Molecular genotyping of sweet potato (Ipomoea batatas L. Lam) accessions using microsatellites

The experiment was conducted to ascertain the level of genetic diversity in sweet potato accessions using microsatellites. Thirty sweet potato accessions obtained from the International Potato Center (CIP), Kumasi, Ghana, Mozambique, and local germplasm of the National Root Crops Research Institute (NRCRI), Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria, as well as sweet potato vines from local farmers' fields in Jos, Plateau State, and Bauchi State, Nigeria, were analyzed for genetic diversity using five microsatellite markers. The results showed that the polymorphic SSR loci revealed diverse relationship among the sweet potato cultivars, which was grouped into four major clusters by unweighted pair group method analysis (UPGMA) method. Cluster analysis showed a Jaccard co-efficient ranging from 0.0 to 3.0 indicating high genetic diversity. The primers detected a total of 18 alleles and the number of alleles per locus was 4 for IBR-19, IBR-286, IBR-297 and 3 for IBR-16 and IBR-242 with an average of 3.67 alleles per locus. The polymorphic information content (PIC) of the markers varied from 0.35 to 0.72 with an average of 0.497. Marker IBR-19 revealed the highest PIC of 0.72, while marker IBR-297 had the lowest PIC of 0.35. Observed heterozygosity ranged from 0.32 to 0.89 with a mean of 0.675 across the five SSR loci. The results from the Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) which was used to quantify the diversity level and genetic relationship among the thirty sweet potato accessions indicated that a high diversity was mostly distributed within the populations for sweet potato accessions (75.12%) and (15.67%) among the populations

Is backreaction really small within concordance cosmology?

Smoothing over structures in general relativity leads to a renormalisation of the background, and potentially many other effects which are poorly understood. Observables such as the distance-redshift relation when averaged on the sky do not necessarily yield the same smooth model which arises when performing spatial averages. These issues are thought to be of technical interest only in the standard model of cosmology, giving only tiny corrections. However, when we try to calculate observable quantities such as the all-sky average of the distance-redshift relation, we find that perturbation theory delivers divergent answers in the UV and corrections to the background of order unity. There are further problems. Second-order perturbations are the same size as first-order, and fourth-order at least the same as second, and possibly much larger, owing to the divergences. Much hinges on a coincidental balance of 2 numbers: the primordial power, and the ratio between the comoving Hubble scales at matter-radiation equality and today. Consequently, it is far from obvious that backreaction is irrelevant even in the concordance model, however natural it intuitively seems.Comment: 28 pages. Invited contribution to Classical and Quantum Gravity special issue "Inhomogeneous Cosmological Models and Averaging in Cosmology

An Assessment of the Knowledge and Practice of Shaken Baby Syndrome Among Care Givers in Paediatrics Unit Chukwuemeka Odumegwu Ojukwu University Teaching Hospital, Awka

Background: Shaken baby syndrome (SBS) is a form of abuse that is characterized by brain injury and predominantly impacts neurological functioning.[1]It is a non-accidental traumatic injury resulting from the violent shaking of an infant or child.[1,2] Other names for this condition include whiplash shaken infant syndrome, abusive head trauma, shaken impact syndrome, whiplash shake syndrome and non-accidental or intentional head injury but shaken baby syndrome is the most widely used and recognized term;[3] Methods: Frequencies, percentages, tables and Charts was used to analyze obtained responses with the aid of SPSS version 17.0. Chi-square Tests was also conducted. Results: No statistically significant association was seen between knowledge of shaken baby syndrome and highest level of education (X2= 3.536, p= 0.316); No statistically significant association was also seen between knowledge of Shaken Baby Syndrome and gender (X20.329, p=0.848); and there was no statistically significant difference between wrong practices leading to Shaken baby syndrome and marital status (X2 = 0.353, p= 0.838). Conclusion: The knowledge of Shaken Baby Syndrome was commendable in this study. DOI: 10.7176/JHMN/67-11 Publication date:October 31st 201

BACTERIAL ISOLATES ASSOCIATED WITH PELVIC INFLAMMATORY DISEASE AMONG FEMALE PATIENTS ATTENDING SOME HOSPITALS IN ABUJA, NIGERIA.

