The Potential of Nutrigenomics from Viewpoint of Animal Nutrition: A Mini Review

Nutrigenomics is relatively new area of science which requires more appraisal and further research. Therefore, it must be well understood before it is applied in the field of agriculture particularly in animal science. From earlier few studies, it has been learnt that nutrigenomics and allied sciences have significant importance to serve as modern tool fornutritional research in comprehending the problems related to animal production and health. But the level of awareness is not that much raised for maximum exploitation of the science. For this reason, efforts have to be exerted to uncover the state of current knowledge, skill and practices how nutrigenomics helps in boosting animal productivity and health condition. One of the approaches to expand this knowledge is using various dissemination mechanisms such as bringing together the information from different sources, analyzing and interpreting. In scientific or research language, this is referred as review. To this end, literature and articles related to animal nutrition and health which were produced over several years are browsed and reviewed. Based on the review, it is possible to recognize that the future of animal nutrition requires intensified feeding and precise nutrient specification of animals. Hence, understanding the importance of nutrigenomics, exploring how it works, and identifying what benefit it has is the scope of the review. This piece of paper is therefore written to describe what nutrigenomics mean, its importance, how it can be applied and what contribution it has to the field of animal sciences

Evaluation of Climate Change-Induced Impact on Streamflow and Sediment Yield of Genale Watershed, Ethiopia

In the 21st century, changes in induced climate can significantly affect the water resources system in the watershed. Understanding climate change disrupts hydrological processes can facilitate sustainable water resource strategies to resilient impacts of global warming. The hydrological response of watersheds will be accelerated by climate change, altering the rainfall, magnitude & timing of runoff, and sediment yield. The study investigates climate change aspects on the hydrological responses using Soil and Water Assessment Tool (SWAT) model interfaced with Geographical Information System (GIS) of Genale Basin, Ethiopia. The calibrated SWAT was applied to simulate the impact of climate, and the SUFI-II algorithm was used for parameter optimization & finalization. The change of climate scenarios was built using the outcomes bias-corrected CORDEX RCM daily precipitation, min/max temperature for Ethiopia under RCP 4.5 and RCP 8.5. The average monthly change of streamflow from −16.47% to 6.58% and − 3.6% to 8.27% under RCP4.5 and RCP8.5, respectively (2022–2080). The monthly average sediment yield change was −21.8% to 6.2% and − 5.6% to 4.66% for the RCP4.5 and RCP8.5 scenarios, respectively, over 2022–2080. It implies that the climate change-induced impacts on sediment yield are more significant than streamflow and suggest substantial adaptive management in watershed systems

Peripheral blood eosinophils: a surrogate marker for airway eosinophilia in stable COPD.

INTRODUCTION: Sputum eosinophilia occurs in approximately one-third of stable chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) patients and can predict exacerbation risk and response to corticosteroid treatments. Sputum induction, however, requires expertise, may not always be successful, and does not provide point-of-care results. Easily applicable diagnostic markers that can predict sputum eosinophilia in stable COPD patients have the potential to progress COPD management. This study investigated the correlation and predictive relationship between peripheral blood and sputum eosinophils. It also examined the repeatability of blood eosinophil counts. METHODS: Stable COPD patients (n=141) were classified as eosinophilic or noneosinophilic based on their sputum cell counts (≥3%), and a cross-sectional analysis was conducted comparing their demographics, clinical characteristics, and blood cell counts. Receiver operating characteristic curve analysis was used to assess the predictive ability of blood eosinophils for sputum eosinophilia. Intraclass correlation coefficient was used to examine the repeatability of blood eosinophil counts. RESULTS: Blood eosinophil counts were significantly higher in patients with sputum eosinophilia (n=45) compared to those without (0.3×10(9)/L vs 0.15×10(9)/L; P<0.0001). Blood eosinophils correlated with both the percentage (ρ=0.535; P<0.0001) and number of sputum eosinophils (ρ=0.473; P<0.0001). Absolute blood eosinophil count was predictive of sputum eosinophilia (area under the curve =0.76, 95% confidence interval [CI] =0.67-0.84; P<0.0001). At a threshold of ≥0.3×10(9)/L (specificity =76%, sensitivity =60%, and positive likelihood ratio =2.5), peripheral blood eosinophil counts enabled identification of the presence or absence of sputum eosinophilia in 71% of the cases. A threshold of ≥0.4×10(9)/L had similar classifying ability but better specificity (91.7%) and higher positive likelihood ratio (3.7). In contrast, ≥0.2×10(9)/L offered a better sensitivity (91.1%) for ruling out sputum eosinophilia. There was a good agreement between two measurements of blood eosinophil count over a median of 28 days (intraclass correlation coefficient =0.8; 95% CI =0.66-0.88; P<0.0001). CONCLUSION: Peripheral blood eosinophil counts can help identify the presence or absence of sputum eosinophilia in stable COPD patients with a reasonable degree of accuracy

