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Introduction: Post-operative pain management has been the subject of several studies worldwide. Cesarean section is a commonly performed procedure and can lead to severe pain. This study aimed to determine the quality of post-cesarean analgesia by intrathecal administration of 100 micrograms of morphine. Patients and Methods: We conducted an analytical and descriptive study with prospective data collection during one month. We included all women who underwent a spinal caesarean section. Results: During the study period, a total of 119 women were enrolled. The mean age of the parturients was 27.85. High blood pressure and obesity were the most common comorbidities in 9.242% and 5.09% of the women respectively, and 31.93% had a history of caesarean section. Cesarean sections were performed according to the level of urgency based on the colour code. Scheduled caesarean sections were performed in 64.7% of cases. Women had an APFEL score of 3 in 95% of cases. Bupivacaine 7.5mg was administered in 96.63% of cases. The average dose of ephedrine administered before fetal extraction was 3.96mg. Oxytocin was the most administered uterotonic in 73.94%. The APGAR score at birth was greater than 7 in 95.79% of cases. No patient expressed a need for additional analgesics after lifting the motor block. No respiratory or neurological complications of morphine were noted. Pruritus was present in 24.36% of cases, whereas nausea and vomiting were reported in 17.64%. There were no cases of acute urine retention. The average time for the resumption of bowel movement was 13.67 hours. Discussion and Conclusion: Morphine spinal analgesia is an effective technique for the management of post-cesarean pain. The reduction of the morphine dose to 100 micrograms and the preventive addition of dexamethasone are two key factors in accelerated rehabilitation after surgery.

Obstetrical emergencies are a real health problem around the world. The WHO has estimated that each year more than half a million women die from obstetric complications worldwide. These obstetrical emergencies present themselves in various clinical forms and their causes are multiple and variable. They require specific and well-coded management, which helps to minimize maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality. Objectives: To describe the epidemiological, therapeutic and evolutionary aspects of obstetrical emergencies admitted to the operating room of the maternity ward of Aristide Le Dantec Hospital. Patients and Methods: This is a descriptive cross-sectional study with retrospective data collection. It covered a period of 8 months (January 1st to August 31st, 2021) and involved 248 patients. Results: The frequency of obstetrical emergency admissions was 18.77%. The average age of the patients was 29.52 years with extremes of 15 and 44 years. Most of the pregnancies were full term (43.2%). The average gestational age was 2.16 ± 1.10 and the average delivery number was 1.16 ± 1.12. The main obstetrical emergencies recorded were: dystocia (41.53%), fetal hypoxia of all causes (41.02%), hypertensive emergencies (25.81%), hemorrhagic emergencies (15.33%) and infectious emergencies (14.92%). Caesarean section was performed in the majority of parturients (94.35%) and spinal anesthesia was the most common anesthesia technic used in 64.53% of cases. Fetal mortality was 5.13%. Maternal mortality was 1.21% and was mainly related to hemorrhagic shock. Discussion and Conclusion: Obstetrical emergencies are frequent at Aristide le Dantec Hospital. They occur in young parturients, mostly primiparous. They are responsible for a still high morbidity and mortality. The reduction of maternal and fetal mortality is a major public health objective. It could be achieved through better patient education, medicalized monitoring of high-risk pregnancies and improvement of the technical equipment.

Animal-Vehicle Collision (AVC) is one of the widest and foremost research segments in the road safety research area. This paper aims to give a critical review of highlighted points and characteristics of different types of research that is within the AVC research segment. There are distinctively four categories of AVC research namely: trend and characteristic of AVC study, AVC spatial modeling study, human-animal behavioral study, and AVC mitigation study. Specific traits of each category are explored and related reported data are presented. In conclusion, each category of AVC research required further analysis especially on gathering comprehensive field data and records.

