Prevalance of Listeria monocytogenes in Red Meat at Alkadaro Slaughterhouse, Khartoum North, Sudan

خـلفية: الليســـتـريا مونوســايتوجـينــس بكتــريا ممرضـة تنـتـقــل بالأطعمــة، ومنتـشــرة بصــورة واســعة في المواد الغذائية. إن تناول اللحوم الملوثة أو غير المطبوخة جيـداً يؤدي إلي الإصابة بهذه البـكـتـريا ، خاصة في الذين يُعانـون من نـقـص المـناعة ومن ثم تـتـسـبب في إلتهاب السحايا، الإجهاض و الوفاة. هذه البكتريا الممرضة لديها القدرة علي تحمل التبريد، وبالتالي تـشكل خطر علي صحة المسـتهلكين وتجارة اللحوم علي المستوي المحلي والعالمي . هــدفت الدراســة لتــحـديد مـدى أنتــشـــار الجـرثـومـة في لحــوم الأبـقــار والضــأن المـذبـوحـة بســلخـانة الكـدرو. منهجية الدراسة: هذه الدراسة وصـــفية مقـطعــية، تم إجـراؤها خـلال شــهر أكتوبر2020. لمعـرفــة درجــة تواجــد بكتـــريا الليــســتريا مونوســـايـتـوجـيـنـس فى اللحـوم الحمــراء (لحــوم الضــأن والأبقـــار) بســـلخـانة الكــدرو بشــمال الخرطوم. جمعت 80 عـيـنــة من اللحوم الحمراء إحصائياً من عـدد الـذبيـح الكلى في اليــوم ورحـلت فى أوســـاط معقمـــة حيــث جـرى فحصــها بمعـامل كليــة الصحــة العامــة وصحــة البيـئــة . أخــذت 63 قـطعــة (50 جـرام لكل منـها) من عيـنات اللحـوم (36 من لحــم الضــأن , 27 من لحــم البـقـــر) و17 مســحة من (14 ســـكيـن و3 من الجـدران ) ، تـم عــزل البـكتــريـا الممـرضــة وجـرى التــحــقـق منــها بالإخـتـبـارات البـيـوكيــميـائـيــة . كما تـم تـوزيع 100من إســتمارات إســتـبـيان (وإســتـنـاداً علي دراسة KAP) لـتـقــيـيـم الوعي العــام وســـط العــمال ومن ثـم تــم تحـليــل الـبـيــانـات عـبــر بـرنامـج التحــليل الإحصــائي للدراســات المجـتــمعيــة النـســــخة 21. النتائج: أظهـرت الـنـتــائـج وجـود بكتــريا اللـيـســتـريـا في 28 عـيـنــة (35%) من جملــة 80 عـيـنــة . وكانـت نســب أنـواعــها كالآتى: اللـيـســتـريـا مـونـوســايـتـوجـيـنـس (2.5%). لـيـســتـريـا إنكـوا (11.2%) لـيســتـريـا إيــفـانــو (15%)، ولـيـســتـريـا ويـلـشــميـري (6.25%). أظهــرت نـتــائـج الإســتـبـيـان ضعف المستوي المعرفي والسلوكي لدي العمال في مجال اللحوم الحمراء مما يؤدي لارتفاع درجه تلوثها باللستريا. الخاتمة: يـســـتـنـتـج من هـذا أن الـلحــوم الحمــراء قـد تـشــكل تهــديـداً حـقـيـقـيـاً لـلصــحة العـامــة الـشــيء الـذى يـتـطــلب عـنــايـة خاصــة من الســلطات المختــصـة إلى جـانـب رفــع مـســـتـوى الـوعى الصــحى العــام وتطــويـر طرق التـحـقـق من ســلامة الأغـــذية عـبــر تـطـبـيــق إجـراءات صـحيـة بنــاءاً عــلى نظــامى (طـرق التـصـنـيـع الجيـد أو تحـليـــل المخـــاطر والتــحكم فى النــقاط الحرجة). كما يُـنـصــح بـتـحــديـث وتـطــويـر طرق فـحـص الـلــحوم بصــورة دوريــة

IMF\u27s Loan Conditionality: Negative Consequences in the Borrower Country and the Burden of Responsibility

