Replacement of Long Lasting Insecticide Treated Nets in Malarious Kebeles of Gida Ayana District, East Wollega Zone, Ethiopia

The main objective of the study was to determine the sustainability of owning and utilization of long lasting insecticide treated nets in malarious kebeles of Gida Ayana District. A community-based cross-sectional study design was used to investigate the replacement and utilization of long lasting insecticide treated nets (LLINs) in four malarious kebeles of Gida Ayana District. The study was conducted in June, 2013 on randomly sampled 420 households. Data were collected using structured, pretested, interviewer-administered questionnaire and presences of LLINs in sleeping areas were checked. Data analysis was performed using SPSS 20.0 for windows software. Logistic regression analysis was used for determining LLINS ownership and socio-demographic characteristics. P values of less or equal to 0.05 were considered significant. Of the 420 households included in the study, 69.3% possessed one or more LLINs which are owned primary (for the first time) or replaced (substituting the old bed nets after three years of use). There was no significant association between socio-demographic characteristics of respondents and LLINs owing (P >0.05). Attrition rate of households in LLINs owing was 101(24 %). Of the 291 households which possessed one or more insecticides, 60.8% have replaced the LLINs after three years of use. 57.8% of respondents knew as LLINs need replacement after 3 years of use. 81.3 and 19.7 % of respondent prefer free supply and cost subsidize supply of LLINs for sustainable owing respectively. Of 114 households who have possessed LLINs primarily, 70.2 % have used the LLINs for more than 3 years. Utilization rate of LLINs available in the households the night prior to the study was 64.9 % and in 69.75 % of households LLINs were hanged in sleeping areas. Proportion of pregnant women and under five children slept under LLINs the night preceding the study was 43.1 and 48.4 % respectively. Old, worn out LLINs have been replaced after three years of use to sustain malaria control in the study area. Utilization of LLINs among malaria risk group was low. Every household in malarious kebeles should be included during substituting LLINs. Regular monitoring of household is required from health extension workers to scale-up and sustain utilization of LLINs in malaria control.Keywords: Long Lasting Insecticide; Treated Nets; Replacement; Utilization; Malaria contro

Comparative Study of the Protective Effect of Granulated Sugar and Garri Meal on Petroleum-induced Changes of Lipid Profiles in Albino Rats (Rattusnorvegicus)

Crude oil contaminated diet has been reported to induced changes in lipid profile of rats. In this study, 60 albino rats in 6 groups were fed with crude oil contaminated sugar-garri diets at varied concentrations to monitor petroleum-induce lipid profile changes using standard methods. The lipid profiles estimated were total cholesterols, triglycerides, high density lipoprotein cholesterol and Low density lipoproteincholesterol.The data showed that, the levels of total cholesterol (Mmol/l) increased from 2.89+0.08 in sugar fed rats compared with 3.05+0.12 in Gari fed rats. The concentration of triglycerides(Mmol/l) reduced from 1.10+0.51 in sugar fed rats to 1.06 + 0.03 in Gari fed rats while the high density lipoprotein cholesterol(Mmol/l) concentration of 2. 01+0.08 was significantly higher than 1.89 + 0.03 in Gari fed rats (P<0.05).There was no significant difference in Low density lipoprotein cholesterol (Mmol/l) concentrations of 0.68+0.11 in sugar fed rats compared with 0.83 + 0.10 in Gari fed rats. The effect of pre-treatment of the diet with sugar reduced petroleum-induce changes in lipid profile than gari during the exposure of the albino rats to the petroleum diet suggesting that sugarcould possibly ameliorate petroleum-induce changes in lipid profile as shown by the significantlowering of the cholesterol and Low density lipoprotein cholesterol than gari in albino rats. Keywords: lipid, Petroleum, Sugar, Gari, Cassava, Change

Percutaneous treatment with Mitraclip for functional mitral regurgitation: medium-term follow up according to left ventricular function

