Most empirical work on sources of economic growth for different countries lack country-specific empirical evidence to guide policy choices in individual developing countries and previous studies of factor productivity tend to focus on the entire economy or a single sector. In this study, we use the recently developed growth accounting tools to explicitly determine the sources of economic growth at both national and sectoral levels in Zambia between 1970 and 2013. We use data from World Development Indicators and Zambia’s Central Statistical Office. On average, total factor productivity (TFP) contributes about 5.7% to economic growth. Sectoral analysis shows that agriculture contributes the least to GDP and that within each sector; factors that contribute to growth differ. Structural transformation has been slow and contributed to the observed inefficiency. We outline the implications of the observed growth and provide recommendations.

The major aim of this study was to investigate and explores the linkage between economic growth, electricity access, energy use and population growth in Pakistan. To check the variables stationarity, Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) and Phillips-Perron unit root test was applied and an Autoregressive Distributed Lag (ARDL) bounds testing approach to co-integration was applied to investigate the dynamic causality link among the study variables. These tests shed light on the long-run connection among the variables; further, the results revealed that electricity access to population, electricity access to urban population, energy usage, population growth, and urban population growth had a significant impact on economic growth, while the electricity access to rural population and rural population growth has a negative impact on the economic growth in Pakistan. According to these findings, study commends that government of Pakistan pay further attention to increase its electricity production from different sources including, hydroelectric, solar, oil and gas and nuclear in order to fulfill the country’s demands. By using ARDL bounds testing approach, this study filled the literature gap regarding economic growth, electricity access, energy use and population growth in Pakistan.

Growing crystals of nickel niobate (NiNb2O6), we noticed that changing growth conditions allowed our material to enter different areas of the phase diagram. In particular, we found that excess material accumulated within and above the liquid zone. Analysis showed that this was an unincorporated constituent. Changing the ratio of the constituent oxides - an excess of ~4% of either NiO or Nb2O5 gave us the opportunity to investigate changes in zone stability, melting temperature and quality of the resulting crystal. We found that a small excess of nickel oxide decreases the melting temperature significantly, and created the best pseudo-rutile NiNb2O6 crystal studied, while higher amounts of niobium oxide allowed us to stabilize the NiNb2O6 columbite phase. This research reinforces the idea that self-flux as a travelling solvent can significantly impact crystal growth parameters and quality.

Background: Elevated respiratory rates (RR) have been described in several disease states, such as pneumonia, asthma and bronchiolitis. Despite this, there are few studies defining the range of RR found in healthy children. Available age percentiles for RR have been generated using methods that have the potential themselves to alter the rate. Aim: The aim of this study was to develop accurate percentile charts of RR specific for age in healthy children for potential use in pre-hospital care (first-aid), clinical medicine and for reference in respiratory research. Method: A newly developed optical respiratory sensor was used to measure RR which placed no restrictions on respiratory excursion. This technique enabled recording in awake children without the artefact of the observer’s presence on the subject’s RR. A cross-sectional sample of healthy children was obtained from maternity wards, childcare centres and schools in Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. Results: RR were observed in 560 awake and 103 sleeping children of which data from 343 awake and 94 sleeping children was used to create reference ranges for healthy children from newborn to 13 years of age. The recorded rates were significantly higher when children were awake compared to asleep. During quiet sleep, RR decreased from 40 (interquartile range 7) bpm at one month to 20 (interquartile range 3) in children aged 3 years. In awake children, RR ranged from a median of 40 bpm (interquartile range 18) at 1 year to 12 bpm (interquartile range 11) at 13 years respectively. Conclusion: The optical sensor was found to be an appropriate respiratory transducer, capable of measuring RR and reducing artefact by the subjective responses of alert children. The centile charts will be helpful as an aid to detecting abnormal RR in children and will contribute to further systematic reviews related to this vital sign.

Recent years' global shocks (e.g., the 2008 financial crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic) and environmental shocks - such as natural disasters - have heightened the vulnerability of developing countries to future shocks, and can compromise their development prospects. International institutions and researchers have advocated that the strengthening of productive capacities in these countries would help them enhance the resilience of their economies to shocks, and promote sustainable development. The present paper has examined the effect of productive capacities on economic growth and economic growth volatility in developing countries, in particular when they face a high level of structural economic vulnerability. The analysis covers 117 developing countries over the period 2000-2018. It shows that productive capacities do not only promote economic growth, but also reduce economic growth volatility. On the other hand, structural economic vulnerability reduces economic growth, in particular when it exceeds a certain level, and induces greater volatility of economic growth. Interestingly, the findings suggest that productive capacities promote economic growth and reduce economic growth volatility in countries that face a high degree of structural economic vulnerability. These findings support the recommendation by international institutions and researchers that if they were to enhance the resilience of their economies to shocks, and promote sustainable economic growth, developing countries (in particular the poorest ones) should strengthen their productive capacities.

Objective: We previously provided evidence to confirm that soluble Fms-like tyrosine kinase-1 (sFlt-1), placental growth factor (PlGF), and their ratio, are useful tools to direct the management of preeclampsia (PE), fetal growth restriction (FGR), and PE+FGR near delivery. In this study we examine the potential additive value of Inhibin-A, a hormone marker of the transforming growth factor family. Methods: We used a cohort of 125 pregnant women enrolled near delivery at clinics of the University Medical Center of Ljubljana, Slovenia. There were 31 cases of PE, 16 of FGR, 42 of PE+FGR, 15 iatrogenic preterm delivery (PTD), and 21 unaffected controls with delivery of a healthy baby at term. Cases delivered before 34 weeks’ gestation included 13 of PE, 12 of FGR, 22 of PE+FGR, and 6 of PTD. We recorded demographic characteristics and medical history and the levels of PlGF, sFlt-1 and Inhibin-A. The predictive accuracy of each biomarker, their ratios, and combinations was estimated from areas under the curve (AUC) of Receiver Operating Characteristics (ROC) curves. We estimated accuracy by the continuous marker model and a cut-off model. Results: Combining Inhibin-A with PlGF or with the sFlt-1 / PlGF ratio showed a 10-20% increase in AUCs and 5-15% increase in the detection rate, at 10% false positive rate, of PE, and a lower, but significant, increase for PE+FGR but not for FGR alone. The use of a cut-off model was adequate, although a bit higher accuracy was obtained from the continuous model. Highest correlation was found for PlGF with all three complications. Conclusion: Inhibin-A improves the accuracy of predicting PE and PE+FGR provided by the angiogenic markers alone, bringing the results to a diagnostic level, thus assisting in directing clinical management. Inhibin-A had no added value for the accuracy of predicting FGR alone.

Breast cancer (BC) is the most common malignancy and second only to lung cancer in terms of mortality in women. Despite the incredible progress made in this field, the metastatic breast cancer leaves a poor prognosis. In an era of personalized medicine, there is an urgent need for a better knowledge of the biology leading to the disease, which can lead to the design of always more accurate drugs against patients’ specific molecular aberrations. Among one of the actionable targets is the Fibroblast Growth Factor Receptor (FGFR) pathway, triggered by specific ligands. The FGFRs/FGFs axis offers interesting molecular targets to be pursued in clinical development. This mini-review will focus on the current knowledge of the FGFRs mutations leading to tumour formation and summarizes the state-of-the-art of therapeutic strategies for targeted treatments against the FGFRs/FGFs axis in the context of BC.

According to current guidelines, growth hormone (GH) therapy is strongly recommended in children and adolescents with GH deficiency (GHD) in order to accelerate growth rate and attain normal adult height. The diagnosis of GHD requires demonstration of decreased GH secretion in stimulation tests, below the established threshold value. Currently, GHD in children is classified as secondary insulin-like growth factor-1 (IGF-1) deficiency. Most of children diagnosed with isolated GHD presents with normal GH secretion at the attainment of near-final height or even in mid-puberty. The most important clinical problems, related to the diagnosis of isolated GHD in children and to optimal duration of rhGH therapy include: arbitrary definition of subnormal GH peak in stimulation tests, disregarding factors influencing GH secretion, insufficient diagnostic accuracy and poor reproducibility of GH stimulation tests, discrepancies between spontaneous and stimulated GH secretion, clinical entity of neurosecretory dysfunction, discrepancies between IGF-1 concentrations and results of GH stimulation tests, significance of IGF-1 deficiency for the diagnosis of GHD, a need for validation IGF-1 reference ranges. Many of these issues have remained unresolved for 25 years or even longer. It seems that finding solutions to them should optimize diagnostics and therapy of children with short stature.

This lecture aims to survey the existing literature on the dynamic urban growth. Theapplication in this lecture is a small step in the long iterative process between theconstruction of a model and its use for practical purposes. In this lecture, we follow thenotion of urban development and conduct an analysis of conceptual modeling phases ofurban development by Paeliuck (1970).

This paper has examined the effect of economic complexity on poverty in developing countries. The analysis has used a sample of 84 countries over the period 1980-2017. Results indicate that greater economic complexity results in lower poverty headcount rates. This is particularly the case for countries that enjoy higher economic growth rates, lower levels of income inequality and lower degrees of economic growth volatility, including due to lower sizes of export demand and financial flows shocks. These findings have important policy implications for developing countries that are exploring ways and means to recover from the current COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and prepare for future crises.

We investigated fabrication of neodymium doped thin film optical waveguide-based devices as potential active sources for planar integrated optics. Liquid-phase epitaxial growth was used to fabricate neodymium-doped yttrium aluminum borate films on compatible lattice-matched un-doped yttrium aluminum borate substrates. We observed the refractive index contrast of the doped and un-doped crystal layers by differential interference contrast microscopy. In addition, characterization by X-ray powder diffraction, optical absorption and luminescence spectra demonstrated the crystal quality and uniformity and optical guiding of the resulting thin films.

Inter-industry has various capital structures to take advantage of growth opportunities due to agency differences and information asymmetric problems. This research aims to analyze: (1) the differences in leverage between industries; (2) the impact of shareholders-debtholders conflict and information asymmetric on growth opportunities. The findings show that there are differences in leverage between industries. However, they are relatively stable and not excessive for assets to prevent conflicts between managers and shareholders and debtholders. Equity is also not used to utilize growth because it is used to reduce the discretionary power (dilution) of shareholders. As a result, the use of opportunities and growth is limited.

Human milk (HM) is the gold standard for feeding infants but has been associated with slower growth in preterm infants compared with preterm formula. This systematic review and meta-analysis summarises the post-1990 literature to examine the effect of HM feeding on growth during the neonatal admission of preterm infants with birth weight ≤1500g and/or born ≤28 weeks’ gestation. Medline, PubMed, CINAHL and Scopus were searched, and comparisons grouped as: exclusive human milk (EHM) vs exclusive preterm formula (EPTF), any HM vs EPTF and higher vs lower doses of HM. We selected studies that used fortified HM and compared that with a PTF; studies comparing unfortified HM and term formula were excluded. Experimental and observational studies were pooled separately. The GRADE system was used to evaluate risk of bias and certainty of evidence. Forty-four studies were included with 37 (n =9,963 infants) included in the meta-analyses. In general, due to poor quality studies, evidence of the effect of any HM feeds or higher versus lower doses of HM was inconclusive. There was a possible effect that lower doses of HM compared with higher doses of HM improved weight gain during the hospital admission, and separately, a possible effect of increased head circumference growth in infants fed EPTF vs any HM. The clinical significance of this is unclear. There was insufficient evidence to determine the effects of an exclusive HM diet on any outcomes.

Coral reef is an important underwater ecosystem that is rich in biodiversity in it. Coral growth has decreased drastically due to physical and chemical threats, such as the effect of warming seawater, fish bombing activities, and the effects of wastewater. The efficiency level of coral transplantation is determined by many factors, including the stability of the environment's physical condition, the level of coral diversity, and the method of transplantation. The influence of the planting medium can also be a key factor in succeeding the coral transplantation process. The use of stable and natural growing media can be a solution to replace conventional growing media that have been used. Zeolite material is a medium that has many advantages such as amending the trace elemental contents of saltwater such as carbon absorbents, detoxifiers, ammonia remover, catalysts, promoting marine micro-algal growth, become a media for bacterial growth, etc. This review discusses the possibility of zeolites as the candidate media that can be used as a new medium in coral transplantation process to accelerate coral growth and maintain coral health by increasing the adaptation of corals to the effects of global climate change.

This paper contributes to the debate on the impact of economic diversity and the resource curse on economic growth. We use dynamic panel data models on data on Canadian and US sub-national jurisdictions. We find evidence for a positive relationship between diversity and growth. Based on the Krugman Specialization Index, our analysis shows that the required threshold for not having the resource curse is 0.209. Above this threshold, the marginal contribution of natural resources to economic growth is lower for a more diversified regional economy than a less diversified one. We highlight the policy implications of these findings.

This study attempts to assess the impact of corruption on economic growth in the Mediterranean countries, during the period from 1998 to 2007. Econometric analysis using panel regression has been adopted to test this effect. Individual effects models such as random effects model and fixed effects model were applied to the study sample of 160 observations, and to choose the suitable model, we implemented several tests. For our analysis, we used a basic model that includes the dependent variable GDP per capita as a factor of economic growth and the corruption perception index as the independent variable concerned. Then we completed the model with several standardized macroeconomic control variables mentioned above and applied the individual effects models. The outcomes illustrate that corruption has a negative impact on the selected Mediterranean countries’ economic growth.

