A Clinicopathological Study of Urinary Bladder Neoplasms in Patients at Three Centers in Khartoum, Sudan

OBJECTIVES: To present the histopathological pattern of urinary bladder neoplasms using the WHO/ISUP classification system and relate it to the outcome.METHODS: This study was conducted in the period from January 2004 through December 2005 at three centres in Khartoum, Sudan. One hundred and six patients with urinary bladder neoplasms were included in the study.RESULTS: The commonest affected age group was 60-80 years with male to female ratio 4.6:1. Urothelial neoplasms were found in 72 (67.9%), Squamous cell carcinoma (SCC) in 26 (24.5%), urothelial neoplasms with Squamous differentiation in 3 (2.8%), and other types in 5 (4.7%) of thepatients. There were 43.4% of the urothelial neoplasms graded as papillary carcinoma of high grade, 52.6% papillary carcinoma of low grade, 1.3% papillary neoplasm of low malignant potential, 1.3% papilloma, and 1.3% was graded as flat neoplasm. Of the SCCs, twelve (42.9%)were poorly differentiated SCCs, nine (32.1%) moderately differentiated, and seven (25%) cases were well differentiated SCCs. Follow-up information was available in 32 patients. At last followup, fifteen (46.9%) patients were dead of the disease, twelve (35.5%) were alive with no evidence of disease, four (12.5%) were alive with disease, and one (3.1%) was alive and terminally ill. CONCLUSION: Histological grade (P: 0.006), and muscle invasion (P: 0.002) were significantly associated with survival. A subset of the cases could not be assessed for muscle invasion due toinadequate sampling; we thus recommend proper trans-urethral bladder biopsy (TUBP) sampling.Key words: Urinary bladder neoplasm; Papillary carcinoma; Squamous cell carcinoma; WHO/ISUP classification system

The nutritive value of black soldier fly larvae reared on common organic waste streams in Kenya

Open Access JournalIn Africa, livestock production currently accounts for about 30% of the gross value of agricultural production. However, production is struggling to keep up with the demands of expanding human populations, the rise in urbanization and the associated shifts in diet habits. High costs of feed prevent the livestock sector from thriving and to meet the rising demand. Insects have been identified as potential alternatives to the conventionally used protein sources in livestock feed due to their rich nutrients content and the fact that they can be reared on organic side streams. Substrates derived from organic by-products are suitable for industrial large-scale production of insect meal. Thus, a holistic comparison of the nutritive value of Black Soldier Fly larvae (BSFL) reared on three different organic substrates, i.e. chicken manure (CM), brewers’ spent grain (SG) and kitchen waste (KW), was conducted. BSFL samples reared on every substrate were collected for chemical analysis after the feeding process. Five-hundred (500) neonatal BSFL were placed in 23 × 15 cm metallic trays on the respective substrates for a period of 3–4 weeks at 28 ± 2 °C and 65 ± 5% relative humidity. The larvae were harvested when the prepupal stage was reached using a 5 mm mesh size sieve. A sample of 200 grams prepupae was taken from each replicate and pooled for every substrate and then frozen at −20 °C for chemical analysis. Samples of BSFL and substrates were analyzed for dry matter (DM), crude protein (CP), ether extracts (EE), ash, acid detergent fibre (ADF), neutral detergent fibre (NDF), amino acids (AA), fatty acids (FA), vitamins, flavonoids, minerals and aflatoxins. The data were then subjected to analysis of variance (ANOVA) using general linear model procedure. BSFL differed in terms of nutrient composition depending on the organic substrates they were reared on. CP, EE, minerals, amino acids, ADF and NDF but not vitamins were affected by the different rearing substrates. BSFL fed on different substrates exhibited different accumulation patterns of minerals, with CM resulting in the largest turnover of minerals. Low concentrations of heavy metals (cadmium and lead) were detected in the BSFL, but no traces of aflatoxins were found. In conclusion, it is possible to take advantage of the readily available organic waste streams in Kenya to produce nutrient-rich BSFL-derived feed

Genie: A Generator of Natural Language Semantic Parsers for Virtual Assistant Commands

To understand diverse natural language commands, virtual assistants today are trained with numerous labor-intensive, manually annotated sentences. This paper presents a methodology and the Genie toolkit that can handle new compound commands with significantly less manual effort. We advocate formalizing the capability of virtual assistants with a Virtual Assistant Programming Language (VAPL) and using a neural semantic parser to translate natural language into VAPL code. Genie needs only a small realistic set of input sentences for validating the neural model. Developers write templates to synthesize data; Genie uses crowdsourced paraphrases and data augmentation, along with the synthesized data, to train a semantic parser. We also propose design principles that make VAPL languages amenable to natural language translation. We apply these principles to revise ThingTalk, the language used by the Almond virtual assistant. We use Genie to build the first semantic parser that can support compound virtual assistants commands with unquoted free-form parameters. Genie achieves a 62% accuracy on realistic user inputs. We demonstrate Genie's generality by showing a 19% and 31% improvement over the previous state of the art on a music skill, aggregate functions, and access control.Comment: To appear in PLDI 201

