Serum Transthyretin Level as a Plausible Marker for Diagnosis of Child Acute Malnutrition

Malnutrition is a major underlying condition for mortality in children under five years of age in developing countries, particularly in Ethiopia. The most important forms of malnutrition in Ethiopia are protein and energy deficiencies. There is no reliable laboratory method at present to assess acute malnutrition. Transthyretin is a homotetrameric serum protein with half-life of two days. The main objective of this study was to assess the estimation of serum transthyretin level as a useful diagnostic method to evaluate nutritional status of children. We used a newly designed transthyretin test kit to evaluate nutritional status of children admitted to our hospital. There is no national reference standard; hence we made a comparative study using anthropometric measurements and measurement of serum albumin level. A total of 102 children (51 controls and 51 study subjects) were included in this study. Transthyretin was found to be more sensitive to changes in acute malnutrition than albumin, and its level reflects recent dietary intake compared to overall nutritional status. The method is more sensitive and reliable for detection of acute malnutrition, along with anthropometric methods. Measurement of serum transthyretin level can be used as a valuable diagnostic method for assessment of acute malnutrition among children

Effects of Sowing Methods, Seed Rates and Sowing Depths on Growth Performance and Grain Yield of Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter]

Three field experiments were carried out on black soil (Vertisols) at Debre Zeit Agricultural Research Center during the main season between 2011 and  2013 to determine appropriate sowing/planting methods, seed rates, inter- and intra-row spacings, and planting depth for tef. Each experiment was laid  out in a randomized complete block design with three replications. Data were taken on days to panicle emergence and to maturity, plant height, panicle  length, lodging index, shoot biomass, and grain yield. Combined analyses of variance over years showed that sowing methods had no significant effect  on any of the traits assessed, while sowing methods and seed rates interaction effects were significant for all the traits evaluated. Irrespective of sowing  methods significantly higher grain yields were recorded with higher seeding rates (10-25 kg/ha). Among the spacing treatments, sowing with 10 cm row  spacing showed the highest mean grain (2621 kg/ha) and shoot biomass (21861 kg/ha) yield. Hill planting irrespective of the row spacing gave the lowest  grain and shoot biomass yield, while transplanting, gave intermediate grain and shoot biomass yield comparable to those of row sowing. In the third  experiment that combined row spacing and sowing depth, the highest grain yield (2404 kg/ha) was obtained from 20 cm row spacing by 3 cm planting  depth followed by 20 cm row spacing by 5 cm planting depth (2292 kg/ha). Overall, based on the results of this study, seed rates of 10-15 kg/ha for both  broadcasting and row spacing, and row spacing of 20 cm and sowing depth of 3 cm would be recommended for tef production on black soils at Debre  Zeit and other similar areas. &nbsp

Evaluation of selected semi-dwarf Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) genotypes for yield and yield related traits

Tef is the major staple food crop for Ethiopia which is cultivated by more than 6.7 million smallholder farmers. As an indigenous cereal, it is well adapted to diverse climatic and soil conditions; however, its productivity is very low mainly due to susceptibility to lodging. The objective of this study was to identify stable, high yielding and lodging tolerant tef genotypes for moisture stress areas of the country. A total of twenty genotypes including standard and local checks were tested. The field experiment was conducted using a 2m x 2m area with a completely randomized block design at six locations (Debre Zeit, Minjar, Alemtena, Melkassa, Sirinka and Axum) during the 2019 and 2020 main cropping seasons. Data were taken on plot and individual plant basis on eight pheno-agro-morphological characters including days to heading, days to maturity, grain filling period, plant height, panicle length, lodging index, above-ground shoot biomass and grain yield. The combined analysis of variance showed that the mean squares due to genotypes, locations and genotype interactions were highly significant (P<0.01) for the tested eight agronomical and morphological traits evaluated. Based on the current result, 39% of the tested genotypes had a higher yield advantage over the standard check Boset variety. On the other hand, 44% of the genotypes showed higher yields than the local check. Therefore, the promising genotype for lodging tolerance needs further testing in the variety verification trial and those genotypes are used as representative materials to develop varieties, especially for lodging tolerance

