Anaemia and malaria in low malaria transmission settings:Prevalence, determinants, and association with malaria control interventions

This thesis assessed the burden of anaemia as well as the effectiveness of malaria control intervention on anaemia and malaria infection through a population-based cross-sectional study in Sudan. Findings showed that half of the children and one-third of pregnant and non-pregnant women in Sudan were anaemic. While childhood anaemia was lower in camps than in rural settings, it was not statistically significantly different between camps and rural areas among pregnant women. In its actual level of community utilization, only indoor residual spraying and malaria diagnosis were found to be effective in reducing malaria infection. Community utilization of insecticidal nets and antimalaria treatment did not demonstrate a positive impact on infection. None of the studied malaria control interventions was associated with anaemia, which means that malaria is not a leading cause of anaemia in such low malaria transmission settings

Topics in relativistic cosmology: Cosmology on the past lightcone and in modified gravitation

The lightcone gauge is a set of what are called the observational coordinates adapted to our past lightcone. We develop this gauge by producing a perturbed spacetime metric that describes the geometry of our past lightcone where observations are usually obtained. We then connect the produced observational metric to the perturbed Friedmann-Lemaître-Robertson-Walker metric in the standard general gauge or what is the so-called 1+3 gauge. We derive the relations between these perturbations of spacetime in the observational coordinates and those perturbations in the standard metric approach, as well as the dynamical equations for the perturbations in observational coordinates. We also calculate the observables in the lightcone gauge and rederive them in terms of Bardeen potentials to first order. A verification is made of the observables in the perturbed lightcone gauge with those in the standard gauge. The advantage of the method developed is that the observable relations are simpler than in the standard formalism. We use the perturbed lightcone gauge in galaxy surveys and galaxy number density contrast. The significance of the new gauge is that by considering the null-like light propagations, the calculations are much simpler since angular deviations are not considered. Standard cosmology based on General Relativity is generally believed to have serious shortcomings, such as the unexplained issues of dark matter and dark energy. As a remedy, many alternative theories of gravitation have been proposed over the years, one of which is ƒ(R) gravity. We explore classes of irrotational-fluid cosmological models in the context of ƒ(R) gravity in an attempt to put some theoretical and mathematical restrictions on the form of the ƒ(R) gravitational Lagrangian. In particular, we investigate the consistency of the linearised dust models for shear-free cases as well as in the limiting cases when either the gravito-magnetic or gravito-electric components of the Weyl tensor vanish. We also discuss the existence and consistency of classes of non-expanding irrotational spacetimes in ƒ(R)-gravity. Furthermore, we explore exact ƒ(R) gravity solutions that mimic Chaplygin-gas inspired ΛCDM cosmology. Starting with the original, generalized and modified Chaplygin gas equations of state, we reconstruct the forms of ƒ(R) Lagrangians. The resulting solutions are generally quadratic in the Ricci scalar, but have appropriate ΛCDM solutions in limiting cases. These solutions, given appropriate initial conditions, can be potential candidates for scalar field-driven early universe expansion (in ation) and dark energy-driven late-time cosmic acceleration

Phylogenetic analysis of some Newcastle disease virus isolates from the Sudan

A reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to amplify 1412 bp of the fusion protein gene (F gene) of four Newcastle disease virus (NDV) isolates; two velogenic (TY-1/90 and DIK-90) and two lentogenic isolates (Dongla 88/1 and GD.S.1). Following sequencing, nucleotide sequences were annotated and 894 bp were compared phylogenetically with those from strains previously reported in the Sudan and the virus strains published on the GenBank. It could be demonstrated that TY-1/90 and DIK-90 strains belong to the genotype VI of NDV and are in close genetic relationship to sub- genotype VIb. TY-1/90 and DIK-90 strains were observed to be genetically unrelated to the earlier Sudanese isolates of 1970/80s and the late of 2000s suggesting a different origin. The close genetic relationship to the European and African pigeon paramyxovirus type 1 (PPMV-1) suggests a common ancestor. Dongola, GD.S.1 strains were classified into genotype II that comprises non-pathogenic lentogenic NDV strains. The present genetic classification of NDV isolates of the Sudan provides valuable information on genotypes of NDV. Further molecular epidemiological investigations of the recent outbreaks of Newcastle disease in the Sudan are needed in order to improve the efficiency of control strategies and vaccine development.Keywords: Newcastle disease virus, Phylogenetic analysis, Sudan isolate

