• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.14 no.3
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• pp.372-377
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• 2001

A study on the prevalence and causes of sub-clinical mastitis was conducted on ten smallholder and large-scale dairy farms in Morogoro urban and peri-urban areas. A total of 65 lactating cows were screened using the California Mastitis Test (CMT). Confirmatory tests used included; the direct microscopic somatic cell count (DMSCC), culture, bacteriological and biochemical tests. Structured questionnaires were used to collect information on management aspects. Results showed 62% and 4% cows as sub- clinical and clinical mastitis cases respectively. Levels of infection were higher on smallholder farms (75%) than on large-scale farms (25%). All tested cows had high cell counts (>500,000) per ml of milk. Incidences of mastitis were significantly (p<0.05) related to milking practices. The dominant bacterial isolates in the same order were Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus spp, and Escherichia coli. Other organisms isolated included Pseudomonas spp and Klebsiella spp. It was concluded that the high rates of sub-clinical mastitis in the research area were mainly due to poor management and unhygienic milking practices.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.29 no.11
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• pp.1852-1859
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• 2019

Chikungunya virus (CHIKV) is a single-stranded positive-sense RNA virus, belonging to the genus Alphavirus of the Togaviridae family. It causes multiple symptoms, including headache, fever, severe joint and muscle pain, and arthralgia. Since CHIKV was first isolated in Tanzania in 1952, there have been multiple outbreaks of chikungunya fever. However, its pathogenesis and mechanisms of viral immune evasion have been poorly understood. In addition, the exact roles of individual CHIKV genes on the host innate immune response remain largely unknown. To investigate if CHIKV-encoded genes modulate the type I interferon (IFN) response, each and every CHIKV gene was screened for its effects on the induction of the IFN-β promoter. Here we report that CHIKV nsP2, E2 and E1 strongly suppressed activation of the IFN-β promoter induced by the MDA5/RIG-I receptor signaling pathway, suggesting that nsP2, E2, and E1 are the major antagonists against induction of IFN-β. Delineation of underlying mechanisms of CHIKV-mediated inhibition of the IFN-β pathway may help develop virus-specific therapeutics and vaccines.

• Biomolecules & Therapeutics
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.276-282
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• 2019

${\beta}$-amyloid precursor protein (APP) can be cleaved by ${\alpha}$-, and ${\gamma}$-secretase at plasma membrane producing soluble ectodomain fragment ($sAPP{\alpha}$). Alternatively, following endocytosis, APP is cleaved by ${\beta}$-, and ${\gamma}$-secretase at early endosomes generating ${\beta}$-amyloid ($A{\beta}$), the main culprit in Alzheimer's disease (AD). Thus, APP endocytosis is critical for $A{\beta}$ production. Recently, we reported that Monsonia angustifolia, the indigenous vegetables consumed in Tanzania, improved cognitive function and decreased $A{\beta}$ production. In this study, we examined the underlying mechanism of justicidin A, the active compound of M. angustifolia, on $A{\beta}$ production. We found that justicidin A reduced endocytosis of APP, increasing $sAPP{\alpha}$ level, while decreasing $A{\beta}$ level in HeLa cells overexpressing human APP with the Swedish mutation. The effect of justicidin A on $A{\beta}$ production was blocked by endocytosis inhibitors, indicating that the decreased APP endocytosis by justicidin A is the underlying mechanism. Thus, justicidin A, the active compound of M. angustifolia, may be a novel agent for AD treatment.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.12 no.5
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• pp.735-741
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• 1999

The effects of supplementation with nitrogen molasses mineral blocks and molasses urea mix during and immediately prior to the dry season on the production of dairy cows were studied on-station and on-farm near Morogoro, Tanzania. Supplementation of blocks to on-station cows also receiving ad libitum grass hay and 6 kg/d of maize bran increased milk production from 6.7 L/d to 11.2 L/d (p<0.05), increased dry matter intake from 10.1 kg/d to 12.0 kg/d (p<0.05), but did not significantly affect milk composition, intake of hay, and live weight changes. This increase in milk yield is mainly explained by increased intakes of energy and nitrogen. Supplementation with the molasses urea mix increased daily milk yield from 6.7 L/d to 8.8 L/d (p<0.05), but did not significantly affect the other measured production parameters. The on-farm supplementation of the blocks increased daily milk yield by 1.5 L/d in the dry season (p<0.05). This supplementation did not increase milk yields prior to the dry season, since quality forage was still available. Taking the production costs into account, supplementation with the blocks and supplementation with mix were cost effective if milk yields increased by 0.7 L/d. Hence supplementation with blocks and supplementation with mix were effective on-station, and supplementation with blocks was cost effective on-farm during the dry season.

