Volunteerism and Community Mobilization for the Abolition of Fgm: Lesson Learnt from the UNV Pilot Project in Sudan.

This paper reflects on some of the lessons learnt from UNV interventions of using volunteerism to mobilize local communities to combat female genital mutilation/cutting in Sudan

Change Detection Techniques using Optical Remote Sensing: A Survey

Environmental planning and management requires continues updating of map to be significant. This has even become curtail in the rapid development and dynamism of urban areas. The advent of GIS has made the regular update of maps easer with the several images and data acquired by many remote sensors covering the earth today. Changes occur in the environment and urban areas can be historically and temporally monitored and traced using various change detection techniques. The effectiveness of these techniques however depends on some factors. Such factors include specific application, accuracy, time and cost. In this paper an evaluation of some change detection techniques/ algorithm was made to identify their potential, accuracy and effectiveness. The evaluation was carried out through image classification for efficient land use management

Evaluation of Fine-needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) Sensitivity Compared to PCR for Diagnosing Tuberculosis Lymphadenitis

Background: Tuberculosis (TB) is a major healthcare burden in Sudan and other developing countries, it is considered the second most common cause of death from infectious diseases after those due to AIDS. In Sudan, TB lymphadenitis (TBLA) remains one of the major health problems. This descriptive cross-sectional study was conducted at the University of Medical Sciences and Technology (UMST) and Total Labcare Diagnostic Center (TDC). The study aims to compare the sensitivity of Fine Needle Aspiration Cytology (FNAC) smears with that of the Polymerase Chain Reaction (PCR) for the diagnosis of TBLA. Materials and Methods: Fifty-five dry smears were obtained using fine-needle aspiration (FNA) from an enlarged lymph node. PCR was applied to detect the target gene (IS6110). May-Grunwald-Giemsa (MGG) or Diff quick stains were used. Results: Two (4%) patients with TBLA were non-necrotic, while fifty-three of them (96%) were necrotic. Moreover, 17 (30%) fine-needle lymph node aspiration specimens were confirmed by PCR to be positive for Mycobacterium tuberculosis complex (MTB complex) while 38 (70%) of them were negative. Conclusion: There was no significant difference between the sensitivity of PCR and that of FNAC (P-value = 0.33)

Identification of novel conserved functional motifs across most Influenza A viral strains

Abstract Background Influenza A virus poses a continuous threat to global public health. Design of novel universal drugs and vaccine requires a careful analysis of different strains of Influenza A viral genome from diverse hosts and subtypes. We performed a systematic in silico analysis of Influenza A viral segments of all available Influenza A viral strains and subtypes and grouped them based on host, subtype, and years isolated, and through multiple sequence alignments we extrapolated conserved regions, motifs, and accessible regions for functional mapping and annotation. Results Across all species and strains 87 highly conserved regions (conservation percentage > = 90%) and 19 functional motifs (conservation percentage = 100%) were found in PB2, PB1, PA, NP, M, and NS segments. The conservation percentage of these segments ranged between 94 - 98% in human strains (the most conserved), 85 - 93% in swine strains (the most variable), and 91 - 94% in avian strains. The most conserved segment was different in each host (PB1 for human strains, NS for avian strains, and M for swine strains). Target accessibility prediction yielded 324 accessible regions, with a single stranded probability > 0.5, of which 78 coincided with conserved regions. Some of the interesting annotations in these regions included sites for protein-protein interactions, the RNA binding groove, and the proton ion channel. Conclusions The influenza virus has evolved to adapt to its host through variations in the GC content and conservation percentage of the conserved regions. Nineteen universal conserved functional motifs were discovered, of which some were accessible regions with interesting biological functions. These regions will serve as a foundation for universal drug targets as well as universal vaccine design.</p

Properties Of Concrete By Using Bagasse Ash And Recycle Aggregate

Sustainable concrete structures which imply green building technology has been widely considering in modern structures. The objective of this study is to investigate the concrete properties by using recycle aggregate as a replacement of coarse aggregate and bagasse ash as the partial replacement of cement. Experimental investigation has been carried out by performing several tests which included slump test, compacting factor test, compressive strength test, rebound hammer test and concrete density test. A total of nine mix batches of concrete containing 0%, 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% of recycle aggregate and 0%, 10%, 15% and 20% of bagasse ash were tested to determine the increment of mechanical properties of concrete. It can be observed that significant decrease of concrete strength with the addition of recycle aggregate, and effective increment of concrete strength by using optimum percentage of bagasse ash might be possible. Finally, it can be concluded that recycle aggregate and bagasse ash with optimum percentage can be used to make recycle concrete and sustainable structures

