scholarly journals The Phylogenetic Relationships of Tiaronthophagus n.gen. (Coleoptera, Scarabaeidae, Onthophagini) Evaluated by Phenotypic Characters

Insects ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 64
Author(s):  
Angela Roggero ◽  
Philippe Moretto ◽  
Enrico Barbero ◽  
Claudia Palestrini
Keyword(s):  
New Genus ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Ancestral Area ◽  
Phenotypic Characters ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Present Distribution ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Biogeographical Analysis ◽  
Dispersal Events

A necro-coprophagous new genus tha is widespread in the whole Sub-Saharan Africa was identified within the tribe Onthophagini and named Tiaronthophagus n.gen. The new genus, which is well characterized by an exclusive set of characters, comprises, at present, 26 species. Twenty species were formerly included in the genus Onthophagus and six were identified and here described as new species: Tiaronthophagus angolensis n.sp., T. jossoi n.sp., T. katanganus n.sp., T. rolandoi n.sp., T. saadaniensis n.sp., and T. zambesianus n.sp. A phylogenetic analysis that is based on a combined matrix, including discrete and landmark characters, was done. The landmark characters were tested using the geometric morphometrics techniques before their inclusion in the matrix. One single, fully resolved tree was obtained, with Tiaronthophagus constituting a distinct, monophyletic clade within Onthophagini, which was clearly separated from the other genera examined here. The biogeographical analysis identified the Central Africa as the ancestral area of the new genus and it mainly accounted for dispersal events leading to the present distribution. The generic rank that is assigned to the taxon is supported by the results of the morphological, phylogenetic, and biogeographical analyses, and by the comparison to the outgroups.

Women in Gabon

2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Claire H. Griffiths
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Early Period ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
African Women ◽  
Female Population ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Tropical Woods ◽  
New Research ◽  
Export Revenue

Gabon, a small oil-rich country straddling the equator on the west coast of Africa, is the wealthiest of France’s former colonies. An early period of colonization in the 19th century resulted in disease, famine, and economic failure. The creation of French Equatorial Africa in 1910 marked the beginning of the sustained lucrative exploitation of Gabon’s natural resources. Gabon began off-shore oil production while still a colony of France. Uranium was also discovered in the last decade of the French Equatorial African empire. Coupled with rich reserves in tropical woods, Gabon has achieved, since independence in 1960, a higher level of export revenue per capita of population than any other country in sub-Saharan Africa in the postcolonial era. However, significant inequality has characterized access to wealth through paid employment throughout the recorded history of monetized labor. While fortunes have been amassed by a minute proportion of the female population of Gabon associated with the ruling regime, and a professional female middle-class has emerged, inequalities of opportunity and reward continue to mark women’s experience of life in this little-known country of West Central Africa. The key challenge facing scholars researching the history of women in Gabon remains the relative lack of historical resources. While significant strides have been made over the past decade, research on women’s history in Francophone Africa published in English or French remains embryonic. French research on African women began to make a mark in the last decade of colonization, notably with the work of Denise Paulme, but then remained a neglected area for decades. The publication in 1994 of Les Africaines by French historian Catherine Coquery-Vidrovitch was hailed at the time as a pioneering work in French historiography. But even this new research contained no analysis of and only a passing reference to women in Gabon.

scholarly journals First Report of East African Cassava Mosaic Begomovirus in Nigeria

Plant Disease ◽  
1999 ◽  
Vol 83 (4) ◽  
pp. 398-398 ◽  
Author(s):  
F. O. Ogbe ◽  
G. I. Atiri ◽  
D. Robinson ◽  
S. Winter ◽  
A. G. O. Dixon ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Central Africa ◽  
Mosaic Disease ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Cassava Mosaic Disease ◽  
Enzyme Linked Immunosorbent Assay ◽  
East African ◽  
African Countries ◽  
Manihot Esculenta Crantz ◽  
Cross River State ◽  
Sub Saharan

