Indigenous Tree Species Diversity Under Exotic Plantations in Qimbaba Forest, North West Ethiopia

This study was carried out in Qimbaba forest, northwest of Ethiopia to determine woody species diversity, regeneration capacity and soil seed bank in Eucalyptus plantation forest and adjacent natural forest. A total of 40 circular sample plots of 314 m2 were established along a transect line at every 200 m between them. Transects were laid in east–west directions at 200 m distance from each other. Soil seed bank analysis was done from soil samples collected in each of the 40 plots (160 samples) to examine the similarity between the soil seed flora and aboveground vegetation. A total of 71 woody plant species (33 in Eucalyptus Plantation) and (63 in Natural Forest) were determined with the density ranging between 404 to 635 per ha in the plantation and natural forest, respectively. The population structure showed an inverted J-shape in both forests. The basal area were 4.9 m2/ha and 24.5 m2/ha for plantation and the adjacent natural forest respectively. The regeneration status in the Eucalyptus plantation was 699 seedlings and 344 saplings/ha while the natural forest had 1117 seedlings and 390 saplings/ha. On the other hand, the species richness of regenerated trees in the plantation and natural forest were 21 and 38, respectively. A total of 14 plant species representing 11 families were recovered from the soil seed bank, 12 (in 10 families) species in the natural forest and 7 of them were in the eucalyptus plantation forest (5 families). Soil seed bank (SSB) was not similar in the two forests with Sorenson’s similarity values of 0.208. There were 11,022 seeds/m2 (natural forest) and 10,667 seeds/m2 (Eucalyptus plantation forest) in the SSB. Keywords: Florstic diversity, Eucalyptus, Natural forest, Soil seed bank, Fostering effec

Supply Chain Response to Institutional Markets’ Demand for Healthy and Sustainable Food Options

 Institutional food buyers in the U.S. are increasingly demanding food products that are safe, traceable, healthier, local/regional, or sustainably produced and supplied. These markets consist of schools, universities, hospitals, charities, correction facilities, clubs and other similar organizations that buy goods and services to meet demands of their end-customers (students, patients, prisoners, etc.). These institutions comprise a large portion of the U.S. population. In 2008, the total number of children and adults enrolled in schools throughout the country - from nursery school to college - was estimated at 75.5 million (i.e., 18.7 million in colleges and 56.8 million in schools). This amounts to more than one-fourth of the U.S. population age three and older (U.S. Census Bureau, 2009). About 29 million children are participating each month in the National School Lunch Program (NSLP)...

Stranded strangers : Ethiopian refugees and the quest for urban citizenship in Nairobi, Kenya.

There is a burgeoning literature on Right to the City much of which is inspired by the pioneering works of Henry Lefebvre who wrote about urban citizenship for all inhabitants of the city, access to rights and resources in the city, and political participation in the management of urban affairs. This study explores whether the Right to the City approach can help explain the dynamics of state- refugee relations in the urban centers of Africa. Hence, I took the case of Ethiopian refugees in Nairobi (the capital city of Kenya) to answer the following research questions: a) How do Ethiopian urban refugees negotiate aspects of urban citizenship in Nairobi?, b) How adequate is the “right to the city” approach to explain the everyday struggle of Ethiopian urban refugees for rights and resources?, and c) What kind of urban policy measures can African cities take to manage conflict driven urbanization? The research is a qualitative case study where a total of 30 urban refugees and a total of 20 community leaders and representatives of local and international civil society organizations working on refugee matters were interviewed. The interviews captured, described and discussed the respondents’ own ideas, opinions and experiences. I also reviewed international, national as well as urban level policy and strategic documents of Kenya when it comes to documenting and regulating international urban refugees. After the introduction, the second chapter dwells on a thorough discussion of the literature on citizenship and social justice, in general, and urban citizenship in particular. Following the third chapter on methodology, I embark on discussing the major findings. In a nutshell, I found out that urban refugees exist and interact on two different social spaces. On the one hand, they are actively involved in the production of urban space by employing their skills, money, time and social networks. On the other hand, refugees operate under very restrictive and discriminatory state policies that often deprive them basic liberties and freedoms. They, therefore, meet two of the criteria of Lefebvre’s concept of urban citizenship i.e. inhabitance and the production of urban spaces. However, they fail to meet the third criterion i.e. political rights to participate in the governance of the city. In short, they are stranded strangers who produce complex social, economic and political practices difficult to qualify in such conventional terms like “refugee”, “immigrant” or a “citizen”

Magnitude of Out of Pocket Health Expenditures and Associated Factors among Civil Servants

