[Asthma control in adult Algerian patients. Comparison with other North African and Middle-East countries]. / Contrôle de l'asthme chez l'adulte en Algérie. Comparaison avec les autres pays d'Afrique du Nord et du Moyen Orient.

INTRODUCTION: Lack of recent data on asthma control in Algeria led to this study whose results were compared with those of the same study conducted in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA). METHOD: This cross-sectional epidemiological study was performed in adults who had been diagnosed with asthma for at least one year and without exacerbation within the last 4 weeks. Asthma control was assessed using the 2012 Global Initiative for Asthma (GINA) criteria and the Asthma control test (ACT) questionnaire. RESULTS: We studied 984 patients mainly managed by specialist physicians; 61% female, mean age 45 years, body mass index 27kg/m2, active smokers 2%. Medication was prescribed in 92% with 78% receiving inhaled corticosteroids alone or with add-on therapies. Good adherence was observed in 27%. Asthma control was observed in 34.6% vs. 28.6% in other countries (P < 0.001). Low level of education, absence of medical insurance, lack of physical exercise, and-long duration of the disease were significantly associated with uncontrolled asthma. CONCLUSION: Poor control of asthma is still observed in Algeria despite a high level of specialist involvement. Except for adherence, known predictive factors of poor asthma control have been observed. Quality improvement training of health care professionals and patient education are probably the main issues to be addressed.

Antixenosis and Antibiosis Resistance in Rice Cultivars against Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae).

The striped stem borer, Chilo suppressalis (Walker) (Lepidoptera: Crambidae), is an important pest afflicting rice in most rice-growing countries in the world. Deliniating the categories of resistance in rice genotypes under field conditions could be helpful in managment of this pest. Two categories of resistance, antixenosis and antibiosis, were examined in ten popular and diverse rice genotypes of different origin that had been selected for their resistance to the striped stem borer in a previous study. Significant differences were found between genotypes for the number of egg masses, number of eggs, preference index, larval and pupal weight, larval development time, larval survival rate, larval mine length, and leaf trichome density. It was found that the rice genotypes Novator, A7801, and Nemat had the more pronounced antixenosis-type resistance, whereas AB1 and Shirodi had better antiobiosis-type resistance. Interestingly, the rice genotype AN-74 for which Nemat is the parental line showed both types of resistance and could be effectively used in an integrated pest management of the rice striped stem borer.

The assessment of the rice cultivars/lines resistance to blast disease in Mazandaran province, Iran.

Blast, caused by Magnaporthe grisea, is one of the most important diseases in rice production regions of the world including Iran. To determine progress of rice blast disease on the selective cultivars and lines also to assay some components of partial resistance, a set of Iranian rice cultivars (Local and breeding) along with near-isogenic lines (NILs) and breeding lines from International Rice Research Institute (IRRI) were tested with some field races of the fungus in blast nursery and five of selective races in greenhouse. These experiments were conducted in a Randomized complete Block Design (RCBD) with three replications (except greenhouse experiment on the leaves). Traits in this study consisted of Infection Neck Number (INN), Neck Lesion Size (NLS), Infection Type (IT), percent Diseased Leaf Area (DLA) and Area Under Disease Progress Curve (AUDPC); also IT, Sporulation Lesion Number (SLN), Sporulating Region Diameter (SRD) and percent DLA were measured in leaf blast in greenhouse (one replication). The Iranian local cultivars and NILs i.e. Co-39 and C104-PKT located as susceptible group for AUDPC, IT, INN and NLS. Iranian breeding cultivars, breeding lines from IRRI and NILs (except Co-39 and C104-PKT) were resistant or indicated hypersensivity reaction (HR). Some cultivars (Fujiminori, Onda, and Hassan Saraii) were semi susceptible to leaf blast in nursery. The main point is correlation in 1% (a = 0.0001) between the traits in greenhouse and blast nursery. Neck node infection of Haraz cultivar in greenhouse experiment to IA-89 race is very important, because Haraz is a resistant cultivar to blast disease in Iran.