Representation of Global Terrorism in Nuruddin’s Imperfect Trilogy of Hiding, Knots, Links and Cross

The increasing number of foreigners to the Shabab numbers mirrors a global dilemma in the fight against terrorism. Radicalization is no longer a preserve for the Islam or the Somalis alone in the 21st Century. Overtly, it is apparent that the process of radicalization has a taken new twists and turns because of the new and surprising numbers of Britons and Americans that have Joined Shabab fighters. Nuruddin in his imperfect trilogy of Knots, Cross, Links and Hiding portray succinctly the nature of global terrorism. The postcolonial theory as envisioned in Said's Orientalism is an intentional and bold investigation on the colonized cultures. However, the theory does not just analyze the culture of the orient but also the power contestation that exists between the Oriental and the Occident world. The global market marked with a skewed economic contestation has created a distinct gap between the rich and the poor. We posit that the current global dimension of terrorism is a reaction to marginalization and oppression of a section of the community and that Nurrudin in Knots, Cross, Links and Hiding creates a platform for a literary interrogation of global terrorism

Factors influencing the uptake of health insurance schemes among Kibera Informal Settlement Dwellers, Nairobi, Kenya

Background. For a country to achieve its development goals, it has to devise appropriate mechanisms that can ensure that her people are healthy enough to steer their own economic development. Kenya is a developing country and therefore, health insurance schemes are seen as a sustainable way to ensure health lives and promote well-being for all at all ages in order to attain high social economic development. This paper basically examines factors influencing the uptake of health insurance schemes among Kibera informal settlement dwellers in the capital city of Kenya.Objective: To determine factors influencing the uptake of health insurance schemes among Kibera informal settlement dwellers, Nairobi County.Design: Descriptive cross section study.Setting: Kibera slum in Nairobi County.Subjects: House holds Heads.Results: The proportion of respondents who had taken up health insurance in the informal settlement were 27.1% (n=45). Significant relationships (p<0.005) between health insurance enrollment and measured factors (measured as odds ratios (ORs)) were obtained as follows: compared to married respondents (OR=I), single, separated/divorced and widowed respondents were 68%,86%, 62% respectively less likely to own the insurance. Respondents who had attained post-secondary, secondary and primary education were 11.3, 2.3 and 1.6 times more likely to take up insurance compared to those with no formal education. Respondents working in the informal employment sector were 96% less likely to be enrolled in the health insurance program compared to those in the formal sector. Non –members in a local informal social welfare group were 78% less likely to take up insurance compared to members who were in the welfare. Respondents who earned greater than Kes 10,000 and between Kes 5,001 and Kes 10,000 were 25 and 3 times respectively more likely to take up insurance compared to those who earned an income of less than Kes 5,000 per month.Conclusion: The proportion of slum residents without any type of insurance was high. Modifiable socioeconomic factors dominated possible reasons for uptake/ non-uptake of health insurance. Policies geared towards elevated human development index in the informal settlements are needed to increase coverage of health insurance

Factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children aged six months and below attending Baringo County Refferal Hospital, Kabarnet, Kenya

Background: Breast milk is the safest and most natural food for an infant and provides complete nutritional needs up to six months of age. It is important for growth and reduces infant morbidity and mortality. Exclusive breastfeeding reduces malnutrition and other health problems.Objective: To determine factors associated with exclusive breastfeeding among mothers with children aged six months and below.Design: A cross sectional study.Setting: Baringo County Referral Hospital, Kabarnet, Kenya.Subjects: Three hundred and thirty mothers with children aged six months and below attending Baringo County Referral Hospital, Kabarnet, Kenya.Results: The results showed that 95.8% of the mothers breastfed their babies with 2.2% being exclusively breastfed. Delay in onset of breastfeeding, early complementation, use of pre-lacteal feeds was still practiced. Logistic regression showed that mode of delivery and place of delivery are significant with P ≤ 0.05. Mothers who delivered in hospital were 0.018 more likely to breastfeed exclusively while mothers who delivered normally were four times more likely to breastfeed exclusively.Conclusion: This study could help mothers, Ministry of Health and other nongovernmental organisations working with child health programmes, in likely interventions and supporting the ongoing child survival programmes, by taking appropriate steps in enhancing exclusive breastfeeding. As mothers attend antenatal and post- natal clinics, they should be given bronchures that are simple, clear to understand and addressing concerns on cultural beliefs, negative attitudes and breastfeeding problems and possible solutions. All infants should be breastfed within an hour of birth, on demand and up to the first six months of age

