Microbial examination of drinking water supply systems of Elobeid city, Sudan

The present investigation was carried out to evaluate the microbial parameters of Elobeid drinking water supply systems, which comprise of Bara underground water system and the surface rainwater harvesting (RWH) system, during the period from July 2010–June 2011. Four samples from Bara and nine from RWH were collected. The microbial parameters were determined using different microbial techniques. The results showed that the mean total viable bacterial (TVC) and spore-forming bacteria counts in the RWH system were ranged as 80.26-1030.11 and 82.8-3479.8 cfu/ml, respectively and 4.67-110.5 and 0.83- 292.5 cfu/ml, respectively in Bara. Moreover, high counts of coliforms, faecal coliforms; faecal Streptococci, Salmonella, Staphylococci, Clostridia and Cyanobacteria were recorded in the RWH system, particularly during the rainy months (June–September), which not in agreement with international or local standards for drinking water. The predominant bacteria in the two water supply systems were Bacillus (6 species) Proteus mirabilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Pseudomonas maltophilia, Enterobacter gergoviae, Enterobacter alvi, Proteus vulgaris, E. coli, Salmonella choleraesuis, Staphylococcus aureus, Streptococcus faecium and Streptococcus faecalis, in addition to many Cyanobacterial genera: Lyngbya, Microcystis, Oscillatoria, Synechocystis, Anabaena, Leptolyngbya, Dermocarpa, Aphanizomenon, Schizothrix and Phormidium. The presence of those harmful bacteria in water before and after treatment in the RWH system indicated that water treatment measures adopted by the North Kordofan State Water Corporation (coagulation, sand filtration and disinfection by chlorination) do not guarantee acceptable levels of water disinfection. To alleviate these problems, blending of the two water systems and subsequent treatments to reduce microbial load were suggested as recommended point of view. Published by the International journal of Microbiology and Mycology (IJMM

Assessment of initiation of breastfeeding practice in Kassala, Eastern Sudan: A community-based study

© 2018 The Author(s). Background: The World Health Organization (WHO) encourages early initiation of breastfeeding within the first hour after birth with the objective of saving children\u27s lives. There are few published research papers about factors associated with the initiation of breastfeeding in Sudan. The aim of this study was to investigate the prevalence of and factors associated with the timely initiation of breastfeeding among mothers with children two years and under in Kassala, Eastern Sudan. Methods: A community-based cross-sectional study was conducted from December 2016 to March 2017. Mothers were interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Results: A total of 250 mother-child pairs participated in the study. The mean (standard deviation) of maternal age and children\u27s age was 27.1 (5.68) years and 11.9 (6.9) months, respectively. Of the 250 mothers, 218 (87.2%) initiated breastfeeding within the first hour. In multivariable logistic regression analysis, factors associated with the delay of breastfeeding initiation were having a male baby (Adjusted Odds Ratio [AOR] 3.90, 95% Confidence Interval [CI]1.33, 11.47), and mothers with medical disorders (AOR 5.07, 95% CI 1.22, 21.16). Conclusion: There was a high prevalence of early initiation of breastfeeding. An association with delayed initiation of breastfeeding was found amongst mothers who had medical disorders and those who had a male infant. Wherever possible, early initiation of breastfeeding should be promoted for all infants, regardless of gender

Designing and Developing Electronic Health System Using XML & RDM

An examination of many hospitals that recently implemented in King Saudi Arabia(KSA) a little electronic health record (EHR) system finds that clinical and administrative leaders built EHR adoption into their strategic plans to integrate inpatient and outpatient care and pro­vide a continuum of coordinated services. Using Relational Data Base Management (RDM) and eXtend Marker Language (XML) Systems .Successful implementation depended on: strong leadership, full involvement of clinical staff in design and implementation, mandatory staff training, and strict adherence to timeline and budget. The EHR systems facilitate patient safety and quality improvement through: use of checklists, alerts, and predictive tools; embedded clinical guidelines that promote standardized, evidence-based practices; elec­tronic prescribing and test-ordering that reduces errors and redundancy; and discrete data fields that foster use of performance dashboards and compliance reports. The system will be developed using PHP Hiper Page(PHP) as web based system. Key word: XML, RDM,EHR.EMR,GIS,PH