Assessment of the level and factors associated with knowledge, attitude and practice of blood donation among medical and paramedical personnel in ALERT Hospital, Ethiopia

Background: Though there was a high blood supply need in response to high communicable disease and increased emergency conditions; the practice of health professionals and non-health professionals on voluntary blood donation is still unexpectedly low in Ethiopia. Health professionals and non-health professionals working in the health sectors are pivotal in taking the lead to reverse the effect of inadequate blood supply system in the country. Therefore, the study aimed to understand the level and contributing factors of Knowledge, Attitude and Practice of voluntary blood donation among health and non-health professionals in ALERT Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.Design and Methods: A cross-sectional study design was conducted among health professionals and non-health professionals in ALERT hospital from 5 to 30 June 2018. A total of 394 hospital staffs participated in this study. A well-structured self-administered questionnaire was used to assess the knowledge, attitude, and practice about voluntary blood donation. The statistical analysis was carried out using R.Results: A total of 203 (51.5%) participants were females. Only 142 (36%) of the participants had voluntary blood donation practice. Among these, 60 (42.3%) of them were donated blood more than once. Occupation is the only factor significantly associated with blood donation practice; health professionals had almost two-fold donation practice than non-health professionals with (AOR=1.62; 5%CI: 1.02, 2.57, p=0.042). Occupation has also a strong relationship with knowledge, health professionals had better knowledge than non-professionals with (AOR=2.39; 95% CI: 1.39, 4.12; p=0.002). The result also showed that the educational status of the participants was strongly associated with the blood donors’ attitude (AOR=3.62; 95% CI: 1.1, 11.93, p=0.035). One hundred and two (72.3%) of the blood donors were motivated to donate blood for charity, 133 (94.3%) individuals were felt good after blood donation and lack of request was the major reason 88.6% that causes the respondents not to donate blood frequently. Conclusions: Low blood donation practice of health professionals and non-health professionals was identified from this study. Occupation had significantly associated with blood donation practice. Therefore, targeted interventions aimed at mobilizing hospital staffs and develop accessible blood donation centers are recommended to reverse the effect of inadequate blood supply system in Ethiopia

Tef (Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter) Variety ‘Felagot’

አህፅሮት  ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ዋነኛው ሲሆን ከ65 በመቶ   ለማያንስ ህዝብ ዋና የምግብ ሰብል በመሆን ያገለግላል፡፡ የጤፍ የዘር ቀለም ተለያይነት ያለው ሲሆን በአብዛኛው ነጭና ቡናማ/ቀይ አንዳንዴም ድብልቅ እና መካከለኛ የዘር ቀለም በየዓመቱ ከሶሰት ሚሊዮን ማሳ በላይ በመሸፈን ይመረታል፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ጋር ሲወዳደር  ምርትና ምርታማነቱ ዝቅተኛ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ዋና ዋና ምክንያት በመሆን የሚጠቀሰው የተሻሻሉ ዝርያዎች በበቂ ሁኔታ አለመኖር ነው፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዋና ዓላማ እየጨመረ የመጣውን የቡናማ/ቀይ ጤፍ ፍላጎት ለማሟላት በተለያየ የምርምር አሰራርና ሂደት የተገኘ የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሽ የተሻለ ምርት የሚሰጥና በአርሶ አደሩና በተጠቃሚው ተመራጭ የሆነ ዝርያ ማፍለቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱም አስራ ሁለት የተለያዩ የጤፍ ዓይነቶችን ጨምሮ  አንድ በቅርቡ የተለቀቀ እና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ላይ ተፈትሸው ፍላጎት (ደዘ-ክሮስ-442) የተባለው ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከሌሎች ማወዳደሪያ ዝርያዎች የተሻለ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ለምርት እንዲውል ተወስኗል፡፡ በተጨማሪም ይህ ዝርያ ቡናማ/ቀይ ዘር ቀለም ያለው ዝርያ ከተለቀቀ ከአስራ አምስት አመታት በኃላ የተገኘና የወደፊት የውጭ ገበያ ፍላጎትን ለሟሟላት ከፍተኛ አስተዋፅኦ ሊያበረክት የሚችል ነው፡፡ Abstract Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is the major cultivated cereal crop in Ethiopia and serves as staple food grain for over 65% of the population. The area under tef cultivation is over three million hectares of land each year. Depending on the type of seed color, tef grains are categorized into white and brown, while some admixtures and intermediate seed colors also exist. However, the productivity of tef is very low as compared to other cereals due, among others, to lack of high yielding varieties. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of released brown seeded tef variety called Felagot and to provide unique morphological and agronomic descriptions of this new variety. Twelve genotypes resulting from two independent crossesnd breed for at least seven generations plus local and standard check varieties were tested over two years (2014 and 2015 main season) at six tef growing locations namely: Debre Zeit light soil, Debre Zeit Black soil, Minjar, Adet, Bichena and Holetta using randomized complete block design with four replications. The study found that Felagot (DZ-Cr-442/ RIL-77C) which was obtained from a cross between Quncho (the popular variety) and Gea Lammie (local cultivar) exceled the other genotypes and it was approved for release by the Ethiopian National Variety Release Committee in March 2017. The main advantages of Felagot over the other tested lines were its higher grain yield together with high straw yield and brown seed color. In addition, it was released under the brown seed category after one and half decades. Furthermore, it is anticipated that because of the brown seed color Felagot will command high external market preferences and prices, and thereby contribute for future tef export market

