Health Workers Compliance to Infection Prevention and Control Measures at public Hospitals, Khartoum, Sudan, 2019

يتم تعريف العدوى على أنها غزو عن طريق مضاعفة الكائنات الحية الدقيقة المسببة للأمراض في جزء أو نسيج جسدي ، مما قد ينتج عنه إصابة الأنسجة اللاحقة والتقدم في التغلب على الأمراض من خلال مجموعة متنوعة من الآليات الخلوية أو السامة. عرف عدوى المستشفيات باسم الالتهابات المستشفوية (NI). المصطلح مشتق من الكلمة اليونانية "Nosokomeion" وهذا يعني "المستشفى تعتني بالتهابات" الناتجة عن العلاج في المستشفى أو في وحدة خدمات الرعاية الصحية. عدوى المستشفى المعروفة باسم العدوى المرتبطة بالرعاية الصحية (HCAIs) ، ولكنها ليست ثانوية للحالة الأصلية للمريض. تُعتبر الالتهابات "مستشفوية" إذا ظهرت بعد 48 ساعة أو أكثر من دخول المستشفى أو في غضون 30 يومًا بعد الخروج منه. يختلف انتشار HCAI على نطاق واسع في جميع أنحاء العالم. عالميا، يقدر أن ما يقرب من 10 ٪ من المرضى في المستشفى يكتسبون HCAI واحد على الأقل. يمكن أن يصل معدل انتشار HCAI في البلدان النامية إلى 30-50 ٪. الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تحديد المعرفة وتحديد موقف وممارسات العاملين في مجال الصحة لتدابير الوقاية من العدوى ومكافحتها في المستشفيات العامة في ولاية الخرطوم. الهدف من هذه الدراسة هو تحديد المعرفة وتحديد موقف وممارسات العاملين في مجال الصحة لتدابير الوقاية من العدوى ومكافحتها في المستشفيات العامة في ولاية الخرطوم. هذه الدراسة وصفية ، مستعرضة ، مستندة إلى دراسة ، أجريت في المستشفيات العامة في ولاية الخرطوم ، السودان. تم جمع البيانات عن طريق استبيان تم توزيعه على 270 و 250 استبيان تم استكماله للتحليل. حيث تم تحليل البيانات بواسطة برنامج SPSS. وفقًا لتأثير معظم المشاركين ، فإن مستوى تنفيذ ممارسات مكافحة العدوى والاحتياطات القياسية في هذه الدراسة كان مستوى دون المستوى القياسي لضمان سلامة العدوى في العاملين الصحيين والمرضى. بشكل عام ، كان لدى العاملين في مجال الصحة معرفة وممارسات متوسطة ، وممارسات سيئة بشأن الوقاية من الفيروسات المرتبطة بالرعاية الصحية والسيطرة عليها، من نتائج هذه الدراسة يتم تحديد 62 ٪ (الشكل 4.1) من العاملين في مجال الصحة لديهم معرفة جيدة و 38 ٪ لديهم معرفة ضعيفة في حين أن كان 62.8 ٪ (الشكل 4.2) من العاملين في مجال صحة المرأة مواقف جيد و 37.2 ٪ لديهم موقف سيئ ، وكذلك 42.8 ٪ (الشكل 4.3) لديهم ممارسات جيدة و 57.2 ٪ لديهم ممارسات سيئة. عد نظافة اليدين الخطوة الأولى الأولى نحو النجاح في السيطرة على العدوى في أي مؤسسة للرعاية الصحية. لقد وجدت أنه في العاملين الصحيين ، كانت المعرفة المتعلقة بصحة اليدين مرتفعة (86.3٪) لكن الالتزام الفعلي كان أقل (52.1٪) مقارنة بمعرفتهم. أخيرًا ، يمثل عبء العمل عائقًا أمام التنفيذ الملائم لممارسات مكافحة العدوى ولا يشعر غالبية العاملين الصحيين في المستشفيات العامة بالارتياح لعملهم

Lipoma of the transverse colon: Review of literature and a case report in a young Nigerian female

Colonic lipomas are rare benign tumour of the gastrointestinal tract(GIT); however, they remain the commonest nonepithelial(mesenchymal) benign neoplasm of the GIT tract. The majority remains asymptomatic. They can mimic malignant tumours of the GI tract. We present a review of literature and our experience with the management of a case of this rare tumour. A 35year old woman presented to us with an upper abdominal pain of six  weeks,vomiting and passage of bloody  mucoid stool of four weeks. A huge palpable mass in the epigastric region.  Contrast-enhanced Computed tomography revealed a well-defined, 18cm, fatty tissue mass in the transverse colon. She had a right hemicolectomy. Histology confirmed the diagnosis revealing a submucous lipoma. One year follow up, she remained symptom-free with no evidence of recurrence. This study raises the awareness of this rare tumour as a cause of GIT symptoms and highlights the challenges in differentiating it from the more common malignancy of the colon. Keywords: Colonic lipoma, lipoma of transverse colon, Non-epithelial tumour Nigerian femal

