of the WHO GNT, offering precision public health tools so that adequate resource allocation and subsequent interventions can be targeted to the most vulnerable populations.Peer reviewe

Outcomes from elective colorectal cancer surgery during the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

This study aimed to describe the change in surgical practice and the impact of SARS-CoV-2 on mortality after surgical resection of colorectal cancer during the initial phases of the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic

Mapping geographical inequalities in childhood diarrhoeal morbidity and mortality in low-income and middle-income countries, 2000–17 : analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2017

Background Across low-income and middle-income countries (LMICs), one in ten deaths in children younger than 5 years is attributable to diarrhoea. The substantial between-country variation in both diarrhoea incidence and mortality is attributable to interventions that protect children, prevent infection, and treat disease. Identifying subnational regions with the highest burden and mapping associated risk factors can aid in reducing preventable childhood diarrhoea. Methods We used Bayesian model-based geostatistics and a geolocated dataset comprising 15 072 746 children younger than 5 years from 466 surveys in 94 LMICs, in combination with findings of the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study (GBD) 2017, to estimate posterior distributions of diarrhoea prevalence, incidence, and mortality from 2000 to 2017. From these data, we estimated the burden of diarrhoea at varying subnational levels (termed units) by spatially aggregating draws, and we investigated the drivers of subnational patterns by creating aggregated risk factor estimates. Findings The greatest declines in diarrhoeal mortality were seen in south and southeast Asia and South America, where 54·0% (95% uncertainty interval [UI] 38·1–65·8), 17·4% (7·7–28·4), and 59·5% (34·2–86·9) of units, respectively, recorded decreases in deaths from diarrhoea greater than 10%. Although children in much of Africa remain at high risk of death due to diarrhoea, regions with the most deaths were outside Africa, with the highest mortality units located in Pakistan. Indonesia showed the greatest within-country geographical inequality; some regions had mortality rates nearly four times the average country rate. Reductions in mortality were correlated to improvements in water, sanitation, and hygiene (WASH) or reductions in child growth failure (CGF). Similarly, most high-risk areas had poor WASH, high CGF, or low oral rehydration therapy coverage. Interpretation By co-analysing geospatial trends in diarrhoeal burden and its key risk factors, we could assess candidate drivers of subnational death reduction. Further, by doing a counterfactual analysis of the remaining disease burden using key risk factors, we identified potential intervention strategies for vulnerable populations. In view of the demands for limited resources in LMICs, accurately quantifying the burden of diarrhoea and its drivers is important for precision public health

Measuring performance on the Healthcare Access and Quality Index for 195 countries and territories and selected subnational locations: A systematic analysis from the Global Burden of Disease Study 2016

Background A key component of achieving universal health coverage is ensuring that all populations have access to quality health care. Examining where gains have occurred or progress has faltered across and within countries is crucial to guiding decisions and strategies for future improvement. We used the Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2016 (GBD 2016) to assess personal health-care access and quality with the Healthcare Access and Quality (HAQ) Index for 195 countries and territories, as well as subnational locations in seven countries, from 1990 to 2016. Methods Drawing from established methods and updated estimates from GBD 2016, we used 32 causes from which death should not occur in the presence of effective care to approximate personal health-care access and quality by location and over time. To better isolate potential effects of personal health-care access and quality from underlying risk factor patterns, we risk-standardised cause-specific deaths due to non-cancers by location-year, replacing the local joint exposure of environmental and behavioural risks with the global level of exposure. Supported by the expansion of cancer registry data in GBD 2016, we used mortality-to-incidence ratios for cancers instead of risk-standardised death rates to provide a stronger signal of the effects of personal health care and access on cancer survival. We transformed each cause to a scale of 0–100, with 0 as the first percentile (worst) observed between 1990 and 2016, and 100 as the 99th percentile (best); we set these thresholds at the country level, and then applied them to subnational locations. We applied a principal components analysis to construct the HAQ Index using all scaled cause values, providing an overall score of 0–100 of personal health-care access and quality by location over time. We then compared HAQ Index levels and trends by quintiles on the Socio-demographic Index (SDI), a summary measure of overall development. As derived from the broader GBD study and other data sources, we examined relationships between national HAQ Index scores and potential correlates of performance, such as total health spending per capita. Findings In 2016, HAQ Index performance spanned from a high of 97·1 (95% UI 95·8–98·1) in Iceland, followed by 96·6 (94·9–97·9) in Norway and 96·1 (94·5–97·3) in the Netherlands, to values as low as 18·6 (13·1–24·4) in the Central African Republic, 19·0 (14·3–23·7) in Somalia, and 23·4 (20·2–26·8) in Guinea-Bissau. The pace of progress achieved between 1990 and 2016 varied, with markedly faster improvements occurring between 2000 and 2016 for many countries in sub-Saharan Africa and southeast Asia, whereas several countries in Latin America and elsewhere saw progress stagnate after experiencing considerable advances in the HAQ Index between 1990 and 2000. Striking subnational disparities emerged in personal health-care access and quality, with China and India having particularly large gaps between locations with the highest and lowest scores in 2016. In China, performance ranged from 91·5 (89·1–93·6) in Beijing to 48·0 (43·4–53·2) in Tibet (a 43·5-point difference), while India saw a 30·8-point disparity, from 64·8 (59·6–68·8) in Goa to 34·0 (30·3–38·1) in Assam. Japan recorded the smallest range in subnational HAQ performance in 2016 (a 4·8-point difference), whereas differences between subnational locations with the highest and lowest HAQ Index values were more than two times as high for the USA and three times as high for England. State-level gaps in the HAQ Index in Mexico somewhat narrowed from 1990 to 2016 (from a 20·9-point to 17·0-point difference), whereas in Brazil, disparities slightly increased across states during this time (a 17·2-point to 20·4-point difference). Performance on the HAQ Index showed strong linkages to overall development, with high and high-middle SDI countries generally having higher scores and faster gains for non-communicable diseases. Nonetheless, countries across the development spectrum saw substantial gains in some key health service areas from 2000 to 2016, most notably vaccine-preventable diseases. Overall, national performance on the HAQ Index was positively associated with higher levels of total health spending per capita, as well as health systems inputs, but these relationships were quite heterogeneous, particularly among low-to-middle SDI countries. Interpretation GBD 2016 provides a more detailed understanding of past success and current challenges in improving personal health-care access and quality worldwide. Despite substantial gains since 2000, many low-SDI and middle- SDI countries face considerable challenges unless heightened policy action and investments focus on advancing access to and quality of health care across key health services, especially non-communicable diseases. Stagnating or minimal improvements experienced by several low-middle to high-middle SDI countries could reflect the complexities of re-orienting both primary and secondary health-care services beyond the more limited foci of the Millennium Development Goals. Alongside initiatives to strengthen public health programmes, the pursuit of universal health coverage hinges upon improving both access and quality worldwide, and thus requires adopting a more comprehensive view—and subsequent provision—of quality health care for all populations.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio