403 research outputs found
Recommended from our members
Health and Poverty: The Issue of Health Inequalities in Ethiopia
The objectives of this study are to provide a comprehensive assessment of inequalities in infant and under-five yearsÂż child survival, access to and utilisations of child health services among different socio-economic groups in Ethiopia; and identify issues for policies and programmes at national and sub-national levels. This thesis examines the effect of parental socioeconomic status, maternal and delivery care services, mothersÂż bio-demographic and background characteristics on the level of differences in infant and under-five yearsÂż child survival and access to and utilisation of child health services. Descriptive and multivariate analyses were carried out for selected variables in the literature which were consider as the major determinants of infant mortality rate (IMR) and under-five yearsÂż child mortality rate (U5MR); access to and utilisations of child health services based on data from Ethiopian demographic and health survey (EDHS), covering the years 2000-2005. In the multivariate analysis a logit regression model was used to estimates inequalities in infant and under-five yearsÂż child survival, and inequalities in access to and utilisation of child health services. In Ethiopia, little was known about inequalities in IMR and U5MR, and inequalities in access to and utilisation of child health services. Besides, there is no systematic analysis of health inequalities and into its determinants using logistic regression. According to the available literature, this is the first comprehensive and systematic analysis of inequality of health in Ethiopia.
The findings show that compared to under-five yearsÂż children of mothersÂż partnersÂż with no work, mothersÂż partnersÂż in professional, technical and managerial occupations had 13 times more chance of under-five yearsÂż child survival for 2000 weighted observations. In addition, compared to infants of mothers who were gave birth to one child in last 5 years preceding the survey, infants of mothers who were gave birth to 2 children in last 5 years preceding the survey had 70% less chance of infant survival while infants of mothers who were gave birth to 3 or more children had 89% less chance of infant survival for 2000 weighted observations. Moreover, this study finding also indicates that inequalities increased significantly in the five years period between 2000 and 2005 among mothers with different birth interval. Most of the relations between birth interval and receiving childhood immunisation for vaccine-preventable diseases were statistically significant. Moreover compared to non-educated mothers, mothers who completed secondary and higher education were nearly 10 times more likely to receive DPT3 immunisation for their young children.
This study concludes that policy measures that tackle health inequalities will have a positive impact in the implementation of health sector strategy of Ethiopia. Health inequalities studies in Ethiopia and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) countries should focus on systematic analysis of different socio-economic groups. The finding of this study support investing in the EthiopiaÂżs health extension package (HEP) is a necessary but not sufficient condition for addressing rural poor health problem. HEP is successful in increasing primary health care coverage in rural Ethiopia to 89.6% (FMOH, 2009) but unable to reduce EthiopiaÂżs higher level of IMR and U5MR. HEP is one of the success stories that address the rural poor health problem and can also be adapted to developing countries of SSA. The finding also shows that the success stories such as health insurance programs like Rwanda (World Bank, 2008a) and Ethiopia (FMOH, 2009/10) will play a key role in achieving countryÂżs health care financing goal of universal coverage. This can also be replicated in the developing SSA countries
A nonstandard Volterra difference equation for the SIS epidemiological model
By considering the contact rate as a function of infective individuals and by using
a general distribution of the infective period, the SIS-model extends to a Volterra integral
equation that exhibits complex behaviour such as the backward bifurcation phenomenon.We
design a nonstandard finite difference (NSFD) scheme, which is reliable in replicating this
complex dynamics. It is shown that the NSFD scheme has no spurious fixed-points compared
to the equilibria of the continuous model. Furthermore, there exist two threshold parameters
Rc
0 andRm0
, Rc
0
†1 †Rm0
, such that the disease-free fixed-point is globally asymptotically
stable (GAS) for R0, the basic reproduction number, less than Rc
0 and unstable for R0 > 1,
while it is locally asymptotically stable (LAS) and coexists with a LAS endemic fixed-point
forRc
0 Rm0
andRm0
< â.
Numerical experiments that support the theory are provided.DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Mathematical Models and Methods in Bioengineering and Biosciences.http://www.thelancet.com/2016-09-30hb201
Prevalence and predictors of uterine rupture among Ethiopian women: A systematic review and meta-analysis.
BackgroundUterine rupture has a significant public health importance, contributing to 13% of maternal mortality and 74%-92% of perinatal mortality in Sub-Saharan Africa, and 36% of maternal mortality in Ethiopia. The prevalence and predictors of uterine rupture were highly variable and inconclusive across studies in the country. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aimed to estimate the pooled prevalence and predictor of uterine rupture in Ethiopia.MethodsThis systematic review and meta-analysis followed the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses 2009 checklist. PubMed, Cochrane Library, Google Scholar, and African Journals Online databases were searched. The Newcastle- Ottawa quality assessment tool was used for critical appraisal. I2 statistic and Egger's tests were used to assess the heterogeneity and publication bias, respectively. The random-effects model was used to estimate the pooled prevalence and odds ratios with a 95% confidence interval.ResultsSixteen studies were included, with a total of 91,784 women in the meta-analysis. The pooled prevalence of uterine rupture was 2% (95% CI: 1.99, 3.01). The highest prevalence was observed in the Amhara regional state (5%) and the lowest was in Tigray region (1%). Previous cesarean delivery (OR = 9.95, 95% CI: 3.09, 32.0), lack of antenatal care visit (OR = 8.40, 95% CI: 4.5, 15.7), rural residence (OR = 4.75, 95% CI: 1.17, 19.3), grand multiparity (OR = 4.49, 95% CI: 2.83, 7.11) and obstructed labor (OR = 6.75, 95%CI: 1.92, 23.8) were predictors of uterine rupture.ConclusionUterine rupture is still high in Ethiopia. Therefore, proper auditing on the appropriateness of cesarean section and proper labor monitoring, improving antenatal care visit, and birth preparedness and complication readiness plan are needed. Moreover, early referral and family planning utilization are the recommended interventions to reduce the burden of uterine rupture among Ethiopia women
Analysis and dynamically consistent nonstandard discretization for a rabies model in humans and dogs
Rabies is a fatal disease in dogs as well as in humans. A possible model to represent
rabies transmission dynamics in human and dog populations is presented. The next
generation matrix operator is used to determine the threshold parameter R0, that is the
average number of new infective individuals produced by one infective individual intro-
duced into a completely susceptible population. If R0 < 1, the disease-free equilibrium
is globally asymptotically stable, while it is unstable and there exists a locally asymptot-
ically stable endemic equilibrium when R0 > 1. A nonstandard nite di erence scheme
that replicates the dynamics of the continuous model is proposed. Numerical tests to
support the theoretical analysis are provided.DST/NRF SARChI Chair in Mathematics Models and Methods in Bioengineering and Biosciences.http://link.springer.com/journal/133982017-09-30hb2016Mathematics and Applied Mathematic
The NIKA2 instrument, a dual-band kilopixel KID array for millimetric astronomy
NIKA2 (New IRAM KID Array 2) is a camera dedicated to millimeter wave
astronomy based upon kilopixel arrays of Kinetic Inductance Detectors (KID).
The pathfinder instrument, NIKA, has already shown state-of-the-art detector
performance. NIKA2 builds upon this experience but goes one step further,
increasing the total pixel count by a factor 10 while maintaining the
same per pixel performance. For the next decade, this camera will be the
resident photometric instrument of the Institut de Radio Astronomie
Millimetrique (IRAM) 30m telescope in Sierra Nevada (Spain). In this paper we
give an overview of the main components of NIKA2, and describe the achieved
detector performance. The camera has been permanently installed at the IRAM 30m
telescope in October 2015. It will be made accessible to the scientific
community at the end of 2016, after a one-year commissioning period. When this
happens, NIKA2 will become a fundamental tool for astronomers worldwide.Comment: Proceedings of the 16th Low Temperature Detectors workshop. To be
published in the Journal of Low Temperature Physics. 8 pages, 4 figures, 1
tabl
NIKA 2: next-generation continuum/polarized camera at the IRAM 30 m telescope and its prototype
NIKA 2 (New Instrument of Kids Array) is a next generation continuum and
polarized instrument successfully installed in October 2015 at the IRAM 30 m
telescope on Pico-Veleta (Granada, Spain). NIKA 2 is a high resolution
dual-band camera, operating with frequency multiplexed LEKIDs (Lumped Element
Kinetic Inductance Detectors) cooled at 100 mK. Dual color images are obtained
thanks to the simultaneous readout of a 1020 pixels array at 2 mm and 1140 x 2
pixels arrays at 1.15 mm with a final resolution of 18 and 12 arcsec
respectively, and 6.5 arcmin of Field of View (FoV). The two arrays at 1.15 mm
allow us to measure the linear polarization of the incoming light. This will
place NIKA 2 as an instrument of choice to study the role of magnetic fields in
the star formation process. The NIKA experiment, a prototype for NIKA 2 with a
reduced number of detectors (about 400 LEKIDs) and FoV (1.8 arcmin), has been
successfully operated at the IRAM 30 telescope in several open observational
campaigns. The performance of the NIKA 2 polarization setup has been
successfully validated with the NIKA prototype.Comment: 5 pages, 4 figures, proceeding for the conference: Extragalactic
radio surveys 201
Microfabrication technology for large LEKID arrays : from NIKA2 to future applications
The Lumped Element Kinetic Inductance Detectors (LEKID)demonstrated full
maturity in the NIKA (New IRAM KID Arrays)instrument. These results allow
directly comparing LEKID performance with other competing technologies (TES,
doped silicon) in the mm and sub-mm range. A continuing effort is ongoing to
improve the microfabrication technologies and concepts in order to satisfy the
requirements of new instruments. More precisely, future satellites dedicated to
CMB (Cosmic Microwave Background) studies will require the same focal plane
technology to cover, at least, the frequency range of 60 to 600 GHz. Aluminium
LEKID developed for NIKA have so far demonstrated, under real telescope
conditions, performance approaching photon-noise limitation in the band 120-300
GHz. By implementing superconducting bi-layers we recently demonstrated LEKID
arrays working in the range 80-120 GHz and with sensitivities approaching the
goals for CMB missions. NIKA itself (350 pixels) is followed by a more
ambitious project requiring several thousands (3000-5000) pixels. NIKA2 has
been installed in October 2015 at the IRAM 30-m telescope. We will describe in
detail the technological improvements that allowed a relatively harmless
10-fold up-scaling in pixels count without degrading the initial sensitivity.
