Development and Performance Evaluation of a Castor Seed (Ricnus Communis) Shelling Machine with a Winnowing System

This study reports the development and performance evaluation of a castor seed shelling with a winnowing system using locally available materials. The winnowing unit does the cleaning of the castor seed after shelling with the help of fan. The machine consists of a hopper, shelling cylinder, concave, bearing, bolt and nuts, cleaning unit, pulley, grain outlet, shaft, prime mover seat and frame. The developed machine was evaluated using variety of (IAR) castor seed in a factorial experiment with five levels of cylinder speed (220, 20, 260, 280 and 300 rpm), three levels of concave clearance (15, 20, and 28 mm) and three cylinder types (metal, rubber and wood) in a completely randomized design (CRD). Data collected for shelling efficiency, cleaning efficiency, mechanical grain damage, scattered losses and output capacity were analyzed using a statistical analysis software (SAS), where analysis of variance (ANOVA) and the Duncan multiple range test (DMRT) were computed at 1 and 5% levels of significance. The results showed that the best cylinder types in descending order were metal, rubber and wood while cylinder speed of 220 rpm was optimum for all the cylinder types. However, the optimum concave clearance varies with the cylinder types as 15, 20, and 28 mm respectively. While the corresponding optimum values for output capacity, cleaning and scattered seeds were17.90 kg/h, 97.26, 78.20 and 0.51%;12.19 kg/h, 78.91 and 0.36%; 14.78 kg/h, 67.96, and 1.67%, respectively.Keywords—Keyword: Castor seed shelling machine, winnower, castor seed, and machine design

Modification and Performance Evaluation of Cleaning System for IAR Sorghum Thresher

Sorghum is a major source of food for most families and as raw material to many industries in Nigeria. Cleaning is among the most important post-harvest operation after threshing. However, manual cleaning of crop is quite tedious, time and labour intensive. A prototype thresher has already been developed at Institute of Agricultural Research (IAR) but yet it has been associated with many difficulties during operation. Among the problems of IAR prototype sorghum thresher are low operating performance such as higher scatter loss and low cleaning efficiency thus the need for modification to improve the above mentioned parameters. This study was undertaken to modify the cleaning system of the IAR sorghum thresher with the aim of minimizing the drudgery involved in its operation and to improve its performance. The major modifications were on shaking mechanism and sieves. The number of sieves was increased from one to three while the connecting rode for shaking mechanism was changed from horizontal to vertical orientation. The sizes of the pulleys were also changed. Randomized Complete Block Design (RCBD) experimental design was used for determining the effect of moisture content, speed and feed rate on the cleaning performance of the machine. The maximum performance achieved were 99.95 %, 5.45 %, and 250 kg/h for cleaning efficiency, scatter loss and throughput capacity respectively

Modification of Institute for Agricultural Research Multi-Crop Thresher for Improved Performances

In millet producing areas of Nigeria, the predominant method of threshing is traditional. It involves beating the millet panicle with a stick, over a log of wood or by pounding using mortar and pestle. This method is inefficient, time-consuming, labor intensive, prone to drudgery, uneconomical, low output and gives product contaminate with extraneous material such as stones and sand. Though imported threshers are effective in millet threshing; they are expensive, complexed in design and required skillful personnel for operation. An Institute for Agricultural Research  (IAR) multi-crop thresher for sorghum, millet, and wheat was modified for improved performances. The performance of the modified thresher was evaluated using Ex-borno variety of pearl millet. Two levels of moisture content; 9.21% and 10.81%, four feed rates levels; 3, 4, 5 and 6 kg/min, four levels of drum speed; 700, 800, 900 and 1000 rpm were considered during the experiment. The test results indicated as high as 98.78% threshing efficiency, a minimum of 1.02% grain damage, maximum cleaning efficiency of 97.19%, and 2.50% scatter loss and maximum throughput capacity of 194.02 kg/hr. In comparison to the previous thresher, threshing efficiency, mechanical grain damage, cleaning efficiency, scatter losses, and throughput capacity have improved by 2.01%, 330.56%, 9.79%, 10.78%, and 69.86% respectively. The developed thresher is anticipated to increase the farmer’s productivity due to improved performances.Keywords: Millet, Threshing Efficiency, Cleaning Efficiency, Feed Rate, cylinder Spee

