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The objective of this study is to monitor the effect of storing, handling and adding chemical improvers on bread’s shelf life, through studying the change on bread’s quality parameters (taste, color, odor and texture) with time. Two types of bread (A and B) were baked; one with additionof chemicals (Banda Mixture of Enzyme and Additive(to its original ingredients(flour, yeast, sugar, salt and water)and the other without. Both types were bakedat 260 0C at the bakery of Food Research Center, Khartoum _ Each type of bread was stored using three modes of storage:(1) open plastic bag (2) closed plastic bag (3) paper bag.Hence there were six samples (A1, A2, A3, B1, B2, B3). The samples were evaluated by 9 semi-trained tasters for 24 hours at 8hours’ intervals. The test results of the six samples were analyzed statistically using SPSS software version 16.00. The study concluded that the chemically improved bread (sample A) is better than the unimproved one (sample B) as it maintained its taste, color, odor, and texture over time. In terms of shelf life, paper bags provide relatively better quality for short period while plastic bags provide better shelf life for longer period.

Percutaneous left ventricular assist device (pLVAD) explant remains nonstandardized with potential complications of bleeding and thrombosis. Explant settings include percutaneous techniques in the catheterization laboratory (CL), manually at bedside (MB), and surgically in the operating room (OR).Identify high-risk features for explant-related complications, including indication for support, setting, and technique.Postexplant bleeding and thrombosis/limb ischemia were identified following pLVAD removals over 2 years at a multicenter healthcare system.Of 156 patients, bleeding (n = 26 [17%]) and thrombosis (n = 9 [6%]) occurred more often in patients with the peripheral arterial disease (PAD), female gender, anemia, and cardiogenic shock. OR explants had a higher combined endpoint (4/8 [50%]) versus CL (23/133 [17%], p 0.05) driven by transfusion. There was no difference between OR versus MB (5/15 [33%], p = 0.66) or CL versus MB (p = 0.62). In shock patients, there was no difference between CL (7/30 [23%]) versus MB (5/15 [33%], p = 0.5) and OR (4/7 [57%], p = 0.16); or MB versus OR (p = 0.38). Average length of stay was significantly lower in the CL group versus MB and OR (3.6 ± 33.2 vs. 18.4 ± 10.9 vs. 28.1 ± 15.8 days, p 0.0001). Preclosure in shock patients (5/25 [20%] vs. 11/27 [41%], p = 0.1383) and crossover balloon occlusion technique (9/44 [16%] vs. 25/112 [22%]; p = 1) were not associated with higher combined endpoints versus control.Risk factors for pLVAD explant complications include PAD, female gender, and cardiogenic shock. There was no difference in complication rates between explant settings among cardiogenic shock patients, but shorter length of stay when performed in the CL. There was no difference in complication rates when using the crossover balloon occlusion technique.

Afforestation programs are challenged by competition for land uses. Land use conflicts arise whenever there is divergent use, access and management of the resource or due to incompatible use and inadequate policy. Agroforestry may reconcile competing interests. However, small landholdings remain a challenge due to the negative ecological and economic impacts of most economically preferred trees for agroforestry systems. Such negative impacts lead to the emergence of conflict among different land users and in most instances, slows down afforestation efforts on the farm. This study intended to explore conflicts arising from on-farm tree-planting and other land use practices, to identify the conflict resolution mechanism adopted by land users and to evaluate their strengths and weaknesses in conflict management. Mixed method approach of structured and semi-structured interviews was employed in Bobasi, Kisii County, Kenya. Content analysis, means, frequencies and cross-tabulations were done. Results indicated that small landholdings coupled with poor agroforestry practices were the main source of conflict driven by the ready market for trees of high economic values but with negative ecological impact. Conflict management mechanisms adopted were mainly cooperative methods such as voluntary negotiations between tree farmers and crop owners. These included adopting silvicultural control measures, benefit sharing of tree stems along the boundaries and compensation mechanisms for losses incurred by crop owners. Right based management mechanisms were also noted among other land users who believed that what they did with their land and compound was their business and so exhibited competitive approaches such as avoidance, coercion, and adjudication.