Influence of temperature on selected life-history traits of black soldier fly (Hermetia illucens) reared on two common urban organic waste streams in Kenya

Open Access JournalIn sub-Saharan Africa, urban populations are projected to increase by 115% in the coming 15 years. In addition, economic growth and dietary shifts towards animal source foods have put high pressure and demand on agricultural production. The high ecological footprint of meat and dairy production, as well as high feed costs, prevent the livestock sector from meeting the increasing demand in a sustainable manner. Insects such as the black soldier fly (BSF) have been identified as potential alternatives to the conventionally used protein sources in livestock feed due to their rich nutrient content and the fact that they can be reared on organic side streams. Substrates derived from organic byproducts are suitable for industrial large-scale production of insect meal. Although efficient in waste management and in feed production, BSF larvae are very sensitive to the external environment such as temperature and rearing medium. Therefore, we studied the effect of temperature and substrate type, i.e., brewers’ spent grain (SG) and cow dung (CD), on the development and survival of BSF larvae. Both organic substrates were readily available in Nairobi, Kenya, the location of the experiments. In our experiment, 100 3–5-day-old BSF larvae were placed into containers that contained either SG or CD and further treated at temperatures of 15 °C, 20 °C, 25 °C, 30 °C, and 35 °C. The duration of larval development was recorded, and the prepupae were removed, weighed, and placed individually in separate, labeled, 35-mL plastic cups filled with moist sawdust. After emergence, 10 2-day-old adults (5 males and 5 females) from every replica per substrate were transferred into a cage (40 × 40 × 40 cm) and allowed to mate for 24 h at their respective temperatures. The laid egg batches were collected and counted, and the adult flies’ longevity was recorded. The data were subjected to a two-way analysis of variance (ANOVA) using the general linear model procedure. BSF larvae reared on SG developed faster than those reared on CD; the former also favored higher temperatures for their larval development and emergence into adults. The optimum range was 25–30 °C. With increasing temperatures, the longevity of adult BSF decreased, while the fecundity of females increased. Thus, it is possible to take advantage of the readily available SG waste streams in the urban environments of Kenya to produce BSF larvae-derived livestock feed within a short duration of time and at relatively high temperatures

A molecular survey of bacterial species in the guts of black soldier fly larvae (Hermetia illucens) reared on two urban organic waste streams in Kenya

Open Access Journal; Published online: 22 Sep 2021Globally, the expansion of livestock and fisheries production is severely constrained due to the increasing costs and ecological footprint of feed constituents. The utilization of black soldier fly (BSF) as an alternative protein ingredient to fishmeal and soybean in animal feed has been widely documented. The black soldier fly larvae (BSFL) used are known to voraciously feed and grow in contaminated organic wastes. Thus, several concerns about their safety for inclusion into animal feed remain largely unaddressed. This study evaluated both culture-dependent sequence-based and 16S rDNA amplification analysis to isolate and identify bacterial species associated with BSFL fed on chicken manure (CM) and kitchen waste (KW). The bacteria species from the CM and KW were also isolated and investigated. Results from the culture-dependent isolation strategies revealed that Providencia sp. was the most dominant bacterial species detected from the guts of BSFL reared on CM and KW. Morganella sp. and Brevibacterium sp. were detected in CM, while Staphylococcus sp. and Bordetella sp. were specific to KW. However, metagenomic studies showed that Providencia and Bordetella were the dominant genera observed in BSFL gut and processed waste substrates. Pseudomonas and Comamonas were recorded in the raw waste substrates. The diversity of bacterial genera recorded from the fresh rearing substrates was significantly higher compared to the diversity observed in the gut of the BSFL and BSF frass (leftovers of the rearing substrates). These findings demonstrate that the presence and abundance of microbiota in BSFL and their associated waste vary considerably. However, the presence of clinically pathogenic strains of bacteria in the gut of BSFL fed both substrates highlight the biosafety risk of potential vertical transmission that might occur, if appropriate pre-and-postharvest measures are not enforced

The Galabat-Metema cross-border onchocerciasis focus: The first coordinated interruption of onchocerciasis transmission in Africa.