• Asian-Australasian Journal of Animal Sciences
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• v.17 no.2
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• pp.168-173
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• 2004

The ability of frozen-thawed fetal skin was examined to generate viable cell lines for nuclear transfer. Fetal skin frozen at -20$-20^{\circ}C$, $-30^{\circ}C$ or $-80^{\circ}C$ in the presence of 5% DMSO used as tissue explants to generate somatic cells. The resultant confluent cells were then used as donors for nuclear transfer (NT). Of the bovine NT embryos reconstracted from the somatic cells, 62.3%, 76.6% to 65% showed cleavage 70.5%, 81.9% to 78.5% reached the stage of morula formation and 39.7%, 43.2% or 47.6% reached the blastocyst stage. There was no significant difference in development when the NT embryos were compared with those reconstracted from fresh somatic cell derieved skin tissues (72%, 75.3%, and 45.2%, for cleavage, and development to morula and blastocyst stage, respectively). NT embryos were then placed in a portable $CO_2$ incubator and carried to China from Japan by air. After reaching to farm, two NT embryos were transferred to each of 5 recipients. We obtained 2 NT calves which birth weights is 30kg and 36kg female, and gestation periods is 281 and 284 days, respectively. There were no observation any abnormality from those calves. The results indicated that cell lines derieved from bovine fetal skin cryopreserved by a simple method could be used as donors in nuclear transfer using the portable $CO_2$ incubator.

• Journal of Veterinary Clinics
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• v.27 no.1
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• pp.11-16
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• 2010

A white pelican, Pelecanus onccrotalus, was imported from Tanzania and died 5 days later in Daejeon zoo in Korea. The proventriculus of bird was found to contain parasites. The taxonomic status of the nematodes was studied by morphological and morphometric analysis using light and scanning electron microscopy. Only one species Contracaecum occurred in the proventriculus with high values of infection. Morphological characters of the parasite were as follows: The worms have three lips without cuticular dentigerous ridges, and well developed interlabia. The interlabia have a triangular shape, non-bifurcated. Males possess numerous preanal papillae (69-79 pairs) arranged in single subventral rows. Paracloacal papillae were separated 5 postanal papillae and 1 larger pairs. All the characters of the above studied specimens are very similar to those of C. rudolphii complex. Accordingly, the parasites from white pelican were identified belong to the C. rudolphii complex.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.25 no.3
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• pp.177-185
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• 2009

Dryland species and ecosystems have developed unique strategies to cope with low and sporadic rainfall. They are highly resilient and recover quickly from prevailing disturbances such as fires, herbivore pressure and drought. Dryland people have engineered pastoral and farming systems, which are adapted to these conditions and have sustained the livelihoods of dryland people for centuries. In this article, we present the status of potentials and threats to dryland biodiversity and explore options for its conservation and sustainable use. Findings of the research can be summarized as follows: (i) The ecosystem goods and services are highly valued by the community but mechanism for wise use of the resources has disappeared, (ii) forests are under the ownership of the government but the local community is the realistic custodian of the forests through village leaderships and environmental committees; (iii) the immediate major threat to dryland biodiversity held in the forests appears to be the degradation of ecosystems and habitats caused by new and powerful forces of environmental degradation such as large scale irrigation of rice farms, poverty-induced overexploitation of natural resources, and disappearance and ignorance of traditional institutions for management of dryland biodiversity. These new forms of disturbances often overpower the legendary resilience of dryland ecosystems and constitute potentially serious threats to dryland biodiversity. Forests, wetlands and oases all of which are micro hot spots of dryland biodiversity, appear to be particularly vulnerable hence the need to set up some rules and regulations for sustainable utilization of these resources.

