Existing Human factors Risks in Eastern Africa Aviation Operation: Focus on skill Risks and Aeromedical factors. A Cross-sectional Study.

Background: Aviation safety in the Africa region has continued to be a concern for the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) and the industry as a whole. ICAO’s 2012 accident statistics show that Africa had an accident rate of 5.3 per one million departures with 3% of the worldwide traffic distribution. A study set out to examine the existing human factors risks in the region’s aviation operation with a particular focus on skill and aeromedical risks exist in the Eastern African region. Methodology: A cross-sectional study research design was used with quantitative methods of data collection applied; perceptual information was collected by the use of a survey. Results: Four categories of variables investigated skills required for the job and had a positive moderately strong correlation with values between 0.4-0.6 and were statistically significant with p ˂0.05. Another four had a weak positive correlation which is less than 0.4. Eleven out of fifteen categories of the aeromedical variables had a positive moderately strong correlation with values between 0.4-0.6. Four had a weak positive correlation which was less than 0.4. Results did show current skill-related risks in public safety, operations monitoring, quality control, troubleshooting, design and telecommunications, and public safety. Most of the above skills had a direct correlation with each other.  Conclusions: Aeromedical factors affecting performance included fitness and health, stress, time pressure, and deadlines, sleep-related issues, fatigue, cigarette smoking, alcohol, pain, and nervousness. Recommendations: There is a need for redefining human factors risks in Eastern Africa and incorporating them in the curriculum at all levels to ensure that individuals are capable of functioning effectively and safely in a range of situations and environments continuous as well as aeromedical assessment should be designed to fully capture the existing skill related and aeromedical risks in the region and improve the region’s safety record

Self-reported pregnancy exposures and placental DNA methylation in the MARBLES prospective autism sibling study.

Human placenta is a fetal-derived tissue that offers a unique sample of epigenetic and environmental exposures present in utero. In the MARBLES prospective pregnancy study of high-risk younger siblings of children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), pregnancy and environmental factors collected by maternal interviews were examined as predictors of placental DNA methylation, including partially methylated domains (PMDs), an embryonic feature of the placental methylome. DNA methylation data from MethylC-seq analysis of 47 placentas of children clinically diagnosed at 3 years with ASD or typical development using standardized assessments were examined in relation to: child's gestational age, birth-weight, and diagnosis; maternal pre-pregnancy body mass index, smoking, education, parity, height, prenatal vitamin and folate intake; home ownership; pesticides professionally applied to lawns or gardens or inside homes, pet flea/tick pouches, collars, or soaps/shampoos used in the 3 months prior to or during pregnancy. Sequencing run, order, and coverage, and child race and sex were considered as potential confounders. Akaike information criterion was used to select the most parsimonious among candidate models. Final prediction models used sandwich estimators to produce homoscadisticity-robust estimates of the 95% confidence interval (CI) and P-values controlled the false discovery rate at 5%. The strongest, most robust associations were between pesticides professionally applied outside the home and higher average methylation over PMDs [0.45 (95% CI 0.17, 0.72), P = 0.03] and a reduced proportion of the genome in PMDs [-0.42 (95% CI - 0.67 to -0.17), P = 0.03]. Pesticide exposures could alter placental DNA methylation more than other factors

Air Watch: An Ample Design of Indoor Air Quality Monitoring System

The environment is getting contaminated drastically by introducing harmful materials into the atmosphere through the excessive activities of human in adding comfort and luxurious style in their living. The pollutant level in air has high impact of healthiness of the person inhaling it. Air not outside as well indoor is infected by various hazardous particles and gases.  To assess the air quality in the particular environment, it stimulates the need to monitor the hazardous elements listed. The internet of things (IoT) and artificial intelligence (AI) became the part of human life by adding smartness in their daily routines from facilitating control over appliances to own health factor as well automate operations. The primary objective of the effort is to identify the gases that cause air pollution, measure the air quality, and assess the level of pollution so that we can determine which gases cause pollution and at what place is the air being impacted. An IoT based indoor air quality monitoring system is built through incorporating carbon monoxide (CO), carbon dioxide (CO2), Ozone (O3), particulate matters (PM) and volatile organic components (VOC) sensors into Arduino board. The design ensures a complete air monitor, extends reliable service at low cost. A rule based system is developed to automate events upon the estimated air quality index (AQI) out of the sensory circuit

