Early adoption of modern groundnut varieties in West Africa Working Paper Series No. 24 Socio Economic and Policy

This study investigates the early adoption of modern groundnut varieties in the pilot sites of the Groundnut Seed Project (GSP) in Mali, Niger and Nigeria following government and donors’ investment. Seventeen varieties were disseminated in the pilot sites of the three countries. Uptake has increased significantly during the last three years partially as a result of project intervention. The proportion of area planted with modern varieties has increased by 22% in Nigeria, 12% in Mali and 10% in Niger in the pilot sites since 2003. Farmers using modern varieties have derived significant yield gains of 24%, 43% and 31% over the local varieties in Mali, Niger and Nigeria respectively. The modern varieties had significantly lower per unit cost of production estimated to 9.8%, 11% and 11% in Mali, Niger and Nigeria respectively. The net income derived by adopters is 66% higher than non-adopters in Mali, 73% in Niger and 111% in Nigeria. Relative to household types, income gains are estimated to be less than 20% compared to poor households in Mali, while it is more than 50% in Nigeria. Results from the Logit models indicate that the major determinants of adoption in the three countries include the participation of farmers to on-farm trials, the build up of social capital through the empowerment of farmers’ associations and small-scale farmers at producing and marketing seed. Constraints to adoption remain the poor access and availability of seed of modern varieties, pest and disease pressure in at least two out of three countries. Tobit results indicate that intensification of modern varieties is dependent essentially on seed availability, social capital, exposure to the varieties through farmers’ participatory variety trials

Farmer Participatory Evaluation and Dissemination of Improved Groundnut Varieties in West Africa

This report summarizes results from the Farmer Participatory Variety selection and dissemination activities conducted in Mali, Niger, Nigeria and Senegal under the CFC funded Groundnut Seed Project. Thirty-nine (39) new varieties were tested by farmers under their management and resources across the four countries. Out of the varieties tested, 17 were selected based on the farmers’ village level criteria which included high pod and fodder yield, resistance to diseases, taste, oil content, drought tolerance and marketability. More than 30 farmers’ associations and small scale seed producers emerged and are producing and distributing seed of selected varieties in the pilot areas. More than 150 tons of seed of different classes that could cover 100,000 hectares were produced. About 74% of the farmers in pilot sites are using modern varieties and about 67% of the groundnut area is planted with them. Participation of farmers in variety selection is major determinant of variety adoption

Ten-year long-term outcomes of conventional and eversion carotid endarterectomy. Multicenter study

Aim. To analyze the immediate and long-term outcomes of eversion and conventional carotid endarterectomy (CE) with patch angioplasty.Material and methods. For the period from February 1, 2006 to September 1, 2021, the present retrospective multicenter open comparative study included 25106 patients who underwent CE. Depending on the technique of operation, the following groups were formed: group 1 (n=18362) — eversion CE; group 2 (n=6744) — conventional CE with patch angioplasty. The long-term follow-up period was 124,7±53,8 months.Results. In the hospital postoperative period, the groups were comparable in incidence of all complications: lethal outcome (group 1: 0,19%, n=36; group 2: 0,17%, n=12; p=0,89; odds ratio (OR) =1,1; 95% confidence interval (CI) =0,57- 2,11); myocardial infarction (MI) (group 1: 0,15%, n=28; group 2: 0,13%, n=9; p=0,87; OR=1,14; 95% CI=0,53-2,42); stroke (group 1: 0,33%, n=62; group 2: 0,4%, n=27; p=0,53; OR=0,84; 95% CI=0,53-1,32); bleeding with hematoma formation (group 1: 0,39%, n=73; group 2: 0,41%, n=28; p=0,93; OR=0,95; 95% CI=0,61-1,48); internal carotid artery (ICA) thrombosis (group 1: 0,05%, n=11; group 2: 0,07%, n=5, p=0,9; OR=0,8; 95% CI=0,28-2,32). In the long-term follow-up, the groups were comparable only in MI incidence: group 1: 0,56%, n=103; group 2: 0,66%, n=45; p=0,37; OR=0,84; 95% CI=0,59-1,19. All other complications were more frequent after conventional CE with patch angioplasty: all-cause death (group 1: 2,7%, n=492; group 2: 9,1%, n=616; p<0,0001; OR=0,27; 95% CI=0,24-0,3); lethal ischemic stroke (group 1: 1,0%, n=180; group 2: 5,5%, n=371; p<0,0001; OR=0,17; 95% CI=0,14-0,21); non-lethal ischemic stroke (group 1: 0,62%, n=114; group 2: 7,0%, n=472; p<0,0001; OR=0,08; 95% CI=0,06-0,1); ICA restenosis >60%, requiring re-revascularization (group 1: 1,6%, n=296; group 2: 12,6%, n=851; p<0,0001; OR=0,11; 95% CI=0,09-0,12). Thus, the composite endpoint (lethal ischemic stroke + non-lethal ischemic stroke + MI) after conventional CE with patch angioplasty was more than 6 times higher than this parameter of eversion CE: group 1: 2,2%, n=397; group 2: 13,2%, n=888; p<0,0001; OR=0,14; 95% CI=0,12-1,16.Conclusion. Conventional CE with patch angioplasty is not prefer for cerebral revascularization in the presence of hemodynamically significant ICA stenosis due to the high prevalence of deaths, stroke, and ICA restenosis in the long-term follow-up

Efficiency of gamma probe and dual-phase Tc-99m sestamibi scintigraphy in surgery for patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Purpose: The purpose of this study was to determine the value of the intraoperative gamma probe and the efficacy of dual-phase Tc-99m sestamibi imaging in patients with primary hyperparathyroidism

Gastrointestinal stromal tumors: A multicenter study of 1160 Turkish cases

PubMed ID: 22798108Background/aims: The aim of this multicenter study was to determine the histopathological features and immunohistochemical profiles of gastrointestinal stromal tumors diagnosed in Turkish patients. Material and Methods: Twenty-eight participating centers registered their gastrointestinal stromal tumor cases on a nationwide database. The diagnosis of gastrointestinal stromal tumor relied upon hematoxylin & eosin features and the results of antibody panel including CD117, CD34, desmin, smooth muscle actin, S-100 protein, and Ki67. The database consisted of parameters including age, gender, location, and all other histopathological and immunohistochemical findings. Statistical analysis was performed using Pearson, Kruskal-Wallis, Mann-Whitney U, and Spearman tests. Results: From all of the gastrointestinal stromal tumors in the database, 1160 cases with a male to female ratio of 1.22 and a mean age of 56.75 years were included in the study. The most common location was the stomach (45.0%), followed by the small intestine, omentum-peritoneum, large intestine, and esophagus (32.0%, 12.6%, 9.3%, 1.1%, respectively). The risk groups were distributed as: 6.1% very low, 21.7% low, 19.3% intermediate, and 53% high-risk cases. Many histopathologic findings were correlated with risk groups. CD117 was positive in 95.3% of gastrointestinal stromal tumors, whereas CD34 was positive in 74.9%, smooth muscle actin in 45.9%, desmin in 9.2%, and S-100 in 19.1.%. Though no significant relation was found between CD117 expression and tumor location, CD34, smooth muscle actin and Ki67 expressions significantly varied in different locations (p=0.001) and risk groups. Conclusions: The results of this multicenter study demonstrated that features other than tumor size and mitosis and immune markers other than CD117 and Ki67 included in the antibody panel seem to be useful as predictive risk factors