Low-cost modified-atmosphere hermetic storage structures to reduce storage losses of maize (Zea mays L.) cobs and sorghum (Sorghum bicolor L.) heads.

Background: Production and marketing of cereal grains are some of the main activities in developing countries to ensure food security. However, the food gap is complicated further by high postharvest loss of grains during storage. This study aimed to compare low-cost modified-atmosphere hermetic storage structures with traditional practice to minimize quantitative and qualitative losses of grains during storage.

The effect of anesthetic agents for oocyte pick-up on in vitro fertilization outcome: A retrospective study in a tertiary center.

Objective: General anesthesia is used in most in vitro fertilization (IVF) clinics for oocyte pick-up (OPU), however, there is no consensus on type of anesthetic agent use among clinicians performing OPU. Therefore, we aimed to evaluate the effects of propofol, ketamine, or combination of propofol and ketamine (P + K) for OPU on IVF outcome.

Material And Methods: Three hundred and thirty three women (n = 333) undergoing IVF treatment were retrospectively included and were evaluated in three groups depending on whether they received propofol (n = 217), or ketamine (n = 60), or P + K (n = 56) for anesthesia during OPU.

Correlates and determinants of Early Infant Diagnosis outcomes in North-Central Nigeria.

Background: A negative status following confirmatory Early Infant Diagnosis (EID) is the desired pediatric outcome of prevention of Mother to Child Transmission (PMTCT) programs. EID impacts epidemic control by confirming non-infected HIV-exposed infants (HEIs) and prompting timely initiation of ART in HIV-infected babies which improves treatment outcomes.

Objectives: We explored factors associated with EID outcomes among HEI in North-Central Nigeria.

MFL-Based Local Damage Diagnosis and SVM-Based Damage Type Classification for Wire Rope NDE.

Wire ropes used in various applications such as elevators and cranes to safely carry heavy weights are vulnerable to breakage or cross-sectional loss caused by the external environment. Such damage can pose a serious risk to the safety of the entire structure because damage under tensile force rapidly expands due to concentration of stress. In this study, the magnetic flux leakage (MFL) method was applied to diagnose cuts, corrosion, and compression damage in wire ropes.

The catalytic kinetics of chicken transthyretin towards human Aβ.

The novel property of transthyretin (TTR) as a protease has been proposed to be significant. However, the study of TTR proteolysis properties has not been completely elucidated. Herein, we first report the catalytic activity of chicken TTR from plasma determined by using fluorescently labeled amyloid beta 1-42 peptide (Aβ), and compared it with human TTR (human TTR) from plasma and recombinant Crocodylus porosus TTR.

Study on post-harvest quantitative and qualitative losses of potato tubers from two different road access districts of Jimma zone, South West Ethiopia.

One of the main challenges facing Ethiopia today is to ensure food security for its highly increasing population growth. Although the country's production is much lower than the national demand, there are high post-harvest food losses. Among several causes at different levels, absence of infrastructure plays a critical role in quantitative and qualitative losses of mainly fruit, vegetable, root and tuber crops.

Prevalence of tuberculosis, multidrug resistant tuberculosis and associated risk factors among smear negative presumptive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

Background: The diagnoses of active smear negative PTB, remains difficult. As a result, treatment is often carried out empirically relaying on clinical criteria. The distribution and magnitude of smear negative PTB, smear negative MDR-TB and associated factors in the same day diagnosis strategy are not clearly known in the study area.

Nationwide survey on the current practice of ventricular tachycardia ablation.

Methods: We performed a nationwide survey on the current practice of ventricular tachycardia catheter ablation in Italy during the year 2016.

Results: Among 145 operators participating in the survey, 58 (40.0%) did not perform any ventricular tachycardia ablation in 2016.

Prevalence of tuberculosis treatment non-adherence in Ethiopia: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

Non-adherence to treatment is one of the challenges facing global tuberculosis (TB) control. In Ethiopia, an extremely variable and high magnitude of TB treatment non-adherence have been reported from different parts of the country. However, there has been no attempt to estimate the pooled prevalence of non-adherence from this heterogeneous data.

Ultrasound-guided fascia iliaca blocks in the emergency department.

Each year, over 300,000 individuals aged 65 and older are hospitalized for hip fractures in the United States. Traditional pain management in the elderly population is difficult because of physiologic changes and comorbidities. Peripheral nerve blocks are often placed by anesthesia professionals following hip surgery as part of a multi modal pain management program.

Bacteria with natural chemotaxis towards methanol revealed by chemotaxis fishing technique.

Motile bacteria often exhibit chemotaxis toward favorable compounds. However, the diversity of bacteria that are attracted to a given substance is largely unknown. This study aimed to reveal the diversity of bacteria with natural chemotaxis towards methanol.

Is hypothyroidism rare in multidrug resistance tuberculosis patients on treatment? A systematic review and meta-analysis.

Background: Hypothyroidism is one of the adverse drug reactions that associated with Multidrug Resistant Tuberculosis (MDR-TB) medications. Extremely variable magnitude of hypothyroidism in MDR-TB patients has been reported from different parts of the world. However, there is no evidence that tried to estimate the pooled prevalence of hypothyroidism to confirm the rareness of hypothyroidism in MDR-TB patients on treatment.

Surveillance of drug resistance tuberculosis based on reference laboratory data in Ethiopia.

Background: Both passive and active surveillance of drug resistance have an important role in tuberculosis (TB) control program. Surveillance data are important to estimate the magnitude of drug resistance TB, to know the trend of the disease, assess the performance of the program, and to forecast diagnosis and treatment supplies. Therefore, this study aimed to determine the prevalence and the proportion of drug resistant tuberculosis in Ethiopia based on passively collected data.