Assessment of plasma D-dimer level and its correlation with disease severity among hypertensive patients

It has been reported that inappropriate acute thrombus formation is the pathophysiological substrate underlying increased risk and severity of target organ damage in hypertension. However, the relationship between severity of hypertension and D-dimer has not been well characterized. This study was aimed to assess plasma D-dimer level and its correlation with disease severity among hypertensive at Yikatit 12 Hospital Medical College (Y12HMC), Ethiopia. A comparative cross-sectional study was conducted at Y12HMC among 100 participants (60 hypertensive and 40 controls). The correlations between variables were determined using correlation coefficients, regression analysis, and different parametric and nonparametric tests. We observed higher D-dimer levels among hypertensive compared to the healthy controls (P<0.001). The D-dimer levels were found to be increased significantly with the severity of hypertension (P<0.001). D-dimer was found to have a diagnostic power of 86.9% in differentiating complicated from uncomplicated hypertension at 0.83mg/l cut-off value. This study suggests that D-dimer level was higher among hypertensive than control groups and it was also increasing significantly with the severity of hypertension. This suggests that hypercoagulability of fibrin plays a role in the pathogenesis of cardiovascular disorders and thromboembolic complications of hypertensive patients. Further studies need be done on larger scale and using more robust study designs such as cohort to establish the causality of the association between severity of hypertension and D-dimer level

Tef (Eragrostis tef) variety Kora

Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter], is a staple food crop of Ethiopians that originated and diversified in Ethiopia. It has existed in Ethiopia throughout recorded history. Annually, it occupies 3.02 million hectares thereby ranking first among all cereals cultivated in the country. However, the national average yield of tef is low 1.6 t ha-1. The use of unimproved local cultivars and biotic and abiotic stresses are partially attributed to the low yield of the crop. Thus, the experiment was designed to develop high yielding and desirable quality improved varieties of tef suitable for diverse agro-ecologies, farming systems and purposes. Fourteen tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2012 and 2013) at eight locations. The combined data analysis across locations and over the years indicated that candidate variety Kora (DZ-Cr-438 (RIL No. 133B) performed better than the two checks and other test genotypes. Consequently, Kora was identified and approved for large scale production

Seed-Business Oriented Demonstration Trials: An Efficient Option to Promote Tef (Eragrostis tef ) Varieties

