Northern leaf blight response of elite maize inbred lines adapted to the mid-altitude sub-humid tropics

Productivity of maize (Zea mays L.) is curtailed by a number of stress factors, predominantly by diseases and insect pests. The Northern leaf blight disease of maize caused by Exserohilum turcicum (Pass.) Leonard and Suggs inflict significant yield losses in the humid tropical regions. The objectives of this study were to determine the leaf blight response of 50 elite maize inbred lines developed for the mid-altitude, sub-humid tropics and to select promising parents for resistance breeding. Inbred lines were evaluated in the field using a 5 × 10 alpha lattice design with three replications. Plants were artificially inoculated at the 4–6 leaf stages during 2011 and 2012. Data on disease severity and incidence, AUDPC and yields were recorded. Inbred lines had significant differences for E. turcicum reactions, and were classified into resistant, intermediate or susceptible categories. The mean disease severity ranged from 2.04% for the inbred line 136-a to 3.25% (Kuleni-C1-101-1-1-1). The upper leaf area infection of inbred lines 143-5-I and 136-a was 3.3%, while the line Kuleni-C1-101-1-1-1 displayed 100% infection. Further, 136-a developed the lowest AUDPC score at 238, whereas Kuleni-C1-101-1-1-1 had the maximum at 700. Overall, inbred lines CML202, 144-7-b, 139-5-j, 136-a, 30H83-7-1-1-1-2-1, ILoo’E-1-9-1-1-1-1-1 and 142-1-e, were identified as promising sources of resistance against E. turcicum. The selected elite inbred lines would be recommended for use in general varietal development, disease management and to enhance maize productivity, in the mid-altitude sub-humid tropics

Levels and proximate determinants of fertility in Butajira District, South Central Ethiopia

Background: Uncontrolled population growth is evidenced mainly because of the high fertility. Improving maternal and child health services in Ethiopia were one of the main aims of the health extension program. The impediment of early marriage was revised in the national family code which claims assessment of fertility situations.Objectives: This study aimed at measuring levels and fertility inhibition effects of proximate determinants in Butajira district.Methods: A cross-sectional study was conducted on resident women of reproductive age group recruited from the Butajira Demographic Surveillance System database. A total of 9996 women with different characteristics were thus interviewed.Results: Total fertility rate was 5.3 children per woman with high urban-rural gradient. The non-marriage (Cm=0.66) had the highest fertility inhibition effect followed by postpartum infecundability (Ci=0.68), contraception (Cc=0.77) and abortion (Ca=0.96). Main differences were observed across residential environment and educational status. Abortion had a paramount significance among in school women (ca=0.76).Conclusion: Not being married followed by postpartum infecundability and contraception inhibited high fertility. Abortion significantly reduced fertility among students. Keen awareness about negative consequences of high fertility should be attained. Women ought to be advised to marry late and stay in-school for long years. Extended breast feeding should be maintained for birth spacing. There must be sustained effort to increase contraception use rate. In-school women should be educated on problems of abortions. Youth-friendly contraceptive services must also be made available. [Ethiop. J. Health Dev 2011;25(3):184-191

Entropy-split multidimensional summation-by-parts discretization of the Euler and compressible Navier-Stokes equations

High-order Hadamard-form entropy stable multidimensional summation-by-parts discretizations of the Euler and compressible Navier-Stokes equations are considerably more expensive than the standard divergence-form discretization. In search of a more efficient entropy stable scheme, we extend the entropy-split method for implementation on unstructured grids and investigate its properties. The main ingredients of the scheme are Harten's entropy functions, diagonal-$\mathsf{E}$ summation-by-parts operators with diagonal norm matrix, and entropy conservative simultaneous approximation terms (SATs). We show that the scheme is high-order accurate and entropy conservative on periodic curvilinear unstructured grids for the Euler equations. An entropy stable matrix-type interface dissipation operator is constructed, which can be added to the SATs to obtain an entropy stable semi-discretization. Fully-discrete entropy conservation is achieved using a relaxation Runge-Kutta method. Entropy stable viscous SATs, applicable to both the Hadamard-form and entropy-split schemes, are developed for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. In the absence of heat fluxes, the entropy-split scheme is entropy stable for the compressible Navier-Stokes equations. Local conservation in the vicinity of discontinuities is enforced using an entropy stable hybrid scheme. Several numerical problems involving both smooth and discontinuous solutions are investigated to support the theoretical results. Computational cost comparison studies suggest that the entropy-split scheme offers substantial efficiency benefits relative to Hadamard-form multidimensional SBP-SAT discretizations.Comment: 34 pages, 8 figure