Background: Cervical spine clearance in intubated victims of blunt trauma remains contentious; accumulating high level evidence suggests that a normal CT cervical spine can be used to clear the c-spine and remove the collar in obtunded emergency department patients to prevent collar-related complications. However, it is unclear whether this holds true for intubated patients in the trauma intensive care unit (TICU).Methods: We performed a retrospective review of 730 intubated trauma patients who presented to the Level 1 Trauma center of a tertiary hospital. We reviewed the rate of missed cervical injuries in patients who had their cervical collars removed based on a normal computed tomography (CT) scan of the cervical spine, as well as rates of collar-related complications.Results: Three hundred and fifty patients had their cervical collars removed in the TICU based on the findings of a high-quality, well-interpreted normal CT cervical spine. Seventy percent of patients were intubated and sedated at the time of collar removal. Fifty-one percent of patients had concomitant traumatic brain injury. The average GCS at time of collar removal was 9. The incidence of missed neurological injury discerned clinically at time of both ICU and hospital discharge was nil (negative predictive value 100%). The rate of collar-related complications was 2%.Conclusion: Based on our findings, it is safe to remove the cervical collar for patients in the TICU following normal CT cervical spine, provided certain quality conditions related to the CT scan are met. Not removing the collar early may be related to increased complications. We provide an algorithm to assist critical-care clinicians in decision-making in this patient cohort

BACKGROUNDCurrently, there is no proven effective therapy nor vaccine for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2. Evidence regarding the potential benefit of early administration of hydroxychloroquine (HCQ) therapy in symptomatic patients with Coronavirus Disease (COVID-19) is not clear.METHODSThis observational prospective cohort study took place in 238 ambulatory fever clinics in Saudi Arabia, which followed the Ministry of Health (MOH) COVID-19 treatment guideline. This guideline included multiple treatment options for COVID-19 based on the best available evidence at the time, among which was Hydroxychloroquine (HCQ). Patients with confirmed COVD-19 (by reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (PCR) test) who presented to these clinics with mild to moderate symptoms during the period from 5-26 June 2020 were included in this study. Our study looked at those who received HCQ-based therapy along with supportive care (SC) and compared them to patients who received SC alone. The primary outcome was hospital admission within 28-days of presentation. The secondary outcome was a composite of intensive care admission (ICU) and/or mortality during the follow-up period. Outcome data were assessed through a follow-up telephonic questionnaire at day 28 and were further verified with national hospitalisation and mortality registries. Multiple logistic regression model was used to control for prespecified confounders.RESULTSOf the 7,892 symptomatic PCR-confirmed COVID-19 patients who visited the ambulatory fever clinics during the study period, 5,541 had verified clinical outcomes at day 28 (1,817 patients in the HCQ group vs 3,724 in the SC group). At baseline, patients who received HCQ therapy were more likely to be males who did not have hypertension or chronic lung disease compared to the SC group. No major differences were noted regarding other comorbid conditions. All patients were presenting with active complaints; however, the HCQ groups had higher rates of symptoms compared to the SC group (fever: 84% vs 66.3, headache: 49.8 vs 37.4, cough: 44.5 vs 35.6, respectively). Early HCQ-based therapy was associated with a lower hospital admission within 28-days compared to SC alone (9.4% compared to 16.6%, RRR 43%,p-valuep-value0.001). Adjusting for age, gender, and major comorbid conditions, a multivariate logistic regression model showed a decrease in the odds of hospitalisation in patients who received HCQ compared to SC alone (adjusted OR 0.57 [95% CI 0.47-0.69],p-value ). The composite outcome of ICU admission and/or mortality was also lower for the HCQ group compared to the SC group controlling for potential confounders (adjusted OR 0.55 [95% CI 0.34-0.91],p-value0.019).CONCLUSIONEarly intervention with HCQ-based therapy in patients with mild to moderate symptoms at presentation is associated with lower adverse clinical outcomes among COVID-19 patients, including hospital admissions, ICU admission, and/or death.

