BIOCORE JOURNALS

Ethiopia, a country which suffers from a perennial food insecurity problem, has been struggling to address

this problem ever since the 1984 drought. Currently, there are at least 6.2 million people in the country that are seriously threatened by hunger and malnutrition, and require urgent food assistance. Faced with such a massive predicament, it is an irony that the country is involved in giving away large tracts of land, the main means for food production, to foreign buyers. Based on data released; the federal Government so far leased a total 350,099 hectares of land. With a total of 3 million hectares of agricultural land, an area around the size of Belgium, so far designated to be leased to incoming foreign investors, it is a crucial matter to ascertain whether the land agreements are drafted to benefit the country. The appraisal of the agreements reveals a number of shortcomings. For a start, their rent fees are low when compared with international prices, besides the exemption from fees they enjoy. What’s more, there is no mechanism for compensating for this by securing infrastructures for the local population since these are written as a right for the lessee not as an obligation. Furthermore, there is a lack of common understanding on how much produce can be exported and how much will stay in the country (for food security purposes). On top of this, almost all agreements reviewed contain no mention of the relationship between the firms and the local farmers/pastoralists as enshrined in the 2007 UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples. The dispute settlement provisions are also not with out defects: some refers to the ICSID additional facilities but it seems unlikely if this can be applied in these specific situations because of the nationality of the investors and the non-membership of the countries involved in the ICSID. The land agreements seem simplistic and lack some important elements that could help the country in attracting investment and employment. The urgent matter of addressing the food security concern of the country, through these agreements, has also fallen in doubt since they don’t explicitly address this matter. Indeed, the agreements have the potential in attracting investment and employment but it remains questionable if these can be achieved in their present form. This study is an examination of the large land agreements signed by the Ethiopian government and whether they fulfill the aspirations of the country, including becoming food self sufficient. In this study 22 large land lease agreements between the Ethiopian government and investors will be assessed.

Cytokine storm syndrome (CSS) is a critical condition induced by a cascade of cytokine activation, characterized by overwhelming systemic inflammation, hyperferritinaemia, haemodynamic instability and multiple organ failure. At the end of 2019, the disease caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2) emerged in Wuhan, China, and rapidly developed into a global pandemic. There is a dramatic increase of inflammatory cytokines in patients with COVID-19, suggesting the existence of cytokine storm in some critical illness patients. Here, we summarize the pathogenesis, clinical manifestation of CSS, and highlight the current understanding about the recognition and diagnosis of CSS in COVID-19.

Safaa Awad Mohammad, Tarig A. M. Hamid*, Mubarak Mustafa Elkarsany, Ahmed Elhadi Elsadig, Abdelmohmoud .M.Bashir, Nadia Madani Mohammed
 

Background: Myocardial infarction (MI) is among the leading causes of mortality worldwide. Variations

in folate metabolism including genetic polymorphisms in the key metabolic enzymes had showed

influences in the MI process.

Objectives: To determine whether the C1298A transition in the Methylene Tetrahydrofolate Reductase

(MTHFR) gene is associated with increased risk for MI among Sudanese patients.

Material and methods: This is a hospital based case control study in which a total of 140 Sudanese

subjects were enrolled, 70 patients with myocardial infarction and 70 age- and sex matched healthy

volunteers as a control group. Genomic DNA was extracted by (QIA gene, Korea) kits and the SNPs

genotypes were determined using polymerase chain reaction followed by restriction fragment length

polymorphism (PCR- RFLP). Data of this study were collected using a structured interview questionnaire

and analyzed by statistical package for social sciences (version 21).

Results: The frequency of the AA genotype was higher in the patients group compared with control

(96%, 71% respectively); while the AC genotype was higher in the control (20%, 5% respectively), while

the CC genotype was not observed in this study population. The frequencies of A and C alleles were

0.68 and 0.02 respectively in MI patients while frequencies were 0.60 and 0.10 respectively in the control

group. No statistically significant association was observed between MTHFR genotypes and MI (P.

values = 0.4 and 0.1 for AA and AC genotypes respectively).

Conclusion: In this study population, the A1298C MTHFR polymorphism is not associated with the risk

of MI among the Sudanese population.

The effect of Aspergillus flavus on groundnut seed and oil quality is estimated using both

susceptible and resistant cultivars JL 24 and J 11 respectively. The mode of entry of fungi into seed were observed by incubating seeds for 1, 3, 5, 7 and 9 days along with untreated seeds both externally using seed colonization severity scale and internally using scanning electron microscopy (SEM). The percent surface area colonized due to A. flavus with a severity score of 1, 2, 3 and 4 were observed at 3, 5, 7 and 9 days of incubation in resistant cv. J 11. Whereas, in the susceptible cv. JL 24 recorded severity score of 2, 3, 4 and 4 at 3, 5, 7 and 9 days of incubation period indicating the differences in seed colonization in resistant and susceptible cultivars. In the present study the penetration and establishment of the fungi in case of cv. J11 was slow as compared to cv. JL 24. The results revealed that presence of pathogen mycelium in the damaged seed coat with fractured discontinuous epidermis with loose broken cell junctions between epidermal cells were observed. Intense hyphal branching with haustoria and abundant sporulation were observed in groundnut cv. JL 24 as compared to resistant cv. J 11. The per cent reduction in oil content was high in susceptible groundnut cv. JL 24 (18.3%) as compared to resistant groundnut cv. J 11 (9 %). While the reduction in oil content was less in the untreated seeds of groundnut cv. JL 24 and groundnut cv. J 11 ( 13.7% and 6%). Overall the per cent reduction in the protein content was found high in susceptible groundnut cv. JL 24 (16.3 %) as compared to resistant groundnut cv. J 11 (6.5 %). While the reduction in protein content was less in the untreated seeds of groundnut cvs. JL 24 and J 11 (14.2 % & 5.1 %). The per cent reduction in the unsaturated fatty acids like linoleic and oleic acids were high in susceptible groundnut cv. JL 24 (17.5 % and 16.6 %) as compared to resistant groundnut cv. J 11 (15 % and 14 %). Whereas in the untreated seeds, the per cent reduction in linoleic and oleic acids were found low (11.3 % and 6 %) in cv. J 11 and 13.3 % and 8.2 % in cv. JL 24, respectively. The increase levels of saturated fatty acids viz., palmitic and stearic acids were high in susceptible cv. JL 24 (4.5 % & 4.5 %) as compared to resistant cv. J 11 (3.9 % & 2.93 %). Where as in untreated seeds, the increased levels in palmitic and stearic acids were found low (2.5 & 2 %) in cv. J 11 and 2.9 % and 1.94 % in groundnut cv. JL 24.

The aim of this study was to evaluate how effective bacteriocins, which are produced by lactic acid

bacteria, are against Staphylococcus aureus, Eneterococcus fecalis, and Escherichia coli. Lactobacillus fermentum, Lactobacillus acidophilus, and Lactobacillus rhamnosus were isolated from milk, dairy animal

milk products, and the intestinal contents of healthy broiler chickens. Conventional methods were used

to identify these isolates morphologically and biochemically. By using the precipitation process, bacteriocins were extracted from these bacteria. The disc diffusion method was used to test the antibacterial activity of bacteriocins. Isolated bacteriocin had inhibitory effect against Staphylococcus aureus and Enterococcus fecalis, but not against Eschrechia coli (2mm). The findings of this study revealed that bacteriocins are effective against common food pathogens and can thus be utilized to preserve food and

food items.