Perception de la Dégradation des Terres et Adoption des Technologies de Conservation des Eaux et des Sols au Nord du Burkina Faso : le cas du Zaï et des Cordons Pierreux

This study is based on data collected from 141 family-type farms in the Yatenga province in Burkina Faso. A probit approach is used to analyze the effect of perception of land degradation and other factors on the adoption of zaï and stone rows. The results of the estimation show that the availability of organic matter from small ruminants is determinant for the adoption of both zaï and stone rows. Although most of farmers are aware of the causes and consequences of land degradation, this factor does not significantly impact on farmers’ decision to invest in SWC measures. Opportunities do exist for making more efficient use of local sources of nutrients, such as small ruminants’ organic matter in combination with locally accepted SWC measures. This may increase farmers’ willingness to go beyond SWC measures, to invest in nutrient supply in their soils which are characterized by poor fertility. The study shows that combining training on SWC and the development of small-scale animal breeding could contribute to reach this goal in a degraded area.Land degradation, technology adoption, stone rows, Zai, Yatenga, Community/Rural/Urban Development, Consumer/Household Economics, Environmental Economics and Policy, Food Consumption/Nutrition/Food Safety, Food Security and Poverty, Labor and Human Capital, Land Economics/Use, Marketing, Research and Development/Tech Change/Emerging Technologies,

Meeting the Demand for Results and Accountability: A Call for Action on Health Data from Eight Global Health Agencies

Margaret Chan, Director-General of the WHO, and the heads of seven other global health agencies, call for a concerted global effort to collect better health data

Deciphering the genome structure and paleohistory of _Theobroma cacao_

We sequenced and assembled the genome of _Theobroma cacao_, an economically important tropical fruit tree crop that is the source of chocolate. The assembly corresponds to 76% of the estimated genome size and contains almost all previously described genes, with 82% of them anchored on the 10 _T. cacao_ chromosomes. Analysis of this sequence information highlighted specific expansion of some gene families during evolution, for example flavonoid-related genes. It also provides a major source of candidate genes for _T. cacao_ disease resistance and quality improvement. Based on the inferred paleohistory of the T. cacao genome, we propose an evolutionary scenario whereby the ten _T. cacao_ chromosomes were shaped from an ancestor through eleven chromosome fusions. The _T. cacao_ genome can be considered as a simple living relic of higher plant evolution

Perception de la Dégradation des Terres et Adoption des Technologies de Conservation des Eaux et des Sols au Nord du Burkina Faso : le cas du Zaï et des Cordons Pierreux

This study is based on data collected from 141 family-type farms in the Yatenga province in Burkina Faso. A probit approach is used to analyze the effect of perception of land degradation and other factors on the adoption of zaï and stone rows. The results of the estimation show that the availability of organic matter from small ruminants is determinant for the adoption of both zaï and stone rows. Although most of farmers are aware of the causes and consequences of land degradation, this factor does not significantly impact on farmers’ decision to invest in SWC measures. Opportunities do exist for making more efficient use of local sources of nutrients, such as small ruminants’ organic matter in combination with locally accepted SWC measures. This may increase farmers’ willingness to go beyond SWC measures, to invest in nutrient supply in their soils which are characterized by poor fertility. The study shows that combining training on SWC and the development of small-scale animal breeding could contribute to reach this goal in a degraded area

Peptides OFFGEL electrophoresis: a suitable pre-analytical step for complex eukaryotic samples fractionation compatible with quantitative iTRAQ labeling.

International audienceABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: The proteomes of mammalian biological fluids, cells and tissues are complex and composed of proteins with a wide dynamic range. The effective way to overcome the complexity of these proteomes is to combine several fractionation steps. OFFGEL fractionation, recently developed by Agilent Technologies, provides the ability to pre-fractionate peptides into discrete liquid fractions and demonstrated high efficiency and repeatability necessary for the analysis of such complex proteomes. RESULTS: We evaluated OFFGEL fractionator technology to separate peptides from two complex proteomes, human secretome and human plasma, using a 24-wells device encompassing the pH range 3-10. In combination with reverse phase liquid chromatography, peptides from these two samples were separated and identified by MALDI TOF-TOF. The repartition profiles of the peptides in the different fractions were analyzed and explained by their content in charged amino acids using an algorithmic model based on the possible combinations of amino acids. We also demonstrated for the first time the compatibility of OFFGEL separation technology with the quantitative proteomic labeling technique iTRAQ allowing inclusion of this technique in complex samples comparative proteomic workflow. CONCLUSION: The reported data showed that OFFGEL system provides a highly valuable tool to fractionate peptides from complex eukaryotic proteomes (plasma and secretome) and is compatible with iTRAQ labeling quantitative studies. We therefore consider peptides OFFGEL fractionation as an effective addition to our strategy and an important system for quantitative proteomics studies