Flow rate estimation of an underwater oil spill is challenging due to the complex flow dynamics of an oil spill. Existing techniques such as particle image velocimetry (PIV) and feature tracking velocimetry (FTV) were unable to accurately estimate the flow rate of the oil spill in the Macondo well incident, with the most accurate technique being optical plume velocimetry (OPV). OPV estimates the velocity field based on temporal averaging algorithm, which has a better temporal resolution compared to PIV and FTV. This is useful for flow estimation where the temporal evolution of turbulent flow is significant. However, the classical temporal cross correlation algorithm used in OPV is not appropriate to deal with multi-scale flow behaviour associated with a turbulent flow such as that of oil spills. Several methods were previously used to multi-scale representation, such as Short-Time Fourier Transform, Wavelet Transform (WT) and Empirical Mode Decomposition. Among all of these methods, wavelet transform (WT) is more appropriate for turbulent flow applications, since the interesting point is the presentation of flow spectral changes over time. This is because the wavelet convolution has the ability to balance between temporal and frequency information. This paper proposed an alternative technique called wavelet-based optical velocimetry (WOV). WOV estimates the velocity field based on cross correlation of wavelet coefficients. Continuous wavelet transform was first utilized to transform two intensity signals into the wavelet domain. The Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm was then used for wavelet coefficient correlation, from which the velocity was estimated. To validate the accuracy of the WOV technique, a turbulent jet flow was experimentally simulated at Reynold's number ranging from 1847 to 11,656 at the nozzle. In our experimental work, WOV estimated the nozzle flow rate with an error of 8.3%, while the OPV estimated the nozzle flow rate with an error of 19.7%. The better estimation of WOV technique is due to its advantage to deal with the multi-scale behaviour of turbulent flow, since the WT has a multi-resolution scheme. The accuracy of WOV algorithm, however is sensitive to the selection of wavelet scaling, as well as the wavelet function. A significant influence was observed for the wavelet scaling, due to the difference of the frequency bandwidth width of WT, while the influence of wavelet function is less significant.

Opaque fluid flow estimation is a challenging problem due to the complex nature of this flow type. Deepwater Horizon oil spill is one of the real examples of opaque fluid flow. Due to the complicated spill flow and the lack of dedicated flow measurement technique its flow rate was estimated with high uncertainty. In this paper, a simulation of jet flow is conducted experimentally and numerically. This is in order to analyze the difference between them. First, a turbulent buoyant jet was experimentally simulated considering various ranges of nozzle flow rates including laminar and turbulent flow. A video camera was used to capture the jet flow. Then, Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) based method was developed to estimate velocity field from video sequence. The outcomes of experimental results were compared to the outcomes of numerical simulation. As a result, the FFT-based method was estimated the nozzle flow rates with a relative error of 18.2% when it was compared to the measured experimental values. Despite this poor accuracy, a good agreement between experimental and numerical simulation outcomes was found in term of overall velocity field, centerline velocity, axial velocity as well as the distribution of radial velocity.

The photovoltaic (PV) lifetime and the return-on-investment for local PV system installation rely on long-term device performance. Understanding the efficient degradation behavior under a given set of environmental conditions is, therefore, a primary goal for experimental research and economic analysis. The modules were characterized with measurement of their I-V features under similar outdoor condition. Moreover, measurement of different meteorological parameters like humidity and temperature is done from the weather station. The present study aims to measure electrical characteristics (Isc, Voc, Pmax and FF) in monocrystalline and amorphous silicon modules exposed for 5 years in a sub-oceanique climate in Cologne. The results show the Pmax of monocrystalline silicone has more degradation (3.41%/year) than the amorphous silicon (1.76%/year). Key words: PV module, amorphous, crystalline, degradation.

Flow measurement underwater oil leak is a challenging problem, due to the complex nature of flow dynamics. Oil jet flow associated with a multi-scale coherent structure in both space and time direction. Optical plume velocimetry (OPV) was developed by (Crone, McDuff, and Wilcock, 2008), and it was the most accurate technique that used for oil leak flow measurement. Despite its better estimation, the OPV measured the oil flow rate with high uncertainty of 21%. This is due to the multi-scale phenomena of oil flow, as well as the limited accuracy of direct cross correlation (DCC) typically used by OPV. This paper proposed a novel technique that considers the multi-scale property of turbulence in flow measurement. The proposed technique is based on continuous wavelet transform and estimates the flow using the following steps: Decomposition of turbulent flow signal by using continuous wavelet transform (CWT), correlation coefficient estimation in which Fast Fourier Transform (FFT) algorithm was used, interpolation and peak detection for the estimated correlation coefficients, and finally, the velocity field estimation. In order to validate the CWT-based technique, a turbulent buoyant jet, which has a similar flow-type of oil jet was experimentally simulated. Then, the CWT-based technique was applied to measure the jet flow, and the outcomes of the technique was compared to the experimental results. As a result, utilizing a smaller number of wavelet scales lead in better flow measurement as compared to the use of larger scales. CWT-based technique was accurately estimated the jet flow rate with standard error of 0.15 m/s, and outperformed the classical algorithms, including FFT, and DCC algorithms, which were measured with error of 3.65 m/s and 4.53 m/s respectively.

