Pregnant mothers’ knowledge, attitude and practice towards preventions of iron deficiency anemia in Harar town, Ethiopia

Low maternal risk perception, poor dietary practice and low adherence to iron and folate tablets among pregnant women are major contributors for higher burden of anemia. Iron deficiency anemia contribute to more than half of Anemia among pregnant women. Thus the level of maternal awareness and attitude towards dietary and other prevention practices of anemia are not well established in the study area. This study was to assess knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant mothers towards the prevention of iron deficiency anemia in Ethiopia, 2018. Hospital based cross sectionals study was conducted on randomly selected, 128 pregnant mothers attending antenatal care service in Harar town. Data were collected by health professionals using pre tested questionnaire containing socio demographic, knowledge, attitude and practice related questions. Attitude questions were organized in five Likert scale from strongly disagree to strongly agree using positive statements. Similarly, practices were assessed in yes/no (appropriate practices were scored as yes or no otherwise). Data was analyzed using SPSS version 20 using frequency, tables, graphs and means. Pearson correlation with r was used to assess the relationship between knowledge, attitude and practice. Analysis of Variance was used to compare the mean practice by different factors. Knowledge, attitude and practice of pregnant women on preventions of IDA are not satisfactory. Thus poor practice towards prevention of IDA is the main contributing factor for high burden of anemia.

ANN for English Alphabet Prediction

Abstract: In this paper an Artificial Neural Network (ANN) model, for predicting the Letters from twenty dissimilar fonts for each letter. The character images were, initially, based on twenty dissimilar fonts and each letter inside these twenty fonts was arbitrarily distorted to yield a file of 20,000 distinctive stimuli. Every stimulus was transformed into 16 simple numerical attributes (arithmetical moments and edge amounts) which were then ascended to be suitable into a range of numeral values from 0 to 15. We naturally chose, arbitrarily, 1,000 distinctive stimuli for this research. We made certain that the scattering remnants the similar after selecting the one thousand stimuli. In this research, a neural network tool (Just NN) was used for the purpose of predicting to classify every of a huge number of black and white four-sided pixel displays as one of the 26 capital letters in the English language

Interventional studies of anti-malarial drugs utilization in public health facilities in Kano, Nigeria

The best way to analyze drug utilization and evaluate impact of an intervention in health care institutions is to study the universal indicators, which are not dependent either on investigator or time of measurement. The aim of this study was to characterize the prescription pattern of public health institutions in Kano, Nigeria and evaluate the rational use of anti-malarial drugs with a view to intervening where necessary. Values of drug utilization indicators were measured prospectively and areas that required intervention identified. Intervention; consisting of free pictorial handbills given to patients, discussions held with health care personnel and pieces of advice were given to health administrators. The impact of the intervention was assessed using pre and post comparison of appropriate indicators. The study revealed a significant decline (P < 0.01) in percentage of encounters with injections and increase utilization of oral chloroquine (P < 0.05). Significant increase (P < 0.05) in dispensing time was also observed in the study group. The results of this study suggest the need for further intervention

Electronic band structure and optical properties of titanium dioxide

In this work the Fritz-Haber Institute ab initio Molecular Simulation (FHI-aims) code was used to investigate and obtain the band energies and linear dielectric functions of the three naturally occurring phases of TiO2 (Rutile, Anatase and Brookite). The exchange-correlation interactions are treated by the PBE. The results of the band gap were obtained to be 1.76 eV for Rutile, 2.07 eV for Anatase and 2.33 eV for Brookite with Rutile having a direct band gap and indirect band gaps for both Anatase and Brookite. The obtained band gaps are in agreement with other theoretical work, especially on the rutile phase. The linear dielectric function was calculated using Random Phase Approximation (RPA) where the average static dielectric function at ω= 0 was obtained as 5.61 for Rutile TiO2, 4.29 for Anatase TiO2 and 2.23 for Brookite TiO2

Geophysical Imaging of Watershed Subsurface Patterns and Prediction of Soil Texture and Water Holding Capacity