Factors associated with non adherence to regulations on sale of alcohol by alcohol outlets operators in Thika Municipality, Kiambu County

Objective: To determine factors associated with non-adherence of existing alcohol regulations and policies on alcohol sale in Thika municipality Kiambu County.Design: A descriptive cross-sectional study.Setting: Thika Municipality, Kiambu County, KenyaSubjects: Eighty nine (89) participants were enrolled in the study. Ten (10) Key Informant Interviews were conducted among the security personnel, health officers, managers and supervisors.Results: Out of the 89 outlet operators enrolled in the study, (70.8%) among therespondents were not aware of the alcohol control act. Association between marital status and non adherence of the act was significant (p=0.003). There was low knowledge of 5.6%, who were aware of when the alcohol act was implemented, majority who totaled to 70.8% were not aware on when the alcohol control policy came into existence. Majority of the respondent 62.9% reported not to adhere to the alcohol control act of 2010; also the study showed that 57.3% of the responded were not aware of measures to control illicit brew. From the In-depth interviews most of the respondents interviewed confirmed that many of the operators were not aware of the act and it was difficult to implement thus subjecting the consumers into alcohol abuse. They also confirmed that with lack of employment, many women engaged into the alcohol operations which also contributed to the breakdown of their families given the mode of operations.Conclusion: This study concludes that there is failure in enforcement and adherence of the 2010 alcohol regulations. The study recommends the review of the alcohol control act of 2010 to ensure tough measures and penalties are adapted to anyone who fails to adhere to the act. Also there is need for awareness to be initiated to ensure members are informed and adhere to the policy. Setting up of an independent unit that will be mandated to enforcement and adherence of the 2010 alcoholic act

Effects of Gowin’s Vee Heuristic Strategy on Secondary School Students’ Conceptual Understanding and Metacognition in the Topic of Moments in Physics, in Uasin Gishu County, Kenya

Physics is a science subject that has contributed immensely to the technological advancement of the world. In the Kenyan 8-4-4 curriculum, it is optional at form three and four. However, physics in Kenya has been faced with poor performance. Consequently, many students drop out of the subject on moving to form three. The cause of this trend has not been fully concluded. On the contrary, many have attributed it to poor instructional methods. This study, therefore, attempts to change this trend. It collected data on the effects of Gowin’s Vee heuristic strategy on students’ conceptual understanding and metacognition in physics among secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. It was carried out in physics classroom setting. Solomon four quasi-experimental design was used. Two experimental groups were taught using Gowin’s Vee as treatment and two control groups were taught using conventional methods. The target population was 3735 form two students in 83 mixed secondary schools in Uasin Gishu County. Purposive sampling was used to select 134 students to the control and experimental groups. The instruments used were Physics Metacognitive Activity Inventory Questionnaire (PMCAIQ) to test their metacognition and Physics Conceptual Understanding Achievement Test (PCUAT) to test conceptual understanding. The validity of the instruments was determined by supervisors and examination experts from the department of Curriculum, Instruction and Educational Management as well as physics teachers. Reliability of instruments was done using the coefficient of alpha for both instruments. The study found Coefficient of alpha 0.75 and 0.78 for PCUAT and PMCAIQ respectively, hence they were reliable. The data was subjected to descriptive statistics such as mean and standard deviation. Also inferential statistics was done using t-test and one way ANOVA at 0.05 significance level. These were followed by post hoc analysis. The analysis was done by Statistical Packages for Social Sciences (SPSS). This study is important in enhancing performance and quality of teaching in the topic of moments in physics and sciences in general. Keywords: Gowin’s Vee, Heuristic, Strategy, metacognition, Conceptual understanding, Physic