Histopathological lesions in reproductive organs, distal spinal cord and peripheral nerves of horses naturally infected with Trypanosoma equiperdum.

Background: Dourine, a venereal transmitted trypanosomosis caused by Trypanosoma equiperdum, has different clinical signs related to the reproductive and nervous system. Pathologic tissue changes associated with the disease are poorly described. The present study describes the histopathological lesions in naturally T.

The role of paternal obesity on the success of intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle a tertiary IVF center in Turkey.

Objective: To investigate the role of paternal obesity on intracytoplasmic sperm injection success.

Methods: The retrospective study was conducted in Suleyman Demirel University, Isparta, Turkey, from January 2015 to September 2017, and comprised data of infertile couples having undergone intracytoplasmic sperm injection cycle. The data was divided into three groups on the basis of paternal body mass index (BMI): normoweight NW (body mass index<23 kg/m2), overweight OW (body mass index= 23-24.

Tuberculosis Treatment Outcomes and Associated Factors among TB Patients Attending Public Hospitals in Harar Town, Eastern Ethiopia: A Five-Year Retrospective Study.

Introduction: Tuberculosis remains a major public health threat throughout the world particularly in developing countries. Evaluating the treatment outcome of tuberculosis and identifying the associated factors should be an integral part of tuberculosis treatment.

Objectives: The aim of this study was to assess the treatment outcome of tuberculosis and its associated factors among TB patients in the TB clinics of Harar public hospitals, Eastern Ethiopia, 2017.

Tissue (re)distribution of Trypanosoma equiperdum in venereal infected and blood transfused horses.

Dourine, caused by Trypanosoma equiperdum, is a life-threatening venereal disease in equidae. So far, there is no clear evidence on how and when stallions become infectious, nor which tissues are affected by the parasite in diseased animals. Post-infection, after a transient, temporary phase of parasitaemia, the parasite disperses to different tissues in an unknown distribution pattern.

Reduction of Trypanosoma equiperdum from equine semen by single layer centrifugation.

Trypanosoma equiperdum (T. equiperdum) causes dourine, a venereally transmitted infection in horses. Purification of semen by single layer centrifugation (SLC) has been proven to be successful in reducing venereally transmitted diseases when dealing with other pathogens.

The association of type D personality and depression with infertility in women.

Type D personality-defined as the presence of two personality characters, namely negative affectivity (NA) and social inhibition (SI)-is associated with various disorders. The 14-item Type D Scale (DS14), which consists of NA and SI subscales, can be used for the detection of the presence of Type D personality. The aim of our study was to investigate the association of Type D personality and depression with infertility in women.

Employment of GIS techniques to assess the long-term impact of tillage on the soil organic carbon of agricultural fields under hyper-arid conditions.

A study on six 50 ha agricultural fields was conducted to investigate the effect of conservation tillage practices on the long-term (1990-2016) changes in the soil organic carbon (SOC) content of the topsoil layers (0-10 cm) of agricultural fields. The experimental fields were selected from the 49 fields of the Tawdeehiya Arable Farm (TAF), located 200 kilometers southeast of Riyadh, the capital city of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia. Data sets from laboratory determined SOC and the corresponding Landsat images generated vegetation indices, namely, the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index (NDVI) and the Bare Soil Index (BSI), were utilized for the prediction of SOC using multivariate regression techniques.

Gremlin-1 and gremlin-2 levels in polycystic ovary syndrome and their clinical correlations.

Gremlin 1 and 2 regulate oocyte primordial follicle transition in animal models. The main objective of this study is to measure the blood levels of Gremlin 1 and 2 in the women with Polycystic Ovary Syndrome (PCOS). We also aimed to evaluate the association of these markers with hormonal and biochemical parameters of PCOS as interrupted folliculogenesis in those women is related to metabolic dysfunction.

Doppler ultrasonography criteria of superior mesenteric artery stenosis.

Purpose: The techniques mostly used for the diagnosis of superior mesenteric artery (SMA) stenosis are computed tomography angiography (CTA), and magnetic resonance angiography. We aimed to evaluate color-coded Doppler Ultrasonography (CDUS) for the detection of SMA stenoses and to determine Doppler criteria.

Methods: We identified retrospectively 65 patients with CTA images of SMA stenosis and examined them with CDUS for the Doppler measurement of SMA peak systolic flow velocity (PSV), end-diastolic velocity (EDV), and mesenterico-aortic ratio (MAR).

KIR2DS2/KIR2DL2/HLA-C1 Haplotype Is Associated with Alzheimer's Disease: Implication for the Role of Herpesvirus Infections.

Alzheimer's disease (AD) is a progressive neurodegenerative disorder, where neuroinflammation and immune cells are key pathological factors. Recently, it was suggested a possible association between AD and human herpesvirus 6 (HHV-6) infection. Since we recently observed that multiple sclerosis patients with KIR2DL2 expression on natural killer (NK) cells are more susceptible to herpesvirus infection, we tested the possible implication of KIR/HLA genetic for HHV-6A infection.

Does Moderate Coronary Stenosis Affect the Fate of the Left Internal Thoracic Artery Graft?

Introduction: In this study we try to observe the fate of the left internal thoracic artery grafts that were bypassed to left anterior descending artery with moderate stenosis identified with fractional flow reserve (FFR) technique. Doppler ultrasonography was chosen as a noninvasive screening method.

Methods: A total of 30 patients who underwent coronary artery bypass grafting depending on results of the fractional flow reserve between January 2007 and January 2012, were subjected to transthoracic color Doppler ultrasonographic evaluation irrespective of the presence of symptoms, and the presence of a systolic-diastolic flow pattern was investigated using the supraclavicular approach.