165 research outputs found

    Intestinal malrotation and Ladd’s bands in a young child

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    The case we present, is an interesting example of intestinal malrotation, which is a well known congenital condition, which tend to manifest early in life. In our case the age of our patient made the diagnosis potentially more challenging, as it was not the most typical age for duodenal stenosis due to Ladd’s bands, which is often mostly observed earlier in life. Stenosis of the duodenum is relatively rare, and may represent a surgical challenge, especially in setting with limited diagnostic and treatment facilities. We also discuss implication of language barriers to potentially delay timely diagnosis and optimal management

    Integrating ICT with education: using computer games to enhance learning mathematics at undergraduate level

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    Integration of ICT in the education sector is a desired trend globally. Where it has been adopted, it contributes significantly to increased access to education for all (EFA). This research seeks to look into ways in which computer games as ICT tools can be used to enhance and promote quality teaching and learning; particularly in creating and sustaining interest in the teaching and learning of Functions, a topic taught in mathematics coursessuch as Discrete Mathematics, Real Analysis and Calculus, among others. At Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT) in Kenya, the topic is introduced to students of Mathematics and those of Computer Science in first year Discrete Mathematics. A computer game was developed using Full Professional Adobe Acrobat 9 Pro. The game isdesigned in five levels in line with the progression of functions subject content. A minimum score of 60% for each level was built in the game to ensure the player has a good grip of the content for a certain level before moving on to the next level, thus contributing to guided revision of the level with fun. After game development, it was availed to ten first year Bachelor of Science in Mathematics students taking discreet Mathematics course at the Taita Taveta Campus of JKUAT. The students were in their second semester academic year 2009/2010. Analysis of end of the  semester examinations results show that students who played the game had better performance than their counterparts who had not. Recommendations for further work as advancement of this research is development of a more advanced game in terms of adaptation of the game for use in teaching and learning other Mathematics topics considered to be boring, or difficulty or both and ultimately for purposes of promoting universal quality of university teaching.&nbsp

    Comparison of immune responses of two Salmonella gallinarum strains viewed as possible vaccines for fowl typhoid in Kenya

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    The immune responses of two S. gallinarum strains, L46 and CN 180, were compared in 15-week-old cockerels. The humoral and cell-mediated immune responses were assayed by means of the indirect haemagglutination test (IHA) and the macrophage migration inhibition test (MIT), respectively. Birds were vaccinated with the two vaccines, respectively, and bled for sera (for IHA) and cells (for MIT) every week up to the seventh week, post vaccination, then every alternate week, three times, and later once every month, for a total period of 37 weeks. Strain L46 was found to induce an immune response that was very similar to that of CN 180. Both gave good humoral and cellular responses.The articles have been scanned in colour with a HP Scanjet 5590; 600dpi. Adobe Acrobat X Pro was used to OCR the text and also for the merging and conversion to the final presentation PDF-format.National Council for Science and Technology.mn201

    Investing in professionalized maintenance to increase social and economic returns from drinking water infrastructure in rural Kenya

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    Repairing rural water infrastructure quickly through professionalized maintenance can reduce costs and increase social and economic returns, with benefits for low income households and women. We estimate that over a ten-year period rural water users can spend as much on alternative water sources when waterpoints fail as is spent on the capital costs for handpumps or large piped schemes

    Sex disparities in enrolment and reporting of outcomes by sex in contemporary clinical trials of atrial fibrillation