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

Milk-Derived Exosomes and Metabolic Regulation

Exosomes are natural nanoparticles that play an important role in cell-to-cell communication. Communication is achieved through the transfer of cargos, such as microRNAs, from donor to recipient cells and binding of exosomes to cell surface receptors. Exosomes and their cargos are also obtained from dietary sources, such as milk. Exosome and cell glycoproteins are crucial for intestinal uptake. A large fraction of milk exosomes accumulates in the brain, whereas the tissue distribution of microRNA cargos varies among distinct species of microRNA. The fraction of milk exosomes that escapes absorption elicits changes in microbial communities in the gut. Dietary depletion of exosomes and their cargos causes a loss of circulating microRNAs and elicits phenotypes such as loss of cognitive performance, increase in purine metabolites, loss of fecundity, and changes in the immune response. Milk exosomes meet the definition of bioactive food compounds

Factors associated with risky sexual behavior among HIV negative partners in HIV discordant relationships in Nairobi, Kenya

Introduction: Whereas risky sexual behavior influences HIV acquisition, little information is available on risk taking practices among negative partners in HIV discordant relationships in our settings. This study sought to determine the associated factors among this population in Nairobi.Methods: This study was a cross-sectional descriptive study and 133 HIV negative partners participated in the study.Results: Out of the 133 participants, 66.9% were male and 33.1% were female. Overall, 44.4% of the study participants reported inconsistent condom use, 14.3% reported having another sexual partner and 30% reported ever engaging in sexual activities under the influence of alcohol. Monthly earnings (p- 0.02), alcohol use (p- 0.03) and the index partner being on anti-retroviral medication (p-0.02) were significantly associated with having another sexual partner. Focus group discussion findings showed that male gender, alcohol use and the duration of the relationship influenced the decision to use condoms while male gender influenced having another sexual partner.Conclusion: Risky sexual behavior practices still occur among the HIV negative partners in discordant relationships. More education and sensitization should be made on the risks associated with this behavior so as to reduce the risk of HIV infection from their infected partners.Afr J Health Sci. 2013; 26:324-33

The estimation and projection package age-sex model and the r-hybrid model: new tools for estimating HIV incidence trends in sub-Saharan Africa.

OBJECTIVES: Improve models for estimating HIV epidemic trends in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA). DESIGN: Mathematical epidemic model fit to national HIV survey and ANC sentinel surveillance (ANC-SS) data. METHODS: We modified EPP to incorporate age and sex stratification (EPP-ASM) to more accurately capture the shifting demographics of maturing HIV epidemics. Secondly, we developed a new functional form for the HIV transmission rate, termed 'r-hybrid', which combines a four-parameter logistic function for the initial epidemic growth, peak, and decline followed by a first-order random walk for recent trends after epidemic stabilization. We fitted the r-hybrid model along with previously developed r-spline and r-trend models to HIV prevalence data from household surveys and ANC-SS in 177 regions in 34 SSA countries. We used leave-one-out cross validation with household survey HIV prevalence to compare model predictions. RESULTS: The r-hybrid and r-spline models typically provided similar HIV prevalence trends, but sometimes qualitatively different assessments of recent incidence trends because of different structural assumptions about the HIV transmission rate. The r-hybrid model had the lowest average continuous ranked probability score, indicating the best model predictions. Coverage of 95% posterior predictive intervals was 91.5% for the r-hybrid model, versus 87.2 and 85.5% for r-spline and r-trend, respectively. CONCLUSION: The EPP-ASM and r-hybrid models improve consistency of EPP and Spectrum, improve the epidemiological assumptions underpinning recent HIV incidence estimates, and improve estimates and short-term projections of HIV prevalence trends. Countries that use general population survey and ANC-SS data to estimate HIV epidemic trends should consider using these tools