• Journal of Forest and Environmental Science
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• v.27 no.2
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• pp.93-99
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• 2011

In this study, a total of 350 households contained 700 individuals in Iganzo village were surveyed to study their literate and poverty levels and their impacts to conservation of the Mbeya Range Forest Reserve. The study included 350 women and 350 men. The majority of respondents were between the ages of 31-40 years old (53%), while the rest were between 41-50 years old (25%) and 21-30 years old (22%). The total income per day per household was calculated and averaged to 4,570 Tanzanian shillings that is equal to about 3 U.S. dollars. The average number of members per household was seven. It was reported that, there is a tremendous decrease in biodiversity composition of the reserve mainly due to poverty (80%) and ignorance (76%) of the people on the importance of the reserve. Other causes for this decrease were reported to be grazing of livestock in the reserve (23%), poor farming systems (68%), which resulted in soil erosion, encroachment (64%) through expansion of farms towards the reserve boundary and charcoal burning (34%). Respondents from Mbeya Urban Water Supply Authority and District Forest Office mentioned lack of funds (49%) and lack of experts (56%) as challenges that face the conservation of the reserve. It was revealed that 25% of respondents had never gone to school, 53% had primary level of education as their highest level of education, 20% had secondary education and 2% had first degree. The null hypothesis that poverty and illiteracy have a positive correlation to forest degradation was accepted based on these findings at a probability of p>0.85. Thus, it was concluded that poverty and illiteracy among Iganzo village residents are the main causes for the degradation of biodiversity in Mbeya Range Forest Reserve.

• International Journal of Computer Science & Network Security
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• v.22 no.3
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• pp.364-374
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• 2022

Health information systems (HIS) are facing security challenges on data privacy and confidentiality. These challenges are based on centralized system architecture creating a target for malicious attacks. Blockchain technology has emerged as a trending technology with the potential to improve data security. Despite the effectiveness of this technology, still HIS are suffering from a lack of data privacy and confidentiality. This paper presents a blockchain-based data storage security architecture integrated with an e-Health care system to improve its security. The study employed a qualitative research method where data were collected using interviews and document analysis. Execute-order-validate Fabric's storage security architecture was implemented through private data collection, which is the combination of the actual private data stored in a private state, and a hash of that private data to guarantee data privacy. The key findings of this research show that data privacy and confidentiality are attained through a private data policy. Network peers are decentralized with blockchain only for hash storage to avoid storage challenges. Cost-effectiveness is achieved through data storage within a database of a Hyperledger Fabric. The overall performance of Fabric is higher than Ethereum. Ethereum's low performance is due to its execute-validate architecture which has high computation power with transaction inconsistencies. E-Health care system administrators should be trained and engaged with blockchain architectural designs for health data storage security. Health policymakers should be aware of blockchain technology and make use of the findings. The scientific contribution of this study is based on; cost-effectiveness of secured data storage, the use of hashes of network data stored in each node, and low energy consumption of Fabric leading to high performance.

• Economic and Environmental Geology
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• v.47 no.6
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• pp.563-569
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• 2014

Ruby is one of the most favor colored gem, for beautiful red tone, be high in scarcity value. However, rubies with high quality are produced in restricted regions, such as in Thailand, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, and Tanzania etc., and they have been gradually exhausted by mining for a long period. Therefore, improving qualities of low level rubies with various treatments is arising an alternative way to obtain better rubies. Gemological and mineralogical properties of the natural ruby from Tanzanian were studied with heat treatments. Those characteristics were compared between only heat and adding flux materials under heating. Tanzanian raw rubies were applied a heat treatment ($1,600^{\circ}C$ for 6 hours). However, chromameter and UV-Vis analyses found that a simple heat treatment is inappropriated for the Tanzanian ruby. Although $Cr^{3+}$ containing for red color in the ruby increased with heat treatment, the ruby displays dark medium red because of Fe in the ruby as a form of $Fe_2O_3$. The low transparency after heat treatment is attributed to the recrystallization of $SiO_2$ which has a low melting point. Chromameter confirmed adding Pb-containing flux under heating greatly improves the clarity and color of Tanzanian rubies with micro-fractures and cavities on the surface. EMPA results show that Pb as an additive fills the cavities and cracks on raw Tanzanian rubies during the heat treatment. As a rewult of it, the quality of the Tanzanian ruby raw dramatically improved. These results indicate that the heat treatment with an additive (Pb in this study) is an effective way to obtain better quality of the Tanzanian ruby. Consequently, this study suggests a suitable method to improve the properties of the Tanzanina ruby. The result of this study would provide useful information to upgrade the qualities of similar gem stones such as corundum and sapphire.