Contribution of Lake Victoria Dagaa Fishery in East and Central African Fish Trade

While the focus of Lake Victoria Nile-perch fishery is to serve the global market and tilapia is mainly for domestic market in Tanzania; Dagaa has a great potential for small scale trade in regional markets. In 2006 a survey was conducted to assess the regional fish marketing channel for the major commercial fish species in Lake Victoria. It was revealed that Dagaa accounts significantly in terms of volume traded in regional markets compared to Nile perch fish products. However, the latter fetches higher royalty. The present paper discusses the potential of Dagaa in regional fish trade, distribution system of Dagaa and other fish products in regional markets, and challenges faced by small-scale traders in regional fish trade and make recommendations on how to address the challenges.This is part of the IIFET Special Session on Markets and Value Chains for Small Aquaculture & Fisheries Enterprises with a Focus on Gender that took place on 17 July 2012 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania in conjunction with 16th IIFET Conference. The complete proceedings of this special session are available ( http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Documents/Uploads/FileManager/IIFET%202012%20CRSP%20Session%20Proceedings%20Final_small.pdf) through the Aquaculture & Fisheries Collaborative Research Support Program gender web site, ( http://aquafishcrsp.oregonstate.edu/Gender/)

Eave ribbons treated with transfluthrin can protect both users and non-users against malaria vectors

Eave ribbons treated with spatial repellents effectively prevent human exposure to outdoor-biting and indoor-biting malaria mosquitoes, and could constitute a scalable and low-cost supplement to current interventions, such as insecticide-treated nets (ITNs). This study measured protection afforded by transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons to users (personal and communal protection) and non-users (only communal protection), and whether introducing mosquito traps as additional intervention influenced these benefits.; Five experimental huts were constructed inside a 110 m long, screened tunnel, in which 1000 Anopheles arabiensis were released nightly. Eave ribbons treated with 0.25 g/m; 2; transfluthrin were fitted to 0, 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 huts, achieving 0, 20, 40, 60, 80 and 100% coverage, respectively. Volunteers sat near each hut and collected mosquitoes attempting to bite them from 6 to 10 p.m. (outdoor-biting), then went indoors to sleep under untreated bed nets, beside which CDC-light traps collected mosquitoes from 10 p.m. to 6 a.m. (indoor-biting). Caged mosquitoes kept inside the huts were monitored for 24 h-mortality. Separately, eave ribbons, UV-LED mosquito traps (Mosclean) or both the ribbons and traps were fitted, each time leaving the central hut unfitted to represent non-user households and assess communal protection. Biting risk was measured concurrently in all huts, before and after introducing interventions.; Transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons provided 83% and 62% protection indoors and outdoors respectively to users, plus 57% and 48% protection indoors and outdoors to the non-user. Protection for users remained constant, but protection for non-users increased with eave ribbons coverage, peaking once 80% of huts were fitted. Mortality of mosquitoes caged inside huts with eave ribbons was 100%. The UV-LED traps increased indoor exposure to users and non-users, but marginally reduced outdoor-biting. Combining the traps and eave ribbons did not improve user protection relative to eave ribbons alone.; Transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons protect both users and non-users against malaria mosquitoes indoors and outdoors. The mosquito-killing property of transfluthrin can magnify the communal benefits by limiting unwanted diversion to non-users, but should be validated in field trials against pyrethroid-resistant vectors. Benefits of the UV-LED traps as an intervention alone or alongside eave ribbons were however undetectable in this study. These findings extend the evidence that transfluthrin-treated eave ribbons could complement ITNs

Population dynamics and breeding patterns of multimammatemouse, Mastomys natalensis (Smith 1834), in irrigated rice fields in Eastern Tanzania

Pest Management Science 2013; 69:371-377BACKGROUND: Multimammate mice are the most important vertebrate pests in Sub-Saharan Africa and are also reservoirs of many zoonotic diseases, including sylvan plague. This study investigated the population dynamics and breeding patterns of this mouse in irrigated rice cropping systems in eastern Tanzania. RESULTS: The multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis, population varied with habitat and months. Fallow land had a more abundant population than rice fields. The highest population peak was observed during the dry season from July to October. Mastomys natalensis is sexually active throughout the year in the study area, although it reaches the highest level in June and December when rice is at the maturity stage. This suggests that breeding is highly influenced by the presence of a rice crop in both seasons. More juvenile individuals were recorded in August and September, indicating that they were produced in the previous breeding months. The sex ratio of M. natalensis was not skewed to either males or females, indicating that it was at parity. CONCLUSION: Rodent population dynamics during the study periods in all habitats indicated that high birth rates accounted for the rapid population growth and turnover. Regular control and sustainable operations are thus essential if rodent pest populations are to be kept within tolerable limits

Population dynamics and breeding patterns of multimammatemouse, Mastomys natalensis (Smith 1834), in irrigated rice fields in Eastern Tanzania