Background: Pelvic inflammatory disease refers to any infection in the female lower reproductive tract that spreads to the upper reproductive tract. The disease comprises a spectrum of inflammatory disorders of the upper female genital tract, including any combination of endometritis, salpingitis, tubo-ovarian abscess and pelvic peritonitis. PID is not a notifiable disease in most countries, so accurate statistics are not available. This situation is not in any way different here in Nigeria and more so in the Federal Capital Territory, Abuja where this research was conducted, there had never been any published report so far on PID. It therefore became pertinent that such studies be carried out to evaluate the bacterial organisms which may be associated with the disease in this part of Nigeria so that health care providers could take a better look at this affliction in women. Materials and Methods: Endocervical swabs totalling 100 were aseptically collected from patients with confirmed Pelvic Inflammatory Disease (PID), attending some hospitals in Abuja, Nigeria for detection of bacterial pathogens based on cultural and biochemical characterisation tests. Antibiogram was also conducted on the identified bacterial isolates. Results: Out of the 100 samples analysed, 43% yielded pure cultures of bacterial isolates, 2% yielded mixed cultures while no bacterial growths were recorded from the remaining 55% samples. Organisms encountered were Staphylococcus aureus (16%), Escherichia coli (10%), Streptococcus faecalis (8%), Pseudomonas aeruginosa (4%), Streptococcus pyogenes (3%), Klebsiella pneumoniae (3%), Proteus rettgeri (2%) and Proteus mirabilis (1%). The highest percentage occurrence of pathogenic isolates was observed in polygamous married patients (90%). The age group most affected falls within the mean age 30.5 years (68%) while the least affected group falls within the mean age 40.5 years (5%). There was a significant difference in the acquisition of PID in relation to marital status (P 0.05). Antibiogram patterns of pathogenic isolates revealed varied resistance to most of the antibiotics employed. Cefotaxime (a new generation cephalosporin antibiotic) was established in this study as the best antimicrobial agent for treatment of PID due to Gram-positive and Gram-negative bacteria isolated from the women examined. Conclusion: In conclusion, Pelvic inflammatory disease is a major health problem in developed or developing countries of the world. PID is not a notifiable disease, as accurate statistics on disease prevalence are rarely available. There is therefore no doubt thousands of young women have salpingitis every year and their sheer number makes it an important health problem. PID hence can be said to be a very serious complication of sexually transmitted disease which should be critically and promptly handled by healthcare providers. The right type sample should be aseptically collected and be appropriately handled for laboratory investigation. Treatment of PID should be initiated as soon as the presumptive diagnosis has been made. Immediate administration of antibiotics has been effective in the long-term sequelae associated with PID, especially new generation antibiotics, such as cefotaxime as recorded in this study

The holographic superconductors in higher-dimensional AdS soliton

We explore the behaviors of the holographic superconductors at zero temperature for a charged scalar field coupled to a Maxwell field in higher-dimensional AdS soliton spacetime via analytical way. In the probe limit, we obtain the critical chemical potentials increase linearly as a total dimension $d$ grows up. We find that the critical exponent for condensation operator is obtained as 1/2 independently of $d$, and the charge density is linearly related to the chemical potential near the critical point. Furthermore, we consider a slightly generalized setup the Einstein-Power-Maxwell field theory, and find that the critical exponent for condensation operator is given as $1/(4-2n)$ in terms of a power parameter $n$ of the Power-Maxwell field, and the charge density is proportional to the chemical potential to the power of $1/(2-n)$.Comment: LaTeX, 16 pages, 5 figures, typos corrected, one reference added, version to appear in European Physical Journal

Non-perturbative results for the luminosity and area distances

The notion of luminosity distance is most often defined in purely FLRW (Friedmann-Lemaitre-Robertson-Walker) cosmological spacetimes, or small perturbations thereof. However, the abstract notion of luminosity distance is actually much more robust than this, and can be defined non-perturbatively in almost arbitrary spacetimes. Some quite general results are already known, in terms of dAobserver/d\u3a9source, the cross-sectional area per unit solid angle of a null geodesic spray emitted from some source and subsequently detected by some observer. We shall reformulate these results in terms of a suitably normalized null geodesic affine parameter and the van Vleck determinant, \u394vV. The contribution due to the null geodesic affine parameter is effectively the inverse square law for luminosity, and the van Vleck determinant can be viewed as providing a measure of deviations from the inverse square law. This formulation is closely related to the so-called Jacobi determinant, but the van Vleck determinant has somewhat nicer analytic properties and wider and deeper theoretical base in the general relativity, quantum physics, and quantum field theory communities. In the current article we shall concentrate on non-perturbative results, leaving near-FLRW perturbative investigation for future work

Global patient outcomes after elective surgery: prospective cohort study in 27 low-, middle- and high-income countries.