Achieving high economic growth rate while maintaining low inflation rate, has become the main objective of monetary authorities all over the world. Indeed, empirical literature reflects that high inflation rates are detrimental to long run growth and entail welfare costs. To achieve this objective, central banks have availed different options from time to time which include inflation targeting. Monetary authorities in Tanzania have been targeting an inflation level of around 5 percent per annum for economic policy purposes. However, when high inflation is to be controlled, tight monetary policy is put in place which might in turn affect the economic activity. Also, the Tobin effect suggests that inflation causes individuals to substitute out of money and into interest earning assets, which leads to greater capital intensity which in turn promotes economic growth. Against these major points, this paper examines a non linear relationship between inflation and economic growth using both a quadratic and threshold endogenous models and attempts to identify the existence of threshold effects between these variables. The paper uses a data set spanning from 1967 to 2015. The most interesting finding of the estimations is that the estimated coefficient of the linear term of inflation is negative while the estimated coefficient of the square term of inflation is positive, suggesting a U-shaped effect as opposed to inverse or inverted U-shaped relationship found in other countries by previous studies. These results suggest that the Tobin effect may be valid for high inflation, in which people strongly realize the importance of substituting money for interest-bearing assets. This leads to an increase in capital investment, and in turn, an increase in economic growth even with high inflation rate. However, this U-shaped relationship between inflation and economic growth suggests that, the economy is better off at extremely low inflation episodes. The optimal inflation rate that ranges between 3.25 percent and 3.75 percent is obtained by minimizing the residual sum of squares and/or maximizing adjusted R-squared. These findings have some policy implications for the policymakers and development partners. The paper is consistent with policy suggestions by international agencies. Efforts to minimize inflation to a very low level are likely to have a positive effect on economic growth.

In this work epitaxial Au islands have been grown on epitaxial α-Fe2O3 thin film by pulsed laser deposition on SrTiO3(111) substrate. Both Au and α-Fe2O3 layer show an island-type growth with an average particle size of 40 and 62 nm, respectively. The crystallographic coupling of lattices is confirmed with a rotation of 30º between the in-plane crystallographic axes of α-Fe2O3(0001) structure and those of SrTiO3(111) substrate and between the in-plane crystallographic axes of Au(111) and those of α-Fe2O3(0001) structure. α-Fe2O3 is the only phase of iron oxide identified before and after its functionalization with Au nanoparticles. In addition, its structural character-istics are also preserved after Au deposition, with minor changes at short-range order. The func-tional character of the complex systems as gas sensor has been proven at room temperature. Con-ductance measurements of Au(111)/α-Fe2O3(0001)/ SrTiO3(111) system show that the incorpora-tion of Au islands on top of the α-Fe2O3(0001) layer induces an enhancement of the gas-sensing ac-tivity for CO and CH4 gas in comparison to a bare α-Fe2O3(0001) layer grown on SrTiO3(111).

“Money has always been something of an embarrassment to economic theory. Everyone agrees that it is important; indeed, much of macroeconomic policy discussion makes no sense without reference to money. Yet, for the most part theory fails to provide a good account for it.” (Banerjee and Maskin, 1996, p. 955)The debate about whether or not a growth imperative exists in debt based, interest bearing mone- tary systems has not yet been settled. It is the goal of this paper to introduce a new perspective in this discussion.For that purpose an SFC computational model is constructed which simulates a post Keynesian Endogenous Money system without including economic parameters such as production, wages, consumption and savings. A case is made that isolating the monetary system allows for better analysis of the inherent properties of such a system.Loan demands, which are assumed to happen, are the driving force of the model. Simulations can be run in two modes, each based on a different assumption. Either the growth rate of the money stock is assumed to be constant or the loan rate, expressed as a percentage of the money stock, is assumed to be constant.Simulations with varying parameters are run in order to determine the conditions under which the model converges to stability, which is defined as converging to a bounded debt rate.The analysis shows that stability of the model is dependent on net bank profit ratios, expressed relative to their debt assets, remaining below the growth rate of the money stock. Based on these findings it is argued that the question about the existence of a growth imperative in debt based, interest bearing monetary systems needs to be reframed. The question becomes whether a steady state economy can realistically support such a system without destabilising it. In order to answer this question real world behavior of economic actors must be included in the model.It is concluded that there are indications that it might not be feasible for a steady state economy to support a stable debt based, interest bearing monetary system without strong interventions. However, more research is necessary for a definite answer. Real world observable data should be analysed through the lens of the presented model to bring more clarity.

The aim of present study was to link the gene expression profile of selected candidate genes with blood profile, growth performance and carcass traits of Barki lambs. Thirty-eight Barki lambs were divided into 3 groups (fast, intermediate and slow growing) according to growth perfor-mance. Body tissues (muscle, liver and fat) were taken from for RNA isolation and Real-time PCR. The results indicated that, the final body weight hot carcass weight were heavier (P ≤ 0.05) in fast (49.9 Kg and 24.57) than intermediate (40.7 and 19.07 Kg) and slow (30.8 and 15.10 Kg) growing animals. The blood profile of total protein, total lipids, calcium, T3 and T4 hormones did not differ among sheep groups. Genes involved in protein biosynthesis (RPL7), fatty acid oxidation (CPT1) and lipolysis (FABP4) were up regulated in fast and intermediate growing lambs in all studied tissues. While, gene-regulating lipogenesis (ADIPOQ) was expressed simi-larly in fat and liver tissues, but increased its expression in muscle of fast and intermediate growing lambs. Expression of CAPN3 was increased in fast and intermediate growing compared to slow growing lambs. In conclusion, the current study providing an evidence for the im-portance of co-expression of these genes in main body tissues linked with growth performance of Barki lambs.

The objective of this study was to develop the least-cost starter’s diet and evaluated its effect on the growth performance of Sasso breeds and Indigenous ecotype of chicks under the local condition of the South Gondar Zone. The effects of substitution of different levels of commercial starters ration with homemade diet on the growth performance of Sasso and Indigenous chicks were studied in Hiruy Abaregay village of Farta district. The research area is 586km distant from the capital city of Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. A total of 510 Sasso T-44 and 90 Indigenous local ecotypes day-old chicks were randomly divided into five groups, each with 102 and 18 chicks, respectively. These were assigned into five treatments in which 100 (T1), 75 (T2), 50 (T3), 25 (T4), and 0% (T5) of commercial starter’s diet in factorial completely randomized design (CRD) with 3 replications for 60 days feeding period. The results obtained indicated that increased levels of substitution of a commercial diet with a homemade diet significantly depressed (p<0.001) mean daily feed consumption and retention of dry matter, nitrogen, and metabolizable energy. Growth rate as measured by mean daily weight gain, mean final body weight, and total feed consumption and feed cost were significantly miserable (p<0.001) in an increased homemade diet. On the contrary, there was an increase in feed conversion ratio and fiber content in high-level dilution of starter’s commercial diet with a homemade diet. However, the groups of chicks on 0, 25, and 50% commercial starters diets replaced by homemade diet were significantly higher (p<0.001) in mean daily feed intake, daily weight gain, feed conversion ratio, and final body weight attained. The results of this study indicated that up to 50% of expensive commercial starter’s diet could economically be replaced with the least cost homemade diet without adversely affecting the growth performance of chicks.

After approximately 6 months of age, term breastfed infants are increasingly depending on other sources of iron to avoid iron deficiency anemia. The appropriate complementary feeding must include a balance composition of foods containing an adequate amount of macro- and micronutrients to reduce the risk of iron deficiency anemia. This study aims to compare the anemia and growth status of infants receiving commercial fortified infant cereals (FIC) with infants not receiving them. We use all complete multiple Demographic Health Surveys (DHS) from 2005 to 2018 to understand global infant feeding patterns. To better control for the strong household wealth effect in nutritional choices and possibly health awareness, we use propensity score technique as applied in outcome research to better control the effect of covariates. After matching and controlling for confounders, we did find a significant association between reduced risk of anemia and consumption of FIC. After matching and adjusting for confounders the small but positive effects of consumption of FIC on Height for age z-score and Weight for Height Z-score are no longer statistically significant.

The objective of this study was to evaluate the effects of dietary supplementation with bacteriophage and β-mannanase on health and growth performance in calves. Thirty-six pre-weaning male Holstein calves were randomly allocated to one of four dietary treatments: no supplementation, 0.1% β-mannanase, 0.1% bacteriophage, and both 0.1% bacteriophage and β-mannanase supplementation in a starter. The experiment lasted from 2 weeks before weaning to 8 weeks after weaning. Twenty-two calves survived to the end of the experiment. No interaction was observed between the two methods of supplementation. A 1-kg increase in initial BW resulted in a 1.41-fold increase in the odds ratio of survival (p < 0.01). The bacteriophage supplementation tended to increase the odds ratio of survival (p = 0.09). The number of Escherichia coli in feces significantly decreased one week after weaning. β-mannanase supplementation increased the concentrates intake (p < 0.01) and tended to increase the final BW (p = 0.08). Analysis of repeated measures indicated β-mannanase supplementation increased weekly body weight gain (p = 0.018). We conclude that bacteriophage supplementation may have a positive effect on calf survival rate, while β-mannanase supplementation may increase the growth rate and intake of a starter in calves.

Researchers’ attention has been turned on Health expenditure, Carbon emissions, and economic growth as they play a focal role in the current debate on environmental protection and sustainable development. Our paper endeavors to investigate the impact of economic growth and CO2 emissions on Health expenditure for two main countries in Asia (China and India) using a dynamic panel data model estimated employing the Generalized Method of Moments (GMM) for the period 1960–2019. Our empirical results show that there is a significant relationship between health expenditure, CO2 emissions, and economic growth. The empirical evidence indicates a significant positive impact of CO2 emissions on health expenditure whiles economic growth has a negative impact on health expenditure for both countries for the period under study. The population growth rate has transposed effect on India's health spending; on the other hand, its impact on China’s health spending is significantly positive. The strong observable correlation between health expenditure and economic growth is crucial for economic development.

COVID-19 is an infectious disease, growth of which depends upon the linked stages of the epidemic, the average number of people one person can infect and the time it takes for those people to become infectious themselves. We have studied the COVID-19 time series to understand the growth behaviour of COVID-19 cases series. A structural break occurs in the COVID-19 series at the change time form one stage to another. We have performed the structural break analysis of data available for 207 countries till April 20, 2020. There are 42 countries which have recorded five breaks in COVID cases series. This means that these countries are in the sixth stage of growth transmission and show a downward pattern in reporting in the daily cases, whereas countries with two and three breaks, record the rapid growth pattern in the daily cases. From this study, we conclude that the more the breaks in the series, there is more possibility to determine the constant or decreasing rate of daily cases. It is well fitted using lognormal distribution as this distribution is archived at its highest peak after some period and then suddenly it decreases at a longer time period. This can be seen in various countries like China, Australia, New Zealand and so on.

The observed data of COVID-19 progression in Pakistan for first 50 days from the first patient been reported has shown quite an unusual trend which is in opposition to clear exponential spread pattern of any infectious disease. The data of positive cases of 50 days of disease progression has been collected from COVID-19 dashboard of Pakistan and analyzed to see the graphical trend and to forecast the behaviour of disease progression for next 30 days. Mathematical equations regarding exponential growth are used to analyse the disease progression and different possible trajectories are plotted to understand the approximate trend pattern. The possible projections estimated 20k-456k positive cases within 80 days of disease spread in Pakistan. Although, the disease progression pattern is not perfectly exponential, it is still threatening a major fraction of susceptible population and demands effective strategic planning and control.

This paper aims to research whether there is link between FDI inflows and Economic growth in the Republic of Seychelles Island. The ordinary least square results obtained shows that in the impact of FDI inflows on economic growth is low. Small Island Developing States attracts less FDI inflow because they are limited to few resources that attracts overseas firms which results in retarded development. The research lighted that impact of foreign direct investment on host countries does not only depend on the quality and quantity of the FDI inflows but some other variables such as the internal policies and the management skills, market structures, economic trends among others.

Fusarium graminearum is a cereal pathogen responsible for economic losses worldwide every year. An understanding of its growth is key to control its infection, but current growth models are limited because their size-based approach provides little information about the mold's metabolism. Recently, a RGB (red, green and blue) imaging analysis demonstrated the predictability of F. graminearum color change as it grows in yeast extract agar (YEA). This study aimed to verify the same phenomenon in oats (a_w = 0.94, 0.97 and 0.99) and rice (a_w = 0.97, 0.98 and 0.99). Photos were taken using a professional camera and a smartphone (iPhone 6) after incubation and during the subsequent 16 days, and average RGB was quantified using ImageJ software. The photos showed very similar color variations, regardless of the type of grain or a_w. The mold first adopted a k-selection strategy by growing as a mycelium and then a r-selection strategy, increasing spore production. All RGB channels showed positive Pearson correlations between them (p < 0.001) and it was possible to design a model showing two lag phases, the first prior to a mycelial phase and the second prior to a sporular phase at the end of the experiment.