Quadrature Rules on Triangles and Tetrahedra for Multidimensional Summation-By-Parts Operators

Multidimensional diagonal-norm summation-by-parts (SBP) operators with collocated volume and facet nodes, known as diagonal-$\mathsf{E}$ operators, are attractive for entropy-stable discretizations from an efficiency standpoint. However, there is a limited number of such operators, and those currently in existence often have a relatively high node count for a given polynomial order due to a scarcity of suitable quadrature rules. We present several new symmetric positive-weight quadrature rules on triangles and tetrahedra that are suitable for construction of diagonal-$\mathsf{E}$ SBP operators. For triangles, quadrature rules of degree one through twenty with facet nodes that correspond to the Legendre-Gauss-Lobatto (LGL) and Legendre-Gauss (LG) quadrature rules are derived. For tetrahedra, quadrature rules of degree one through ten are presented along with the corresponding facet quadrature rules. All of the quadrature rules are provided in a supplementary data repository. The quadrature rules are used to construct novel SBP diagonal-$\mathsf{E}$ operators, whose accuracy and maximum timestep restrictions are studied numerically.Comment: 11 pages, 1 figur

Breast papillomas: current management with a focus on a new diagnostic and therapeutic modality

Breast papilloma is a term that describes an intraductal papillary configuration of the mammary epithelium on macroscopic or microscopic examination. It includes solitary intraductal papillomas, multiple papillomas, papillomatosis, and juvenile papillomatosis (JP). Recent advances in mammary ductoscopy (MD) have raised new possibilities in the diagnosis and treatment of breast papillomas. This technique represents an important diagnostic adjunct in patients with pathological nipple discharge (PND) by allowing direct visualisation and biopsy of intraductal lesions and guiding duct excision surgery. Treatment of breast papillomas often entails surgical duct excision for symptomatic relief and histopathological examination. Recently, more conservative approach has been adapted. MD-assisted microdochectomy should be considered the procedure of choice for a papilloma-related single duct discharge. Furthermore, there is increasing evidence that MD has the potential to reduce the number of duct excision procedures and minimise the extent of surgical resection. Imaging-guided vacuum-assisted core biopsy can be diagnostic and therapeutic for papillomas seen on mammography and/or ultrasound. Patients with multiple papillomas do have an increased risk of developing cancer and should be kept under annual review with regular mammography (preferably digital mammography) if treated conservatively. Magnetic resonance (MR) can be also used in surveillance in view of its high sensitivity. Because the risk is small, long term and affects both breasts, long-term follow-up is more appropriate than prophylactic mastectomy. Patients who prove to have solitary duct papilloma have insufficient increase in the risk of subsequent malignancy to justify routine follow-up

Anemia prevalence and etiology among women, men, and children in Ethiopia: a study protocol for a national population-based survey.

BACKGROUND: Anemia remains a public health challenge in Ethiopia, affecting an estimated 56% of children under age 5 years, 23% of women of reproductive age and 18% of adult men. However, anemia etiology and the relative contribution of underlying risk factors for anemia remains unclear and has hindered implementation of anemia control programs. METHODS/DESIGN: Anemia Etiology in Ethiopia (AnemEE) is a population-based cross-sectional survey of six regions of Ethiopia that includes children, women of reproductive age, and men from regionally representative households. The survey will include detailed assessment of anemia, iron, inflammatory and nutritional biomarkers, diet, comorbidities, and other factors. The objectives of AnemEE are 1) to generate evidence for decision-making on the etiology of anemia in Ethiopia among men, women and children and 2) to simulate the potential effect of iron fortification and other interventions on the prevalence of anemia and risk of iron overload. DISCUSSION: AnemEE will provide the most comprehensive evaluation of anemia etiology in Ethiopia to date due to its detailed assessment of diet, biomarkers, infections and other risk factors in a population-based sample. By generating evidence and simulating potential interventions, AnemEE will inform the development of high-impact anemia control programs and policies. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ClinicalTrials.gov, NCT04002466 . Registered on 28 June 2019. Retrospectively registered

Adolescent Girls' Agency Significantly Correlates With Favorable Social Norms in Ethiopia-Implications for Improving Sexual and Reproductive Health of Young Adolescents.