BACKGROUND: As global initiatives increase patient access to surgical treatments, there remains a need to understand the adverse effects of surgery and define appropriate levels of perioperative care. METHODS: We designed a prospective international 7-day cohort study of outcomes following elective adult inpatient surgery in 27 countries. The primary outcome was in-hospital complications. Secondary outcomes were death following a complication (failure to rescue) and death in hospital. Process measures were admission to critical care immediately after surgery or to treat a complication and duration of hospital stay. A single definition of critical care was used for all countries. RESULTS: A total of 474 hospitals in 19 high-, 7 middle- and 1 low-income country were included in the primary analysis. Data included 44 814 patients with a median hospital stay of 4 (range 2-7) days. A total of 7508 patients (16.8%) developed one or more postoperative complication and 207 died (0.5%). The overall mortality among patients who developed complications was 2.8%. Mortality following complications ranged from 2.4% for pulmonary embolism to 43.9% for cardiac arrest. A total of 4360 (9.7%) patients were admitted to a critical care unit as routine immediately after surgery, of whom 2198 (50.4%) developed a complication, with 105 (2.4%) deaths. A total of 1233 patients (16.4%) were admitted to a critical care unit to treat complications, with 119 (9.7%) deaths. Despite lower baseline risk, outcomes were similar in low- and middle-income compared with high-income countries. CONCLUSIONS: Poor patient outcomes are common after inpatient surgery. Global initiatives to increase access to surgical treatments should also address the need for safe perioperative care. STUDY REGISTRATION: ISRCTN5181700

Twelve-month observational study of children with cancer in 41 countries during the COVID-19 pandemic

Introduction Childhood cancer is a leading cause of death. It is unclear whether the COVID-19 pandemic has impacted childhood cancer mortality. In this study, we aimed to establish all-cause mortality rates for childhood cancers during the COVID-19 pandemic and determine the factors associated with mortality. Methods Prospective cohort study in 109 institutions in 41 countries. Inclusion criteria: children <18 years who were newly diagnosed with or undergoing active treatment for acute lymphoblastic leukaemia, non-Hodgkin's lymphoma, Hodgkin lymphoma, retinoblastoma, Wilms tumour, glioma, osteosarcoma, Ewing sarcoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, medulloblastoma and neuroblastoma. Of 2327 cases, 2118 patients were included in the study. The primary outcome measure was all-cause mortality at 30 days, 90 days and 12 months. Results All-cause mortality was 3.4% (n=71/2084) at 30-day follow-up, 5.7% (n=113/1969) at 90-day follow-up and 13.0% (n=206/1581) at 12-month follow-up. The median time from diagnosis to multidisciplinary team (MDT) plan was longest in low-income countries (7 days, IQR 3-11). Multivariable analysis revealed several factors associated with 12-month mortality, including low-income (OR 6.99 (95% CI 2.49 to 19.68); p<0.001), lower middle income (OR 3.32 (95% CI 1.96 to 5.61); p<0.001) and upper middle income (OR 3.49 (95% CI 2.02 to 6.03); p<0.001) country status and chemotherapy (OR 0.55 (95% CI 0.36 to 0.86); p=0.008) and immunotherapy (OR 0.27 (95% CI 0.08 to 0.91); p=0.035) within 30 days from MDT plan. Multivariable analysis revealed laboratory-confirmed SARS-CoV-2 infection (OR 5.33 (95% CI 1.19 to 23.84); p=0.029) was associated with 30-day mortality. Conclusions Children with cancer are more likely to die within 30 days if infected with SARS-CoV-2. However, timely treatment reduced odds of death. This report provides crucial information to balance the benefits of providing anticancer therapy against the risks of SARS-CoV-2 infection in children with cancer