Investigate the Effect of Different Kinds of Discontinuous Fibers on the Mechanical Properties of Epoxy Matrix Composite Materials

The composite manufacturing has been a wide variety of applications. The low density, stiffness, and weight to strength ratio giving these materials significant mechanical properties in aerospace, and automotive industries. In this work, the specimens of fiber reinforced composites have been prepared by adding different percentage of two types of fibers in epoxy resins matrix. So, the aim of this study is to evaluate the effect of additives on the mechanical properties according to Standard Test Method for Tensile Properties ASTM D3039. The tensile and hardness testing show that the carbon fibers improve the hardness and tensile strength due to their higher mechanical properties. In addition, they have high strength to weight ratio as compare with polypropylene fibers

Highly Selective Syngas/H2 Production via Partial Oxidation of CH4 Using (Ni, Co and Ni–Co)/ZrO2–Al2O3 Catalysts: Influence of Calcination Temperature

In this study, Ni, Co and Ni–Co catalysts supported on binary oxide ZrO2–Al2O3 were synthesized by sol-gel method and characterized by means of various analytical techniques such as XRD, BET, TPR, TPD, TGA, SEM, and TEM. This catalytic system was then tested for syngas respective H2 production via partial oxidation of methane at 700 °C and 800 °C. The influence of calcination temperatures was studied and their impact on catalytic activity and stability was evaluated. It was observed that increasing the calcination temperature from 550 °C to 800 °C and addition of ZrO2 to Al2O3 enhances Ni metal-support interaction. This increases the catalytic activity and sintering resistance. Furthermore, ZrO2 provides higher oxygen storage capacity and stronger Lewis basicity which contributed to coke suppression, eventually leading to a more stable catalyst. It was also observed that, contrary to bimetallic catalysts, monometallic catalysts exhibit higher activity with higher calcination temperature. At the same time, Co and Ni–Co-based catalysts exhibit higher activity than Ni-based catalysts which was not expected. The Co-based catalyst calcined at 800 °C demonstrated excellent stability over 24 h on stream. In general, all catalysts demonstrated high CH4 conversion and exceptionally high selectivity to H2 (~98%) at 700 °C

An empirical analysis on customers’ acceptance of Islamic micro finance in Kano State, North Western-Nigeria : the moderating effect of awareness

Purpose: The objective of this research paper is to conceptualize the model in examining the moderating effect of awareness on attitude, knowledge, and customers’ acceptance of Islamic micro finance in Kano State, North Western-Nigeria. As, Islamic micro financial institutions deliver loans to small and medium enterprises (SMEs). Since, it serves as a means of curving of some social vices such as poverty, ethno-religious crises, farmers and herdsmen crises, cattle rustling, arm rubbers and kidnappers among others. Despite it great contributions to the growth of the economy there is deprived awareness on Islamic micro finance which leads to inadequate investment and patronage by the people in Kano State. Investors and the general public can use this research for guidance towards investments of their capital into Islamic micro finance for maximum profits. Also, stake holders, SMEs, traders and farmers can utilize the outcome of this study. Similarly, stock exchange commission, Central Bank of Nigeria and other financial institutions can use the results of this study towards making policies and strategies. -- Design/methodology/approach: Questionnaire was used and data was collected by random sample of 400 selected Islamic micro finance customers in Kano state, Nigeria. PLSSEM was used in analysing and testing the formulated hypotheses. -- Findings: Result indicated that knowledge and attitude have positive and significant relationship on acceptance of Islamic micro finance, while, awareness did not moderate relationship between attitudes but moderates knowledge and acceptance of Islamic micro finance.peer-reviewe

Automated deep bottleneck residual 82-layered architecture with Bayesian optimization for the classification of brain and common maternal fetal ultrasound planes

Despite a worldwide decline in maternal mortality over the past two decades, a significant gap persists between low- and high-income countries, with 94% of maternal mortality concentrated in low and middle-income nations. Ultrasound serves as a prevalent diagnostic tool in prenatal care for monitoring fetal growth and development. Nevertheless, acquiring standard fetal ultrasound planes with accurate anatomical structures proves challenging and time-intensive, even for skilled sonographers. Therefore, for determining common maternal fetuses from ultrasound images, an automated computer-aided diagnostic (CAD) system is required. A new residual bottleneck mechanism-based deep learning architecture has been proposed that includes 82 layers deep. The proposed architecture has added three residual blocks, each including two highway paths and one skip connection. In addition, a convolutional layer has been added of size 3 × 3 before each residual block. In the training process, several hyper parameters have been initialized using Bayesian optimization (BO) rather than manual initialization. Deep features are extracted from the average pooling layer and performed the classification. In the classification process, an increase occurred in the computational time; therefore, we proposed an improved search-based moth flame optimization algorithm for optimal feature selection. The data is then classified using neural network classifiers based on the selected features. The experimental phase involved the analysis of ultrasound images, specifically focusing on fetal brain and common maternal fetal images. The proposed method achieved 78.5% and 79.4% accuracy for brain fetal planes and common maternal fetal planes. Comparison with several pre-trained neural nets and state-of-the-art (SOTA) optimization algorithms shows improved accuracy