Epidemiology of cesarean delivery in Kassala, Eastern Sudan: a community-based study 2014- 2015

Background: Cesarean delivery is a main obstetrical operation and its rate should be optimized where the World Health Organization regards that a cesarean delivery rate of 5-15% is an optimal range, putting in consideration the necessity of the procedure as a lifesaving intervention for both the mother and fetus.Objectives: To investigate the epidemiology of cesarean delivery in Kassala, Eastern Sudan from December 2014 to March 2015.Materials and Methods: A stratified, multistage, household survey was carriedout. Questionnaires were applied to gather mode of delivery and its determinants.Results: Out of 303 women, 87 (28.7%), 100 (33%), 116 (38.3) were primiparous, secondiparous and multiparous, respectively, Mothers' age ranged from 13 to 48 with mean (SD) 27.79 (5.94) years. In logistic regression, elder women (OR=1.1, 95 CI= 1.01-1.34, p = 0.005), primparae (OR= 6.4, 95% CI = 1.3-31.8, p = 0.001) and women who had medical disease (OR= 2.9, 95% CI= 1.16-7.6, p= 0.023) were at higher risk to deliver by caesarean delivery.Conclusion: The rate of cesarean delivery in Kassala in the current study is17.8% and the elder women, primiapare and women with medical disorders were at a higher risk to deliver by caesarean delivery.Keywords: Cesarean, Kassala, pregnancy, Suda

Computerization of Medical Analysis Laboratories in the Sudan between Reality and Expectations

The rapid development of the techniques used in laboratories led generating massive amounts of data in record time, which put scientists on the front line not only with the interpretation of this data to vital information but with the store this data in databases organization in a good way that allows retrieved easily, and this what led to the emergence of science bioinformatics, which applies computer technology to the management of these bioinformatics, as has this science developed several algorithms and software for analyzing the genome ( after becoming exposed in front of us) and comparing with DNA sequences and chains of proteins with each other or matching new strings with previously undiscovered chains in order to gain access to information about the functions of the new strings without having to use laboratory experiments (which may take month). A medical information services are one of the important pillars of the researchers, but this information becomes worthless or useful if it does not reach in a timely manner and to the extent appropriate. Medical information is considered substrate upon which the medical research in the various fields in Sudan, and so had to be interest in release of its information statement and its role in various fields. There are in the state of Khartoum multiple institutions of medical information in its institutions of medical universities and, have noted the researcher that the institutions of medical information are deficient in human cadre and technical, and there is a decline in the information services provided by these institutions have been given all these and other reasons, the researcher of the study Systems Division Medical Information and Documentation Centre information(SDMIDCI). The study has pursued the study of the case in the institutions of the information, has been used to study a number of scientific disciplines represented in the curriculum, both descriptive and analytical survey, while the study used to collect the data of the following tools: resolution as a key tool in data collection, interview and observation. Questionnaire was distributed to beneficiaries researchers and graduate students and university students of specialty medical laboratory databases of global and local at the Center for Documentation and Information at the National Center for Research. In Conclusion search accept the proposal of information systems in the laboratories of medical tests Sudanese, and the reality of the application of these systems in Sudan and accept results and recommendations is the most important weakness of human resources and lack of uses of modern technologies to reach the medical information in a timely manner, which is the infrastructure in the institutions of medical information then the low information services in those institutions. The researcher recommended that the state give precedence maximum support and medical information sector at the policy level and work to provide medical information to non-traditional fit with the nature of the specialized medical institutions. Keywords: SDMIDCI, DNA, Questionnaire, science bioinformatic

Diagnostic predictive values of the hain genotype MTBDRsl assay in mycobacterial strains isolated from Sudan

