Social networks and gender dimensions in use of irrigation by farmers in Alamata Woreda, Southern Tigray, Ethiopia

Access to input / technology, information / knowledge, credit / finance is very decisive for the development of a given society in general and irrigation based high value crop production in particular. The identification of the contribution of social networks in facilitating access to these resources and services and thereby influence crop choice among irrigation user farmers is vital to identify the important actors contributing in irrigation based vegetable production. This study was undertaken in Alamata woreda, Southern Zone, Tigray National Regional State and has been designed to give a clue on the existing formal and informal social networks and groups in facilitating access to resources and services, among irrigation based vegetable growers and non growers. The practical contributions of social networks and their gender implications in facilitating access to inputs / technologies, information / knowledge and credit / finance in irrigation based vegetable production; and identification of alternatives for enhancing the role and sustainability of these social networks for promoting vegetable production in the woreda was the focus of this study. Identifying the factors for choice of crops by farmers in using irrigation was also another additional objective of the study. Multistage sampling procedure was employed to select 4 PAs out of 10PAs in the woreda and 150 sample households from the 4 PAs. Both qualitative and quantitative data were collected to obtain reliable information from primary and secondary sources. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics, mainly. Chi-square and ranking was used to see the contribution of social networks & their relative importance in facilitating access to resources and services among vegetable growers and non growers as well as FHHs & MHHs, separately. T-test, chi-square test, mean, percentage and frequencies were also used to identify preceding factors for growing or not growing vegetables, in addition to binary logistic regression model. This study revealed variations between vegetable growers and non growers as well as MMHs and FHHs in terms of membership in different economically oriented groups, frequency of use of different social networks as a source of different inputs and services and in terms of perceived relative importance of different social networks (formal and informal networks). The binary logistic regression model out put showed that marital status, education level, on farm income, DA contact, participation in extension events and number of relatives & close friends were found to have positive and significant influence on the choice of vegetable crops by farmers. The study also revealed that formal networks are the most frequently used and the most important sources of inputs and information for vegetable growers in general and MHHs in particular, on the other hand informal networks were found to be the most frequently used and the most important sources of inputs and information for vegetable non growers in general and FHHs in particular. Generally, both informal and formal networks are found to be important in the study area, hence recognizing the importance of informal networks (groups), and strengthening & organizing them in to self help groups is very important. In addition, after identifying influential social networks establishing linkage among formal and informal networks has paramount importance for better efficiency of the contribution of social networks, in enhancing culture of growing vegetable crops among the community members in particular, and rural development in general

Promoting global watershed management towards rural communities: the May Zeg-zeg initiativeLength: pp.192-195

Watershed managementRural development

Prevalence of Neisseria gonorrhea and their antimicrobial susceptibility patterns among symptomatic women attending gynecology outpatient department in Hawassa Referral Hospital, Hawassa, Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: gonorrhoeae, a sexually transmitted disease caused by Neisseria gonorrhea for which humans are the only natural host. The causative organism is highly adapted to the genital tract and often causing asymptomatic and undetected infection in females in which Acquisition of gonococcal infection late in pregnancy can adversely affect labor and delivery as well as the well-being of the fetus. The aims of this study were to determine the prevalence and drug susceptibility pattern of Neisseria gonorrhea among symptomatic women in Hawassa Referral Hospital.METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted from December 1 2010 to February 30, 2011 at Hawassa Referral Hospital. All women who visited gynecology outpatient department (OPD) with suspected gonococcal infection were included. Endocervical swab was collected by the attending physician. The presence of gonorrhea was confirmed by culture, gram staining and biochemical tests. Antimicrobial sensitivity test was performed using disc diffusion method and the result was interpreted accordingly. RESULTS: Of the total 215 cases examined, 11 (5.1%) were confirmed to have gonococcal infection. Although not statistically significant, most of the cases 5/11 (45.5%) were in age group of 20-24 years and the identified organism had low level susceptibility to quinolones (ciprofloxacin 55%, ofloxacin 64% & lomefloxacin 64%).CONCLUSION: Despite low rates of gonorrhea infection, it is important to focus on high-risk populations (reproductive age group) because of the great physical and emotional costs of the disease. A high resistance for quinolones, the commonly used antibiotics was observed for this laboratory-based diagnosis is recommended. Keywords: Neisseria gonorrhea, drug susceptibility, symptomatic women, Southern Ethiopi