Oil spill image segmentation is an important task for quantifying the total amount of spilled oil. However, segmentation of oil region from images is a challenging problem. This is due to un-defined edge between oil and sea water. This paper proposes a novel approach based on oil color. The proposed color-based method segments the oil spill region based on clustering the colors of oil and water within the image into various groups, from which the oiled region can be segmented and defined. A k-mean cluster was applied to differentiate between the various colors. As a result, the color-based method able to determine the oiled region. A comparison to classical Otsu thresholding method showed that the color-based method had a better oil segmentation.

Turbulent flow segmentation from image data is a challenging problem. This is due to the un-defined edge and the complex flow nature of turbulence. In this paper, an image-based technique is proposed for turbulent flow segmentation from image. The proposed technique segments the flow region based on enhancing the input image intensity at flow edges and by defining a thresholding value to differentiate between flow region and image background. To test the image-based segmentation technique, a turbulent buoyant jet was experimentally simulated at different nozzle flow rates which have a Reynolds numbers of 960, 1560, and 3210. Then, a video camera was used to record the jet flow data. Then, the image-based technique was applied to segment the flow region and estimate the jet penetration area. As a result, the turbulent flow region was segmented well for all cases of nozzle flow rates. Moreover, application of the image-based technique for jet penetration estimation showed a good agreement with the previous work, in which the jet propagated linearly over time.

Intermittent drought is the most important yield limiting factor affecting groundnut (Arachis hypogaea L.) production in rain-fed regions of Sub-Saharan Africa and Asia. Improvement of crop adaptation to drought is needed and this starts by having a thorough assessment of a large and representative set of germplasm. In this study, 247 lines belonging to the reference collection of groundnut were assessed under well-watered (WW) and intermittent water stress (WS) conditions in India and Niger for two years, following similar experimental protocols. The WS treatment reduced pod yield (31–46%), haulm yield (8–55%) and the harvest index (1–10%). Besides a strong treatment effect, yield differences within locations and years, were attributed to both genotypic and genotype-by-treatment interactions. Pod yield under WW and WS conditions were closely related in both years (Patancheru, r2 = 0.42 and r2 = 0.50; Sadore, r2 = 0.22 and r2 = 0.23). By contrast, within location and treatment, pod and haulm yields were affected predominantly by genotype-by-year (G × Y) effects, especially under WS. Within treatment across locations and years, pod and haulm yields were mostly ruled by genotypic effects, which allowed identifying a group of entries with contrasting pod yield across locations under WS. However, genotype and genotype by environment (GGE) biplot analyses distinguished India from Niger, suggesting that the selection remains environment-specific and also revealed dissimilarity between years in Niger. A close relationship was observed between yield and pod growth rate (r2 = 0.51), and partition (r2 = 0.33) under WS conditions, whereas no significant relationship was found between yield under WS and SCMR, or specific leaf area (SLA). These results showing a close interaction between the environmental conditions and the genotypic response to intermittent drought shows the necessity to carefully choose environments that truly represent target environments. This is an important result in the current breeding context of marker-assisted recurrent selection or genome-wide selection. This work opens also new ways for the breeding of drought tolerant groundnut, by bringing new highly contrasting lines currently used for crossing and deciphering drought adaptation traits to better understand G × E interactions, while it challenges the relevance of long-time used surrogates such as SCMR or SLA.