Introduction: hain GenoType MTBDRsl is nucleic acid amplification assay based on reverse hybridization with specific oligonucleotide probes on nitrocellulose strips. MTBDRsl identifies M. tuberculosis complex and detects resistance to fluoroquinolone, second line injectable drugs and ethambutol evident as mutations of gyrA, rrs and embB genes respectively. This study aimed to evaluate the diagnostic performance of the Hain GenoType MTBDRsl Assay using 1% proportion method on LJ medium as gold standard. Methods: a total of 52 rifampicin resistant (RR) isolates were tested for second line drug sensitivity by 1% proportion method and by MTBDRsl assay. Results: two strains were identified as mycobacteria other than tuberculosis MOTT and the rest were Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex MTBC. Five of the MTBC isolates (5/50; 10%) showed resistance to at least one second line drug and one isolate (1/50; 2%) was XDR. XDR strain was concordantly detected by the two methods. One of two Kanamycin-resistant isolates showed discordant result. Ofloxacin showed one false positive and one false negative result. Most discrepancies were detected with Ethambutol. The sensitivity, specificity, positive and negative predictive values were respectively as follows: Ethambutol (63.3.4%, 85.7%, 94.4% and 62%): for Kanamycin (67%, 100%, 100% and 97.9%): for Amikacin and Capreomycin (100%, 100%, 100% and 100%): for Ofloxacin (75%, 97.5%, 75% and 97.8%). For XDR isolate the values were (100%, 100%, 100% and 100%) respectively. Conclusion: MTBDRsl showed high specificity and negative predictive values making it acceptable and time-saving for early presumptive detection of resistance to second-line drugs in Sudan

Holocene variations of wildfire occurrence as a guide for sustainable management of the northeastern Canadian boreal forest

Background Cumulative impacts of wildfires and forest harvesting can cause shifts from closed-crown forest to open woodland in boreal ecosystems. To lower the probability of occurrence of such catastrophic regime shifts, forest logging must decrease when fire frequency increases, so that the combined disturbance rate does not exceed the Holocene maximum. Knowing how climate warming will affect fire regimes is thus crucial to sustainably manage the forest. This study aimed to provide a guide to determine sustainable forest harvesting levels, by reconstructing the Holocene fire history at the northern limit of commercial forestry in Quebec using charcoal particles preserved in lake sediments. Methods Sediment cores were sampled from four lakes located close to the northern limit of commercial forestry in Quebec. The cores were sliced into consecutive 0.5 cm thick subsamples from which 1 cm3 was extracted to count and measure charcoal particles larger than 150 microns. Age-depth models were obtained for each core based on accelerator mass spectroscopy (AMS) radiocarbon dates. Holocene fire histories were reconstructed by combining charcoal counts and age-depth models to obtain charcoal accumulation rates and, after statistical treatment, long-term trends in fire occurrence (expressed as number of fires per 1000 years). Results Fire occurrence varied between the four studied sites, but fires generally occurred more often during warm and dry periods of the Holocene, especially during the Holocene Thermal Maximum (7000–3500 cal. BP), when fire occurrence was twice as high as at present. Conclusions The current fire regime in the study area is still within the natural range of variability observed over the Holocene. However, climatic conditions comparable to the Holocene Thermal Maximum could be reached within the next few decades, thus substantially reducing the amount of wood available to the forest industry

Prevalence and factors associated with overweight and central obesity among adults in the Eastern Sudan

© 2020 Omar et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background A global epidemic of obesity has been documented, particularly among African countries. While central obesity and overweight have been reported for many countries, very limited information exists about the prevalence of these health problems in Sudan, and these data are nonexistent for Eastern Sudan. The present study aimed to determine the prevalence of obesity and central obesity, as well as the factors associated with both, among adults in Gadarif, Eastern Sudan. Methods A cross-sectional study was conducted in Gadarif, Eastern Sudan, during the period of January through May 2018. Sociodemographic and health characteristics data were collected through a questionnaire. Body mass index (BMI) and waist circumference (WC) were measured using the standard methods. Both descriptive and inferential statics were applied to analyze the data. Results A total of 594 adults participated in the study; 70.4% of them were female. The mean (standard deviation) age was 44.98 (16.64) years. Of the 594 enrolled participants, 33.7%, 7.4%, 26.8%, and 32.2% were normal weight, underweight, overweight, and obese, respectively. The prevalence of central obesity was (67.8%). Approximately, one-third of the participants (29.29%) were obese and had central obesity. In the multinomial regression, being married was the main risk factor associated with overweight, and older age, female sex, being married and hypertension were significantly associated with obesity. In the binary regression, the main risk factors associated with central obesity were female sex and being married. Conclusion The prevalence rates of both obesity and central obesity among the study participants were high. Older age and hypertension were only associated with obesity. Obesity and central obesity were significantly associated with female sex and being married. This study provided valuable baseline information to develop appropriate strategies for the prevention and control of obesity in Eastern Sudan