Pest Management Science 2013; 69:371-377BACKGROUND: Multimammate mice are the most important vertebrate pests in Sub-Saharan Africa and are also reservoirs of many zoonotic diseases, including sylvan plague. This study investigated the population dynamics and breeding patterns of this mouse in irrigated rice cropping systems in eastern Tanzania. RESULTS: The multimammate mouse, Mastomys natalensis, population varied with habitat and months. Fallow land had a more abundant population than rice fields. The highest population peak was observed during the dry season from July to October. Mastomys natalensis is sexually active throughout the year in the study area, although it reaches the highest level in June and December when rice is at the maturity stage. This suggests that breeding is highly influenced by the presence of a rice crop in both seasons. More juvenile individuals were recorded in August and September, indicating that they were produced in the previous breeding months. The sex ratio of M. natalensis was not skewed to either males or females, indicating that it was at parity. CONCLUSION: Rodent population dynamics during the study periods in all habitats indicated that high birth rates accounted for the rapid population growth and turnover. Regular control and sustainable operations are thus essential if rodent pest populations are to be kept within tolerable limits

MOESM1 of A robust mass spectrometry method for rapid profiling of erythrocyte ghost membrane proteomes

Additional file 1: Figure 1 Histogram showing the distribution of the Intensity Based Absolute Quantification (iBAQ) values for identified peptides across samples 1 to 10 (represented by iBAQ 1-10 respectively) listed in Table 1

Newborn screening for sickle cell disease: an innovative pilot program to improve child survival in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania.

BACKGROUND: Sickle cell disease (SCD) is a recognized cause of childhood mortality. Tanzania has the fifth highest incidence of SCD (with an estimated 11 000 SCD annual births) worldwide. Although newborn screening (NBS) for SCD and comprehensive healthcare have been shown to reduce under-5 mortality by up to 94% in high-income countries such as the USA, no country in Africa has maintained NBS for SCD as a national health program. The aims of this program were to establish and evaluate NBS-SCD as a health intervention in Tanzania and to determine the birth prevalence of SCD. METHODS: Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences conducted NBS for SCD from January 2015 to November 2016. Dried blood spot samples were collected and tested for SCD using isoelectric focusing. RESULTS: Screening was conducted on 3981 newborns. Thirty-one (0.8%) babies had SCD, 505 (12.6%) had sickle cell trait and 26 (0.7%) had other hemoglobinopathies. Twenty-eight (90.3%) of the 31 newborns with SCD were enrolled for comprehensive healthcare. CONCLUSIONS: This is the first report on NBS as a health program for SCD in Tanzania. The SCD birth prevalence of 8 per 1000 births is of public health significance. It is therefore important to conduct NBS for SCD with enrollment into a comprehensive care program

Need for harmonized long-term multi-lake monitoring of African Great Lakes

To ensure the long-term sustainable use of African Great Lakes (AGL), and to better understand the functioning of these ecosystems, authorities, managers and scientists need regularly collected scientific data and information of key environmental indicators over multi-years to make informed decisions. Monitoring is regularly conducted at some sites across AGL; while at others sites, it is rare or conducted irregularly in response to sporadic funding or short-term projects/studies. Managers and scientists working on the AGL thus often lack critical long-term data to evaluate and gauge ongoing changes. Hence, we propose a multi-lake approach to harmonize data collection modalities for better understanding of regional and global environmental impacts on AGL. Climate variability has had strong impacts on all AGL in the recent past. Although these lakes have specific characteristics, their limnological cycles show many similarities. Because different anthropogenic pressures take place at the different AGL, harmonized multi-lake monitoring will provide comparable data to address the main drivers of concern (climate versus regional anthropogenic impact). To realize harmonized long-term multi-lake monitoring, the approach will need: (1) support of a wide community of researchers and managers; (2) political goodwill towards a common goal for such monitoring; and (3) sufficient capacity (e.g., institutional, financial, human and logistic resources) for its implementation. This paper presents an assessment of the state of monitoring the AGL and possible approaches to realize a long-term, multi-lake harmonized monitoring strategy. Key parameters are proposed. The support of national and regional authorities is necessary as each AGL crosses international boundaries

Need for harmonized long-term multi-lake monitoring of African Great Lakes

To ensure the long-term sustainable use of African Great Lakes (AGL), and to better understand the functioning of these ecosystems, authorities, managers and scientists need regularly collected scientific data and information of key environmental indicators over multi-years to make informed decisions. Monitoring is regularly conducted at some sites across AGL; while at others sites, it is rare or conducted irregularly in response to sporadic funding or short-term projects/studies. Managers and scientists working on the AGL thus often lack critical long-term data to evaluate and gauge ongoing changes. Hence, we propose a multi-lake approach to harmonize data collection modalities for better understanding of regional and global environmental impacts on AGL. Climate variability has had strong impacts on all AGL in the recent past. Although these lakes have specific characteristics, their limnological cycles show many similarities. Because different anthropogenic pressures take place at the different AGL, harmonized multi-lake monitoring will provide comparable data to address the main drivers of concern (climate versus regional anthropogenic impact). To realize harmonized long-term multi-lake monitoring, the approach will need: (1) support of a wide community of researchers and managers; (2) political goodwill towards a common goal for such monitoring; and (3) sufficient capacity (e.g., institutional, financial, human and logistic resources) for its implementation. This paper presents an assessment of the state of monitoring the AGL and possible approaches to realize a long-term, multi-lake harmonized monitoring strategy. Key parameters are proposed. The support of national and regional authorities is necessary as each AGL crosses international boundaries