People often think that IFIs, such as the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund are prominent players in the global economy by providing funds to countries in need of development and sustainment of welfare, unfortunately these institutions can cause devastating effects in the borrower country. The harsh conditionality of the IMF plays a huge role in the negative economic consequences incumbent upon the borrower country. Meanwhile, the lack of legal remedies for private individuals suffering from the conditionality aggravates the consequences for these people. On the one hand, conditionality may strain the economy of the borrower country which leads to impeding the government’s ability to fulfill their international obligations to provide certain rights to their citizens. On the other hand, there are no available legal remedies for private individuals neither in the international sphere or the domestic one. Internationally, IFIs flee responsibility for the consequences of their policies in the borrower countries by escaping behind the lack of adequate internal remedy mechanisms within these institutions and behind the controversial adherence of the these institutions to the right to remedy established under customary international law and to human rights. Domestically, these institutions cannot be held accountable before domestic courts of the borrower country as they enjoy immunity. So the burden of responsibility for the consequences of policies and conditionality imposed by IFIs is shifted from the institution to the administrative bodies of the borrower state who implement the conditionality of the institutions. This paper argues that private individuals suffer from the negative consequences of loans conditionality given by IFIs by causing negative economic effects leading to violations to the rights of private individuals that are supposed to be guaranteed by international conventions due to the burden placed upon the borrower country. It further argues that the lack of remedies deprives private individuals of their rights, as a right with no remedy is no right at all

Evaluation of pediatric bradycardia: A single center experience

Background: Heart rate is an integral part of the clinical assessment of the children with acute illness and is commonly used in pediatric early warning scores. Objective: The aim of this study was to assess our current practice for evaluation and management of bradycardia in children. Patients and methods: The study was conducted in Pediatric Arrhythmia Clinic, Neonatal Intensive Care Unit and Pediatric Intensive Care Unit from March 2020 to August 2021. 61 Neonates and children aged from 1 day to 18 years presenting with bradycardia were included in this study. Predeath bradycardia was excluded. Full medical history, physical examination, basic investigations, 12 leads ECG and echocardiography were performed to all patients. Thyroid function tests, 24 hours Holter monitoring, and stress ECG were done if indicated. Results: 61 patients were included in the study. Heart rate ranged from 44 to 94 beat/minute with mean 69.44 beat/minute, the most common form of presentation was abnormal echocardiography. Hypocalcemia was present in 85.2% of patients. 70.5% of patients had sinus bradycardia, 13% had complete heart block (CHB),10% of patients had long QTc Syndrome with sinus bradycardia, 3.3% had 1st and 2nd degree heart block, 1.6% had ECG changes of ALCAPA with sinus bradycardia and 1.6% had ventricular ectopic. Conclusion: It could be concluded that bradycardia in children needs accurate assessment to rule out the need of acute intervention and to decrease the risk of life-threatening conditions

The efficacy of plant based diets on growth potential, energy utilization, nutrient digestibility, leg bone development and litter quality of meat chickens

Both plant and animal ingredients are used commonly to formulate balanced diets for poultry. Although many changes have been occurred in the genetics, nutrition and feeding of modern meat chickens, free selection and indiscriminate uses of feedstuffs for the non-ruminant animal diets can be hazardous due to the emerging threat of diseases outbreak via animal by-products. Besides this, many other concerns of including animal ingredients in poultry diets such as high price, zoonotic effects, ban on uses, food safety and product quality etc., encourage the poultry integrators to use merely vegetable feedstuffs for diet formulation excluding animal by-products. Exclusive use of plant ingredients into poultry diets might offer potential beneficial effects for optimizing poultry products. Poultry industry may be benefitted by using these cheap sources of vegetable ingredients for quality, safe and organic meat production. After all, most poultry integrators are looking for alternative ways to streamline production. This is why, currently the search for and the appropriate use of vegetable ingredients demand more research to explore their potential uses in poultry diets including other farm animals. However, despite the advantages of using vegetable feedstuffs in poultry diets, there are some associated problems that can affect the performance of meat chickens. So our current study is focused on to review these limitations of meat chickens fed vegetable-based diet, which include productivity, feed utilization and nutrient digestibility, leg bone health and litter quality of meat chickens