The spatial distribution of subsurface soil textural properties across the landscape is an important control on the hydrological and ecological function of a watershed. Traditional methods of mapping soils involving subjective assignment of soil boundaries are inadequate for studies requiring a quantitative assessment of the landscape and its subsurface connectivity and storage capacity. Geophysical methods such as electromagnetic induction (EMI) provide the possibility of obtaining high-resolution images across a landscape to identify subtle changes in subsurface soil patterns. In this work we show how EMI can be used to image the subsurface of a ∼38 ha watershed. We present an imaging approach using kriging to interpolate and sequential Gaussian simulation to estimate the uncertainty in the maps. We also explore the idea of difference ECa mapping to try to exploit changes in soil moisture to identify more hydrologically active locations. In addition, we use a digital elevation model to identify flow paths and compare these with the ECa measurement as a function of distance. Finally, we perform a more traditional calibration of ECa with clay percentage across the watershed and determine soil water holding capacity (SWHC). The values of SWHC range from 0.07 to 0.22 m3 m−3 across the watershed, which contrast with the uniform value of 0.13 derived from the traditional soil survey maps. Additional work is needed to appropriately interpret and incorporate EMI data into hydrological studies; however, we argue that there is considerable merit in identifying subsurface soil patterns from these geophysical images

Infantile postnatal exposure to lead (Pb) enhances tau expression in the cerebral cortex of aged mice: Relevance to AD

The sporadic nature in over 90% of Alzheimer\u27s disease (AD) cases, the differential susceptibility and course of illness, and latent onset of the disease suggest involvement of an environmental component in the etiology of late onset AD (LOAD). Recent reports from our lab have demonstrated that molecular alterations favor abundant tau phosphorylation and immunoreactivity in the frontal cortex of aged primates with infantile lead (Pb) exposure (Bihaqi and Zawia, 2013). Here we report that developmental Pb exposure results in elevation of protein and mRNA levels of tau in aged mice. Western blot analysis revealed aberrant site-specific tau hyperphosphorylation accompanied by elevated cyclin dependent kinase 5 (CDK5) levels in aged mice with prior Pb exposure. Mice with developmental Pb exposure also displayed altered protein ratio of p35/p25 with more Serine/Threonine phosphatase activity at old age. These changes favored increase in tau phosphorylation, thus providing evidence that neurodegenerative diseases may be in part due to environmental influences that occur during development

Medication knowledge and beliefs in patients with major depressive disorder at a tertiary health facility in north east Nigeria

Background: Achieving positive clinical outcomes with antidepressant drug therapy depends on patients having adequate knowledge and positive beliefs about their prescribed medication.Objectives: To assess medication related knowledge and beliefs about medicines in patients with major depressive disorder.Materials and Methods: A cross sectional study was carried out from December 2018 to March 2019 at Federal Neuro-Psychiatric Hospital, Maiduguri, Nigeria. Patients who agreed to participate in the study (n=151) were interviewed with patient knowledge about medication and belief about medicine questionnaires.Results: About 82.8 % of the patients had suboptimal knowledge of their medications. Over half (60.3%) of them had strong beliefs regarding the necessity of their prescribed medications. Almost half (47.7%) of them also had strong concerns about the potential harm and adverse effects of their medications. The odds for strong beliefs regarding the necessity of their prescribed medication were about 8 times greater in patients with primary level of education than those with no formal education (p=0.026, OR=8.00) and 4 times in married people (p=0.024, OR=4.77).Conclusion: Patients with major depressive disorder in this study had suboptimal knowledge of their medication and an appreciable number of them had strong beliefs regarding the need for their medications. However, about half of the patients also had strong beliefs about the potentials of their medications to cause harm. The odds to have strong beliefs on the need for medication were positively associated with disease severity, being married and increasing level of education. Interventions aimed at improving medication knowledge and addressing negative beliefs about medications are therefore recommended.Keywords: Medication knowledge, Medication beliefs, Major depressive disorder, Nigeri

Concentration and Human Health Risk Assessment of Dichlorodiphenyltrichloroethane in Two Species of Fish Muscle from River Gongola Basin and its Dam, Dadinkowa, Gombe State, Nigeria

The concentration of DDT and its metabolites in the two fish species (Clarias gariepinus and Bagrus docmak) from River Gongola basin and its dam, Dadinkowa in Gombe State Nigeria was determined and human health risk association from the consumption of contaminated fish was evaluated. Fish samples were collected for period of six months and the pesticide residues analysis was carried out by using QuEChERS method along with conventional method (Hand shaken technique) and gas chromatography with electron capture detector (GC-ECD). (DDTs) and its metabolites were observed with DDD were the predominant contaminants, followed by DDT. The predominance of DDE may be attributed to their current use in vector control and contamination from past usage. The estimated daily intakes (EDIs) of DDT and its metabolites from all fish species were much lower than the acceptable daily intakes (ADIs), indicating that consumption of fish is at little risk to human health at present. However, the cancer risk estimates in the area of concern and the hazard ratios (HRs) of DDTs below the threshold value of one, indicating daily exposure to these compounds is a potential concern