A national survey of rice (Oryza sativa L.) Grain quality in Sierra Leone II: Evaluation of physical grain quality

Rice is a very important item of food and commerce in Sierra Leone and so information on the quality of available rice grains can serve as a useful indicator for the technical status and level of competitiveness in the local rice industry. During this study an objective evaluation was conducted to measure and characterize the quality of rice grains available in the local markets of Sierra Leone. A total of 315 randomly selected rice samples from 45 markets selected from the four major cities of Sierra Leone (Makeni, Bo, Kenema and Freetown, representing urban communities from the northern, southern, eastern and western parts of the country, respectively) were evaluated. Quality evaluation involved measurement of moisture content, number of paddy (unmilled rice kernels) in 1 kg of milled rice and other quality factors normally used for the grading of milled rice. Rice samples were then graded based on criteria adapted from the Philippines Rice Grading Standards for milled rice grains. The results showed that the quality of all grain samples evaluated was generally poor, with 63.2% of the samples failing to meet the criteria set for Grade III rice quality (meaning that the quality level was worse than grade III). Quality measures obtained for imported samples appeared to be superior to that obtained for the local samples in terms of higher proportions of superior grades (grade II or better). Comparison of measures of grading factors revealed that among the four cities considered in this study, grains from Kenema were of the lowest quality. Further examination of grade limiting factors revealed that the most critical factors responsible for poor quality outcomes in grain sample were (i) the number of paddy in 1kg of milled rice and (ii) the moisture content of grains. The study provided quantitative measures of the quality status of rice grains available in Sierra Leone, as well as a means of identifying the major binding constraints to rice grain quality, in terms of the grade limiting factors. It is speculated that the low quality of rice grains observed in this study could be the result of avoidable quality defects that may be linked to an undeveloped national system for rice milling and handling.Keywords: Rice grading, grain quality attributes, physical characteristics, Sierra Leon

A national survey of rice (Oryza sativa L.) grain quality in Sierra Leone I: Perception of traders and consumers

As Sierra Leone approaches self-sufficiency in rice, against a backdrop of agricultural commercialization, the dynamics of the rice grain production and consumption will increasingly be driven by the quality of grains  demanded by consumers to be produced by farmers and marketed by traders in the open market. The present study was a national perception survey aimed at establishing the current status of rice grain quality based on the perspectives of traders and consumers interviewed at selected market places in four major cities across the country. In separate interviewsconducted with315 consumers and traders selected at random from 45 markets around the country, individual responses were solicited on the general interests of consumers and traders, as well as the marketing practices and aspirations for the improvement of rice grain quality in the country. Results obtained from the two surveys suggest that the priorities of rice consumers for grain quality were generally similar to those of thetraders. For example, between to 63 to 100 per cent (84 %all cities) of consumers and 69 to 100 percent (88% all cities) of traders interviewed indicated preference for imported rice, with a significant positive correlation (r = 0.78) between the two groups. Among rice products found in the market, the imported high swelling, long grain rice was shown to be preferred by both traders and consumers, due mostly to the high swelling power and non-seasonal market availability of that grain type. Other results suggest that both traders and consumers desire further improvement in grain quality, even though they do not consider this to be of high priority. The study leads to the conclusion that imported rice products are more popular than local rice products among rice traders and consumers in Sierra Leone. It is speculated that such preference might have been driven directly by the priorities of household food decisions and indirectly by the general socio-economics of food production and consumption in the country.Keywords: Rice grain quality, consumers, Sierra Leon

Global, regional, and national comparative risk assessment of 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks, 1990-2015: a systematic analysis for the Global Burden of Disease Study 2015

