Improving propagation success of D. Melanoxylon (African blackwood) in Tanzania (II): Rooting ability of stem and root cuttings of Dalbergia melanoxylon (African blackwood) in response to rooting media sterilization in Tanzania

Dalbergia melanoxylon is a plant with valuable wood in the world and therefore is over harvested for timber while its regeneration is very low. The propagation efforts by techniques such as tissue culture or mycorrhiza have not been investigated which instigated conduction of this study. Soil and cuttings were collected from Kilwa, Kilosa and Babati for rooting test, potting media and soil characterization. The results showed that fresh soil improved rooting characteristics while sterilized soil did not due to the presence of mycorrhiza in fresh soil compared to none in sterilized media. The overall rooting in fresh soil in non-mist propagator was higher, 100% for softwood and 37% for root cuttings while none rooted in the open nursery. The results revealed that there was no significant correlation between rooting and collection sites while cutting type and the soil type used significantly influenced rooting. Softwood cuttings that weighed less than 15g significantly increased rooting at (P < 0.05) compared to cuttings that weighed above 15g. It was recommended to propagate Dalbergia melanoxylon using softwood cuttings placed in a non-mist propagator and using fresh soil infected with mycorrhiza.Key words: Dalbergia melanoxylon, non-mist propagator, rooting

Improving propagation success of Dalbegia melanoxylon (African blackwood) in Tanzania (I): Characterization of mycorrhizal associated with D. melanoxylon (African blackwood) in Tanzania

Dalbergia melanoxylon is a plant with valuable wood in the world and therefore is over harvested for timber while its regeneration is very low. The propagation efforts by techniques such as tissue culture or mycorrhiza have not been investigated which instigated conduction of this study. Soil and cuttings were collected from Kilwa, Kilosa and Babati for rooting test, potting media and soil characterization. The results showed that fresh soil improved rooting characteristics while sterilized soil did not due to the presence of mycorrhiza in fresh soil compared to none in sterilized media. The overall rooting in fresh soil in non-mist propagator was higher, 100% for softwood and 37% for root cuttings while none rooted in the open nursery. The results revealed that there was no significant correlation between rooting and collection sites while cutting type and the soil type used significantly influenced rooting. Softwood cuttings that weighed less than 15g significantly increased rooting at (P < 0.05) compared to cuttings that weighed above 15g. It was recommended to propagate Dalbergia melanoxylon using softwood cuttings placed in a non-mist propagator and using fresh soil infected with mycorrhiza.Key words: Dalbergia melanoxylon, non-mist propagator, rooting

Atypical audiovisual speech integration in infants at risk for autism

The language difficulties often seen in individuals with autism might stem from an inability to integrate audiovisual information, a skill important for language development. We investigated whether 9-month-old siblings of older children with autism, who are at an increased risk of developing autism, are able to integrate audiovisual speech cues. We used an eye-tracker to record where infants looked when shown a screen displaying two faces of the same model, where one face is articulating/ba/and the other/ga/, with one face congruent with the syllable sound being presented simultaneously, the other face incongruent. This method was successful in showing that infants at low risk can integrate audiovisual speech: they looked for the same amount of time at the mouths in both the fusible visual/ga/− audio/ba/and the congruent visual/ba/− audio/ba/displays, indicating that the auditory and visual streams fuse into a McGurk-type of syllabic percept in the incongruent condition. It also showed that low-risk infants could perceive a mismatch between auditory and visual cues: they looked longer at the mouth in the mismatched, non-fusible visual/ba/− audio/ga/display compared with the congruent visual/ga/− audio/ga/display, demonstrating that they perceive an uncommon, and therefore interesting, speech-like percept when looking at the incongruent mouth (repeated ANOVA: displays x fusion/mismatch conditions interaction: F(1,16) = 17.153, p = 0.001). The looking behaviour of high-risk infants did not differ according to the type of display, suggesting difficulties in matching auditory and visual information (repeated ANOVA, displays x conditions interaction: F(1,25) = 0.09, p = 0.767), in contrast to low-risk infants (repeated ANOVA: displays x conditions x low/high-risk groups interaction: F(1,41) = 4.466, p = 0.041). In some cases this reduced ability might lead to the poor communication skills characteristic of autism

Myocardial infarction enhances progressive renal damage in an experimental model for cardio-renal interaction

Studied were the effects of myocardial infarction (MI) on mild renal function loss in unilateral nephrectomized (UnX) rats. UnX was performed, followed after 1 wk by a variable MI (UnX + MI; n = 24). Rats with only UnX (n = 15) or MI (n = 9) and double sham animals (CON, n = 15) served as controls. Renal outcome was measured by proteinuria and plasma creatinine. Focal glomerulosclerosis (FGS) incidence was evaluated by renal histology. Cardiac function and systolic BP were measured. A division into small and large infarcts after UnX was made a priori, resulting in two groups, one with a mild MI (20%; n = 9). Mild proteinuria up to 55.5 mg/d was observed in the UnX + mild MI group, whereas proteinuria rose significantly higher to 124.5 mg/d in the UnX + moderate MI group. Incidence of FGS was significantly increased in both UnX + MI groups compared with all other groups. The average MI size was 18%, 17%, and 25% in the MI, UnX + mild MI, and UnX + moderate MI group, respectively. LVP in both UnX + MI groups was correlated with proteinuria, indicative of a cardio-renal interaction. Clinically, these data imply that more patients are at risk for cardiovascular events and that after such an event, their chance of more renal function loss increases. Finding the underlying mechanism will enable improved protection for both kidneys and heart