Characterization of plant-derived lactococci on the basis of their volatile compounds profile when grown in milk

peer-reviewedA total of twelve strains of lactococci were isolated from grass and vegetables (baby corn and fresh green peas). Ten of the isolates were classified as Lactococcus lactis subsp. lactis and two as Lactococcus lactis subsp. cremoris based on 16S rDNA sequencing. Most of the plant-derived strains were capable of metabolising a wide range of carbohydrates in that they fermented D-mannitol, amygdalin, potassium gluconate, l-arabinose, d-xylose, sucrose and gentibiose. None of the dairy control strains (i.e. L. lactis subsp. cremoris HP, L. lactis subsp. lactis IL1403 and Lactococcus lactis 303) were able to utilize any of these carbohydrates. The technological potential of the isolates as flavour-producing lactococci was evaluated by analysing their growth in milk and their ability to produce volatile compounds using solid phase micro-extraction of the headspace coupled to gas chromatography–mass spectrometry (SPME GC–MS). Principal component analysis (PCA) of the volatile compounds clearly separated the dairy strains from the plant derived strains, with higher levels of most flavour rich compounds. The flavour compounds produced by the plant isolates among others included; fatty acids such as 2- and 3-methylbutanoic acids, and hexanoic acid, several esters (e.g. butyl acetate and ethyl butanoate) and ketones (e.g. acetoin, diacetyl and 2-heptanone), all of which have been associated with desirable and more mature flavours in cheese. As such the production of a larger number of volatile compounds is a distinguishing feature of plant-derived lactococci and might be a desirable trait for the production of dairy products with enhanced flavour and/or aroma

Household Fuel Use and Acute Respiratory Infections in Children Under Five Years of Age in Gondar city of Ethiopia

Acute respiratory infections (ARI) are the leading cause of childhood illness and death worldwide, accounting for an estimated 6.5% of the entire global burden of disease.  This study investigated the association between household use of biomass fuels for cooking and acute respiratory infections in preschool age children (< 5 years) in Gondar city of Ethiopia. This cross sectional study was based on 715 children age 0–59 months included in three clusters randomly selected from 12 administrative areas of Gondar city. Children who suffered from cough accompanied by short, rapid breathing during the two weeks preceding the survey were defined as having suffered from ARI. Logistic regression was used to estimate the odds of suffering from ARI among children from households using biomass fuels (wood, dung or straw) relative to children from households using cleaner fuels (liquid petroleum gas (LPG), or electricity) after controlling for potentially confounding factors. More than half of the children (54.7%) lived in households using biomass fuels from which 26.3% suffered from ARI during the 2 weeks preceding the survey interview. Children in households using wood, dung, or straw for cooking were 3.89 times more likely to have suffered from ARI as compared to children from households using LPG or electricity (OR = 3.89; 95% CI: 1.54, 28.25). Household’s use of high pollution biomass fuels is significantly associated with ARI in preschool age children in Gondar city, Ethiopia. The relationship needs to be further investigated using more direct measures of smoke exposure and clinical measures of ARI. Keywords: Acute respiratory illness, Indoor air pollution, Biomass combustion, Gondar cit

Multivariate analysis of morphological variation in enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) reveals regional and clinal variation in germplasm from south and south western Ethiopia

Enset (Ensete ventricosum (Welw.) Cheesman) is cultivated by millions of people across Ethiopia in diverse agro-ecological and cultural settings, selecting for various agronomic traits. However, as for other underutilized crops, our understanding of the diversity and utilization of enset remains limited. This work sought to redress this limitation by estimating morphological diversity among enset accessions collected from major enset growing regions, including across altitudinal gradients. In total, landraces comprising 387 accessions originating from nine regions of Ethiopia were characterized using multivariate analysis of 15 quantitative traits. Cluster analysis grouped accessions in to five distinct classes with maximum number of accessions 338 in cluster (I) and minimum 1 in cluster (V). The clustering of accessions did not show grouping on the basis of region of origin. The first four principal components accounted for ~74% of the total variance. Linear discriminant analysis indicated that around 40.8% (160 accessions) and 45.2% (175 accession) of the studied accessions were correctly classified to their respective regions of origin altitude groups, respectively. The breadth of phenotypic differences in these 15 traits suggests significant degrees of genetic variation. These traits will be exploited to identify potential donors for future enset improvement efforts

