Abdominal Pregnancy in Usmanu Dan-Fodiyo University Teaching Hospital, Sokoto: A 10-year Review

Background: Abdominal pregnancy, a rare condition with high maternal mortality (up to 50%), and even higher perinatal mortality (40 – 95%), is often associated with diagnostic difficulties.Objectives: To determine the mode of presentation and management of abdominal pregnancy, from cases in the Usmanu Dan-Fodiyo University Teaching Hospital (UDUTH), Sokoto.Materials and Methods: A retrospective review of the case records of all abdominal pregnancies managed in UDUTH, Sokoto, between January 2000 and December 2010. Results: During the 10-year study period, there were eight cases of abdominal pregnancies, 285 extrauterine pregnancies, and 25,506 total deliveries. All the patients were not booked for antenatal care and their ages ranged between 20 and 39 years (mean=28.1±3.4 years). The majority (88%) were grand multipara. The main presenting symptoms were persistent abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, and prolonged pregnancy. Seven cases (87.5%) were diagnosed accurately by an ultrasound scan. There were seven perinatal deaths (87.5%) and one live birth. There was one maternal death (12.5%), which occurred in the patient whose placenta was left in-situ.Conclusion: Presence of persistent lower abdominal pain, vaginal bleeding, and prolonged pregnancy should raise the suspicion of abdominal pregnancy. Removal of the placenta, where feasible, improves the outcome of maternal health.Keywords: Ectopic pregnancy, Africa, diagnostic difficulties, maternal mortalit

A maximum power point tracking scheme for a 1kw stand-alone solar energy based power supply

This paper elucidates one of the tracking schemes for a photovoltaic (PV) systems using Cuk converter operating in discontinuous inductor current mode (DICM) as an interface. A method for efficiently maximizing the output power of a solar panel supplying a load or battery bus under varying meteorological conditions is investigated and results presented therein. The incremental conductance (InCond) method of maximum power point tracking (MPPT) using the Cuks dc to dc converter operating in a discontinuous inductor current mode (DICM) was modeled and studied in relation to PV system interface. Also, laboratory setup was implemented based on the model. This was the main objective of the research. Similarly, the PV simulator was also modeled alongside with Cuk converter operating in DICM. MATLAB/SIMULINK software was used to carry out simulation test. With the incremental conductance method, the problem of sustained oscillation around the maximum power point of the solar panel which is the usual characteristic of the perturbation and observation method is essentially absent. The result disclosed that the power available for the load when MPPT was applied was 1.1 kW which gives a tolerance of 0.1% to the load it powers. But without MPPT, the available power is 0.9 kW using the same number of PV panels and batteries as back up. Hence, MPPT has 17.65% edge in power delivery over non-MPPT PV powered energy supply. An experimental prototype of a 1kW, 230V, 50Hz stand-alone solar based power supply with the incremental conductance scheme was successfully implemented using PIC 16F877 microcontroller, tested and results presented therein. The experimental results agreed with the simulated results.Keywords: Maximum Power point tracking, Cuk converter, Photovoltaic system, PIC 16F877A micro-controller, inverter, batteries

A Cas9-based toolkit to program gene expression in Saccharomyces cerevisiae

Despite the extensive use of Saccharomyces cerevisiae as a platform for synthetic biology, strain engineering remains slow and laborious. Here, we employ CRISPR/Cas9 technology to build a cloning-free toolkit that addresses commonly encountered obstacles in metabolic engineering, including chromosomal integration locus and promoter selection, as well as protein localization and solubility. The toolkit includes 23 Cas9-sgRNA plasmids, 37 promoters of various strengths and temporal expression profiles, and 10 protein-localization, degradation and solubility tags. We facilitated the use of these parts via a web-based tool, that automates the generation of DNA fragments for integration. Our system builds upon existing gene editing methods in the thoroughness with which the parts are standardized and characterized, the types and number of parts available and the ease with which our methodology can be used to perform genetic edits in yeast. We demonstrated the applicability of this toolkit by optimizing the expression of a challenging but industrially important enzyme, taxadiene synthase (TXS). This approach enabled us to diagnose an issue with TXS solubility, the resolution of which yielded a 25-fold improvement in taxadiene production

Multilocus microsatellite analysis of European and African Candida glabrata isolates

This study aimed to elucidate the genetic relatedness and epidemiology of 127 clinical and environmental Candida glabrata isolates from Europe and Africa using multilocus microsatellite analysis. Each isolate was first identified using phenotypic and molecular methods and subsequently, six unlinked microsatellite loci were analyzed using automated fluorescent genotyping. Genetic relationships were estimated using the minimum-spanning tree (MStree) method. Microsatellite analyses revealed the existence of 47 different genotypes. The fungal population showed an irregular distribution owing to the over-representation of genetically different infectious haplotypes. The most common genotype was MG-9, which was frequently found in both European and African isolates. In conclusion, the data reported here emphasize the role of specific C. glabrata genotypes in human infections for at least some decades and highlight the widespread distribution of some isolates, which seem to be more able to cause disease than others.This research was supported in part by the EU Mare Nostrum (EUMN-III Call) program of the European Union, grant agreement number 2011-4050/001-EMA2. Dr Sanae Rharmitt was the recipient of a scholarship (10 months) signed within the EUMN program for PhD students (F.S. 1.04.11.01 UORI) under the supervision of Prof Orazio Romeo.info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio