Analysis of Perinatal Mortality at a Teaching Hospital in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, 1999-2003

We conducted a retrospective analysis of perinatal mortality at Muhimbili National Hospital (MNH), Dar es Salaam, Tanzania 1999-2003 in order to categorise/classify perinatal deaths as well as to identify key factors in perinatal care that could be improved. Data were retrieved from the MNH obstetric database and causes of early neonatal deaths were traced from the neonatal ward register. The study includes all foetuses weighing ≥500g. A modified Nordic-Baltic classification was used for classification of perinatal deaths. Over a 5-year period there were 77,815 babies born with a perinatal mortality rate of 124 per 1000 births, 78% of which was labour related stillbirth. The PMR was 913/1000 for singleton births and 723/1000 for multiple births for babies weighing less than 1500 grams and 65/1000 for singleton births and 116/1000 for multiple births for babies weighing 2500 grams or more. Babies weighing less than 1500 grams contributed 26% of PMR, whereas 41% occurred in babies weighing 2500 grams or more. The majority (79%) of neonatal deaths had Apgar scor

Breeding in bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.): strategic considerations

Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea (L.) Verdc.) has a large number of landraces throughout Africa where small-scale farmers have preserved its genetic diversity on-farm. To date, the full genetic diversity of the crop remains largely unexploited. Until recently bambara groundnut never received any appreciable research effort, especially for its genetic improvement. Until then, only selection breeding was practised in which existing landraces were evaluated and their seeds multiplied. However, no new combinations resulting from hybridisation had ever been produced. Recently, collaborative research efforts involving partners from Africa and Europe have produced the first crosses of bambara groundnut. The creation of these crosses is a significant scientific and practical achievement and opens up the possibility of breeding true varieties of this crop. This paper shows how different strategies have been combined to establish the basis of a strategic breeding programme in bambara groundnut. The paper also illustrates the use of landraces in the bambara groundnut breeding programme, as an example of the contribution that landraces can make to increasing productivity in marginal environments and the conservation of a crop's genetic resources on-farm.African Journal of Biotechnology Vol. 4 (6), pp. 463-471, 200

Genomic and pedigree‐based predictive ability for quality traits in tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze)

© 2021, The Author(s). Genetic improvement of quality traits in tea (Camellia sinensis (L.) O. Kuntze) through conventional breeding methods has been limited, because tea quality is a difficult and expensive trait to measure. Genomic selection (GS) is suitable for predicting such complex traits, as it uses genome wide markers to estimate the genetic values of individuals. We compared the prediction accuracies of six genomic prediction models including Bayesian ridge regression (BRR), genomic best linear unbiased prediction (GBLUP), BayesA, BayesB, BayesC and reproducing kernel Hilbert spaces models incorporating the pedigree relationship namely; RKHS-pedigree, RKHS-markers and RKHS markers and pedigree (RKHS-MP) to determine the breeding values for 12 tea quality traits. One hundred and three tea genotypes were genotyped using genotyping-by-sequencing and phenotyped using nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy in replicated trials. We also compared the effect of trait heritability and training population size on prediction accuracies. The traits with the highest prediction accuracies were; theogallin (0.59), epicatechin gallate (ECG) (0.56) and theobromine (0.61), while the traits with the lowest prediction accuracies were theanine (0.32) and caffeine (0.39). The performance of all the GS models were almost the same, with BRR (0.53), BayesA (0.52), GBLUP (0.50) and RKHS-MP (0.50) performing slightly better than the others. Heritability estimates were moderate to high (0.35–0.92). Prediction accuracies increased with increasing training population size and trait heritability. We conclude that the moderate to high prediction accuracies observed suggests GS is a promising approach in tea improvement and could be implemented in breeding programmes

Genetic diversity analysis and marker-trait associations in Amaranthus species

Amaranth (Amaranthus spp.) is a highly nutritious, underutilized vegetable and pseudo-cereal crop. It possesses diverse abiotic stress tolerance traits, is genetically diverse and highly phenotypically plastic, making it an ideal crop to thrive in a rapidly changing climate. Despite considerable genetic diversity there is a lack of detailed characterization of germplasm or population structures. The present study utilized the DArTSeq platform to determine the genetic relationships and population structure between 188 amaranth accessions from 18 agronomically important vegetable, grain, and weedy species. A total of 74, 303 SNP alleles were generated of which 63, 821 were physically mapped to the genome of the grain species A. hypochondriacus Population structure was inferred in two steps. First, all 188 amaranth accessions comprised of 18 species and second, only 120 A. tricolor accessions. After SNP filtering, a total of 8,688 SNPs were generated on 181 amaranth accessions of 16 species and 9,789 SNPs generated on 118. tricolor accessions. Both SNP datasets produced three major sub-populations (K = 3) and generate consistent taxonomic classification of the amaranth sub-genera Amaranthus Amaranthus, Amaranthus Acnida and Amaranthus albersia, although the accessions were poorly demarcated by geographical origin and morphological traits. A. tricolor accessions were well discriminated from other amaranth species. A genome-wide association study (GWAS) of 10 qualitative traits revealed an association between specific phenotypes and genetic variants within the genome and identified 22 marker trait associations (MTAs) and 100 MTAs (P≤0.01, P≤0.001) on 16 amaranth species and 118. datasets, respectively. The release of SNP markers from this panel has produced invaluable preliminary genetic information for phenotyping and cultivar improvement in amaranth species