Treatment of Hypertensive Crisis Using Beta Blockers Vs Diuretics: Review

Current review aiming to evaluate and the advantage and disadvantage and also to discuss the differences in use and combination therapy of beta blockers VS diuretics in the treatment of hypertensive crisis.  Literature were search on topic concerning the treatment of hypertensive crisis, using biomedical databases; PubMed, and Embase, up to August, 2017.  Patients with hypertensive crises could call for immediate reduction in raised high blood pressure to stop and also detain modern end-organ damage. The best scientific setup in which to attain this blood pressure control remains in the intensive care unit, with making use of titratable intravenous hypotensive agents. Beta-blocker- based therapy, numerous possible randomized trials have recorded that diuretic-based treatment is efficient in reducing morbidity and also mortality in hypertensive patients. The advantages of diuretic therapy have actually been shown to be more significant in the senior compared to in younger patients. The result of diuretics is especially articulated when it comes to decrease of the risk of stroke and also somewhat less excellent with regard to the reduction of the danger of coronary heart disease. Keywords: Hypertension, Diuretics Therapy, Beta Blocker, Hypertensive Crisis

Characterization of External Mucosal Microbiomes of Nile Tilapia and Grey Mullet Co-cultured in Semi-Intensive Pond Systems

The external mucosal surfaces of the fish harbor complex microbial communities, which may play pivotal roles in the physiological, metabolic, and immunological status of the host. Currently, little is known about the composition and role of these communities, whether they are species and/or tissue specific and whether they reflect their surrounding environment. Co-culture of fish, a common practice in semi-intensive aquaculture, where different fish species cohabit in the same contained environment, is an easily accessible and informative model toward understanding such interactions. This study provides the first in-depth characterization of gill and skin microbiomes in co-cultured Nile tilapia (Oreochromis niloticus) and grey mullet (Mugil capito) in semi-intensive pond systems in Egypt using 16S rRNA gene-based amplicon sequencing. Results showed that the microbiome composition of the external surfaces of both species and pond water was dominated by the following bacterial phyla: Proteobacteria, Fusobacteriota, Firmicutes, Planctomycetota, Verrucomicrobiota, Bacteroidota, and Actinobacteriota. However, water microbial communities had the highest abundance and richness and significantly diverged from the external microbiome of both species; thus, the external autochthonous communities are not a passive reflection of their allochthonous communities. The autochthonous bacterial communities of the skin were distinct from those of the gill in both species, indicating that the external microbiome is likely organ specific. However, gill autochthonous communities were clearly species specific, whereas skin communities showed higher commonalities between both species. Core microbiome analysis identified the presence of shared core taxa between both species and pond water in addition to organ-specific taxa within and between the core community of each species. These core taxa included possibly beneficial genera such as Uncultured Pirellulaceae, Exiguobacterium, and Cetobacterium and opportunistic potential pathogens such as Aeromonas, Plesiomonas, and Vibrio. This study provides the first in-depth mapping of bacterial communities in this semi-intensive system that in turn provides a foundation for further studies toward enhancing the health and welfare of these cultured fish and ensuring sustainability

Is Prolonged Sitting a Risk Factor in Developing Hemorrhoids and Anal Fissures?

Background: Anal fissures and hemorrhoids are common anal conditions. They cause significant morbidity, social embarrassment, and work absenteeism. In addition, they form a significant workload on the healthcare system. Nevertheless, the etiology of these conditions is still contentious. It has been observed that hemorrhoids and anal fissures are associated with prolonged sitting. This study aims to investigate this observation.Methods: This is a case–control study. We compared 81 patients with symptomatic and endoscopically proven hemorrhoids and/or anal fissures with 162 controls with no symptoms or endoscopic evidence of perianal disease. The study was conducted at Khartoum North Teaching Hospital (KNTH) endoscopy unit between January and December 2019. Demographic data, sitting hours per day, and endoscopic findings of patients and controls were recorded in a proforma. The cases and controls were matched for age, sex, and bowel habits. Data were analyzed and compared using the SPSS version 23.Results: The mean sitting hours for cases was 5.99 (SD 3.4) whereas that for controls was 4.0 (SD 3.0) with a highly significant difference (P < 0.001). Sitting for 5 hr or more per day (exposure) was associated with an increased risk of developing hemorrhoids and/or anal fissures [odds ratio 3.68, 95% CI: 2.1–6.47].Conclusion: The study showed that sitting down for 5 hr or more per day might increase the risk of developing hemorrhoids and/or anal fissures. This finding could help in the prevention and treatment of these diseases and the reduction of recurrences