In Ethiopia, as other developing countries, public health care is provided at nominally low prices and free to those that does not afford to pay. But the health care consumer population is still to make considerable amount of out-of-pocket health expenditure for various reasons. A cross sectional quantitative study from January to May 2013 was done. Study population was civil servants in Debre Markos town. A total of 467 study participants were selected by using simple random sampling method. Data were collected by trained high school graduates and then the collected data were entered into a computer by using Epi-Data version 3.1 and analysis was performed by using SPSS version 16 for windows. Possible associations between out of pocket health expenditure and its predictors were analyzed by using both bivariate and multivariate analysis. The mean age of the study participants were 41 years. Majorities were between 25 and 44 years of age, 258 (55.2%). The level of education among the study participants indicated that most 380 (81.4%) were graduates of higher education (HE) and majority were Orthodox Christian which accounted 446 (95.5%) followed by Muslims 13 (2.8%). To put it briefly, the study identified that the median of out of pocket health care expenditure accounted 8.26% of total household income. Health status of the household (with or without chronic illness), debt on any of the household, house on construction owned by any household member, educational fee for at least one member of the household and predominantly used health institution were the associated factors that have significant impact on household out of pocket health expenditure. There is economic burden as a result of health care at household level.   Based on the results, the recommendation was introducing social health insurance for all civil servant employees in the study area

Molecular characterization of canine distemper virus circulating in Ethiopia

High mortality and morbidity of canine were reported from Addis Ababa city administration and Bedele and Nekemte zonal towns of western Ethiopia in 2010.A team from National Animal Health and Investigation Center (NAHDIC) wasassigned to investigate what caused the death of dogs. Varying ranges of clinicalsings were observed which include febrile condition, body temperature of 39.5 to41.5oC, Runny eyes, nasal discharges, vomiting, diarrhea, various neurologic disorders and hyperkeratosis of foot pad “hard pad disease”. Death occurred in all ages of dogs but most death was occurred in puppies. Some owners reported that they lost all the puppies they had at time of the outbreak. About 200 dogs were died only in Nekemte while number of death in Bedele (Ilubabore) and Addis Ababa werenot exactly known. Eye swab from live animals (10 from Addis Ababa 5 from Nekemte and 5 from Bedele) and tissue samples (liver, kidney, lymph node and brain) from Nekemte and Bedele) were collected and tested using antigen detection fast kit. Virus isolation and molecular characterization was carried on these caninedistemper positive samples and also brain tissues were tested for rabies virus (lyssaa virus) and found negative with molecular test. The investigation result showed that canine distemper virus was responsible for the outbreak canine disease in the areas. Sequencing of positive samples from all distantly located area  indicates that Asia-1 lineage canine distemper virus is circulating in outbreak. Vaccination of the dogs against canine distemper virus is required in order to  control the disease.Keywords: Antigen detection, Canine distemper virus, Do

Magnitude, risk factors and outcomes of stroke at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia:a retrospective observational study

Background: Stroke is one of the leading causes of death and disability in developing countries. The burden of stroke has varied widely in different areas, and there is a paucity of information about stroke in the selected study area. Objectives: To assess the burden, risk factors, and outcomes of stroke at Debre Markos Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia Patients and methods: A hospital-based retrospective observational study was conducted in the medical ward of Debre Markos Referral Hospital from March 2017 to April 2019. A pretested checklist was used to extract relevant data from the chart of stroke patients. All statistical analyses were performed in the SPSS version 20 software. Results: From a total of 2100 admissions in the medical ward, 162 of them were stroke patients, giving the in-hospital magnitude of 7.7%. The in-hospital case fatality rate was 8.6%. Additionally, 27.2% of patients were improved and 39.5% of them were referred. There was a significant association between types of stroke and risk factors such as sex, comorbid hypertension, hyperlipidemia, and atrial fibrillation (P ≤ 0.05). Conclusion: The in-hospital period prevalence of stroke was 7.7%. Ischemic stroke was the most common type of stroke. Hypertension and hyperlipidemia were the leading identified risk factors for stroke. The overall in-hospital mortality was lower than previous studies in sub-Saharan African countries. Therefore, effective strategies and guidelines for the prevention and control of stroke and its risk factors are needed

Comparative efficacy of major anthelmintic against naturally infected Fasciola species infection in local sheep at Debre-Birhan Agricultural Research Center, Ethiopia