Health status among black African-born women in Kansas City: a preliminary assessment

A grant from the One-University Open Access Fund at the University of Kansas was used to defray the author’s publication fees in this Open Access journal. The Open Access Fund, administered by librarians from the KU, KU Law, and KUMC libraries, is made possible by contributions from the offices of KU Provost, KU Vice Chancellor for Research & Graduate Studies, and KUMC Vice Chancellor for Research. For more information about the Open Access Fund, please see http://library.kumc.edu/authors-fund.xml.Background Health information and statistics for Black foreign-born women in the United States are under-reported or not available. Black foreign-born women typically are classified under the general category of African American, ignoring the heterogeneity that exists in the United States Black population. It is important to identify health issues and behaviors of African-born women to effectively address health disparities. Methods Black African-born women (N = 29), 20 years or older completed a survey about general and women’s health, health history, acculturation, lifestyle, social and health challenges, beliefs about breast cancer. Data were analyzed using SPSS 14.0 software. Categorical variables were summarized with frequencies and percentages and continuous variables were summarized with means and standard variation. A Likert scale (strongly agree, agree, disagree, and strongly disagree) was used to assess beliefs about breast cancer. Results Most (71.4 %) participants had a high school education or more, 70 % were employed, and 50 % had health insurance. Two-thirds received health care from primary care doctors, 20.7 % from health departments, and 39.3 % got annual checkups. Lack of jobs, healthcare cost, language barrier, discrimination, and child care were the top social issues faced by participants. High blood pressure, obesity, oral health, HIV/AIDS, and diabetes were indicated as the most common health problems. The percent of participants (60 %) that had not had a mammogram within the previous 2 years was more than the state average (24 %) for women 40 years and older reported by the Kansas Department of Health and Environment. The percent of participants (40 %) that had a mammogram within the previous 2 years was lower than the national average (73.2 %) for African American women. Conclusions Study provides a snapshot of social concerns and health issues in an African population residing in Midwestern United States. Understanding the socio-cultural characteristics of this population is necessary to address health disparities

The 6-minute walk test and other endpoints in Duchenne muscular dystrophy: longitudinal natural history observations over 48 weeks from a multicenter study.

IntroductionDuchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) subjects ≥5 years with nonsense mutations were followed for 48 weeks in a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial of ataluren. Placebo arm data (N = 57) provided insight into the natural history of the 6-minute walk test (6MWT) and other endpoints.MethodsEvaluations performed every 6 weeks included the 6-minute walk distance (6MWD), timed function tests (TFTs), and quantitative strength using hand-held myometry.ResultsBaseline age (≥7 years), 6MWD, and selected TFT performance are strong predictors of decline in ambulation (Δ6MWD) and time to 10% worsening in 6MWD. A baseline 6MWD of <350 meters was associated with greater functional decline, and loss of ambulation was only seen in those with baseline 6MWD <325 meters. Only 1 of 42 (2.3%) subjects able to stand from supine lost ambulation.ConclusionFindings confirm the clinical meaningfulness of the 6MWD as the most accepted primary clinical endpoint in ambulatory DMD trials

Family planning utilization and correlates; perspective of women aged 15-49 years from Mandera County of North Eastern Kenya