This paper examines the indirect effect of democracy on economic growth using a dataset of 17 MENA countries from 1990 to 2015. Democracy is assumed to affect growth through a series of channels: education, health, physical capital accumulation per labor, government consumption, and trade openness. A system of six simultaneous equations, 3SLS, is used to estimate the effect of democracy on growth through these channels. For further analysis, the countries are classified into groups according to the democratic status on the one side, and the level of income on the other. The results indicate that democracy enhances growth through its positive effect on health in all classifications of countries within the MENA region. However, the effect of democracy on growth through education and physical capital/labor is non-monotonic. Democracy always hinders growth through government size and trade openness. Once all of these indirect effects are accounted for, the overall effect of democracy on growth is negative in less democratic countries and poor countries, but positive in more democratic countries and rich countries.

Verticillium dahliae invades the roots of host plants and causes vascular wilt, which seriously diminishes the yield of cotton and other important crops. The protein AAC (ADP, ATP carrier) is responsible for transferring ATP from the mitochondria into the cytoplasm. When V. dahliae protoplasts were transformed with short interfering RNAs (siRNAs) targeting the VdAAC gene, fungal growth and sporulation were significantly inhibited. To further confirm a role for VdAAC in fungal development, we generated knockout mutants (ΔVdACC), which were hypersensitive to stresses such as UV light and high concentrations of NaCl or sorbitol. Compared with wild-type V. dahliae (Vd wt), ΔVdAAC was impaired in germination and virulence; these impairments were rescued in the complementary strains (ΔVdAAC-C). Moreover, when an RNAi construct of VdAAC under the control of the 35S promoter was used to transform Nicotiana benthamiana, the expression of VdAAC was downregulated in the transgenic seedlings, and they had elevated resistance against V. dahliae. The results of this study suggest that VdAAC contributes to fungal development, virulence and response to stresses and is a promising candidate gene to control V. dahliae. In addition, RNAi is a highly efficient way to silence fungal genes and provides a novel strategy to improve disease resistance in plants.

The paper examines the impact of inward remittances flows on per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh during 1976-2012. We find that the growth effect of remittances is negative at first but becomes positive at a later stage, an evidence of a non-linear. Unproductive use of remittances was rampant in the beginning when they were received by migrant families but better social and economic investments led to more productive utilisation of remittances receipts at later periods. This was the possible mechanism behind the U-shaped relationship. Unlike what is suggested in the literature that the effect of remittances is more pronounced in a less financially developed economy, our evidence do not show that the effect of remittances on per capita GDP growth in Bangladesh is conditional on the level of financial development.

Microbial growth has been of prime importance to the researchers in health and biotechnology industries. It has been known to be closely associated to the secretion of extracellular polymeric substances that help in the formation of colonies. Inter-microbial communication happens within such colonies by means of extracellular electron transfer mediated by the aforementioned polymeric substances. Conventionally, different phases of microbial growth are monitored with the aid of a traditional UV-Visible spectrophotometer by measuring the optical density of the liquid medium at 280 nm. In this paper, we have developed an alternative novel way to sense different growth phases employing electrochemical means i.e. two-terminal cyclic voltammetry. This cyclic voltammetry relies on the extracellular electron transfer mechanism taking place via the polymeric substances secreted by the microorganisms, measured by the temporal area changes in the current-voltage hysteresis curves in the inoculated nutrient broth. This work paves a new way to detect the biological activity in the medium, which can be directly correlated to the population of microorganisms. It would be of immense interest to scientists and researchers working in the field of microbiology as well as in development of biosensors, electrochemical sensors etc. which would be helpful in absence of traditional spectrophotometers.

This paper introduces a theory for the evolution of corporates in which the growth and sustainability strategies are developed simultaneously. Since the introduction of corporate sustainability, it has been an extra cost for risk mitigation and making ‘compensating’ positive impact. The world has reached a tipping point of volatility, mainly due to climate change but also by emergence of COVID-19, so that the applicability of existing corporate structures is under question and these poses high risk to the existence of our planet. On the other hand, the technology cost for sustainable investment has reached a parity in comparison with non-sustainable alternatives. Therefore, our proposed Organic Grow Theory introduces a step-by-step approach so that corporates can grow and be profitable without compromising the ability of future generations to meet their needs. It is concluded that, a new structure for corporate, called Founcorp, would be needed to direct corporates to evolve being a responsible legal entity.

Stunting, during the Covid-19 pandemic, is increasingly becoming a big problem in the world, especially in poor and developing countries. Observational studies have shown that stunting is associated with poor nutrition, especially a plant-based diet, inflammation, caused by infection, enteric dysfunction, an environment with clean water, inadequate sanitation and hygiene (WASH), and endogenous inflammation associated with excess adiposity. This causes nutritional interventions to be often unsuccessful (Kemenkes RI, 2018).The government intervenes to reduce stunting to the target party, which is divided into two categories. The first category is specific nutrition intervention, namely monitoring children under five at the posyandu, giving immunizations, giving vitamin A, giving Supplementary Foods (PMT), and others. The second category is sensitive nutrition interventions, namely the provision of drinking water and proper sanitation, postnatal family planning (KB) services, providing information related to stunting, food social assistance, conditional cash assistance, and others. (KEMEN-PMK, 2018). WHO states, that the impact of stunting can be divided into short-term and long-term impacts. The short-term impacts are; increased incidence of morbidity and mortality; cognitive, motor, and verbal development in children is not optimal; and increased healthcare costs. While the long-term impact; Posture that is not optimal as an adult (shorter than usual); Increased risk of obesity and other diseases; The decline in reproductive health; Less than optimal learning capacity and performance during school years; and Low productivity and work capacity (Kemenkes RI, 2018). The nursing goal is to help people achieve quality, holistic health. Implementation of Modeling and Role Modeling Theory is an option in implementing nursing care for children with stunting. “Modeling” is gaining an understanding of the client’s world from the client’s perspective. That is to build a “model” of the client’s worldview. “Role‑Modeling” is based on the assumption that all humans want to interact with others, they want to carry out selected roles in society. Role-Modeling is using the client’s model of the world to plan interventions that meet his or her perceived needs, grow, develop and heal. Role-Modeling requires that we aim to build trust, promote a positive orientation and a sense of control, affirm strengths and set specific mutual goals.

The objectives of this paper are to analyze the urban growth and urbanization phenomenon in Algeria. Two processes that originated respectively by the expansion of existing urban areas and the process of urbanization that took place between 1954 and 2008, a period marked by significant economic, social and political changes in Algerian society. Our analysis was mainly based on the Algerian general census of population and habitat (2008) and on the application of rank-size distribution of cities according to Zipf’s rule. This study revealed that in Algeria, the urban system is particularly marked by the dramatic expansion of small cities. Indeed, the development of small towns, through the transition from rural to urban and the residential loosening of large cities have influenced the trend towards the balance of the urban system in Algeria. Results revealed also how the "primatial" city is undergoing profound economic and social changes at the national level. These changes are most often imposed from the top as part of land-use planning policy. This study provides some insights into the demographic dynamics of cities and the evolution of urban hierarchies in Algeria, through the comparison of the different rank-size distributions of Algerian cities in space and time. Our results suggest that land-use planning strategies are the only policies capable of influencing the future of the Algerian urban system.

The purpose of this study is to examine the connection between economic growth and unemployment in Liberia between 2001 and 2019. The unit root test and the Augmented Dickey-Fuller (ADF) Co-integration test were used to examine the relationship between unemployment and GDP. The Auto Regressive Distribution Lag (ARDL) bounds test is used to determine if the variables are linked in the long run. According to the results of the ARDL model, there is no long-run relationship between unemployment and economic growth. This study' results have particularly important policy implications for Liberian economic authorities. In both the long and medium term, the observational results showed no meaningful relationship between unemployment and economic growth. The Liberian government should direct its spending toward activities that directly and indirectly promote the creation of employment and decent jobs, a conducive environment and flexible labor market policies or legislation that are not impediments to job creation, and finally, the government should prioritize labor intensive industries.

Although the vegetative stage of indoor cannabis production can be relatively short in duration, there is a high energy demand due to higher light intensities (LI) than the clonal propagation stage and longer photoperiods than the flowering stage (i.e., 16 – 24 hours vs. 12 hours). While electric lighting is a major component of both energy consumption and overall production costs, there is a lack of scientific information to guide cultivators in selecting a LI that corresponds to their vegetative stage production strategies. To determine the vegetative plant responses to LI, clonal plants of ‘Gelato’ were grown for 21 days with canopy-level photosynthetic photon flux densities (PPFD) ranging between 135 and 1430 µmol·m^-2·s^-1 on a 16-hour photoperiod (i.e., daily light integrals of ≈ 8 to 80 mol·m^-2·d^-1). Plant height and growth index responded quadratically; the number of nodes, stem thickness, and aboveground dry weight increased asymptotically; and internode length and water content of aboveground tissues decreased linearly with increasing LI. Foliar attributes had varying responses to LI. Chlorophyll content index increased asymptotically, leaf size decreased linearly and specific leaf weight increased linearly with increasing LI. Generally, PPFD levels of ≈ 900 µmol·m^-2·s^-1 produced compact, robust plants that are commercially relevant, while PPFD levels of ≈ 600 µmol·m^-2·s^-1 promoted plant morphology with more open architecture – to increase airflow and reduce the potential foliar pests in compact (i.e., indica-dominant) genotypes.

Little information is available regarding the impacts of dietary energy level on the gut microbiota and metabolites of donkeys. This studied aimed to explore the effects of dietary energy content on growth performance, intestinal microbiome and metabolome of Dezhou donkeys. Thirty-six 9-month-old male Dezhou donkeys were assigned to two groups fed low or high content energy diets (LE or HE). Results showed that donkeys fed HE had improved (P < 0.05) the average daily gain (ADG) and feed efficiency (G/F), compared with those receiving LE diet. Compared to the LE group, feeding HE specially increased the abundances of unidentified_Prevotellaceae (P = 0.02) while decreased the richness of unidentified_Ruminococcaceae (P = 0.05) of donkeys. Compared to LE group, feeding HE diet significantly (P < 0.05) affected the metabolic pathways involving the aspartate metabolism and urea cycle. In addition, the increased bacteria and metabolites in the HE-fed group exhibited a positive correlation with improved growth performance of donkeys. Taken together, feeding HE diet increased the richness of some specific bacteria and upregulated growth-related metabolic pathways, which contributed to the augmented growth performance of donkeys. Thus, it is a recommendable dietary strategy to feed HE diet to fattening donkey for superior production performance and feed efficiency.

In this study, our goal was to research land-use change by combining spatio–temporal land use/land cover monitoring (LULC (1989–2019) and urban growth modeling (1999–2039) in Benslimane, Morocco, to determine the effect of urban growth on different groups based on cellular automata (CA) and geospatial methods. A further goal was to test the reliability of the AC algorithm for urban expansion modeling. To do this, four years of satellite data were used at the same time as population density, downtown distance, slope, and ground road distance. The LULC satellite reported a rise of 3.8 km2 (318% variation) during 1989–2019. Spatial transformation analysis reveals a good classification similarity ranging from 89% to 91% with the main component analysis (PCA) technique. The statistical accuracy between the satellite scale and the replicated built region of 2019 gave 97.23 %t of the confusion matrix overall accuracy, and the region under the receiver operational characteristics (ROC) curve to 0.94, suggesting the model's high accuracy. Although the constructed area remains low relative to the total area of the municipality's territory, the LULC project shows that the urban area will extend to 5,044 km2 in 2019, principally in the western and southwestern sections. In 2019–2039, urban development is expected to lead to a transformation of the other class (loss of 1,364 km2), followed by vegetation cover (loss of 0.345 km2). In spatial modeling and statistical calculations, the GDAL and NumPy Python 3.8 libraries were successful.

The aim of the study was to analyze the in ovo injection of chemically and biologically synthesized silver nano-particles (Ag NPs) using Brassica oleracea L. var capitate f. Rubra, (BOL) conjugation with L-Arginine (L-Arg) on the immune, muscle growth, survivability and hatchability of the broiler chickens. L-Arg (100 μg) conjugated with 1000 µg of Ag NPs synthesized by (BOL)-extract and L-Arg (100 μg) conjugated with 100 µg of Ag NPs chemically synthesized were injected into fertile eggs at 8d, 14d and 18d of incubation. Living embryo and hatched chicks were calculated. Survivability and hatchability were not affected by the injected dose of L-Arg (100 μg) with 1000 µg (BOL-Ag NPs) and L-Arg (100 μg) with 100 µg (C-Ag NPs) but it significantly improved when the eggs were injected on day 14 of incubation compared with those injected on days 8 or 18. Moreover, the protein expression of muscle development markers such as myogenin and myoD were significantly up-related in 14 d of incubation whereas the heat shock proteins (HSPs) such as HSP-60 and HSP-70 were significantly up-regulated in 18 d incubation. In addition, the in ovo injection on 18 d significantly increased the serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) as well the immunoglobulin (IgM) levels were increased in 14d incubation period in serum at the same concentration.

The impact of monetary policies and their implementation by exchange rate covered the economic condition of Ghana. The social inclusion and conversion factors change the implemented policies of nations, where the real price, trade, technology, a price rate and price level of ratio take an important part of growth. The reform of the financial sector favors the free floating of the exchange rate and global trade by under the premise of flexible exchange rates. The tragedy of country growth and exchange rate toward a trajectory of growth with the growth-enhancing effect through social inclusion, conversion factors, price level ratio, exchange rate, merchant rate, export and trade services. The research study is based on secondary study and social inclusion equity indicators with public resources, building human resources and social protection for economic development has determined. The monetary policies are classified by the different evidence and trade indicators. The significant influence of growth and internal policies has affected trade and exchange rates with growth and reserve policies. The results have computed by linear regression and it proved that social inclusion and alternative conversion factors impact on the global trade and create short term binary relationship.

