Evaluation of Some Heavy Metals in Aerial Parts of Wild Rice Plant in Kaduna State, Nigeria

This study was designed to evaluate the level of Cd, Co, Fe and Zn in the aerial/upper parts of wild rice plant in three locations (Gure, Kagoro, and Kaduna) of Kaduna state. HNO3-H2O2 was used to digest the plant samples and analyzed using AA320N model Atomic absorption spectrophotometer. The results obtained revealed that, the concentration(mg kg-1 dry weight basis) of the heavy metals analyzed in the upper parts of wild rice plant were 0.242, 0.028, 2.947 and 19.145 for Cd, Co Fe, and Zn respectively. Also in the grain, the concentration of metals was found to be 0.223, 0.023, 2.003 and 19.050 for Cd, Co, Fe, and Zn respectively. The ANOVA result showed that the concentration of Cd, Co and Fe were not significantly different within the plant parts while that of Zn was different at 95% confidence limit. The concentration of Zn, Fe and Co in the wild rice plant and grain were within the limits obtained in most world crops and vegetables and WHO/FAO reference standards. Although, the concentration of Cd in grain was a little higher than the recommended limit of WHO/FAO reference standard. The dietary implication of the elements, suggests that the consumption of the wild rice plant/grain analyzed may not cause much health hazard to grazing animals and human beings.Keywords: Aerial part, Grain, Heavy metals, Wild ric

The Implementation of Good Governance Principles in Admission of Prospective Civil Servants

The aims of this study are as follows: To analyze and determine the implementation of the principles of good governance in the recruitment of prospective civil servants in Timor Leste and to analyze and determine the factors that influence the implementation of the principles of good governance in the recruitment of prospective civil servants in Timor Leste. The method used by the researcher was a sociological juridical approach and the specifications in this study are descriptive. The results of the research that the implementation of the principles of good governance in the recruitment of prospective civil servants in Timor Leste is wisdom and confidentiality, justice, honesty and integrity, equality, exclusivity regime, conflict of interest, kinshipan integral part of good governance. Factors Affecting the Implementation of Good Governance Principles on the Admission of Candidates for Civil Servants in Timor Leste, as follows: The legal factor itself, namely the entire legislation governing the implementation of Civil Servant Candidate (CPNS/ASN) acceptance. Law enforcement factors, namely people who carry out the law, especially law enforcement officers, in this case are focused on local government officials who are entrusted with the duties and responsibilities by laws and regulations to carry out the selection of CPNS/ASN acceptance. Legal culture factor, namely the habits that apply or are enforced to solve any problems that arise from local government activities in the context of accepting CPNS/ASN. The novelty showed that ability factor of Human Resources (HR), namely the personal circumstances of local government officials who are entrusted with the task of accepting CPNS/ASN and people who submit applications to become CPNS/ASN

Synergistic mixed-layer height retrieval method using microwave radiometer and lidar ceilometer observations

This paper tackles synergistic mixed-layer height (MLH) estimation via a combination of microwave radiometer (MWR) and lidar ceilometer (LC)-based estimates. While MLH-MWR estimates rely on potential temperature retrievals, MLH-LC estimates rely on aerosol gradients. The pros and cons of MLH retrievals obtained from MWR via the parcel method and from LC via an extended Kalman filter (EKF)-based method are used to motivate the synergistic algorithm. The synergistic algorithm is introduced as a maximum-likelihood combination of MLH-MWR and MLH-LC. Two case examples from the 2013 HOPE campaign at Jülich, Germany, are used to show the robustness of the synergistic method and the effect of surface temperature measurement error. Doppler wind lidar retrievals and radiosonde reference MLH estimates are used for validation.This research is part of the projects PGC2018-094132-B-I00 and MDM-2016-0600 (“CommSensLab” Excellence Unit) funded by Ministerio de Ciencia e Investigación (MCIN)/ Agencia Estatal de Investigación (AEI)/ 10.13039/501100011033/ FEDER. Data were provided by Julich Observatory for Cloud Evolution (JOYCE-CF), a core facility funded by Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft via grant DFG LO 901/7-1. The work of M.P.A.S was supported under Grant PRE2018-086054 funded by MCIN/AEI/ 10.13039/501100011033 and FSE “El FSE invierte en tu futuro”. The European Commission collaborated under projects H2020 ACTRIS-IMP (GA871115) and H2020 ATMO-ACCESS (GA-101008004).Peer ReviewedPostprint (author's final draft

A survey of the clinicopathological and molecular characteristics of patients with suspected Lynch syndrome in Latin America

