Black–White Disparities in Body Mass Index Trajectories From Adolescence to Adulthood: Assessing the Roles of Adverse Childhood Experiences and Exposures to Short Sleep Durations

In comparison to Whites and other racial groups, the Black population in the U.S. has experienced one of the highest prevalences of obesity. Research into the role of adverse childhood experiences (ACEs) has increased recently because the effects of ACEs often persist for a significant portion of a person’s lifetime. Furthermore, the reduction in sleep duration in recent decades has sparked worries about public health. This dissertation assesses Black-White disparities in the associations between (1) ACEs and BMI, and (2) short sleep durations and BMI from adolescence to adulthood. Public-use datasets from the National Longitudinal Study of Adolescent to Adult Health were used to estimate these associations. Study participants included 5,438 Black and White individuals. This study found that female respondents who reported more ACEs experienced higher BMI, on average, than females who did not report any ACE. Additionally, among females this effect was stronger among Blacks in some instances. ACEs were not associated with BMI trajectories among male respondents. Female and male respondents who reported short sleep durations experienced higher BMI, on average, than those who did not report short sleep durations. However, the association did not differ by race among either female or male respondents. The findings imply that ACEs influence Black-White gaps in BMI, especially among females, through pathways that begin early in the lifecourse. Interventions designed to support disadvantaged Black children and adolescents may help reduce large racial disparities in BMI

Relationship between Module Size, Alternative Cost and Bugs

Selle lõputöö eesmärgiks on uurida, kas alternatiivkulu (AC) ja mooduli suurus viivad suurema vigade arvuni tarkvaraprojektis. Kasutades nelja tarkvaraprojekti – JQuery, Font-Awesome, ReactJS ja Atom – versiooniajaloost ja vearaportitest eraldatud andmeid, arvutame me nende alternatiivkulud. Seejärel kasutame me Kendalli korrelatsiooni, et uurida AC ja vigade ning mooduli suuruse (mõõdetuna koodiridades) ja vigade vahelise seose tugevust. Me leidsime, et moodulite suuruse ja vigade vahel on tugev korrelatsioon kõigis neljas tarkvaraprojektis. Samas AC ja vigade vaheline seos jäi tõendamata. Oma uurimusest järeldame, et tarkvaraprojekti kvaliteeditagamise tegevuste käigus tuleks suurtele moodulitele pöörata rohkem tähelepanu. Alternatiivkulu ei ole oluline vigade asukoha tuvastamiseks.The aim of this thesis is to find out if Alternative Cost (AC) and size of modules lead to more bugs in a software project. Using the historical churn extracted from revisions data and bug reports data retrieved from four software projects namely, JQuery, Font-Awesome, ReactJS, and Atom, we calculate their AC. After which we use Kendall correlation to investigate the strength of association between AC and bugs, and module size (measured in Lines of Code) and bugs. We find a strong association between size of modules in all four software projects and bugs existing in them, while that of AC and bugs remain inconclusive. From our investigation, we conclude that when quality assurance activities are performed on a software project, modules with larger size should be given more attention. On the other hand, using our result, Alternative Cost is not relevant for bugs localization

A novel hybrid fuzzy MCDM approach for the selection of building materials

The selection of building materials is one of the most critical activities in the design of a building and is often observed to be a multi-criterion decision-making problem with conflicting and different objectives. This paper proposes a building material selection model based on a hybrid fuzzy MCDM techniques, a multi-criterion decision analysis approach. The fuzzy MCDM is used to prioritize and assign important weightings for evaluating criteria. Ratings of alternatives versus qualitative criteria and the importance weights of all the criteria are assessed in linguistic values represented by fuzzy numbers. Ranking formulae and membership functions for the final fuzzy evaluation values can be clearly developed for better executing the decision making. A numerical is used to demonstrate the feasibility of the proposed approach. Keywords: Fuzzy MCDM, fuzzy logic, building materials selection, ranking, maximizing set and minimizing set

Foreign Direct Investment, Economic Growth and Financial Sector Development in Small Open Developing Economies

The present paper examines the causal linkage between foreign direct investment(FDI) and economic growth - in Cote’ d’Ivoire, Gambia, Ghana, Nigeria and Sierra Leone – with financial development accounted for over the period 1970-2005 within a trivariate framework which applies Granger causality tests in a vector error correction(VEC) setting. Three alternative measures of financial sector development - total liquid liabilities, total banking sector credit and credit to the private sector – were employed to capture different ramifications of financial intermediation. Our results support the view that the extent of financial sophistication matters for the benefits of foreign direct investment to register on economic growth in Ghana, Gambia and Sierra Leone depending on the financial indicator used. Nigeria, on the other hand, displays no evidence of any short- or long-run causal flow from FDI to growth with financial deepening accompanying. In sum, therefore, what should be of utmost urgency is concerted efforts in most of these countries, which have typically been in the throes of economic reforms, to upgrade their financial structure to better position them to reap the desirable growth promoting effects of FDI flows.Financial development; Foreign direct investment; Vector error correction; Economic growth; Economic reforms

