The human resource implications of improving financial risk protection for mothers and newborns in Zimbabwe

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Secondary education reform in Lesotho and Zimbabwe and the needs of rural girls: Pronouncements, policy and practice

Analysis of the educational needs of rural girls in Lesotho and Zimbabwe suggests a number of shortcomings in the current form of secondary education, and ways in which it might be modified so as to serve this sizeable group of students better. Several of the shortcomings, notably in relation to curricular irrelevance and excessive focus on examinations, have long been recognised, including by politicians. Yet political pronouncements are seldom translated into policy, and even where policy is formulated, reforms are seldom implemented in schools. This paper makes use of interviews with educational decision-makers in the two southern African countries and a range of documentary sources to explore why, despite the considerable differences between the two contexts, much needed educational reforms have been implemented in neither

Changes in the Circadian Rhythm in Patients with Primary Glaucoma

Purpose The current study was undertaken to investigate whether glaucoma affects the sleep quality and whether there is any difference between patients with primary glaucoma (primary open angle glaucoma, POAG and primary angle-closure glaucoma, PACG) and healthy subjects, using a validated self-rated questionnaire, the Pittsburgh Sleep Quality Index (PSQI). Methods The sleep quality of patients with POAG and PACG was tested against normal controls. Subjects were divided into three sub-groups according to age. Differences in the frequency of sleep disturbances (PSQI score >7) were assessed. The differences of sleep quality within the three groups and within the POAG group depending on the patients’ intraocular pressure (IOP) and impairment of visual field (VF) were also studied. Results 92 POAG patients, 48 PACG patients and 199 controls were included. Sleep quality declined with age in control and POAG group (tendency chi-square, P0.05). No significant differences were found in POAG group between patients with a highest IOP in daytime and at nighttime (χ2-test, P>0.05). Conclusions The prevalence of sleep disorders was higher in patients with POAG and PACG than in controls. PACG patients seemed to have a more serious problem of sleep disorders than POAG patients between 61 to 80 years old. No correlation was found between the prevalence of sleep disorders and impairment of VF or the time when POAG patients showed a highest IOP

High Performance Astronomical Data Analysis towards Exascale

To date, most data-intensive HPC jobs in the government, academic and industrial sectors have involved the modelling and simulation of complex physical systems. In more recent times, the scientific data explosion is fuelling the growth of a new trend in HPC: high performance data analysis (HPDA). Some scientific disciplines (e.g. bioscience, weather and climate, security) are exploring the possibilities of HPDA to promote new insight, identifying some problems related to the nature of current HPC systems. In the design and development of the Exascale supercomputing facilities, HPDA is playing a crucial role. In this paper we will present the work done in the ExaNeSt and EuroExa EU-funded projects to build a prototype of a low power Exascale facility able to facilitate the astrophysical community in using HPC resources for data analysis and simulations

The effect of bacteriochlorophyll derivative WST-D and near infrared light on the molecular and fibrillar architecture of the corneal stroma

A cross-linking technique involving application of Bacteriochlorophyll Derivative WST-11 mixed with dextran (WST-D) to the epithelium-debrided cornea and illumination with Near Infrared (NIR), has been identified as a promising therapy for stiffening pathologically weakened corneas. To investigate its effect on corneal collagen architecture, x-ray scattering and electron microscopy data were collected from paired WST-D/NIR treated and untreated rabbit corneas. The treated eye received 2.5 mg/mL WST-D and was illuminated by a NIR diode laser (755 nm, 10 mW/cm2). An increase in corneal thickness (caused by corneal oedema) occurred at 1-day post-treatment but resolved in the majority of cases within 4 days. The epithelium was fully healed after 6–8 days. X-ray scattering revealed no difference in average collagen interfibrillar spacing, fibril diameter, D-periodicity or intermolecular spacing between treated and untreated specimens. Similarly, electron microscopy images of the anterior and posterior stroma in healed WST-D/NIR corneas and untreated controls revealed no obvious differences in collagen organisation or fibril diameter. As the size and organisation of stromal collagen is closely associated with the optical properties of the cornea, the absence of any large-scale changes following treatment confirms the potential of WST-D/NIR therapy as a means of safely stiffening the cornea