[National reference unit of neonatology: state of play]. / Unit6é de néonatologie de référence nationale du Mali: état des lieux.

BACKGROUND: The neonatal mortality rate in Mali is one of the highest in the world. Only one national reference neonatology unit is available in the country. AIM: To describe the time-course of morbidity, mortality, staff and accommodation facilities from 2008 to 2009 in Mali's unique national reference neonatology unit. METHODS: This descriptive and cross-sectional study was conducted in the neonatology unit of Gabriel Touré Teaching Hospital, Bamako. Data concerning staff number of admissions, sex ratio, diseases, patients outcome, capacity and length-of-stay were compiled for the period from 1st January 2008 to 31 December 2012. RESULTS: Medical staff increased from one to three in 2009 and the number of nurses and midwives decreased from 16 to 14 with an average number of beds of 44. The mean number of hospitalizations per year was 3,900 (range: 3667-4585) with 14% of in-born deliveries and a mean length-of-stay of 3.7 days. Prematurity birth asphyxia and infection represented 80.5% of reasons for admission and 79.5% of deaths. The mortality rate varied from 28.5% to 36.8% with an annual mean of 33.2%. The diseases associated with the highest mortality were tetanus (60.8%), prematurity (42.7%), birth asphyxia (29.4%) and infection (25.7%). CONCLUSION: Neonatal mortality remains very high in Mali. Health authorities should take measures to decentralize the care of sick newborns in order to reduce neonatal mortality in Mali.

Diallel analysis, maternal effect and heritability in groundnut for yield components and oil content.

Background: Groundnut is one of the world's major food and oil crops. Being sources of nutrition and vegetable oil, rich in affordable and digestible protein, it is a strategic crop in Burkina Faso for food security, nutrition, and cash income. Understanding the nature of gene effect and genetic variation affecting yield and yield component traits will contribute to designing appropriate breeding methods for groundnut improvement and increase selection efficiency in Burkina Faso. Methods: In 2018, a total of 30 F2 progenies were generated through a 6 x 6 full diallel mating using six different and contrasting varieties. In 2019, parents and progenies were evaluated in a lattice square design in 3 replications at ICRISAT-Mali experimental field to assess the general combining ability (GCA) and specific combining ability (SCA) effects, the inheritance and the maternal and reciprocal effects for yield component traits (YCT) and oil content (OC). Results: Significant variabilities were observed among the parental genotypes and their F2 progenies for DTH, PSR, HPW, PL, PWD, SL, SWD, and OAC. Mean performance of the six parents were HPW (117.05g), HSW (57.24 g), PYH (1914.76), SYH (1312.73), PL (2.52), PWD (1,19), SL (1.38), SWD (0.83), OC (49.43), OAC (50.43) and LAC (33.61). Parent QH243C presented the highest value for SWD (1.02 cm) and OAC (60.76) while the parent ICGV09195 had the highest value of OC (50.36). Chalimbana presented the highest value of HPW (169.61 g), PL (2.98 cm), PWD (1. 41 cm), and SL (1.57 cm) while CG7 presented the highest value for HSW (75. 14 g), and SYH (1639.28 kg). Both YCT and OC are controlled by additive and non-additive gene effects with a predominance of additive gene action for HSW, SL, and SWD, whereas HPW, PL, PWD, and OAC were found to be more controlled by non-additive gene effects. Maternal effects as well as nuclear and cytoplasmic interaction effects were observed for both YCT and OC indicating that YCT and OC are influenced by a combination of genetic factors from both the maternal parent and the nuclear genome, as well as cytoplasmic factors such as mitochondrial DNA. Broad sense heritability ranged from 3.76 % to 91.56 %, and higher broad sense heritability values were recorded for pod length (91.56 %), hundred pod weight (83.71 %) and pod width (80.95 %). Conclusion: The study yields valuable insights into the inheritance of YCT and OC. The parents, Chalimbana and CG7, showed promise as good combiners for both yield component traits and oil content when used as male parents while TE3, Sh470P and QH243C can be used as female for the oil content and its components (oleic and linoleic content).