Amélioration de la valeur nutritionnelle des gousses de Piliostigma reticulatum (D. C.) Hochst dans l’alimentation du bétail en période de soudure

Dans la zone nord soudanienne du Burkina Faso, les gousses de Piliostigma reticulatum sont intensément utilisées pendant la saison sèche comme aliment d’appoint pour le bétail. L’objectif de cette étudeest d’améliorer la qualité nutritionnelle de ces gousses pour optimiser leur apport. Neuf rations comprenant chacune des gousses de P. reticulatum (70 p.100) et du foin de Pennisetum pedicellatum (30 p.100) distribuéesà raison de 50 g MS/kg p0,75 ont été testées sur des ovins de race Djallonké. Les gousses ont subi différents traitements physiques (concassage, mouture) suivis ou non de traitement à l’urée auxquelles est associé dans certains cas du charbon de bambou à des doses de 0,25 ou 0,50 g/kg PV dans le but d’influencer l’action des tanins. L’utilisation de l’urée a entraîné, quelle que soit la forme de distribution, une amélioration de la digestibilité, surtout celle des matières azotées en raison de l’augmentation significative de leur teneur. L’adjonction du charbon de bambou n’a amélioré la digestibilité des gousses non traitées à l’urée qu’à la dose de 0,50 g/kg PV. Par contre, sur des gousses traitées à l’urée, il a permis une amélioration significative (

Solar energy powered decentralized smart-grid for sustainable energy supply in low-income countries: analysis considering climate change influences in Togo

A smart and decentralized electrical system, powered by grid-connected renewable energy (RE) with a reliable storage system, has the potential to change the future socio-economic dynamics. Climate change may, however, affect the potential of RE and its related technologies. This study investigated the impact of climate change on photovoltaic cells’ temperature response and energy potential under two CO2 emission scenarios, RCP2.6 and 8.5, for the near future (2024–2040) and mid-century (2041–2065) in Togo. An integrated Regional Climate Model version 4 (RegCM4) from the CORDEX-CORE initiative datasets has been used as input. The latter platform recorded various weather variables, such as solar irradiance, air temperature, wind speed and direction, and relative humidity. Results showed that PV cells’ temperature would likely rise over all five regions in the country and may trigger a decline in the PV potential under RCP2.6 and 8.5. However, the magnitude of the induced change, caused by the changing climate, depended on two major factors: (1) the PV technology and (2) geographical position. Results also revealed that these dissimilarities were more pronounced under RCP8.5 with the amorphous technology. It was further found that, nationally, the average cell temperature would have risen by 1 °C and 1.82 °C under RCP2.6 and 8.5, in that order, during the 2024–2065 period for a-Si technology. Finally, the PV potential would likely decrease, on average, by 0.23% for RCP2.6 and 0.4% for RCP8.5 for a-Si technology

Faecal carriage of extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae in healthy volunteers and hospitalized patients in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso: prevalence, resistance profile, and associated risk factors

Background: Extended spectrum beta-lactamase-producing Enterobacteriaceae (ESBL-PE) are a serious challenge to patients’ treatment. The aim of this study is to determine the prevalence of ESBL-PE, investigate the associated resistance, and analyze the associated risk factors for acquisition of ESBL-PE.Methodology: A cross-sectional study was conducted on healthy volunteers and inpatients. After obtaining informed consent, rectal swabs were collected from each participant for isolation of Enterobacteriaceae on Hektoen enteric agar containing 4µg/L cefotaxime. The Enterobacteriaceae isolates were identified using biochemical tests and ESBL production was confirmed by the double-disc synergy test of amoxicillin and clavulanic acid. Antibiotic susceptibility test of each isolate was done by the disc diffusion method and interpreted using the recommendations of the European Committee on Antimicrobial Susceptibility Testing (EUCAST) clinical  breakpoints version 5.0.Results: During the study period, prevalence of faecal ESBL-PE among the study participants was 54.5% (103/189); 53.5% among healthy volunteers and 55.7% among inpatients (p=0.87). The major ESBL-PE isolates was Escherichia coli (71%) followed by Klebsiella pneumoniae (16%). The isolates in hospitalized patients were resistant to norfloxacin (84.2%), cotrimoxazole (89.5%), and gentamicin (7.0%). The isolates from healthy volunteers were resistant to norfloxacin (86.2%), cotrimoxazole (82.8%), and gentamicin (1.7%).Gender, age, and previous antibiotic use were not significantly associated with carriage of ESBL-PE (p=0.51).Conclusion: The high prevalence of ESBL-PE in this study is worrying. There is an urgent need to develop measures to monitor and limit the spread of these multidrug-resistant organisms in healthcare facilities and the community in Burkina Faso. Keywords: faecal carriage, ESBL-PE, healthy volunteers, inpatients, Burkina Fas

