Systematic review and meta-analysis: prevalence of alcohol use among young people in eastern Africa.

OBJECTIVE: Systematic review and meta-analysis of published studies of alcohol use among young people (age 15-24 years) in eastern Africa to estimate prevalence of alcohol use and determine the extent of use of standardised screening questionnaires in alcohol studies. METHODS: Five databases (MEDLINE, EMBASE, Global Health, Africa-wide, and PsycINFO) were searched for publications until 30th June 2013. Results were summarised using the guidelines on preferred reporting items for systematic reviews and meta-analyses (PRISMA) and on quality assessment using the modified quality assessment tool for systematic reviews of observational studies (QATSO). Heterogeneity was assessed using the I(2) statistic (DerSimonian-Laird). RESULTS: We identified 2785 potentially relevant studies, of which 56 were eligible for inclusion. Only two studies (4%) used the standardised Alcohol Use Disorder Identification Test (AUDIT) questionnaire, and six studies (13%) used the Cut down, Annoyed, Guilt, Eye opener (CAGE) questionnaire. The reported median prevalence of alcohol use was ever-use 52% [interquartile range (IQR): 20-58%], use in the last month 28% (IQR: 17-37%), use in the last year 26% (IQR: 22-32%), and problem drinking as defined by CAGE or AUDIT 15% (IQR: 3-36%). We observed high heterogeneity between studies, with the highest prevalence of ever use of alcohol among university students (82%; 95%CI: 79-85%) and female sex workers (66%; 95%CI: 58-74%). Current use was most prevalent among male sex workers (69%; 95%CI: 63-75%). CONCLUSIONS: Reported alcohol use and problem drinking were common among diverse groups of young people in eastern Africa, indicating the urgent need for alcohol-focused interventions in this population. Few studies have used standardised alcohol screening questionnaires. Epidemiological research to investigate alcohol-focused interventions in young people should aim to apply such questionnaires that should be validated for use in this population

Adoption Studies on Improved Chickpea Varieties in Ethiopia

Chickpea (Cicer arietinum L.) is one of the most important food legumes in Ethiopia contributing to about 17% of the countries’ total pulse production. Ethiopia is the largest chickpea growing country in Africa, with a share of about 37% in area and 48% in production. During 2003/2004, Ethiopia produced 135,930 m t of chickpea from an area of 168,089 ha. There has been an increase of 12% in area and 34% in production since 1981/1982. Most of the chickpea production goes for domestic consumption. However, there has been substantial export of chickpea during the past five years, with maximum of 48,549 t (valued at US$14.7 million) during 2002 (FAOSTAT 2005). Chickpea is an important source of dietary protein and minerals for many Ethiopians who cannot afford animal products. It is used in various forms, e.g., green seeds, dried seeds, dehulled-splits and flour. Chickpea straw is highly valued as animal feed. The farmers recognize the importance of legumes in improving soil fertility and thus grow chickpea and other legumes in rotation with cereals. The Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center (DZARC) has been the premier institute for chickpea research in Ethiopia. It has collaborated with the International Crops Research Institute for the Semi-Arid Tropics (ICRISAT), Patancheru, India, and the International Center for Agricultural Research in the Dry Areas (ICARDA), Aleppo, Syria, in chickpea improvement and released 10 chickpea varieties in Ethiopia. Of these, three (DZ-10-4, DZ-10-11 and Dubie) were developed from its own breeding materials, five (Mariye, Worku, Akaki, Shasho and Chefe) from the breeding materials supplied by ICRISAT, and two (Arerti and Habru) from the breeding materials supplied by ICARDA.........

Registration of ‘NE05548’ (Husker Genetics Brand Panhandle) Hard Red Winter Wheat

Western Nebraska wheat producers and those in adjacent areas want taller wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars that retain their height under drought for better harvestability. ‘NE05548’ (Reg. No. CV-1117, PI 670462) hard red winter wheat was developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in January 2014 by the developing institutions. NE05548 was released primarily for its superior performance under rainfed conditions in western Nebraska and adjacent areas of the Great Plains and its tall plant stature. NE05548 was selected from the cross NE97426/NE98574 made in 1999 where the pedigree of NE97426 is ‘Brigantina’/2*‘Arapahoe’ and the pedigree of NE98574 is CO850267/‘Rawhide’. The F1 generation was grown in the greenhouse in 2000, and the F2 to F3 generations were advanced using the bulk breeding method in the field at Mead, NE, in 2001 to 2002. In 2003, single F3–derived F4 head rows were grown for selection. There was no further selection thereafter. The F3:5 was evaluated as a single four-row plot at Lincoln, NE, and a single row at Mead, NE, in 2004. In 2005, it was assigned the experimental line number NE05548. NE05548 was evaluated in replicated trials thereafter. It has excellent winter survival, acceptable disease reactions to many of the common diseases in its target area, and acceptable end-use quality for bread making

