Uterine rupture: A review of 15 Cases at Bandier maternity hospital in Somalia

Background: Uterine rupture is a deadly obstetrical emergency endangering the life of both mother and fetus.Objective: To determine the frequency of ruptured uterus at Bandier Hospital and to elicit possible causes and type of management. Methods: It was cross sectional and hospital based descriptive study implemented during a time period of six months (July – December 2013) in Bandier maternity hospital and a total of 15 women presented with rupture uterus during the period of the study were included.Results: There were 15 cases of ruptured uterus out of a total of 2142 deliveries. Incidence of uterine rupture was found to be 0.7%. The mean age of women was 30.03 ± 4.55 years. Concerning risk factors for rupture uterus, 10 (66.7%) had previous uterine surgery, obstructed labor was found in 33.3%, and oxytocin was used in 46.7% of respondents. Repair was done for 8 (53.3%), 3 (20.6%) of respondents underwent total abdominal hysterectomy and 4 (26.7%) were ended by subtotal hysterectomy. Conclusions: Previous uterine surgery, obstructed labour and improper use of oxytocin increase the risk of uterine rupture in this study. Half of the patients underwent hysterectomy

Queue backlog as a node metric for RPL protocol

The current de-facto routing protocol over WSN developed by IETF Working Group (6LOWPAN) named as Routing Protocol for Low Power and Lossy networks (RPL) [1], to enable IPv6 packets carrying over IEEE 802.4 and to empower the usage of IoT over WSN. Because of the potential large networks, number of nodes and the fact that multiple coexisting applications will be running in the same physical layer, RPL in the network layer faces throughput challenges. For the purpose of overcoming these problems many researchers focused on multipath solutions including a Back-Pressure routing protocol for data collection called BackIP [2], however it shows a superior throughput performance, BackIP have shortcomings of higher delay and limited applicability. In this paper, we introduce a node metric based on nodes Queue Backlogs for RPL protocol, which leads to better throughput performance while maintaining the delay and the ability to use with the different network applications. This metric depends on the Packet Queue length of the nodes with the consideration of other link and node metrics, like ETX or Energy usage, leading to better load balancing in the network. Moreover we discuss the needed design changes to enable our metric to perform in an efficient way. Keywords-IOT, RPL, WSN, Back Pressure, Queue Backlog, Objective Functio

Legitimacy and ethics or deterrence factors : which are more important for compliance with regulations among the artisanal fishers of Sudan?

This study applied a modified deterrence model to evaluate the effectiveness of legitimacy and ethical factors compared to deterrence measures for compliance with mesh size regulation in the Jebel Aulia Reservoir of Sudan. The ordered probit and zero-truncated negative binomial models were employed to examine influences of determining factors on the choice between typologies of violators and non-violators, and then on frequency of violations (extent) respectively. Reported violation rates were high (87.5%), combined with weak enforcement and effective evasion used by almost all (97%) violators, leading to a low probability of detection, as only 28% of violators were caught. This is consistent with widely observed phenomena in developing countries, calling for increased efficacy of detection, monitoring and enforcement of regulations and higher penalties to fight non-compliance. The study also confirmed the high importance of legitimacy and ethical factors, suggesting that the involvement of stakeholders in the process of designing, monitoring and enforcing regulations is crucial as a process factor that may be more important than mere deterrence measures. This advocates for participatory co-management systems that are most likely to be more effective than top-down mechanisms in promoting compliance. The study also suggests that investments in the education of fishermen, the provision of alternative income and employment opportunities outside of fishing, access to credit to finance the acquisition of legal nets, and the effective regulation of importation of illegal nets will be necessary for enhancing compliance with mesh size regulation in Sudan.http://www.aaae-africa.org/afjare/am201

Design, synthesis and antitumor evaluation of novel pyrazolopyrimidines and pyrazoloquinazolines