POZZOLANIC PROPERTIES OF GLASS POWDER IN CEMENT PASTE

This paper investigates the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) as a product of pozzolanic reactions in a cement paste with cement partially replaced with crushed recycled glass at the rate of 10% and 20%. Three different particle sizes for crushed glass used in this study were in the range of 150-75µm, 75-38µm and lower than 38µm; and a water to cement ratio of 0.45 was used for all specimens. This study showed that the formation of Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is decreased while the formation of C-S-H is increased simultaneously at 90 days for 75-38µm and <38µm glass powder. The use of waste glass as a partial cement replacement improves the cement strength through the formation of C-S-H due to the pozzolanic reaction with Ca(OH)2 improving the strength of the mortar

POZZOLANIC PROPERTIES OF GLASS POWDER IN CEMENT PASTE

This paper investigates the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) as a product of pozzolanic reactions in a cement paste with cement partially replaced with crushed recycled glass at the rate of 10% and 20%. Three different particle sizes for crushed glass used in this study were in the range of 150-75µm, 75-38µm and lower than 38µm; and a water to cement ratio of 0.45 was used for all specimens. This study showed that the formation of Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is decreased while the formation of C-S-H is increased simultaneously at 90 days for 75-38µm and <38µm glass powder. The use of waste glass as a partial cement replacement improves the cement strength through the formation of C-S-H due to the pozzolanic reaction with Ca(OH)2 improving the strength of the mortar

POZZOLANIC PROPERTIES OF GLASS POWDER IN CEMENT PASTE

This paper investigates the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) as a product of pozzolanic reactions in a cement paste with cement partially replaced with crushed recycled glass at the rate of 10% and 20%. Three different particle sizes for crushed glass used in this study were in the range of 150-75µm, 75-38µm and lower than 38µm; and a water to cement ratio of 0.45 was used for all specimens. This study showed that the formation of Calcium Hydroxide Ca(OH)2 is decreased while the formation of C-S-H is increased simultaneously at 90 days for 75-38µm and <38µm glass powder. The use of waste glass as a partial cement replacement improves the cement strength through the formation of C-S-H due to the pozzolanic reaction with Ca(OH)2 improving the strength of the mortar

Influence of Mortar Incorporating Silica Based Waste Material on the Formation of C-S-H and Mechanical Strength Properties

Recent studies have been carried out to utilize waste glass in construction as partial cement replacement. This paper investigates the formation of Calcium Silicate Hydrate (C-S-H) and strength characteristics of mortar in which cement is partially replaced with glass powder by replacement level of 10%, 20% and 30%. Mortar cubes containing varying particle sizes in the ranges of 150-75μm, 63-38 μm and lower than 38 μm and in a water to cement ratio of 0.45 and 0.40 have been prepared. Replacement by 10% cement with glass powder reveals high compressive strength and produces more C-S-H at 28 days than other levels of replacement

Assessing disparities in medical students’ knowledge and attitude about monkeypox: a cross-sectional study of 27 countries across three continents

Background and aimsThe recent monkeypox (Mpox) outbreak confirmed by the World Health Organization (WHO) underscores the importance of evaluating the knowledge and attitude of medical students toward emerging diseases, given their potential roles as healthcare professionals and sources of public information during outbreaks. This study aimed to assess medical students’ knowledge and attitude about Mpox and to identify factors affecting their level of knowledge and attitude in low-income and high-income countries.MethodsA cross-sectional study was conducted on 11,919 medical students from 27 countries. A newly-developed validated questionnaire was used to collect data on knowledge (14 items), attitude (12 items), and baseline criteria. The relationship between a range of factors with knowledge and attitude was studied using univariate and multivariate analyses.Results46% of the study participants were males; 10.7% were in their sixth year; 54.6% knew about smallpox; 84% received the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine; and 12.5% had training on Mpox. 55.3% had good knowledge of Mpox and 51.7% had a positive attitude towards it. Medical students in their third, fifth, or sixth year high- income countries who obtained information on Mpox from friends, research articles, social media and scientific websites were positive predictors for good knowledge. Conversely, being male or coming from high-income countries showed a negative relation with good knowledge about Mpox. Additionally, a positive attitude was directly influenced by residing in urban areas, being in the fifth year of medical education, having knowledge about smallpox and a history of receiving the coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) vaccine. Receiving information about Mpox from social media or scientific websites and possessing good knowledge about Mpox were also predictors of a positive attitude. On the other hand, being male, employed, or receiving a training program about Mpox were inversely predicting positive attitude about Mpox.ConclusionThere were differences in knowledge and attitude towards Mpox between medical students in low and high-income countries, emphasizing the need for incorporating epidemiology of re-emerging diseases like Mpox into the medical curriculum to improve disease prevention and control