A genetic analysis of the introgression process from cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) to wild prickly lettuce (L. serriola L.)

Many plant species can hybridise and produce fertile offspring. Hybridization between cultivated species and their wild relatives has raised concerns with regard to GM crops, as it constitutes a possible route along which the transgene could disperse from crops into related wild species, establish itself in the natural population, and persist under natural conditions. This may cause unintended ecological consequences such as the formation of more invasive weeds and genetic erosion. After crop-wild hybridization, the persistence of the hybrids and of the crop genes (including the transgenes) in later generations depends on their genetic make-up, which consists of specific combinations of wild and crop genomic segments, and on the environmental conditions. Therefore, knowledge on the dynamics of crop-wild hybridization and introgression using conventional crop varieties is needed as it constitutes the baseline for putting into perspective the effects of transgene introgression under natural conditions. This study focused on understanding the genetic process of hybridization and introgression from cultivated to wild relative species using cultivated lettuce (Lactuca sativa L.) and its closest wild relative, prickly lettuce (L. serriola L.) as a crop-wild complex model. Natural populations of prickly lettuce in Europe were tested for the occurrence of crop-wild hybrids using Bayesian-based programmes (Structure, InStruct and NewHybrids) which returned a crop-wild hybrid occurrence of 7%. However, the geographical location of the hybrids led to the conclusion that crop-wild hybridization is not the cause of the recent northward spread of L. serriola in Europe. To test for the importance of the crop genomic segments to the performance of lettuce crop-wild hybrids, three hybrid generations were created (F2 as a selfing generation, and BC1 and BC2, backcrossed to the wild genotype to mimick the introgression process) by crossing L. sativa (cv. Dynamite) with L. serriola collected from Eys (the Netherlands). The three populations were genotyped with Single Nucleotide Polymorphism markers for genetic analysis. Because of the importance of the abiotic stresses as selection factors under natural conditions and the prospective of generating GM crop varieties with enhanced abiotic stress tolerance, the three populations were evaluated for vigour at the rosette stage under greenhouse conditions of non-stress, drought, salinity and nutrient deficiency. The BC1 population was also evaluated under field conditions at two locations (Wageningen and Sijbekarspel, the Netherlands) for hybrid germination, vigour, survival and reproduction. Based on the location and allelic effect of the QTLs for germination, vigour, survival and reproductive traits in the current lettuce crop-wild cross, genomic regions were suggested where transgenes could be or could not be located in order to mitigate their persistence in crop-wild hybrids through genetic hitchhiking and background selection. </p

Contribution of Community Based Organizations in the conservation of Volcanoes National Park. “Case study of SACOLA in Nyange and Kinigi Sectors, Musanze District, Rwanda.â€

The Community Based Organizations play an important role in the conservation of protected areas. However, they are still at the early stage in Rwanda and require scientific researches to assess their contribution towards National parks conservation. This study was conducted through four cooperatives (Turate ubuhinzi, Ingenzi Kinigi, ANICO, and Muhisimbi) with the sample size of 72 respondents. The data was collected using questionnaires for four months (from July to October 2011) and analyzed using statistical package for social sciences (SPSS), version 16.0. The study was aimed at assessing the contribution of community based organizations to the conservation of Volcanoes National Park, focusing on SACOLA activities in Nyange and Kinigi Sectors, Musanze District. The results indicated that people in the study area conduct many activities but crop production is conducted at 100%. Concerning the activities of SACOLA, the results show that 81.9% of population have already benefited from employment (buffalo wall construction and maintenance, guides in community tourism, porters, etc.). The output from Wilcoxon&nbsp;Signed&nbsp;Ranks&nbsp;Test showed that 55% have decreased their frequencies to go into the park. The same test shows that (11%) respondents have increased their frequencies to enter the park. The study showed also that 33% did not change their attitude towards the use of VNP resources. Referring to the statistical analysis at (p=.000), there is a significance statistical difference between the frequency of going into the park before and after SACOLA activities. There was also an association (P=0.026, Pearson Chi-Square) between satisfaction with SACOLA activities and the probability of going into the park.&nbsp; From these results, the population is that they are beneficiaries of SACOLA at 100% and they are informed about its activities, and 65.3% recognized to be satisfied at a very high level, while 19.4% of respondents mentioned not to be satisfied. Finally, the results show an improvement in conserving Volcanoes National Park since the creation of SACOLA in 2004, and conclude that the contribution of Community Based Organizations is positive and recommend that more effort is needed to maximize the community involvement and also recommend further researches in the same field.E