SummaryBackground The Global Burden of Diseases, Injuries, and Risk Factors Study 2015 provides an up-to-date synthesis of the evidence for risk factor exposure and the attributable burden of disease. By providing national and subnational assessments spanning the past 25 years, this study can inform debates on the importance of addressing risks in context. Methods We used the comparative risk assessment framework developed for previous iterations of the Global Burden of Disease Study to estimate attributable deaths, disability-adjusted life-years (DALYs), and trends in exposure by age group, sex, year, and geography for 79 behavioural, environmental and occupational, and metabolic risks or clusters of risks from 1990 to 2015. This study included 388 risk-outcome pairs that met World Cancer Research Fund-defined criteria for convincing or probable evidence. We extracted relative risk and exposure estimates from randomised controlled trials, cohorts, pooled cohorts, household surveys, census data, satellite data, and other sources. We used statistical models to pool data, adjust for bias, and incorporate covariates. We developed a metric that allows comparisons of exposure across risk factors—the summary exposure value. Using the counterfactual scenario of theoretical minimum risk level, we estimated the portion of deaths and DALYs that could be attributed to a given risk. We decomposed trends in attributable burden into contributions from population growth, population age structure, risk exposure, and risk-deleted cause-specific DALY rates. We characterised risk exposure in relation to a Socio-demographic Index (SDI). Findings Between 1990 and 2015, global exposure to unsafe sanitation, household air pollution, childhood underweight, childhood stunting, and smoking each decreased by more than 25%. Global exposure for several occupational risks, high body-mass index (BMI), and drug use increased by more than 25% over the same period. All risks jointly evaluated in 2015 accounted for 57·8% (95% CI 56·6–58·8) of global deaths and 41·2% (39·8–42·8) of DALYs. In 2015, the ten largest contributors to global DALYs among Level 3 risks were high systolic blood pressure (211·8 million [192·7 million to 231·1 million] global DALYs), smoking (148·6 million [134·2 million to 163·1 million]), high fasting plasma glucose (143·1 million [125·1 million to 163·5 million]), high BMI (120·1 million [83·8 million to 158·4 million]), childhood undernutrition (113·3 million [103·9 million to 123·4 million]), ambient particulate matter (103·1 million [90·8 million to 115·1 million]), high total cholesterol (88·7 million [74·6 million to 105·7 million]), household air pollution (85·6 million [66·7 million to 106·1 million]), alcohol use (85·0 million [77·2 million to 93·0 million]), and diets high in sodium (83·0 million [49·3 million to 127·5 million]). From 1990 to 2015, attributable DALYs declined for micronutrient deficiencies, childhood undernutrition, unsafe sanitation and water, and household air pollution; reductions in risk-deleted DALY rates rather than reductions in exposure drove these declines. Rising exposure contributed to notable increases in attributable DALYs from high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, occupational carcinogens, and drug use. Environmental risks and childhood undernutrition declined steadily with SDI; low physical activity, high BMI, and high fasting plasma glucose increased with SDI. In 119 countries, metabolic risks, such as high BMI and fasting plasma glucose, contributed the most attributable DALYs in 2015. Regionally, smoking still ranked among the leading five risk factors for attributable DALYs in 109 countries; childhood underweight and unsafe sex remained primary drivers of early death and disability in much of sub-Saharan Africa. Interpretation Declines in some key environmental risks have contributed to declines in critical infectious diseases. Some risks appear to be invariant to SDI. Increasing risks, including high BMI, high fasting plasma glucose, drug use, and some occupational exposures, contribute to rising burden from some conditions, but also provide opportunities for intervention. Some highly preventable risks, such as smoking, remain major causes of attributable DALYs, even as exposure is declining. Public policy makers need to pay attention to the risks that are increasingly major contributors to global burden. Funding Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