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is an important food crop in sub-Saharan Africa. One of the major production constraints is cassava mosaic disease caused by African cassava mosaic (ACMV) and East African cassava mosaic (EACMV) begomoviruses. ACMV is widespread in its distribution, occurring throughout West and Central Africa and in some eastern and southern African countries. In contrast, EACMV has been reported to occur mainly in more easterly areas, particularly in coastal Kenya and Tanzania, Malawi, and Madagascar. In 1997, a survey was conducted in Nigeria to determine the distribution of ACMV and its strains. Samples from 225 cassava plants showing mosaic symptoms were tested with ACMV monoclonal antibodies (MAbs) in triple antibody sandwich enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (1). Three samples reacted strongly with MAbs that could detect both ACMV and EACMV. One of them did not react with ACMV-specific MAbs while the other two reacted weakly with such MAbs. With polymerase chain reaction (2), the presence of EACMV and a mixture of EACMV and ACMV in the respective samples was confirmed. These samples were collected from two villages: Ogbena in Kwara State and Akamkpa in Cross River State. Co-infection of some cassava varieties with ACMV and EACMV leads to severe symptoms. More importantly, a strain of mosaic geminivirus known as Uganda variant arose from recombination between the two viruses (2). This report provides evidence for the presence of EACMV in West Africa. References: (1) J. E. Thomas et al. J. Gen. Virol. 67:2739, 1986. (2) X. Zhou et al. J. Gen. Virol. 78:2101, 1997.

scholarly journals Recurrent Collection of Drosophila melanogaster from Wild African Environments and Genomic Insights into Species History

2019 ◽  
Vol 37 (3) ◽  
pp. 627-638 ◽  
Author(s):  
Quentin D Sprengelmeyer ◽  
Suzan Mansourian ◽  
Jeremy D Lange ◽  
Daniel R Matute ◽  
Brandon S Cooper ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Drosophila Melanogaster ◽  
Demographic History ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Model Organism ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Wilderness Areas ◽  
Southern Central ◽  
History Of ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Improved Model

Abstract A long-standing enigma concerns the geographic and ecological origins of the intensively studied vinegar fly, Drosophila melanogaster. This globally distributed human commensal is thought to originate from sub-Saharan Africa, yet until recently, it had never been reported from undisturbed wilderness environments that could reflect its precommensal niche. Here, we document the collection of 288 D. melanogaster individuals from multiple African wilderness areas in Zambia, Zimbabwe, and Namibia. The presence of D. melanogaster in these remote woodland environments is consistent with an ancestral range in southern-central Africa, as opposed to equatorial regions. After sequencing the genomes of 17 wilderness-collected flies collected from Kafue National Park in Zambia, we found reduced genetic diversity relative to town populations, elevated chromosomal inversion frequencies, and strong differences at specific genes including known insecticide targets. Combining these genomes with existing data, we probed the history of this species’ geographic expansion. Demographic estimates indicated that expansion from southern-central Africa began ∼13,000 years ago, with a Saharan crossing soon after, but expansion from the Middle East into Europe did not begin until roughly 1,800 years ago. This improved model of demographic history will provide an important resource for future evolutionary and genomic studies of this key model organism. Our findings add context to the history of D. melanogaster, while opening the door for future studies on the biological basis of adaptation to human environments.

No Longer Overlooked and Undervalued? The Evolving Dynamics of Endogenous Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa

2006 ◽  
Vol 76 (1) ◽  
pp. 80-109 ◽  
Author(s):  
RICHARD MACLURE
Keyword(s):  
International Development ◽  
Educational Research ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Research Capacity ◽  
The United States ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Research Network ◽  
Research Networks ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Local Research

Multilateral donors like the World Bank and bilateral agencies such as the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the British Department for International Development exert a great deal of influence in international educational development — particularly in sub-Saharan Africa — both in the programs they fund and the types of research they engage in. In this article, Richard Maclure investigates educational research in Africa and juxtaposes research done by large, exogenous, Western, results-oriented organizations with research performed by smaller, endogenous, local researchers aided by local research networks. Maclure argues convincingly that research that falls into the exogenous "donor-control" paradigm far too often is irrelevant to the African educational policy context and does little to develop local research capacity. The cases of two African research networks — the Educational Research Network of West and Central Africa and the Association for the Development of Education in Africa—are presented as exemplars of organizations that promote an alternative type of research that is endogenous, relevant to policy and the process of policymaking, and controlled by Africans. Maclure concludes with a call for increased support for and development of these types of networks, and for the development of the long-term solution to educational research in Africa — the university.

