Awareness of Breast Cancer and Its Early Detection Measures Among Female Students, Northern Ethiopia

Globally breast cancer is the most common of all cancers. Since risk reduction strategies cannot eliminate the majority of breast cancers, early detection remains the cornerstone of breast cancer control. This paper, therefore, attempts to assess the awareness of breast cancer and its early detection measures among female students in Mekelle University, Ethiopia. An institution based cross-sectional study was conducted on randomly selected female students. Multistage sampling technique was employed to select the participants. A pre-tested structured questionnaire was used. Data analysis was carried out using SPSS version 16. In this study, 760 students participated making a response rate of 96 percent. Respondents with good knowledge score for risk factors, early detections measures and warning signs of breast cancer were 1.4 percent, 3.6 percent and 22.1 percent respectively. The majority 477 (62.8 percent) of participants practiced self-breast examination. In conclusion the participants had poor knowledge of risk factors, early detection measures and early warning signs of breast cancer.Therefore, the Ministry of health of Ethiopia together with its stalk holders should strengthen providing IEC targeting women to increase their awareness about breast cancer and its early detection measure

Effect of combined application of organic-P and inorganic-N fertilizers on yield of carrot

A study was undertaken to assess the effect of combined application of organic-P and inorganic-N fertilizers on yield and yield components of carrot (Daucus carota L.). The field experiment was conducted at Kombolcha ATVET College, South Wollo, Ethiopia. Seeds of carrot were sown on raised beds of a black clay soil. “Orga “and urea were used as sources of phosphorus and nitrogen, respectively, for the fertilizer treatments. The rates of fertilizers used in the experiment were, 309 kg“orga” ha-1 combined with six rates of urea (0, 68.5, 267.2, 274,342.5 and 411 kg urea ha-1). The field experiment was laid out in a randomized complete block design with seven fertilizer treatments,replicated five times. Yield and yield components of carrot were significantly influenced by the preharvest combined application of “orga” and urea treatments. Pre-harvest application of 309 kg “orga”ha-1 combined with 274 kg urea ha-1 increased yield of carrot by 46% compared to the control treatment. The values of yield components of carrot were also increased in response to the increased rate ofcombined “orga” and urea fertilizer application. The result showed that the combined application of 309 kg ha-1 “orga”and 274 kg ha-1 urea resulted in the maximum yield of carrot

Glycogenic control and associated factors among diabetic patients visiting Adama specialized Hospital, Oromiya, Ethiopia: A facility based cross sectional study

Introduction: Although glycaemic control is essential in diabetes management, evidences are lacking in resource limited settings. Therefore, this study was intended to assess the level of glycaemic control and associated factors among diabetic patients.Methods: The data were collected from 332 diabetic patients in Adama Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia from February to March 2012. A patient was included in the study if he/she was 15 years and above. The data were collected using structured questionnaires; a medical card review and anthropometric measurement was done by trained nurses. SPSS version 16.0 was used to analyze the data.Results: The study revealed that 180 (55.9%) of the respondents were adequately controlled their glycaemic level. The remaining were poorly controlled their glycaemic level. Poor glycaemic control was found among rural residents, type I diabetic patients, older age groups (>46 years), those who consumed alcohol and less restricted simple sugar intake, don’t adhere to their meal time and had been prescribed oral hypoglycaemic drug alone (p<0.05). On the other hand, being physically active, obtaining advice from health workers and self monitoring blood glucose level significantly helped patients to control their gylcaemic level (p<0.05).Conclusions: Significant proportions of diabetic patients were not able to control their glycaemic level and poor diabetic control was mainly found in patients with poor self care practices. Thus, health care providers should deliver individualized patient education and support those with elevated glycaemic level to help them better controls their conditions.Keywords: Diabetic, Glycaemic control, EthiopiaAfr J Health Sci. 2013; 26:302-31

Low-Temperature Orientation Dependence of Step Stiffness on {111} Surfaces

For hexagonal nets, descriptive of {111} fcc surfaces, we derive from combinatoric arguments a simple, low-temperature formula for the orientation dependence of the surface step line tension and stiffness, as well as the leading correction, based on the Ising model with nearest-neighbor (NN) interactions. Our formula agrees well with experimental data for both Ag and Cu{111} surfaces, indicating that NN-interactions alone can account for the data in these cases (in contrast to results for Cu{001}). Experimentally significant corollaries of the low-temperature derivation show that the step line tension cannot be extracted from the stiffness and that with plausible assumptions the low-temperature stiffness should have 6-fold symmetry, in contrast to the 3-fold symmetry of the crystal shape. We examine Zia's exact implicit solution in detail, using numerical methods for general orientations and deriving many analytic results including explicit solutions in the two high-symmetry directions. From these exact results we rederive our simple result and explore subtle behavior near close-packed directions. To account for the 3-fold symmetry in a lattice gas model, we invoke a novel orientation-dependent trio interaction and examine its consequences.Comment: 11 pages, 8 figure

Evaluation of pre-service training on integrated management of neonatal and childhood illness in Ethiopia

