Social support as a correlate of depression among people living with HIV and AIDS in Nigeria

Background: Depression is a highly prevalent mental disorder among PLHIV, whilst social support is important in disease prevention, health promotion, therapeutic measure especially for PLHIV. Objectives: To ascertain the different types and sources of social support and their association with depression among PLHIV in Nigeria. Materials and Methods: The study was a correlation with 2515 PLHIV in three teaching hospitals in South-Eastern Nigeria. Data were collected between January to June, 2019 through interviews, using socio-demographic and Clinical Form and a Social Support Scale for PLHIV. SPSS-20 used for data analysis. Results: It was shown that average scores of instrumental and emotional social supports (IESS) were satisfactory and not influenced by sex (p = 0.894; p = 0.496), education (p = 0.805; p = 0.182), marital status (p = 0.076; p = 0.446) and length of antiretroviral therapy (p = 0.510; p = 0.136). People diagnosed for less than three years had more instrumental support (p = 0.05) than those diagnosed over three years. The regression score also revealed a high predictive power of IESS on depression of PLHIV. Conclusion: PLHIV have satisfactory social support, especially from family not residing in the same household and emotional social support from friends. Analyses identified knowledge gaps in the community regarding the social support received by PLHIV and their depression symptoms

Evidence of Infection by H5N2 Highly Pathogenic Avian Influenza Viruses in Healthy Wild Waterfowl

The potential existence of a wild bird reservoir for highly pathogenic avian influenza (HPAI) has been recently questioned by the spread and the persisting circulation of H5N1 HPAI viruses, responsible for concurrent outbreaks in migratory and domestic birds over Asia, Europe, and Africa. During a large-scale surveillance programme over Eastern Europe, the Middle East, and Africa, we detected avian influenza viruses of H5N2 subtype with a highly pathogenic (HP) viral genotype in healthy birds of two wild waterfowl species sampled in Nigeria. We monitored the survival and regional movements of one of the infected birds through satellite telemetry, providing a rare evidence of a non-lethal natural infection by an HP viral genotype in wild birds. Phylogenetic analysis of the H5N2 viruses revealed close genetic relationships with H5 viruses of low pathogenicity circulating in Eurasian wild and domestic ducks. In addition, genetic analysis did not reveal known gallinaceous poultry adaptive mutations, suggesting that the emergence of HP strains could have taken place in either wild or domestic ducks or in non-gallinaceous species. The presence of coexisting but genetically distinguishable avian influenza viruses with an HP viral genotype in two cohabiting species of wild waterfowl, with evidence of non-lethal infection at least in one species and without evidence of prior extensive circulation of the virus in domestic poultry, suggest that some strains with a potential high pathogenicity for poultry could be maintained in a community of wild waterfowl

EFEKTIVITAS METODE COOPERATIVE LEARNING TEKNIK CONCEPT SENTENCE PADA PEMBELAJARAN POLA KALIMAT DASAR BAHASA JEPANG

Penelitian ini adalah implikasi dari kurangnya kemampuan siswa dalam pembelajaran pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang. Akibatnya, banyak siswa yang tidak menguasai bahasa Jepang dengan baik karena kurangnya memahami kalimat bahasa Jepang. Untuk mengatasi masalah tersebut, peneliti menerapkan metode Cooperative Learning teknik Concept Sentence pada pembelajaran pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang. Tujuan dari penelitian ini adalah untuk mengetahui efektivitas metode Cooperative Learning teknik Concept Sentence diterapkan pada pembelajaran pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang. Penelitian ini menggunakan metode eksperimen murni. Sedangkan desain penelitian yang digunakan adalah “Control Group Pre-test Post-test Design”. Adapun instrumen penelitiannya adalah tes dan angket. Populasi dalam penelitian ini adalah seluruh siswa kelas 1 Ap SMK “SMIP YPPT Bandung”. Dan sampelnya adalah siswa kelas 1 Ap2 SMK “SMIP YPPT Bandung”. Dari hasil analisa data tes diperoleh t = 5,88 db = 68 dan pada tabel didapat nilai t.s.0,005 = 1,66 dan t.s.0,001 = 2,36. Berdasarkan hasil pengolahan data yang diperoleh, disimpulkan t hitung (5,88) > t tabel (1,66 dan 2,36) yang berarti hipotesis kerja diterima sedangkan hipotesis nol ditolak. Hal tersebut berarti penggunaan metode Cooperative Learning teknik Concept Sentence terbukti efektif terhadap pembelajaran pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang. Berdasarkan pengolahan data angket diperoleh gambaran bahwa siswa menyukai pembelajaran dengan metode Cooperative Learning teknik Concept Sentence pada pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang. Setelah melihat hasil penelitian yang telah dilakukan, penulis menyimpulkan bahwa penggunaan metode Cooperative Learning teknik Concept Sentence dapat meningkatkan kemampuan pola kalimat bahasa Jepang siswa. Oleah karena itu metode ini dapat dijadikan alternatif dalam pengajaran pola kalimat dasar bahasa Jepang