Adaptation to low water and soil P availability has been related to root properties. Two experiments were conducted in a greenhouse. Under hydroponics conditions, plants of the Souna 3 cultivar were grown for 30 d with three levels of P (P0 = 0.0 mol L -1 , PI = 0.073 10 -3 mol L -1 , and P2 = 1.65 10 -3 mol L -1 ). In the pot experiment, two cultivars (Souna 3 and IBMV8402) were planted in pots filled with 19 kg of P-deficient and sandy soil and subjected to two watering regimes: well watered and water stressed at the vegetative phase from 23 d after sowing (DAS) to 30 DAS. Phosphorus treatment consisted of two levels: application of phosphate fertilizer (P 2 O 5 ) at the rate of 649 mg per pot (34 mg P 2 O 5 kg -1 soil), referred to as Fl, and no phosphate application, referred to as F0. The results showed that under P deficiency, pearl millet [Pennisetum glaucum (L.) R. Br.| presented an alteration of root parameters, particularly root volume, by the formation of root hair. Under non-water-limited conditions as well as in high or low P, IBMV8402 showed a better root and shoot growth. However, under drought conditions, the leaf water potential (Ψ f ) of IBMV8402 (Ψ f = -5 MPa) decreased more than that of Souna 3 (Ψ f = -3 MPa). In spite of this, P supply improved the root and shoot growth of IBMV8402. Finally, except for the condition of water stress and without P supply, P utilization efficiency exhibited by IBMV8402 was 20 to 50% higher than that of Souna 3 on the basis of shoot biomass production.

In this study, a dual-choice oviposition bioassay was used to screen responses of gravid An. gambiae toward 17 bacterial species, previously isolated from Anopheles gambiae s.l. (Diptera: Culicidae) midguts or oviposition sites. The 10 isolates from oviposition sites have been identified by phylogenetic analyses of their 16S rRNA genes. Eight of the 10 isolates were gram-positive, out of which six belonged to the Bacilli class. Solid phase microextraction and gas chromatography coupled to mass spectrometry (GC-MS) were used to identify the volatiles emitted from the bacterial isolates. Aromatic and aliphatic alcohols, aliphatic ketones, alkylpyrazines, dimethyl oligosulfides, and indole were among the chemical compounds identified from the headspace above bacteria-containing saline. The mosquitoes laid significantly more eggs in six of the bacteria-containing solutions compared with the sterile solution. These six bacteria did not emit any compounds in common that could explain the positive oviposition response. Instead, the bacteria were grouped according to principal component analysis (PCA) based on the relative amounts of volatiles emitted. The PCA-plots facilitated the identification of 13 putative oviposition attractants for An. gambiae mosquitoes.

Development and innate immune defence are two vital processes that have been demonstrated to use the same or similar molecules and signalling pathways in insects. Hemolin is a moth haemolymph protein belonging to the immunoglobulin superfamily. It is strongly induced upon bacterial infection. However, recent studies indicate a developmental regulation of hemolin. We show that the steroid hormone 20-hydroxyecdysone (20E) can activate the expression of Hyalophora cecropia Hemolin (HcHemolin) in the fat body of diapausing pupae. Using the protein synthesis inhibitor cycloheximide we demonstrate that Hemolin up-regulation by 20E requires ongoing protein synthesis. Moreover, 20E enhances transcription of the Hemolin gene in response to bacteria. Comparing the upstream regions of Manduca sexta Hemolin (MsHemolin) and HcHemolin, we identified four putative regulatory sites. Two are putative hormone response elements (HREs), one with an imperfect inverted repeat (HRE-IR) and one with a monomeric site (HRE-M). An additional monomeric hormone receptor site (MRE) is present only in HcHemolin. The third conserved motif is similar to the interferon (IFN) regulatory factor binding element (IRF-E) and IFN-stimulated response element (ISRE). The fourth conserved element is a kappaB motif situated between the Cap-site and the TATA-box. Finally, by electrophoresis mobility shift assay we demonstrate that the HRE-IR forms specific complexes with nuclear extract proteins of normal pupae that increase after 20E stimulation.

Hemolin is one of the haemolymph proteins most strongly induced upon bacterial infection in Lepidoptera. When we applied RNA interference (RNAi) to suppress Hemolin expression in the Chinese oak silk moth Antheraea pernyi, we discovered that Hemolin is induced by double-stranded RNA (dsRNA) per se. As dsRNA is recognized as a virus pattern molecule, we then investigated the effect of a baculovirus (ApNPV) infection. We found that Hemolin is induced and expressed with similar kinetics as upon dsRNA injection. Notably, no Attacin gene expression or antibacterial activity was recorded. When baculovirus and high amounts of dsRNA were coinjected, the viral symptoms appeared earlier with Hemolin dsRNA than with GFP dsRNA. This indicates that silencing of hemolin affected the progress of the viral infection.