The composition of bacteria in the gastrointestinal tract of piglets is easily affected by environmental changes, particularly during the weaning period. Compound strains of Lactobacillus reuteri and Lactobacillus salivarius were supplemented to piglets during pre- and post-weaning to determine their effects in improving the growth performance and ameliorating the diarrhea rate and stress caused by antioxidation in piglets. A larger number of L. reuteri and L. salivarius colonized the distal segment of the ileum and the total numbers of Lactobacillus spp. and Bifidobacterium were higher in the ileal mucous membrane and cecal lumen with probiotics supplementation. The numbers of antioxidative and immune molecules were increased in the plasma following compound bacteria (CL) supplementation, whereas cortisol and endotoxin levels were lower and growth hormone and insulin-like growth factor 1 were higher. Spearman’s and KEGG analysis of the bacterial operational taxonomic unit and antioxidative and immune indices and metabolic genes indicated that the body growth modulation by CL supplementation could be attributed to optimization of the intestinal bacterial composition. Collectively, these results suggest that supplementation with CL could reduce stress and improve the growth performance of piglets during weaning by optimizing the intestinal bacterial composition.

The aim of the study was to analyze the in ovo injection of chemically and biologically synthesized silver nano-particles (Ag NPs) using Brassica oleracea L. var capitate f. Rubra, (BOL) conjugation with L-Arginine (L-Arg) on the immune, muscle growth, survivability and hatchability of the broiler chickens. L-Arg (100 μg) with 1000 µg (BOL-Ag NPs) and L-Arg (100 μg) with 100 µg (C-Ag NPs) were injected into fertile eggs at 8, 14 and 18 of incubation. Survival and hatched chicks were calculated. Survivability and hatchability were unaffected by the injected dose of L-Arg (100 μg) with 1000 µg (BOL-Ag NPs) and L-Arg (100 μg) with 100 µg (C-Ag NPs) but it significantly improved when the eggs were injected on day 14 of incubation compared with those injected on days 8 or 18. Moreover, the protein expression of muscle development markers such as myogenin and myoD were significantly up-related in 14 d incubation whereas the heat shock proteins (HSPs) such as HSP-60 and HSP-70 were significantly up-regulated in 18 d incubation. In addition, the in ovo injection on 18 d significantly increased the serum glutamate oxaloacetate transaminase (SGOT) and serum glutamate pyruvate transaminase (SGPT) as well the immunoglobulin (IgM) levels were increased in 14-day incubation period in serum at the same concentration. Collectively, these results indicate that injecting L-Arg (100 μg) with 1000 µg of BOL-Ag NPs or L-Arg (100 μg) with 100 µg of C-Ag NPs to eggs at day 14 after incubation could improve their hatchability, survival rate, and muscle growth marker.

Mapping settlement extents at the annual time step has a wide variety of applications in demography, public health, sustainable development, and many other fields. Recently, while more multitemporal urban feature or human settlement datasets have become available, issues still exist in remotely-sensed imagery due to coverage, adverse atmospheric conditions, and expenses involved in producing such feature sets. These challenges make it difficult to increase temporal coverage while maintaining high fidelity in the spatial resolution. Here we demonstrate an interpolative and flexible modeling framework for producing annual built-settlement extents. We use a combined technique of random forest and spatio-temporal dasymetric modeling with open source subnational data to produce annual 100m x 100m resolution binary settlement maps in four test countries of varying environmental and developmental contexts for test periods of five-year gaps. We find that in the majority of years, across all study areas, the model correctly identified between 85-99% of pixels that transition to built-settlement. Additionally, with few exceptions, the model substantially out performed a model that gave every pixel equal chance of transitioning to the category “built” in each year. This modelling framework shows strong promise for filling gaps in cross-sectional urban feature datasets derived from remotely-sensed imagery, provide a base upon which to create future built/settlement extent projections, and further explore the relationships between built area and population dynamics.

Size-based fungal growth studies have limitations. For example, the growth in size stops in closed systems once it reaches the borders and poorly describes the metabolic status, especially in the stationary phase. This might lead mycotoxin studies to unrealistic results. Color change could be a viable alternative as pigments are results of the mold’s metabolic activity. This study aimed to verify the possibility of using gray values and the RGB system to analyze the growth of Fusarium graminearum. It consisted color and area measurement using the ImageJ software for specimens grown in yeast extract agar (YEA). The results suggest the usability of color and gray values as reliable tools to analyze the growth of F. graminearum.

Seeds of three C₃ and one C₄ annual weedy species were collected from agricultural fields in Beltsville, Maryland in 1966 and 2006, when atmospheric CO₂ concentrations averaged about 320 and 380 mmol mol^-1, respectively. Plants from each collection year were grown over a range of CO₂ concentrations to test for adaptation of these weedy species to recent changes in atmospheric CO₂. In all three of the C₃ species, the increase in CO₂ concentration from 320 to 380 mmol mol^-1 increased total dry mass at 24 days in plants from seeds collected in 2006, but not in plants from seeds collected in 1966. Shoot and seed dry mass at maturity was greater at the higher growth CO₂ in plants collected in 2006 than in 1966 in two of the species. Down regulation of photosynthetic carboxylation capacity during growth at high CO₂ was less in the newer seed lots than in the older in two of the species. Overall, the results indicate that adaptation to recent changes in atmospheric CO₂ has occurred in some of these weedy species.

The aims of the study were to evaluate seedling growth and survival of Prunus africana provenances in awi highland based on ecological requirement of the tree. We measured survival and growth of three P.africana provenances seedlings found in Ethiopia (provenances sources namely: Gedeo, Jibat and Munnessa). Design of experiment with randomized complete block design (RCBD) with three replications. Seedlings planted at 2m, 2.5m and 3m distance between plants, plot, and blocks respectively. A plot size of 10mx10m and 25 plants are found per plot (0.01ha). We used ANOVA to test differences in survival, and growth among provenances over time. Results concluded that, provenances have no significant variation among in establishment rate, plant height and collar diameter growth. Of these provenances, Jibat was the first in establishment (56%), second in height (1.97m) and diameter (2.89cm). Gedeo was stood first in height (2.30m) but second in establishment rate (52%) and thickness(3.45cm), but Munessa with very good growth in diameter(3.59cm) might be prefreed for bark extraction followed by Gedeo, last in height (1.75m),but established second (52%). Contrary to expectations, seedlings were still at substantial risk of mortality ≥3 years after planting. Probably the plants survival rate and growth probably affected by altitude, soil water potential, light exposure, and wild animal presence in the surrounding. In steep slope sites, canopy shade, existing weed vegetation as well as wild animals such as apes is unlikely to enhance seedling survival after planting. Our results suggest that seedling mean growth increased with 0.008mm thickness and 0.41mm per day while 2.8mm thickness and 146.8mm tall increment recorded in 2560meter elevated high land or injibara with mean value of 18.5°C and rain fall is 1300mm.

Human milk is recommended for feeding preterm infant. Yet the potential impact of specific breast-milk lipid components on the initial growth rate of very-preterm infants has received scant attention. The current pilot study aims to determine whether breast-milk lipidome had any impact on the early growth pattern of preterm infants fed their own mother’s milk. A prospective monocentric observational birth cohort was established, enrolling 147 preterm infants, who received their own mother’s breast-milk throughout hospital stay. Among that cohort, infants who experienced slow (n=15) or fast (n=11) growth were selected, based on the change in their weight Z-score between birth and hospital discharge (-1.54± 0.42 and -0.48± 0.19 Z-score, respectively). Liquid chromatography-high resolution-mass spectrometry was used to obtain lipidomic signatures in breast-milk. Multivariate analyses made it possible to identify breast-milk lipid species that allowed clear-cut discrimination between the 2 infants’ groups. Validation of the selected biomarkers was performed by means of various multidimensional statistical techniques, false-discovery rate and ROC curve computation. Breast-milk associated with fast growth contained more medium chain-saturated fatty acid and -sphingomyelin, dihomo-γ-linolenic acid (DGLA)-containing phosphethanolamine, and less oleic acid-containing triglyceride and DGLA-oxylipin. Their predictive ability of preterm early-growth rate was validated in presence of confounding clinical factors.

Oil revenues and external debt might have stimulated economic growth in the oil exporting countries via investment in capital projects. The paper estimated economic growth on oil revenues and external debt after controlling public investment and population growth over the period 1970-2015. Following the confirmation of the order of integration, our analysis is based on autoregressive distributed lag bound testing to cointegration approach. The key findings are that oil revenues and public investment contributes to Nigeria’s economic growth. However, our findings also indicate that external debt and population growth retards growth. The study suggests that minimizing fiscal deficits and unnecessarily foreign loans by creating tax avenues through the development of the non-oil sectors would reduce the dependency syndrome on a single commodity (oil) in Nigeria.

A field experiment to assess the effect of mulch on growth (days to maturity, plant height, leaf length and leaf number) of Garlic (Allium Sativum L.) was conducted in 2015 - 2016 at Addis Ababa University Selale campus, on demonstration field to identify optimum plant growth using different mulches for Garlic tested independently. The experiment was designed using randomized complete block. The analyzed result using ANOVA shows significance difference among the treatments. Plots treated with black polyethylene mulch and grass mulch enhanced maturity by about 114 and 116 days, respectively, while garlic in control showed slightly delayed maturity of 125 days. Maximum plant height (66.5 cm) was recorded in the plants mulched by black polyethylene mulch followed by grass mulch which records 62.3 cm and 52.3 cm, respectively. A highly significant variation (p<0.05) in the leaf length was observed at the different mulch treatments. Significantly maximum leaf number (15.3) was recorded in plants mulched with black polyethylene followed by grass mulch with 14.0 leaf number. Thus, black polyethylene and grass mulch performs better than control treatment in growth parameter evaluation of garlic plants under fiche condition.

The beating heart is subject to intrinsic mechanical factors, exerted by contraction of the myocardium (stretch and strain) and fluid forces of the enclosed blood (wall shear stress). The earliest contractions of the heart occur already in the 10-somite stage in the tubular as yet unsegmented heart. With development the looping heart becomes asymmetric providing varying diameters and curvatures resulting in unequal flow profiles. These flow profiles exert various wall shear stresses and as a consequence different expression patterns of shear responsive genes. In this paper we investigate the morphological changes of the heart after changes the blood flow by ligation of the right vitelline vein in a model chicken embryo and analyze the extended expression in the endocardial cushions of the shear responsive gene Tgfbeta receptor III. A major phenomenon is the diminished endocardial-mesenchymal transition resulting in hypoplastic (even absence of) atrioventricular and outflow tract endocardial cushions, that might be lethal in early phases. The surviving embryos exhibit several cardiac malformations including ventricular septal defects and malformed semilunar valves related to a malposition of the aortopulmonary septum and the enclosed neural crest cells. We discuss the results in the light of the interactions between several shear stress responsive signaling pathways including Vegf, Notch, Pdgf, Klf2, eNos, Endothelin and Tgfβ/Bmp/Smad.

The potential effect of implementing environmental regulations on economic growth is a controversial issue for a long time. As portrayed by Porter hypothesis, environmental regulations may impact on economic growth by reconstructing the economic structure. A number of previous literature proved the connections between the above three parties. With the intention of exploring the nature of this mechanism, it is important to understand the internal inter-relation of the three parties, requiring data from a large economy experiencing the transition in economic structure. By constructing a panel containing data from 30 Chinese provinces over 10 years (2008-2019), this paper investigate the dynamic inter-relation of the three parties by introducing PVAR model with Granger Test. Results reveal that environmental regulations give a “U” shaped impact to economic growth. In return, economic growth promotes the development of economy with a weakening strength. In addition, results also support the hypothesis that economic structure is the intermediate of economic growth and environmental regulations. There is a rooftop for the effect of economic structure to environmental regulations. The rooftop may signify the best optimization of primary structure.

The study was carried out to investigate the growth response of Tetrapluera tetraptera to selected organic fertilizers. Organic fertilizers: poultry manure and cow dung of different concentration and mixture were used to raise seedlings from Germination experiment for a period of 12 weeks. Six treatments were used for this research: T1 (control experiment), T2 (10g of poultry manure), T3 (10g of cow dung), T4 (20g of poultry manure), T5 (20g of cow dung), T6 (15g of poultry manure + 15g of cow dung). Growth parameters such as diameter, plant height and number of leaves were measured weekly over a period of twelve (12) weeks. Data obtained were subjected to Anova and mean separated using Duncan multiple range tests. on the height parameter assessed on Tetrapluera tetraptera, the highest plant height mean of 12.20cm was recorded in treatment 6 (15g of poultry manure + 15g of cow dung) while the lowest mean plant height 7.19cm was recorded in treatment 3 (10g of cow dung) . the highest mean stem diameter was recorded in treatment 4 with a value of 0.43mm from while the least was recorded in Treatment 1 with mean value of 0.21 m. also, highest mean number of leaves was recorded treatment 4 (12.81) while the least was observed in T3 (11.01) . The results showed that organic manure has considerable effect on the growth of Tetrapluera tetraptera seedlings and it use should be encouraged. T3 (10g of poultry Manure + 10g of cow dung) was hereby recommended to be the best of all in the growth of Tetrapluera tetraptera.

