Symbiotic and phenotypic diversity of Rhizobium leguminosarum bv. viciae from Northern Gondar, Ethiopia

Rhizobia that nodulate cool season legumes are widely spread in the Mediterranean and highland agro ecosystems. Faba bean is one of these important crops that represent the major protein source of human nutrition, cash crop for farmers and component of the farming systems. This study is aimed at identifying rhizobia isolates capable of guarantying efficient nitrogen derived from biological nitrogen fixation. Due to this, a total of twenty-one isolates of Rhizobium were isolated from as many sampling sites of northern Gondar using plant infection method. The isolates were characterized morphologically and physiologically and tested on sand and soils to evaluate their symbiotic effectiveness. Studies on symbiotic effectiveness on sand culture indicated that, the strains showed shoot dry matter ranging from 0.4 (AUFR127) to 2.3 g/plant (AUFR124), with negative control (0.2 g/plant) and positive control of 2.4 g/plant. Eighty percent of the isolates were found to be effective and have very effective nitrogen fixers based on their shoot dry matter accumulation (50 to 100%) in relation to the nitrogen fertilized control plants. Culturally, almost all of them displayed large colonies with diameters of 2 to 4.5 mm, generation time of 1.9 to 4.3 h and showed characteristics of fast growing rhizobia. With a few exceptions, isolates grew at temperatures of 15 and 35°C and were found to be sensitive to salt, except AUFR118 that grew up to 5% NaCl. The isolates also grew on a wide range of moderate acidity and alkalinity (pH5.5-9).With the exception of gluconate, citrate and tartarate, almost all isolates grew on all carbohydrates. The pattern of intrinsic antibiotic resistance showed that, almost all of them were tolerant to chloramphenicol, nalidixic acid and erythromycin. Isolates AUFR118, AUFR128 and AUFR132 were found to be resistant to almost all tested antibiotics. These isolates were also included in the effective and very effective symbiotic groups. The trial of the 5 selected effective isolates on two soil types showed that, they performed well without any significant difference on their respective soils. Interestingly, the isolates were found to nodulate the host on the highly acidic soil (pH 4.8) that failed to be nodulated by the indigenous rhizobia. Generally, the present work shows the physiological and symbiotic diversity of the isolates in the traditional agricultural areas of the region and the potential of these rhizobia to be used as effective commercial inoculants in areas where the indigenous rhizobia fail to do so. This will help to reclaim acidic soils for faba bean production.Key words: Faba bean, Northern Gondar, Rhizobium, phenotypic diversity, symbiotic effectivenes

Effect of drip lateral spacing and irrigation regime on yield, irrigation water use efficiency and net return of tomato and onion production in the Kobo Girrana valley of Ethiopia

The irrigation system in Kobo-Girrana valley is extensively developed into modern drip irrigation using ground water sources. Tomato and onion are among the major vegetables grown under drip irrigation. However, the drip lateral spacing is fixed to 1m for all irrigated crops. This lead to low crop water productivity, loss of land, less net return income and un-optimized irrigation production. An on-station experiment was conducted to determine the effect of drip line spacing and irrigation regime on yield, irrigation water use efficiency and net return income. The experiment was carried out for two consecutive irrigation seasons in 2010/11 and 2011/12 at Kobo irrigation research station. The experimental treatments were: two lateral spacing of single row and double row corresponding to each test crop and three irrigation regime (Kp = 0.8, 1.0 and 1.2). The results revealed that an interaction effect between the lateral spacing and irrigation regime was obtained in marketable yield and water productivity of test crops. Application of 0.8 Kp with 2m lateral spacing and 1.2 Kp with 1m lateral spacing provided relatively higher marketable yield of tomato and onion, respectively. Similarly, high water productivity was recorded with same irrigation depths and spacing regimes as to the yield. This result generally revealed that one lateral design for each two plant rows gave high net income than the one lateral design for each one plant row for drip irrigated fresh marketable yield of onion and tomato. An optimized production and irrigation efficiency can be attained by applying irrigation depth adjusted by the given pan coefficients and drip lateral spacing in Kobo areas

Drug use evaluation of ceftriaxone in medical ward of Dessie Referral Hospital, North East Ethiopia