SEISMIC BASE ISOLATION FOR REDUCING SEISMIC RISK OF ARCHITECTURAL HERITAGE BUILDINGS

The paper analyses the applicability of seismic base isolation made of elastomeric bearings for the seismic mitigation of architectural heritage buildings. Due to the inestimable cultural and historical significance any remedial measures into such objects must be selected with care and are usually very limited. In an ideal situation only interventions with minimum visual impacts on the object and maximum potential for restoring its cultural values would be implemented. Historical structures were usually not designed accounting seismic hazard and might be seismically more vulnerable as modern buildings. The paper deals with seismic base isolation as a technique for increasing the seismic resistance of architectural heritage buildings made of unreinforced masonry. Typical base isolation devices represent special bearings that are usually installed bellow the foundations of the structure. If the isolation system is properly designed it can eliminate the need for using more invasive retrofit measures and techniques. The paper presents a relatively simple and computationally less demanding technique for the modelling and analysis of regular unreinforced masonry (URM) structures. This technique is based on the equivalent frame approach, while the complex seismic failure mechanism of masonry piers is expressed by a single failure mode interaction surface (an FMI surface ), taking into account the influence of variation in the pier’s vertical loading, and it’s bending moment distribution. A single failure mode interaction plastic hinge (an FMI hinge ) for each masonry frame element is introduced by combining specific failure modes, taking into account their minimum envelope. In the final part of the work a case study of using base isolation for the seismic retrofitting of an existing three-story masonry building has been conducted. Some results obtained by the N2 method comparing the damage in fixed based and base isolated variant of the test building demonstrate the potential of used techniques for the seismic protection of masonry heritage buildings

Livestock Practices: Traditional Animal Holdings Classification in Qatar 2020 Towards Sustainable Food Security

Background: Traditional animal holdings (TAH) in Qatar face many managerial challenges, such as inadequate usage of land capacity, low levels of animal productivity and low economic returns. The top priority of the Ministry of Municipality strategy is to take care of TAH to ensure the sustainability of this activity and to maximize its role in national food security. To support future policy choices and services provision, the ministry initiated a TAH classification system. In 2020, the Social and Economic Survey Research Institute (SESRI) of Qatar University conducted a comprehensive agriculture census that followed a well-known methodology. The census form consisted of questions that guided the classification of TAH. The aim of this study is to help assess TAH performance using data from the census. Results: The Animals Holdings Classification Index (AHCI) divided the current holdings into one of five categories (A, B, C, D or E) in accordance with seven factors as classification criteria. These factors were levels of land and barn capacity utilization, livestock productivity, economic return, biosecurity measures, husbandry system and usage of technology for animal production. The results showed that most of the holdings fell into categories C and D. The lowest-scoring criteria were commitment to biosecurity measures and economic benefit. We recommended intensifying extension and enacting legislation to organize holdings to comply with biosecurity measures and initiating marketing programs and market outlets for TAH. According to Qatar’s 2021 agriculture census, there are three different types of holdings: roving holdings (mobile), 33.6%; holdings in compounds, 57.6; and holdings outside rural houses, 8.8%. Conclusions: The AHCI not only determines a holding’s actual productivity capability but also encourages holders to develop and upgrade their holdings. Furthermore, it helps the government fill gaps and provide services based on information and evidence

Occurrence of antibiotic resistant C. jejuni and E. coli in wild birds, chickens, environment and humans from Orang Asli villages in Sungai Siput, Perak, Malaysia

JALILA BINTI ABU/// MOHAMED YOUSIF IBRAHIM MOHAMED,SALEHA BINTI ABDUL AZIZ,ZUNITA BINTI ZAKARIA/// Abdul Rashid,Elmutaz Atta Awad In developing countries, Escherichia coli and Campylobacter jejuni were found to be the prominent bacterial causes of gastroenteritis in human gastroenteritis, and they also showed an increased trend towards antibiotic resistance. Thus, the study aimed to determine the occurrence of E. coli and C. jejuni in wild birds, chickens, human and environment in villages in Perak and to determine the antibiotic resistance amongst E. coli and C. jejuni isolates. Three Orang Asli villages in Perak were chosen. Wild birds were trapped from nearby areas of the villages. We collected 52 human stool samples, 40 cloacal swabs from wild birds and 42 from chickens. For the environment, samples were collected from water (40 samples), flies (40 samples) and soil (40 samples). Two (5%) flies and 16 (38.1%) chickens were found positive for C. jejuni. Also, a total of 50 (96.2%) humans, 40 (100%) birds, 40 (95.2%) chickens were positive for E. coli and 111 (92.5%) of the 120 environmental samples tested positive for E. coli. The disk diffusion method was employed to determine the susceptibility of C. jejuni and E. coli isolates against ten antibiotics. All of the E. coli (100%) and C. jejuni (66%) isolates were found resistance towards at least one antibiotic. Hundred percent (100%) of the E. coli isolates obtained from wild birds were found to show multidrug resistance (MDR). Campylobacter jejuni isolates from flies and chickens showed high resistance towards nalidixic acid

Rhabdomyolysis in an HIV cohort: epidemiology, causes and outcomes.