Background: Genetic counselling and testing for Lynch syndrome (LS) have recently been introduced in several Latin America countries. We aimed to characterize the clinical, molecular and mismatch repair (MMR) variants spectrum of patients with suspected LS in Latin America. Methods: Eleven LS hereditary cancer registries and 34 published LS databases were used to identify unrelated families that fulfilled the Amsterdam II (AMSII) criteria and/or the Bethesda guidelines or suggestive of a dominant colorectal (CRC) inheritance syndrome. Results: We performed a thorough investigation of 15 countries and identified 6 countries where germline genetic testing for LS is available and 3 countries where tumor testing is used in the LS diagnosis. The spectrum of pathogenic MMR variants included MLH1 up to 54%, MSH2 up to 43%, MSH6 up to 10%, PMS2 up to 3% and EPCAM up to 0.8%. The Latin America MMR spectrum is broad with a total of 220 different variants which 80% were private and 20% were recurrent. Frequent regions included exons 11 of MLH1 (15%), exon 3 and 7 of MSH2 (17 and 15%, respectively), exon 4 of MSH6 (65%), exons 11 and 13 of PMS2 (31% and 23%, respectively). Sixteen international founder variants in MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6 were identified and 41 (19%) variants have not previously been reported, thus representing novel genetic variants in the MMR genes. The AMSII criteria was the most used clinical criteria to identify pathogenic MMR carriers although microsatellite instability, immunohistochemistry and family history are still the primary methods in several countries where no genetic testing for LS is available yet. Conclusion: The Latin America LS pathogenic MMR variants spectrum included new variants, frequently altered genetic regions and potential founder effects, emphasizing the relevance implementing Lynch syndrome genetic testing and counseling in all of Latin America countries.Radium Hospital Foundation (Oslo, Norway) in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript, Helse Sør-Øst (Norway) in the design of the study and collection, analysis, and interpretation of data and in writing the manuscript, the French Association Recherche contre le Cancer (ARC) in the analysis, and interpretation of data, the Groupement des Entreprises Françaises dans la Lutte contre le Cancer (Gefluc) in the analysis, and interpretation of data, the Association Nationale de la Recherche et de la Technologie (ANRT, CIFRE PhD fellowship to H.T.) in the analysis, and interpretation of data and by the OpenHealth Institute in the analysis, and interpretation of data. Barretos Cancer Hospital received financial support by FINEP-CT-INFRA (02/2010)info:eu-repo/semantics/publishedVersio

Reconstruction of primary vertices at the ATLAS experiment in Run 1 proton–proton collisions at the LHC

This paper presents the method and performance of primary vertex reconstruction in proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment during Run 1 of the LHC. The studies presented focus on data taken during 2012 at a centre-of-mass energy of √s=8 TeV. The performance has been measured as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing over a wide range, from one to seventy. The measurement of the position and size of the luminous region and its use as a constraint to improve the primary vertex resolution are discussed. A longitudinal vertex position resolution of about 30μm is achieved for events with high multiplicity of reconstructed tracks. The transverse position resolution is better than 20μm and is dominated by the precision on the size of the luminous region. An analytical model is proposed to describe the primary vertex reconstruction efficiency as a function of the number of interactions per bunch crossing and of the longitudinal size of the luminous region. Agreement between the data and the predictions of this model is better than 3% up to seventy interactions per bunch crossing

Mediastinal extension of a complicated pancreatic pseudocyst; a case report and literature review

BACKGROUND: Mediastinal pancreatic pseudocyst is a rare complication of acute or chronic pancreatitis. CASE PRESENTATION: This case report describes the management of a difficult case of pancreatic pseudocyst with a mediastinal extension in a patient having chronic pancreatitis. Different management strategies were used until complete resolution of this complex pseudocyst occurred using open surgical cystogastrostomy. CONCLUSION: Despite the availablity of different minimally invasive techniques to treat pancreatic pseudocysts, management of complex mediastinal pseudocyst may still require open surgical drainage procedures

Search for dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks in √s = 13 TeV pp collisions with the ATLAS detector