Cardiovascular health and near visual impairment among older adults in the Republic of Congo: a population-based study

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Antoine Gbessemehlan ◽  
Catherine Helmer ◽  
Cécile Delcourt ◽  
Farid Boumediene ◽  
Bébène Ndamba-Bandzouzi ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Visual Acuity ◽  
Visual Impairment ◽  
Cardiovascular Health ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Population Based ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Logistic Regression Models ◽  
Sub Saharan

Abstract Background Visual impairment (VI) and determinants of poor cardiovascular health are very common in sub-Saharan Africa. However, we do not know whether these determinants are associated to VI among older adults in this region. This study aimed at investigating the association between the determinants of poor cardiovascular health and near VI among older adults living in Congo. Methods Participants were Congolese older adults aged ≥ 65 years included in EPIDEMCA-FU (Epidemiology of Dementia in Central Africa - Follow-up) population-based cohort. Near VI was defined as visual acuity < 20/40 measured at 30 cm. Associations between determinants of poor cardiovascular health collected at baseline and near visual acuity measured at 1 st follow-up were investigated using multivariable logistic regression models. Results Among the 549 participants included, 378 (68.8% [95% Confidence Interval: 64.9%-72.7%]) had near VI. Of the determinants of poor cardiovascular health explored, we found that having high BMI ≥ 25 kg/m 2 (Odds Ratio= 2.15 [95% CI: 1.25–3.68]), diabetes (OR=2.12 [95% CI: 1.06–4.25]) and hypertension (OR=1.65 [95% CI: 1.02–2.64]) were independently associated with near VI. Conclusions Several determinants of poor cardiovascular health were associated to near VI in this population. This study suggests that promoting a good cardiovascular health could represent a target for VI prevention among older adults.

Lung function in children with sickle cell disease from Central Africa

Thorax ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 74 (6) ◽  
pp. 604-606 ◽  
Author(s):  
Michele Arigliani ◽  
Robert Kitenge ◽  
Luigi Castriotta ◽  
Pathy Ndjule ◽  
Vincenzo Barbato ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Lung Function ◽  
Sickle Cell ◽  
Sickle Cell Anaemia ◽  
Democratic Republic ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Increased Risk ◽  
Republic Of The Congo ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Restrictive Pattern

Lung function in patients with sickle cell anaemia (SCA) living in sub-Saharan Africa is largely unknown. Anthropometry and spirometry were cross-sectionally evaluated in patients with SCA (HbSS) aged 6–18 years and in schoolchildren from the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The Global Lung Initiative 2012 spirometry reference values were used. A total of 112 patients and 377 controls were included. Twenty-six per cent of patients with SCA had spirometry findings suggestive of a restrictive pattern and 41% had a FEV1 z-score <5th percentile. Wasting, increasing age and female sex were independently associated with increased risk of restrictive spirometry pattern in patients with SCA. Longitudinal studies could clarify the prognostic meaning of these findings.

The evolutionary history of Lipsothrix Loew (Diptera : Tipuloidea) inferred through systematic revision and historical biogeographical analysis

2015 ◽  
Vol 29 (3) ◽  
pp. 239
Author(s):  
Matthew Petersen
Keyword(s):  
Evolutionary History ◽  
Indian Plate ◽  
Valid Species ◽  
Systematic Revision ◽  
Ancestral Area ◽  
Western Palearctic ◽  
History Of ◽  
Biogeographical Analysis ◽  
Dispersal Events ◽  
One New Species

The evolutionary history of the crane fly genus Lipsothrix Lowe, 1873 was examined through a systematic revision of specimens maintained in natural history collections, parsimony analysis using TNT based on immature and adult morphology, and dispersal–vicariance analyses in RASP (Bayesian and S-DIVA). The genus Lipsothrix was found to contain 29 valid species, one subspecies (L. nobilis iranica) and three species maintained but in need of further evaluation (Lipsothrix burmica, L. heitfeldi, L. yakushimae). One species complex (L. shasta complex) was further resolved using ordination and cluster analyses. One new species is described, L. nullusarma, sp. nov., and three species are synonymised (L. fulva, L. mirifica, L. yamamotoana omogoensis). Phylogenetic analysis recovered a strongly supported and monophyletic Lipsothrix. The historical biogeographical analyses of Lipsothrix inferred an ancestral area in the Western Palearctic region that likely dates to the Eocene. One, or several, dispersal events occurred from the Western Palearctic before major diversification events occurred in the Oriental and Eastern Palearctic + Nearctic regions. Two major paleogeographical developments occurring in the Oriental and Eastern Palearctic + Nearctic regions are largely responsible for Lipsothrix diversification, the collision of the Indian plate with Asia and the rise of the trans-Beringian land bridges during the Tertiary and Quaternary.

