A field study was initiated to generate information on dry matter yield and some biometric parameter effects on yield of seven sweet potato genotypes in weathered ultisols in the humid tropics. The experiment, which was laid out in a randomize complete block design with four replications was conducted at National Root Crops Research Institute, Umudike, Abia State, Nigeria (05°29'N, 07°32'E,122 m asl). Umuspo 1 (31.2 t haG 1), closely followed by TIS 87/0087 (27.45 t haG 1) significantly (p<0.01) gave the highest storage root yield compared to the other genotypes and also exhibited highest Bulking Rate (BR) (7.78 g dayG 1), Total Dry Matter yield (TDM) (71.99 g plantG 1), Crop Growth Rate (CGR), Relative Growth Rate (RGR) and Absolute Growth Rate (AGR). High yield of Umuspo 1 was partly due to greater partitioning of assimilates to the storage roots relative to the other genotypes. The mean sequence of TDM content and BR at 56 Days after Planting (DAP) in the genotypes was in the order: Umuspo 1>Solomon 4 > Ex-Igbariam>TIS 87/0087>TIS 8164>Umuspo 3>Centinneland Umuspo 1 >TIS 87/0087>TIS 8164>Solomon 4>Ex-Igbariam>Umuspo 3>Centinnel, respectively. Storage root yield had significant (p#0.01) and positive correlation with number of storage roots/plant with correlation coefficients (r) of 0.53, bulking rate (r = 0.99), crop growth rate (r = 0.59), absolute growth rate (r = 0.59) and total dry matter at 2, 4, 6 and 8 weeks after planting. Umuspo 1 may be adjudged to be better endowed genetically because of its high dry matter content, early bulking ability and high yield potential recorded in the study.

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Previous studies have identified increased expression of members of the nuclear transport protein family in cancer cells. Recently, certain nuclear transport proteins have been reported to be secreted by cells and found in the serum. The aims of our study were to investigate the levels of multiple nuclear transport proteins secreted from cancer cells, and to determine their potential as diagnostic markers for cervical and oesophageal cancer. Mass spectrometry identified 10 nuclear transport proteins in the secretome and exosomes of cultured cancer cells, and Western blot analysis confirmed increased secreted levels in cancer cells compared to normal. To investigate their presence in patient serum, enzyme‐linked immunosorbent assays were performed and revealed significantly increased levels of KPNβ1, CRM1, CAS, IPO5 and TNPO1 in cervical and oesophageal cancer patient serum compared to non‐cancer controls. Significantly elevated KPNα2 and RAN levels were also identified in oesophageal cancer serum samples. Logistics regression analyses revealed IPO5 and TNPO1 to be the best performing individual candidate biomarkers in discriminating between cancer cases and controls. The combination of KPNβ1, CRM1, KPNα2, CAS, RAN, IPO5 and TNPO1 as a panel of biomarkers had the highest diagnostic capacity with an area under the curve of 0.944 and 0.963, for cervical cancer and oesophageal cancer, and sensitivity of 92.5% at 86.8% specificity and 95.3% sensitivity at 87.5% specificity, respectively. These results suggest that nuclear transport proteins have potential as diagnostic biomarkers for cervical and oesophageal cancers, with a combination of protein family members being the best predictor.

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