Background: Frequency distribution of blood groups is important as it is used in modern medicine, genetic research, anthropology, and tracing ancestral relations of humans. The ABO and Rh blood groups are the most important blood groups despite the long list of several other blood groups discovered so far.Aim of the study: To study and document the frequency of ABO and Rh (D) blood groups in three ethnic groups of Silte Zone, Ethiopia.Subjects and methods: ABO and Rh (D) typing was carried out during 2012 and a total of 441 students from both genders were randomly selected from Silte Secondary and Preparatory School, SNNPR, Ethiopia. Finger prick blood samples from both genders were tested for ABO and Rh (D) blood groups by the open slide test method. A drop of each of the antisera, anti-A, anti-B and anti-D was added and mixed with each blood sample and rocked gently for 60 s to observe agglutination.Results: The blood group ''O'' was predominant (36.73%, 40.14%, 46.26% in Sodo, Silte and Meskan ethnic groups, respectively) in all the Rh positive subjects whereas blood group ''A'' was predominant (5.4%) in the Rh negative subjects only in the Sodo ethnic group among the three ethnic groups. The percentage of Rh (D) positive and negative subjects was 91. 16%, 93.19%, 91.84% and 8.84%, 6.81%, 8.16% in Sodo, Silte and Meskan ethnic groups, respectively.Conclusion: The frequency of ABO blood groups in both Rh positive and negative subjects among the three ethnic groups of the Silte Zone, Ethiopia was O > A > B > AB, except in the Sodo ethnic group where the blood group A was the commonest among Rh negative subjects.Ó 2014 Production and hosting by Elsevier B.V. on behalf of Ain Shams University.

BackgroundMolecular methods that target drug resistance mutations are suitable approaches for rapid drug susceptibility testing to detect multidrug-resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB). The aim of the study was to determine MDR-TB cases and to analyze the frequency of gene mutations associated with rifampicin (RIF) and/or isoniazid (INH) resistance of Mycobacterium tuberculosis among smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients.MethodsInstitution-based cross-sectional study design was employed. Sputum specimens were collected, and using a pretested questionnaire, data for associated risk factors for drug resistance were collected from 105 consecutive smear-positive pulmonary tuberculosis patients in Karamara General Hospital. Specimens were transported to Harar Health Research and Regional Laboratory, Harar, where molecular drug susceptibility testing was performed using GenoType® MTBDRplus assay.ResultsOf the total 105 sputum specimens, 98 (93.3%) gave interpretable results, in which 67 (68.4%) were new cases and 31 (31.6%) were previously treated cases. Of these, 80 (81.6%) were sensitive to both drugs and 18 (18.4%) were resistant to RIF and/or INH. The prevalences of MDR-TB in total cases, new, and previously treated cases were 10 (10.2%), 3 (4.5%), and 7 (22.6%), respectively. Among the ten total RIF-resistant specimens, eight (80%) had resulted because of absence of rpoB WT8 and presence of MUT3 and in all specimens, the amino acids changed were Ser531Lue. Of the 18 total INH-resistant specimens, 15 (83.3%) had mutations in the katG gene (katG MUT1, Ser315Thr1), indicating high-level resistance, while 3 (14.7%) had mutations in the inhA promoter gene (Cys15Thr), indicating low-level resistance.ConclusionAmong the mutations associated with resistance to RIF and INH, the majority were in codon 531 of the rpoB gene and codon 315 of the katG gene. Relatively high prevalence of MDR-TB was observed in the study.

The present study was conducted to assess the magnitude of genetic variability, heritability in broad sense and genetic advance among thirteen mung bean accessions for growth and grain yield characters. The study was conducted at the Haramaya University Rare research site and Hirna research site during the 2012/2013 cropping season. Randomized Complete Block Design with three replications was used for both locations. Each genotype was planted on a 1.2 X 2m plot consisting of four rows, which accommodates ten plants per row and thus 40 plants per plot. The result showed that number of primary branches, pods per plant, seeds per plant and harvest index had high genotypic and phenotypic coefficients of variation at both locations. For all characters, phenotypic coefficient of variation was higher than genotypic coefficient of variation indicating that there was environmental influence on these traits. The combined results for heritability showed that the high estimates of heritability and genetic advance were scored for seeds per plant and seed yield indicating that these characters were under the control of additive genetic effects. High genetic advance expected as percent of mean coupled with high heritability was observed for number of primary branches at Hirna, number of seeds per plant at Rare and number of secondary branches, pods per plant and 100seed weight for combined analysis. The present findings could be useful for establishing selection criteria for high seed yield in the mung bean breeding.

Within and among population genetic diversity of 37 Guizotia abyssinica populations from Ethiopia were analyzed using inter simple sequence repeats (ISSRs). Five primers amplified a total of 118 genomic DNA fragments across a total of 370 individuals of which 106 were polymorphic (89.83%). The average number of polymorphic bands per primer was 21.2. More bands were generated by primer UBC 888 (BDB(CA)(7.) The total genetic diversity (Ht) and the coefficient of genetic differentiation (Gst) were 0.4115 and 0.0918 respectively, while the within population genetic diversity (Hs) and the among population genetic diversity(Dst) were 0.3738 and 0.03776 respectively suggesting more variability within the populations than among them. The standard genetic distances between the G. abyssinica populations of the eight regions ranged from 0.0281 (between Wollo and Gojam) to 0.1148 (between Jimma and Hararghe). Generally, the standard genetic distances are smaller between populations of neighboring regions and highest between those of Jimma and the other regions, ranging from 0.0696 (between Jimma and Shewa) to 0.1148 (between Jimma and Hararghe). The ISSR based UPGMA clustering using the standardized genetic distances matrix also placed populations from neighboring regions closer than those from farther apart areas, while the UPGMA clustering by regions based on the standard genetic distances produced three clusters following the proximity and the contiguity of the regions. The mean Shannon Weaver diversity indices for the populations of the eight regions ranged from 0.8197 (Jimma) to 0.9176 (Hararghe), with a mean of 0.8841 for the whole material.

The associations of yield and its components offer important information in breeding plants. A study was conducted at the Araka Agricultural Research Center, Hossana, Ethiopia during 2012 growing season under rain fed condition on 18 potato genotypes/varieties to determine the association of yield and its components. The association was analyzed by correlation coefficient, and further subjected by path coefficient analysis to estimate direct and indirect effects of each character on tuber yield. Positive and significant correlation were found between tuber yield and biological yield, plant height and tuber yield, stems per plant and tuber per plant. The genotypic correlation coefficients were higher than the corresponding phenotypic correlation coefficients for most of the characters indicating the inherent association among the characters. Path analysis of tuber yield and its components shows that stems per plant, biological yield and harvest index exerted positive highest direct influence on tuber yield indicating their importance as selection index for yield improvement.