The Pattern of Cardiac Diseases at the Cardiac Clinic of Jimma University Specialised Hospital, South West Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: Rheumatic heart disease is the commonest cardiac disease in most sub-Saharan African countries, followed by hypertensive heart disease which is rising along with the other non-communicable diseases. However the pattern in our setting is not known. This study aimed to determine the pattern of cardiac diseases among adult patients on follow-up at the cardiac follow-up clinic of Jimma University Specialized Hospital. METHODS: A cross-sectional study was conducted on cardiac patients who are newly enrolled to the cardiac follow up clinic of Jimma university specialized hospital during a five year period from 2003 to 2008. Out of the total 837 cases that were newly enrolled to the clinic in the five year period, 781 patients who had complete record about etiologic diagnosis were included in the study. The data were collected using structured record review checklist. The collected data were then analyzed using SPSS for windows version 12.0. RESULTS: Rheumatic heart disease was the diagnosis in 256 (32.8%) of the cardiac cases on follow-up followed by hypertensive heart disease and cardiomyopathy accounting for 189 (24.2%) and 158 (20.2%) of cases, respectively. Among Rheumatic heart disease patients; male to female ratio was 0.86:1 and the mean age was 31.4 years. One hundred ninety three (75.4%) of the cases with rheumatic heart disease had echocardiographic report that showed valve(s) involvements of pure MS in 99 (51.3%) and combined MS, MR in 49 (25.4%). Overall, hypertension contributed for a total of 241 (30.9%) of cardiac patients that included 189 (24.2%) hypertensive heart disease and 52 (6.7%) as one major risk factor for ischemic heart disease. CONCLUSION: Rheumatic, hypertensive and cardiomyopathic heart diseases accounted for more than three-quarters of cardiac diseases in the study population. This study highlighted the need for further study to determine the burden at community setting

SARS-CoV-2 reinfection: Two cases from Ethiopia

Reinfection with SARS-CoV-2 has infrequently been reported in the literature and never from Ethiopia or Africa. We describe two individuals with documented recurrent COVID-19 disease admitted to Eka Kotebe Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia

Existence of traveling wave solutions of a deterministic vector-host epidemic model with direct transmission

We consider an epidemic model with direct transmission given by a system of nonlinear partial differential equations and study the existence of traveling wave solutions. When the basic reproductive number of the considered model is less than one, we show that there is no nontrivial traveling wave solution. On the other hand, when the basic reproductive number is greater than one, we prove that there is a minimum wave speed $c^*$ such that the system has a traveling wave solution with speed $c$ connecting both equilibrium points for any $c\ge c^*$. Moreover, under suitable assumption on the diffusion rates, we show that there is no traveling wave solution with speed less than $c^*$. We conclude with numerical simulations to illustrate our findings. The numerical experiments supports the validity of our theoretical results

Mechanical property characterization of water hyacinth and glass fiber reinforced hybrid composite

While composites of natural fibers have got more attraction because of their advantages, there are some limitations. Therefore, hybridization is a way to minimize some of the limitations of natural fibers composite. This article reports on the study conducted to investigate the mechanical properties of a hybrid glass/water hyacinth reinforced polymer composite using five different forms of volume fractions. The hybrid composite was prepared by hand lay-up method according to ASTM D3410 and ASTM D3039 standards for compression and tensile tests, respectively. The material properties of the composite were analyzed to explore the influence of fiber volume fraction. The results indicate that the mechanical properties change as a function of the volume fraction. Thus, the addition of glass fibers influenced the results of both tensile and compressive properties.publishedVersio

Investigation of the mechanical properties of Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced natural composite

The work presented in this paper is motivated by the fact that use of natural fiber materials for structural and non-structural applications have increased within the last two decades. In addition to the known benefits of composite materials as structural elements such as high specific modulus, high specific strength and low thermal conductivity, composites of natural fibers are eco-friendly materials and have minimum effect on environment and human health. However, the mechanical and structural performance of diverse natural fiber composites still need closer scrutiny. The objective of this study is to characterize the mechanical properties of a novel Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced polyester composite using experimental methods. In particular, the study focuses on determining the tensile and flexural properties of the composite at different fiber volume ratio, which was fabricated by hand lay-up methods. The results show that Acacia tortilis fiber reinforced polyester composites have generally competitive strength and Young’s modulus compared with common natural fiber reinforced composites such as sisal, kenaf, coir natural fiber reinforced composite materials. In addition, NaOH treated samples exhibited higher strength and Young’s modulus compared with their untreated counterparts, with few exceptions.publishedVersio