Registration of ‘NE05548’ (Husker Genetics Brand Panhandle) Hard Red Winter Wheat

Western Nebraska wheat producers and those in adjacent areas want taller wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) cultivars that retain their height under drought for better harvestability. ‘NE05548’ (Reg. No. CV-1117, PI 670462) hard red winter wheat was developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in January 2014 by the developing institutions. NE05548 was released primarily for its superior performance under rainfed conditions in western Nebraska and adjacent areas of the Great Plains and its tall plant stature. NE05548 was selected from the cross NE97426/NE98574 made in 1999 where the pedigree of NE97426 is ‘Brigantina’/2*‘Arapahoe’ and the pedigree of NE98574 is CO850267/‘Rawhide’. The F1 generation was grown in the greenhouse in 2000, and the F2 to F3 generations were advanced using the bulk breeding method in the field at Mead, NE, in 2001 to 2002. In 2003, single F3–derived F4 head rows were grown for selection. There was no further selection thereafter. The F3:5 was evaluated as a single four-row plot at Lincoln, NE, and a single row at Mead, NE, in 2004. In 2005, it was assigned the experimental line number NE05548. NE05548 was evaluated in replicated trials thereafter. It has excellent winter survival, acceptable disease reactions to many of the common diseases in its target area, and acceptable end-use quality for bread making

Registration of ‘NH03614 CL’ Wheat

‘NH03614 CL’ (Reg. No. CV-1051, PI 653833) hard red winter wheat (Triticum aestivum L.) was developed cooperatively by the Nebraska Agricultural Experiment Station and the USDA-ARS and released in 2008 by the developing institutions and the South Dakota Agricultural Experiment Station and the Wyoming Agricultural Experiment Station. In addition to researchers at the releasing institutions, USDA-ARS researchers at Manhattan, KS and St. Paul, MN participated in the development of NH03614 CL. NH03614 CL was selected from the cross ‘Wesley’ sib//‘Millennium’ sib/‘Above’ sib that was made in the spring of 1997 to develop new herbicide-tolerant cultivars. NH03614 CL was selected using the bulk breeding method as an F3:4 line (F3–derived line in the F4 generation) in 2001, and in 2003 was assigned experimental line number NH03164. NH03614 CL was released primarily for its herbicide tolerance to imadazolinone compounds which control many previously diffi cult-to-control weeds in wheat production systems, and for its superior adaptation to rainfed wheat production systems in Nebraska, Wyoming, South Dakota, and counties in adjacent states

Determinants of fertility in rural Ethiopia: the case of Butajira Demographic Surveillance System (DSS)

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Fertility is high in rural Ethiopia. Women in the reproductive age group differed in various characteristics including access to food and encounter to drought which requisite the assessment of determinants of fertility.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Reproductive age women were recruited from a DSS, the Butajira DSS database. A DHS maternity history questionnaire was administered on 9996 participants. Data quality was assured besides ethical clearance. Poisson regression crude and adjusted Incidence Rate Ratio with 95 Confidence Interval were used to identify determinants of fertility.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Delayed marriage, higher education, smaller family, absence of child death experience and living in food-secured households were associated with small number of children. Fertility was significantly higher among women with no child sex preference. However, migration status of women was not statistically significant.</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Policy makers should focus on hoisting women secondary school enrollment and age at first marriage. The community should also be made aware on the negative impact of fertility on household economy, environmental degradation and the country's socio-economic development at large.</p

Identification of Spiroplasma insolitum symbionts in Anopheles gambiae

Background: Insect symbionts have the potential to block the transmission of vector-borne diseases by their hosts. The advancement of a symbiont-based transmission blocking strategy for malaria requires the identification and study of Anopheles symbionts. Methods: High throughput 16S amplicon sequencing was used to profile the bacteria associated with Anopheles gambiae sensu lato and identify potential symbionts. The polymerase chain reaction (PCR) with specific primers were subsequently used to monitor symbiont prevalence in field populations, as well as symbiont transmission patterns. Results: We report the discovery of the bacterial symbiont, Spiroplasma, in Anopheles gambiae in Kenya. We determine that geographically dispersed Anopheles gambiae populations in Kenya are infected with Spiroplasma at low prevalence levels. Molecular phylogenetics indicates that this Anopheles gambiae associated Spiroplasma is a member of the insolitum clade. We demonstrate that this symbiont is stably maternally transmitted across at least two generations and does not significantly affect the fecundity or egg to adult survival of its host. Conclusions: In diverse insect species, Spiroplasma has been found to render their host resistant to infection by pathogens. The identification of a maternally transmitted strain of Spiroplasma in Anopheles gambiae may therefore open new lines of investigation for the development of symbiont-based strategies for blocking malaria transmission