Identity formation and the Gospel of Matthew : a socio-narrative reading

Thesis (PhD)--Stellenbosch University, 2021.ENGLISH ABSTRACT: With the assumption that texts have identity-forming roles, this study attempted to answer the question: Why does the author of the Gospel of Matthew include non-Judean characters in his narrative? To explore a possible answer to this question, I coined and used the socio-narrative reading method, which merges socio-scientific criticism, narrative criticism, and semiological reading through social identity, characterisation, and semiotic theories as a heuristic interpretive tool. I contend that the implied author of Matthew used the non-Judean characters to form the identity of the ideal readers’ community. This community is not a specific, isolated community, but an imagined 1st-century group of people, i.e., an ideal readers’ community, who could read, grasp, and accept the ideology1 propagated by the Gospel of Matthew as it was expressed by the implied author in the narrative. Many Matthean scholars have pointed to the role of the non-Judean characters in the Matthean narrative as having implications for the mission to the non-Judeans, but without providing a theoretical basis. I argue that Ronald Barthes’ semiological reading method, specifically the second order meaning of stories, fills this lacuna in Matthean scholarship. Furthermore, most of the studies on the non-Judean characters in the Gospel of Matthew considered them as a reflection of the addressed community. However, I contend that these characters have an identity forming role. I argue that, on the one hand, the implied author used the negatively stereotyped non-Judeans in the Matthean Jesus’ teaching (i.e. Matt. 5:47; 6:7; 6:32; 18:17; and 20:19), which are exemplified in the stories of the negatively characterised non-Judean individuals such as the Gadarenes (Matt. 8:32-34), Pilate (Matt. 27:1-6; 27:62-66), and the Roman soldiers (Matt. 27: 27-28:15), to demonstrate the “otherness”, the “outsiderness” of the non-Judeans. On the other hand, the positively characterised non-Judeans in the genealogy account (Matt. 1:1-17), the Magi (Matt. 2:1-12), the centurion (Matt. 8:5-13), and the Canaanite woman (Matt. 15: 21-28) are used in the Matthean narrative to form the identity of 1 In this disseretation ideology has the meaning of what the implied author wants to promote, shuch as in the first century context in which the idea of non-Judeans being a part of God’s people and rightful beneficries of the kingdom blessings was contested, the implied author promote the possibility of the non-Judeans being a part of such people. the ideal readers’ community. If the positively characterised non-Judeans were shown to be rightful beneficiaries of the messianic blessings, the social boundary that excluded non-Judeans, who were perceived as others and outsiders in relation to God’s people, is either compromised or demolished. Therefore, the positive and negative characterisations of non-Judeans in the Matthean narrative have a role in forming the identity of the ideal readers’ community.AFRIKAANSE OPSOMMING: Hierdie studie het, met die aanname dat tekste ʼn identiteit-vormende rol speel, gepoog om die vraag te beantwoord: “Waarom sluit die skrywer van die Evangelie van Matteus nie-Judese karakters in sy vertelling in?” Om die vraag te ondersoek, het ek ʼn leesmetode ontwikkel wat ek die sosio-narratiewe leesmetode noem. Dit is ʼn samesmelting van sosio-wetenskaplike kritiek, narratiewe kritiek, en semiologiese lees, deur gebruik te maak van sosiale