COVID-19 and The Livelihood of the Poor Peoples in some sub-Saharan Africa

The aim of this article is attempting to investigate in some sub-Saharan Africa risk due to COVID-19 and its impact on the livelihood of the poor based on an eyewitness, firsthand information and reports and Asses the tradeoff between the slogan of “stay at home” and the daily activity of the poor in the Africa. Subject and Methods: The article was used both systematic and empirical analysis approach to get brief idea on the COVI-19 and the Livelihood of the poor in the continent. The study looks highly about COVID-19 and economic contraction and political instability in the continent. The poor lose again, fiscal risk, export reduction, domestic violence and remittance lock are the main portion were clearly reviewed in this review article. Results: The article revealed that from all classes of people, the poor become poorest and livelihood of the marginalized people become critical question. Consequently, unemployment, inflation and income inequality are aggravated as pandemic arise in Africa. Most of oil exporting country like Nigeria, agricultural export country like Ethiopia, Kenya and Ivory coast are getting worse due to lock down. Conclusion: Slowing economic growth will undermine the ability of governments to provide basic public services in the medium term. The reputation of the security forces will further deteriorate as they struggle to enforce lockdowns with limited resources and discipline. Finally, the author suggest that Africa should follow FIDH and WB to arise from these ashes of destruction.

Bacteriophages as Therapeutic Agents: Alternatives to Antibiotics

: Bacteriophages are bacterio-specific viruses that constitute a main portion of the environment. Bacteriophages inject their genome into the targeted bacterial cells and some of them can disrupt the metabolism of bacteria and cause bacterial cell disintegration. The application of bacteriophages to kill bacteria is known as bacteriophage therapy. Since bacteriophages target bacteria and are strain-specific, every bacteriophage/bacterial host pair is unique. They are believed to cause no harm to humans. An additional advantage of the strain-specific nature of bacteriophages is that they do not disrupt the beneficial natural flora in the body. Bacteriophage therapy in the West is not a recognized medicine at this time, and no products are registered. Some clinicians are turning to bacteriophage therapy for the treatment of antibiotic-resistant infections. Lack of adverse effects makes bacteriophage therapy ideal for use. Funding research, media attention, and the increased publication of articles helped in a widespread understanding of its therapeutic potential. The first prerequisite for the use of bacteriophage therapy is simply the availability of bacteriophages for treatment, which is often complicated at this stage of bacteriophage production. This includes providing access to all biologically active bacteriophages against the bacterial isolate of the patient and meeting regulatory criteria of purity, traceability, and characterization. A monophage preparation, which is a single bacteriophage, or a phage cocktail, which consists of a number of combined bacteriophages against one or more bacterial species may be used. Accordingly, the antibiotic resistance crisis brought back bacteriophage therapy as a potential complementary or alternative treatment. Bacteriophages are promising cheap antibacterials.

Holocene Records of Nebraska Mammals

A survey of the archeological and paleontological literature allowed a compilation of Holocene records of mammals in Nebraska. This survey identified Holocene records from 338 sites in 62 of the 93 Nebraska counties. These counties were located throughout state, but there was a concentration of sites in southwestern Nebraska where there were 27 fossil sites in Frontier County and 22 in Harlan County. Fossils sites were underrepresented in the Sand Hills region. Records of fossil mammals covered the entire Holocene period from 13,000 years ago until AD 1850. A minimum of 57 species (with eight additional species potentially present) representing six orders of mammals were represented in the compilation—four species of Lagomorpha, four species of Soricomorpha, 17 species of Carnivora (with three additional species potentially present), one species of Perissodactyla, six species of Artiodactyla, and 25 species of Rodentia (with five additional species potentially present). The remains of bison were found at 276 sites, which was more than for any other species in the state. Additional species that formed the main portion of the diet of Native Americans were the next most abundant in the fossil record—deer, pronghorn, and wapiti. That these food species dominated in the Holocene record was to be expected because fossils were recovered primarily from archeological sites.

Tax Expenditure Reporting and Domestic Revenue Mobilization in Africa

The use of tax expenditures (TEs) is an important fiscal practice that is often overlooked in public spending debates. The fiscal cost as well as the lack of effectiveness of TEs can be significant. This chapter describes the state of TE reporting across the world, focusing on Africa. It begins by explaining in detail what TEs are and what their role in government expenditure is. It proceeds by offering examples of the fiscal cost of these provisions, their (in)effectiveness, and the reasons why they are often hard to remove. The main portion of the chapter focuses on the lack and inconsistency of TE reporting. The chapter provides the first results of the “Global Tax Expenditures Database” (GTED), an ongoing project aiming to increase transparency and boost research in the TE field. The GTED reveals that over 64% of African countries do not provide any information on their TEs, while most of the countries that do report on TEs leave out important information such as the policy objectives and beneficiaries of those provisions. Lastly, using the available data, the chapter reports that, on average, TEs in African countries account for 2.8% of GDP and 17.8% of total tax revenue, and being as high as 7.8% (in Senegal) and 58.4% (in Mauritania), respectively.