Background: Functional mitral regurgitation (FMR) is a bad prognosis condition despite optimal medical treatment. Nowadays there is an open debate about the surgical versus percutaneous treatment. The main objective of this study is to evaluate the mid-term follow up clinical outcomes of patients with FMR treated with MitraClip((R)) system, according to their left ventricular ejection fraction (LVEF). Methods: Data was obtained from two experienced centers in transcatheter mitral valve repair (TMVR). All consecutive cases of severe FMR undergoing TMVR in both centers with the same inclusion criteria were included prospectively in this study and followed-up. Periodical follow-ups with clinical and echocardiographic evaluation were scheduled from the baseline procedure, at 3 months and then yearly. Results: From October 2015 to October 2019, a total of 119 patients with FMR at 2 centers in Spain underwent TMVR with the MitraClip((R)) procedure and were included in this study. The mean age was 73.8+/-8.9 years old and 32 patients (26.9%) were female. A 39.5% of cases [47] had a LVEF 30% (group 2). There was a similar distribution in cardiovascular risk factors, age and other diseases. All MitraClip((R)) implantations were elective and procedural success was achieved in 110 patients (92.4%) with a similar distribution between the groups. There were no differences in procedural time and the number of implanted clips. The median follow-up was 22.6 months (IQR, 11.43-34.98 months). The primary combined endpoint occurred in the 41.6% of the global cohort, 57.5% in group 1 and 30.99% in group 2 (P=0.036). LVEF was associated to the main event in the multivariate analysis (HR 2.09, 95% CI: 1.12-3.89; P=0.02). Conclusions: The MitraClip edge-to-edge technique is a safe and effective procedure for the treatment of FMR. In this study, patients with LVEF >30% treated with Mitraclip presented better clinical cardiovascular outcomes than those with a LVEF </=30%. Regardless clinical outcomes, at the end of the follow-up, there was a sustained reduction in MR grades and an important improvement in NYHA functional class

A COMPARISON STUDY ON THE FATTY ACIDS CONTENTS OF PIGMENTED AND NON PIGMENTED STRAINS OF SERRATIA MARCESCENS USING LIQUID GAS CHROMATOGRAPHY.

The study recorded seven types of fatty acids using Liquid-Gas chromatograph technique including Lauric acid (C12:0), Lanoleic acid (C18:2), Palmitic acid (C16:0), Myristic acid (C14:0), Palmitoleic acid (C16:1), Oleic acid (C18:1), Arachidic acid (C20:0) in both strains and fatty acid.Lauric acid (C12:0) formed the highest ratio in both strains, the study also showed a difference in the percentage of these fatty acids between the two tested strain

Protection of the Queuosine Biosynthesis Enzyme QueF from Irreversible Oxidation by a Conserved Intramolecular Disulfide

QueF enzymes catalyze the nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide phosphate (NADPH)-dependent reduction of the nitrile group of 7-cyano-7-deazaguanine (preQ0) to 7-aminomethyl-7-deazaguanine (preQ1) in the biosynthetic pathway to the tRNA modified nucleoside queuosine. The QueF-catalyzed reaction includes formation of a covalent thioimide intermediate with a conserved active site cysteine that is prone to oxidation in vivo. Here, we report the crystal structure of a mutant of Bacillus subtilis QueF, which reveals an unanticipated intramolecular disulfide formed between the catalytic Cys55 and a conserved Cys99 located near the active site. This structure is more symmetric than the substrate-bound structure and exhibits major rearrangement of the loops responsible for substrate binding. Mutation of Cys99 to Ala/Ser does not compromise enzyme activity, indicating that the disulfide does not play a catalytic role. Peroxide-induced inactivation of the wild-type enzyme is reversible with thioredoxin, while such inactivation of the Cys99Ala/Ser mutants is irreversible, consistent with protection of Cys55 from irreversible oxidation by disulfide formation with Cys99. Conservation of the cysteine pair, and the reported in vivo interaction of QueF with the thioredoxin-like hydroperoxide reductase AhpC in Escherichia coli suggest that regulation by the thioredoxin disulfide-thiol exchange system may constitute a general mechanism for protection of QueF from oxidative stress in vivo

A Built-up Virtual Laboratory to Enhance Understanding of Concrete Structure Design Requirement

In this paper, simulation tools for educational purposes are developed to enhance understanding in undergraduate students taking courses related to concrete structural behavior. As undergraduate students learn about concrete structure, they commonly reach limits regarding their understanding of failure behavior in materials. Design codes should therefore be followed when students learn about reinforced concrete (RC) design. Students are able to follow a step-by-step design procedure for a RC beam using simple calculations. However, they usually then face some requirement, such as a design code, that requires students to make an RC beam with several pieces of rebar instead of one piece, because this provides a more desirable behavior for the RC structure. Understanding why the code is required needs more than just reading. By conducting an experiment, students can easily understand the reason for the code. However, real experiments for concrete structures are time-consuming and costly; therefore, provision of a realistic simulation tool, the ‘Virtual Concrete Structure Laboratory,’ for engineering educational purposes allows students to obtain virtual hands-on experience to learn about concrete structure. The main purpose of this paper is to show the effectiveness of this virtual lab in civil engineering education