Streamlining policies for enhancing rice production in Africa: Past experiences, lessons learnt and the way forward

There is a consensus that African development confronts several challenges, which include alleviating widespread poverty and unemployment, providing basic foods for the people, containing the HIV/AIDS pandemic, eliminating gender disparities and ensuring sustainable management of natural resources. In order to overcome theproblem of food supply, investment policies have focused on certain commodities. Rice (Oryza sativa) has been at the centre of particular policy attention in West Africa since the 1970s, following the formation of West Africa Rice Development Association (WARDA). Even though substantial investments and policy actions have been undertaken, the results belied the efforts made and expectations nursed. Africa today still depends on rice imports at a scale never imagined and domestic rice production programmes have been largely unsuccessful. The question is: What went wrong? Why has Africa been unable to produce enough rice to stem imports? Why did the initial investments in irrigation schemes and programmes fail? Now that attention is on expanding rice cultivation to other parts of Africa, what policy imperatives are essential to ensure sustainable rice production? This paper examines these issues by drawing experiences from several countries across West Africa. The overall objective is to provide appropriate policy framework for the expansion and sustainable production of rice to new areas in Africa. Specifically, the paper examines some of the policies pursued in the past in a number of countries and the reasons for their ineffectiveness. Drawing on the benefits of past experiences, the paper makes proposals forimproved policy environment to support the new initiatives to increase rice output in the continent

Pratiques Biosecuritaires Appliquees En Pisciculture Dans Trois Regions De La Côte D’ivoire

Une enquête a été réalisée sur les pratiques biosécuritaires dans des fermes piscicoles de 3 régions de la Côte d'Ivoire (Régions des lagunes, Agneby et Sud comoé). Le but est de décrire les pratiques réelles des pisciculteurs en matière de biosécurité et de donner une typologie des fermes piscicoles de ces régions. Vingt quatre variables biosécuritaires ont été retenues et la méthode de "boule de neige" a été utilisée. Les travaux ont été réalisés de mars à août 2011. Les mesures de la biosécurité ont été appliquées dans les fermes piscicoles, enquêtées de différentes manières avec de fortes proportions de pratiques non recommandées. Les analyses multivariées (Analyses Factorielles des Correspondances Multiples et la Classification Ascendante Hiérarchique) réalisées ont indiqué deux grandes catégories de ferme piscicole dont chacune se subdivise en deux sous-groupes, avec des groupes composés d'au moins une ferme issue de chacune des 3 régions.Mots clés: Pisciculture, pratiques de biosécurité, Côte d'IvoireAn study was carried out on biosecurity practices in fish farming in the regions of Côte d'Ivoire (Regions of Lagoon, Agneby and Sud comoé). The study aims to describe practices of biosecurity measures and to give a typology of fish farming of these regions according to biosecurity practices applied. Inquiries were carried out in three regions according to the "snowball" method from March to August 2011. Practices of biosecurity measures in fish farming varied from one fish farm to another with a high frequency of bad practices. Multivariate analysis classified shown two great groups of fish farming with two subgroups each. Group was composed of at least one fish farm from each of the 3 regions

Commentary: Anxiety- and Depression-like States Lead to Pronounced Olfactory Deficits and Impaired Adult Neurogenesis in Mice

A commentary on: Anxiety- and Depression-like States Lead to Pronounced Olfactory Deficits and Impaired Adult Neurogenesis in Mice by Siopi, E., Denizet, M., Gabellec, M. M., de Chaumont, F., Olivo-Marin, J. C., Guilloux, J. P., et al. (2016). J. Neurosci. 36, 518–531. doi: 10.1523/JNEUROSCI.2817-15.201

A first order phase transition mechanism underlies protein aggregation in mammalian cells

The formation of misfolded protein aggregates is a hallmark of neurodegenerative diseases. The aggregate formation process exhibits an initial lag phase when precursor clusters spontaneously assemble. However, most experimental assays are blind to this lag phase. We develop a quantitative assay based on super-resolution imaging in fixed cells and light sheet imaging of living cells to study the early steps of aggregation in mammalian cells. We find that even under normal growth conditions mammalian cells have precursor clusters. The cluster size distribution is precisely that expected for a so-called super-saturated system in first order phase transition. This means there exists a nucleation barrier, and a critical size above which clusters grow and mature. Homeostasis is maintained through a Szilard model entailing the preferential clearance of super-critical clusters. We uncover a role for a putative chaperone (RuvBL) in this disassembly of large clusters. The results indicate early aggregates behave like condensates

Le Concept des Nano-robots et leurs applications

La nano-robotique est une discipline scientifique qui devient de plus en plus populaire compte tenu des perspectives qu’elle ouvre à travers beaucoup d’applications. Les champs d’application de la nano-robot sont immense : la technologie des matériaux, le spatial, l'écologie, l'informatique, l'électronique, les communications, la chimie etc. Mais La discipline qui est en train d’être révolutionnée par ces nouvelles applications de la nano-robotique est la médecine et la pharmacie. C’est pourquoi dans cet article, après un survol sur la théorie du nano-monde, le reste du document a été centré sur les applications en médecine. Les dernières avancées remarquables sur l’application des nano-robots en médicine ont été compilées. Leurs avantages, radicalement révolutionnaires, sur le traitement de certaines maladies ont été montrés

Hsp70–Bag3 complex is a hub for proteotoxicity-induced signaling that controls protein aggregation

Protein abnormalities in cells are the cause of major pathologies, and a number of adaptive responses have evolved to relieve the toxicity of misfolded polypeptides. To trigger these responses, cells must detect the buildup of aberrant proteins which often associate with proteasome failure, but the sensing mechanism is poorly understood. Here we demonstrate that this mechanism involves the heat shock protein 70–Bcl-2–associated athanogene 3 (Hsp70–Bag3) complex, which upon proteasome suppression responds to the accumulation of defective ribosomal products, preferentially recognizing the stalled polypeptides. Components of the ribosome quality control system LTN1 and VCP and the ribosome-associated chaperone NAC are necessary for the interaction of these species with the Hsp70–Bag3 complex. This complex regulates important signaling pathways, including the Hippo pathway effectors LATS1/2 and the p38 and JNK stress kinases. Furthermore, under proteotoxic stress Hsp70–Bag3–LATS1/2 signaling regulates protein aggregation. We established that the regulated step was the emergence and growth of abnormal protein oligo-mers containing only a few molecules, indicating that aggregation is regulated at very early stages. The Hsp70–Bag3 complex therefore functions as an important signaling node that senses proteo-toxicity and triggers multiple pathways that control cell physiology, including activation of protein aggregation

Zona planto-pédieux révélateur de l’infection à VIH

Le zona est une dermatose virale qui peut intéresser n’importe quelle partie du corps. La plus part des personnes atteintes d’un zona ont entre 50 à 70 ans. Toutefois son apparition chez le sujet jeune doit fait rechercher une immunodépression à VIH. Nous rapportons un cas atypique de zona révélant l’infection à VIH chez une patiente de 25 ans présentant une éruption vésiculeuse, douloureuse reposant sur un fond érythémateux localisé sur la plante du pied gauche. Le diagnostic du zona a été évoqué grâce aux éléments cliniques et réconforté par le cytodiagnostic et l’histologie. Cette localisation atypique nous a incités à demander une sérologie à VIH qui est revenue positive