Heat Shock Proteins: Their Role in Tumor Development and Their Therapeutic Applications Against Cancer

Exposure of cells to conditions of environmental stress (e.g. Heat shock) results in the inducible expression of heat shock proteins that function as molecular chaperones or proteases. Heat shock proteins have been classified into six major families according to their molecular size: Hsp100, Hsp90, Hsp70, Hsp60, Hsp40, and small heat shock proteins. Heat shock proteins (HSPs) function by inducing an ATPase-coupled structural change, followed by interactions with diverse co-chaperones and over 200 client proteins implicated in many critical signaling networks. These highly expressed HSPs participate in the onset and progression of several human diseases including cancer, and their connection with tumorigenesis has facilitated research and clinical trials related to targeting HSPs as a novel anti-tumor therapy. The predominant mechanism of chaperone inhibition is through either disruption of the HSP association with client protein or an altered binding state that ultimately leads to proteasome-mediated degradation. Importantly, chaperone inhibition results in the degradation of several client proteins that play critical roles in many of the pathways known as the Hallmarks of Cancer, such as proliferation, angiogenesis, invasion, metastasis, and drug resistance. Hypoxia and other stressful stimuli induce HIF expression as well as subsequent cellular response, resulting in a cascade of signaling events that induce VEGF expression and angiogenesis. Importantly, several critical mediators in this angiogenic signaling pathway, including HIF, VEGF-receptor and IL-8/NF-κB are dependent upon Hsp90 for their function. Given that HSP is required for activation of VEGFR, PKB, and NFκB, HSP inhibitors can be employed to target multiple signaling molecules of angiogenesis pathway, as demonstrated by the potent suppression of VEGF and NO release both in vitro and in vivo with the overall outcome of inhibiting tumor angiogenesis. HSPs also participate in invasion and metastasis of tumor so the inhibition of HSPs through inhibiting client proteins can also be used as complementary to tumor therapy. Keywords: Angiogenesis, heat shock proteins, invasion, metastasis, tumor, tumor therap

Cost Benefits Analysis of Lemongrass (cybopogon citratus) Variety: WG-Lomisar-UA for Herbal Production at Wondogenet

Despite lemongrass has many uses as culinary, medicinal and as inputs for industries; in Ethiopia production and utilization of this plant is at infant Stage. Besides this, information regarding production costs, returns and financial feasibility of lemongrass production is limited. Thus the study aimed to assess the financial feasibility of WG-lomisar-UA lemongrass production for its herbal use. The study was conducted at Wondogenet agricultural research center experimental field from August 2014 to September 2017.  For this study WG-lomisar-UA lemongrass was planted on 100m2 area of land with an intra and inters raw spacing of 60cm. All cost and benefit data were collected throughout the production period. The study employed financial analysis methods such as Net Present Value (NPV) and Benefit Cost Ratio (BCR) to analyze feasibility of production. The result revealed that; the herbal production WG-lomisar-UA lemongrass required a total cost of 60,172.78 birr/ha, and provided total revenue of 152,750 birr/ha, resulted net return of 92,577.22 birr/ha in three years of production. Moreover, net present value and benefit cost ratio was found 76,454.03 and 2.44 respectively indicating that production of WG-lomisar-UA lemongrass is financially feasible. Sensitivity analysis in selected scenarios revealed that production the plant is still financially feasible

Adverse Drug Reactions: An Overview

Drug is single active chemical entity present in a medicine that is used for diagnosis, prevention and treatment of diseases. Adverse drug reaction is unexpected effect of drug on animal and human being and considered as one of causes of morbidity and mortality of hospitalized patients. Although many drug reactions are preventable such as those associated with prescription errors while others are not preventable. The adverse drug reactions are often not discovered until after the drug has been marketed. The occurrence of ADR can be explain on basis of the drug’s pharmacology and show apparent dose-response relationship in susceptible animal and human being. Adverse drug reactions caused by immune and non-immune mechanisms are a major cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide. They are the most common iatrogenic illness, complicating 5% to 15% of therapeutic drug courses. Adverse drug reactions can be divided schematically into two major categories: type A and type B. Type A reactions are common, predictable and may occur in any individual. Type B ADRs are uncommon and unpredictable and only occur in susceptible individuals. A critical factor in the drug response such as in ADRs could be the inter-patient differences in plasma concentrations arising from the same drug regimen. Pharmacogenomics is likely to be particularly useful for drugs that have variable kinetics and dynamics, and narrow therapeutic index. Management strategies employed for the ADRs is categorized as drug withdrawal, dose reduction, additional treatment for ADR, and no change in regimen with no additional treatment. Managing these cases should be done immediately after their appearance and those individuals or animals with the problem should be carefully handled with the appropriate medical expertise. Better approaches must be devised for reporting and assessing ADR. In addition, pharmaceutical companies should strive to reduce the adverse effect of a drug. Keywords: adverse drug reaction, causalities, drug kinetics, genetic polymorphism, toxicities

