A survey on occurrence of internal and external fish parasites and causes of fish population reduction in Lake Hashenge, Tigray, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2015 to June 2016 to determine the occurrence of internal and external parasites in wild fish population of Lake Hashenge and identify the causes of the trends in reduction of fish population. A total of 125 randomly selected fish samples comprising 122 (97.6%) Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and 3(2.4%) T. zilli were examined for internal helminthes and external parasites. Overall, 37.6% (47/125) of fish were infested by internal parasites (adults or eggs/larva) while none of them were infested with external parasites. The internal parasites recovered were Clinostomum, Acanthocephalues and Capillaria accounting for 15.2%, 11.2%, and 7.2% of the total infection respectively, while 4% had mixed infection. Moreover, the distribution of parasitic genera were found to be significantly different (p<0.05) with respect to sex, weight, and lengths of the sampled fish, in that females (n=48, 24.8%), fish with body weight 500-1000g (n=89, 30.4%), and length 20-40cm (n=68, 22.4%) were found to be more infected. Most of the respondents (92%) indicated a great reduction in the water and the fish population of the lack from its previous state. All of the respondents have stated that residents of the area wash their clothes in the Lake using synthetic and/or natural detergents and 86% of the respondents believed that Lake Hashenge receives flooding water from nearby uphills and the people use the water from the Lake for small scale irrigation purposes. These findings demand a future focus and stretch of intervention programs for alleviation of the problems facing the Lake before its exhaustion.Keywords: Fish; Lake Hashenge; Parasites; Prevalence; Population reductio

Knowledge Sharing Practice and its Associated Factors of Healthcare Professionals of Public Hospitals, Mekelle, Northern Ethiopia

Knowledge Sharing Practice and its Associated Factors of Healthcare Professionals of Public Hospitals, Mekelle, Northern Ethiopi

Polyaniline Deposition on the Surface of Cotton Fibers: Structural Studies, Swelling Behavior, and Water Absorption Properties

Polyaniline-modified natural fibers have been recognized as promising candidates for conductive clothes, UV protection, and electromagnetic interference shielding. Hence, the purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of surface deposition of cotton fibers using polyaniline via in situ polymerization, and preceding structural changes were further screened by FT-IR, UV-Vis, TGA, SEM/EDX, and conductivity in comparison with bare cotton fibers used as the control sample. Polyaniline was introduced on the surface of cotton fibers as a conductive form, which was confirmed by electrical conductivity (1.54 × 10−4 Scm−1) equivalent to semiconductor materials. Detection of particular peaks at NKα 0.379 keV and ClKα 2.621 keV from EDX analysis revealed the introduction of nitrogen and chlorine, respectively. Polyaniline deposition on the cotton surface was successful to introduce hydrophobic environment to the system to enhance resistance to water absorption meaningfully