Assessment of Orange (Citrus Sinensis) Supply Chain Activities in Kano State

The study focused on the handling system of orange in Yanlemo Market of Kano State. A field study was conducted with structural questionnaires that targeted the orange supplies, traders and agricultural equipment suppliers/fabricators. Result obtained reveals that the orange handling activity is dominated by male traders. Average of 2 to 5 bags of oranges are usually handled by about 53.3% of the respondents, while 8.3% handle more than 10 bags of the oranges daily. Dan Tivi was found to be the commonest orange variety in the study area. Some other varieties established in the study area are; Dan Nassarawa, Dan Ondo and Dan Delta representing about 8.3, 1.7 and 1.7% of the varieties handled in the study area respectively. The mode of transportation, sorting, and washing was found to be manual with a lot of challenges. The predominant manual handling of the orange established in the study area could be amongst the major reasons for the high losses usually recorded by the traders on a daily basis. Thus, useful suggestions that could be employed by researchers and policymakers to provide improvements in the supply chain activities to prevent such losses are presented.  Keywords— Orange, Assessment, Supply Chain, Handlin

Distinct roles for PARP-1 and PARP-2 in c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma in mice.

Dysregulation of the c-Myc oncogene occurs in a wide variety of hematologic malignancies, and its overexpression has been linked with aggressive tumor progression. Here, we show that poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and PARP-2 exert opposing influences on progression of c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma. PARP-1 and PARP-2 catalyze the synthesis and transfer of ADP-ribose units onto amino acid residues of acceptor proteins in response to DNA strand breaks, playing a central role in the response to DNA damage. Accordingly, PARP inhibitors have emerged as promising new cancer therapeutics. However, the inhibitors currently available for clinical use are not able to discriminate between individual PARP proteins. We found that genetic deletion of PARP-2 prevents c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma, whereas PARP-1 deficiency accelerates lymphomagenesis in the Eμ-Myc mouse model of aggressive B-cell lymphoma. Loss of PARP-2 aggravates replication stress in preleukemic Eμ-Myc B cells, resulting in accumulation of DNA damage and concomitant cell death that restricts the c-Myc-driven expansion of B cells, thereby providing protection against B-cell lymphoma. In contrast, PARP-1 deficiency induces a proinflammatory response and an increase in regulatory T cells, likely contributing to immune escape of B-cell lymphoma, resulting in an acceleration of lymphomagenesis. These findings pinpoint specific functions for PARP-1 and PARP-2 in c-Myc-driven lymphomagenesis with antagonistic consequences that may help inform the design of new PARP-centered therapeutic strategies, with selective PARP-2 inhibition potentially representing a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of c-Myc-driven tumors.The authors thank Raul Gomez-Riera for assistance with microscopic analysis, Mar?a Luisa Toribio for providing the HRSIN-ICN1 plasmid, Jessica Gonzalez for technical assistance, and the Flow CytometryUnit and the Genomics Unit at the Centre for Genomic Regulation for assistance with Aseq at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. The J.Y. laboratory is funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Econom?a, Industria y Competitividad (grant SAF2017-83565-R) , Spanish Minis-terio de Ciencia e Innovaci?on (grant PID2020-112526RB-I00) , and Fundaci?on Cient?fica de la Asociaci?on Espan~ola Contra el Ca?ncer (grant PROYEI6018Y?ELA) . Work in the J.E.S. laboratory is supported by a core grant to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology from the Med-ical Research Council U105178808) . The F.D. laboratory is supported by a Laboratory of Excellence grant (ANR-10-LABX-0034_Medalis) to Strasbourg University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The P.N. laboratory is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER; PI17/00199 and PI20/00625) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-225) . The P.M. labora-tory acknowledges support from Centres de Recerca de Catalunya/Generalitat de Catalunya and Fundaci?o Josep Carreras-Obra Social la Caixa for core support, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Com-petitiveness (grant SAF-2019-108160-R) , the Fundaci?on Uno entre Cienmil, the Obra Social La Caixa (grant LCF/PR/HR19/52160011) , and the German Josep Carreras Leukamie Stiftung. Work at the G.R. and P.M. laboratories are cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg V-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (project PROTEOblood; grant EFA360/19) . The O.F.-C. labo-ratory is funded by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Inno-vation and Universities (RTI2018-102204-B-I00; cofinanced with European FEDER funds) and the European Research Council (ERC-617840) . T.V.-H. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellow-ship (GA792923) . The A.B. laboratory is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PID2019-104695RB-I00) .S

Distinct roles for PARP-1 and PARP-2 in c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma in mice

