National Protocol For Malaria Treatment During Pregnancy

Each year more than 1.2 million women become pregnant in the Sudan, of those 750,000 are in areas with high malaria transmission: intense perennial, high seasonal transmission or in areas of irrigation. Malaria in Africa is estimated to cause 15% of maternal anaemia; about 10,000 maternal deaths / year and 35% of preventable low birth weight. Best practices of malaria control during pregnancy include effective case management of malaria for all women in the reproductive age in malarious areas and using of insecticide treated nets (ITNs) and adopting of intermittent preventive treatment (IPT) with SP. The programme and the partners are targeting 60% coverage with these interventions as Abuja Declaration call for by the end of 2005

SME ACCESS TO FINANCE IN EMERGING ECONOMIES: A COMPARATIVE STUDY OF PAKISTAN AND MALAYSIA

It has been widely accepted that SMEs make a significant contribution to the socio-economic and political infrastructure in both developed and developing countries. SMEs make up more than 96% of all businesses in emerging economies that provide two out of three private sector jobs. Yet, the importance of SMEs notwithstanding as confronted with several hindrances which impede their development. In emerging economies access to finance has been found as one of the major constraints to SMEs growth. In Malaysia and Pakistan SMEs contributing towards economic growth, however huge finance gap for SME sector exist in both countries. By summarizing current data this paper highlights the share of SME sector towards economic growth, financing gap and supply/demand side challenges towards access to finance in Malaysia and Pakistan. The comparison of both countries revealed that challenges are more severe in lower-middle income country (Pakistan) because of inappropriate policies and their implementation. However, the upper-middle income country (Malaysia) consistent growth can minimize the finance gap for SME sector quickly. JEL Code: M

IMPROVING ROOTING AND GROWTH OF CONOCARPUS ERECTUS STEM CUTTINGS USING INDOLE-3-BUTYRIC ACID (IBA) AND SOME BIOSTIMULANTS

The current study was conducted to evaluate the effects of indole-3-butyric acid (IBA) at 100 ppm with or without biostimulants (Agrobacterium rhizogenes, seaweed extract and coconut water) as either a spray or drench for 3 minutes or 1 hour on rooting and growth parameters of three cutting types (tip, middle and basal) of Conocarpus erectus L. The data showed that the rooting percentage, root and vegetative characteristics of rooted cuttings were significantly increased by all treatments of IBA and/or biostimulants compared to the untreated cuttings. The individual treatments of seaweed extract and coconut water were more effective than IBA or A. rhizogenes alone. Seaweed extract as drench with or without IBA surpassed those of seaweed extract treatments as spray. Besides, the response of cuttings treated with coconut water for 1 hour was better than coconut water for 3 min. Tip cuttings were significantly better than the middle and basal ones, especially in relation to rootability of cuttings. Maximum rooting percentage and shoot characteristicsof plants were obtained from tip cuttings treated with IBA + coconut water for 1 hour, followed by IBA + seaweed extract as drench. The highest rooting percentage was associated with high endogenous levels of phenols, indole acetic acid (IAA) and gibberellic acid (GA) as well as the lowest abscisic acid (ABA) level in cutting tissues and the anatomical structure of rooted cuttings. So, it can be recommended treating tip cuttings of C. erectus with either coconut water for 1 hour or seaweed extract as drench combined with IBA for enhancing the rooting percentage, root and shoot growth parameters as well as content of endogenous root promoting substances

Malaria As An Important Cause Of Maternal Mortality In Sudan

This study was performed to highlight the role of malaria in pregnancy as  an important cause  of maternal mortality. It reviewed the previous studies, conference presentations and postgraduate thesis . Malaria found to be the cause of death of 10.26% to 46.7% of MM. The 1998 to 2003 records of maternal deaths of Wad Medani Obstetrics and gynaecology  teaching hospital (WMOGTH) was retrospectively studies (malaria caused death of 8.82% to 39.7% The mean age was 27.57years , most of them were primigravidae and from rural areas.  37.8% of the deaths occured at 28-36 weak of gestation . The mean duration of stay in hospital was (3.22) days. 32.4% of deaths stayed for less than 24 hours This indicated  severe and serious clinical presentations. The main causes of death due to malaria or its complication  were anemae heart failure  (24.3%), cerebral malaria (21.6%) and  circulatory failure (8.1%). Others were pulmonary edema , hyperpyrexia  , puerperal psychosis , abortion , severe epistaxes , cardiac  arrest , black water fever, electrolyte imbalance, and hepatic failure. The study recommended effective prevention of malaria and an intensive care approach in its management