Spiroplasma Bacteria Enhance Survival of Drosophila hydei Attacked by the Parasitic Wasp Leptopilina heterotoma

Maternally-transmitted associations between endosymbiotic bacteria and insects are ubiquitous. While many of these associations are obligate and mutually beneficial, many are facultative, and the mechanism(s) by which these microbes persist in their host lineages remain elusive. Inherited microbes with imperfect transmission are expected to be lost from their host lineages if no other mechanisms increase their persistence (i.e., host reproductive manipulation and/or fitness benefits to host). Indeed numerous facultative heritable endosymbionts are reproductive manipulators. Nevertheless, many do not manipulate reproduction, so they are expected to confer fitness benefits to their hosts, as has been shown in several studies that report defense against natural enemies, tolerance to environmental stress, and increased fecundity.We examined whether larval to adult survival of Drosophila hydei against attack by a common parasitoid wasp (Leptopilina heterotoma), differed between uninfected flies and flies that were artificially infected with Spiroplasma, a heritable endosymbiont of Drosophila hydei that does not appear to manipulate host reproduction. Survival was significantly greater for Spiroplasma-infected flies, and the effect of Spiroplasma infection was most evident during the host's pupal stage. We examined whether or not increased survival of Spiroplasma-infected flies was due to reduced oviposition by the wasp (i.e., pre-oviposition mechanism). The number of wasp eggs per fly larva did not differ significantly between Spiroplasma-free and Spiroplasma-infected fly larvae, suggesting that differential fly survival is due to a post-oviposition mechanism.Our results suggest that Spiroplasma confers protection to D. hydei against wasp parasitism. This is to our knowledge the first report of a potential defensive mutualism in the genus Spiroplasma. Whether it explains the persistence and high abundance of this strain in natural populations of D. hydei, as well as the widespread distribution of heritable Spiroplasma in Drosophila and other arthropods, remains to be investigated

Transcriptome dynamics and molecular cross-talk between bovine oocyte and its companion cumulus cells

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>The bi-directional communication between the oocyte and its companion cumulus cells (CCs) is crucial for development and functions of both cell types. Transcripts that are exclusively expressed either in oocytes or CCs and molecular mechanisms affected due to removal of the communication axis between the two cell types is not investigated at a larger scale. The main objectives of this study were: 1. To identify transcripts exclusively expressed either in oocyte or CCs and 2. To identify those which are differentially expressed when the oocyte is cultured with or without its companion CCs and vice versa.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>We analyzed transcriptome profile of different oocyte and CC samples using Affymetrix GeneChip Bovine Genome array containing 23000 transcripts. Out of 13162 genes detected in germinal vesicle (GV) oocytes and their companion CCs, 1516 and 2727 are exclusively expressed in oocytes and CCs, respectively, while 8919 are expressed in both. Similarly, of 13602 genes detected in metaphase II (MII) oocytes and CCs, 1423 and 3100 are exclusively expressed in oocytes and CCs, respectively, while 9079 are expressed in both. A total of 265 transcripts are differentially expressed between oocytes cultured with (OO + CCs) and without (OO - CCs) CCs, of which 217 and 48 are over expressed in the former and the later groups, respectively. Similarly, 566 transcripts are differentially expressed when CCs mature with (CCs + OO) or without (CCs - OO) their enclosed oocytes. Of these, 320 and 246 are over expressed in CCs + OO and CCs - OO, respectively.</p> <p>While oocyte specific transcripts include those involved in transcription (<it>IRF6, POU5F1, MYF5, MED18</it>), translation (<it>EIF2AK1, EIF4ENIF1</it>) and CCs specific ones include those involved in carbohydrate metabolism (<it>HYAL1, PFKL, PYGL, MPI</it>), protein metabolic processes (<it>IHH, APOA1, PLOD1</it>), steroid biosynthetic process (<it>APOA1, CYP11A1, HSD3B1, HSD3B7</it>). Similarly, while transcripts over expressed in OO + CCs are involved in carbohydrate metabolism (<it>ACO1, 2</it>), molecular transport (<it>GAPDH, GFPT1</it>) and nucleic acid metabolism (<it>CBS, NOS2</it>), those over expressed in CCs + OO are involved in cellular growth and proliferation (<it>FOS, GADD45A</it>), cell cycle (<it>HAS2, VEGFA</it>), cellular development (<it>AMD1, AURKA, DPP4</it>) and gene expression (<it>FOSB, TGFB2</it>).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In conclusion, this study has generated large scale gene expression data from different oocyte and CCs samples that would provide insights into gene functions and interactions within and across different pathways that are involved in the maturation of bovine oocytes. Moreover, the presence or absence of oocyte and CC factors during bovine oocyte maturation can have a profound effect on transcript abundance of each cell types, thereby showing the prevailing molecular cross-talk between oocytes and their corresponding CCs.</p