Antarctica is one of the most inhospitable continents on the planet, with lichens and mosses being the most common terrestrial organisms in ice-free areas. Antarctica is represented by only two species of Angiosperms, Deschampsia antarctica Desv. (Poaceae) and Colobanthus quitensis (Kunth) Bartl. (Caryophyllaceae). In this study, we characterized fungi isolated from the leaves of this grass species. The fungi were isolated from 4 individual plants from Half Moon Island (246 leave fragments investigated), and 7 from King George Island - Keller Peninsula (with 111 leave fragments investigated) Antarctica. Neoascochyta paspali, Phaeosphaeria elongata, Pyrenophora cf. chaetomioides and Alternaria sp. were associated with the plant and identified through analysis of the sequences of the internal transcribed spacer region (ITS) of the rDNA and nuclear ribosomal large subunit rRNA gene (LSU) as well as macro and micro-morphological characteristics. The isolates showed a better growth rate ranging from 10–20°C. An interesting result was that the fungi are already recognize as both plant pathogens and endophytic fungi. The results demonstrate that D. antarctica is an interesting fungal source. Those species might provide important information about the relationship on the endemic Antarctic biota.

Studies suggest that elevated postnatal blood lead levels (BLLs) are negatively associated with child growth. This study aimed to investigate associations of childhood BLLs at age one-year and growth outcomes at age six-years (n=661) in a cohort of children in Allada, Benin. The growth outcomes studied are weight-for-age Z-score (WAZ), height-for-age Z-score (HAZ) and BMI-for-age Z-score (BMIZ), head circumference (HC), underweight, stunting, and wasting. Multivariable regression models examined associations between blood lead levels, growth outcomes with adjustment for potential confounders. The geometric mean BLLs was 59.3 μg/L and 82% of children had BLLs &gt;35 μg/L at one year. After adjusting for confounding factors, no association was found between BLLs quartiles and HAZ, WAZ, BMIZ, and height and weight growth velocities. However, boys in the highest quartile had 1.02 cm lower HC (95% CI: [-1.81, -0. 24]) as compared to those in the lowest quartile with a dose-response trend across quartiles (Ptrend =0.02). Furthermore, an increased risk of being stunted was observed in children in the highest quartile of exposure compared to the first (OR: 2.43; 95% CI: [1.11 – 5.33]) with a dose-response trend (Ptrend =0.03). Blood lead was found to be associated with an increased risk of childhood stunting and lower head circumference in a resource-limited setting.

The study investigated the comparative effect organic fertilizers on the growth of Khaya senegalensis (Desr). Four treatments were used for this research: T1 20g of poultry manure, T2 (20g of cow dung), T3 (10g of poultry Manure + 10g of cow dung), T4 (Control experiment). Growth parameters such as diameter, plant height and number of leaves were measured weekly over a period of twelve (12) weeks. Data obtained were subjected to ANOVA and mean separated using Duncan Multiple Range Test. on the height parameter assessed on Khaya Senegalensis, the highest plant height mean of 8.40cm was recorded in treatment 1(20g of poultry Manure) while the lowest mean plant height 7.19cm was recorded in treatment 4 (Control experiment). Also, the highest mean stem diameter was recorded in Treatment 1 with a value of 0.309mm from while the least was recorded in Treatment 4 with mean value of 2.1175mm. However, highest mean number of leaves was recorded treatment 1 (20g of poultry manure) while the least was observed in T3 (10g of poultry Manure + 10g of cow dung). The results showed that organic manure has considerable effect on the growth of Khaya senegalensis seedlings and it use should be encouraged. T3 (10g of poultry Manure + 10g of cow dung) is hereby recommended to be the best of all in the growth of Khaya senegalensis.

Abstract: Background: Stunting is primarily a public health concern in LMIC. The involvement of Integrated Service Post cadres is one of the strategies to combat stunting in Indonesia. Objective: This study aimed to determine the effect of a short course on cadres knowledge. Method: A single group pre-post test design was conducted in Yogyakarta, Indonesia, from March to May 2022. Thirty cadres were selected based on the following criteria: willingness to participate, the number of stunted children in their Integrated Service Post (Posyandu), and full attendance at short course. The knowledge scores were measured by a structured questionnaire after short course (post-test 1) and 4 weeks later (post-test 2). We apply STATA 16 to calculate the mean difference (MD) using a t-test and Generalized Estimated Equation (GEE). Furthermore, the adequacy of the short course was evaluated with in-depth interviews. Result: On post-tests 1 and 2, cadres' knowledge of IYCF, children growth monitoring (CGM) and children development monitoring (CDM) significantly improved. The GEE analysis showed that a short course significantly improves cadres' knowledge after age control, education, occupation, and years of experience. Conclusion: Short course in-creased their affection, self-efficacy, and confidence, hence, they are capable of assisting children through home visits.

Hydrogenated small fullerenes (Cn, n<60) are of interest as potential astrochemical species, and as intermediates in hydrogen catalysed fullerene growth. However computational identification of key stable species is difficult due to the vast combinatorial space of structures. In this study we explore routes to predict stable hydrogenated small fullerenes. We show that neither local fullerene geometry nor local electronic structure analysis are able to correctly predict subsequent low energy hydrogenation sites, and indeed sequential stable addition searches also sometimes fail to identify most stable hydrogenated fullerene isomers. Of the empirical and semi-empirical methods tested, GFN2-xTB consistently gives highly accurate energy correlation (r>0.99) to full DFT-LDA calculations at a fraction of the computational cost. This allows identification of the most stable hydrogenated fullerenes up to 4H for four fullerenes, namely two isomers of C28 and C40, via “brute force” systematic testing of all symmetry inequivalent combinations. The approach shows promise for wider systematic studies of smaller hydrogenated fullerenes.

Abscisic acid (ABA) plays a major role in promoting ripening in sweet cherry, a non-climateric fruit. Exogenous application of ABA has been performed to study fruit ripening and cracking, but this growth regulator is not used for commercial production. To determine the potential of this growth regulator to improve sweet cherry fruit quality, ABA canopy spraying was assayed in four cultivars. Canopy spraying of S-ABA significantly: 1) enhanced sweet cherry fruit color in ‘Glenred’, ‘Lapins’ and 'Bing' cultivars, but not in ‘Royal Rainier’ (a bi-colored cultivar), and 2) decreased fruit size and firmness in ‘Lapins’, ‘Bing’ and ‘Royal Rainier’. Seasonally reproducible effects were seen in ‘Lapins’ (mid/late-maturing) but not in ‘Glenred’ (early-maturing). Canopy spraying of nordihydroguaiaretic acid (NDGA) decreased color and increased fruit size in ‘Lapins’, but not in ‘Glenred’. Direct application of ABA on fruits attached to the tree, without application to the foliage, increased Lapins' fruit color without reducing size. These results suggest a localized fruit response to exogenous ABA application on fruit color development, but that a decrease in fruit size may be due to the effects of exogenous ABA on the tree canopy foliage.

During the last two decades, energy poverty has captured a growing attention of researchers and policymakers due to its strong association with economic poverty and poor economic performance. This study uses a broad set of macro level indicators and makes the first attempt to measure energy poverty and its impact on economic growth of Pakistan over the period 1990 to 2017. In particular, our energy poverty indicator considers four main dimensions of energy poverty, namely, energy services, clean energy, energy governance and energy affordability. Our main results show that though the overall energy poverty has reduced in Pakistan during the selected sample period, the country shows an increasing dependence on polluted energy supply in order to meet its growing demand of energy. In second stage of the investigation, we test the neoclassical growth theory where we incorporate energy poverty along with human capital as source of economic growth. Our cointegration results reveal a strong relationship between energy poverty and economic growth that is also dynamically stable in short run. These strong negative linkages between energy poverty with economic growth for the sample economy complement the previous literature on the subject.

A strain of the filamentous non N-fixing cyanobacterium Phormidium sp. isolated from the Messolonghi (W. Greece) saltworks, was cultured in the laboratory at 6 different combinations of salinity (20-40-60 ppt) and illumination (low-2000 lux and high-8000 lux). At salinities of 60 and 40 ppt and in high illumination (XL-8000 lux) the growth rate (μmax) presented the highest values (0.491 and 0.401 respectively) compared to the corresponding at 20 ppt (0.203). In general and at all salinities, the higher illumination (XL) gave the highest growth rates and shorter dublication time (tg) in comparison to the lower illumination (L). On the contrary, phycocyanin, phycoerythrin and allophycocyanin production was extremely increased in the lower illumination (L) in all salinities, from ~14fold at 40 and 60 ppt to 269fold at 20 ppt of those corresponding to higher illumination (XL). Similar analogies were also recorded for the other two billiproteins. Chlorophyll-a content was also higher in lower illumination at all salinities in contrast to total carotenoids that did not exhibit such a pattern. The high growth rate and high phycocyanin content along with the rapid sedimentation of its cultured biomass can set this marine Phormidium species as a promising canditate for mass culture.

The purpose of this study was to see how dietary supplementation with phenylpyruvate affected broiler chicken growth, slaughter performance, gut health microbiota, and immunity. A total of 288 day old broiler chickens were randomly assigned to one of four groups (6 replicates each with 12 chicken). NC (basal diet), PC (basal diet plus antibiotic virginiamycin 15ppm), LCP and HCP (basal diet plus phenylpyruvate 1kg/t and 2kg/t, respectively). Results showed that PC had higher ADFI during the first 21 days, and better FCR than the NC, the LCP and HCP also improved broilers’ FCR 0.001 and 0.037% in relation to NC respectively. HCP has a higher all-eviscerated ratio than NC and less abdominal fat than LCP. HCP has increased villus length and crypt depth in the ileum compared to the NC. Bursa was lower in HCP and thymus was lower in LCP and PC. In contrast HCP have lower pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-1, as well as lower TLR4. The phenylpyruvate improved family Selenomonadaceae, genus Megamonas Bacteroides species that are known for beneficial effects like for maintenance of the cell surface structure, regulating aromatic amino acids and C. jejuni-suppressive treatment respectively. Finally, phenylpyruvate feed supplement can be utilized to improve growth performance and positively modulate gut microbiota, however this is less efficient than antibiotics in improving growth performance, although more efficient in improving productive performance and gut morphology. Moreover, high dose of phenylpyruvate is more effective than low dose

Abstract：This paper uses the balanced panel data from 29 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in China for a total of 17 years from 2000 to 2016 as a research sample, and establishes an empirical model to examine the impact of environmental regulations and technological innovation on the quality of economic growth. Then this paper test technological innovation as a threshold variable, in which play a regulatory role. Taking the provincial balanced panel data as a research sample, a fixed effect model, a system GMM model, and a panel threshold model were established for empirical testing and the robustness test. Based on the empirical results, this article draws the following conclusions: from a national perspective, environmental regulations and technological innovation can significantly promote the quality of economic growth; from a regional perspective, there are regional differences in impact effects. Under the constraints of environmental regulations, the promotion effect of technological innovation on the quality of economic growth will be reduced; the impact of environmental regulation on the quality of economic growth will have a "threshold effect", and environmental regulation can significantly promote the quality of economic growth only after crossing the threshold and the threshold of technological innovation.

World Economy today depends on business investments that are propelled by Green technology, innovations and entrepreneurial activities. In recent years, developing economies in Asia, Africa and Latin America have embarked on easy capital access to Small Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to facilitate their economic growth. Kenya is among the Middle Level Income Countries that have gained global recognition through entrepreneurial innovations. In this study we assess the role of entrepreneurship towards poverty alleviation in Kenya. The objectives of the study were: to evaluate the role of entrepreneurship in poverty alleviation in Kenya; to identify entrepreneurship innovations and their economic contribution in Kenya and to determine the significance of entrepreneurship to Kenyan economy. Methodology of study took a parametric approach through pure desktop studies on entrepreneurship cases in Kenya. Success case studies of entrepreneurial innovations like M-pesa, M-soko and Uwezo Fund initiatives were assessed. The paper notes that activities undertaken in each of these case studies have made great contributions to poverty alleviation and economic development in both urban and rural areas of Kenya.

Synthesis of zeolite T with a variety of desired characteristics necessitate extensive work in the formulation and practical experiments either by conventional hydrothermal methods or aided with different approaches and synthesis techniques such as secondary growth or microwave irradiation. The objectives of this review are to adduce the potential work in zeolite T (Offretite-Erionite) synthesis evaluating determining factors affecting the synthesis and quality of the zeolite T crystals. Attention is given to the extensive studies that interconnect with other significant findings.