Malaria and Maternal Mortality In Gezira-Sudan

The objectives of this study include:(1) to identify the magnitude of malaria as a cause of maternal mortality (MM) (2) to study the demographic characteristics of MM cases caused by malaria and (3) to identify the actual cause of MM due to malaria. Methods: This is a six years hospital based retrospective review of hospital records of ladies died due to malaria in Wad Medani Teaching Hospital for Obstetrics and Gynaecology (WMTHOG), form1 January 1998 to 31 December 2003. Results: malaria caused 10% to 40% of MM per year. The mean age was 27.57 years, most of them were primigravidae and from rural areas. 37.8% of the deaths occurred between 28 and 36 weak of gestation. The median duration of stay in hospital was two days. However 32.4% of deaths stayed for less than 24 hours that indicated severe and serious clinical presentations. The main causes of death due to malaria or its complication were: anaemia (24.3), cerebral malaria (21.6%), circulatory failure (12.51 ) and renal failure (8.1%). Others were pulmonary oedema , hyperpyrexia  , puerperal psychosis , abortion , severe epistaxis , cardiac  arrest , black water fever, electrolyte imbalance, and hepatic failure. The study recommended effective prevention of malaria and an intensive care approach in its management

Isolation and characterization of a metal-reducing Pseudomonas sp. strain 135 with amide-degrading capability

The presence of both heavy metals and organic xenobiotic pollutants in a contaminated site justifies the application of either a multitude of microbial degraders or microorganisms having the capacity to detoxify a number of pollutants at the same time. Molybdenum is an essential heavy metal that is toxic to ruminants at a high level. Ruminants such as cow and goats experience severe hypocuprosis leading to scouring and death at a concentration as low as several parts per million. In this study, a molybdenum-reducing bacterium with amide-degrading capacity has been isolated from contaminated soils. The bacterium, using glucose as the best electron donor reduces molybdenum in the form of sodium molybdate to molybdenum blue. The maximal pH reduction occurs between 6.0 and 6.3, and the bacterium showed an excellent reduction in temperatures between 25 and 40 oC. The reduction was maximal at molybdate concentrations of between 15 and 25 mM. Molybdenum reduction incidentally was inhibited by several toxic heavy metals. Other carbon sources including toxic xenobiotics such as amides were screened for their ability to support molybdate reduction. Of all the amides, only acrylamide can support molybdenum reduction. The other amides; such as acetamide and propionamide can support growth. Analysis using phylogenetic analysis resulted in a tentative identification of the bacterium as Pseudomonas sp. strain 135. This bacterium is essential in remediating sites contaminated with molybdenum, especially in agricultural soil co-contaminated with acrylamide, a known soil stabilizer

SALT TOLERANCE OF OCIMUM BASILICUM CV. GENOVESE USING SALICYLIC ACID, SEAWEED, DRY YEAST AND MORINGA LEAF EXTRACT

To improve the salt tolerance of Genovese cultivar of sweet basil (Ocimum basilicum L.) plants, an experiment was conducted to evaluate the impact of certain growth substances (salicylic acid, seaweed extract, dry yeast and moringa leaf extract) on growth, volatile oil percentage and yield as well as chemical constituents under saline water irrigation stress conditions (control, 1000, 2000 and 4000 ppm NaCl). The obtained results revealed that the higher salinity levels (2000 and 4000 ppm NaCl) caused significant decreases in vegetative growth measurements of basil plants compared to control and the lowest salinity level (1000 ppm NaCl). Maximum reduction was observed at 4000 ppm NaCl which showed higher increase of the total phenolics and free proline contents. All recoded parameters were enhanced for plants grown under 1000 ppm NaCl. Seaweed extract was superior than other treatments in enhancing the plant tolerance to salinity which appeared in the significantly increasing of growth and volatile oil content of basil. Phenolics and proline contents were increased with salicylic acid treatment comparing with other ones. The best combination recommended as a result of the current study is treating basil plants with seaweed extract under low salinity level (1000 ppm) for improving the growth and volatile oil parameters

Partial purification and characterization of the molybdenum-reducing enzyme from the glyphosate-degrading Burkholderia vietnamiensis strain AQ5-12

In this study, a novel glyphosate-degrading shows the ability to reduce molybdenum to molybdenum blue. The enzyme from this bacterium was partially purified and partially characterized to ascertain whether the Mo-reducing enzyme from this bacterium shows better or lower efficiency in reducing molybdenum compared to other Mo-reducing bacterium that only exhibits a single biotransformation activity. The enzyme was partially purified using ammonium sulphate fractionation. The Vmax for the electron donating substrate or NADH was at 1.905 nmole Mo blue/min while the Km was 6.146 mM. The regression coefficient was 0.98. Comparative assessment with the previously characterized Mo-reducing enzyme from various bacteria showed that the Mo-reducing enzyme from Burkholderia vietnamiensis strain AQ5-12 showed a lower enzyme activity

Camera stabilizer

In the world of videography and cinematography, visible camera shake is a common thing. Visible camera shake usually is caused by the movement of the camera operator when using a camera. Camera stabilizer is a device used by many people to reduce or remove the visible camera shake to create better quality videos. Most camera stabilizers available in the global market uses advanced technologies that can stabilize a camera very easily. However, the use of advance technologies has caused a spike in the price of these camera stabilizers. There are very little to none option when it comes to a low-cost camera stabilizer available in the market. This project main purpose is to design and fabricate a low-cost camera stabilizer that would be affordable to more people from different walk of life. The low-cost camera stabilizer will use simple mechanism to stabilize a camera instead of advance technologies that are used on most high cost camera stabilizers. The result shows that this low-cost camera stabilizers were able to stabilize a camera and reduce the visible camera shake using the balancing mechanism