አህፅሮት ኢትዮጵያ ውስጥ ጤፍ (Eragrostis tef) ከ6.5 ሚሊዮን በሚበልጡ አነስተኛ አርሶ አደሮች ይመረታል፡፡ ሆኖም ግን የተሻሻሉ ቴክኖሎጂዎችና የምርጥ ዘር ተጠቃሚነት ውስን በመሆኑ የሰብሉ ምርታማነት ዝቅተኛ እንደሆነ ቀጥሏል፡፡ ስለሆነም አነስተኛ አርሶ አደሮች ጥራቱን ለጠበቀ የጤፍ አራቢ ዘር ያላቸውን ተደራሽነት ለመጨመር ዓላማ ያደረገ ጥናት በ254 መሪ አርሶ አደሮች ማሳ ላይ ተካሂዷል፡፡ በጥናቱም በቅርብ ጊዜ የተለቀቁ ሦስት አዳዲስ ዝርያዎች እና አንድ ቀደም ብሎ የተለቀቀ ዝርያ (ቦሰት) ተካተው ተገምግመዋል፡፡ ለእያንዳንዱ መሪ-አርሶ አደር የአራቱም ዝርያዎች ማለትም የኮራ፣ የተስፋ፣ የዳግም እና የቦሰት አራቢ ዘር  ተሰጥቷል፡፡ የአራቱ ዝርያዎች የዘር ምርት ተቀራራቢ (ኮራ = 1.94፣ ተስፋ = 2.31፣ ዳግም = 2.24 እና ቦሰት = 2.36 ቶን በሄክታር) ነበር፡፡ ጥናቱ በተካሄደባቸው ወረዳዎች ያለውን የግብዓት ዋጋ እና የምርት ዋጋ እሳቤ ውስጥ ሲገባ የተገኘው አማካይ ያልተጣራ ገቢ 65,355.90 ብር በሄክታር ሲሆን አማካይ የማምረቻ ወጪው ደግሞ 26,355.52 ብር በሄክታር ነበር፡፡ ከማምረቻ ወጪዎች መካከል ለጉልበት የወጣው ወጪ ትልቁን ድርሻ ሲይዝ ከጠቅላላው ወጪ 58 በመቶ ድርሻ ነበረው፡፡ በአጠቃላይ የገቢ-ወጪ ምጣኔ 1.5 በመሆኑ የተሻሻለ የጤፍ ዝርያ ቴክኖሎጂ መጠቀም በጣም ትርፋማ እንደሆነ ጥናቱ ያመልክታል፡፡ ይህም በመሆኑ አዳዲስ የሚወጡ የጤፍ ዝርያዎችን ዘር አባዝቶ ለገብያ ማቅረብን ትኩረት ያደረገ የሰርቶ ማሳያ ስራ ቢሰራ ለአርሶ አደሮች ሳቢና አዋጭ ሆኖ ተገኝትዋል፡፡   ጠቋሚ ቃላት፡ መሪ አርሶ አደሮች፤ የጤፍ ዝርያዎች፤ የምርጥ ዘር ምርት፤ የጤፍ ጭድ፤ የምርት ዋጋ       Abstract Tef (Eragrostis tef) is extensively cultivated by over 6.5 million smallholder farmers in Ethiopia. However, the productivity of the crop remains low mainly due to the limited use of improved technologies including seeds. In this study, three recently released and one old (as a check) tef varieties were evaluated on 254 lead farmers’ fields with the main aim of increasing farmers’ access to quality breed seeds.Each lead farmer was provided with breeder seeds of four improved tef varieties, namely Kora, Tesfa, Dagim, and Boset.The seed yield from the four tef varieties were comparable (Kora = 1.94, Tesfa = 2.31, Dagim =2.24 and Boset = 2.36 t ha-1). Given the input and output prices that prevail in the selected districts, the mean revenue was 65,355.90 Birr ha-1 while the mean production cost was 26,355.52 Birr ha-1. Among production costs, labor took for the lion’s share as it contributed to 58% of the total cost.   In general, with a benefit-cost ratio of 1.5, our technology is highly profitable and attractive to farmers if newly released tef varieties are disseminated in the seed-business-oriented method. &nbsp

Tef (Eragrostis tef) Variety "Dagim"

Tef is the major Ethiopian cereal grown on 3.02 million hectares annually and serving as staple food grain for over 70 million people. However, the national average yield of tef is low 1.6 t ha-1. This is partially due to the use of unimproved local cultivars, and biotic and abiotic stresses. Therefore the experiment was designed to develop high yielding and desirable quality improved varieties suitable for diverse agro-ecologies, farming systems and purposes. Fourteen tef genotypes including two checks were laid out in randomized complete block design using four replications for two years (2012 and 2013) at eight locations. Results of combined data analysis across locations and over the years showed that candidate variety Dagem [DZ-Cr-387 X Kay Murri (DZ-Cr-438 (RIL No 91A))] performed better than the two check and other test genotypes. Thus, Dagim was identified and released as best promising tef variety for production in the country