Investment Opportunities in Ethiopia: The Case of Financial Feasibility of Rosemary Production

This study was conducted at Wondo Genet Agricultural Research Center experimental field from January 2018 to March 2021. The study was undertaken to examine the financial feasibility of WG-Rosemary-III rosemary variety for fresh herb production and WG-Rosemary-II rosemary variety for dry herb production. For this study, both rosemary varieties were planted on 100m2 areas of land with an intra and inter-row spacing of 60cm. All cost and benefit data were collected during the cultivation period by preparing data collection sheets. The study utilized financial analysis methods such as net present value (NPV) and benefit-cost ratio (BCR) to analyze the feasibility of their production. The study found that the net present value of production of WG-rosemary-III for fresh herb was birr 1,599,641.65 per hectare in its entire three years course of cultivation, which indicates that its production is financially feasible. The benefit-cost ratio of production of WG-rosemary-III for fresh herbs was birr 7.11 per hectare, which indicates that a 1 ETB outlay for this rosemary production results to gain a net return of birr 6.11 per hectare. Besides the net present value of production of WG-rosemary-II for dry herb was birr 897,179.46 per hectare in its entire three years course of cultivation, which indicates that its production is financially feasible. The benefit-cost ratio of production of WG-rosemary-II for dry herbs was birr 4.01 per hectare, which indicates that a 1 ETB outlay for this rosemary production results to gain a net return of birr 3.01. The aforementioned results indicate that the production of these rosemary varieties is profitable. DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/14-15-02 Publication date:August 31st 202

Many-objective design of reservoir systems - Applications to the Blue Nile

This work proposes a multi-criteria optimization-based approach for supporting the negotiated design of multireservoir systems. The research addresses the multi-reservoir system design problem (selecting among alternative options, reservoir sizing), the capacity expansion problem (timing the activation of new assets and the filling of new large reservoirs) and management of multi-reservoir systems at various expansion stages. The aim is to balance multiple long and short-term performance objectives of relevance to stakeholders with differing interests. The work also investigates how problem re-formulations can be used to improve computational efficiency at the design and assessment stage and proposes a framework for post-processing of many objective optimization results to facilitate negotiation among multiple stakeholders. The proposed methods are demonstrated using the Blue Nile in a suite of proof-of-concept studies. Results take the form of Pareto-optimal trade-offs where each point on the curve or surface represents the design of water resource systems (i.e., asset choice, size, implementation dates of reservoirs, and operating policy) and coordination strategies (e.g., cost sharing and power trade) where further benefits in one measure necessarily come at the expense of another. Technical chapters aim to offer practical Nile management and/or investment recommendations deriving from the analysis which could be refined in future more detailed studies

The Impact of Adopting Improved Wheat Technology on the Productivity and Income of Houeholds in Misha District, Southern Ethiopia

Wheat rust disease is a major constraint of wheat production in Ethiopia. Thus, this study is carried out to examine the impact of rust resistant wheat varieties on the productivity and income of households in Misha district in Southern Ethiopia. Using a household survey, cross-sectional data were collected from 387 randomly selected households. Descriptive statics and propensity score matching methods were used for data analysis to achieve the objectives of the study. Propensity score matching method was used to measure the impact of adopting rust-resistant improved wheat varieties on productivity and income of households. The study has found that age and education level of household head, land size, livestock holding, frequency of extension contact, and access to credit services were factors that significantly affected adoption of rust-resistant improved wheat varieties. Using the propensity score matching method, the study found that the adoption of rust-resistant improved wheat had a positive impact on average wheat productivity and income of households. Moreover, the results were insensitive to unobserved heterogeneity bias. This indicates that adoption of the technology has a positive contribution to households' wellbeing. Therefore, government and concerned bodies should better give due attention to the development, dissemination, and scaling up of rust-resistant improved wheat varieties. Keywords: Adoption, Impact, Propensity Score Matching, Wheat. DOI: 10.7176/EJBM/14-19-03 Publication date:October 31st 202