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    Background:Underrepresentation of females in randomized controlled trials (RCTs)limits generalizability and quality of the evidence guiding treatment of females. This study aimed to measure the sex disparities in participants' recruitment in RCTs of atrial fibrillation (AF) and determine associated factors, and to describe the frequency of outcomes reported by sex. Methods:MEDLINE was searched to identify RCTs of AF published between January 1, 2011, and November 20, 2021, in 12 top‐tier journals. We measured the enrollment of females using the enrollment disparity difference (EDD) which is the difference between the proportion of females in the trial and the proportion of females with AF in the underlying general population (obtained from the Global Burden of Disease). Random‐effects meta‐analyses of the EDD were performed, and multivariable meta‐regression was used to explore factors associated with disparity estimates. We also determined the proportion of trials that included sex‐stratified results. Results:Out of 1133 records screened, 142 trials were included, reporting on a total of 133 532 participants. The random‐effects summary EDD was−0.125 (95%confidence interval [CI] =−0.143 to−0.108), indicating that females were under‐enrolled by 12.5 percentage points. Female enrollment was higher in trials with higher sample size (750, adjusted odds ratio [aOR] 1.065, 95% CI:1.008–1.125), higher mean participants' age (aOR: 1.006, 95% CI: 1.002–1.009), and lower in trials conducted in North America compared to Europe (aOR: 0.945, 95% CI:0.898–0.995). Only 36 trials (25.4%) reported outcomes by sex, and of these 29(80.6%) performed statistical testing of the sex‐by‐treatment interaction. Conclusion:Females remain substantially less represented in RCTs of AF, and sex‐stratified reporting of primary outcomes is infrequent. These findings call for urgent action to improve sex equity in enrollment and sex‐stratified outcomes' reporting in RCTs of AF.Jean Jacques Noubiap, Gijo Thomas, Ulrich Flore Nyaga, John L. Fitzgerald, Celine Gallagher, Melissa E. Middeldorp, Prashanthan Sander

    GC13I-0857: Designing a Frost Forecasting Service for Small Scale Tea Farmers in East Africa

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    Kenya is the third largest tea exporter in the world, producing 10% of the world's black tea. Sixty percent of this production occurs largely by small scale tea holders, with an average farm size of 1.04 acres, and an annual net income of 1,075.Accordingtoarecentevaluation,atypicalfrosteventintheteagrowingregioncausesabout1,075. According to a recent evaluation, a typical frost event in the tea growing region causes about 200 dollars in losses which can be catastrophic for a small holder farm. A 72-hour frost forecast would provide these small-scale tea farmers with enough notice to reduce losses by approximately 80 USD annually. With this knowledge, SERVIR, a joint NASA-USAID initiative that brings Earth observations for improved decision making in developing countries, sought to design a frost monitoring and forecasting service that would provide farmers with enough lead time to react to and protect against a forecasted frost occurrence on their farm. SERVIR Eastern and Southern Africa, through its implementing partner, the Regional Centre for Mapping of Resources for Development (RCMRD), designed a service that included multiple stakeholder engagement events whereby stakeholders from the tea industry value chain were invited to share their experiences so that the exact needs and flow of information could be identified. This unique event allowed enabled the design of a service that fit the specifications of the stakeholders. The monitoring service component uses the MODIS Land Surface Temperature product to identify frost occurrences in near-real time. The prediction component, currently under testing, uses the 2-m air temperature, relative humidity, and 10-m wind speed from a series of high-resolution Weather Research and Forecasting (WRF) numerical weather prediction model runs over eastern Kenya as inputs into a frost prediction algorithm. Accuracy and sensitivity of the algorithm is being assessed with observations collected from the farmers using a smart phone app developed specifically to report frost occurrences, and from data shared through our partner network developed at the stakeholder engagement meeting. This presentation will illustrate the efficacy of our frost forecasting algorithm, and a way forward for incorporating these forecasts in a meaningful way to the key decision makers - the small-scale farmers of East Africa

    FR2.2: Gender assessement of Potato Traits: A G+ Product Profiling application

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    In Sub-Saharan Africa, low adoption of improved varieties has been linked to breeding programs failing to consider end-user trait preferences and the interplay with gender. Recently, efforts have commenced assessing the gender responsiveness of product profile proposals during variety development, testing, and dissemination. The study uses a multi-stage approach to examine the gender responsiveness of Kenya's target table potato product profile. First, the G+ product profile tool was employed to examine the likelihood of the selected traits exacerbating gender disparity along four domains: unpaid labour, access to farm and external resources and control over benefits based on a literature review. Then key informant interviews and a multi-stakeholder workshop followed to build consensus on the gendered assessment. Findings show that tuber yield is associated with increased demand for women's unpaid labour during harvesting and sorting and greater requirement for inputs to which women have limited access. Respondents in the multi-stakeholder workshop highlighted the potential of dry matter to increase women's unpaid labour due to increased preparation time. Moreover, the trait may increase marketability, thus attracting men and displacing female processors from income-generating nodes. We thus recommend that gender-responsive techniques designed by a multidisciplinary team and complementary technologies should accompany the dissemination and promotion of the resultant variety. This would minimise gender inequalities and spur equal benefits for men and women
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