Background: Assessment of antimicrobial use can be performed by evaluating their use. Drug use evaluation is a performance improvement method that focuses on evaluation and improvement of drug use processes to achieve optimal patient outcomes. The objective of this study was to evaluate the rational use of ceftriaxone in Medical ward of Dessie referral Hospital, Dessie-Ethiopia.Methods: Retrospective systematic study was used to assess rational use of ceftriaxone. The study was conducted by reviewing medication records of 316 patients, who received ceftriaxone during hospitalization at Medical ward of Dessie referral Hospital from December 30, 2011 to January, 2013. A systematic sampling method was used to select inpatient prescriptions in this ward with ceftriaxone and patient cards were located based on the medical record number on the prescription papers. Data was collected by using structured format and evaluated against WHO criteria for drug use evaluation as per standard treatment guideline of Ethiopia.Results: Most patients were dosed as 2 g/day (79.4%). The duration of therapy was found to be high in the range 2-7 days (51.69%). Ceftriaxone was mainly used as pneumonia treatment (38.8%). Maintenance fluids were the most commonly co-administered medications with a frequency of 62.16%. The use of ceftriaxone was appropriate only in 170 cases (55.8%) for the justification of use. Most of inappropriate uses were seen in terms of duration during treatment of pneumonia followed by frequency for the treatment of meningitis. Consistency of prescriber to the national standard treatment guideline was found to be low.Conclusions: To improve rational use and prevent the development of resistance; prescribers should adhere to the national standard treatment guideline. Intensification of short term trainings and antibiotic control systems are some of the possible solutions the hospital has to do.ceftriaxone therapy does not meet the current STG of Ethiopia

Human Prion Diseases in the United States

BACKGROUND: Prion diseases are a family of rare, progressive, neurodegenerative disorders that affect humans and animals. The most common form of human prion disease, Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease (CJD), occurs worldwide. Variant CJD (vCJD), a recently emerged human prion disease, is a zoonotic foodborne disorder that occurs almost exclusively in countries with outbreaks of bovine spongiform encephalopathy. This study describes the occurrence and epidemiology of CJD and vCJD in the United States. METHODOLOGY/PRINCIPAL FINDINGS: Analysis of CJD and vCJD deaths using death certificates of US residents for 1979-2006, and those identified through other surveillance mechanisms during 1996-2008. Since CJD is invariably fatal and illness duration is usually less than one year, the CJD incidence is estimated as the death rate. During 1979 through 2006, an estimated 6,917 deaths with CJD as a cause of death were reported in the United States, an annual average of approximately 247 deaths (range 172-304 deaths). The average annual age-adjusted incidence for CJD was 0.97 per 1,000,000 persons. Most (61.8%) of the CJD deaths occurred among persons >or=65 years of age for an average annual incidence of 4.8 per 1,000,000 persons in this population. Most deaths were among whites (94.6%); the age-adjusted incidence for whites was 2.7 times higher than that for blacks (1.04 and 0.40, respectively). Three patients who died since 2004 were reported with vCJD; epidemiologic evidence indicated that their infection was acquired outside of the United States. CONCLUSION/SIGNIFICANCE: Surveillance continues to show an annual CJD incidence rate of about 1 case per 1,000,000 persons and marked differences in CJD rates by age and race in the United States. Ongoing surveillance remains important for monitoring the stability of the CJD incidence rates, and detecting occurrences of vCJD and possibly other novel prion diseases in the United States

High Prevalence of Methanobrevibacter smithii and Methanosphaera stadtmanae Detected in the Human Gut Using an Improved DNA Detection Protocol

Background: The low and variable prevalence of Methanobrevibacter smithii and Methanosphaera stadtmanae DNA in human stool contrasts with the paramount role of these methanogenic Archaea in digestion processes. We hypothesized that this contrast is a consequence of the inefficiencies of current protocols for archaeon DNA extraction. We developed a new protocol for the extraction and PCR-based detection of M. smithii and M. stadtmanae DNA in human stool. Methodology/Principal Findings: Stool specimens collected from 700 individuals were filtered, mechanically lysed twice, and incubated overnight with proteinase K prior to DNA extraction using a commercial DNA extraction kit. Total DNA was used as a template for quantitative real-time PCR targeting M. smithii and M. stadtmanae 16S rRNA and rpoB genes. Amplification of 16S rRNA and rpoB yielded positive detection of M. smithii in 95.7% and M. stadtmanae in 29.4% of specimens. Sequencing of 16S rRNA gene PCR products from 30 randomly selected specimens ( 15 for M. smithii and 15 for M. stadtmanae) yielded a sequence similarity of 99-100% using the reference M. smithii ATCC 35061 and M. stadtmanae DSM 3091 sequences. Conclusions/Significance: In contrast to previous reports, these data indicate a high prevalence of the methanogens M. smithii and M. stadtmanae in the human gut, with the former being an almost ubiquitous inhabitant of the intestinal microbiome

Electroencephalographic Findings, Antiepileptic Drugs and Risk Factors of 433 Individuals Referred to a Tertiary Care Hospital in Ethiopia

