Busoga University

ABSTRACTAlzheimer's Disease (AD) is a global health issue, affecting over 6 million people in the United States, with that number expected to increase as the population ages. As a neurodegenerative disorder that affects memory and cognitive functions, it is well established that AD is associated with cardiovascular risk factors beyond only cerebral decline. In this study, we measured hemodynamic parameters related to cardiovascular and cerebrovascular function in 5xFAD mice with AD and their littermates. Specifically, we measured cardiovascular pulse wave velocity parameters, a marker of arterial stiffness and cardiovascular risk, and cerebrovascular pulse wave velocity, a novel technique to measure cerebral arterial stiffness. Our results showed that while 5xFAD mice exhibited significant differences in ejection time, pulse pressure, and Tei index, many other cardiovascular and cerebral parameters were not different. Despite reports that amyloid plaque deposition begins at an early age of 1.5 months in 5xFAD mice, our results did not indicate significant cardiovascular changes. Studies to elucidate cardiovascular and cerebrovascular parametric changes should be done at later ages where the underlying changes are more profound.

ABSTRACTAge‐related skeletal muscle atrophy, known as sarcopenia, is characterized by loss of muscle mass, strength, endurance, and oxidative capacity. Although exercise has been shown to mitigate sarcopenia, the underlying governing mechanisms are poorly understood. Mitochondrial dysfunction is implicated in aging and sarcopenia; however, few studies explore how mitochondrial structure contributes to this dysfunction. In this study, we sought to understand how aging impacts mitochondrial three‐dimensional (3D) structure and its regulators in skeletal muscle. We hypothesized that aging leads to remodeling of mitochondrial 3D architecture permissive to dysfunction and is ameliorated by exercise. Using serial block‐face scanning electron microscopy (SBF‐SEM) and Amira software, mitochondrial 3D reconstructions from patient biopsies were generated and analyzed. Across five human cohorts, we correlate differences in magnetic resonance imaging, mitochondria 3D structure, exercise parameters, and plasma immune markers between young (under 50 years) and old (over 50 years) individuals. We found that mitochondria are less spherical and more complex, indicating age‐related declines in contact site capacity. Additionally, aged samples showed a larger volume phenotype in both female and male humans, indicating potential mitochondrial swelling. Concomitantly, muscle area, exercise capacity, and mitochondrial dynamic proteins showed age‐related losses. Exercise stimulation restored mitofusin 2 (MFN2), one such of these mitochondrial dynamic proteins, which we show is required for the integrity of mitochondrial structure. Furthermore, we show that this pathway is evolutionarily conserved, as Marf, the MFN2 ortholog in Drosophila, knockdown alters mitochondrial morphology and leads to the downregulation of genes regulating mitochondrial processes. Our results define age‐related structural changes in mitochondria and further suggest that exercise may mitigate age‐related structural decline through modulation of mitofusin 2.

Purpose: The aim of the study was to examine the effect of new agriculture techniques on world hunger.
 Methodology: This study adopted a desktop methodology. This study used secondary data from which include review of existing literature from already published studies and reports that was easily accessed through online journals and libraries.
 Findings: The study revealed that new agri techniques has increased yield of crops. With advanced technology and modern crop varieties, farmers can produce more food with less land, water, and other resources. This can help to meet the growing demand for food as the global population continues to increase. Some of the new agri technique include adoption of GMOs, precision irrigation, precision agriculture and vertical farming.
 Unique Contribution to Theory, Practice and Policy: The study was anchored theory of sustainable agriculture and theory of agricultural innovation systems (AIS). The study recommended that policies and institutional frameworks should be developed to support the adoption of modern technologies in agriculture including the provision of technical assistance, access to credit and market support. The study recommended there is need for financial incentives to encourage farmers to adopt new agricultural techniques.

This study set out to investigate how Lubukusu borrows words from English and yet the two differ widely in terms of phonemic inventories. Borrowing of words form English to Lubukusu required assimilation processes to enable the transfer of characteristics of one language into the other. The study identified and described the morphophonological change that the loan words from English go through to fit into Lubukusu speech system and established morphophonological rules that account for the changes. The study adopted the theory Natural Generative phonology (NGP) which was propagated by Hopper (1976) as the theoretical framework. Sampling procedure was used to arrive at the fields most affected and sample population. Eighty speakers of Lubukusu from Bumula Division, Bungoma district were interviewed, ten respondents from each field of Education, Police, Health, Mechanics, commerce, Building and Construction, Religion and domestic. An interview schedule was used in data collection. The loan words were also recorded on a magnetic tape during articulation for the sake of analysis to get a clear picture of their morphophonological structure. The Loan words were transcribed for Morphophonological analysis. It was evident that there were lot of consonantal changes like consonant insertion, consonant deletion and consonant substitution among others. There were also vowel changes that were observed such as vowel deletion, vowel substitution and vowel insertion. No single loan word was found to maintain its original morphophonological structure when it moved from English to Lubukusu in both singular and Plural form. The study contributes to linguistic scholarship in the area of Lubukusu Morphophonemics. The knowledge acquired could be utilized by institutions of higher learning and translation centres. It was recommended that more studies like the current study should be conducted in the rest of the remaining dialects of Luhyia to give a clear picture of how Luhyia borrows words from English and also the suprasegmental level should be considered.   Keywords: Lubukusu, English, higher learning and translation, languages, communication.