Crop yield monitoring demonstrated the potential to improve agricultural productivity through improved crop breeding, farm management and commodity planning. Remote and proximal sensing offer the possibility to cut crop monitoring costs traditionally associated with surveys and censuses. Fraction of absorbed photosynthetically active radiation (fAPAR), chlorophyll concentration (CI) and normalized difference vegetation (NDVI) indices were used in crop monitoring, but their comparative performances in sorghum monitoring is lacking. This work aimed therefore at closing this gap by evaluating the performance of machine learning modelling of in-season sorghum biomass yields based on Sentinel-2-derived fAPAR and simpler high-throughput optical handheld meters-derived NDVI and CI calculated from sorghum plants reflectance. Bayesian ridge regression showed good cross-validated performance, and high reliability (R2 = 35%) and low bias (mean absolute prediction error, MAPE = 0.4%) during the validation step. Hand-held optical meter-derived CI and Sentinel-2-derived fAPAR showed comparable effects on machine learning performance, but CI outperformed NDVI and was therefore considered as a good alternative to Sentinel-2’s fAPAR. The best times to sample the vegetation indices were the months of June (second half) and July. The results obtained in this work will serve several purposes including improvements in plant breeding, farming management and sorghum biomass yield forecasting at extension services and policy making levels.This study aimed to investigate the characteristics related to SARS-CoV-2 in Luanda, Angola. A total of 622 individuals were screened for SARS-CoV-2 from January to September 2020. Chi-square and logistic regression were used to identify the relationship between sociodemographic characteristics and SARS-CoV-2. Of the 622 tested, 14.3% tested positive. The infection rate was the same for both genders (14.3%). Individuals ≥40 years old, from non-urbanized areas, and healthcare professionals had a higher frequency of infection. The risk of infection was very high in individuals ≥60 years old (AOR 23.3, 95% CI 4.83-112), in women (AOR 1.24, 95% CI 0.76-2.04), in Luanda (AOR 7.40, 95% CI 1.64-33.4), and healthcare professionals (AOR 1.27, 95% CI 0.60-2.71), whereas a low risk was observed in individuals from urbanized areas (AOR 0.44, 95% CI 0.26-0.75). selleck chemicals Our results suggest that Angolan authorities should implement a greater effort in non-urbanized areas and among healthcare professionals since when these individuals presented any indication for a COVID-19 test, such as fever/cough/myalgia, they were more likely to test positive for SARS-CoV-2 than having some other cause for symptoms.

Hyperuricemia is highly prevalent in chronic kidney disease (CKD) patients, but the evidence for a relationship between uric acid (UA) and clinical outcomes in CKD patients is limited and inconsistent. We hypothesized that UA has a different impact on clinical outcomes according to the underlying disease causing CKD.

This study prospectively investigated the associations between UA and renal and non-renal outcomes according to the underlying disease causing CKD in 2,797 Japanese patients under the care of nephrologists. The patients were categorized into four groups primary renal disease (n = 1306), hypertensive nephropathy (n = 467), diabetic nephropathy (n = 275), and other nephropathy (n = 749). The renal outcome was defined as end-stage renal disease (ESRD), and the non-renal outcome was defined as a composite endpoint of cardiovascular events (CVEs) and all-cause mortality.

During a median 4.8-year follow-up, 359 (12.8%) patients reached the renal outcome, and 260 (9.3%) reached the non-renal outco for non-renal outcomes in primary renal disease and hypertensive renal disease patients. Allopurinol did not decrease the risks for renal and non-renal outcomes.

Postpartum contraceptive use is vital to improve maternal and child survival. It helps to have optimal child spacing, prevent unplanned pregnancies and associated adverse birth outcomes. However, postpartum contraceptive use in Tanzania remains low. Short median interval for resumption to sex after birth among African women has been associated with adverse maternal and child health wellbeing. This study aimed to assess optimal time to contraceptive use and predictors of time to contraceptive use after birth among women of reproductive age in Tanzania.

A cross section study using the TDHS 2015-16 data was used. A total of 3775 postpartum women were analyzed. Information on pregnancy, births and contraceptive use were recorded over the previous 5 years with the focus on most recent birth from the contraceptive calendar. Data analysis was performed using Stata 14.0. Analysis accounted for complex survey design. Time to modern contraceptive use after birth was computed using Kaplan Meier estimate. Adjusted tiitiation of postpartum contraception use. The interceptive measures to facilitate timely availing methods of women’s choice and promotion of utilization of maternal health care services may reduce delays in postpartum contraceptive use.Odorant metabolizing enzymes (OMEs) are expressed in the olfactory epithelium (OE) where they play a significant role in the peripheral olfactory process by catalyzing the fast biotransformation of odorants leading either to their elimination or to the synthesis of new odorant stimuli. The large family of OMEs gathers different classes which interact with a myriad of odorants alike and complementary to olfactory receptors. Thus, it is necessary to increase our knowledge on OMEs to better understand their function in the physiological process of olfaction. This study focused on a major olfactory UDP-glucuronosyltransferase (UGT) UGT2A1. Immunohistochemistry and immunogold electronic microscopy allowed to localize its expression in the apical part of the sustentacular cells and originally at the plasma membrane of the olfactory cilia of the olfactory sensory neurons, both locations in close vicinity with olfactory receptors. Moreover, using electroolfactogram, we showed that a treatment of the OE with beta-glucuronidase, an enzyme which counterbalance the UGTs activity, increased the response to eugenol which is a strong odorant UGT substrate.