Hair loss attributed to excessive stress from work and lifestyle changes has become a growing concern, particularly among young individuals. However, currently used drugs such as minoxidil and finasteride impose a plethora of side effects. Therefore, natural substances as alternatives have garnered research interest. A recent study showed the efficacy of Malva verticillata seed extracts in alleviating hair loss via upregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In this study, the efficacy of M. verticillata seed extracts on alleviation of hair loss was further investigated. Further fractionation and purification of the seed extracts using silica gel column chromatography and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography helped identify linoleic acid (LA) and oleic acid as the major bioactive components. LA insufficiency is reported to cause hair loss. However, its mechanism of action is not clearly known. Here, we explored the efficacy of LA treatment on preventing hair loss and its underlying mechanism of action. We found that LA treatment activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling and induced dermal papilla cell (DPC) proliferation in cell proliferation assays. Moreover, it increased the expression of cell cycle proteins such as cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 2. LA treatment also increased the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, hepatocyte growth factor, and keratinocyte growth factor in a concentration-dependent manner and significantly inhibited that of DKK-1, induced by dihydrotestosterone. These findings suggest that LA treatment induces hair growth by increasing DPC proliferation and alleviates androgenic alopecia by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling in DPCs.

Hair loss attributed to excessive stress from work and lifestyle changes has become a growing concern, particularly among young individuals. However, currently used drugs such as minoxidil and finasteride impose a plethora of side effects. Therefore, natural substances as alternatives have garnered research interest. A recent study showed the efficacy of Malva verticillata seed extracts in alleviating hair loss via upregulation of the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway. In this study, the efficacy of M. verticillata seed extracts on alleviation of hair loss was further investigated. Further fractionation and purification of the seed extracts using silica gel column chromatography and preparative high-performance liquid chromatography helped identify linoleic acid (LA) and oleic acid as the major bioactive components. LA insufficiency is reported to cause hair loss. However, its mechanism of action is not clearly known. Here, we explored the efficacy of LA treatment on preventing hair loss and its underlying mechanism of action. We found that LA treatment activated Wnt/β-catenin signaling and induced dermal papilla cell (DPC) proliferation in cell proliferation assays. Moreover, it increased the expression of cell cycle proteins such as cyclin D1 and cyclin-dependent kinase 2. LA treatment also increased the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor, insulin-like growth factor-1, hepatocyte growth factor, and keratinocyte growth factor in a concentration-dependent manner and significantly inhibited that of DKK-1, induced by dihydrotestosterone. These findings suggest that LA treatment induces hair growth by increasing DPC proliferation and alleviates androgenic alopecia by activating Wnt/β-catenin signaling in DPCs.

The experiment was conducted to determine the effects of different substrate on the survival, growth and total number of moulting in juvenile red claw, Cherax quadricarinatus for aquaculture purposes. In the present study, there is a problem in culturing juvenile stage of C. quadricarinatus especially for survival and growth. Thus, a substrate was used to improve the survival and growth of C. quadricarinatus especially for the intensive system due C. quadricarinatus need a large space to survive. C. quadricarinatus with initial body weight from 1.10 to 2.90 g, total length 2.82 to 4.36 cm were placed in tanks (80 L in volume capacity) with 55L in water and there are eight juveniles in each tank. Treatment tanks were introduced with coral as treatment 2 and pipe as treatment 3. While, tank without shelters was set as control (treatment 1). Black nets were installed on top of each for circumventing foreign objects enter the tank and protect from direct sunlight. Besides, C. quadricarinatus were acclimatized for seven days before started the experiment. The experiment was done in duplicate and conducted for 60 days and C. quadricarinatus were fed twice daily (morning and evening) based on 5% of body weight. From the total of two replications, C. quadricarinatus for treatment 2 (coral) were significantly in survival (81.25±8.84%), weight gain (347.36 ±6.04%), specific growth rate (2.50±0.02%), carapace length (32.93 ± 0.93 %) and total number of moulting (55.00±2.93%) compared to other treatments. Besides, the control treatment (treatment 1) has a lower percentage in survival (37.50±8.84%) weight gain (122.60±20.51%) specific growth rate (1.33±0.15%), carapace length (25.84±0.33 %) and total number of molting (29.00±0.71%). As a conclusion, usage of coral as the substrate in the rearing tank showed improvement in survival, weight gain, specific growth rate, carapace length and total number of molting in C. quadricarinatus. The coral can use in rearing tank for increase the growth and survival for a small scale and not for commercial. In addition, in the environmental aspect, the present study showed the benefit of replacing the use of PVC pipes with the natural structure of dead coral.

In the last few decades, the dynamics of tumor cells and their growths are presented via clinical, experimental, and theoretical approaches, which leads to the development of the new idea of multiple cancer therapies to control and reduce the death rate for earlier detection. In this paper, we discussed the dynamics of tumor cell growth and its treatment process. We analyzed some simple mathematical models and generalized the study to understand the growth of tumor cells. The main proposed model is a system of ordinary differential equations which combines interactions among natural killer cells, dendritic cells and cytotoxic CD8+ T cells. The model is solved numerically to explain how the tumor cells spread and become more dangerous as well as the treatment process of cancer. It is also studied that how the cell behaves in the presence of different therapy and drugs. The optimal control of chemotherapy has been discussed. It has also been explained how much the model is effective in reducing tumor cells over time. Finally, a couple of spatially distributed models are discussed for tumor cell growth.

The acceleration of the universe is described as a consequence of the extrinsic curvature of the space-time embedded in a bulk space, defined by the Einstein-Hilbert. Using the linear approximation of Nash-Green theorem, we obtain the related perturbed equations in which just the gravitational-tensor field equations contribute to propagation of cosmological perturbations. In accordance with Big Bang Nucleosynthesis and solar constraints, we calculate numerically the effective Newtonian function Geff to constrain the related parameters of the model. We numerically solve the growth density equation for two possible family of solutions leading to an interesting overdensity and, in some cases, a mild damping of the growth profiles, with a top amplification of the growth perturbations around 14% in comparison with LCDM model and quintessence. The effective gravitational Phi and Newtonian curvature Psi are also analysed showing mild perturbations in early times induced only by the extrinsic curvature differently from the LambdaCDM standards.

Economic globalization has increased interdependence, particularly among the developing economies. This has increased the potential of migration across the national borders. In a similar context, the Indian economy has witnessed a rapid growth in the number of migrants after the phase of globalization. The rise in the migrant stock has led to a massive increase in the income generated through international borders in the form of remittances. India has become one of the top recipients of remittances with 79$ billion inflows in 2018. The major factor driving the growth of migrant remittances has been the monetary incentives that raise the standard of living of the recipient’s households. The rise in the income level of these households also affects other economic parameters including consumption and investment. Apart from this, the pattern of migration has also changed since the past few years with skilled workers migrating to the developed economies and unskilled ones migrating to the Gulf economies. In this context, the present study examines the trend and pattern of remittance inflows in India for the period of 1975-2017. Additionally, the study explores how remittance inflows affect the level of household consumption and investments. This relationship was examined using a two-stage least squares method by framing a set of simultaneous equations. The findings of the two-stage least square estimates indicate that though personal remittances do not impact the gross domestic product of the economy directly. But, an increase in the inflow of personal remittances leads to a rise in consumption and investment which in turn plays an important role in determining the Gross Domestic Product of the economy.

Growth-regulating factor (GRF) is a plant-specific transcription factor family, which is involved in nearly all of the central developmental processes in plants. However, little is known about GRF family genes in cultivated sunflower. In this study, 17 GRF genes were identified and characterized from sunflower genome. Their gene structures, conserved motifs, chromosomal distributions and phylogenetic relationships were analyzed. The expression patterns of these genes were detected in various tissues of sunflower inbred line SK02R, which revealed that the 10 seed-specific GRF genes may play important roles during seed development in sunflower. Additionally, transcripts changes of the GRFs under two major abiotic stresses and phytohormones showed that most of the detected GRFs were reduced significantly by GA3 treatment, and other treatments(ABA, NaCl and PEG6000) differently regulated various sunflower growth-regulating factors at different time points. MiR396 target analysis indicated that there may exist a complicated homeostasis between miR396 and its targets GRF and WRKY transcription factor genes in cultivated sunflower. The phylogenetic and expression analyses of the GRF gene family in sunflower would be useful for further cloning and function exploration of the HaGRF genes.

The black-chinned tilapia Sarotherodon melanotheron is the most abundant fish species in the Nakwa (a closed lagoon) and Brenu (an open lagoon) in the Central region of Ghana. Aspects of the life history characteristics and the ecology of the fish populations in both lagoons were studied to assess the bio-ecological status of this important resource. The estimated von Bertalanffy growth parameters were L∞ = 12.04 cm; K =2.76 year-1 for the Nakwa Lagoon samples and L∞ = 13.44 cm; K = 3.27 years-1 for Brenu Lagoon samples. Daily otolith incremental rate ranged from 0.01-0.03mm per day and 0.01-0.02mm per day for Nakwa and Brenu lagoons respectively. Stomach content analysis of the fish samples revealed that the species are planktivorous and the range of food varied between the lagoons. Green algae was the most prevalent food item in the stomachs of the fish samples from Nakwa with frequency of 69% while diatoms (80.5%) were most prevalent phytoplanktonic food item in for the fish in Brenu lagoon. The results of this study of Sarotherodon melanotheron from the two lagoons and can be used to improve on management policies, maximize yield and to sustain the fishery resources.

Best horticulture management has been practiced to reduce the amount of inorganic fertilizer in connection with net (mosquito net) for higher production of Indian spinach. Excessive use of chemical fertilizers in agriculture promoted negative effect on the environment and human health in Bangladesh. The experiment was conducted at the Horticulture Farm of Bangladesh Agricultural University (BAU), Mymensingh during the period February to May 2016. Two factor experiments were conducted on nettings: control (N₀), Netting (N₁) and different fertilizers: control (F₀), Vermicompost 10 t/ha (F₁), Vermicompost 15 t/ha (F₂), 2/3^rdof F₂+ 1/3^rdof F₄ (F₃), Inorganic fertilizer (F₄). Combination of mosquito net and combined of organic and inorganic fertilizers (N₁F₃) gave the significantly higher growth and yield of Indian spinach compared to other treatment combination. The maximum vine length (77.71 cm), after 45 days after sowing was found from N₁F₃ which was 72% higher compared to control. The highest yield of Indian spinach was 38.67 t/ha from N₁F₃ which was 80% higher compared to control. The treatment combination of N₁F₃ provided maximum leaf numbers per plant, leaf length.

Fusarium graminearum causes head blight in wheat and corn, and produces chemicals harmful for humans and other animals. It is important to understand how it grows in order to prevent outbreaks. There are 3 well-known growth models for microorganisms and they seem applicable to molds: linear, Gompertz and Baranyi. This study aimed to see which could better represent F. graminearum growth. Three replicates were grown in yeast extract agar (YEA) for 20 days. The Feret’s radius was measured in ImageJ software, and then related to the models. Linear model was the most closely correlated to the actual growth. Thus, considering that it was the most representative of the reality and it is easier to use, it seems to be the best logical choice for F. graminearum growth studies.

Aeroponics is a relatively new soilless culture technology, which may produce food in space limited cities or non-arable land with high water use efficiency. The shoot and root growth, root characteristics, mineral contents of two lettuce cultivars were measured in aeroponics, as compared with hydroponics and substrate culture. The results showed that aeroponics remarkably improved the root growth with a significant greater root biomass, root/shoot ratio, and several times higher total root length, root area and root volume. However, the greater root growth did not lead to a better shoot growth compared with hydroponics, due to the limited availability of nutrients and water. It can be concluded that aeroponics systems may be better for high value true root crops production. Further research is necessary to figure out the suitable pressure, droplet size, and misting interval in order to improve the continuously availability of nutrients and water in aeroponics, if it is used to grow crops like lettuce for harvesting above-ground parts.

Stem cells are undifferentiated cells which can give rise to any types of cells in our body. Hence, they have been utilized for various applications such as drug testing and disease modeling. However, for the successful of those applications, the survival and differentiation of stem cells into specialized lineages should be well controlled. Growth factors and chemical agents are the most common signals to promote the proliferation and differentiation of stem cells. However, those approaches holds several drawbacks such as the negative side effects, degradation or denaturation, and expensive. To address such limitations, nanomaterials have been recently used as a better approach for controlling stem cells behaviors. Graphene oxide is the derivative of graphene, the first 2D materials in the world. Recently, due to its extraordinary properties and great biological effects on stem cells, many scientists around the world have utilized graphene oxide to enhance the differentiation potential of stem cells. In this mini review, we highlight the key advances about the effects of graphene oxide on controlling stem cell growth and various types of stem cell differentiation. We also discuss the possible molecular mechanisms of graphene oxide in controlling stem cell growth and differentiation.

This paper highlights the impact of financial inclusion on individuals’ borrowing and saving decisions in the United States and the United Arab Emirates. It does so, using data from the 2014 Global Financial Inclusion database, and an empirical strategy consisting of first testing the significance of the joint bivariate model over its binary conterparts using the Lagrange multiplier test, followed by a contrast between the fully-parametric and semi-parametric specifications of the saving and borrowing equations. Based on model performance measures, the semi-parametric bivariate probit specification is identified as a better framework for describing the two processes of saving and borrowing, with a correlation coefficient of 12.3%. Although no significant difference exists between UAE and US residents in borrowing behavior, we find that US residents are 31.4% more likely to save than their UAE counterparts. In addition, and in line with the Permanent Income Hypothesis, the results reveal the absence of an income based saving or borrowing gradient in the two countries. Conversely, we found the prevalence of a gender based saving (12.4%) and borrowing (13.8%) inequality in favor of the male gender. Furthermore, access to a bank account and a debit card, companies policy of direct wage and salary transfer, and government transfer programs with direct deposit options are all financial inclusion strategies that are found to significantly raise the likelihood of saving and borrowing. As such, companies with payroll practices based on cash or physical paycheck issuing, especially in the US, should revise such policy to create more financial inclusion, and thereby more saving potential which in turn would contribute to further borrowing, investment and growth of the national economy.

