Studies on the Predisposing Factors of Protein Energy Malnutrition Among Pregnant Women in a Nigerian Community

Protein Energy Malnutrition (PEM) continues to be a major public health problem in developing countries and affects mostly infants, young children, pregnant and lactating mothers. This study was carried on some of the factors that predispose pregnant women to PEM and hence identify groups at greater risk. A total of 1387 pregnant women (910 in the urban area and 477 in the rural areas) were recruited for the study. Anthropometric indices of weight, height and Body Mass Index (BMI) of the pregnant women were measured and semi structured questionnaires were used to elicit information on possible predisposing factors such as age, level of education, parity, child spacing etc. Results obtained showed that the mean weight and height of the rural pregnant women, were significantly (p<0.0001) lower than those of the urban pregnant women. The mean BMI of the rural subjects, was also significantly (p< 0.0027) lower than that of the urban subjects. Analysis of the effect of age showed that the younger age category (24 years and below) had significantly (p<0.0001) lower mean BMI and higher prevalence of PEM while the effect of level of education showed significantly (p<0006) lower mean BMI and higher PEM prevalence among the less educated (no formal and primary education). Those with parity of two, one and primipara showed significantly (p<0.0175) lower mean BMI while child spacing did not have any significant effect on both mean BMI and prevalence of PEM. The implications of these findings are discussed and recommendations made on how to tackle the problem

Soil Conditioner Formula Enriched by Humic Substance to Enhance Productivity of Ultisols Taman Bogo, Lampung

The objectives of this research are : (1) to find enrichment substance from various organic material to increase the effectiveness of the soil conditioner, (2) to study the effect of humic substance contained in organic matter on soil properties and crop productivity. Research preceded by humic substance extraction from various organic matter. Reseach was conducted at green house using Ultisols from Taman Bogo, Center of Lampung. The experimental design used a factorial with four replications, treatment that tested were factor I: some organic material: municipal waste compost, manure compost, coal and peat, whereas factor II: enrichment types: extracted (HLS) and no extracted. The results of the research showed that HLS (humic like substances) from peat contained the highest humic substances (humat and fulvic acid), whereas HLS from manure contained the lowest humic substance. Manure was better applied in the form of compost than HLS. Organic materials with a high C/N ratio and low nutrient content (i.e. coal, peat, municipal wastes), that was applied in HSL form did not effect plant growth and biomass production significantly

On a new conformal functional for simplicial surfaces

We introduce a smooth quadratic conformal functional and its weighted version $$W_2=\sum_e \beta^2(e)\quad W_{2,w}=\sum_e (n_i+n_j)\beta^2(e),$$ where $\beta(e)$ is the extrinsic intersection angle of the circumcircles of the triangles of the mesh sharing the edge $e=(ij)$ and $n_i$ is the valence of vertex $i$. Besides minimizing the squared local conformal discrete Willmore energy $W$ this functional also minimizes local differences of the angles $\beta$. We investigate the minimizers of this functionals for simplicial spheres and simplicial surfaces of nontrivial topology. Several remarkable facts are observed. In particular for most of randomly generated simplicial polyhedra the minimizers of $W_2$ and $W_{2,w}$ are inscribed polyhedra. We demonstrate also some applications in geometry processing, for example, a conformal deformation of surfaces to the round sphere. A partial theoretical explanation through quadratic optimization theory of some observed phenomena is presented.Comment: 14 pages, 8 figures, to appear in the proceedings of "Curves and Surfaces, 8th International Conference", June 201

Pengaruh Foot Massage Terhadap Kualitas Tidur Pasien Di Ruang ICU

Gangguan tidur pasien kritis di ruang Intensive Care Unit dapat mengakibatkan terganggunya fungsi kekebalantubuh, menurunkan kemampuan otot inspirasi pernafasan, terganggunya sistem metabolisme, terganggunya regulasisistem saraf pusat dan kondisi psikologis pasien yang berdampak terhadap waktu perawatan berkepanjangan.Foot Massage merupakan salah satu terapi komplementer yang aman dan mudah diberikan dan mempunyai efekmeningkatkan sirkulasi, mengeluarkan sisa metabolisme, meningkatkan rentang gerak sendi, mengurangi rasa sakit,merelaksasikan otot dan memberikan rasa nyaman pada pasien. Tujuan penelitian ini teridentifikasinya perbedaanpengaruh skor kualitas tidur pada kelompok kontrol dan perlakuan. Penelitian quasi eksperimental ini menggunakankelompok kontrol dan kelompok perlakuan dengan masing-masing kelompok dilakukan penilaian pretest dan postest.Jumlah sampel sebanyak 24 pasien. Instrumen kualitas tidur menggunakan Richard Campbell Sleep Quationare(RCSQ). Data dianalisis dengan uji t berpasangan dan uji t tidak berpasangan. Hasil penelitian menunjukan padakelompok kontrol tidak terdapat perbedaan yang bermakna rerata skor kualitas tidur (p = 0,150), sedangkan padakelompok perlakuan, terdapat perbedaan yang bermakna rerata skor kualitas tidur (p=0,002). Adapun selisih skorkualitas tidur pada kelompok kontrol dan kelompok perlakuan terdapat perbedaan secara bermakna (p= 0,026).Simpulan penelitian ini skor kualitas tidur pada kelompok intervensi lebih tinggi daripada kelompok kontrol,sehingga disarankan foot massage dijadikan evidence based di rumah sakit sebagai salah satu terapi komplementeryang dapat dijadikan intervensi mandiri keperawatan untuk membantu mengatasi gangguan tidur pasien kritis

Influence of body weight and serum electrolyte status on sheep electrocardiography

Considering the importance of sheep, economically and in research, it is necessary to explain what normal sheep electrocardiogram values are, and the factors that can cause variations in ECG parameters. The present study, therefore, sought to verify the differences that exist in ECG time scaling between different sub-groupings of sheep. To achieve this, 60 normal sheep were evaluated for the ECG. We reported that at normal ranges of electrolytes and ECG intervals/durations, with mean weights: Ouda = 41.6 ± 7.2 kg (27.8 – 54.0 kg), Balami = 33.2 ± 6.4 kg (22.2 – 43.5 kg); the ewes showed significantly long timing of ECG waves than the rams (P &lt;0.001), the lambs lower than the adult sheep (P &lt;0.001), the Ouda beyond the Balami breed (P &lt;0.001) and the semi-intensive sheep more than the intensively managed (P &lt;0.001). However, when the sub-groups were evaluated for the variations in the PR interval and QTc, with every increase in a unit of the weight, calcium or potassium ions, no discernable difference was noticed between the two sexes. In this, the lambs showed a better slope of these relationships compared to the adult sheep (PR interval: β- coefficient = 0.0010 – 0.0086 v -0.0001- 0.0005 and QTc: 0.0006 – 0.0215 v -0.0001 – 0.0143). The Ouda correlated better than the Balami breed, (PR interval: β- coefficient =0.0062 – 0.2527 v -0.0007 – 0.0033 and QTc: 0.0008 – 0.0264 v 0.0001 – 0.0064). And the semi-intensively managed sheep had an enhanced relationship than sheep managed intensively (PR interval: β- coefficient =0.0002 – 0.0123 v 0.0001 – 0,0071 and QTc: 0.0006 – 0.0197 v 0.0001 – 0.0108). We, therefore, conclude from this result, that within the normal serum electrolytes range, both body weight and habitual physical activity may influence atrial and ventricular depolarization and repolarization timing, with the physical activity level playing an overall dominant role