Background: Little is known about the characteristics of electroencephalogram (EEG) findings in epileptic patients in Ethiopia. The objective of this  study was to characterize the EEG patterns, indications, antiepileptic drugs (AEDs), and epilepsy risk factors.Methods: A retrospective observational review of EEG test records of 433 patients referred to our electrophysiology unit between July 01, 2020 and  December 31, 2021.Results: The age distribution in the study participants was right skewed unipolar age distribution for both sexes and the mean age of 33.8 (SD=15.7) years. Male accounted for 51.7%. Generalized tonic clonic seizure was the most common seizure type. The commonest indication for EEG was  abnormal body movement with loss of consciousness (35.2%). Abnormal EEG findings were observed in 55.2%; more than half of them were Interictal epileptiform discharges, followed by focal/or generalized slowing. Phenobarbitone was the commonest AEDs. A quarter (20.1%) of the  patients were getting a combination of two AEDs and 5.2% were on 3 different AEDs. Individuals taking the older AEDs and those on 2 or more AEDs  tended to have abnormal EEG findings. A cerebrovascular disorder (27.4%) is the prevalent risk factor identified followed by brain tumor, HIV  infection, and traumatic head injury respectively.Conclusion: High burden of abnormal EEG findings among epileptic patients referred to our unit. The proportion of abnormal EEG patterns was  higher in patients taking older generation AEDs and in those on 2 or more AEDs. Stroke, brain tumor, HIV infection and traumatic head injury were  the commonest identified epilepsy risk factors

Mapping of Mycobacterium tuberculosis Complex Genetic Diversity Profiles in Tanzania and Other African Countries

The aim of this study was to assess and characterize Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTBC) genotypic diversity in Tanzania, as well as in neighbouring East and other several African countries. We used spoligotyping to identify a total of 293 M. tuberculosis clinical isolates (one isolate per patient) collected in the Bunda, Dar es Salaam, Ngorongoro and Serengeti areas in Tanzania. The results were compared with results in the SITVIT2 international database of the Pasteur Institute of Guadeloupe. Genotyping and phylogeographical analyses highlighted the predominance of the CAS, T, EAI, and LAM MTBC lineages in Tanzania. The three most frequent Spoligotype International Types (SITs) were: SIT21/CAS1-Kili (n = 76; 25.94%), SIT59/LAM11-ZWE (n = 22; 7.51%), and SIT126/EAI5 tentatively reclassified as EAI3-TZA (n = 18; 6.14%). Furthermore, three SITs were newly created in this study (SIT4056/EAI5 n = 2, SIT4057/T1 n = 1, and SIT4058/EAI5 n = 1). We noted that the East-African-Indian (EAI) lineage was more predominant in Bunda, the Manu lineage was more common among strains isolated in Ngorongoro, and the Central-Asian (CAS) lineage was more predominant in Dar es Salaam (p-value<0.0001). No statistically significant differences were noted when comparing HIV status of patients vs. major lineages (p-value = 0.103). However, when grouping lineages as Principal Genetic Groups (PGG), we noticed that PGG2/3 group (Haarlem, LAM, S, T, and X) was more associated with HIV-positive patients as compared to PGG1 group (Beijing, CAS, EAI, and Manu) (p-value = 0.03). This study provided mapping of MTBC genetic diversity in Tanzania (containing information on isolates from different cities) and neighbouring East African and other several African countries highlighting differences as regards to MTBC genotypic distribution between Tanzania and other African countries. This work also allowed underlining of spoligotyping patterns tentatively grouped within the newly designated EAI3-TZA lineage (remarkable by absence of spacers 2 and 3, and represented by SIT126) which seems to be specific to Tanzania. However, further genotyping information would be needed to confirm this specificity

Seasonal variation in the nutrient profile of Arthrospira fusiformis biomass harvested from an Ethiopian soda lake, Lake Chitu

The extent of seasonal variation in the nutrient profile of Arthrospira biomass harvested from Lake Chitu was investigated to evaluate the variability of the quality of the product over a period of a year. Protein content varied from 47.9 to 55.7% for wet season biomass samples and from 39.2 to 40.8% for dry season samples. Dry season samples were characterized by relatively higher carbohydrate values (38.0–41.3%). Higher proportion of amino acids and unsaturated fatty acids were recorded for biomass harvested in wet season. Similarly, higher contents of phytonutrients (pigments) were recorded for wet season biomass samples: chlorophyll a (8.2–10.3 mg g−1), phycobiliproteins (104.1–120.7 mg g−1), total carotenoids (3.17–4.31 mg g−1), and β-carotene (1.24–1.61 mg g−1). The contents of Na and K were higher for a dry season biomass whereas other major (Ca, P, Mg) and trace (Mn, Fe, Cu, Zn, Se) minerals were found relatively in higher quantities in a wet season biomass. The nutritional composition of Arthrospira from Lake Chitu was found to be relatively comparable to that found in commercial Arthrospira products in the market. The significance of the findings is discussed in relation to potential sustainable production of Arthrospira biomass from this lake