Background: The Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness strategy equips health workers with essential knowledge and skills to effectively manage sick children with common neonatal and childhood diseases. Since in-service training is very demanding to achieve the desired coverage of training of health workers, pre-service training is taken as a solution. At the time of the survey, most public and some private health professionals’ training institutions were conducting pre-service training. However, several concerns have been expressed on the training. Therefore, this survey was conducted to assess the status of pre-service Integrated Management of New-born and Childhood Illness training. Methods: A cross sectional survey on health professional training institutes/schools to evaluate pre-service Inte-grated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness training was conducted in November 2007. Data was col-lected using pre-tested questionnaires, focused group interviews with teachers and students, observation of stu-dents while managing sick children using Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness guidelines, and reviews of pediatric course outlines and other teaching/learning materials. Data was entered in computer and analyzed using SPSS for Windows version 12.0.1. Results: Twenty nine health professionals’ training institutions (34 academic programs) which have started pre-service training were included in the survey. Of the 34 programs 22 were diploma nursing, 6 Bachelor of Sciences nursing, 4 health officer and the remaining two medicine. Thirty (88.2%) programs have integrated it in their cur-riculum. All academic programs had at least one fulltime staff for Integrated Management of Newborn and Child-hood Illness classroom instruction. Twenty nine (85.3%) programs had staff trained in case management skills. All the 34 academic programs taught health workers skills, 28(82.3%) used mixed approach. Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness was either incorporated for 21 (61.8%) or added to the previous teaching 11 (32.3%). The instructor to student ratio was low for most of the schools. Main challenges encountered in the pre-service teaching were constraints with trained staff and other resources each by 28 (82.3%) programs. Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness was included in student evaluation by all programs (100%). All students and instructors (100%) rated that Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness concept is very relevant or extremely relevant but majority said the time given was short. The over all mean score of students clinical practice was 63.5%. Conclusion: This study demonstrated that Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness was intro-duced into the teaching programs of most health professional training institutions. The most preferred teaching style was the mixed approach. Group discussion and demonstration were commonly used methods and Integrated Management of Newborn and Childhood Illness questions were included in students’ evaluation in almost all pro-grams. Shortage of IMNCI trained staff and teaching materials were major challenges. The use of teaching materi-als prepared for pre-service training like handbook and model chapter was limited. Instructors and students atti-tude towards IMNCI was very good. The students overall performance in managing sick child as per the IMNCI guidelines was above average. We recommend that the respective bodies at every level make every effort to strengthen IMNCI pre-service teaching through revisiting curricula, facilitating staff training, availing teaching materials and allocating adequate time. Exploring for an alternative/innovative and sustainable training approach is an assignment for all

Determinants and Levels of Agricultural Development Agents Job Satisfaction: The Case of Kalu Woreda, South Wollo Zone of the Amhara National Regional State

This study was conducted with an objective of assessing the level of job satisfaction and its determinants among agricultural development agents working in different kebeles of Kalu Woreda, South Wollo Zone of the Amhara National Regional State. A total of 100 development agents were selected and interviewed using simple random sampling technique to collect data for the study through structured questionnaire. Descriptive and multiple regression methods were used to address the study objectives. Results of descriptive analysis showed that in terms of the level of job satisfaction of development agents on average development agents are 'undecided' with their job as a result of their involvement in special projects such as agriculture growth projects and donor-funded projects, in decision making, in in-service training and working relationship with farmers. The econometric results showed that there exists a statistically significant relationship between job satisfaction and recognition for best performances, rate of promotion, regular training and level of education of development agents. The study recommends that due attention needs to be given to defining career structure and provision of service training opportunities as criteria in promoting, improving and maintaining their job satisfaction.Keywords: Job satisfaction, Development agen

A Simulation Based Performance Evaluation of Optical Ethernet Switch

With the advent of several new Cloud Radio Access Network (C-RAN) technologies, todays networking environment is dramatically altered and is experiencing a rapid transformation. One of the most important is Ethernet based C-RAN, in support of which many products such as optical Ethernet switches have recently appeared on the market. This paper presents the performance analysis of such switches with respect to Packet Loss Ratio (PLR), Latency and Packet Delay Variation (PDV). We employed the Simula based on Discrete Event Modelling on Simula (DEMOS), a context class for discrete event simulation to simulate a cut-through optical Ethernet switch under two types of traffics: High priority (HP) traffic and Low priority (LP) traffic. In this way, the paper evaluates the optical Ethernet switch performance quantitatively. The results obtained from the simulator showed that the high quality of service was reflected on HP traffic and the low quality of service in LP traffic. Hence, HP traffic can be used for transporting Radio over Ethernet (RoE) traffic while LP traffic can used for transporting time insensitive application. It is also found that HP traffic experiences a PDV equals to the duration of maximum sized LP traffic in Optical Ethernet switch.Comment: arXiv admin note: text overlap with arXiv:1911.0761

Potato technologies for improved food security and better income

United States Agency for International Developmen