Background: Unmet need for modern family planning methods is an important health issue for women. The purpose of this study was to evaluate family planning awareness, utilization and associated factors among women aged 15-49 years from Mandera County, an arid part of North Eastern Kenya. Methods: This cross sectional study randomly enrolled 117 eligible women from April to September 2015. Data was collected using structured questionnaire, key informant interviews (KII) and focused group discussions (FGD) guides. Up to 36 FDGs were conducted among women in health, leadership, education and religious sectors. 12 KIIs among influential and knowledgeable members of the county were also conducted to gather qualitative data. STATA version 11 was used for qualitative data analysis. The thematic content analysis was used to analyze qualitative data. Results: The mean age of the 117 women who responded was 29.9 (SD± 9.8) years. About 79.5% of these 117 women were aware of contraceptive and family planning methods mainly through family and friends (52.1%). Of the 41.9% who reported using family planning (FP) methods, 26.5% used condoms. In multivariate analysis, women who were from either the Northern (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.1 to 18.2), Southern (OR 7.5, 95% CI 1.7 to 33.4) or Eastern of Madera County (OR 4.7, 95% CI 1.1 to 20.8); had either secondary (OR 11.1, 95% CI 2.7 to 46.1) or tertiary (OR 11.9, 95% CI 2.6 to 55.9) level of education; were employed (OR 4.3, 95% CI 1.2 to 19.1); used either condoms (OR 5.7, 95% CI 1.3 to 24.5) or hormonal family planning methods (OR 5.8, 95% CI 1.4 to 25.2) were independently associated with utilization of FP. The FGD and KII confirms the low level of utilization of FP. These discussions identified location of origin, awareness, income, employment, religion and cultural practices as some of the factors limiting the utilization of FP. Conclusion: Remarkably, a high proportion of women from Mandera County; an arid, region in the North Eastern Kenya, were aware and embraced FP. If deterrents such as socio-cultural, lack of education and awareness are tackled, this region is poised to record one of the highest up take of modern family planning methods in Kenya. Keywords: Family Planning, Utilization, Women of Reproductive Age

Iron-mineral accretion from acid mine drainage and its application in passive treatment

This study demonstrates substantial removal of iron (Fe) from acid mine drainage (pH ≈3) in a passive vertical flow reactor (VFR) with an equivalent footprint of 154 m2 per L/s mine water and residence times of >23 h. Average Fe removal rate was 67% with a high of 85% over the 10-month trial. The fraction of Fe passing a 0.22 µm filter (referred to here as Fe-filt) was seen to be removed in the VFR even when Fe(II) was absent, indicating that the contribution of microbial Fe(II) oxidation and precipitation was not the dominant removal mechanism in the VFR. Removal rates of Fe-filt in the VFR were up to 70% in residence times as low as 8 h compared with laboratory experiments where much smaller changes in Fe-filt were observed over 60 h. Centrifugation indicated that 80–90% of the influent Fe had particle sizes <35 nm. Together with analyses and geochemical modelling, this suggests that the Fe-filt fraction exists as either truly aqueous (but oversaturated) Fe(III) or nanoparticulate Fe(III) and that this metastability persists. When the water was contacted with VFR sludge, the Fe-filt fraction was destabilized, leading to an appreciably higher removal of this fraction. Heterogeneous precipitation and/or aggregation of nanoparticulate Fe(III) precipitates are considered predominant removal mechanisms. Microbial analyses of the mine water revealed the abundance of extracellular polymeric substance-generating Fe-oxidizing bacterium ‘Ferrovum myxofaciens’, which may aid the removal of iron and explain the unusual appearance and physical properties of the sludge

Indigenous pig management practices in rural villages of Western Kenya

The management of indigenous pigs in rural villages of Busia and Kakamega district, Western Kenya, is discussed. Data on husbandry practices, challenges and farmers knowledge on T. solium taeniosis / cysticercosis were gathered using questionnaires administered in face-to-face interviews. Pigs were examined for cysticercosis using the lingual palpation method. Data were managed in Stata®. Majority of the farmers were aged 30-50 years (44%), and were mostly women (69%). Years of pig keeping experience was higher in Kakamega (11.4±8.7) than it was in Busia (6.3±5.6) (P50%) during the planting (91%; 263 / 290), growing (90%; 263 / 290) and crop harvesting seasons (78%; 227 / 290). Prevalence of pig cysticercosis was 4.5%. Piglets were significantly cheaper in Busia (Ksh 509±57) than in Kakamega (Ksh 777±174) (P<0.05). Indigenous pig management in Western Kenya is reportedly poor. Improved knowledge coupled with changes in local husbandry practices would improve productivity, increase family incomes and safeguard the community from potential health risks associated with pig rearing