THE PATTERN AND PRACTICES OF PLAY AMONG PRACTITONERS WORKING WITH CHILDREN IN ETHIOPIA

ABSTRACT Play is a developmentally appropriate way that children express themselves. It is important for psychomotor, social, emotional; and even intellectual and moral development of children. Therefore, to provide developmentally relevant treatment for children's psychosocial difficulties play is a key approach. This cross-sectional survey study examined practitioners' awareness, practices, and belief system regarding the therapeutic and developmental importance of play for children. Moreover, practitioners' perceived barriers to use play in children were investigated. To this end, a total of 120 practitioners that were working with children at various settings were participated in the study. Structured questionnaire was administered to gather the data. Then, it has been analyzed using both descriptive and inferential statistical procedures. The obtained result revealed the presence of significant difference among the mean values of practitioners' awareness about the use of play for specific aspects of children. They had better understanding regarding the role of play for recreational and psychomotor development than to the cognitive, self-esteem, psychosocial, moral and therapeutic functions of play to children. In addition, lack of awareness, absence of facilities and practitioners' misperceptions were the three foremost barriers that blocked practitioners to use play. Finally, both short-term and long-term solutions have been proposed

Superovulation Response and In vivo Embryo

 አህፅሮት የጥናቱ ዋና ዓሊማ ንፁህ የቦረና ሊሞችና የቦረና ዲቃሊ ሊሞች ተጨማሪ ዕንቁሊል የማኮረትና ፅንስ የመስጠት አቅማቸውን ሇማጥናት የተሰራነው፡፡ ሊሞች በሦስት ቡድን ተከፍሇው 300፣ 250 እና 200 አይ.ዩ. ኤፍ.ኤስ.ኤች. ሆርሞን ተሰጣቸው፤ ከዚያም የኮርማ ፍሊጎት እስከሚያሳዩበት የወሰደባቸው ጊዜ፣ የኮርማ ፍሊጎት እያሳዩ የሚቆዩት ጊዜ እና ጠቅሊሊ አኮርተው የሇቀቁት ዕንቁሊል ቁጥር በማየት ሇሆርሞኑ የነበራቸው ምሊሽ ተጠንቷል፡፡ ተጨማሪ ዕንቁሊል እንዲያኮርቱ ሇማድረግ ሆርሞን በተሰጣቸው በ16-17 ቀን ሊይ ፅንሶችን በመሰብሰብ የዕድገታቸው ሁኔታና ጥራት ግምገማ ተደርጓል፡፡ በመጨረሻው ጊዜ ሆርሞን ከተሰጠበት የኮርማ ፍሊጎት እስከሚያሳዩበት ጊዜ በአማካይ 20.4 ሰዓታ የወሰደባቸው ሲሆን በቦረና እና በዲቃሎቻቸው መካከል የጎሊ የሰዓታት ልዩነት አልታየም፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከተሰጣቸው ሦስት የተሇያየ የሆርሞን መጠን 250 አይ.ዩ የወሰዱት ቀደም ብሇው በ10 ሰዓታ ውስጥ የኮርማ ፍሊጎት አሳይተዋል፡፡ የተኮረቱት ዕንቁሊል ቁጥር ሲታይ ቦረናዎች (10.1 ዕንቁሊል) ከዲቃሎቻቸው የተሸሇ በዛ ያለ አዘጋጅተዋል፡፡ የፅንስ ብዛትም ሲታይ ቦረናዎች 4 ሲሰጡ ዲቃሎቻቸው 2.67 ሰጥተዋል፡፡ ከፅንስ ዕድገትና ጥራት ግምገማ ውጤት ቦረናዎች ሉተሊሇፉ የሚችለ ፅንስ 3.8 ሲሆን የዲቃሎቻቸው 2.67 ነበር፡፡ በመሆኑም በታዩት መስፈርቶች ቦረና ሊሞች ከዲቃሎቻቸው የተሸሇ ዕንቁሊ ማኮረት እንደሚችለና የተሻሇ የዕድገት ደረጃና ጥራት ያሇው ፅንስ መስጠት የሚችል አቅም እንዳሇቸው ታይቷል፡፡ AbstractBoran (n=25) and Boran*Holstein (n=11) cows were superovullatedFSH with three doses level (300, 250 and 200IU) divided in to morning and afternoon decreasing doses over 4 daysto study the superovulatory response and embryo production potential. Time to estrus, duration of estrus, and CL count were used to determine superovulatory response. Embryos were flushed on Day 16/17 by non-surgical gravitational method and evaluated for development stage, and quality grade. The mean (±SEM) time interval from CIDR withdrawal to onset of estrus was 20.4±1.8 hours, and breed difference was not significant.However, the interval from CIDR removal to onset of estrus was shorter (p=0.01) in cows treated with 250 IU FSH (10.75±3.3 hours) than in cows received 200 or 300 IU. The total CL count was significantly higher (p=0.01) in Boran (10.1CL/cow/cycle) than Boran x Holstein cows (7.2CL/cow/cycle). A mean number of 4.1 and 2.67embryos’/cow were flushed from Boran and Boran*Holstein, respectively. The average transferable embryos/cow were 3.8±0.57 and 2.67±0.99 in Boran and Boran*Holstein, respectively. And hence, Boran cows’ response to superovulation and yield of better quality and number of embryo than their Boran*Holstein counterparts showed the high potential of the breed for in-vivo and in-vitro embyo production