Informal Micro-Enterprises and Solid Waste Collection: The Case Study of Addis Ababa

Recently “embracing informality” is a notion advocated in urban centres of developing nations not only due to its unavoidable nature but also its contribution in providing service access to the marginalized, creating job  opportunity to the urban poor and reducing cost to financially deprived municipalities. Involving informal sector as municipal service provider indeed requires the perception of stakeholders who are directly working with them. This research tried to have insight about the attitudes and perceptions that regulators, service users and providers have on the informality. Internal and external factors influencing service providers were also considered. The research used both Primary and secondary data sources. One hundred sixty micro-enterprise units were included in the survey. These account for about 35% of the total micro-enterprises available in the city. Stratified random sampling was employed based on the number and type of micro-enterprises available in each kebele (local government unit). Interview and focus group discussions were held with city officials at different levels and also community representatives. Secondary data sources used were research reports, government documents of relevant institutions as well as legal and policy documents. The findings suggest that there is an over all tendency to encourage solid waste collecting micro-enterprises on the part of the government. Flexibility and responsiveness were also opportunities secured by the users (households); the institutionalization process was not confined to the promotion of efficiency of the service and enhancement of business orientation.Key words: micro-enterprise, service delivery, solid waste collection, stakeholders’ perspective

Determinates of the Adoption of Rust Resistant Wheat Technology: The Case of Misha District, Southern Ethiopia

Wheat rusts are the Major biological constraint to wheat production in Ethiopia. The main objective of the study was to examine factors influencing the adoption of rust-resistant improved wheat varieties by households in Misha district. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression were used for data analysis to achieve the objectives of the study. Binary logistic regression was used to examine factors influencing the adoption of rust-resistant improved wheat varieties. The study has found that age and education level of household head, land size, livestock holding, frequency of extension contact, and access to credit services were factors that significantly affected the adoption of rust-resistant improved wheat varieties. The findings of this study have the implication that any development intervention through improved wheat technology should take into account the aforementioned socioeconomic characteristics to enhance the adoption rate of new technologies. Keywords: Household, Logistic regression, Wheat DOI: 10.7176/RJFA/14-11-01 Publication date:June 30th 202

Modeling coronal magnetic field using spherical geometry: cases with several active regions

The magnetic fields in the solar atmosphere structure the plasma, store free magnetic energy and produce a wide variety of active solar phenomena, like flare and coronal mass ejections(CMEs). The distribution and strength of magnetic fields are routinely measured in the solar surface(photosphere). Therefore, there is considerable interest in accurately modeling the 3D structure of the coronal magnetic field using photospheric vector magnetograms. Knowledge of the 3D structure of magnetic field lines also help us to interpret other coronal observations, e.g., EUV images of the radiating coronal plasma. Nonlinear force-free field (NLFFF) models are thought to be viable tools for those task. Usually those models use Cartesian geometry. However, the spherical nature of the solar surface cannot be neglected when the field of view is large. In this work, we model the coronal magnetic field above multiple active regions using NLFFF extrapolation code using vector magnetograph data from the Synoptic Optical Long-term Investigations of the Sun survey (SOLIS)/ Vector Spectromagnetograph (VSM) as a boundary conditions. We compare projections of the resulting magnetic field lines solutions with their respective coronal EUV-images from the Atmospheric Imaging Assembly (SDO/AIA) observed on October 11, 2011 and November 13, 2012. This study has found that the NLFFF model in spherical geometry reconstructs the magnetic configurations for several active regions which agrees with observations. During October 11, 2011 observation, there are substantial number of trans-equatorial loops carrying electric current.Comment: 3 Figures, Submitted to Astrophysics and Space Science Journa