Exploration of Challenges and Prospects of Dairy Production: A survey study of Mekelle city

The study aims at exploring the challenges and prospects of dairy production in Mekelle city. The study was conducted in five local administration of Mekelle city; namely Ayder, Hadnet, Hawlti, Qwhia and Semien. Milk was the most important dairy product marketed in the areas, so, the study was focused only on milk. Dairy Farmers from each local administration were selected using Proportional Probability to Size (PPS).The research were designed with cross sectional survey design for the small holder dairy farmers and census design for the dairy cooperatives. Data were collected from 160 small holder dairy farmers and 20 dairy cooperatives using semi structured questionnaire. Survey data collected from five local administrations was analyzed by using descriptive analysis. The major challenges of dairy production in the area were shortage of feed, high costs of feeds, seasonality of milk demand occurred due to fasting season, access to credit, inadequate land for dairy expansion and preparation of feeds, Artificial insemination problem, shortage of water. The study area were dominated by both urban and pre-urban milk production. The dairy market in the study area uses informal marketing system. The milk producers were not process and handle the milk through utensils. There were also opportunities for milk producers in the study area; rapid urbanization, extensive population growth and change in the living standard of the societies, animal health service, Artificial insemination, extension and training services were among the opportunities. Therefore, dairy processing industries establishment, support for dairy producers and cooperatives, and improving access to services like credit, land, water, feed, etc. should receive due attention in order to improve dairy production in the study area

Retrospective Assessment of Malnutrition Among Under-five Children in Ayder Referral Hospital, Tigray Ethiopia

Currently worldwide there are about 60 million children with moderate acute and 13 million with severe acute malnutrition. About 9% of sub-Saharan African and 15%of south Asian children have moderate acute malnutrition and about 2% of children in developing countries have severe acute malnutrition. The objective of aim the study was to assess the magnitude of malnutrition in under five children in Ayder referral hospital using a retrospective cross-sectional study design. This study showed that male children, 168(58.1%), were higher than female, 121(41.9%).. Majority, 133(46%), were in the age group b/n 12 to 24 months .More than half, 186(64.4%) were rural dwellers. The types of malnutrition identified were Marasmus, kwashiorkor, Marasmic kwash and underweight which account for 116(40.1%), 69(23.9%), 54(18.7%) and 50(17.5%) respectively. Marasmus was the predominant type of malnutrition in all age groups of under five malnourished children with prevalence of 40.1% where as underweight was the prevalent type of malnutrition (17.3%). More over the infant feeding practices such as exclusive breast feeding, timely initiation of complementary feeding, and having history of breast feeding once in their life during infancy were relatively higher among the children as compared with other studies

Two-Stage Kondo Effect and Kondo Box Level Spectroscopy in a Carbon Nanotube

The concept of the "Kondo box" describes a single spin, antiferromagnetically coupled to a quantum dot with a finite level spacing. Here, a Kondo box is formed in a carbon nanotube interacting with a localized electron. We investigate the spins of its first few eigenstates and compare them to a recent theory. In an 'open' Kondo-box, strongly coupled to the leads, we observe a non-monotonic temperature dependence of the nanotube conductance, which results from a competition between the Kondo-box singlet and the 'conventional' Kondo state that couples the nanotube to the leads.Comment: 5 pages, 3 figure

Resonant Tunneling in a Dissipative Environment

We measure tunneling through a single quantum level in a carbon nanotube quantum dot connected to resistive metal leads. For the electrons tunneling to/from the nanotube, the leads serve as a dissipative environment, which suppresses the tunneling rate. In the regime of sequential tunneling, the height of the single-electron conductance peaks increases as the temperature is lowered, although it scales more weekly than the conventional 1/T. In the resonant tunneling regime (temperature smaller than the level width), the peak width approaches saturation, while the peak height starts to decrease. Overall, the peak height shows a non-monotonic temperature dependence. We associate this unusual behavior with the transition from the sequential to the resonant tunneling through a single quantum level in a dissipative environment.Comment: 5 pages, 5 figure

