Factors associated with late antenatal care attendance

Includes bibliographical references.The prevalence of late attendance for antenatal care in South Africa remains high despite the reported benefits of early initiation of antenatal care. The study aimedat identifying factors associated with late initiation of antenatal care. Methods: Cross sectional survey data collected for a FAS prevention programme in rural and urban South Africa were used. The primary study made use of face-to-face interviews with female participants the age range of 18 to 44 years. The dependent variable, gestational age, was categorized into a binary variable across 4 months gestational age. Independent variables consisted of scales and categorical variables (mostly binary) within the following domains: (a) socio-demographic factors; (b) characteristics of index pregnancy including substance use information; (c) psychosocial factors; (d) community factors; and (e) partner characteristics

An unusual presentation of visual hallucinations with zolpidem: a case report

Zolpidem is a hypnotic drug with rapid -onset and short duration of action. It is popularly used for the induction and maintenance of sleep in adults suffering from insomnia. It supersedes benzodiazepines with better tolerability and has fewer side effects such as less residual sedation and the potential for rebound insomnia and dependence is also less. Adverse neuropsychiatric reactions such as visual hallucinations, amnesia, sleepwalking and nocturnal eating are known to occur with zolpidem. Literature suggests higher incidence of visual hallucinations with zolpidem when used along with selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors. Furthermore, visual hallucinations are one of the causes for drug withdrawal. We are reporting a case of zolpidem induced visual hallucinations when used alone and also which disappeared with proper assurance to the patient in subsequent use

Experience-sharing Workshop to Support Co-development of National Framework for Weather, Water and Climate Services (NFWWCS) for Eastern and Southern Africa

Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa project in Eastern and Southern Africa (AICCRA ESA) has kick-started a programme action aimed at empowering and accelerating the planning, development and implementation of the National Framework for Weather, Water and Climate Services (NFWWCS) in East and Southern Africa. The program action brings along catalytic stakeholders such as the International Water Management Institute (IWMI), African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), the World Meteorological Organization - Regional Office for Africa (WMO-ROA), stakeholders from Eastern and Southern Africa countries, World Meteorological Organization(WMO) Permanent representatives, NMHS and other experts, the regional climate centers as well as the UN agencies to support and enrich NFWWCS development process through a learning and knowledge-sharing workshops, with the view of crafting enabling mechanisms and interventions to accelerate the implementation of NFWWCSs across all the ESA countries. Following the successful co-development and endorsement of AICCRA-supported NFCS in Ethiopia, AICRRA is conducting, in partnership with the African Climate Policy Centre (ACPC), WMO Africa and IGAD Climate Prediction and Application Centre (ICPAC), through regional workshops to explore the landscape in the development and implementation of NFWWCS. This cross-regional and southsouth consultative learning and knowledge-sharing regional workshops bring together various stakeholders from Eastern and Southern African countries, including their respective WMO Permanent representatives, NMHS and other experts, the regional climate centers, and the UN agencies. The NFWWCS is designed to mainstream weather, water, and climate science into decision-making at all levels and help ensure that every country and every climate-sensitive sector of society is wellequipped to access and apply the relevant climate information. The NFWWCS is premised on the Global Framework for Climate Services (GFCS) conceptualized and endorsed by the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) to strengthen the production, availability, delivery and application of science-based climate monitoring and prediction services. Mirroring the functioning of the GFCS, NFWWCS provides for an enhancement and expansion of the NFCS, which its function is now being expanded to include weather and hydrological services, based on the experiences and lesson learned during the development and implementation of the NFCS across few WMO member states that have embarked on the framework development process

Production of polymeric carbon solids (PCS) and their application as adsorbents for potentially toxic elements in water and wastewater