A series of N-aryl-7-aryl-pyrazolo[1,5-a]pyrimidines 18a–u and N-aryl-pyrazolo[1,5-a] quinazolines 25a–c were designed and synthesized via the reaction of 5-aminopyrazoles 11a–c with enaminones 12a–g or 19, respectively. The new compounds were screened for their in vitro antitumor activity toward liver (HepG-2) and breast (MCF-7) human cancer cells using 3-[4,5-dimethyl-2-thiazolyl)-2,5-diphenyl-2H-tetrazolium bromide MTT assay. From the results, it was found that all compounds showed dose-dependent cytotoxic activities against both HepG-2 and MCF-7 cells. Two compounds 18o and 18a were selected for further investigations. Cell cycle analysis of liver (HepG-2) cells treated with 18o and breast (MCF-7) cells treated with 18a showed cell cycle arrest at G2/M phase and pro-apoptotic activity as indicated by annexin V-FITC staining.publishedVersio

Natural resource modeling : allowing for inconstant probability of detection and frequency measures of violation within dynamic deterrence fishery models

The dynamic deterrence model (DDM) represents an analytical framework widely used for analyzing compliance with fishery regulations aiming for sustainable fishery management. However, applications of the DDM have so far been limited to the case of constant probability of detection that assumes independence of the length of time to detection. This paper modifies the DDM to allow for more flexible and broader specification by introducing, for the first time, two important variables to the supply of offences function, namely evasion activity and enforcement efforts and accommodating inconstant probability of detection specifications. Determinants of probability of detection are specified and important potential extensions of the modified DDM are discussed in this paper. The relative magnitude of the effects of each of these determinants on probability of detection, however, remains an important empirical question that requires further investigation for prioritization of policy actions.http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/journal/10.1111/(ISSN)1939-7445/hb201

The prevalence of blinding trachoma in northern states of Sudan.

BACKGROUND: Despite historical evidence of blinding trachoma, there have been no widespread contemporary surveys of trachoma prevalence in the northern states of Sudan. We aimed to conduct district-level surveys in this vast region in order to map the extent of the problem and estimate the need for trachoma control interventions to eliminate blinding trachoma. METHODS AND FINDINGS: Separate, population based cross-sectional surveys were conducted in 88 localities (districts) in 12 northern states of Sudan between 2006 and 2010. Two-stage cluster random sampling with probability proportional to size was used to select the sample. Trachoma grading was done using the WHO simplified grading system. Key prevalence indicators were trachomatous inflammation-follicular (TF) in children aged 1-9 years and trachomatous trichiasis (TT) in adults aged 15 years and above. The sample comprised 1,260 clusters from which 25,624 households were surveyed. A total of 106,697 participants (81.6% response rate) were examined for trachoma signs. TF prevalence was above 10% in three districts and between 5% and 9% in 11 districts. TT prevalence among adults was above 1% in 20 districts (which included the three districts with TF prevalence >10%). The overall number of people with TT in the population was estimated to be 31,072 (lower and upper bounds = 26,125-36,955). CONCLUSION: Trachoma mapping is complete in the northern states of Sudan except for the Darfur States. The survey findings will facilitate programme planning and inform deployment of resources for elimination of trachoma from the northern states of Sudan by 2015, in accordance with the Sudan Federal Ministry of Health (FMOH) objectives

Complaints of the arm, neck and shoulder among computer office workers in Sudan: a prevalence study with validation of an Arabic risk factors questionnaire