UTILIZATION OF DYNAMIC RELAXATION METHOD IN SOLVING ORDINARY AND PARTIAL DIFFERENTIAL EQUATIONS OF RECTANGULAR ENGINEERING STRUCTURES

The method of dynamic relaxation in its early stages of development was perceived as a numerical finite difference technique. It was first used to analyze structures, then skeletal and cable structures, and plates. The method relies on a discretized continuum in which the mass of the structure is assumed to be concentrated at given points (i.e. nodes) on the surface. The system of concentrated masses oscillates about the equilibrium position under the influence of out of balance forces. With time, it comes to rest under the influence of damping. The iterative scheme reflects a process, in which static equilibrium of the system is achieved by simulating a pseudo dynamic process in time. In its original form, the method makes use of inertia term, damping term and time increment. The basics of this research paper stand on the ordinary and partial differential equations, which value the price of an option by using dynamic relaxation (DR) techniques. The study of partial differential equations in complete generality is a vast undertaking. As almost all of them are not possible to solve analytically we must rely on numerical methods, and the most popular ones are the finite differences methods coupled with dynamic relaxation techniques. With this research paper  i do not intend to become an expert in few hours in order to solve differential equations numerically, but develop both intuition and technical strength required to survive when such a problem needs to be solved

Shear-free conditions of a Chaplygin-Gas-dominated universe

In this work, we revisit the shear-free conjecture of general relativity and show the violation of the well-known shear-free condition for perfect-fluid spacetimes. It had been shown in previous investigations that, in the general relativistic framework, the matter congruences of shear-free perfect fluid spacetimes should be either expansion-free or rotation-free. Our current investigation, however, indicates that a universe dominated by a Chaplygin gas can allow a simultaneous expansion and rotation of the fluid provided that certain non-trivial conditions, which we derive and describe below, are met. We also show that, in the appropriate limiting cases, our results reduce to the expected results of dust spacetimes which can only expand or rotate, but not both, at the same time.Comment: 6 pages, no figure

A fixed-dose 24-hour regimen of artesunate plus sulfamethoxypyrazine-pyrimethamine for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in eastern Sudan

BACKGROUND: Artemisinin-based combination therapy is increasingly being adopted as first-line antimalarial therapy. The choice of appropriate therapy depends on efficacy, cost, side effects, and simplicity of administration. METHODS: the efficacy of fixed co-formulated (f) artesunate-sulfamethoxypyrazine-pyrimethamine (AS+SMP f) administered at time intervals of 12 hours for a 24-hour therapy was compared with the efficacy of the same drug given as a loose combination (AS+SMP l) with a dose interval of 24 hours for 3 days for the treatment of uncomplicated Plasmodium falciparum malaria in eastern Sudan. RESULTS: seventy-three patients (39 and 34 in the fixed and the loose regimen of AS+SMP respectively) completed the 28-days of follow-up. On day 3; all patients in both groups were a parasitaemic but one patient in the fixed group of AS+SMP f was still febrile. Polymerase chain reaction genotyping adjusted cure rates on day 28 were 92.3% and 97.1% (P > 0.05) for the fixed and loose combination of AS+SMP respectively. Three (4.1%) patients (one in the fixed and two patients in the loose group of AS+SMP) in the study suffered drug-related adverse effects. Gametocytaemia was not detected during follow-up in any of the patients. CONCLUSION: both regimens of AS+SMP were effective and safe for the treatment of uncomplicated P. falciparum malaria in eastern Sudan. Due to its simplicity, the fixed dose one-day treatment regimen may improve compliance and therefore may be the preferred choice