Sexually abusive adolescents: a study on parental attachment

M.A.South Africa has an exceptionally high divorce rate. The stressful nature of parental separation and divorce results in higher susceptibility of children to psychological, social, academical and health problems. Parental ability to deal with the divorce transition largely influences the long term adjustment of children after divorce. An effective empirically researched based parentfocused educational programme which addresses the most essential divorce related issues and the effects thereof on children, can be of exceptional value. Supplying parents with sufficient knowledge and information regarding divorce as a process, as well as the way it effects children of different ages en developmental stages, will assist the parents in making better choices concerning the children. By educating parents about the effect of prolonged interparental conflict on children and by supplying them with constructive conflict management skills, the negative consequences of divorce on children may be minimised or even eliminated. In this study an educational programme (k.i.d.s.) was assessed by using a one group pretest- postest design. K.i.d.s. is a short, informative and user friendly educational programme. It comprises two, two hour sessions, scheduled two weeks apart. Statistical significance was achieved when pretest-posttest results were compared regarding knowledge on conflict and the divorce process. Participants also reported a significant decline regarding negative conflict behaviour. An overall high level of consumer satisfaction with the program was reported. Despite the small study sample, the positive results of this study proves the k.i.d.s. program to be a potential promising preventative and intervention method for use with divorcing parents

THERMOSTABILITY OF RECONSTITUTED NEWCASTLE DISEASE VIRUS STRAINS AT 360C TEMPERATURE

Haemagglutination (HA) test was employed to determine the stability of HA titers of reconstituted form of Hitchner – B1 (B1), LaSota (L) and Komarov (K) strains of Newcastle Disease Vaccine (NDV) at 360c. The temperature treatment method was through incubation (in water bath) of the reconstituted vaccines at selected temperature and sequential sampling of each vaccine vial for the determination of pre – and post – temperature exposure HA titers. Thus, on the basis of a two-step (2log2) decline in titer as evidence of loss of stability of HA titers (LST), the LST therefore, occurred at 50th, 24th and 95th hour for BI, L and K strains, respectively, post – temperature exposure. The data, therefore, showed that the NDV – K strain was the most stable at the test temperature. It is believed that the findings will enhance the understanding of the potential of this strain in the developed and application of a thermostable MDV target on village poultry. In rural settings

Phytoliths in the Predynastic : a Microbotanical analysis of Plant Use at HG, in the Hu Semaineh region, Egypt

Miller Rosen Adene. Phytoliths in the Predynastic : a Microbotanical analysis of Plant Use at HG, in the Hu Semaineh region, Egypt. In: Archéo-Nil. Revue de la société pour l'étude des cultures prépharaoniques de la vallée du Nil, n°6, 1996. L'archéobotanique et les débuts de l'agriculture en Egypte. pp. 79-82

Effects of Pretilachor Pyribenzoxim Pollution on the Water Quality, Serum Biochemical Indices, and Behavioural Response of Oreochromis niloticus Juveniles

Aims: The effects of Pretilachor pyribenzoxim (PP) pollution on the water quality, serum biochemical indices, and behavioural response of Oreochromis niloticus Juveniles were studied. Study Design:  The completely randomized design was used in this study. Place and Duration of Study: The experiment was carried out in the Central Laboratory of the Fisheries and Aquaculture Department, Faculty of Agriculture, Adekunle Ajasin University Akungba-Akoko, Nigeria, between January and March 2023. Methodology: The experiment was carried out in 30 L of non-chlorinated and aerated water in rectangular plastic tanks (45cm x 30cm x 30cm). 250 juveniles O. niloticus of both sexes were collected from Federal University of Technology, Akure, Ondo state and acclimatized for 14days in the laboratory. During rearing period, the fish were fed coppen feed at 2% body weight. In a definitive test, a group of 10 fish specimen (11.3-17.5cm length and 10.5-32.3g weight) were treated at random to nominal PP doses of 0.0, 0.10, 0.125, 0.150, 0.175, and 0.2 ml being diluted in 30 litres of water and labelled T1. T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6, respectively in triplicate. The LC50 of PP, test water's physicochemical, behavioural responses and serum biochemical indices were determined. Results: The dissolved oxygen depleted (P<0.05) in T5 and T6, compared to  T1 and the rest  of the treatments. The water conductivity increases (P<0.05) with an increased concentration of PP contamination. The water's total dissolved solids levels increased progressively with an increase in PP concentration. The total dissolved solids in T5 and T6 were similar (P>0.05) to T4 but lower (P<0.05) than T1 and T2. Juveniles in treatments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 shows behavioural responses such as loss of reflex, fin deformation, erratic swimming, air gulping, and moulting. The serum total  protein of the juveniles in treatments 2, 3, 4, 5 and 6 was lower (P<0.05) than T1. Serum creatinine level increased with increased PP contamination from treatments 1 to 6. The serum aspartate aminotransferase (AST) of the juvenile in T3, T4, T5 and T6 were higher (P<0.05) than in T1. The serum Alanine aminotransferase (ALT) of the juvenile in T2, T3, T4, T5 and T6 were significantly (P<0.05) higher than T1. Conclusion: The exposure of juvenile O.niloticus to PP contamination affected the physicochemical properties of water, behaviour and Serum biochemicals of juvenile O. niloticus fish.  Hence, leaching of pp into water bodies through Agricultural activities should be mornitored to reduce lost of fish which can lead to economic detune.&nbsp