We discuss the electrodeposition of two-dimensional (2D) Pt-nanostructures on HOPG achieved under constant applied potential versus a Pt counter electrode (Eappl = ca. - 2.2 V vs RHE). The deposition conditions are discussed in terms of the electrochemical behavior of the electrodeposition precursor (H2PtCl6). We performed cyclic voltammetry (CV) of the electrochemical Pt deposit on HOPG and on Pt substrates to study the relevant phenomena that affect the morphology of Pt deposition. Under conditions where the Pt deposition occurs and H2 evolution is occurring at the diffusion-limited rate (- 0.3 V vs RHE), Pt forms larger structures on the surface of HOPG, and the electrodeposition of Pt is not limited by diffusion. This indicates the need for large overpotentials to direct the 2D growth of Pt. Investigation of the possible effect of Cl- showed that Cl- deposits on the surface of Pt at low overpotentials, but strips from the surface at potentials more positive than the electrodeposition potential. The CV of Pt on HOPG is a strong function of the nature of the surface. We propose that during immersion of HOPG in the electrodeposition solution (3 mM H2PtCl6, 0.5 M NaCl, pH 2.3) Pt islands are formed spontaneously, and these islands drive the growth of the 2D nanostructures.

In this study, grapevine was used as the research material. This plant which epitomizes the opinion that vertical gardens can have a positive influence on human psychology with their beautiful view, e.g., the hanging gardens of Babylon about 2500 years ago. The study in question was conducted in 2016 at Bingol University, Faculty of Agriculture, the Department of Garden Plants research and application area. The offshoot growth was measured in a fertilizer experiment that formed the control, first application (200 g/100 L water, leaf) and second application (100 g/100 L water + 20% leaf + root). Moreover, the plant’s footprint in the vertical area was determined. The average offshoot growth of 1103 P American grapevine rootstock in the first and second applications was measured as 61.5 cm and 39.5 cm respectively, and it was 43.0 cm and 51.0 for C American grapevine rootstock. The average growth of 1103 P and 1616 C American grapevine in the control group was determined as 30.6 cm and 32.1 cm. The average growth of both American grapevine rootstocks used in the experiment was determined to be higher for the first and second applications than the controls.

A good optical quality crystal of 2-aminopyridine (2AP) metal complex crystals was grown by slow evaporation technique at room temperature. The transparent and defect less bulk size of 2-aminopyridine potassium dihydrogen orthophosphate metal complex crystals have been grown by solution growth method. The molecular structure and morphology of grown crystals was drawn and planes are indexed using WINXMORPH software. A optical absorption spectrum, the UV cut-off wavelength, Band gap (Eg), Reflectance (R), Refractive Index (n), Extinction coefficient (K) and Electrical susceptibility (χc) are calculated for 2AP metal complex crystals.

To understand the molecular mechanism associated with growth variability in bivalves, the Solexa/Illumina technology was employed to analyze the transcriptomic profiles of extreme growth rate differences (fast- VS. slow-growing individuals) in one full-sib family of the ark shell Scapharca subcrenata. De novo assembly of S. subcrenata transcriptome yielded 276,082,016 raw reads, which were assembled into 98,502 unique transcripts by Trinity strategy. A total of 6,357 differentially expressed genes (DEGs) were obtained between fast- and slow-growing individuals, with 580 up-regulated expression and 5777 down-regulated expression. Functional annotation revealed that the largest proportion of DEGs were classified to the large or small subunit ribosomal protein, all of which showed significantly lower expression levels in fast-growing group than those in slow-growing group. GO enrichment analysis identified the maximum of DEGs to biological process, followed by molecular function and cellular component. Most of the top enriched KEGG pathways were related to energy metabolism, protein synthesis and degradation. These findings reveal the link between gene expression and contrasting phenotypes in ark shells, which support that fast-growing individuals may be resulted from decreased energy requirements for metabolism maintenance, accompanying with greater efficiency of protein synthesis and degradation in bivalves.

Layered superconductors are attractive because some of them show high critical temperatures. While their crystal structures are similar, those compounds are composed of many elements. Compounds with many elements tend to be incongruent melting compounds, thus, their single crystals cannot be grown via the melt-solidification process. Hence, these single crystals have to be grown below the decomposition temperature, and then the flux method, a very powerful tool for the growth of these single crystals with incongruent melting compounds, is used. This review shows the flux method for single-crystal growth technique by self-flux, chloride-based flux, and HPHT (high-pressure and high-temperature) flux method for many-layered superconductors: high-T_c cuprate, Fe-based and BiS₂-based compounds.

The focus of research has mainly been on the life cycle approach to project development, while limited attention has been given to the ageing construction companies that make all these activities/processes happen. This paper examines the organisational factors determining the sustainability and growth of building and civil engineering contractors in South Africa. The paper explores whether there are specific organisational factors that aid the sustainable development and growth of contractors in the South African construction industry. The paper analyses data gathered from face-to-face interviews conducted with four established and twelve upgraded and successful building and civil engineering contractors listed on the Construction Industry Development Board’s (cidb) Register of Contractors. The aim of the study is to identify the organisational factors critical for sustainable contractor development and growth in South Africa. The study found that organizational factors responsible for the sustainable development and growth of construction contractors include the size of the founding team members, management capabilities, strategic decisions made by founders/leaders and the ability of the company to constantly evolve, adapt and respond effectively to threats/challenges whenever they surface, amongst other findings. Capacity to generalise the results of the study to the large cidb registered contractor group is limited by the smallness of the sample size. Future research should make use of a larger sample size to obtain more general findings. The results of the study imply that the founding team size, experience, entrepreneurial and managerial capabilities, capacities and organisational structures that enable the efficient response of companies to external and internal challenges are key components of the definable arrangements that will support the sustainability and growth of construction organisations. The paper is of value to government departments and agencies such as the cidb and contracting firms in the construction industry.

The rapid development of China’s textile industry leads to consumption and pollution of large volumes of water. Therefore, the textile industry has been the focus of water conservation and waste reduction in China’s 13th Five-Year Plan (2016–2020). The premise of sustainable development is to achieve decoupling of economic growth from water consumption and wastewater discharge. In this work, changes in blue water (water consumption), grey water (water pollutants), and water footprints of the textile industry from 2001 to 2014 were calculated. The relationship between water footprint and economic growth was then examined using the Tapio decoupling model. Furthermore, factors influencing water footprint were determined through logarithmic mean Divisia index (LMDI) method. Results show that the water footprint of China’s textile industry has strongly decoupled for five years (2002, 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2013) and weakly decoupled for four years (2002, 2007, 2009, and 2010). A decoupling trend occurred during 2001–2014, but a steady stage of decoupling has not been achieved yet. Based on the decomposition analysis, the total water footprint is mainly increased by production scale and inhibited by the technology. In addition, the effect of industrial structure adjustment is relatively weak.

Astronauts at are risk of losing 1.0 – 1.5% of their bone mass for every month they spend in space despite their adherence to high impact exercise training programs designed to preserve the musculoskeletal system. This article reviews the basics of bone formation and resorption and details how exposure to microgravity or simulated microgravity affects the structure and function of osteoblasts, osteocytes, osteoclasts, and their mesenchymal and hematologic stem cell precursors. It details the critical roles that insulin-like growth facor-1 and its receptor IGFR1 play in maintaining bone homeostasis and how exposure of bone cells to microgravity affects the function of these growth factors. Lastly, it discusses the potential of tumor necrosis factor-related apoptosis-inducing ligand, syncytin-A, and sclerostin inhibitors and recombinant IGF-1 as a bone-saving treatment for astronauts in space and during their colonization of the Moon.

Infected fish have been known to recover from mild illness when they are able to locate to warmer water. This study aimed to replicate this ‘behavioural fever’ effect in an aquaculture setting by artificially heating a section of a fish pond (thereby introducing a thermal gradient) and effectively modifying pond design. This was achieved through the construction of a ‘greenhouse’ type structure above a section of the pond. Over the length of the production cycle at three typical Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) farms, the study collected data on water quality and fish growth and at the end of the cycle, blood samples were taken and total production was recorded. At each farm, fish were divided into two identical ponds, one with a greenhouse covering 3% of the pond surface area and one without. Results showed that greenhouse was effective in warming the surface of the water immediately below it. Oxygen levels were also higher under the greenhouse than outside of it and higher than in the control pond. Fish reared in the greenhouse ponds tended to be larger than the control ponds and had improved physiological and immune status (i.e., better liver and kidney function, higher antioxidant activity and lysozyme count; p &lt; 0.05). The results of this study suggest that low-cost interventions that introduce thermal gradients in aquaculture systems may hold promise for improving health and welfare status of farmed fish in developing countries.

Studies on the cutting propagation of plants belonging to the genus Rhododendron are limited to R. mucronulatum and R. yedoense, which are mainly used as ornamental flowering trees, and additional studies on a greater variety of species are required. This study examined the characterisitics of cutting propagation according to treatment with growth regulators indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) and α-naphthaleneacetic acid (NAA) to generate basic data on the methods of reproducing R. micarnthum Turcz.. The number of roots (r=0.740**), length of root (r=0.844**), and number of leaves (r=0.649**) affected the rooting rate of R. micarnthum Turcz., and the number of roots (r=0.646**), length of roots (r=0.673**), number of leaves (r=0.738**), and chlorophyll content (r=0.710**) affected the survival rate. Further, the rooting and survival rates were highly correlated (r=0.794**). The growth characteristics of underground sections after growth regulator treatment were as follows: the number of formed roots was 7.0 and 7.2, and the length of roots was 6.2 cm and 5.3 cm in 150 mg·L-1 and 250 mg·L-1 NAA treatment groups, respectively. The rooting rate was 60% or above in the growth regulator treatment groups compared to that in the control group. Particularly, the rooting rates of 150 mg·L-1 and 250 mg·L-1 NAA treatment groups were 90% or above, and the latent period before rooting was shorter than other treatment groups at approximately 14 days, which was considered to be effective for root growth. The aboveground growth characteristics after propagating the cuttings showed that groups treated with 150 mg·L-1 and 250 mg·L-1 NAA showed a significantly higher plant length (5.2-5.8 cm), number of leaves (6.2 and 6.9), and leaf-length and leaf-width as compared to other treatment groups. Moreover, the survival rates of 150 mg·L-1 and 250 mg·L-1 NAA treatment groups were 80% or above, and the sound root growth manifested in the tendency of good aboveground growth. Additionally, IBA and NAA were highly correlated to the rooting and survival rates during cutting propagation of R. micarnthum Turcz.. The rooting and survival rates increased with the increase in growth regulator concentration. Particularly, NAA had a higher correlation to the rooting and survival rates than IBA (r=0.7316**, 0.7013**). Thus, R. micarnthum Turcz. could be propagated through cutting. Growth regulator treatment with 150 mg·L-1 and 250 mg·L-1 of NAA was effective for rooting and root growth of cutting, and these treatments were considered appropriate because the effects of aboveground growth were positive.

The research was undertaken to study the way deformation behaves in ultrafine-grained (UFG) conducting Al-Zr alloys doped with Sc, Hf, and Yb. All in all, 8 alloys were studied with zirconium partially replaced by Sc, Hf, and/or Yb. Doping elements (X = Zr, Sc, Hf, Yb) in the alloys total 0.4 wt.%. The choice of doping elements is conditioned by possible precipitation of Al3X particles with L12 structure while annealing these alloys. Such particles provide higher thermal stability of a nonequilibrium UFG microstructure. Initial coarse-grained samples were obtained by induction casting. The UFG microstructure in the alloys was formed by Equal Channel Angular Pressing (ECAP) at 225°C. Superplasticity tests were carried out at temperatures ranging from 300 to 500 °C and strain rates varying between 3.310-4 and 3.310-1 s-1. The highest values of elongation to failure are observed in Sc-doped alloys. A UFG Al-0.2%Zr-0.1%Sc-0.1%Hf alloy has maximum ductility: at 450 °C and a strain rate of 3.310-3 s-1, relative elongation to failure reaches 765%. At the onset of superplasticity, stress–strain curves are characterized by a stage of homogeneous strain and a long stage of localized plastic flow. The dependence of homogeneous strain (eq) on test temperature in UFG Sc-doped alloys is increasing uniformly, which is not the case for other UFG alloys with eq(T) dependence peaking at 350-400 оС. Strain rate sensitivity coefficient of flow stress m is small and does not exceed 0.26-0.3 at 400-500 °C. In UFG alloys containing no scandium, m coefficient is observed to go down to 0.12-0.18 at 500 оС. It has been suggested that lower m values are driven by intensive grain growth and pore formation in large Al3X particles, which develop specifically at the ingot crystallization stage.