This study aimed to evaluate the efficacy of eight major anthelmintic against Fasciola species in naturally infected sheep. In a randomized trial, 90 sheep were divided into 8 treatment groups of 10 animals each and one untreated control group of ten sheep. Prior to treatment, the animals were examined for Fasciola eggs. After the examination, they were found positive. On day zero, each group was administered to one of the following eight anthelmintic; Albex 10 %, Expitol, Tribex 10 %, Fascinex (Triclabendazole), Zerofen 10%, Albendazole, Ridafluke, and Tetraclozan. Faecal samples from each animal were examined for Fasciola eggs on day zero and then on 7, 10, 14, 21 days and 10 weeks post treatment using the sedimentation technique. Necropsy examination was performed on selected animals for 21 days and 10 weeks of post treatment on selected animals. Ridafluke showed highest efficacy against fascioliasis with 99.6 mature and 94.3 of immature worm count reduction proportion for 21 days post treatment and 91.8 % of adult worm reduction 10 weeks after treatment followed by Tribex 10% solution that showed 96 % and 98.7 % mature and immature worm count reduction, respectively, and 83.6% after 10 weeks post treatments. On the contrary, Fascinex (Triclabendazole) treatment group yielded much lower efficacy with mean 98.3% of mature Fasciola worms being recovered after 10 weeks post treatments. On the other hand, the adult Fasciola worm recovery showed high resistance in all broad spectrums anthelmintic treatment groups where Expitol and Tetraclozan showed 64 % and 63.3 % reduction of adult worms. The findings of this study indicated that the treatment group of Ridafluke and Tribex 10% showed highest efficacy and is a primary drug of choice against Fasciolosis in sheep of the study area

Evaluation of two estrus synchronization protocols in dairy cattle at North Shoa zone Ethiopia

This study was initiated to change the hesitation of the farmer on the effectiveness of estrus synchronization under their (Ethiopian small holder) livestock management system using two synchronization protocols. Non-pregnant animals with normal reproductive tract and that fulfilled the preconditions for estrus synchronization were considered for treatment & assigned into two synchronization protocols (single PGF2α injection; and double PGF2α injection). Among 94 (27 heifer and 67 cows) synchronized cows using one and two injections of PGF2α protocols 26 heifers and 63 cows (89/94.7%) were exhibited estrus by visual observation and rectal palpation the remaining 5 (5.3%) did not illustrate heat. The overall pregnancy was 59.6 % with overall birth 94.3 %. High pregnancy was obtained in the double injection of PGF2α treatment group (63.1 %) than animals treated with one shot protocol 55.8 % there were statistically significant difference between treatments (p<0.05). Higher pregnancy was obtained from cross breed animals than local breeds. More over most of the animals come to estrus greater than 96 hrs. There was also significant difference between technicians on detecting the CL and conception. The estrus response, conception rate, pregnancy rate and calving rate was higher in both protocols so producers or farmers can use either the two protocols to achieve remarkable result but tight follow-ups and more resources are need to be exploited at farmer level

Prevalence of Goiter among Children in Ethiopia and Associated Factors: A Systematic Review and Meta-Analysis.

BACKGROUND: The distribution of goiter among children and its risk factors are not well investigated in Ethiopia. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis was designed to determine the pooled prevalence of goiter and its associated factors among children in Ethiopia. METHODS: Electronic web-based searches of PubMed, Google Scholar, EMBASE, and the World Health Organization\u27s Hinari portal (which includes the SCOPUS, African Index Medicus, and African Journals Online databases) were conducted to find primary studies. Relevant data were extracted and descriptive summaries of the studies were presented in tables. The I RESULTS: Our search identified 982 studies, of which, 19 articles were eligible for inclusion in the final meta-analysis. The pooled estimate of goiter among children in Ethiopia was 40.50% (95% CI: 33.6-47.40). The regional distribution of goiter ranged from 44.22 (95% CI: 17.44-71) in Southern Nations Nationalities and Peoples\u27 Region, to 32.79% (95% CI: 19.86-45.73) in Benishangul Gumez region. The prevalence of goiter among female children (44.34%) was higher than among male (32.88%) children. Goiter prevalence was also significantly higher among children who consumed vegetables three or more times per week OR = 1.3 (95% CI: 1.02-1.66); those who had family history of goiter, OR = 2.38 (95% CI: 1.9-2.99); and those whose family stored salt near to fires, OR = 1.4 l (95% CI: 1.1-1.79). CONCLUSION: The prevalence of goiter among children in Ethiopia was high, and endemic according to the WHO criteria. Our findings suggest the need for interventions to improve salt iodization, and for improved health education on appropriate salt storage. In addition, more research may be needed to improve our understanding of foods that increase the risk of goiter among children