Recognition of information need indicators and graduate students' research practices in university libraries of south east Nigeria

This study sets out to determine the influence of recognition of information need on the research practices of graduate students in the university libraries of South East, Nigeria. The objective was to ascertain how information recognition need abilities as provided by libraries and librarians can enhance research practices of graduate students. As a guide to the study, three specific objectives which reflect essential components of the recognition of information need standards namely; recognition of nature of information need, and recognition of scope of information need are formulated. Also, three research questions and one hypothesis are also formulated to direct the study. The study adopts ex- post facto research design. Proportionate sampling technique was used to select a sample size of 556 graduate students out of a population of 5,565 registered graduate student users in the university libraries of South East Nigeria. The instrument for data collection is a researcher developed and validated questionnaire. The reliability coefficient of the instrument was .742. The research questions were answered using mean and standard deviation, while regression method was used to test the hypothesis at .05 level of significance. Findings of the study showed that the individual recognition of information need indicators (recognition of nature of information need, and recognition of scope of information need) investigated, all have significant influence on graduate students' research practices in the university libraries of South East, Nigeria, though at varying degrees. Findings of the study also showed a significant combined influence of information need indicators on the graduate students' research practices. It is recommended among others that Librarians should collaborate with faculty members by sensitizing them on the need to engage students in regular information problem-solving tasks so that the students will be adequately trained on recognizing and defining their information need in their learning and research tasks and to do that early in the research process. Keywords: Recognition of information need, Information Literacy, Research practices, Graduate student

The UK's Global Health Respiratory Network: Improving respiratory health of the world's poorest through research collaborations.

Respiratory disorders are responsible for considerable morbidity, health care utilisation, societal costs and approximately one in five deaths worldwide [1-4]. Yet, despite this substantial health and societal burden – which particularly affects the world’s poorest populations and as such is a major contributor to global health inequalities – respiratory disorders have historically not received the policy priority they warrant. For example, despite causing an estimated 1000 deaths per day, less than half of the world’s countries collect data on asthma prevalence (http://www.globalasthmareport.org/). This is true for both communicable and non-communicable respiratory disorders, many of which are either amenable to treatment or preventable

The need to promote behaviour change at the cultural level: one factor explaining the limited impact of the MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual health intervention in rural Tanzania. A process evaluation

Background - Few of the many behavioral sexual health interventions in Africa have been rigorously evaluated. Where biological outcomes have been measured, improvements have rarely been found. One of the most rigorous trials was of the multi-component MEMA kwa Vijana adolescent sexual health programme, which showed improvements in knowledge and reported attitudes and behaviour, but none in biological outcomes. This paper attempts to explain these outcomes by reviewing the process evaluation findings, particularly in terms of contextual factors. Methods - A large-scale, primarily qualitative process evaluation based mainly on participant observation identified the principal contextual barriers and facilitators of behavioural change. Results - The contextual barriers involved four interrelated socio-structural factors: culture (i.e. shared practices and systems of belief), economic circumstances, social status, and gender. At an individual level they appeared to operate through the constructs of the theories underlying MEMA kwa Vijana - Social Cognitive Theory and the Theory of Reasoned Action – but the intervention was unable to substantially modify these individual-level constructs, apart from knowledge. Conclusion - The process evaluation suggests that one important reason for this failure is that the intervention did not operate sufficiently at a structural level, particularly in regard to culture. Recently most structural interventions have focused on gender or/and economics. Complementing these with a cultural approach could address the belief systems that justify and perpetuate gender and economic inequalities, as well as other barriers to behaviour change

Efect of maleated anhydride on mechanical properties of rice husk filler reinforced PLA Matrix Polymer Composite

Polylactic acid (PLA) formulated from corn starch has a bright potential to replace the non-renewable petroleum-based plastics. The combination of PLA and natural fbre has gained interest due to its unique performance, as reported in many researches and industries. Meanwhile, rice husk produced as the by-product of rice milling can be utilised, unless it is turned completely into waste. Therefore, in the present study, the rice husk powder (RHP) was used as a fller in the PLA, so to determine the infuence of the fller loading on the mechanical properties of the PLA composite. A coupling agent was selected for treatment from two options, i.e., maleic anhydride polypropylene (MAPP) and maleic anhydride polyethylene (MAPE), by applying the agents with various loading contents, such as 2, 4 and 6 wt%. The composite was fabricated by using the hot compression machine. Both the treated and untreated RHP–PLA composites were characterised via the tensile, fexural and impact strength tests. The increase in the RHP loading content led to the decrease in the tensile and fexural strengths. The applications of the coupling agents (MAPE and MAPP) did not improve the tensile and impact strengths, but the fexural strength was enhanced