BackgroundThe Literature on rhabdomyolysis in the HIV-positive population is sparse and limited. We aimed to explore the incidence, patient characteristics, etiologies and outcomes of rhabdomyolysis in a cohort of HIV-positive patients identified through the Johns Hopkins HIV clinical registry between June 1992 and April 2014.MethodsA retrospective analysis of 362 HIV-positive patients with non-cardiac CK elevation ≥1000 IU/L was performed. Both inpatients and outpatients were included. Incidence rate and potential etiologies for rhabdomyolysis were ascertained. The development of acute kidney injury (AKI, defined as doubling of serum creatinine), need for dialysis, and death in the setting of rhabdomyolysis were determined. Logistic regression was used to evaluate the association of peak CK level with the development of AKI.ResultsThree hundred sixty two cases of rhabdomyolysis were identified in a cohort of 7079 patients with a 38,382 person years follow-up time. The incidence rate was nine cases per 1000 person-years (95% CI: 8.5-10.5). Infection was the most common etiology followed by compression injury and drug/alcohol use. One-third of cases had multiple potential etiologies. AKI developed in 46% of cases; 20% of which required dialysis. Thirteen percent died during follow-up. After adjustment, AKI was associated with higher CK (OR 2.05 for each 1-log increase in CK [95% CI: 1.40-2.99]), infection (OR 5.48 [95% CI 2.65-11.31]) and higher HIV viral load (OR 1.22 per 1-log increase [95% CI: 1.03-1.45]).ConclusionRhabdomyolysis in the HIV-positive population has many possible causes and is frequently multifactorial. HIV-positive individuals with rhabdomyolysis have a high risk of AKI and mortality

Materialtechnische Untersuchungen von Alignermaterialien aus Formgedächtnispolymeren

Unsichtbare Aligner sind beliebt, da sie ästhetisch ansprechend sind, Aligner-Therapien bieten im Vergleich zur konventionellen kieferorthopädischen Behandlung effektivere Möglichkeiten zur Förderung der Mundhygiene, da Patienten die Aligner tagsüber herausnehmen können. (Ashari und Mohamed, 2016), weniger Zahnarztbesuche erfordern und tech- nisch einfacher zu handhaben sind (Yassir et al., 2022). Der schrittweise Korrektor der Zahnfehlstellung erfolgt mithilfe von Alignern, die Translationen und Rotationen mit einer begrenzten Schrittgröße ermöglichen, über einen Zeitraum von 10-14 Tagen (Moutawakil et al., 2021; Tamer et al., 2019). Die begrenzte Zahnbewegung pro Aligner-Schiene erhöht die Anzahl der Schienen pro Behandlung, was die finanzielle Belastung, Kunststoffverbrauch und Umweltauswirkungen steigert (Elshazly et al. 2022). Die Integration intelligenter Materialien, wie Formgedächtnispolymeren, Shape Memory Polymers (SMPs), wurde vorge- schlagen (Elshazly et al., 2021; Elshazly et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2022). SMPs können temporäre Formen beibehalten und bei geeignetem Stimulus in ihre ursprüngliche Form zurückkehren (Lendlein und Kelch, 2002; Liu et al., 2007; Meng und Li, 2013). Die klinische Wirksamkeit von durchsichtigen Alignern hängt von verschiedenen Faktoren ab (Upadhyay und Arqub, 2021; Yassir et al., 2022), wobei die Materialeigenschaften eine entscheidende Rolle spielen (Cremonini et al., 2022; Momtaz, 2016). Mehrschichtige Hyb- ridmaterialien wurden entwickelt, um Einschränkungen einschichtiger Materialien zu überwinden, indem sie harte Außenschalen mit einer weicheren Innenschicht kombinieren, was zu verbesserten mechanischen Eigenschaften und höherem Patientenkomfort führt (Lombardo et al., 2016). Das herkömmliche Thermoformverfahren beeinträchtigt die mechanischen Eigenschaften von Aligner-Materialien (Dalaie et al., 2021; Golkhani et al., 2022). Als Alternative wurde der direkte 3D-Druck eingeführt, um kumulative Fehler zu eliminieren, mit dem Ziel höherer Präzision, besserer Designkontrolle, geringerer Komplexität der Lieferkette und niedrigeren Produktionskosten (Elshazly et al., 2022; Koenig et al., 2022; Lee et al., 2022; Peeters et al., 2019; Shivapuja et al., 2019; Tartaglia et al., 2021). Bisher gibt es in der Literatur keinen umfassenden Überblick über die Materialeigenschaften von Alignern, die aus SMPs, 3D-gedrucktem Harz oder 3D-gedrucktem Formgedächtnisharz (4D-Aligner) hergestellt werden. Das Hauptziel dieser Studie besteht darin, physikochemische und mechanische Analyseergebnisse von 3D-gedruckten Formgedächtnis-Alignern (4D-Alignern) im Vergleich zu thermogeformten Alignern vorzustellen.Objectives: To conduct a physiochemical and mechanical material analysis on 3D printed shape-memory aligners in comparison to thermoformed aligners. Materials and Methods: Four materials were examined, including three thermoformed materials: CA Pro (CP), Zendura A (ZA), Zendura FLX (ZF), and one 3D printed material: Tera Harz (TC-85). Rectangular strips measuring 50 × 10 × 0.5 mm were produced from each material. Five tests were conducted, including differential scanning calorimetry (DSC), dynamic mechanical analysis (DMA), shape recovery tests, three-points bending (3 PB), and Vickers surface microhardness (VH). Results: DSC recorded glass transition temperatures (Tg) at 79.9 °C for CP, 92.2 °C for ZA, 107.1 °C for ZF, and 42.3 °C for TC-85. In DMA analysis at 20–45 °C, a prominent decrease in storage modulus was observed, exclusively for TC-85, as the temperature increased. Notably, within the temperature range of 30–45 °C, TC-85 exhibited substantial shape recovery after 10 min, reaching up to 86.1 %, while thermoformed materials showed minimal recovery (1.5–2.9 %). In 3 PB test (at 30, 37, 45 °C), ZA demonstrated the highest force at 2 mm bending, while TC-85 exhibited the lowest. Regarding VH at room temperature, there was a significant decrease for both ZA and ZF after thermoforming. ZA had the highest hardness, followed by ZF and TC-85, with CP showing the lowest values. Conclusions: TC-85 demonstrates exceptional shape memory at oral temperature, improving adaptation, reducing force decay, and enabling, together with its higher flexibility, extensive tooth movement per step. Additionally, it maintains microhardness similar to thermoformed sheets, ensuring the durability and effectiveness of dental aligners. Clinical relevance: The 3D printed aligner material with shape memory characteristics (4D aligner) has revolutionized the orthodontic aligner field. It showed mechanical properties more suitable for orthodontic treatment than thermoforming materials. Additionally, it offers enhanced control over aligner design and thickness, while optimizing the overall workflow. It also minimizes material wastage, and reduces production expenses