Sex differences in total cholesterol of Vietnamese adults

Background The mid-life emergence of higher levels of total cholesterol (TC) for women than for men has been observed in different Western and Asian populations. The aim of this study was to investigate whether there is evidence of this in Vietnam and, if so, whether it can be explained by ageing, by body size and fatness, or by socio-demographic characteristics and behavioural factors.Methods Participants (n = 14706, 50.9% females) aged 25-64 years were selected by multi-stage stratified cluster sampling from eight provinces each representing one of the eight geographical regions of Vietnam. Measurements were made using the World Health Organization STEPS protocols. Linear regression was used to assess the independent contributions of potential explanatory factors to mean levels of TC. Data were analysed using complex survey methods.Results Men and women had similar mean levels of body mass index (BMI), and men had modestly higher mean levels of waist circumference (WC), in each 5-year age category. The mean TC of women increased more or less continuously across the age range but with a step-up at age 50 years to reach higher concentrations on average than those of their male counterparts. The estimated step-up was not eliminated by adjustment for anthropometric indices including BMI or WC, or by adjustment for socio-demographic characteristics or behavioural factors. The estimated step-up was least for women with the greatest weight.Conclusion There is a marked step-up in TC at age 50 years for Vietnamese women that cannot be explained by their age, or by their body fatness or its distribution, or by their socio-demographic characteristics or behavioural factors, and which results in greater mean levels of TC for middle-aged women than for their male counterparts in Vietnam.</p

Entrapment of Viral Capsids in Nuclear PML Cages Is an Intrinsic Antiviral Host Defense against Varicella-Zoster Virus

The herpesviruses, like most other DNA viruses, replicate in the host cell nucleus. Subnuclear domains known as promyelocytic leukemia protein nuclear bodies (PML-NBs), or ND10 bodies, have been implicated in restricting early herpesviral gene expression. These viruses have evolved countermeasures to disperse PML-NBs, as shown in cells infected in vitro, but information about the fate of PML-NBs and their functions in herpesvirus infected cells in vivo is limited. Varicella-zoster virus (VZV) is an alphaherpesvirus with tropism for skin, lymphocytes and sensory ganglia, where it establishes latency. Here, we identify large PML-NBs that sequester newly assembled nucleocapsids (NC) in neurons and satellite cells of human dorsal root ganglia (DRG) and skin cells infected with VZV in vivo. Quantitative immuno-electron microscopy revealed that these distinctive nuclear bodies consisted of PML fibers forming spherical cages that enclosed mature and immature VZV NCs. Of six PML isoforms, only PML IV promoted the sequestration of NCs. PML IV significantly inhibited viral infection and interacted with the ORF23 capsid surface protein, which was identified as a target for PML-mediated NC sequestration. The unique PML IV C-terminal domain was required for both capsid entrapment and antiviral activity. Similar large PML-NBs, termed clastosomes, sequester aberrant polyglutamine (polyQ) proteins, such as Huntingtin (Htt), in several neurodegenerative disorders. We found that PML IV cages co-sequester HttQ72 and ORF23 protein in VZV infected cells. Our data show that PML cages contribute to the intrinsic antiviral defense by sensing and entrapping VZV nucleocapsids, thereby preventing their nuclear egress and inhibiting formation of infectious virus particles. The efficient sequestration of virion capsids in PML cages appears to be the outcome of a basic cytoprotective function of this distinctive category of PML-NBs in sensing and safely containing nuclear aggregates of aberrant proteins

Mechanical Bonds and Topological Effects in Radical Dimer Stabilization

While mechanical bonding stabilizes tetrathiafulvalene (TTF) radical dimers, the question arises: what role does topology play in catenanes containing TTF units? Here, we report how topology, together with mechanical bonding, in isomeric [3]- and doubly interlocked [2]catenanes controls the formation of TTF radical dimers within their structural frameworks, including a ring-in-ring complex (formed between an organoplatinum square and a {2+2} macrocyclic polyether containing two 1,5-dioxynaphthalene (DNP) and two TTF units) that is topologically isomeric with the doubly interlocked [2]catenane. The separate TTF units in the two {1+1} macrocycles (each containing also one DNP unit) of the isomeric [3]catenane exhibit slightly different redox properties compared with those in the {2+2} macrocycle present in the [2]catenane, while comparison with its topological isomer reveals substantially different redox behavior. Although the stabilities of the mixed-valence (TTF2)^(•+) dimers are similar in the two catenanes, the radical cationic (TTF^(•+))_2 dimer in the [2]catenane occurs only fleetingly compared with its prominent existence in the [3]catenane, while both dimers are absent altogether in the ring-in-ring complex. The electrochemical behavior of these three radically configurable isomers demonstrates that a fundamental relationship exists between topology and redox properties