Diabetes and Hypertension Are Associated with Food Insecurity in a Cameroonian Population: A Case-Control Study

Diabetes and hypertension are the most prevalent cardiovascular risk factors. Recent studies showed an increase in the prevalence of food insecurity in our country. The aim of this study was to assess how food insecurity affects the dietary habits, socio-demographic characteristics and metabolic profile of individuals with diabetes or hypertension. This case-control study was conducted among diabetic and hypertensive participants (cases) and diabetic and hypertensive normal (controls) during the screening campaigns for nutrition-related chronic diseases. The sociodemographic, clinical and biochemical parameters of the participants were analyzed. Logistic regression analyses were performed to identify factors associated with diabetes and hypertension in the study population. Bivariate analyses showed that male gender (OR = 1.972;95% CI: 1.250 - 3.089), regular alcohol consumption (OR = 2.012;95% CI: 1.294 - 3.130), low fruit consumption (OR = 1.590;95% CI: 1.016 - 2.488), low dietary diversity (OR = 2.915;95% CI: 1.658 - 5.127) and abdominal obesity (OR = 1.893, CI 95% 1.203 - 2.978) were significantly associated with hypertension. In addition, low fruit consumption (OR = 1.829;95% CI 1.092 - 3.064), low legume consumption (OR = 3.515;95% CI 1.861 - 6.635), and hypertriglyceridaemia (OR = 2.241, 95% CI 1.139 - 4.408) were significantly associated with diabetes. The indirect association observed between food insecurity and diabetes and hypertension suggests the need for nutritional policies aimed at popularizing the production and consumption of fruits and legumes. Similarly, health services need to be aware and informed of the important role that food insecurity can play in the development of diabetes and hypertension.

Primed Expression of Defense-Related Genes by Streptomyces cameroonensis-Based Bioformulation (SCaB) on Cocoa Seedlings in a Nursery Challenged with Phytophthora megakarya

A Streptomyces cameroonensis based bioformulation (SCaB) has been developed and shown to be stable and effective in controlling the early proliferation of P. megakarya and promoting the growth of cocoa seedlings in nursery. This study was carried out to explore the molecular mechanisms associated with the interaction of SCaB, cocoa seedlings, and the pathogen during the early stages of seedling growth in the nursery. For this purpose, seedling treatment with 10% W/W SCaB under greenhouse conditions evaluated SCaB’s capacity to stimulate the defense mechanisms in cocoa. Agronomic growth parameters and the level of induction of defense-associated compounds were analyzed. Real-time (rt) PCR was used to assess the level of expression of defense genes. Here, we showed that the application of SCaB as a seedling treatment enhanced the growth of cocoa seedlings in the nursery by an average of 15.6% after 30 days of growth and led to an average reduction in disease severity of 64% when challenged with P. megakarya. The latter led to an increased synthesis of total phenolic compounds, flavonoids, chitinases, peroxidases, and β-1,3-glucanases and an induced up-regulation of TcChiB, TcGlu-1, TcPer-1, and TcMYBPA genes. This research provides a basis for the optimization of beneficial microorganisms as a viable alternative to chemical fungicides used in disease suppression.

Influence of Harvest Periods on Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) Agronomic Traits and Physiological Response to Post-Harvest Physiological Deterioration