Grassland degradation reduces net primary production and, subsequently, soil fertility and soil organic carbon stocks (SOCs); however, little is known about its impact on soil CO2 emissions, particularly the emissions relative to SOCs and biomass produced. The main objective of this study, performed in KwaZulu-Natal province of South Africa, was to quantify the impact of grass basal cover, as main indicator of grassland degradation, on soil CO2 emissions. The soil CO2 emissions were measured from three grass cover levels (non-degraded, with 100% grass cover, moderately degraded: 25 < grass cover < 50%; and highly degraded: 0 < grass cover < 5%) using a LI-COR 6400XT. The measurements were done at three randomly selected positions in each grass cover level, from January 2013 to April 2015. At each position, measurements were done once during winter months and twice during summer months, resulting in a total of 1053 measurements for the entire study period. The measured average gross soil CO2 emission was significantly higher (1.78 +/- 0.013 g CO2-C m(-2) day(-1)) in non-degraded than moderately (1.60 +/- 0.12 g CO2-C m(-2) day(-1)) and highly degraded grasslands (0.68 +/- 0.10 g CO2-C m(-2) day(-1)). However, when expressed relative to SOCs and aboveground biomass produced, the trends were opposite. Average soil CO2 emission relative to SOCs was lowest in the non-degraded grassland (0.034 +/- 0.01 g CO2-C g(-1)C day(-1)) and highest in the moderately degraded grassland (0.058 +/- 0.02 g CO2-C g(-1)C day(-1)) with the highly degraded grassland being intermediate (0.04 +/- 0.00 g CO2 g(-1)C day(-1)). Similarly, soil CO2 emission relative to aboveground biomass produced was lowest in the non-degraded grassland at 0.15 +/- 0.02 kg CO2-C kg(-1) biomass year(-1), which was almost 5 fold lower than 0.73 +/- 0.01 kg CO2-C kg(-1) biomass year(-1) in the highly degraded grassland. Gross soil CO2 emission correlated significantly and positively with SOC (r = 0.83 and 0.82 for SOC content and stocks, respectively), SON (0.67 and 0.53 for content and stocks, respectively), C:N ration (0.62), and soil water content (0.75) but negatively with clay content (-0.89). Soil CO2 emission relative to SOCs correlated significantly and negatively with both SOC (-0.50 and -0.51 for content and stocks, respectively) and SON (-0.45 and -0.42 for content and stocks, respectively). While gross CO2 emissions decreased with grassland degradation, CO2 emission relative to both SOCs and aboveground biomass increased with grassland degradation. These results point to direct links between grassland degradation and global warming because CO2 is one of the key greenhouse gases. Therefore, strategies for rehabilitating degraded grasslands need to aim at reducing soil CO2 emission in order to mitigate climate change.

Welcome to the Book of Abstracts for the 2017 SPARC conference. This year we not only celebrate the work of our PGRs but also the 50th anniversary of Salford as a University, which makes this year’s conference extra special. Once again we have received a tremendous contribution from our postgraduate research community; with over 130 presenters, the conference truly showcases a vibrant PGR community at Salford. These abstracts provide a taster of the research strengths of their works, and provide delegates with a reference point for networking and initiating critical debate. With such wide-ranging topics being showcased, we encourage you to exploit this great opportunity to engage with researchers working in different subject areas to your own. To meet global challenges, high impact research inevitably requires interdisciplinary collaboration. This is recognised by all major research funders. Therefore engaging with the work of others and forging collaborations across subject areas is an essential skill for the next generation of researchers.

