Cowpea is an important legume crop to farmers as a food, fodder, agronomic, and income-generating crop. Despite these multiple advantages, cowpea cultivation faces enormous abiotic and biotic constraints, including fungal diseases such as Fusarium wilt, caused by Fusarium solani (Mart.) Sacc. One of the control measures for this disease, which causes severe yield losses, is the use of resistant varieties. However, the genetics underlying the inheritance and gene action in the resistance of cowpea to F. solani are not well established. Hence, this study consisted of determining the inheritance of resistance and the allelic relationship of two cowpea genotypes (B301 and Tiligre) to F. solani. Parents and F1 and F2 offspring developed were evaluated in pots under artificial infestation in a greenhouse using a randomized design with three replications at the Kamboinse research station in Bur...

Burkina Faso is said to have the highest prevalence of childhood anemia in sub-Saharan Africa. In 2021, approximately seven out of ten children aged 6–59 months (72%) suffered from anemia, with 29% in the mild form, 40% in the moderate form, and 2% in the severe form. Knowing the administrative units at extremely fine levels most affected by this health challenge will optimize intervention strategies. This study therefore aims to analyze geographic inequalities in the prevalence of anemia across the country’s 45 provinces and 342 municipalities. Two main data sources are used in this study: the 2021 demographic and health survey (DHS) and the 2019 General Population and Housing Census (Census 2019). The analysis focused on 5723 children aged 6–59 months from the DHS and 293,715 children aged less than 6–59 months from the census. The Elbers Langjouw and Langjouw (ELL) approach is used to...

Large Language Models (LLMs) represent a major advance in the field of deep learning. Their ability to understand long-term dependencies between words in a sentence has completely revolutionized natural language processing. Based on the architecture of transformers, LLMs are trained to solve common linguistic problems, such as text classification, question answering, text generation, document summarization, etc. LLMs can be pre-trained and then fine-tuned to perform tasks in specific domains. In the field of cybersecurity, we have proposed in our previous work, a LLM-based approach for web applications vulnerabilities detection. In this paper, we implement our approach, which uses adaptation techniques such as fine-tuning to detect and classify common web attacks like XSS, Directory Traversal, SQL injection, Command Injection and benign payloads recognition. LLMs used for fine-tuning are...

Stoneflies are valuable indicators of ecological health and play a crucial role in maintaining the biodiversity of West Africa, but the research on Stoneflies species are still very insipid and sparse. By understanding their distribution patterns, we can develop effective strategies to conserve these important insects and ensure the sustainability of aquatic ecosystems in Western Africa region. To fill this gap, we have investigated on Stonefly distribution patterns in West Africa, particularly in Burkina Faso. The stonefly data were gathered from field sampling using a standard AQEM/STAR net sampler with 25 cm × 25 cm opening and 500 µm mesh and key research articles in Western Africa region. At the same time, the following keys water quality variables, including temperature, pH, electrical conductivity and dissolved oxygen were measured in situ. The results showed that, only one specie...

Optimizing farming systems is essential to boost productivity in Sudano-Sahelian zones, particularly in the face of challenges posed by climate change and soil degradation. This research explores the effects of sorghum-mungbean (Vigna radiata) and sorghum-voandzou (Vigna subterranea) intercropping on crop physiology and productivity in a farming context in Burkina Faso. The experiment was carried out at two sites, Yilou and Tansin, using a randomized block design with three treatments (sorghum monocrop, intercropping sorghum + leguminous, leguminous monocrop). The parameters such as leaf area index (LAI), stomatal conductance, leaf water potential, grain and biomass yield, and the Land Equivalent Ratio (LER) have been measured and calculated. The results show a variation in physiological and agronomic responses depending on the type of association and the site. In monoculture, sorghum sh...

Burkina Faso, like many developing countries, faces significant challenges in public health, particularly regarding healthcare access and infrastructure distribution. Healthcare centers are unevenly distributed across regions, resulting in disparities in access to care. This study aims to analyze the structure and efficiency of the healthcare network in Burkina Faso using graph theory, leveraging Gephi and the ForceAtlas2 algorithm for visualization. We constructed a graph representing 80 healthcare centers as nodes and the distances between them as weighted edges. By applying network theory metrics such as degree, modularity, centrality, and density, we identified the strengths and weaknesses of the healthcare network. The analysis reveals that the healthcare network has an average degree of 0.985, indicating that most healthcare centers are connected to fewer than one other center on...

Post-marketing quality control of drugs is an essential activity for local health authorities. This study aimed to determine the physicochemical quality and compare the dissolution profile of four different brands of doxycycline tablets (100 mg) (as hyclate and monohydrate forms) marketed in Burkina Faso, Africa. Methods: Parameters such as mass uniformity, disintegration, active pharmaceutical ingredient (API) identification, assay, and dissolution were assessed according to the monograph of United States Pharmacopoeia. A bioequivalence test was performed in vitro, and comparative dissolution testing was performed in pH 1.2, 4.5, and 6.8 media according to ICH specifications. Results: All brands of doxycycline met the required specifications for physicochemical parameters. API content ranged from 92.49% (± 0.27%) to 101.00% (± 1.43%), and cumulative drug release ranged from 88.57% (± 0....

In Burkina Faso, okra is one of the most important vegetable crops. Low soil fertility is one of the major constraints to okra production. The objective of this study was to evaluate the effect of mixed bovine and ovine stabling on soil properties and on growth and yield of okra in Sudano-Sahelian zone. The study was conducted during the 2023-2024 agricultural season. The experiment design used is a Randomized Complete Block Design with two treatments (with and without stabling) and four replications. The data collected are plant height, collar diameter, number of leaves, number of flowers, soil temperature and soil pH. Results of the study showed that the stabling treatment (PR) recorded the highest pH (6.27), the highest fruit weight (137.62 g plant-1) and the best fruit yield (2.75 t ha⁻¹), i.e. a yield gain of 17.62% compared to the control (TA). These results highlight that mixed...

The study compared 37 new soybean genotypes and three local controls in two agroecological zones in Burkina Faso using an alpha-lattice design. Analysis of variance (ANOVA), additive main effects and multiplicative interaction (AMMI) analysis, and genotype plus genotype-environment interaction (GGE) biplot analysis revealed highly significant effects of genotype, environment, and genotype-environment interaction, as well as high stability and high yield for five genotypes (TGX2017-6E, TGX1987-14F, TGX1987-10F, TGX2018-5E, and TGX2007-3F). Three lines showed specific adaptation to the wetter southern Sudanian site, and no severe symptoms of rust or mosaic virus were re ported. Variety registration could be considered for the most stable genotypes, with Fada N’Gourma as the main trial site.

Agricultural systems in Sub-Saharan Africa are often characterized by low agrodiversity and high vulnerability to climate change, both of which can compromise food security and livelihoods. Many Neglected and Underutilized Plant Species (NUS) are known for their nutritional value and climate resilience, presenting a potential solution to conserve agrodiversity and ensure local livelihoods and food security. However, NUS are commonly used as an umbrella term, obscuring potential differentiation between NUS systems in terms of their characteristics and socioeconomic performance. Here we characterize NUS production systems in three regions of Burkina Faso, a country experiencing high food insecurity, poverty and arid and semi-arid climatic conditions, where many local communities rely on NUS for their food and livelihoods. We conducted 432 in-person surveys with households cultivating NUS o...