Assessment of Photoperiod Sensitivity and the Effect of Sowing Date on Dry-Season Sorghum Cultivars in Southern Chad

The cultivation of dry-season sorghum on residual moisture in West and Central Africa is highly affected by sowing dates and ecotypes used. Fifty-five dry-season sorghum ecotypes collected from three zones in southern Chadian were sown on two dates, early and late, in 2013 and 2014, in an α-Lattice, and replicated five times to evaluate the effect of sowing date on potential yield, flowering time, and other agro-morphological traits and to determine their photoperiod sensitivity. Trials were conducted in the research fields at the Agricultural Research Extension Farm in Youé, Chad. Year, sowing date, and their interaction significantly affected most of the assessed traits. Delaying sowing significantly decreased potential yield, duration of vegetative phase, and other agro-morphological traits, except staygreen. All cultivars were photoperiodic with late sowing requiring a lower cumulative growing degree unit to flower. The flowering window was not affected by sowing dates across cultivars; however, the flowering time was affected by a decrease in daylength, but not low night temperatures. Generally, late sowing decreased potential yield across cultivars. However, this decrease varied with the region of origin, with seven cultivars having average potential yields at or above the regional potential yield of 1 t/ha, irrespective of year or sowing dates

The combination of a blood test and Fibroscan improves the non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis

Background and aims: Blood tests and liver stiffness evaluation (LSE) by ultrasonographic elastometry are accurate tools for diagnosing liver fibrosis. We evaluated whether their synchronous combination in new scores could improve the diagnostic accuracy and reduce liver biopsy requirement in algorithm. Methods: Three hundred and ninety patients with chronic liver disease of miscellaneous causes were included. Five blood fibrosis tests were evaluated: APRI, FIB-4, Hepascore, Fibrotest and FibroMeter. The reference was fibrosis Metavir staging. Results: Diagnosis of significant fibrosis (Metavir F≥2). The most accurate synchronous combination was FibroMeter+LSE, which provided a significantly higher area under the receiver operating characteristic curve (0.892) than LSE alone (0.867, P=0.011) or Fibrometer (0.834, P<10−3). An algorithm using the FibroMeter+LSE combination and then a liver biopsy in indeterminate cases had 91.9% diagnostic accuracy and required significantly fewer biopsies (20.2%) than previously published Bordeaux algorithm (28.6%, P=0.02) or sequential algorithm for fibrosis evaluation (SAFE) (55.7%, P<10−3). The Angers algorithm performance was not significantly different between viral hepatitis and other causes. Diagnosis of cirrhosis. The most accurate synchronous combination was LSE+FibroMeter, which provided ≥90% predictive values for cirrhosis in 90.6% of patients vs 87.4% for LSE (P=0.02) and 57.9% for FibroMeter (P<10−3). An algorithm including the LSE+FibroMeter combination, and then a liver biopsy in indeterminate cases, had a significantly higher diagnostic accuracy than the SAFE algorithm (91.0 vs 79.8%, P<10−3), and required significantly fewer biopsies than the Bordeaux algorithm (9.3 vs 25.3%, P<10−3). Conclusion: The synchronous combination of a blood test plus LSE improves the accuracy of the non-invasive diagnosis of liver fibrosis and, consequently, markedly decreases the biopsy requirement in the diagnostic algorithm, notably to <10% in cirrhosis diagnosis

