Publications by authors named "Ashenafi M"

Water deficit is a major cause of yield loss for maize (), leading to ovary abortion when applied at flowering time. To help understand the mechanisms involved in this phenomenon, the proteome response to water deficit has been analysed in developing ovaries at the silk emergence stage and five days later. Differential analysis, abundance pattern clustering and co-expression networks were performed in order to draw a general picture of the proteome changes all along ovary development and under the effect of water deficit.

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Background: In Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, open ditches along innner roads in residential areas serve to convey domestic wastewater and rainwater away from residences. Contamination of drinking water by wastewater through faulty distribution lines could expose households to waterborne illnesses. This prompted the study to assess the microbiological safety of wastewater and drinking water in Addis Ababa, identify the pathogens therein, and determine their antibiotic resistance patterns.

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Article Synopsis
  • Tej is a popular honey wine in Ethiopia, but it often tastes different each time because of how it's made.
  • Scientists wanted to find a way to make Tej with the same great taste every time, so they looked at yeast and bacteria from Tej samples to create a special mix.
  • After testing different combinations, they found two mixes that worked really well, making Tej that was super tasty and consistent in quality.
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As three-dimensional (3D) printing becomes increasingly common in radiation oncology, proper implementation, usage, and ongoing quality assurance (QA) are essential. While there have been many reports on various clinical investigations and several review articles, there is a lack of literature on the general considerations of implementing 3D printing in radiation oncology departments, including comprehensive process establishment and proper ongoing QA. This review aims to guide radiation oncology departments in effectively using 3D printing technology for routine clinical applications and future developments.

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Tej is an Ethiopian traditional alcoholic beverage with significant social and economic importance. Due to the spontaneous fermentation process of Tej, several issues such as safety, quality, and physicochemical properties of the final products is rquired to be assessed. Thus, this study was aimed to assess the microbial quality, physicochemical, and proximate properties of Tej associated with different maturity time.

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Soil erosion significantly affects agricultural production. Soil and Water Conservation (SWC) measures have been constructed to reduce soil loss. However, the impact of SWC measures on physicochemical soil properties has rarely been investigated in most parts of Ethiopia.

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Objectives: This study investigated the nutritional quality and adequacy of school meals served to school-age children and adolescents.

Methods: A total of 55 food samples were collected from 11 food types served for breakfast and lunch at 15 selected school kitchens. Each meal was weighed using a digital scale.

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Objective: This study evaluated the impact of the Addis Ababa School Feeding Program (SFP) on educational outcomes.

Design: Single-group repeated measurement/longitudinal study design and multistage stratified sampling design were followed. Effect sizes estimates, repeated measures ANOVA, Chi-square, Generalised Additive Mixed Model and mixed effects negative binomial regression were used.

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Background: Malnutrition hampers educational performance of schoolchildren coming from low-income families. School feeding program was, thus, launched in public primary schools in Addis Ababa very recently. It is, thus, important to measure the initial nutritional status of participating students to see the effect of the program on their nutritional wellbeing.

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Purpose: To describe the natural history and management of a rare case of iris melanoma in a pediatric patient.

Observations: A Caucasian female presented with left pupillary abnormalities at age 7, progressive iris changes at age 9, and markedly elevated intraocular pressure with advanced optic nerve cupping at 11 years of age. She was found to have a pigmented lesion overlying her iris and invading her angle.

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Background: Hepatic malignancies are common including primary malignancies and metastases. Transarterial radioembolization (TARE) is an important treatment option. We reviewed safety and efficacy of (TARE) in our patients to identify factors that may impact treatment outcomes in a heterogeneous population.

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Fluorescence in situ hybridization (FISH) is commonly used to visualize chromosomal regions or genomic loci within the nucleus, and can largely contribute to unraveling the link between structure and function in the nucleus. Three-dimensional (3D) analyses are required to best capture the nucleus' organizing principles, but the experimental setup and computational analyses are far from trivial. Here, we present a robust workflow for 3D FISH against repeats and single copy loci in embedded intact nuclei from Arabidopsis leaves.

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Purpose: To evaluate the Mobius second-check dosimetry system by comparing it to ionization-chamber dose measurements collected in the recently released Mobius Verification Phantom™ (MVP). For reference, a comparison of these measurements to dose calculated in the primary treatment planning system (TPS), Varian Eclipse with the AcurosXB dose algorithm, is also provided. Finally, patient dose calculated in Mobius is compared directly to Eclipse to demonstrate typical expected results during clinical use of the Mobius system.

