Diversity and abundance of arbuscular mycorrhizal fungi associated with acacia trees from different land use sysetms in Ethiopia

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Rickets and the knowledge and practice of exposure to sunlight in Jimma town

Abstract: Six hundred and twenty eight randomly selected children between six and 59 months of age were examined for signs of rickets in Jimma town. Twenty five (4%) children were found to have rickets. The highest rate (11%) occurred in infants. The male to female ratio was 1.27:1. Infants were more likely to have rickets than older children. Rickets was also significantly associated with increased frequency of respiratory infections. There were no significant differences between rachitic and non-rachitic children when they were compared in terms of the maternal or caregivers knowledge and the practice of exposure to sunlight. The possible explanations for such a paradoxical findings are discussed. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1998;12(1):29-32

Antifertility effect of Jatropha Curcas L. seed in guinea pigs

Abstract: A crude seed extract of Jatropha curcas was studied for its claimed anti-fertility effect. The extract was orally administered to matured female albino guinea pigs. It was found to reduce the number of births. This was further confirmed by the anti-implantation and abortifacient effects of the extract observed in this study. The extract was also found to prolong the oestrus cycle of guinea pigs. The diestrus phase was significantly increased, while the oestrus phase was shortened. The weight of the uterus was shown to reduce in animals treated with the extract, while that of the ovaries did not show a significant change from that of the control. These observations suggest that the seeds of the plant possess antifertility activity.[Ethiop. J. Health Dev. 1997;11(2):145-148

Ethyl 5-oxo-2,3-diphenyl­cyclo­pentane-1-carboxyl­ate

The title compound, C20H20O3, was prepared by an acyl­oin-type condensation reaction in the presence of sodium sand and dry ether using ethyl cinnamate as the starting material. The C—O bond lengths for the carbonyl groups are 1.191 (2) and 1.198 (2) Å, while the C—O bond in the ester group is 1.335 (2) Å. The C—C bond lengths in the phenyl groups average 1.375 Å, while the C—C bonds in the cyclo­penta­none ring average 1.525 Å, indicating single C—C bonds in the latter

Agro-Morphological Traits Diversity in Tef [Eragrostis Tef (Zucc.) Trotter] Genotypes from Various Sources

አህፅሮትጤፍ መገኛው በኢትዮጵያ የሆነ ፈርጀ-ብዙ የአመራረት፣ የአመጋገብና የጤና ጠቀሜታ ያለው ሰብል ቢሆንም ምርታማነቱ በተለያዩ ማነቆዎች የተነሳ በሰፊው ከሚመረቱት የብርዕና አገዳ ሰብሎች አንፃር እጅግ ዝቅ ያለ ነው፡፡ ያለንን የጤፍ ዝርያ ብዝሃነት ማጥናት ግን እነኚህን የምርት ማነቆዎች ተቋቁመው የተሻለ ምርት ሊሰጡ የሚችሉ ዝርያዎችን ለመለየት ዕድል ይፈጠራል፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ዓላማ ከተለያዩ ምንጮች የተገኙ 188 የጤፍ ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን በሆለታና በደብረ ዘይት ምርምር ማዕከል ውስጥ በኮምፕሊቲሊ ረንዶማይዝድ ብሎክ ዲዛይን ዘርቶ በመገምገም ያላቸውን የዝርያ ተለያይነት፣ ብዝሃነትና ስብጥር ምን እንደሚመስል ለማወቅ ነበር፡፡ በዚህ ጥናት መረጃዎችን ለመተንተን የቫሪያንስ፣ የክላስተር እና የፕሪንሲፓል ኮምፖንነት ትንተና ዘዴዎች ሥራ ላይ ውለዋል፡፡ የዚህ ትንተና ውጤት በስብስቦቹ መካከል ከፍተኛ የሆነ የመድረሻ ጊዜ (ፌኖሎጂ)፣ የምርታማነትና የምርት ኮምፖነንት፣ የግሽበት እና የሞርፎሎጂ ባህሪያት ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማሉ፡፡ በተጨማሪ የክላስተር ትንተና በጥናቱ ውስጥ የተካተቱ 188 ብዝሃ-ዘሮችን ወደ ስድስት ቦታ ሲመድባቸው፤ 14 ፖፑለሽኖች ደግሞ ወደ አራት ምድብ ከፍሏቿዋል፡፡ እነዚህ ቡድኖች ግን በማህበረሰብ ከቦታ ቦታ ዝውውር የተነሳ የግድ የዘረ-መል ዝምድናንና የአካባቢ ቅርበትን መሰረት ያደረጉ ብቻ ሆነው አልተገኙም፡፡ የዚህ ጥናት ውጤት በአጠቃላይ ወደፊት በጤፍ ምርምር ማሻሻያ ውስጥ ልንጠቀምባቸው የምንችላቸው የብዝሃ-ዘር ተለያይነት እንዳለ ይጠቁማል፡፡ AbstractA total of 188 tef genotypes including 144 pure lines selected from germplasm collection, 35 released varieties, eight breeding lines and their parents were evaluated in three replications at two locations in Ethiopia. The objectives were to assess the magnitude and pattern of phenotypic diversity in tef genotypes obtained from various sources in Ethiopia. Combined analysis of variance revealed highly significant (P < 0.01) differences among genotypes, locations and genotype by environment interaction for all studied traits. Thus, wide ranges of variations were observed for days to heading (40.3 to 60.8 days) and maturity (101 to 122.5 days), plant height (60.7 to 107.1 cm), panicle length (19.5 to 39.5 cm), number of fertile tillers per plant (2.1 to 5.5) and spikelet per panicle (156.7 to 441.7), 1000 kernel weights (20.7 to 33.0 mg), grain yield (3.7 to 7.3 t/ha) and lodging index (44.7 to 79.3%). Cluster analysis revealed six distinct clusters of 188 individual tef genotypes while the 14 populations were grouped into four distinct clusters. In general, existence of sufficient level of genetic variation was revealed for future use in tef improvement

Laser Spectroscopy for Atmospheric and Environmental Sensing

Lasers and laser spectroscopic techniques have been extensively used in several applications since their advent, and the subject has been reviewed extensively in the last several decades. This review is focused on three areas of laser spectroscopic applications in atmospheric and environmental sensing; namely laser-induced fluorescence (LIF), cavity ring-down spectroscopy (CRDS), and photoluminescence (PL) techniques used in the detection of solids, liquids, aerosols, trace gases, and volatile organic compounds (VOCs)