Cassava (Manihot esculenta Crantz) is the third largest source of calories in tropical countries and the sixth most important food crop in the World. However, the short shelf life of its storage roots after harvest due to a rapid post-harvest physiological deterioration (PPD) makes the roots to be considered as a risky product to market. The objectives of this work were to investigate the influence of two harvest periods on cassava agronomic parameters and their physiological response to PPD. Three cassava cultivars 96/1414, I070593 and LMR were selected for the experiment and harvested at 10 and 12 months after planting (MAP). The response to PPD was assessed during storage at 0, 3, 8 and 15 days after harvest (DAH). Total proteins content, soluble sugars and starch, total polyphenols compounds, polyphenoloxidase and peroxidase activities were recorded during storage. Results showed large variation among the parameters at the two harvest periods across the cultivars. High number of tubers was recorded in all the cultivars at 12 MAP and a significant increase in storage roots length was observed in 96/1414 and LMR from 10 MAP to 12 MAP (25 ± 5.1 to 41.3 ± 5.9 and 22.6 ± 3.3 to 27.9 ± 4.8) respectively. A reduction of about 49% of tubers weight was observed in I070593 from 10 to 12 MAP while an increase of about 36% and 11% were recorded in LMR and 96/1414 respectively. Tubers from I070593 showed less susceptibility to PPD when harvested at 10 MAP compared to those from LMR and 96/1414 where less susceptibility to PPD were recorded at 12 MAP. An increase in soluble sugars content, total proteins content and peroxidase activity subsequently to a decrease in starch content were recorded during storage from 8 to 15 days after harvest especially at 10 MAP in I070593 and at 12 MAP in LMR and 96/1414. High content of total phenolic compounds and less activity of polyphenol oxidase were correlated to PPD susceptibility. This work opens a new insight issue of the consideration of the appropriate harvest time of the cultivars as a tool to better control the onset of postharvest physiological deterioration.

Analysis of Flood Risks Upstream from the Imboulou Hydroelectric Dam on the Léfini River, a Tributary of the Right Bank of the Congo River

The analysis of the risk of flooding upstream from the Imboulou hydroelectric dam on the Léfini River in the Republic of Congo-Brazzaville, focused on the evolution of annual rainfall and flow in the study area during the period from 1970 to 2020 before and after the building of the dam in 2005, by applying statistical methods. These methods were used to analyse the spatial and temporal evolution of rainfall and flow at the unique hydrometric station located at the RN2 (National Road N°2) bridge in the village of Mbouambé in the Pool region. This work has shown that rainfall is not the cause of flooding in the Léfini catchment area. The monthly flow coefficient (MFC) showed exceptional flooding from November and December onwards after the dam was built, resulting in a variability of flows, with periods of high and low water. In addition, the annual average flow (AAF) and the maximum average flow (MAF) increased after the dam was built. Maximum average flows (MAF) were higher than annual average flows (AAF) throughout the period of study (1970-2020). The annual and monthly rainfall-runoff relationship showed changes after the dam was built, particularly from 2009 and during the months of November and December. .

A statistical information-based clustering approach in distance space

Clustering, as a powerful data mining technique for discovering interesting data distributions and patterns in the nderlying database, is used in many fields, such as statistical data analysis, pattern recognition, image processing, and other usiness applications. Density-based Spatial Clustering of Applications with Noise (DBSCAN) (Ester et al., 1996) is a good erformance clustering method for dealing with spatial data although it leaves many problems to be solved. For example, BSCAN requires a necessary user-specified threshold while its computation is extremely time-consuming by current method uch as OPTICS, etc. (Ankerst et al., 1999), and the performance of DBSCAN under different norms has yet to be examined. In his paper, we first developed a method based on statistical information of distance space in database to determine the necessary hreshold. Then our examination of the DBSCAN performance under different norms showed that there was determinable relation etween them. Finally, we used two artificial databases to verify the effectiveness and efficiency of the proposed methods. ey words: DBSCAN algorithm, Statistical information,

Removal of Phosphate from Aqueous Solution with Modified Bentonite

Bentonite combined with sawdust and other metallic compounds was used to remove phosphate from aqueous solutions in this study. The adsorption characteristics of phosphate on the modified bentonite were investigated, including the effects of temperature, adsorbent dosage, initial concentration of phosphate and pH on removal of phosphate by conducting a series of batch adsorption experiments. The results showed that 98% of phosphate removal rate was obtained since sawdust and bentonite used in this investigation were abundantly and locally available. It is concluded that modified bentonite is a relatively efficient, low cost and easily available adsorbent for the removal of phosphate from aqueous solutions.

Synthesis of New Aza-crown Ethers Containing Pyridine Ring and their Liquid Membrane Transport of Alkali Cations

Five new aza-crown ethers have been prepared by the condensation of 2,6-bis[(2-formylphenyl)oxymethyl] pyridine with different diamino compounds in hot methanol, the bis-Schiff bases without isolation were reduced with NaBH4 to afford the corresponding aza-crown ethers. The liquid membrane transport or alkali cations using the five new macrocycles as the ion-carriers was also studied.