Characterization of Ethiopian mega hydrogeological regimes using GRACE, TRMM and GLDAS Datasets

Understanding the spatio-temporal characteristics of water storage changes is crucial for Ethiopia, a country that is facing a range of challenges in water management caused by anthropogenic impacts as well as climate variability. In addition to this, the scarcity of in situ measurements of soil moisture and groundwater, combined with intrinsic ‘‘scale limitations’’ of traditional methods used in hydrological characterization are further limiting the ability to assess water resource distribution in the region. The primary objective of this study is therefore to apply remotely sensed and model data over Ethiopia in order to (i) test the performance of models and remotely sensed data in modeling water resources distribution in un-gauged arid regions of Ethiopia, (ii) analyze the inter-annual and seasonal variability as well as changes in total water storage (TWS) over Ethiopia, (iii) understand the relationship between TWS changes, rainfall, and soil moisture anomalies over the study region, and (iv) identify the relationship between the characteristics of aquifers and TWS changes. The data used in this study includes; monthly gravity field data from the Gravity Recovery And Climate Experiment (GRACE) mission, rainfall data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission (TRMM), and soil moisture from the Global Land Data Assimilation System (GLDAS) model. Our investigation covers a period of 8 years from 2003 to 2011.The results of the study show that the western part and the north-eastern lowlands of Ethiopia experienced decrease in TWS water between 2003–2011, whereas all the other regions gained water during the study period. The impact of rainfall seasonality was also seen in the TWS changes. Applying the statistical method of Principal Component Analysis (PCA) to TWS, soil moisture and rainfall variations identified the dominant annual water variability in the western, north-western, northern, and central regions, and the dominant seasonal variability in the western, north-western, and the eastern regions. A correlation analysis between TWS and rainfall indicated a minimum time lag of zero to a maximum of six months, whereas no lag is noticeable between soil moisture anomalies and TWS changes. The delay response and correlation coefficient between rainfall and TWS appears to be related to recharge mechanisms, revealing that most regions of Ethiopia receive indirect recharge. Our results also show that the magnitude of TWS changes is higher in the western region and lower in the north-eastern region, and that the elevation influences soil moisture as well as TWS

Acute respiratory muscle unloading improves time-to-exhaustion during moderate- and heavy-intensity cycling in obese adolescent males