A search for weakly interacting massive particle dark matter produced in association with bottom or top quarks is presented. Final states containing third-generation quarks and miss- ing transverse momentum are considered. The analysis uses 36.1 fb−1 of proton–proton collision data recorded by the ATLAS experiment at √s = 13 TeV in 2015 and 2016. No significant excess of events above the estimated backgrounds is observed. The results are in- terpreted in the framework of simplified models of spin-0 dark-matter mediators. For colour- neutral spin-0 mediators produced in association with top quarks and decaying into a pair of dark-matter particles, mediator masses below 50 GeV are excluded assuming a dark-matter candidate mass of 1 GeV and unitary couplings. For scalar and pseudoscalar mediators produced in association with bottom quarks, the search sets limits on the production cross- section of 300 times the predicted rate for mediators with masses between 10 and 50 GeV and assuming a dark-matter mass of 1 GeV and unitary coupling. Constraints on colour- charged scalar simplified models are also presented. Assuming a dark-matter particle mass of 35 GeV, mediator particles with mass below 1.1 TeV are excluded for couplings yielding a dark-matter relic density consistent with measurements

Most Patients with Colorectal Tumors at Young Age Do Not Visit a Cancer Genetics Clinic

Contains fulltext : 70595.pdf (publisher's version ) (Open Access)PURPOSE: This study examined the referral process for genetic counseling at a cancer genetics clinic in patients with colorectal cancer and to search for determinants of variation in this referral process. METHODS: Patients who were recently diagnosed with colorectal cancer at a young age or multiple cancers associated with Lynch syndrome, hereditary nonpolyposis colorectal cancer, (N = 119) were selected from PALGA, the nationwide network and registry of histopathology and cytopathology in the Netherlands. In a retrospective analysis, we examined whether these patients visited a cancer genetics clinic and identified determinants for referral to such a clinic. Factors of patients, professional practice, and hospital setting were explored with logistic regression modeling. RESULTS: Thirty-six (30 percent) patients visited a cancer genetics clinic. Seventy percent of patients whom the surgeon referred to a cancer genetics clinic decided to visit such a clinic. Analysis of determinants showed that patients with whom the surgeon discussed referral and that were treated in a teaching hospital were more likely to visit a cancer genetics clinic. CONCLUSION: The referral process is not optimally carried out. To deliver optimal care for patients suspected of hereditary colorectal cancer, this process must be improved with interventions focusing on patient referral by surgeons and raising awareness in nonteaching hospitals

The Significance of Hair for Face Recognition

Hair is a feature of the head that frequently changes in different situations. For this reason much research in the area of face perception has employed stimuli without hair. To investigate the effect of the presence of hair we used faces with and without hair in a recognition task. Participants took part in trials in which the state of the hair either remained consistent (Same) or switched between learning and test (Switch). It was found that in the Same trials performance did not differ for stimuli presented with and without hair. This implies that there is sufficient information in the internal features of the face for optimal performance in this task. It was also found that performance in the Switch trials was substantially lower than in the Same trials. This drop in accuracy when the stimuli were switched suggests that faces are represented in a holistic manner and that manipulation of the hair causes disruption to this, with implications for the interpretation of some previous studies

Predictive models for mutations in mismatch repair genes: implication for genetic counseling in developing countries

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Lynch syndrome (LS) is the most common form of inherited predisposition to colorectal cancer (CRC), accounting for 2-5% of all CRC. LS is an autosomal dominant disease characterized by mutations in the mismatch repair genes mutL homolog 1 (MLH1), mutS homolog 2 (MSH2), postmeiotic segregation increased 1 (PMS1), post-meiotic segregation increased 2 (PMS2) and mutS homolog 6 (MSH6). Mutation risk prediction models can be incorporated into clinical practice, facilitating the decision-making process and identifying individuals for molecular investigation. This is extremely important in countries with limited economic resources. This study aims to evaluate sensitivity and specificity of five predictive models for germline mutations in repair genes in a sample of individuals with suspected Lynch syndrome.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Blood samples from 88 patients were analyzed through sequencing MLH1, MSH2 and MSH6 genes. The probability of detecting a mutation was calculated using the PREMM, Barnetson, MMRpro, Wijnen and Myriad models. To evaluate the sensitivity and specificity of the models, receiver operating characteristic curves were constructed.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Of the 88 patients included in this analysis, 31 mutations were identified: 16 were found in the MSH2 gene, 15 in the MLH1 gene and no pathogenic mutations were identified in the MSH6 gene. It was observed that the AUC for the PREMM (0.846), Barnetson (0.850), MMRpro (0.821) and Wijnen (0.807) models did not present significant statistical difference. The Myriad model presented lower AUC (0.704) than the four other models evaluated. Considering thresholds of ≥ 5%, the models sensitivity varied between 1 (Myriad) and 0.87 (Wijnen) and specificity ranged from 0 (Myriad) to 0.38 (Barnetson).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>The Barnetson, PREMM, MMRpro and Wijnen models present similar AUC. The AUC of the Myriad model is statistically inferior to the four other models.</p