Africa is expected to have a lion’s Share in the world’s population growth by 2050. At the same time, the World Health Organisation (WHO) reported that roughly 3.4 percent (1/25) of African adults live with HIV making the contient the most severely affected by the HIV pandemic. Consequently, this study, the first of its kind, investigates the impact of population growth and HIV incidence on economic growth and economic development in Africa by utilizing the Pooled Mean Group (PMG) estimator on data from 1990 to 2020 across 29 countries. The results show that population growth has a postive long run impact on Gross Domestic Product (GDP) but has a negative long run impact on per capita GDP, albeit the effects are insignificant in the short run. The incidence of HIV has a negative long run impact on both GDP and per capita GDP although its effect is not significant in the short run. The study, therefore, calls for the advancement of family planning practices and the usage of contraceptives to simultaneously control population growth and curb the spread of HIV incidence. The study futher calls for African governments to increase budgetary allocations to the health and education sectors, as these policy perspectives have the potential of increasing the human capital stock and at the same time enhancing the health status of the work force for sustained growth and development.

Objectives: The promising specific growth regulators are employed tissue culture of the bamboo species. The specific natural hardening mixture supports the acclimatization and adaptation of the protected cultivation. The bamboo species contribute to the carbon sequestration and stabilization of the environment. Findings: The growth regulator 2, 4-D encourages callus induction and growth regulators NAA + TDZ, BAP + Kinetin + Gelrite, BAP + Kinetin + Coconut water + myo-inositol, NAA and TDZ impose plant regeneration in the Bambusa species. The growth regulator of 2,4-D, 2,4-D + Kinetin, 2,4-D + BA, 2,4-D + BAP and 2,4-D + NAA + BAP produces callus induction in the Dendrocalamus species. The growth regulator of TDZ, BA and IBA + Coumarin + Putrescine, BAP + GA3, NAA + Kinetin, BA + IBA, BA + Kinetin + NAA, NAA + Kinetin, Kinetin + IAA has facilitated shoot regeneration in the Dendrocalamus species with the specific period. The growth regulator of BA and TDZ; BAP + TDZ, IBA + Coumarin + Putrescine, BAP + GA3, NAA + Kinetin, BA + IBA, BA + Kinetin + NAA, NAA + Kinetin, Kinetin + IAA develops root regeneration with unambiguous time in the Dendrocalamus species. The growth regulator of BAP and Kinetin + BAP imposes shoot regeneration and IBA and IBA + Coumarin + sucrose conducts root regeneration in the edible bamboo. The natural hardening materials of cocopeat, vermicompost, perlite, cow dung, FYM, compost, soil & garden soil and humus soil, perlite, and FYM recommend in the acclimatization and adaptation of the Bambusa species and Dendrocalamus species respectively. Novelty: The standard growth regulators and hardening mixtures impose tissue culture, acclimatization and adaptation in the bamboo species. The bamboo species involves in managing carbon sequestration, biogeochemical cycle and the environment.

A Weyl semimetal is a novel crystal with low-energy electronic excitations that behave as Weyl fermions. It has received worldwide interest and was believed to have opened the next era of condensed matter physics after graphene and three-dimensional topological insulators. Howev-er, it is not easy to obtain a single large-size crystal because there are many nucleations in the preparation process. Here, a bottom-seed CVT growth method is proposed in this paper, and we acquired the large-size, high-quality NbAs single crystals up to 5x4x4 mm3 finally. X-ray diffrac-tion and STEM confirmed that they are tetragonal NbAs, which the key is to use seed crystal in vertical growth furnace. Notably, the photoelectric properties of the crystal are obtained under the existing conditions, which paves the way for the follow-up work.

In perennial fruit crops, bearing can be influenced by various factors, including environmental conditions, germplasm, rootstocks, and cultivation methods. Cherries, one of the most important and popular fruit species from the temperate climate zone, achieve high prices on the market. New agricultural technologies and environmental factors force a change in the approach to cherry cultivation. Old-type cherry orchards with their high demand for water, nutrients and manual work are replaced by orchards of self-pollinating cherry cultivars grown on dwarf rootstocks. These changes make it necessary to search for ways to regulate fruiting, in particular to thin buds, flower and fruit. In view of environmental regulations and consumer pressure, thinning methods are being sought that either do not involve the use of chemicals or that use eco-friendly chemical agents. This review examines recent progress in understanding the effect of thinning methods on the physiology, tree growth and fruit quality of cherries, discusses horticultural practices aimed to ensure regular cropping and their influence on fruit quality, and provides suggestions for future research.

After a 1.5 year screening survey in the lagoons of Western Greece in order to isolate and culture sturdy species of microalgae for aquaculture or other value added uses, as dictated primarily by a satisfactory potential for their mass-culture, five species emerged and their growth was monitored in laboratory conditions. Amphidinium carterae, Nephroselmis sp., Tetraselmis sp. (var. red pappas), Asteromonas gracilis and Dunaliella sp. were batch cultured using low (20 ppt), sea (40 ppt) and high salinity (50 or 60 or 100 ppt) and in combination with a low (2000 lux) and high (8000 lux) intensity of illumination. The results exhibited that all these species can be grown adequately in all salinities and with best growth in terms of maximum cell density, specific growth rate (SGR) and biomass yield (g dry weight/L) at high illumination (8000 lux). The five species examined exhibited different responses in the salinities used, Amphidinium clearly does best in 20 ppt far better than 40 ppt and even more than 50 ppt. Nephroselmis and Tetraselmis grow almost the same in 20 and 40 ppt and less well in 60 ppt. Asteromonas does best in 100 ppt although it can grow quite well in both 40 and 60 ppt. Dunaliella grows equally well in all salinities (20-40-60 ppt). Concerning productivity as maximum biomass yield at the end of the culture period, first rank is occupied by Nephroselmis with ~3.0 g d.w./L, followed by Tetraselmis (2.0 g/L), Dunaliella (1.58 g/L), Amphidinium (1.19 g/L) and Asteromonas (0.7 g/L) with all values recorded at high light (8000 lux).

Meningioma (MGM) is the most common type of intracranial tumor in adults. The validation of novel prognostic biomarkers to better inform tumor stratification and clinical prognosis is urgently needed. Many molecular and cellular alterations have been described in MGM tumors over the past few years, providing a rational basis for the identification of biomarkers and therapeutic targets. The role of receptor tyrosine kinase (RTKs), including those of the ErbB family of receptors, as oncogenes has been well established in several cancer types. Here, we review histological, molecular, and clinical evidence suggesting that RTKs, including the epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR, ErbB 1), as well as other members of the ErbB family, may be useful as biomarkers in MGM.

The widely used logistic model for epidemic case reporting data may be either restrictive or unrealistic in presence of containment measures when implemented after an epidemic outbreak. For flexibility in epidemic case reporting data modelling, we combined an exponential growth curve for the early epidemic phase with a flexible growth curve to account for the potential change in growth pattern after implementation of containment measures. We also fitted logistic regression models to recoveries and deaths from the confirmed positive cases. In addition, the growth curves were integrated into a SIQR (Susceptible, Infective, Quarantined, Recovered) model framework to provide an overview on the modelled epidemic wave. We focused on the estimation of: (1) the delay between the appearance of the first infectious case in the population and the outbreak (“epidemic latency period"); (2) the duration of the exponential growth phase; (3) the basic and the time-varying reproduction numbers; and (4) the peaks (time and size) in confirmed positive cases, active cases and new infections. The application of this approach to COVID-19 data from West Africa allowed to discuss the effectiveness of some containment measures implemented across the region.

Background: Hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) is one of most common cancers with a high mortality rate. HBV/HCV infection is an important risk factor to trigger HCC. Therefore, developing serum biomarkers for early diagnosis is crucial to prolong survival in HCC patients. Methods: An antibody array technology was utilized to detect serum from 20 HBV-related HCC patients, 20 chronic hepatitis B patients and 20 normal population, whose results were further validated by ELISA. Results: Both antibody array and ELISA showed that ten growth factors (SCF R, GDF-15, HGF, FGF-4, IGFBP-1, PIGF, GH, GDNF, BDNF and IGF-1) were significantly differential in HCC patients when compared to the non-HCC population. Among these growth factors, the levels of SCF R, GDF-15, HGF, GH and IGF-1 showed significant correlation with hepatitis B and its severity, indicating that these growth factors may promote HCC progression by an HBV-specific mechanism. A therapy targeting these growth factors in hepatitis B patients may help to prevent the development of HCC. FGF4 and GH were found, for the first time, to be upregulated in HCC, suggesting that these two growth factors may serve as novel serum biomarkers for the early diagnosis of HCC. Conclusion: The combined detection of all the differential growth factors may improve the diagnostic accuracy of HCC.

Organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis have been widely applied as the two main regeneration pathways in plant tissue culture. However, recalcitrance is still a main restriction in the clonal propagation of many woody species, especially in conifers. They undergo a “phase change” that leads to significant loss of organogenic and embryogenic capacity, thus reducing the responsive tissues or organs to juvenile material, and narrowing the competence window. In this sense, in vitro regeneration of mature conifer trees has been a long-cherished goal in many laboratories worldwide. In this work, apical shoot buds were used as explants for both organogenesis and somatic embryogenesis in order to cloning mature trees of Aleppo pine. Reinvigorated axillary shoots were submitted to somatic embryogenesis induction through the manipulation of culture media, including the use of auxins such as 2,4-D and NAA, cytokinins (BA and kinetin) and phytosulfokine (50, 100 and 200 nM). Although somatic embryos could not be obtained, embryogenic-like tissue was produced followed by the appearance of actively proliferating non-embryogenic calli and differences between treatments were found, especially when phytosulfokine was added to the induction media. Organogenic system produced reinvigorated shoots from both BA treatments tested (22 and 44 µM), from juvenile somatic trees and adult trees, and ex-vitro acclimatized plants were developed.

Introduction: Leptin is a polypeptide hormone and in pregnancy it is secreted by the placenta and maternal and fetal adipose tissues. The expression of leptin and its specific receptors is observed in the uterine endometrium which indicates leptin involvement in the implantation process and embryonic/fetal development. Normal leptin production is a factor responsible for uncomplicated gestation, embryo development and fetal growth. Objective: To compare at delivery maternal serum and cord blood leptin concentrations in normal pregnancies and in pregnancies complicated by intrauterine growth restriction (IUGR). Material and methods: The study was performed in 25 pregnant women with isolated IUGR diagnosed by ultrasonography (study subjects) and in 194 pregnant women without any comorbid health conditions (controls). Leptin concentrations in maternal serum and in cord blood samples collected at delivery were measured by ELISA and subsequently analyzed by maternal Body Mass Index (BMI), mode of delivery, and infant gender and birth weight. For comparative analyses of normally distributed variables, parametric tests were used, i.e. the Student-t to test the assumption of homogeneity or non-homogeneity of variance and a One-Way ANOVA when more than two groups were compared. The non-parametric Mann-Whitney test was used when the distribution was not normal. The Pearson correlation coefficient was calculated to assess the correlation between normally distributed variables (p<0.05). Results: In pregnancies complicated by IUGR, the mean maternal serum leptin concentration at delivery was significantly higher (52.73 ± 30.49 ng/mL) than in normal pregnancies (37.17 ± 28.07 ng/mL) (p=0.01). The mean cord blood leptin concentration in pregnancies complicated by IUGR was 7.97 ± 4.46 ng/mL and significantly lower than in normal pregnancies (14.78 ± 15.97 ng/mL) (p=0.04). In normal pregnancies, but not in pregnancies complicated by IUGR, a statistically significant correlation was established between maternal serum leptin concentrations and maternal BMI at delivery (r=0,22; p=0.00). No statistically significant correlation was found between cord blood leptin concentrations and maternal BMI in either study subjects or controls. In normal pregnancies, but not in pregnancies complicated by IUGR, a strong correlation was observed between cord blood leptin concentrations and birth weight (r=0,23; p=0.00). In both study subjects and controls, there were no correlations between leptin concentrations in maternal serum and cord blood and infant gender and mode of delivery. Conclusions: Elevated maternal blood leptin concentrations in pregnancies complicated by IUGR may indicate a significant adverse effect of elevated leptin on fetal growth. Enhanced leptin production by the placenta suggests leptin as a candidate marker of placental insufficiency. The differences in leptin concentrations, measured in maternal serum and in cord blood, between the study subjects and controls suggest that deregulated leptin levels may increase the risk of obstetric complications associated with placental insufficiency.

The world’s population is increasing and so are agricultural activities to match the growing demand for food. Conventional agricultural practices generally employ artificial fertilizers to increase crop yields, but these have multiple environmental and human health effects. For decades, environmentalists and sustainability researchers have focused on alternative crop fertilization mechanisms to address these challenges, and biofertilizers have constantly been researched, recommended, and even successfully-adopted for several crops. Biofertilizers are microbial formulations made of indigenous plant growth-promoting rhizobacteria (PGPR) which can naturally improve plant growth either directly or indirectly, through the production of phytohormones, solubilization of soil nutrients, and production of iron-binding metabolites; siderophores. Biofertilizers, therefore, hold immense potential as tools for sustainable crop production especially in the wake of climate change and global warming. Despite the mounting interest in this technology, their full potential has not yet been realized. This review updates our understanding of the PGPR biofertilizers and sustainable crop production. It evaluates the history of these microbial products, assesses their present state of utilization, and also critically propounds on their future prospects for sustainable crop production. Such information is desirable to fully evaluate their potential and can ultimately pave the way for their increased adoption for crop production.