Bottlenecks in the provision of quality mental health services in Eritrea

Background: The prevalence of mental disorders is increasing significantly in developing countries due to the frequently occurring major risk factors. There is no published information on the profile of mental health disorder and services in Eritrea. Objective of the study: Follow-up descriptive study was conducted on one hundred and one consecutive children with advanced HIV disease who were put on antiretroviral therapy from September 2005 to October 2006. These patients were followed up at the antiretroviral therapy (ART) clinic of the hospital. Methods: A descriptive cross sectional study was conducted using the WHO-AIMS questionnaire that was administered to relevant stakeholders. Results: There was no comprehensive mental health policy and legislation in Eritrea. Only 5% of the health services budget is allocated for mental health services. Mental health services is free of charge and were provided integrated with Primary Health Care services. Inadequate human resources and inadequate training on mental health for the health workers were among the constraints. Conclusion: The status of mental disorders and the mental health services in Eritrea from the policy to management guidelines requires urgent review. Significant Outcomes: a) In resource limited settings, the integrated primary health care approach for mental health services is cost effective and avoids associated stigma. b) WHO/AIMS tool is a simple tool that provides complete picture of the mental health system of a country, c) Lack of policies and legislation in a country severely affects the mental health system of a country Limitations: This was a cross sectional study where data collection and analysis was partially restricted by the level and quality of information available in the registry books of the health facilities. Key words: WHO-AIMS, integrated primary health care, mental health services

Analysis of maternal and newborn training curricula and approaches to inform future trainings for routine care, basic and comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care in the low- and middle-income countries: Lessons from Ethiopia and Nepal

Program managers routinely design and implement specialised maternal and newborn health trainings for health workers in low- and middle-income countries to provide better-coordinated care across the continuum of care. However, in these countries details on the availability of different training packages, skills covered in those training packages and the gaps in their implementation are patchy. This paper presents an assessment of maternal and newborn health training packages to describe differences in training contents and implementation approaches used for a range of training packages in Ethiopia and Nepal. We conducted a mixed-methods study. The quantitative assessment was conducted using a comprehensive assessment questionnaire based on validated WHO guidelines and developed jointly with global maternal and newborn health experts. The qualitative assessment was conducted through key informant interviews with national stakeholders involved in implementing these training packages and working with the Ministries of Health in both countries. Our quantitative analysis revealed several key gaps in the technical content of maternal and newborn health training packages in both countries. Our qualitative results from key informant interviews provided additional insights by highlighting several issues with trainings related to quality, skill retention, logistics, and management. Taken together, our findings suggest four key areas of improvement: first, training materials should be updated based on the content gaps identified and should be aligned with each other. Second, trainings should address actual health worker performance gaps using a variety of innovative approaches such as blended and self-directed learning. Third, post-training supervision and ongoing mentoring need to be strengthened. Lastly, functional training information systems are required to support planning efforts in both countries

Demand for and availability of specialist chemsex services in the UK: A cross-sectional survey of sexual health clinics.

BACKGROUND/INTRODUCTION: Chemsex amongst men who have sex with men (MSM) is well documented in major cities within the United Kingdom (UK), but few data from less urban areas exist. We undertook a survey of sexual health clinic (SHC) healthcare workers (HCWs) to explore demand for and availability of chemsex services to understand training needs and inform service planning. METHODS: An online survey was distributed to HCWs in all SHCs across the UK. For English clinics, we explored associations between responses and geo-demographic region using national surveillance data and population statistics. RESULTS: Responses were received from 56% (150/270) of SHC's in the UK (89% (133/150) from English clinics). 80% (103/129) of UK clinics reported chemsex consultations and in 50% (65/129) these occurred at least monthly, with no significant difference found when analysed by the geo-demographic characteristics of England (p=0.38). Respondents from most clinics (99% (117/118)) wanted chemsex training, 81 %(103/129) felt there was a local clinical need for a chemsex service and 33% (14/43) had chemsex care-pathways for referrals in place. DISCUSSION/CONCLUSION: Patients reporting chemsex regularly present to SHCs throughout the UK including rural areas. Given the potential negative health outcomes associated with chemsex, there is a need for local, high quality, appropriate services and training to minimise harm