Vertex-distinguishing VE-total Colorings of Cycles and Complete Graphs

Let G be a simple graph of order at least 2.A VE-total-coloring using k colors of a graph G is a mapping f from V (G) E(G) into {1,2,···,k} such that no edge receives the same color as one of its endpoints.Let C(u)={f(u)} {f(uv) | uv ∈ E(G)} be the color-set of u.If C(u)=C(v) for any two vertices u and v of V (G),then f is called a k-vertex-distinguishing VE-total coloring of G or a k-VDVET coloring of G for short.The minimum number of colors required for a VDVET coloring of G is denoted by χ ve vt (G) and it is called the VDVET chromatic number of G.In this paper we get cycle C n,path P n and complete graph K n of their VDVET chromatic numbers and propose a related conjecture.

Totally Real Minimal Submanifolds in a Quaternion Projective Space

Some curvature pinching theorems for compact or complete totally real minimal submanifolds in a quaternion projective space are given,so that the corresponding results due to B. Y.Chen and C. S. Houh as well as Y. B. Shen are improved and generalized.

An Efficient Solid-State Synthesis of N-Aryl-2-phenyldiazenecarboxamides

A new and ancient solid-state reaction using K3Fe(CN)(6)/KOII to oxidize diaryl semicarbazides for preparing azo compounds has been reported. Nine N-aryl-2-phenyl-diazenecarboxamides have been synthesized in excellent yields with simple instrument.

An Analytical Study for Controlling Chaos in Duffing Oscillator with Weak Periodic Perturbation

We obtain a general unstable periodic solution near the homoclinic orbit of the Duffing oscillator with weak periodic perturbation by using the direct perturbation technique.Theoretical analysis reveals that the stable periodic orbits are embedded in the Melnikov chaotic attractor.The corresponding numerical results show that fitting control parameters into the stability conditions can control chaos in the system,and the phase difference between the two sinusoidal forces added to the Duffing equation plays an important role in controlling chaos.

A NOTE ON COMPARISON THEOREM OF TWO-STAGE ITERATIVE METHOD FOR HERMITIAN POSITIVE DEFINITE LINEAR SYSTEMS

We discuss two-stage iterative methods for the solution of linear systemAx = b, and give a new proof of the comparison theorems of two-stage iterative methodfor an Hermitian positive definite matrix. Meanwhile, we put forward two new versionsof well known comparison theorem and apply them to some examples.

Synthesis and luminescence properties of rare earth ternary complexes consisting of Eu(III), β-diketones and 1,10-phenanthroline

Three novel β-diketones （HPPP, HTPP, and HFPP） ligands were synthesized by Sonogashira coupling reaction and Claisen condensation. The structure of β-diketones was confirmed with elemental analysis, IR, NMR and MS spectra. Three new ternary complexes consisting of Eu（Ⅲ）, β-diketones, and 1,10-phenanthroline（phen） were synthesized and characterized as TbL3phen （L=PPP, TPP, FPP） with elemental analysis, chemical analysis, and IR spectra, and their luminescence properties were studied.

Plasma Induced Degradation of Benzidine in Aqueous Solution

The degradation of benzidine in aqueous solution by the low temperature plasma was examined. The results showed that the concentration of medium and the value of pH have an appreciable effect on the degradation of benzidine. What is more important is that iron ions acting as a catalyst play an important role in this reaction. For exploring the degradation mechanism of benzidine, some of the intermediate products were recorded by HPLC(high performance liquid chromatography).

Hawking Effect in 1+1 Dimensional Non-static Space-Time

Hawking radiation in 1+1 dimensional non-static space-time described by the coordinates(t,r)is researched.Both the tortoise transformation and the method of analytical continuation are developed.The temperature and the location of event horizon of the non-static black hole are shown.