Abstract: Heavy metals are considered as some of the toxic substances that pollute water globally, as such, they tend to have negative effects on living organisms. Manganese and chromium metals exist in different oxidation states which some are dangerous at their low concentrations and they can cause dementia, anxiety, and ataxia, and nervous system problems. The main aim of this study was to produce PCS, hydrochar, and AC from wood chips and evaluate their potential as adsorbents for toxic inorganic ions from aqueous systems. The hydrochar was successfully produced by hydrothermal carbonization (HTC) of eucalyptus wood chips in the presence of a catalyst, water as a solvent, under the temperature of 240 °C and pressure of 4 bars. The activated carbon (AC) was generated by heating the hydrochar in a tube furnace, this process is called annealing. The hydrochar and AC were used as adsorbents for the removal of Mn(II) and Cr(VI) from aqueous solutions. The hydrochar and AC were characterized by sophisticated analytical instruments such as scanning electron microscopy (SEM), transmission electron microscopy (TEM), x-ray powder diffraction (XRD), thermogravimetric analyzer (TGA), energy dispersive x-ray (EDX), Dynamic Light Scattering (DLS), Fourier transform infrared spectroscopy (FTIR), and Brunauer–Emmett–Teller (BET)...M.Sc. (Chemistry

Mental Task Recognition by EEG Signals: A Novel Approach with ROC Analysis

Electroencephalogram or electroencephalography (EEG) has been widely used in medical fields and recently in cognitive science and brain-computer interface (BCI) research. To distinguish metal tasks such as reading, calculation, motor imagery, etc., it is generally to extract features of EEG signals by dimensionality reduction methods such as principle component analysis (PCA), linear determinant analysis (LDA), common spatial pattern (CSP), and so on for classifiers, for example, k-nearest neighbor method (kNN), kernel support vector machine (SVM), and artificial neural networks (ANN). In this chapter, a novel approach of feature extraction of EEG signals with receiver operating characteristic (ROC) analysis is introduced

A survey of organic pollutants in the South African sewage sludges.

Thesis (M.Sc.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Pietermaritzburg, 2006.A comprehensive literature survey looking at different aspects of organic contaminants in sewage sludge is incorporated in the thesis. It is clear from the data available that plants do not take up most of the organic pollutants. However, a risk of contamination of the food chain exists when sludge is spread directly onto crops that are to be consumed raw or semi-cooked. The major source of human exposure to sludge-borne organic pollutants is through the consumption of animal products such as meat and milk through the bioaccumulation of compounds such as polychlorinated dibenzo-p-dioxins and -furans (PCDD/Fs), polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) or polynuclear aromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs). This is due to the ingestion of soil and sludge by livestock due to the spreading of sludge on the land used for grazing. Currently little is known about the plant uptake of phthalates and nonylphenols, which are present in relatively high levels in sludge. Included in the literature survey is a list of the most common methods normally used for extraction of organic compounds and the possible methods of analysis. What is noted is that there is no universally accepted and validated analytical method for analysing most of the organic compounds. In addition, data concerning levels of organic pollutants is scarce worldwide. The methods selected for this project were EPA Methods 35IOC (Liquid-liquid extraction) and 3540C (Soxhlet extraction) for the aqueous and solid sewage sludge respectively. These two methods were chosen because they are simple, inexpensive and effective. The chosen purification method was the sulfur clean-up process (EPA Method 3660B). This is because sulfur precipitates were observed in most of the concentrated extracts, especially from the solid samples. A total of 109 samples from 78 sewage works were extracted, using Soxhlet extraction for solids and liquid-liquid extraction for liquid samples. All the extracts were analysed using GC-MS. The identification of the organic compounds was made possible by the use of GC-MS Wiley library. A total of 712 organic compounds were identified in the South African sewage sludge. These included Phenols, Pesticides, PAHs, Phthalates, PCBs, Furans, Amines, Aldehydes, Esters, Acids, Chlorinated Hydrocarbons, Alcohols, Hydrocarbons and Others (all sorts of organic compounds that did not belong to the named categories). The extraction efficiency and reproducibility using a "clean" sludge matrix was carried out. The results showed that the method chosen for extraction i.e. Soxhlet method had an efficiency of over 80% and the results were reproducible. A total of 14 samples were selected for the quantification of p-cresol, nonylphenol and pesticides listed in the current legislation. The results showed negative results for pesticides, confirming that the pesticides listed in the legislation are not the compounds that need to be regulated as far as organic pollutants are concerned. The reasons for this are most likely due to the fact that most of the pesticides listed are banned or their use is severely restricted. The results for the quantification of p-cresol and nonylphenol, when comparing the liquid and the solid extracts of the liquid sludge, show that 99% of p-cresol is concentrated in the liquid phase. The opposite is true when looking at nonylphenol where 90% of it is trapped in the solid matrix leaving 10% in the liquid phase. It is also noted that liquid sludge contains high concentrations of both p-cresol and nonylphenol when compared to the solid sludge