Tef (Eragrostis tef) Variety ‘Tesfa’

 አህፅሮት ጤፍ በኢትዮጵያ ከሚመረቱ የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ዋናው ሲሆን በየዓመቱ ቁጥር ከ6.5 ሚሊዮን የማያንስ አርሶ አደር ያመርተዋል፡፡ ይህም አጠቃላይ በብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች ከሚሸፈነው ማሳ 30% ድርሻ አለው፡፡ ይሁን እንጂ ከሌሎች ሰብሎች ጋር ሲነፃፀር ምርታማነቱ አነስተኛ ነው፡፡ ለዚህም ምክንያቱ በከፊል አርሶ አደሩ ያልተሻሻሉ የአካባቢ ዝርያዎችን በመጠቀሙና፣ የሰብሉ ተፈጥሯዊ የመጋሸብ ባህሪ ናቸው፡፡  የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ በተለየ ምርምር አሰራር የተገኘን የጤፍ ዝርያን በመፈተሸ የተሻለ ምርት፤ የአገዳ ጥንካሬን አንዲሁም የዘር ቀለም ያለውና በአርሶ አደሩ ተመራጭ ዝርያ ማፍለቅ ነበር፡፡ በጥናቱ በቅርቡ የተለቀቀ አንድ ዝርያና አንድ የአካባቢ ዝርያን ጨምሮ 10 የተለያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎችን በማካተት በስድስት ወካይ ጤፍ አብቃይ ቦታዎች ላይ ተፈትሸው ተስፋ (ደዘ-ክሮስ-457) ተብሎ የተሰየመውና የተለያዩ የጤፍ አይነቴዎች ተዳቅለው የተገኘው ዝርያ ከሌሎች ማወዳደሪያ ተፈታሽ ዝርያዎች የተሻለ ውጤት በማስመዝገቡ በብሄራዊ የዝርያ አፅዳቂ ኮሚቴ ተገምግሞ ለምርት እንዲለቀቅ ተወስኗል፡፡ ይህ ዝርያ ከሌሎች ዝርያዎች በንፅፅር መጋሸብን በመቋቋሙ፤ የተሻለ ምርት በመስጠቱ በአርሶአደሩ ተፈላጊ ከመሆኑም በሻገር ከዝርያው ባህሪ የተነሳ ለመስኖ እርሻና በሰብል መድረሻ ጊዜ የማጨጃ የእርሻ መሳሪያ መጠቀም ያስችላል፡፡ Abstract Tef [Eragrostis tef (Zucc.) Trotter] is extensively cultivated cereal crop in Ethiopia where it is annually grown by about 6.5 million smallholder farmers on about 30% of the total area allocated to cereal crops.However, the productivity of tef is very low compared to other cereals mainly due to lack of high yielding and lodging tolerant cultivars. The objective of this study was to evaluate the performance of the recently released tef variety called Tesfaand to provide unique morphological and agronomic descriptions of this new variety. Ten genotypes which were derived from three independent crosses and bred for at least eight generations plus a local and standard check varieties were tested at six tef growing sites in Ethiopia (namely, Adet, Chafe Donsa,DebreZeit black soil, DebreZeit light soil,Ginchiand Holetta) using RandomizedCompleteBlock Design with three replications. The study found that Tesfa(DZ-Cr-457 RIL-181) which was obtained from a cross between kinde (a semi-dwarf mutant line developed at the University of Bern, Switzerland) and Kay Murri(a landrace) outperformed other genotypes and approved for release by the Ethiopian National Variety Release Committee in March 2017.The main advantages of Tesfa over other tested lines were its higher grain yield and higher lodging tolerance. In addition, Tesfa possesses unique properties for which high acceptance by growers is expected. These are its compact panicle, lack of shattering, and thick and strong culm which makes it potentially cultivated under irrigation and also mechanically harvested