PURPOSE: This study investigates the relationship between adolescent girls' agency and social norms regarding early marriage, girls' education, and nutrition in West Hararghe, Ethiopia. METHODS: We conducted a cross-sectional study involving adolescent girls aged between 13 and 17 years in 2016. A two-stage cluster sampling procedure was followed to identify eligible respondents at the household level. A total of 114 clusters in four districts and 30 households from each cluster were randomly selected. Data were collected using a structured and pretested questionnaire. The agency composite score was measured based on 21 previously validated items. Descriptive and injunctive norm composite scores regarding education, marriage, and nutrition were constructed based on context-relevant items. The weighted mean and standard errors were calculated for the agency and social norms composite scores. The relationship between girls' agency and descriptive and injunctive norms were examined using a multivariable linear regression model that accounted for a complex sample survey design. RESULTS: A total of 3,186 adolescent girls participated in this study. The multivariable linear regression analysis revealed that adolescent girls' agency score significantly and favorably associated with education (β = .19, p .05) and nutrition (β = .12, p > .05) did not have a statistically significant association with girls' agency. The domains of agency scale related to the belief in women's health rights related to contraception use and the belief in women's right to refuse sex showed poor prosocial views. CONCLUSIONS: Favorable descriptive and injunctive norms around marriage were significantly associated with greater adolescent girls' agency, which indicates the need to incorporate interventions that address social norms in efforts aimed to enhance adolescent girls' sexual and reproductive health status. Furthermore, attention should be given to monitor which domain of agency is improved by the interventions

Value of Adenosine Deaminase in the diagnosis of tuberculous pleurisy at Tikur Anbessa specialized hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Objectives: Tuberculous (TB) pleurisy is a common form of extrapulmonary tuberculosis in high burden countries including Ethiopia. Adenosine deaminase (ADA) has been used in the early diagnosis of TB pleurisy. This study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic role of ADA in TB pleurisy at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital (TASH). Materials and Methods: A cross-sectional hospital-based study was designed to evaluate the diagnostic value of ADA in consecutive adult patients with unexplained pleural effusions presenting to Chest Clinic at TASH from June 2016 to August 2018. All referred patients underwent thorough clinical and laboratory examinations including assessment of pleural fluid ADA, where a value of ≥40 IU/I was used to suggest TB pleurisy (per manufacturer’s recommendation). A final diagnosis of TB pleurisy was made based on pleural fluid Gene Xpert, AFB smear, pleural biopsy, and cytology results in addition to a clinical and radiologic response to anti-TB therapy. Results: A total of 67 patients were included in the study. The median age was 38.5(±14.5) years; 36 (53.7%) of the participants were males. TB pleurisy was confirmed in 38 (56.7%) subjects. The mean pleural fluid ADA levels was significantly higher in those with TB pleurisy as compared to those without TB pleurisy, 65.8 IU/l versus 28 IU/I (P < 0.05), respectively. Pleural fluid ADA had a sensitivity of 84% and specificity of 79%, resulting in a positive predictive value of 84.2%, a negative predictive value of 79.3%, and an overall test accuracy of 82% in our study population. Conclusion: In our study, pleural fluid ADA played a useful role in the diagnosis of TB pleurisy

Very high-order symmetric positive-interior quadrature rules on triangles and tetrahedra

We present novel fully-symmetric quadrature rules with positive weights and strictly interior nodes of degrees up to 84 on triangles and 40 on tetrahedra. Initial guesses for solving the nonlinear systems of equations needed to derive quadrature rules are generated by forming tensor-product structures on quadrilateral/hexahedral subdomains of the simplices using the Legendre-Gauss nodes on the first half of the line reference element. In combination with a methodology for node elimination, these initial guesses lead to the development of highly efficient quadrature rules, even for very high polynomial degrees. Using existing estimates of the minimum number of quadrature points for a given degree, we show that the derived quadrature rules on triangles and tetrahedra are more than 95% and 80% efficient, respectively, for almost all degrees. The accuracy of the quadrature rules is demonstrated through numerical examples.17 pages, 6 figure