Symmetries of the Variable Coefficient KdV Equation and Three Hierarchies of the Integrodifferential Variable Coefficient KdV Equation

By using a simple method to factorize the recursion operator,the inverse recursion operator of the variable coefficient KdV cquqtion is exhibited explicitly.Thee new sets of symmetries of the variable coefficient KdV equation arc given in addition to the known K symmetries andτsymmetries.Starting from these three sets of symmetries,we obtained three hierarchies of the variable coefficient KdV integro-differential equations.

Probability Inequalities for Extended Negatively Dep endent Random Variables and Their Applications

Some probability inequalities are established for extended negatively dependent(END) random variables. The inequalities extend some corresponding ones for negatively associated random variables and negatively orthant dependent random variables. By using these probability inequalities, we further study the complete convergence for END random variables. We also obtain the convergence rate O(n-1/2ln1/2n) for the strong law of large numbers, which generalizes and improves the corresponding ones for some known results.

Some Results of a Certain Odd Perfect Numb er

Define the total number of distinct prime factors of an odd perfect number n asω(n). We prove that if n is an odd perfect number which is relatively prime to 3 and 5 and7, then ω(n) ≥ 107. And using this result, we give a conclusion that the third largest prime factor of such an odd perfect number exceeds 1283.

Biology and Distribution of Mangrove Crabs in the Wouri River Estuary, Douala, Cameroon

Crabs appear as the most important group of mangrove epifauna. Their distribution seems influenced by some biotic and abiotic parameters. To verify the interactions between crab populations and relevant environmental components, six mangrove sites around the city of Douala (3°40' - 4°11'N and 9°16' - 9°52'E) were selected. During six months, four 25-min independent time-biased samples methods were conducted in the plot of 4 × 4 m2 delimited inside each zonation throughout transect. The distance from plot to water and its groundwater salinity, temperature, conductivity and pH were measured. The individual sex, fresh weight and carapace size were determined. 3016 individuals were harvested (57% of females). Perisesarma kamermani was the most abundant (29%) while Chiromates angolense was the most frequent (13.47%). Cardisoma armatum was only found in Pandanus zone. Crab species number was positively correlated with tree, suggesting that the mangrove vegetation is important to the crab fauna as a habitat and food supply. Sex ratio showed a significant difference for Chiromates buetikoferi 1:2.34 (χ2 = 33.21) and for Perisesarma huzardi 1.36:1 (χ2 = 39.98). Portunus validus live closer to water between 5 - 20 m while Cardisoma armatum was found 70 m away from water. Portunus validus was present exclusively in high salinity zones whereas Perisesarma kamermani dominate in low salinity zone. This baseline ecological study of crab mangroves is important for monitoring, management and conservation of mangrove ecosystems.

Hydrocarbon Potential of Two Coastal Basins (Cameroon)

The problem related to the occurrence of oil accumulations in a sedimentary basin requires knowledge of the different geological structures present in this basin. The aim of this article is to show that the geological structure of sedimentary basins has an impact on the generation of oil accumulations. The case of Cameroon’s coastal basins has been studied: the Douala/Kribi-Campo basin (DKC) and the Rio Del Rey basin (RDR), which are producing basins in Cameroon. The work carried out has enabled to classify the DKC and RDR basins as passive margin basins. The lithology and geological structures present in the Douala/Kribi-Campo basin suggest the existence of source rocks (RM-1, RM-2, RM-3, RM-4 and RM-5), seal rocks (Mundeck clay, Logbabaclay...), stratigraphic, structural and mixed traps;the best oil potential is identified in its eastern part. On the other hand, the sandy levels are abundant, clean, and thick with a great porosity, which makes them excellent hydrocarbon reservoirs. In the Rio Del Rey basin, the lithology and geological structures present suggest the occurrence of source rocks (Akata clay and Agbada base clay), seal rocks (Akata clay) and multilayered reservoir rocks sandy or silty Agbada Formation and the freshwater sands of the Benin Formation. Unlike the Douala/Kribi-Campo basin, the best oil potential in the Rio Del Rey Basin lies in the center, in the so-called “deltaic alternation” formations dated from the late Miocene to the Pliocene.