Obesity significantly impairs breathing during exercise. The aim was to determine, in male obese adolescents (OB), the effects of acute respiratory muscle unloading, obtained by switching the inspired gas from ambient air (AIR) to a normoxic helium + oxygen gas mixture (HeO2) (AIR \u2192 HeO2) during moderate [below gas exchange threshold (GET)] and heavy [above GET] constant work rate cycling. Ten OB [age 16.0 \ub1 2.0\ua0years (mean \ub1 SD); body mass index (BMI) 38.9 \ub1 6.1\ua0kg/m2] and ten normal-weight age-matched controls (CTRL) inspired AIR for the entire exercise task, or underwent AIR \u2192 HeO2 when they were approaching volitional exhaustion. In OB time to exhaustion (TTE) significantly increased in AIR \u2192 HeO2 vs. AIR during moderate [1524 \ub1 480\ua0s vs. 1308 \ub1 408 (P = 0.024)] and during heavy [570 \ub1 306\ua0s vs. 408 \ub1 150 (P = 0.0154)] exercise. During moderate exercise all CTRL completed the 40-min task. During heavy exercise no significant differences were observed in CTRL for TTE (582 \ub1 348\ua0s [AIR \u2192 HeO2] vs. 588 \ub1 252 [AIR]). In OB, but not in CTRL, acute unloading of respiratory muscles increased TTE during both moderate- and heavy-exercise. In OB, but not in CTRL, respiratory factors limit exercise tolerance during both moderate and heavy exercise

\u3ci\u3eAspergillus\u3c/i\u3e and aflatoxin in groundnut (\u3ci\u3eArachis hypogaea\u3c/i\u3e L.) and groundnut cake in Eastern Ethiopia

This study was conducted to assess major Aspergillus species and aflatoxins associated with groundnut seeds and cake in Eastern Ethiopia and evaluate growers’ management practices. A total of 160 groundnut seed samples from farmers’ stores and 50 groundnut cake samples from cafe and restaurants were collected. Fungal isolation was done from groundnut seed samples. Aspergillus flavus was the dominant species followed by Aspergillus parasiticus. Aflatoxin analyses of groundnut seed samples were performed using ultra performance liquid chromatography; 22.5% and 41.3% of samples were positive, with total aflatoxin concentrations of 786 and 3135 ng g−1 from 2013/2014 and 2014/2015 samples, respectively. The level of specific aflatoxin concentration varied between 0.1 and 2526 ng g−1 for B2 and B1, respectively. Among contaminated samples of groundnut cake, 68% exhibited aflatoxin concentration below 20 ng g−1, while as high as 158 ng g−1 aflatoxin B1 was recorded. The study confirms high contamination of groundnut products in East Ethiopia

Unintended pregnancy among female sex workers in Mekelle city, northern Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

BACKGROUND: Unintended pregnancy is a significant public health concern in the world. Particularly, female sex workers are exposed to the risk of unintended pregnancy, abortion and their consequences. The aim of this study was, therefore, to assess unintended pregnancy and associated factors among female sex workers in Mekelle city, northern Ethiopia. METHODS: A community based cross-sectional study was conducted among 346 female sex workers from five Kebelles (smallest administrative units in Ethiopia) of Mekelle city from March-April, 2014. Sex workers were selected with simple random sampling technique using sampling frame obtained from urban health extension program. Epi-data version 3.1 was used to enter data and analysis was done using SPSS version 20. Bivariate and multivariate logistic regressions were performed to identify factors associated with unintended pregnancy using odds ratio and 95% confidence interval with P-value of 0.05. RESULTS: The magnitude of unintended pregnancy among female sex workers in the past two years was 28.6%. During this period, 59 women had abortion which represents three-fifths, (59.6%), of those who had unintended pregnancies, and 17.1% of all female sex workers. Female sex workers who gave birth and had history of abortion formerly had 3.1 (AOR = 3.07, 95% CI: [1.54, 6.09]) and 15.6 (AOR = 15.64 95% CI: [8.03, 30.47]) times higher odds of unintended pregnancy compared to their counterparts, respectively. Sex workers who had steady partners had 2.9 (AOR = 2.87, 95% CI: [1.47, 5.61]) times higher odds of have unintended pregnancy than those who hadn't. Drug users had 2.7 (AOR = 2.68, 95% CI: [1.30, 5.52]) times higher odds of unintended pregnancy than those who hadn't use. Sex workers who had 60-96 months of duration in sex work were 67% less likely to have unintended pregnancy than those with <12 months (AOR = 0.33, 95% CI: [0.11, 0.95]). CONCLUSIONS: High level of unintended pregnancy and a range of associated factors were identified among sex workers. Improving utilization of effective pregnancy prevention methods in a consistent manner can avert the existing high level of unintended pregnancy among female sex workers.Rishan Weldegebreal, Yohannes Adama Melaku, Mussie Alemayehu, and Tesfay Gebregzabher Gebrehiwo