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Beam scanning data collected on the tomotherapy linear accelerator using the TomoScanner water scanning system is primarily used to verify the golden beam profiles included in all Helical TomoTherapy treatment planning systems (TOMO TPSs). The user is not allowed to modify the beam profiles/parameters for beam modeling within the TOMO TPSs. The authors report the first feasibility study using the Blue Phantom Helix (BPH) as an alternative to the TomoScanner (TS) system.

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Recently, we showed that the fused chorismate-utilizing enzyme from the antibiotic-producing soil bacterium Streptomyces venezuelae is an anthranilate synthase (designated SvAS), not a 2-amino-2-deoxyisochorismate (ADIC) synthase, as was predicted based on its amino acid sequence similarity to the phenazine biosynthetic enzyme PhzE (an ADIC synthase). Here, we report the characterization of SvAS using steady-state kinetics, gel filtration chromatography, and laser light scattering. The recombinant His-tagged enzyme has Michaelis constants Km with respect to substrates chorismate and glutamine of 8.

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As part of an overall project to characterize the streptomycin phosphotransferase enzyme APH(6)-Id, which confers bacterial resistance to streptomycin, we cloned, expressed, purified, and characterized the enzyme. When expressed in Escherichia coli, the recombinant enzyme increased by up to 70-fold the minimum inhibitory concentration needed to inhibit cell growth. Size-exclusion chromatography gave a molecular mass of 31.

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Article Synopsis
  • Researchers found that a special form of vitamin D called calcitriol can help make colorectal cancer cells more sensitive to radiation therapy.
  • They tested different cancer cell lines and discovered that cells with an "epithelial" shape responded better to calcitriol, showing signs of improved treatment effects when exposed to radiation.
  • However, some cells with a different shape, known as "mesenchymal," did not respond well to calcitriol, which means that understanding cell shapes can help predict how effective treatments will be.
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In the current study, we developed a HPLC method to quantitatively measure the permeability of the BpT-based chelators, 2-benzoylpyridine 4-ethyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Bp4eT) and 2-benzoylpyridine 4-allyl-3-thiosemicarbazone (Bp4aT), across human colorectal adenocarcinoma (Caco-2) monolayers as a model of gut absorption. In aqueous solution, Bp4eT and Bp4aT formed inter-convertible Z and E isomers that were resolved by HPLC. Peak area was linear with respect to chelator concentration.

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Introduction: Intensity-modulated radiotherapy (IMRT) has been shown to reduce dose to organs at risk (OAR) while adequately treating tumour volume. This study quantitatively compares the dosimetric differences from step-and-shoot IMRT compared with helical tomotherapy (HT) for pancreatic head cancer.

Methods: Twelve consecutive patients with non-metastatic, stage T3 or T4, unresectable pancreatic head cancer were planned for step-and-shoot IMRT as well as HT.

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Purpose: To calibrate a Gamma Knife (GK) Perfexion using TG-21 with updated chamber-dependent values for modern microionization chambers in the new solid water Leksell dosimetry phantom. This work illustrates a calibration method using commercially available equipment, instruments, and an established dosimetry protocol that may be adopted at any GK center, thus reducing the interinstitutional variation in GK calibration. The calibration was verified by three third-party dosimetry checks.

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Purpose: To report our dosimetric results using a novel push-button seed delivery system that constructs custom links of seeds intraoperatively.

Methods And Materials: From 2005 to 2007, 43 patients underwent implantation using a gun applicator (GA), and from 2007 to 2008, 48 patients underwent implantation with a novel technique allowing creation of intraoperatively built custom links of seeds (IBCL). Specific endpoint analyses were prostate D90% (pD90%), rV100% > 1.

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Multicatheter brachytherapy can be applied as a monotherapy or in combination with external beam radiotherapy as an adjuvant treatment for soft tissue sarcoma. Successful application of brachytherapy in the treatment of soft tissue sarcoma requires implementation of multiple imaging modalities during preoperative and postoperative planning. Preoperative imaging is essential in planning local therapy for soft tissue sarcoma in that it defines the proximity of the tumor to adjacent critical structures, predicts the likelihood of close or positive surgical margins, and aids in defining the target volume for a brachytherapy implant.

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Background: Human food borne infections traditionally are acquired through the ingestion of foods of animal origin. Fresh fruits and vegetables are major vehicles for the transmission of the food-borne infections. In Ethiopia, there is a tradition of consuming raw vegetables, particularly lettuce and green pepper, without adequate treatment.

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Enterococci and Salmonella were isolated from feces of chicken in intensive poultry farms and cattle which are maintained following traditional practices. Their resistance to different antibiotics was also determined. A total of 298 enterococcal isolates consisting of Enterococcus faecium (49.

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