Physiological Screening for Drought Tolerance Traits in Vegetable Amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor) Germplasm

Amaranth (Amaranthus tricolor), an underutilized climate smart crop, is highly nutritious and possesses diverse drought tolerance traits, making it an ideal crop to thrive in a rapidly changing climate. Despite considerable studies on the growth and physiology of plants subjected to drought stress, a precise trait phenotyping strategy for drought tolerance in vegetable amaranth is still not well documented. In this study, two drought screening trials were carried out on 44 A. tricolor accessions in order to identify potential drought-tolerant A. tricolor germplasm and to discern their physiological responses to drought stress. The findings revealed that a change in stem biomass was most likely the main mechanism of drought adaptation for stress recovery, and dark-adapted quantum yield (Fv/Fm) could be a useful parameter for identifying drought tolerance in amaranth. Three drought tolerance indices: geometric mean productivity (GMP), mean productivity (MP) and stress tolerance index (STI) identified eight drought-tolerant accessions with stable performance across the two screening trials. The highly significant genotypic differences observed in several physiological traits among the amaranth accessions indicate that the amaranth panel used in this study could be a rich source of genetic diversity for breeding purposes for drought tolerance traits

The Ecorat project: development of ecologically-based rodent management for the southern African region

Mulungu, L.S., Belmain, S.R., Dlamini, N., Eiseb, S., Kirsten, F., Mahlaba, T., Makundi, R., Malebane, P., Von Maltitz, E., Massawe, A., Monadjem, A., Taylor, P., Tutjavi, V

Eliciting harms data from trial participants: how perceptions of illness and treatment mediate recognition of relevant information to report

Background: There is no consensus on the ideal methodology for eliciting participant-reported harms, but question methods influence the extent and nature of data detected. This gives potential for measurement error and undermines meta-analyses of adverse effects. We undertook to identify barriers to accurate and complete reporting of harms data, by qualitatively exploring participants’ experiences of illness and treatment, and reporting behaviours; and compared the number and nature of data detected by three enquiry methods. Methods: Participants within antiretroviral/antimalarial interaction trials in South Africa and Tanzania were asked about medical history, treatments and/or adverse events by general enquiries followed by checklists. Those reporting differently between these two question methods were invited to an in-depth interview and focus group discussion. Health narratives were analysed to investigate accuracy and completeness of case record form data and to understand reasons for differential reporting between question methods. Outcomes were the number and nature of data by question method, themes from qualitative analyses and a theoretical interpretation of participants’ experiences. Results: We observed a cumulative increase in sensitivity of detection of all types of reports while progressing from general enquiry, through checklist, to in-depth interview. Questioning detail and terminology influenced participants’ recognition of health issues and treatments. Reporting patterns and vocabulary suggest influence from the relative importance that illnesses and treatments have for participants. Perceptions were often dichotomised (e.g. ‘street’ versus clinic treatments, symptoms experienced versus tests and examinations performed, chronic versus acute illness, persistent versus intermittent symptoms, activity- versus malaria-related symptoms) and this differentiation extended to ideas of relevance to report. South African participants displayed a ‘trial citizenship’, taking responsibility for the impact of their reporting on trial results, and even reaching reporting decisions by consensus. In contrast, Tanzanians perceived their role more as patients than participants; the locus of responsibility for knowing information relevant to the trial fell with trial staff as doctors rather than with themselves. Conclusions: Our observations of how reporting relates to participant perceptions inside and outside trials could help optimise how harms data are elicited. Questions reflecting the different ways that biomedically defined illness and treatment data are perceived by participants may help them understand relevance for reporting. We will theorise how these two disparate trial environments may have influenced how participants understood their role, as this could help researchers achieve empowered participation in similar trials

Crops For the Future (CFF): an overview of research efforts in the adoption of underutilised species

Main conclusion Crops For the Future (CFF), as an entity, has established a broad range of research activities to promote the improvement and adoption of currently underutilised crops. Abstract This paper summarises selected research activities at Crops For the Future (CFF) in pursuit of its mission 'to develop solutions for diversifying future agriculture using underutilised crops'. CFF is a research company focussed on the improvement of underutilised crops, so that they might be grown and consumed more widely with benefits to human food and nutritional security; its founding guarantors were the Government of Malaysia and the University of Nottingham. From its base in Malaysia, it engages in research around the world with a focus on species and system diversification. CFF has adopted a food system approach that adds value by delivering prototype food, feed and knowledge products. Bambara groundnut (Vigna subterranea) was adopted as an exemplar crop around which to develop CFF's food system approach with emphasis on the short-day photoperiod requirement for pod-filling and the hard-to-cook trait. Selective breeding has allowed the development of lines that are less susceptible to photoperiod but also provided a range of tools and approaches that are now being exploited in other crops such as winged bean (Psophocarpus tetragonolobus), amaranth (Amaranthus spp.), mor-inga (Moringa oleifera) and proso (Panicum miliaceum) and foxtail (Setaria italica) millets. CFF has developed and tested new food products and demonstrated that several crops can be used as feed for black soldier fly which can, in turn, be used to feed fish thereby reducing the need for fishmeal. Information about underutilised crops is widely dispersed; so, a major effort has been made to develop a knowledge base that can be interrogated and used to answer practical questions about potential exploitation of plant and nutritional characteristics. Future research will build on the success with Bambara groundnut and include topics such as urban agriculture, rural development and diversification, and the development of novel foods. CFF's remit and research objective