Effects of wetland conversion to farming on water quality and sediment and nutrient retention in a tropical catchment

The study used a combination of landscape-scale synoptic surveys (catchment, reaches) and mesocosm surveys (experimental plots) to assess the impacts of conversion of natural valley-bottom wetlands to farming land on the water quality and retention of sediment and nutrients. The results showed that temperature, pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved oxygen concentration decreased, and total suspended solids (TSS) increased with storm water increase. Nitrogen (TN) and phosphorus (TP) accumulated in the catchment during the dry season and washed into the water courses during the early stages of the higher flows, with subsequent lower concentrations at the end of the rains due to dilution. Large proportions of the annual loads of TSS, TP and TN (93%, 60% and 67%, respectively) were transported during rainfall events that occurred in 115 days. Fishponds acted as temporal traps of TSS, TN and TP at the early stages of farming, and were a source of and TN and TP at the end of the farming period, in contrast to rice farming that generated sediments and nutrients early in the farming period and trapped them at the end of the farming season. Wetlands mostly acted as sinks but sometimes as a source of sediment and nutrients.</p

Met and unmet palliative care needs of people living with HIV/AIDS in Rwanda

The rising number of people living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) worldwide has made health care professionals and policy makers search for accessible health care that will meet the needs of people who are suffering from the disease and enhance their quality of life (QoL).This study investigated met and unmet palliative care needs of PLWHA in selected areas in Rwanda.The study sample included 306 participants: PLWHA, health care professionals and coordinators of HIV/AIDS units. Quantitative and qualitative methodologies were used.The data were analysed separately and then triangulated. In the findings, over 50% of PLWHA had symptoms related to HIV/AIDS most of the time, with the most common symptom being pain. Participation in activities of daily living was significantly associated with the health status of PLWHA (

Lokale participatie in het bos- en natuurbeheer in de gemeente Ede

Resultaten van een onderzoek onder de inwoners van Ede naar de behoefte aan participatie in het bosbeheer en naar de frequentie van bosbezoek, en een vergelijking met de participatiegedachten die leven bij enkele grote bos- en natuurbeheerders in de gemeente Ede. Op grond van het bosbezoek in relatie tot de participatiebehoeften zijn vier verschillende participatiegroepen onderscheiden , die niet alleen verschillen in sociaal-economisch opzicht maar ook in hun visie op de gewenste toekomst van het landelijk gebied (natuur- en landschapsontwikkeling, biologisch-organische plattelandsontwikkeling of economische ontwikkeling). De ideeën van de boseigenaren over participatie gaan minder ver (consultatie) dan de wensen van de gebruikers (meebeslissen

Perceptions of students and nurse educators about teaching and learning in the clinical skills laboratory in Kigali health institute/ Rwanda : an exploratory-descriptive study.