In particular we will briefly describe a solution to simplify the difficult
fabrication step linked to the slot-line propagation mode in coplanar
waveguide
Survey of Faba Bean («Vicia faba» L.) Virus Diseases in Ethiopia
Surveys conducted in 1996 and 1997 to assess the status of virus diseases affecting faba bean in the
major growing areas of Ethiopia indicated that leaf yellowing, rolling, necrosis and stunting were the most common
disease symptoms. The highest visually-observed disease incidence in a field was 85%, recorded in the Wello region
(north-eastern Ethiopia). When 3049 symptomatic samples collected from 211 fields from all over Ethiopia were
tested by the tissue blot immunoassay (TBIA) for 14 viruses, 1592 samples (52.2%) were found to be infected with at
least one virus. Faba bean necrotic yellows virus (FBNYV, genus Nanovirus) was the most frequent (63.2%), followed
by luteoviruses (28.5%) [such as Beet western yellows virus (BWYV, genus Polerovirus, family Luteoviridae) and
Bean leaf roll virus (BLRV, family Luteoviridae)] and Chickpea chlorotic dwarf virus (CCDV, genus Mastrevirus,
family Geminiviridae) (3.1%). Mosaic/mottling symptoms were observed in some fields but incidence was always very
low
High angular resolution Sunyaev-Zel'dovich observations of MACS J1423.8+2404 with NIKA: Multiwavelength analysis
The prototype of the NIKA2 camera, NIKA, is an instrument operating at the
IRAM 30-m telescope, which can observe simultaneously at 150 and 260GHz. One of
the main goals of NIKA2 is to measure the pressure distribution in galaxy
clusters at high resolution using the thermal SZ (tSZ) effect. Such
observations have already proved to be an excellent probe of cluster pressure
distributions even at high redshifts. However, an important fraction of
clusters host submm and/or radio point sources, which can significantly affect
the reconstructed signal. Here we report on <20" resolution observations at 150
and 260GHz of the cluster MACSJ1424, which hosts both radio and submm point
sources. We examine the morphology of the tSZ signal and compare it to other
datasets. The NIKA data are combined with Herschel satellite data to study the
SED of the submm point source contaminants. We then perform a joint
reconstruction of the intracluster medium (ICM) electronic pressure and density
by combining NIKA, Planck, XMM-Newton, and Chandra data, focusing on the impact
of the radio and submm sources on the reconstructed pressure profile. We find
that large-scale pressure distribution is unaffected by the point sources
because of the resolved nature of the NIKA observations. The reconstructed
pressure in the inner region is slightly higher when the contribution of point
sources are removed. We show that it is not possible to set strong constraints
on the central pressure distribution without accurately removing these
contaminants. The comparison with X-ray only data shows good agreement for the
pressure, temperature, and entropy profiles, which all indicate that MACSJ1424
is a dynamically relaxed cool core system. The present observations illustrate
the possibility of measuring these quantities with a relatively small
integration time, even at high redshift and without X-ray spectroscopy.Comment: 15 pages, 17 figures, submitted to A&
Dendritic Cells Activate and Mature after Infection with Mycobacterium tuberculosis
<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Dendritic cells (DCs) can take up an array of different antigens, including microorganisms which they can process and present more effectively than any other antigen presenting cell. However, whether the interaction between the human DC and <it>Mycobacterium tuberculosis </it>represents a defense mechanism by the invaded host, or helping the invader to evade the defense mechanism of the host is still not clearly understood.</p> <p>Findings</p> <p>To analyze the interactions between <it>M. tuberculosis </it>and immune cells, human peripheral blood monocyte-derived immature DCs were infected with <it>M. tuberculosis </it>H37Rv wild type strain and flow cytometry was used to analyse cell surface expression markers. The ability of the <it>M. tuberculosis </it>infected DC to induce T cell proliferation using 5 and 6-carboxyfluorescein diacetate succinimidyl ester (CFSE) dilution technique was also investigated. DCs were found to internalize the mycobacteria and show dose dependent infection and necrosis with different multiplicity of infection. Flow cytometry analysis of cell surface expression markers CD40, CD54, CD80, CD83, CD86 and HLA DR in infected DC revealed significant (p < 0.05) up regulation following infection with <it>M. tuberculosis </it>in comparison to immature DC with no stimulation. Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) from <it>Salmonella abortus equi</it>, a known DC maturation agent, was used as a positive control and showed a comparable up regulation of cell surface markers as observed with <it>M. tuberculosis </it>infected DC. It was revealed that the <it>M. tuberculosis </it>infected DC induced T cell proliferation.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>These data clearly demonstrate that <it>M. tuberculosis </it>induces activation and maturation of human monocyte-derived immature DC as well as induces T cell proliferation <it>in vitro</it>.</p
- âŠ