Emerging Processing Technologies for the Recovery of Valuable Bioactive Compounds from Potato Peels

Potato peel (PP) is the major underutilised by-product in the potato-processing industry and a potential source of valuable bioactive molecules. Among them, glycoalkaloids and polyphenols are important precursors for steroid hormones and natural antioxidants, respectively. Moreover, the huge quantities of industrial potato-peel waste that are produced are a rich source of primary metabolites, which principally include starch as well as non-starch polysaccharides, proteins, lipids, lignin and cellulose. All carbohydrates are prone to undergo fermentation to produce ethanol, lactic and acetic acid. Finally, the main portion of PP is made up of alcohol-insoluble matter with a dietary fibre content of approximatively 40%. The present review summarises the recent advances and emerging technologies in potato-peel extraction and further valorisation processing in the food industry.

Contribution of away-from-home food to the energy and nutrient intake among Brazilian adolescents

Objective: To compare the contribution of different food consumption places to the energy and nutrient intake among Brazilian adolescents. Design: We analysed data from the Study of Cardiovascular Risk in Adolescents – ERICA, carried out in 2013–2014. Foods were categorised into thirty-three food groups. Energy, nutrients and food groups were analysed according to home, public and private schools, and other places of foods consumption. Linear regression models were used to test the association between eating away from home and nutrient intake. Setting: Brazilian public and private schools. Participants: All adolescents who had undergone anthropometric evaluation and provided information through the questionnaires, including the 24-h recall (n 71 740). Results: The main portion of energy intake per day was consumed within the adolescent households (8112·776 kJ (1939 kcal), 95 % CI 1892, 1985). Away-from-home eating was reported by 52 % of students in a given day, but it contributed to only 15 % of total energy intake. This contribution was mainly due to high energy-dense food intake. The percentage contribution of foods consumed at public school and other places was very similar with respect to nutrients. However, food consumption at other places meant less intake of protein, fibre and Fe, in addition to increasing the intake of added sugar and fats. Conclusions: The frequency of food consumption outside the home by adolescents is high, although the main contribution to energy intake occurs at home, and despite the similarity of nutrients consumed in school and restaurants, the latter tends to worsen the nutritional quality of meals.

Species composition and distribution of fishes and prawns in the Amur River channel

istribution of fishes and prawns in the Amur River (40–960 km from the mouth) is described on results of the beam-trawl survey conducted in September-October, 2003 (57 trawl stations at the depth of 1.5–23.0 m). In total, 2584 ind. of 22 fish species and 1077 ind. of 1 invertebrate species (prawn Palaemon modestus) were caught. The highest species richness was registered for orders Cypriniformes (13 species) and Siluriformes (4 species). The fish and prawn stocks were evaluated as 32.161 . 106 ind. (583.8 t) for bottom and near-bottom fish and 4.887 . 106 ind. (8.8 t) for prawns. Two commercial fish species were the most abundant: catfishes Tachysurus brashnikowi (16.26 . 106 ind. or 32.9 % of total biomass) and T. sinensis (4.32 . 106 ind. or 24.0 % of total biomass); other 6 fish species with considerable biomass were lizard gudgeon Saurogobio dabryi (12.6 %), ussuri catfish T. ussuriensis (9.7 %), amur white-pinned gudgeon Romanogobio tenuicorpus (7.8 %), amur sturgeon Acipenser schrenckii (5.6 %), amur gudgeon Gobio cynocephalus (2.4 %), and kaluga Huso dauricus (0.6 %). Distribution density varied in the range of 0.01–2.57 g/m2 (on average 0.45 ± 0.27 g/m2) for fish and 0.005–0.044 g/m2 (0.021 ± 0.012 g/m2) for prawns. Abundance of both fish and prawns increased multifold towards the Amur mouth that correlated with increasing of forage benthos biomass in the same direction. So, the main portion of fish biomass (82.4 %) was distributed in the Amur River downstream (40–400 km from the mouth) and the prawn stock was concentrated completely in its lowermost part (50–150 km from the mouth).