Fundació CarrerasThe J.Y. laboratory is funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Economía, Industria y Competitividad (grant SAF2017-83565-R), Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovación (grant PID2020-112526RB-I00), and Fundación Científica de la Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer (grant PROYEI6018YÉLA). Work in the J.E.S. laboratory is supported by a core grant to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology from the Medical Research Council (U105178808). The F.D. laboratory is supported by a Laboratory of Excellence grant (ANR-10-LABX-0034_Medalis) to Strasbourg University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The P.N. laboratory is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/Instituto de Salud Carlos III-Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER; PI17/00199 and PI20/00625) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-225). The P.M. laboratory acknowledges support from Centres de Recerca de Catalunya/Generalitat de Catalunya and Fundació Josep Carreras-Obra Social la Caixa for core support, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant SAF-2019-108160-R), the Fundación Uno entre Cienmil, the Obra Social La Caixa (grant LCF/PR/HR19/52160011), and the German Josep Carreras Leukamie Stiftung. Work at the G.R. and P.M. laboratories are cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg V-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (project PROTEOblood; grant EFA360/19). The O.F.-C. laboratory is funded by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-102204-B-I00; cofinanced with European FEDER funds) and the European Research Council (ERC-617840). T.V.-H. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowship (GA792923). The A.B. laboratory is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PID2019-104695RB-I00).The authors thank Raul Gomez-Riera for assistance with microscopic analysis, Mar?a Luisa Toribio for providing the HRSIN-ICN1 plasmid, Jessica Gonzalez for technical assistance, and the Flow Cytometry Unit and the Genomics Unit at the Centre for Genomic Regulation for assistance with Aseq at the Barcelona Biomedical Research Park. The J.Y. laboratory is funded by the Spanish Ministerio de Econom?a, Industria y Competitividad (grant SAF2017-83565-R), Spanish Ministerio de Ciencia e Innovaci?n (grant PID2020-112526RB-I00), and Fundaci?n Cient?fica de la Asociaci?n Espa?ola Contra el C?ncer (grant PROYEI6018Y?LA). Work in the J.E.S. laboratory is supported by a core grant to the Laboratory of Molecular Biology from the Medical Research Council (U105178808). The F.D. laboratory is supported by a Laboratory of Excellence grant (ANR-10-LABX-0034_Medalis) to Strasbourg University, Centre National de la Recherche Scientifique. The P.N. laboratory is supported by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness/Instituto de Salud Carlos III?Fondo Europeo de Desarrollo Regional (FEDER; PI17/00199 and PI20/00625) and the Generalitat de Catalunya (2017-SGR-225). The P.M. laboratory acknowledges support from Centres de Recerca de Catalunya/Generalitat de Catalunya and Fundaci? Josep Carreras-Obra Social la Caixa for core support, the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant SAF-2019-108160-R), the Fundaci?n Uno entre Cienmil, the Obra Social La Caixa (grant LCF/PR/HR19/52160011), and the German Josep Carreras Leukamie Stiftung. Work at the G.R. and P.M. laboratories are cofinanced by the European Regional Development Fund through the Interreg V-A Spain-France-Andorra Program (project PROTEOblood; grant EFA360/19). The O.F.-C. laboratory is funded by grants from the Spanish Ministry of Science, Innovation and Universities (RTI2018-102204-B-I00; cofinanced with European FEDER funds) and the European Research Council (ERC-617840). T.V.-H. was supported by a Marie Sklodowska Curie fellowship (GA792923). The A.B. laboratory is supported by the Spanish Ministry of Economy and Competitiveness (grant PID2019-104695RB-I00).Dysregulation of the c-Myc oncogene occurs in a wide variety of hematologic malignancies, and its overexpression has been linked with aggressive tumor progression. Here, we show that poly (ADP-ribose) polymerase 1 (PARP-1) and PARP-2 exert opposing influences on progression of c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma. PARP-1 and PARP-2 catalyze the synthesis and transfer of ADP-ribose units onto amino acid residues of acceptor proteins in response to DNA strand breaks, playing a central role in the response to DNA damage. Accordingly, PARP inhibitors have emerged as promising new cancer therapeutics. However, the inhibitors currently available for clinical use are not able to discriminate between individual PARP proteins. We found that genetic deletion of PARP-2 prevents c-Myc-driven B-cell lymphoma, whereas PARP-1 deficiency accelerates lymphomagenesis in the Eμ-Myc mouse model of aggressive B-cell lymphoma. Loss of PARP-2 aggravates replication stress in preleukemic Eμ-Myc B cells, resulting in accumulation of DNA damage and concomitant cell death that restricts the c-Myc-driven expansion of B cells, thereby providing protection against B-cell lymphoma. In contrast, PARP-1 deficiency induces a proinflammatory response and an increase in regulatory T cells, likely contributing to immune escape of B-cell lymphoma, resulting in an acceleration of lymphomagenesis. These findings pinpoint specific functions for PARP-1 and PARP-2 in c-Myc-driven lymphomagenesis with antagonistic consequences that may help inform the design of new PARP-centered therapeutic strategies, with selective PARP-2 inhibition potentially representing a new therapeutic approach for the treatment of c-Myc-driven tumors