A clinical study on reconstruction of traumatic auricular defects

The auricle or external ear is an important aesthetic subunit of the face. The intricate anatomy due to multiple convolutions along with the thin integument poses a challenge to the reconstructive surgeon. The prominent position of the ear on either side of the face and over a bony prominence makes it more prone for injury. The objective of the study is to describe various traumatic auricular defects and their subsequent reconstructive methods. A retrospective analysis of 15 patients with traumatic auricular defects was carried out over a period of 2 years between the time period of January 2022 and December 2023. Various reconstructive methods such as Primary closure, use of chondral grafts and chondrocutaneous flaps, local flaps were employed depending on the size of the defect and according to the reconstructive ladder. Out of 15 patients, 12 were male and 3 were female, with traumatic ear defects secondary to road traffic accidents (12) and human bite (3). The site of the defect was upper 1/3d (8), upper+middle 1/3rd (3), lower+middle third (2), middle third (1) and lower 1/3rd (1) of the auricle. They were managed by debridement and primary closure in 5 cases, post auricular flap in 5 cases, preauricular flap in 2 cases, peninsular conchal island flap+postauricular flap in 1 case, and bilobed flap in 1 case. All the flaps settled well. 4 patients needed secondary procedures in the form of flap division and contour corrections. This study employed a variety of reconstruction methods of the auricle as per the reconstructive ladder. Some of the patients required secondary procedures. All patients in this study had a satisfactory end aesthetic outcome with no major complications

ANALISIS KARAKTERISTIK PARKIR KENDARAAN PADA RSUD KEFAMENANU KABUPATEN TIMOR TENGAH UTARA - NTT

RSUD Kefamenanu merupakan salah satu rumah sakit di Kabupaten TTU yang menjadi pilihan utama masyarakat untuk berobat. Semakin meningatnya jumlah pasien dan pengunjung berdampak pada bertambahnya jumlah kendaraan yang parkir di area parkir rumah sakit. Tujuan dilakukannya studi ini agar dapat menganalisis karakteristik dan kebutuhan ruang parkir yang ada di RSUD Kefamenanu. Metode yang digunakan dalam pengumpulan data yaitu survey langsung dengan cara mencatat plat nomor dan waktu kendaraan yang masuk dan keluar parkir RSUD Kefamenanu. Survey langsung di lapangan diakukan dalam waktu 3 hari yaitu Minggu , 6 November 2022, Senin 7 November 2022, Rabu 9 November 2022. Sedangkan untuk waktu survey dilakukan mulai pukul 07.00-20.00 WITA dengan interval waktu pengamatan 15 menit. Dari hasil analisa yang dilakukan, diketahui jumlah kendaraan yang ada pada area parkir mobil maksimum sebanyak 9 kendaraan, untuk motor sebanyak 107 kendaraan. Volume parkir maximal roda empat sebanyak 48 kendaraan. Untuk roda dua sebanyak 465 kendaraan. Turnover parking maximum untuk mobil sebanyak 8,7 kendaraan/ruang/13jam. Untuk sepeda motor sebanyak 3,7 kendaraan/ruang/13jam. Presentase keterisian parkir mobil sebanyak 150% pada jam 13.45 - 14.00. untuk sepeda motor sebesar 85% pada jam 11.15 - 11.30. durasi parkir roda empat tertinggi selama 15 menit berjumlah 10 kendaraan, untuk roda dua sebanyak 27 kendaraan. Kebutuhan Ruang Parkir (KRP) kendaraan roda empat sebesar 112,5 m2. Sedangkan luas area parkir kendaraan roda empat sebesar 69 m2 yang artinya untuk parkir mobil sendiri belum mencukupi kebutuhan yang ada. Untuk kendaraan roda dua sebesar 160 m2 yang artinya masih mencukupi untuk parkir kendaraan roda dua