Report on Training of Trainers (TOT) in Tigray Region on Africa RISING Project Validated Technologies/Innovations in the Ethiopian Highland

United States Agency for International Developmen

Evaluation of the spatial linear model, random forest and gradient nearest-neighbour methods for imputing potential productivity and biomass of the Pacific Northwest forests

Increasingly, forest management and conservation plans require spatially explicit information within a management or conservation unit. Forest biomass and potential productivity are critical variables for forest planning and assessment in the Pacific Northwest. Their values are often estimated from ground-measured sample data. For unsampled locations, forest analysts and planners lack forest productivity and biomass values, so values must be predicted. Using simulated data and forest inventory and analysis data collected in Oregon and Washington, we examined the performance of the spatial linear model (SLM), random forest (RF) and gradient nearest neighbour (GNN) for mapping and estimating biomass and potential productivity of Pacific Northwest forests. Simulations of artificial populations and subsamplings of forest biomass and productivity data showed that the SLM had smaller empirical root-mean-squared prediction errors (RMSPE) for a wide variety of data types, with generally less bias and better interval coverage than RFand GNN. These patterns held for both point predictions and for population averages, with the SLM reducing RMSPE by 30.0 and 52.6 per cent over two GNN methods in predicting point estimates for forest biomass and potential productivity

Modeling cancer genomic data in yeast reveals selection against ATM function during tumorigenesis

The DNA damage response (DDR) comprises multiple functions that collectively preserve genomic integrity and suppress tumorigenesis. The Mre11 complex and ATM govern a major axis of the DDR and several lines of evidence implicate that axis in tumor suppression. Components of the Mre11 complex are mutated in approximately five percent of human cancers. Inherited mutations of complex members cause severe chromosome instability syndromes, such as Nijmegen Breakage Syndrome, which is associated with strong predisposition to malignancy. And in mice, Mre11 complex mutations are markedly more susceptible to oncogene- induced carcinogenesis. The complex is integral to all modes of DNA double strand break (DSB) repair and is required for the activation of ATM to effect DNA damage signaling. To understand which functions of the Mre11 complex are important for tumor suppression, we undertook mining of cancer genomic data from the clinical sequencing program at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, which includes the Mre11 complex among the 468 genes assessed. Twenty five mutations in MRE11 and RAD50 were modeled in S. cerevisiae and in vitro. The mutations were chosen based on recurrence and conservation between human and yeast. We found that a significant fraction of tumor-borne RAD50 and MRE11 mutations exhibited separation of function phenotypes wherein Tel1/ATM activation was severely impaired while DNA repair functions were mildly or not affected. At the molecular level, the gene products of RAD50 mutations exhibited defects in ATP binding and hydrolysis. The data reflect the importance of Rad50 ATPase activity for Tel1/ATM activation and suggest that inactivation of ATM signaling confers an advantage to burgeoning tumor cells

Cryo-EM structure of nucleotide-bound Tel1ATM unravels the molecular basis of inhibition and structural rationale for disease-associated mutations

Yeast Tel1 and its highly conserved human ortholog ataxia-telangiectasia mutated (ATM) are large protein kinases central to the maintenance of genome integrity. Mutations in ATM are found in ataxia-telangiectasia (A-T) patients and ATM is one of the most frequently mutated genes in many cancers. Using cryoelectron microscopy, we present the structure of Tel1 in a nucleotide-bound state. Our structure reveals molecular details of key residues surrounding the nucleotide binding site and provides a structural and molecular basis for its intrinsically low basal activity. We show that the catalytic residues are in a productive conformation for catalysis, but the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-related kinase (PIKK) regulatory domain insert restricts peptide substrate access and the N-lobe is in an open conformation, thus explaining the requirement for Tel1 activation. Structural comparisons with other PIKKs suggest a conserved and common allosteric activation mechanism. Our work also provides a structural rationale for many mutations found in A-T and cancer