Enhanced sliding mode controller performance in DC-DC buck converter using a tan hyperbolic reaching law and constant plus proportional reaching law

This paper presents an enhanced sliding mode controller (SMC) operation, chattering analysis and loading conditions of the SMC DC-DC buck converter. Sliding mode portion, chattering attenuation are analyzed by using a conventional and proposed reaching law in buck converter. A proposed tan hyperbolic reaching law (THRL) is originated to be useful in terms of chattering mitigation and fast convergence. The major drawback of the conventional reaching law viz, it bypasses the main portion of the sliding mode portion to ensure fast reaching. It causes more chattering, more time to reach the steady state on the switching surface. The most significant improvement of SMC is that it guarantees strengthening the sliding mode phase. The proposed tan hyperbolic reaching law is being hit here during an exponential adjustment so that the attributes of it, covers complete sliding mode portion, chattering mitigation and fast reaching time. In turn, cause fewer switching loss in the buck converter. Even external disturbances and uncertainty of the system occurs. The loading conditions are applied to proposed tan hyperbolic reaching law and analyzed. Simulation analysis conducted by MATLAB/Simulink.

Ecological Status, Natural Productivity, Physico-Chemical and Biological Factors Controlling Productivity in the Bow Lake of Bansadaha, Burdwan

The basic understanding of the limnology, productive potentials, and fish productions of beel (water body) is essential for the sustainable development at Bansdahabeel in Burdwan. The area of Bansdahabeel is 26-hectare having depth 1.75 to 5.5m. An investigation was conducted on the ecology of the beels, productivity, plankton and macrophytes. Transparency value was low during summer and the pH was slightly alkaline. The monthly mean values of dissolved oxygen were somewhat lower in this closed beel (water body). The nitrate values were higher in summer and lower during the monsoon period. The soil contains 93% of sand. Among the plankton, community, phytoplankton formed the main portion of the total plankton. Cyanophyceae was the major contributor among the phytoplankton as Chlorophyceae was the second largest group. The monthly mean value of the zooplankton population was 417.22μl-1 in Bansdahabeel. The beel harbours mixed population of macrophytes with the dominance of submerged plants throughout the year. Fish production was recorded to 1159.83 kg/ha/yr. However, the production of carps was much higher than the miscellaneous fishes.

Pharmacokinetic Evaluation of 99mTc-radiolabeled Solid Lipid Nanoparticles and Chitosan Coated Solid Lipid Nanoparticles

Background: Solid Lipid Nanoparticles (SLNs) possess unique in vivo features such as high resistivity, bioavailability, and habitation at the target site. Coating nanoparticles with polymers such as chitosan greatly affects their pharmacokinetic behavior, stability, tissue uptake, and controlled drug delivery. The aim of this study was to prepare and evaluate the biodistribution of 99mTc-labeled SLNs and chitosan modified SLNs in mice. Methods: 99mTc-oxine was prepared and utilized to radiolabel pre-papered SLNs or chitosan coated SLNs. After purification of radiolabeled SLNs (99mTc-SLNs) and radiolabeled chitosan-coated SLNs (99mTc-Chi-SLNs) using Amicon filter, they were injected into BALB/c mice to evaluate their biodistribution patterns. In addition, nanoparticles were characterized using Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM), Fourier-transform Infrared Spectroscopy (FTIR), Differential Scanning Calorimetry (DSC), X-ray Powder Diffraction (XRD) and Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS). Results: 99mTc-oxine with high radiochemical purity (RCP~100%) and stability (RCP > 97% at 24 h) was used to provide 99mTc-SLNs and 99mTc-Chi-SLNs with high initial RCP (100%). TEM image and DLS data suggest 99mTc- SLNs susceptibility to aggregation. To that end, the main portion of 99mTc-SLNs radioactivity accumulates in the liver and intestines, while 99mTc-Chi-SLNs sequesters in the liver, intestines and kidneys. The blood radioactivity of 99mTc-Chi-SLNs was higher than that of 99mTc-SLNs by 7.5, 3.17 and 3.5 folds at 1, 4 and 8 h post-injection. 99mTc- Chi-SLNs uptake in the kidneys in comparison with 99mTc-SLNs was higher by 37.48, 5.84 and 11 folds at 1, 4 and 8h. Conclusion: The chitosan layer on the surface of 99mTc-Chi-SLNs reduces lipophilicity in comparison with 99mTc- SLNs. Therefore, 99mTc-Chi-SLNs are less susceptible to aggregation, which leads to their lower liver uptake and higher kidney uptake and blood concentration.