There is increasing evidence of an intimate connection between participants in the innate immune system and in development. Molecules involved in the determination of dorso-ventral polarity in Drosophila have related counterparts in the signalling pathways for immune gene activation in both insects and mammals. Hemolin from the Giant silkmoth, Hyalophora cecropia, identified as a bacteria-inducible molecule and a member of the immunoglobulin superfamily, is present as protein and transcripts in oocytes and embryos. We used RNA interference (RNAi) to investigate H. cecropia gene function in vivo and demonstrated that Hemolin is crucial for the normal development of embryos. When RNAi-females were mated, no larvae emerged from their eggs and when dissected, the eggs revealed malformed embryos. Western blot analysis confirmed the lack of Hemolin gene products. We conclude that Hemolin is necessary for development, since the silencing of Hemolin gene expression leads to embryonic lethality.

An intracellular Drosophila protein, Yippee, was identified in a yeast interaction trap screen as physically interacting with Hyalophora cecropia Hemolin. The Yippee gene was isolated, structurally characterized, and mapped to the region 12A on the X-chromosome. Yippee contains a putative zinc-finger-like metal binding domain. It is the first characterized member of a conserved gene family of proteins present in diverse eukaryotic organisms, ranging from cellular slime mould to humans. A human cDNA clone was isolated and shown to be 76% identical to Drosophila Yippee. Yippee is ubiquitously expressed in different developmental stages of Drosophila and in different fetal tissues from human. Although the Hemolin-Yippee interaction remains to be further elucidated, the high degree of Yippee sequence conservation between a wide range of species suggests that this protein is of general importance in eukaryotes.

Insects are useful models for the study of innate immune mechanisms because of their lack of antibodies and receptors involved in adaptive immune response. Nevertheless, hemolin cloned from moths is a soluble and membrane associated Ig-related molecule that is up-regulated during immune response [Lanz-Mendoza, H.Faye, I. (1999) Dev. Comp. Immunol. 23, 359-374]. The hemolin monomeric form has four, pair-wise, interacting Ig-domains, forming a strongly bent horseshoe structure [Su, X.-D., Gastinel, L.N., Vaughn, D.E., Faye, I., Poon, P.Bjorkman, P. (1998) Science 281, 991-995]. To elucidate the nature of its homophilic and cellular interactions, the glycosylation and Ca2+-binding properties of hemolin were investigated. We used Hyalophora cecropia hemolin isolated from hemolymph of bacteria-injected pupae, or produced as a recombinant protein in a baculovirus/insect cell system. Both types of hemolin contain N-acetylglucosamine and probably sialic acid, as indicated by peptide:N-glycosidase F and neuraminidase digestion and glycosylation detection by Western-blotting analysis. The N-acetylglucosamine residues on hemolin were confirmed with the use of specific lectins. In addition, hemolin was shown to specifically bind calcium when spotted onto nitrocellulose and treated as for 45Ca2+ autoradiography. Earlier studies demonstrated that hemolin can bind to hemocytes and this was tested for its dependence on calcium and carbohydrates, using hemolin-coated fluorescent microspheres. A greater level of attachment of microspheres occurred in the presence of calcium than if calcium was absent. Furthermore, this binding was inhibited by EGTA and N-acetylglucosamine or N-acetylneuraminic acid, implying that carbohydrates and calcium are crucial factors in homophilic binding and cell-adhesion events mediated by this Ig-superfamily molecule.