Seroprevalence and risk factors of herpes simplex virus type-2 infection among pregnant women in Northeast India

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Herpes simplex virus type-2 (HSV-2) is one of the most common sexually transmitted infections that facilitate human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) acquisition by over two fold or more. The development of HSV-2 control methods as a measure to control HIV epidemic in high HSV-2/HIV areas has become a priority. Two out of the six high HIV prevalent states of India are located in the Northeastern region of India. Due to lack of documented HSV-2 studies from this part of the country; there was a need for estimating the seroprevalence and risk factors of HSV-2 infection in this defined population.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Pregnant women (n = 1640) aged18 years and above attending antenatal clinics of tertiary referral hospitals in five Northeastern states of India were screened for type specific HSV-2 IgG antibodies. Blood samples were collected from all the participants after conducting interviews. Univariate and multivariate analyses were performed to identify the risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositivity.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection was 8.7% (142/1640; 95% CI 7.3-10.0) with a highest prevalence of 15.0% (46/307; 95% CI 11.0-19.0) in the state of Arunachal Pradesh. Higher seroprevalence was observed with increasing age (Adj. Odds Ratio [AOR] 1.9 for 22-25 years old, AOR 2.29 for > 29 years old). The risk factors associated with HSV-2 seropositives were multiple sex partners (AOR 2.5, <it>p </it>= 0.04), condom non-user's (AOR 4.7, p <it><</it>0.001), early coitarchal age (age of first intercourse) 'less than 18 years' (AOR 9.6, <it>p = </it>0.04), middle income group (AOR 2.1, <it>p = </it>0.001) compared to low income group and low level of education (AOR 3.7, <it>p = </it>0.02) compared to higher education. HSV-2 seropositivity was higher among Christians (12.6%) compared to Muslims (3.8%). The most frequent clinical symptoms among HSV-2 seropositives were excess vaginal discharge in last one year (53.5%, 76/142) and pelvic pain (26.1%, 37/142). While among subjects with genital ulcers, HSV-2 seroprevalence was 36.8% (7/19).</p> <p>Conclusions</p> <p>Overall seroprevalence of HSV-2 infection among pregnant women of Northeast India is relatively low. The generation of awareness among high risk groups may have played key role to limit the infection. The role of vaccination against HSV-2 in near future and elimination of HSV-2 viral shedding along with genital tract inflammation in high HIV/HSV-2 areas may be an option for initiating successful intervention strategies to reduce the transmission and acquisition of HIV infection in Northeast India.</p

The silent HIV epidemic among pregnant women within rural Northern Tanzania

BACKGROUND: Many national antenatal clinics (ANC) based HIV surveillance systems in sub-Saharan Africa have limited coverage of remote rural sites, a weakness that compromises adequate estimation, monitoring and development of effective preventive and care programmes. To address this void in rural Manyara and Singida within Northern Tanzania, we conducted antenatal clinic-based sentinel surveillance. METHODS: We consecutively enrolled 1377 counselled and consenting pregnant women attending ANC clinics for the first time during the current pregnancy. The study was conducted in six antenatal clinics, within three divisions of rural Manyara and Singida regions in 2003/2004. Interviews were conducted and blood samples for routine purposes were collected and tested for anti-HIV IgG antibody anonymously, using Bionor HIV-1 & 2 assay (®). RESULTS: Among enrolees, 94% (1296/1377) participated fully. The overall prevalence of HIV was 2.0% (95%CI: 1.34–2.97). The highest HIV prevalence was among women aged between 15–19 years in both rural and remote rural populations. The odds of HIV infection was 4.3 (95%CI: 1.42–12.77) times among women reporting more than one lifetime sexual partners compared with those with one partner. HIV infection was associated with history of genital sores or foul smelling discharge, OR 6.8 (95%CI: 2.78–16.66) and age at first pregnancy (2.5 times higher likelihood of infection if before the age of 18 years versus at a later age). CONCLUSION: Including rural remote sites, as part of the national ANC routine surveillance, is crucial in order to discover imminent silent epidemics such as the one described in this paper. Scaling up HIV prevention efforts is mandatory to prevent the imminent escalation of the HIV epidemic highly associated with a history of sexually transmitted infections (STIs), multiple sexual partners and pregnancies at a younger age. Ignorance of relevant knowledge and low utilisation of condoms underscores the urgency for large-scale preventive efforts. Research to capture a wider representation of the risk factors in the general population should be a priority to enable further customised HIV prevention efforts