Thesis (M.A.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.In the past, clinical skills were wholly performed at bedside in which patients were used as teaching aids. The profound change in professional education and health care systems had made this teaching method less effective. Therefore clinical skills laboratory (CSL) is widely adopted as a strategy to support student development of clinical skills. However, there is little empirical evidence about perceptions of students and nurse educators engaged in day to day learning and teaching in the CSLs. This study was therefore aimed at exploring the perceptions of students and nurse educators about teaching and learning in the clinical laboratory in Kigali Health Institute in Rwanda. This study was a quantitative descriptive exploratory design. Data were collected trough the use of questionnaires. Students, nurse educators were asked to rate their views on a 5 points Likert scale about antecedents, teaching and learning strategies used in the CSL, teaching and learning process, benefits of the teaching and learning in the CSL and limitations. Three open ended questions were asked to nurse educators about the benefits of teaching and learning in the CSL, limitations and their recommendations for effective use of the CSL. A document review was done to complete data. The total number of participants who returned questionnaires in this study was 214 students and 17 nurse educators. The results of this study revealed that students and nurse educators view the teaching and learning valuable, the location of the CSC was important factor in students teaching and learning, resources were available and the CSL administration ensured smooth running of the CSL. However there was a lack of enough staff for effective teaching and learning in the CSL. The findings revealed that innovative teaching and learning strategies (demonstration, peer learning, small group, reflective learning and self directed learning) were used in the CSL. The CSL was accessed through booking and time tabled sessions and students support from nurse educators was ensured. The CSL was seen by both students and nurse educators as a learning environment which supports the linking of theory and practice, ensure students practicing skills, offer to student a safe environment to learn. However there was a gap in teaching and learning communication skills. There was limitation for teaching and learning as it is costly in staffing resources and maintenance, not clearly stated in the curriculum and KHI academic policy, time consuming for nurse educators and requires expertise from nurse educators to cope with students needs. The findings espouse many previous study findings in nursing education domain. The results reflected that the location or accessibility of the CSL, as well as the availability of material and human resources, having a CSL coordinators is critical to ensure effecting teaching and learning in the CSL, the teaching and learning process favour innovative teaching strategies, other researches in the area revealed benefits and limitation of the CSL

Modeling and parameters estimation of a Spatial Predator-Prey distribution

Predator prey interactions are important in ecology and most of time in the analysis, the two antagonists are assumed to be in a closed system. The aim of this study is to model the unclosed predator-prey system. The model is built and simulated data are computed by adding noise on deterministic solution. Therefore, model parameters are estimated using least square method. We compute the two critical points and the stability analysis is carried out and results show that the population is stable at one critical point and unstable at (0,0). The model fits the synthetic data with coefficient of determination R2 = 0.9693 equivalent to 96.93%. Using the residual analysis to test the validity of the model, it is shown that there is no pattern between residuals. To strengthen the validity of the model, the Markov Chain Monte Carlo algorithms are used as an alternative method in parameters estimation. Diagnostics prove the chains’ convergence which is the sign of an accurate model. As conclusion, the model is accurate and it can be applied to real data.Keywords: predator-prey, spatial distribution, parameters, Metropolis-Hastings algorithm, model diagnostic, stability analysi

Internal audit effectiveness in public sector organisations: a Rwandan multiple case study

This study examines internal audit effectiveness in Rwandan public-sector organizations using stakeholders&rsquo; view of the internal audit function. The study highlights the significance of institutional influence on internal audit practices, thereby suggesting the need to take a broader perspective than the commonly used organization-centric view in evaluating public-sector internal audit

Développement d'outils bio-informatique pour l'étude de la transcription cryptique