Insects have an effective humoral immune system, residing in immune proteins that are synthesized largely in the fatbody. kappa B-like motifs upstream of the immune protein genes bind the Cecropia immunoresponsive factor (CIF), and confer high levels of inducible expression. We have extended our studies and sought evidence that oxygen-derived active species might modulate the expression of the immune protein genes and the activation of CIF after the administration of different inducers. Mitogens, like arachidonic acid, phorbol esters, phytohemagglutinin, bacteria, and components of microbial cell envelopes stimulate expression of the attacin genes, both in vivo and in vitro. A general stimulant of oxidative stress, H2O2, stimulated expression of these genes and the weak immune response to wounding was greatly augmented by administration of H2O2. These responses were largely or entirely inhibited by dithiothreitol and by N-acetylcysteine. Nonspecific responses were excluded since immune genes failed to respond to albumin or starch, and the expression of a non-immunoresponsive gene was not affected. Electrophoretic mobility-shift assays showed that H2O2 and bacteria, when administered in vitro, could activate CIF in fatbody cells and that dithiothreitol and N-acetylcysteine prevented this process. Our data suggest that the induction of the immune protein genes is mediated through the activation of CIF, contingent upon thiol oxidation induced by oxidative stress.

From November 1991 to March 1992 authors have carried out a study on the place of cryptosporidiosis among the intestinal diseases in children from a Dakar Pediatric Hospital. Different technics have been used to identify the parasites in the stool: direct examination, followed by Ritchie and Zielh Nielsen modified by Henricksen and Poblenz. The results show that 32% of the children were carriers parasites. Helminths represent 53.2% of the parasites with predominance of Ascaris lumbricoides. Giardia intestinalis is the more representative parasite among the Protozoa which constitute 46.8% of the parasites. 13 cases of parasites associations have been founded. The cryptosporidies have been founded in 3 stools, and constitute 4.6% of the whole parasites. The cryptosporidiosis take a little place among the intestinal diseases in Dakar's children.

We have previously shown that pupae of the giant silkmoth Samia cynthia have a humoral antibacterial activity, which was induced by viable, nonpathogenic gram-negative bacteria (H.G. Boman et al., 1974). We show here that this activity was formed simultaneously with a selective incorporation of amino acids into eight polypeptide chains characterized by their electrophoretic behavior. If actinomycin D or cycloheximide were given at an early time, no antibacterial activity was found. If the inhibitors were given at the time of maximum activity, there was no effect with actinomycin D but a rapid decrease of the activity in the case of cycloheximide. The results imply that the messenger ribonucleic acid was stable, but that at least one protein component was turning over. Hemolymph from immunized pupae of another giant silkmoth, Hyalophora cecropia, was fractionated by ammonium sulfate precipitation. This procedure, together with the isotope distribution after co-electrophoresis in polyarylamide gels, was used for comparing the response to injury and to different infections. Almost identical polypeptide patterns were obtained as a response to an infection with either viable Enterobacter cloacae or Bacillus subtilis. These patterns differed both qualitatively and quantitatively from the injury effect created by an injection as such. There was only a low antibacterial activity in each of the four fractions obtained by ammonium sulfate precipitation. However, a combination of three fractions restored a high killing activity. Fractionation of hemolymph from untreated pupae provided evidence for at least one preexisting factor which stimulated the killing of Escherichia coli. The osmotic pressure of the bacteria contributed to the antibacterial activity towards E. coli, but not towards B. subtitlis. The killing of E. coli was inhibited by liped A and, to a lesser extent, by an inhibitor of proteolytic enzymes. The similarities and differences with the mammalian complement system are discussed.

Diapausing pupae of the Cecropia moth (Hyalophora cecropia) respond to an injection of live bacteria by the selective synthesis of certain types of RNA and immune proteins (designated P1-P9). The in vitro translation products of RNA from both injured and infected pupae showed specific patterns with a defined number of extra bands. Some proteins characteristic of the normal RNA were reduced in the immune RNA translation products. Antibody reaction was used to show the selective synthesis of immune proteins P4 and P5 with mRNA from pupae subjected to injury or infection. The protein synthesized in vitro, which cross-reacted with P5 antibodies, is most likely a precursor of the attacins described in the preceding paper. A cDNA clone bank was prepared and two clones were isolated and shown to contain 750 bp corresponding to P4 and 250 bp of attacin information. These clones were used to estimate the sizes of the mRNAs by Northern blotting and to estimate, by RNA/DNA hybridization, the levels of P4 and P5 mRNA. In vivo incorporation of [35S]methionine into attacins and P4 during different conditions was compared with the levels of the corresponding mRNA.