BACKGROUND: Onchocerciasis transmission across international borders is not uncommon, yet a coordinated cross border stops mass drug administration (MDA) decision has not been documented. METHODS/PRINCIPLE FINDINGS: The Galabat-Metema focus involves neighboring districts on the border between Sudan and Ethiopia. Mass drug administration (MDA) was provided once and subsequently twice per year in this focus, with twice-per-year beginning in Ethiopia's Metema subfocus in 2016 and in the Sudan's Galabat subfocus in 2008. Ov16 ELISA-based serosurveys were conducted in 6072 children under 10 years of age in the Metema subfocus in 2014, and 3931 in the Galabat in 2015. Between 2014 and 2016, a total of 27,583 vector Simulium damnosum flies from Metema and 9,148 flies from Galabat were tested by pool screen PCR for Onchocerca volvulus O-150 DNA. Only 8 children were Ov16 seropositive (all in the Metema subfocus); all were negative by skin snip PCR. The upper limit of the 95% confidence interval (UCL) for Ov16 seropositive was <0.1% for the overall focus and 0.14 positive fly heads per 2000 (UCL = 0.39/2000). However, an entomological 'hotspot' was detected on the Wudi Gemzu river in Metema district. The hotspot was confirmed when 4 more positive fly pools were found on repeat testing in 2017 (1.04 L3/2000 flies (UCL = 2.26/2000). Information exchange between the two countries led to stopping MDA in a coordinated fashion in 2018, with the exception of the hotspot at Wudi Gemzu, where MDA with ivermectin was increased to every three months to hasten interruption of transmission. CONCLUSION: Coordinated stop MDA decisions were made by Sudan and Ethiopia based on data satisfying the World Health Organization's criteria for interruption of onchocerciasis transmission. Definitions of entomological 'hotspots' and buffer zones around the focus are proposed

Efficient Core Decomposition in Massive Networks

Abstract—The k-core of a graph is the largest subgraph in which every vertex is connected to at least k other vertices within the subgraph. Core decomposition finds the k-core of the graph for every possible k. Past studies have shown important applications of core decomposition such as in the study of the properties of large networks (e.g., sustainability, connectivity, centrality, etc.), for solving NP-hard problems efficiently in real networks (e.g., maximum clique finding, densest subgraph approximation, etc.), and for large-scale network fingerprinting and visualization. The k-core is a well accepted concept partly because there exists a simple and efficient algorithm for core decomposition, by recursively removing the lowest degree vertices and their incident edges. However, this algorithm requires random access to the graph and hence assumes the entire graph can be kept in main memory. Nevertheless, real-world networks such as online social networks have become exceedingly large in recent years and still keep growing at a steady rate. In this paper, we propose the first external-memory algorithm for core decomposition in massive graphs. When the memory is large enough to hold the graph, our algorithm achieves comparable performance as the in-memory algorithm. When the graph is too large to be kept in the memory, our algorithm requires only O(kmax) scans of the graph, where kmax is the largest core number of the graph. We demonstrate the efficiency of our algorithm on real networks with up to 52.9 million vertices and 1.65 billion edges. I

African Indigenous Female Entrepreneurs (IFÉs): A Closed-Looped Social Circular Economy Waste Management Model

Uncontrolled waste disposal sites remain prevalent in low- and lower-middle-income countries, with organic waste constituting between 50 and 80% of the total openly dumped waste volumes. Waste-to-wealth initiatives focused on biowaste enterprises through female entrepreneurs can advance the eradication of open dumps while creating economic opportunities. This study, therefore, proposes an organizational model that leverages Indigenous female institutions, circular economy concepts, and a closed-loop biowaste management technique that mitigates the open-dump challenge. The Indigenous female entrepreneur (IFÉ) business model leverages circular economy and social circular economy models in the application of a low-tech insect-based biowaste conversion that valorizes municipal solid waste into products that can be reintegrated into the environment and community. The model will be utilized in a Tanzanian pilot study using co-production strategies to derive a sustainable biowaste enterprise. Co-production sees users as authorities in their own circumstances and treats them as primus inter pares with experts, thus facilitating the integration of the relational element of Indigenous societies and motivating cultural appreciation. Conversely, co-production will necessitate revisions to the model in every location where it is applied. The model was successfully test-run in a high-income country, but future research, including the pilot study, will validate the model and highlight innovations

Expression of Estrogen and Progesterone Receptors among Sudanese Women with Breast Cancer: Immunohistochemical Study

Study design: This is a descriptive study to detect the level of Estrogen (ER) and Progesterone (PR) receptors in a sample of biopsies from Sudanese women with breast cancer presented at Khartoum teaching Hospital Material and Methods: Forty biopsies from breast cancer patients were examined with immunostaining using anti-sera to ER and PR as markers to detect receptors. Results: All the specimens showed the typical histopathologic features of breast cancer. Immunoreactivity testing revealed positive ER in thirty-six patients (90%) and positive PR in thirty-one patients (77.5%). Of the 36 ER positive samples, staining intensity was: strong in 20 (55.5 %) moderate in 10 (27.7 %) and weak in 6 (16.7 %). Of the 31 PR positive samples, 15 (48.4 %) showed strong staining, 7 (22.5 %) moderate and 9 (29.0 %) weak staining Conclusion: the studied specimens showed high level of positive ER and PR receptors Sudan Joural of Medical Studies Vol. 2 (1) 2007: pp. 5-