Screening of BRCA1 (c.5177_5180delGAAA rs80357867 and c.4986+6T>C rs80358086) and the BRCA2 (c.6445_6446delAT rs80359592) genes for breast cancer prevention in Burkina Faso

BACKGROUND: The objective of this study is to search for mutations in the BRCA1 (c.5177_5180delGAAA and c.4986+6T>C) and BRCA2 genes (c.6445_6446delAT) in a population of women diagnosed with breast cancer.METHODS: This is a case-control study that involved 140 participants, including 70 patients with histologically diagnosed breast cancer and 70 healthy women without breast cancer. Mutations in the BRCA1 (rs80357867, rs80358086) and BRCA2 (rs80359592) genes were tested by real-time PCR. The 95% confidence interval Odds Ratio (OR) was used to estimate the associations between specific genotypes and breast cancer.RESULTS: The study revealed that no mutations were detected for rs80359592. Similarly, no reference allele (TTTC/TTTC) of rs80357867 was found in this study. However, the homozygous double mutant (-/) genotype of this rs80357867 was observed in 11.43% and 1.43% of patients and controls respectively, while 88.57% of patients and 98.57% of controls had a heterozygous deletion (TTTC/-). Concerning rs80358086, 8.57% of the patients had a heterozygous mutation (A/G) with no significantly risk association with occurrence of breast cancer (OR = 6.46; 95% CI: 0.75-55.21; p = 0.11). In addition, this heterozygous mutation was significantly associated with a family history of breast cancer (OR=128; 95% CI: 9.46-1730.93) and breast cancer risk in nonmultiparous women (OR=6; 95% CI: 1-35.90; p= 0.05) but no association with overweight/obesity (OR=1.66; 95% CI: 0.18-15.35; p=1).CONCLUSION: This study shows high frequencies of heterozygous mutation of rs80357867 and rs80358086 from patients. In Burkina Faso, these results could help with early diagnosis of breast cancer in patients

Characterization of semi-arid Chadian sweet sorghum accessions as potential sources for sugar and ethanol production

Sweet sorghum (Sorghum bicolor (L.) Moench) is an important crop in Chad that plays an economic role in the countryside were stalks are produced mainly for human consumption without any processing. Unfortunately, very little information exists on its genetic diversity and brix content. Studies performed in 2014 and 2015 showed that there were significant variations (p < 0.001) for all assessed quantitative traits. Potential grain yield (0.12–1.67 t ha−1), days to 50% flowering (68.3–126.3 days), and plant height (128.9–298.3 cm) were among traits that exhibited broader variability. Brix content range from 5.5 to 16.7% across accessions, was positively correlated to stalk diameter and plant height, but negatively correlated to moisture content in fresh stalk and potential grain yield. Fresh stalk yield range from 16.8 to 115.7 Mg ha−1, with a mean value of 58.3 Mg ha−1 across accession. Moisture content in fresh stalk range from 33.7 to 74.4% but was negatively correlated to fresh stalk yield. Potential sugar yield range from 0.5 to 5.3 Mg ha−1 across accession with an average of 2.2 Mg ha−1. Theoretical ethanol yield range from 279.5 to 3,101.2 L ha−1 across accession with an average of 1,266.3 L ha−1 which is significantly higher than values reported under similar semiarid conditions. Overall, grain yields were comparatively low. However, two accessions had grain yield of more than 1.5 t ha−1; which is greater than the average 1.0 t ha−1 for local grain sorghum varieties in Chad. These could have multi-purpose uses; grains, sugar and bioenergy production