HIV-1, HSV-2 and syphilis among pregnant women in a rural area of Tanzania: Prevalence and risk factors

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Evidence suggests that a substantial proportion of new HIV infections in African countries are associated with herpes simplex virus type 2 (HSV-2). Thus, the magnitude of HSV-2 infection in an area may suggest the expected course of the HIV epidemic. We determined prevalence of genital herpes, syphilis and associated factors among pregnant women from a remote rural Tanzanian community that has a low but increasing HIV prevalence.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>We analysed 1296 sera and responses to a standard structured questionnaire collected from pregnant women aged between 15–49 years, attending six different antenatal clinics within rural Manyara and Singida regions in Tanzania. Linked anonymous testing (with informed consent) of the serum for specific antibodies against HSV-2 was done using a non-commercial peptide- 55 ELISA. Antibodies against syphilis were screened by using rapid plasma reagin (RPR) and reactive samples confirmed by <it>Treponema pallidum </it>haemagglutination assay (TPHA).</p> <p>Results</p> <p>Previous analysis of the collected sera had shown the prevalence of HIV antibodies to be 2%. In the present study the prevalence of genital herpes and syphilis was 20.7% (95% CI: 18.53–23.00) and 1.6% (95% CI: 1.03–2.51), respectively. The presence of HSV-2 antibodies was associated with polygamy (OR 2.2, 95% CI: 1.62 – 3.01) and the use of contraceptives other than condoms (OR 1.7, 95% CI: 1.21 – 2.41). Syphilis was associated with reporting more than one lifetime sexual partner (OR 5.4, 95% CI: 1.88 – 15.76) and previous spontaneous abortion (OR 4.3, 95% CI: 1.52–12.02).</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>The low prevalence of HIV infection offers a unique opportunity for strengthening HIV prevention in a cost-effective manner. The identification and control of other prevalent curable STIs other than syphilis and specific intervention of HSV-2 in specific populations like pregnant women would be one among approaches towards preventing incident HIV infections.</p

The VISTA Variables in the Vía Láctea eXtended (VVVX) ESO public survey: Completion of the observations and legacy

© 2024 ESO. This is the accepted manuscript version of an article which has been published in final form at https://doi.org/10.1051/0004-6361/202450584The ESO public survey VISTA Variables in the V\'ia L\'actea (VVV) surveyed the inner Galactic bulge and the adjacent southern Galactic disk from $2009-2015$. Upon its conclusion, the complementary VVV eXtended (VVVX) survey has expanded both the temporal as well as spatial coverage of the original VVV area, widening it from $562$ to $1700$ sq. deg., as well as providing additional epochs in $JHK_{\rm s}$ filters from $2016-2023$. With the completion of VVVX observations during the first semester of 2023, we present here the observing strategy, a description of data quality and access, and the legacy of VVVX. VVVX took $\sim 2000$ hours, covering about 4% of the sky in the bulge and southern disk. VVVX covered most of the gaps left between the VVV and the VISTA Hemisphere Survey (VHS) areas and extended the VVV time baseline in the obscured regions affected by high extinction and hence hidden from optical observations. VVVX provides a deep $JHK_{\rm s}$ catalogue of $\gtrsim 1.5\times10^9$ point sources, as well as a $K_{\rm s}$ band catalogue of $\sim 10^7$ variable sources. Within the existing VVV area, we produced a $5D$ map of the surveyed region by combining positions, distances, and proper motions of well-understood distance indicators such as red clump stars, RR Lyrae, and Cepheid variables. In March 2023 we successfully finished the VVVX survey observations that started in 2016, an accomplishment for ESO Paranal Observatory upon 4200 hours of observations for VVV+VVVX. The VVV+VVVX catalogues complement those from the Gaia mission at low Galactic latitudes and provide spectroscopic targets for the forthcoming ESO high-multiplex spectrographs MOONS and 4MOST.Peer reviewe