identiteit, karakterisering en semiotiese teorieë as ʼn heuristiese werktuig. Ek voer aan dat die geïmpliseerde skrywer die nie-Judese karakters gebruik het om die identiteit van die ideale lesersgemeenskap te vorm. Hierdie gemeenskap is nie ʼn spesifieke, geïsoleerde gemeenskap nie, maar ʼn verbeelde groep mense uit die eerste eeu, dit wil sê ʼn ideale lesersgemeenskap wat die ideologie wat deur die Matteus-evangelie gepropageer is, sou kon lees, begryp en aanvaar soos dit deur die geïmpliseerde outeur vertel is. Baie navorsers het al daarop gewys dat die rol van die nie-Judese karakters in die boek Matteus, implikasies het vir die sending aan nie-Jode, maar geen teoretiese basis daarvoor gebied nie. Ek meen dat Ronald Barthes se semiologiese leesmetode, spesifiek die tweede-orde betekenis van die verhale, hierdie leemte in die Matteus-navorsing kan vul. In studies oor die nie-Judese karakters in die Evangelie van Matteus, word hulle dikwels beskou as ʼn weerspieëling van die kontekstuele gemeenskap aan wie die boek gerig was. Ek beweer egter dat hierdie karakters ʼn identiteit-vormende rol speel. Ek argumenteer dat die geïmpliseerde skrywer aan die een kant die negatiewe stereotipering van nie-Judeërs deur Jesus (cf. Matt. 5:47; 6:7; 6:32; 18:17; en 20:19), en voorbeelde van negatief gekarakteriseerde nie-Jode, soos die Gadareners (Matt. 8:32-34), Pilatus (Matt. 27:1-6; 27:62-66) en die Romeinse soldate (Matt. 27:27-28:15) gebruik het om die “andersheid”, “buitestaanderheid” van nie-Jode te toon. Aan die ander kant is die positief gekarakteriseerde nie-Jode in die genealogiese verslag (Matt. 1:1-17), die wyse manne (Matt. 2:1-12), die offisier (Matt. 8:5-13) en die Kanaänitiese vrou (Matt. 15:21-28) in die Matteus-verhaal gebruik om die identiteit van die ideale lesersgemeenskap te vorm. As die positief gekarakteriseerde nie-Jode beskou word as mense wat die reg het om te deel in die messiaanse seëninge, word die sosiale grens wat nie-Jode uitsluit en hulle as “anders” of “buitestanders” in verhouding tot God se volk beskou, gekompromitteer of afgebreek. Daarom speel die positiewe en negatiewe karakterisering van nie-Jode in die Mattheus-verhaal ʼn rol in die vorming van die identiteit van die ideale lesersgemeenskap.Doctora

Cultural capital and students’ academic performance: the case of Ethiopian higher educational institutions

Since its origin in early 1950s, the Ethiopian higher education system has progressively undergone modest expansion. Its age-old challenges of inequality of opportunity and inefficiency have not withered. This study focuses on one of these challenges i.e. inequality and assesses the effectiveness of the post-1990s governmental interventions to bring the equalization of higher educational opportunity. Specifically, it assesses the relationship between parental cultural capital and students’ entry to and academic performance at three public universities. The authors employed a mixed methods approach to gather and discuss data relevant to students’ higher educational experience. The study found strong associations between parental cultural capital and students’ probability of entry to and success in higher education. The findings attest to the development of a scenario that could easily feed into the reproduction of structural disadvantages of students from low income households at the larger societal canvas. It concludes with a discussion on a few modest, pragmatic and policy-relevant recommendations.Keywords: equality of education opportunity, cultural capital, academic performance, higher educational institution