Les expériences de séquençage à haut débit ont permis de démontrer que la transcription ne se limite pas aux régions codantes et qu’une grande partie du génome est transcrite en ARN non-codants (ARNnc). Parmi eux, les transcrits cryptiques sont initiés à l’intérieur des régions codantes. Des études faites chez la levure Saccharomyces cerevisiae, ont pu identifier plusieurs facteurs qui répriment la transcription cryptique. Un de ces facteurs est Spt6, une chaperonne d’histones requise pour le maintien d’un bon niveau de nucléosomes le long des gènes transcrits. Lorsque Spt6 est muté, on observe une déplétion des nucléosomes conduisant à l’activation des promoteurs cryptiques. Cependant, le mécanisme par lequel ces transcrits cryptiques sont régulés n’est pas encore clair. Dans ce mémoire, nous présentons un travail dans lequel nous avons développé une méthode probabiliste dans le but de caractériser les transcrits cryptiques à partir de données de RNA-Seq. Cette méthode est basée sur une cumulation des données et permet de tenir compte des variations dans l’expression et dans la longueur des gènes, grâce à une étape de randomisation des données. Les résultats démontrent que notre méthode est au moins aussi efficace que les méthodes précédemment décrites dans la littérature et offre un bon compromis entre le taux de faux positifs et de faux négatifs. Enfin, le plus important est que cette méthode permet de prédire les régions génomiques où les transcrits cryptiques sont initiés. Nous avons mis en évidence la présence de transcrits cryptiques sur les brins sens et antisens par rapport au gène. Nous avons également montré que les promoteurs cryptiques sens et antisens sont enrichis en motif TATA et que les transcrits cryptiques sont polyadénylés, ce qui suggère qu’ils peuvent être régulés par les mêmes mécanismes qui régulent les gènes. Alors que les transcrits cryptiques sur le brin sens se terminent à la même position que les gènes dont ils sont issus, les transcrits cryptiques sur le brin antisens terminent préférablement aux extrémités 3’ des gènes situés en amont. Nous proposons donc que les terminateurs chez S. cerevisiae ont évolué pour terminer la transcription de manière bidirectionnelle afin d’empêcher une transcription aberrante qui pourrait envahir les gènes voisins.High throughout sequencing experiments have shown that transcription in not limited to coding regions and that most of the genome is transcribed into non-coding RNA (ncRNA). Among them, cryptic transcripts are aberrantly initiated from within the coding regions. Several studies in Saccharomyces cerevisiae have identified many factors that suppress cryptic transcription. One such factor is Spt6, a histone chaperone required for maintaining appropriate nucleosome levels on transcribed genes. In Spt6 mutant cells, nucleosomes are depleted, leading to activation of cryptic promoters. However, the mechanism by which these cryptic transcripts are regulated remains unclear. In this thesis, we present the development of a probabilistic method for the characterization of cryptic transcripts from RNA-Seq data. The method is used to characterize cryptic transcription in spt6-1004 cells. The method is based on a cumulative distribution function, thus taking into account variations in gene expression and gene length thanks to a data randomization step. Results show that our method is at least as good as previously published methods and provides a good compromise between false positives and false negatives. Importantly, this method allows for the prediction of genomic regions where cryptic transcripts are initiated. We have demonstrated the presence of cryptic transcripts running on the sense and antisense strands relative to genes. We also showed that, both sense and antisense cryptic promoters are enriched for TATA-like sequences and that cryptic transcripts are polyadenylated, suggesting that they may be regulated by the same mechanism that occurs on genes. While the cryptic transcripts on the sense strand terminate at the same position as the genes from which they are derived, cryptic transcripts on the antisense strand preferentially terminate at the 3’-end of upstream genes. We therefore propose that S. cerevisiae terminators have evolved to terminate transcription bidirectionally in order to prevent an aberrant transcription that could invade neighboring genes

M-health tools utilization of tele-home healthcare services for diabetes management among youth in Kigali City

Background: Self-care of diabetes for youth requires a daily self-active participation, which is complex and demanding. Effective patient engagement through technology tools may bring about compliance to healthcare 24 hours/ 7 days which minimises the diabetes complications and clinicians overload.Objective: This study aimed to assess M-health tools utilization of tele-home healthcare services for diabetes management among youth in Kigali City.Method: This cross-sectional study was conducted among the Rwanda Diabetes Association members. The study populations were youth diabetic patients residing in Kigali city. With simple random sampling, self-administered questionnaire was used to collect data for 122 participants. The raw data was entered into the Statistical Package for the Social Sciences (SPSS: 20) to perform descriptive and inferential statistics in data analysis.Results: The mobile telephone is highly used in healthcare by participants (≥80%) with its functions such as Short Message Services, and the voice call is more useful (≥87%). Furthermore, occupation and education level of diabetic youth do not have significance influence (p=0.825 and p=0.751) over the use of a mobile telephone in healthcare. Radios and televisions are mostly used in healthcare education (93.5%).Conclusions: Tele-home healthcare is practised in Rwanda but dominated by store and forward system. Mobile telephone, radio and television are mostly used whereas emails and social media are slowly used.Keywords: m-health, Tele-home, Healthcare service, and yout