Theses on Sub-Saharan Africa Accepted by the University of California at Berkeley

1969 ◽  
Vol 12 (02) ◽  
pp. 157-166 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. Philip Hoehn ◽  
Jean Judson
Keyword(s):  
Social Science ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
University Of California ◽  
General Reference ◽  
Interlibrary Loan ◽  
Reference Service ◽  
Number Of Leaves ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
The University

This bibliography attempts to list all known theses on sub-Saharan Africa accepted by the University of California at Berkeley, and catalogued by the University Library through January, 1969. The earliest item is dated 1914. The list was compiled from a card file of theses arranged by academic department which is maintained by the Library's General Reference Service. The availability of theses on interlibrary loan is indicated by symbols following the number of leaves (L) in the thesis. An asterisk indicates that the Library has catalogued more than one copy of a title, and that the second copy may be borrowed on interlibrary loan. The symbol # indicates that the Library's Graduate Social Science branch has an uncatalogued copy of the thesis which may be borrowed. Absence of these symbols indicates that the title is not available on interlibrary loan. Photocopies of all M.A. and those Ph.D. these completed before September, 1962 may be purchased from the Library's Photographic Service; those Ph.D. theses from September, 1962 on, from University Microfilms, Inc. The bibliography is in two parts. The first part contains those items which cover more than one country, and is divided into General, Central Africa, East Africa, and West Africa; the second part, arranged by country (present name), lists those titles dealing with only one political unit.

scholarly journals Analytical Performances of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 RNA-Based Amplix® Real-Time PCR Platform for HIV-1 RNA Quantification

2016 ◽  
Vol 2016 ◽  
pp. 1-12
Author(s):  
Christian Diamant Mossoro-Kpinde ◽  
Ralph-Sydney Mboumba Bouassa ◽  
Mohammad-Ali Jenabian ◽  
Serge Tonen Wolyec ◽  
Leman Robin ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Real Time ◽  
Real Time Pcr ◽  
Dynamic Range ◽  
Limit Of Detection ◽  
Central Africa ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Clinical Samples ◽  
Absolute Bias ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Hiv 1

Objectives. We evaluated the performances of Amplix real-time PCR platform developed by Biosynex (Strasbourg, France), combining automated station extraction (Amplix station 16 Dx) and real-time PCR (Amplix NG), for quantifying plasma HIV-1 RNA by lyophilized HIV-1 RNA-based Amplix reagents targeting gag and LTR, using samples from HIV-1-infected adults from Central African Republic. Results. Amplix real-time PCR assay showed low limit of detection (28 copies/mL), across wide dynamic range (1.4–10 log copies/mL), 100% sensitivity and 99% specificity, high reproducibility, and accuracy with mean bias < 5%. The assay showed excellent correlations and concordance of 95.3% with the reference HIV-1 RNA load assay (Roche), with mean absolute bias of +0.097 log copies/mL by Bland-Altman analysis. The assay was able to detect and quantify the most prevalent HIV-1 subtype strains and the majority of non-B subtypes, CRFs of HIV-1 group M, and HIV-1 groups N and O circulating in Central Africa. The Amplix assay showed 100% sensitivity and 99.6% specificity to diagnose virological failure in clinical samples from antiretroviral drug-experienced patients. Conclusions. The HIV-1 RNA-based Amplix real-time PCR platform constitutes sensitive and reliable system for clinical monitoring of HIV-1 RNA load in HIV-1-infected children and adults, particularly adapted to intermediate laboratory facilities in sub-Saharan Africa.

scholarly journals The Political Economy of Industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa: Evaluating the Role of Institutions

2022 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
pp. 77-108
Author(s):  
Lionel Effiom ◽  
Emmanuel Uche
Keyword(s):  
Political Economy ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Distributed Lag ◽  
Long Run ◽  
Quality Of Institutions ◽  
The Matrix ◽  
Optimal Resource ◽  
Sub Saharan ◽  
Development Literature

Sub-Saharan Africa has recently witnessed rising growth rates, but the continent is still largely not industrialised. Mainstream empirical diagnosis has identified the paucity of physical and human capital as the main culprit. However, with the increasing inflow of capital into the continent, such arguments have become hackneyed. A possible culprit identified in the evolving development literature is the quality of institutions. How much has the quality of institutions, structured largely by the prevailing political economy of individual states, influenced Africa’s industrial performance? This study deploys descriptive and analytical methodologies to proffer answers to these questions. The estimates obtained from the Pool Mean Group Panel Autoregressive Distributed Lag (PMG-ARDL) as well as the Augmented Mean Group (AMG) panel estimators point strongly to the fact that institutions are bane of industrialization in Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). Specifically, we find evidence that in the long run, regulatory quality, rule of law and control of corruption all impact the manufacturing subsector negatively and significantly. The panacea is not only within the matrix of optimal resource allocation, but must integrate the entire political and sociological process, involving governments at all levels, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and faith-based groups.

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