Cogeneration and community design: performance based model for optimization of the design of U.S. residential communities utilizing cogeneration systems in cold climates

The integration of cogeneration technologies in residential communities has the potential of reducing energy demand and harmful emissions. This study investigated the impact of selected design parameters on the environmental and economic performances of cogeneration systems integrated into residential communities in cold U.S. climates following a centralized or a decentralized integration approach. Parameters investigated include: 1) density, 2) use mix, 3) street configuration, 4) housing typology, 5) envelope and building systems' efficiencies, 6) renewable energy utilization, 7) cogeneration system type, 8) size, and 9) operation strategy. Based on this, combinations of design characteristics achieving an optimum system performance were identified. The study followed a two-phased mixed research model: first, studies of residential community design and three case studies of sustainable residential communities were analyzed to identify key design parameters; subsequently, simulation tools were utilized to assess the impact of each parameter on cogeneration system performance and to optimize the community design to improve that performance. Assessment procedures included: developing a base-line model representing typical design characteristics of U.S. residential communities; assessing the system performance within this model, for each integration approach, using three performance indicators: reduction in primary energy use, reduction in CO2 emissions; and internal rate of return; assessing the impact of each parameter on the system performance through developing 46 design variations of the base-line model representing changes in these parameters and calculating the three indicators for each variation; using a multi-attribute decision analysis methodology to evaluate the relative impact of each parameter on the system performance; and finally, developing two design optimization scenarios for each integration approach. Results show that, through design optimization, existing cogeneration technologies can be economically feasible and cause reductions of up to 18% in primary energy use and up to 42% in CO2 emissions, with the centralized approach offering a higher potential for performance improvements. A significant correlation also existed between design characteristics identified as favorable for cogeneration system performance and those of sustainable residential communities. These include high densities, high mix of uses, interconnected street networks, and mixing of housing typologies. This indicates the higher potential for integrating cogeneration systems in sustainable residential communities