Spatiotemporal variability of soil moisture over Ethiopia and its teleconnections with remote and local drivers

Soil moisture is one of the essential climate variables with a potential impact on local climate variability. Despite the importance of soil moisture, studies on soil moisture characteristics in Ethiopia are less documented. In this study, the spatiotemporal variability of Ethiopian soil moisture (SM) has been characterized, and its local and remote influential driving factors are investigated. An empirical orthogonal function (EOF) and KMeans clustering algorithm have been employed to classify the large domain into homogeneous zones. Complex maximum covariance analysis (CMCA) is applied to evaluate the covariability between SM and selected local and remote variables such as rainfall (RF), evapotranspiration (ET), and sea surface temperature (SST). Inter-comparison among SM datasets highlight that the FLDAS dataset better depicts the country’s SM spatial and temporal distribution (i.e., a correlation coefficient r=0.95 , rmsd=0.04m3m−3 with observations). Results also indicate that regions located in northeastern Ethiopia are drier irrespective of the season (JJAS, MAM, and OND) considered. In contrast, the western part of the country consistently depicted a wetter condition in all seasons. During summer (JJAS), the soil moisture variability is characterized by a strong east–west spatial contrast. The highest and lowest soil moisture values were observed across the country’s central western and eastern parts, respectively. Furthermore, analyses indicate that interannual variability of SM is dictated substantially by RF, though the impact on some regions is weaker. It is also found that ET likely drives the SM in the eastern part of Ethiopia due to a higher atmospheric moisture demand that ultimately invokes changes in surface humidity and rainfall. A composite analysis based on the extreme five wettest and driest SM years revealed a similar spatial distribution of wet SM with positive anomalies of RF across the country and ET over the southern regions. Remote SSTs are also found to have a significant influence on SM distribution. In particular, equatorial central Pacific and western Indian oceans SST anomalies are predominant factors for spatiotemporal SM variations over the country. Major global oceanic indices: Oceanic Nino Index (ONI), Indian Ocean Dipole (IOD), Pacific warm pool (PACWARMPOOL), and Pacific Decadal Oscillations (PDO) are found to be closely associated with the SM anomalies in various parts of the country. The associationship between these remote SST anomalies and local soil moisture is via large-scale atmospheric circulations that are linked to regional factors such as precipitation and temperature anomalies.publishedVersio

Infectivity of an Infectious Clone of Banana Streak CA Virus in A-Genome Bananas (Musa acuminata ssp.)

We have characterized the complete genome sequence of an Australian isolate of banana streak CA virus (BSCAV). A greater-than-full-length, cloned copy of the virus genome was assembled and agroinoculated into five tissue-cultured plants of nine different Musa acuminata banana accessions. BSCAV was highly infectious in all nine accessions. All five inoculated plants from eight accessions developed symptoms by 28 weeks post-inoculation, while all five plants of M. acuminata AA subsp. zebrina remained symptomless. Symptoms were mild in six accessions but were severe in Khae Phrae (M. acuminata subsp. siamea) and the East African Highland banana accession Igisahira Gisanzwe. This is the first full-length BSCAV genome sequence reported from Australia and the first report of the infectivity of an infectious clone of banana streak virus

COVID-19 and acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction (STEMI) and ventricular thrombus in a young ethiopian man without known cardiac risk factors: A case report

Patients with coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) can present with pneumonia and acute respiratory distress syndrome but rarely with acute myocardial infarction, especially in the absence of known cardiovascular disease risk factors. We present the case of a previously healthy young Ethiopian man with COVID-19 and no known cardiovascular risk factors who was diagnosed with acute ST-elevation myocardial infarction and left ventricular thrombu

Letter to the Editor - Resumption of pulmonary function testing (Spirometry) at Tikur Anbessa Specialized Hospital, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, during the COVID-19 pandemic

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