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Complaints of the arm, neck and/or shoulders (CANS) in general and computer-related disorders in particular affect millions of computer office workers in Western developed countries. However, with the widespread use of computer systems in developing countries, the associated musculoskeletal complaints are yet to be investigated.</p> <p>Aim</p> <p>To study the prevalence of work-related CANS, among computer office workers in Sudan, and to test the psychometric properties of a translated Dutch questionnaire in Arabic language.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>In 2005 282 computer office workers at a mobile telecommunication company and three banks in Khartoum, Sudan, received an Arabic language version of the validated Maastricht upper extremity questionnaire (MUEQ). The questionnaire holds 109 items covering demographic characteristics, in addition to six main domains (i.e. work station, body posture, break time, job control, job demands and social support) assessing potential physical and psychosocial risk factors. Forward/backward translation of the MUQE was done independently by two different translators. Prevalence over the past year were computed for CANS. Further, the psychometric properties of the Arabic questionnaire were investigated (i.e. factor structure and reliability) and cross-validation was carried out.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The response rate of the questionnaire was 88% (n = 250). The one-year prevalence of CANS showed that 53% of the respondents could be classified as mild cases. The highest incidences were found for neck and shoulder symptoms (64% and 41% respectively). The analysis of the psychometric properties of the scale resulted in the identification of 2 factors for each of the 6 domains (i.e. office equipment, computer position, head and body posture, awkward body posture, autonomy, quality of break time, skill discretion, decision authority, time pressure, task complexity, social support, and work flow). The calculation of internal consistency and cross validation provided evidence of reliability and lack of redundancy of items.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The prevalence of CANS among the targeted population seems to correspond strongly with prevalence of CANS in Western developed countries. The Arabic translation of the MUEQ has satisfactory psychometric properties to be used to assess work-related risk factors for the development of CANS among computer office workers in Sudan.</p

A one-pot Synthesis of Some New Heterocyclic Compounds Derived from Chalcones and Study of their Antitumor and Antimicrobial Activities

The aim of the present work is to efficiently synthesize promising novel antitumor and antimicrobial active heterocyclic compounds from chalcones 1a and 1b as a precursor which contain naphthalene moiety and indole or piperonal moiety, respectively, using conventional, ultrasonic and microwave irradiation techniques. The best yields and purity were afforded with the microwave irradiation technique. Reaction of 1a and 1b with the appropriate reagent gave the corresponding pyrazolines 2a, 2b, pyrimidine-2-thioneses 3a, 3b, oxazepines 4a, 4b, diazepines 5a, 5b, triazolo-pyrimidines 6a, 6b, and pyrimidine-2-thiols 7a, 7b derivatives. Compounds 7a, 7b were used to produce 8a, 8b. Moreover, pyrimidine-2-thione 3a was used to synthesize pyrimidin-2-ylthioacetic acid 9a, and 2-hydrazinylpyrido[2,3-d]pyrimidine derivative 10a which has been used as a functionalizing agent to produce compounds 11a-14a. The structural formulas of the synthesized compounds were confirmed by their spectral data; FT-IR, 1H NMR, 13C NMR and MS. Compounds 3a, 5a, 7a, 13a showed a very high activity as antitumor, whereas compounds 4a, 6a, and 13a showed high activity as antibacterial and antifungal agents

Delineating groundwater and subsurface structures by using 2D resistivity, gravity and 3D magnetic data interpretation around Cairo–Belbies Desert road, Egypt

AbstractGeophysical tools such as magnetic, gravity and electric resistivity have been used to delineate subsurface structures, groundwater aquifer around Cairo–Belbies Desert road. A dipole–dipole section was measured at the central part of the study area with 2100m length and electrode spacing 50m for greater penetration depth. The results of the inverse resistivity data indicate that the study area includes two groundwater aquifers at different depths. The shallow aquifer water is near the surface and the deep aquifer lies at depth of about 115m and exhibits low resistivity values ranging from 20 to 100ohmm.One hundred and fifty-two gravity stations were measured using Autograv gravimeter (CG3), different gravity corrections (drift, elevation and latitude corrections) were applied. The corrected data represented by Bouguer anomaly map were filtered into regional and residual gravity anomaly maps. The residual gravity map indicates that the area is dissected by many faults with NW-SE, N-S, E-W and NE-SW trends.One hundred and fifty-three ground magnetic measurements are collected using two Proton magnetometers (Envimag). The corrected magnetic data are represented by total magnetic intensity map that was reduced to the magnetic pole. 3D magnetic modeling was applied to detect the depth of basaltic sheet and basement complex. The results indicated that the elevation of upper surface of basalt is ranging from 148 to −153m and the elevation of lower surface of basalt is ranging from 148 to 269m