Grasslands have potential to mitigate against climate change because of their large capacity to store soil organic carbon (SOC). However, the long-term impact of grassland management such as burning, which is still common in many areas of the world, on SOC is still a matter of debate. The objective of this study was to quantify the longterm effects of annual burning on CO2 output from soils and SOC stocks. The study was performed on a 62 years old field trial comparing annual burning (AB) to no burning associated with tree encroachment (NB), and to annual mowing (AM) with all treatments laid out in randomized block design with three replicates per treatment. CO2 emissions from soil were continuously measured over two years and were correlated to soil chemical and physical properties. AB and AM produced 30 and 34% greater CO2 emissions from soil than NB (1.80 +/- 0.13 vs. 234 +/- 0.18 and 2.41 +/- 0.17 g C-CO2 ,m(-2) d(-1) for NB, AB and AM respectively). AB and AM also produced greater CO2 emissions from soil and per gram of soil carbon (1.32 +/- 0.1 and 135 +/- 0.1 mg C-CO2 g C-1 d(-1), respectively) than NB (1.05 +/- 0.07 mg C-CO2 g C-1 d(-1)), which corresponded to significant differences of respectively 26% and 29%. Overall, CO2 emissions from soil (per m(2)) significantly increased with soil water content (r = 0.72) followed by SOC stocks (r = 0.59), SOC content (r = 0.50), soil bulk density (r = 0.49), soil temperature (r = 0.47), C:N ratio (r = 0.46) and mean weight diameter (r = 038). These findings suggest that long-term annual burning increases CO2 output from soils. Additional greenhouse gases emissions from burning itself and alternative grassland management techniques were finally discussed.

Summary Although several studies analyzed p53 and mismatch repair (MMR) gene expression separately in oral squamous cell carcinoma (SCC), no reports of combined assessment of both proteins in this cancer. The aim of this study was to investigate the roles of p53 and hMSH2 proteins in oral SCC as well as in oral dysplastic lesions (DL) in Yemen. Immunohistochemistry was used to examine the pattern of expression of p53 and hmsh2 proteins in 70 oral SCC and 21 oral DL obtained from Yemeni patients. p53 Immunoexpression was detected in 24 of the 70 oral SCC (34.3%) and 3 of 21 DL (14.3%) with no significant difference between the two groups. On the other hand, reduced expression of hMSH2 was detected in 26 of the 70 oral SCC (37.1%) and 2 of 21 oral DL (9.5%) with a statistically significant difference (P = 0.03). Both proteins were significantly related to the grade of tumor differentiation (P = 0.007 and 0.02, respectively). There was an inverse correlation between the levels of p53 and hMSH2 immunoexpression in the oral SCC (r = 0.42, P = 0.01). This study suggested that p53 may play a role in the early stages of oral carcinogenesis, while hMSH2 may be altered in the late stages. More importantly, the roles of p53 and hMSH2 in oral carcinogenesis seem to be interrelated in the pathogenetic pathway of oral SCC. Such a relationship has not been published previously in this type of cancer and needs to be clarified in future studies.

Despite palliative treatments, tumor-induced bone disease (TIBD) remains highly debilitating for many cancer patients and progression typically results in death within two years. Therefore, more effective therapies with enhanced anti-resorptive and cytotoxic characteristics are needed. We developed bisphosphonate-chemotherapeutic conjugates designed to bind bone and hydrolyze, releasing both compounds, thereby targeting both osteoclasts and tumor cells. This study examined the effects of our lead compound, MBC-11 (the anhydride formed between arabinocytidine (AraC)-5'-phosphate and etidronate), on bone tumor burden, bone volume, femur bone mineral density (BMD), and overall survival using two distinct mouse models of TIBD, the 4T1/luc breast cancer and the KAS-6/1-MIP1alpha multiple myeloma models. In mice orthotopically inoculated with 4T1/luc mouse mammary cells, MBC-11 (0.04 microg/day; s.c.) reduced the incidence of bone metastases to 40% (4/10), compared to 90% (9/10; p=0.057) and 100% (5/5; p=0.04) of PBS- or similarly-dosed, zoledronate-treated mice, respectively. MBC-11 also significantly decreased bone tumor burden compared to PBS- or zoledronate-treated mice (p=0.021, p=0.017, respectively). MBC-11 and zoledronate (0.04 microg/day) significantly increased bone volume by two- and four-fold, respectively, compared to PBS-treated mice (p=0.005, p