A STUDY OF INTESTINAL OBSTRUCTION CONSERVTIVE VERSUS SURGICAL MANAGEMENT

Intestinal obstruction refers to the impairment to the abnormal passage of intestinal contents which can be due to the mechanical obstruction or failure of normal intestinal motility in the absence of an obstructing lesion. Extra luminal, intrinsic, and intraluminal are three categories of small bowel obstruction. In this retrospective observational study, patients presenting to the A&E department of surgery unit who had similar condition were screened. The study is based on total of 60 patients out of which 22 patients managed conservatively whereas 38 patients were managed surgically. Common symptoms were abdominal pain and vomiting. 20 patients had previous abdominal surgery; 16 had exploratory laparotomy for abdominal trauma, perforation, gynae procedure, etc. 4 patients developed characteristic of obstruction following laproscopic. 14 patients undergone surgery while 6 patients were managed conservatively. Surgically managed duration was 2.8 days on average. Mean duration for conservatively managed patients was 2.9 days. Among the surgically managed patients, 11 had strictures, 14 had adhesion, 8 had obstructed hernia, 1 had intussusception, and 4 had abdominal TB. Based on the cause of the obstruction, surgical procedure was carried out. History of abdominal surgery was found to be more frequent in whom obstruction was relieved conservatively. The conclusion of the study is that adhesions based on previously conducted surgery are important causes of SBO. Two common method of managing the condition is conservative management and surgical management. The criteria for utilizing particular method is based on several patient related factors. Clinical decisions guide the management of SBO and timing of surgical intervention

A five–year review of female sterilization at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital, Lagos

Background: Over the decades, female sterilization has become a highly effective, convenient, simple and safe method of long term contraception, attributable to technological and medical advances.Objective: This study aims at determining the uptake, indications, timing and surgical techniques of female sterilization in LUTH.Methodology: A retrospective study involving all female clients who had sterilization done at the Lagos University Teaching Hospital  between January 2010 and December 2014. Clinical data were retrieved from the case files and analyzed with SPSS version 19. one hundred and eighteen clients were eligible, however only 115 case files could be located. Available case files had adequate information for the study.Results: There were 8,695 deliveries with 115 cases female sterilization, resulting in an incidence of 13 per 1000 births. The mean age at sterilization was 37.9 years. Completed family size was the main indication. Ninety percent of the clients had a postpartum procedure and Pomeroy's method was used in 76.5% of the clients.Conclusion: Female sterilization still has a role to play in family planning in our environment. Majority of the procedure were performed during planned caesarean section.Keywords: female sterilization, contraception, family planning, Pomeroy, tubal ligation

Synthesis, ionization constant, toxicity, antimicrobial and antioxidant screening of 1-Phenyl-3-(phenylamino) propan-1-one and Phenyl (2-[phenyl amino) methyl] phenyl) peroxyanhydride Mannich bases

Synthesis of 1-Phenyl-3-(phenylamino) propan-1-one (BO1) and Phenyl (2-[phenyl amino) methyl] phenyl) peroxyanhydride (BO2) both of which are Mannich bases were achieved in this study. Analysis and characterisation of the Mannich Bases were also achieved by UV, IR, and NMR Spectroscopy. The ionization constant (pKa) of the products is also reported.  The pKa at 8.1 obtained by non-aqueous titration may enable the lone pair of electron on nitrogen in the compounds to be protonated at physiological pH. The result of the Brine shrimp lethality test showed that both BO1 and BO2 with LC50 values 17345.1µg/ml and 33520µg/ml respectively, were non – toxic. The result of the antimicrobial screening of BO1 and BO2 using Escherichia coli, Staphylococcus aereus, Bacillus subtilis, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, Klebsiellae pneumoniae, Salmonellae typhi, Candida albicans, Rhizopus stolonifer, Aspergillus niger and Penicillum nonatum showed that the two compounds possess significant antimicrobial activity when compared with the standards, Gentamicin and Tioconazole. In vitro antioxidant screening of both compounds by DPPH free radical scavenging method, scavenging effect on Hydrogen peroxide and peroxide oxidation by Ferric thiocyanate method showed that the compounds possessed significant antioxidant activity when compared with antioxidant standards Ascorbic acid, BHA and ?-Tocopherol . They possessed the highest %inhibition in peroxide oxidation by Ferric thiocyanate method. Keywords: Mannich bases, 1-Phenyl-3-(phenylamino) propan-1-one, Phenyl (2-[phenyl amino) methyl] phenyl) peroxyanhydride, ionization constant, antimicrobial, antioxidan

Congenital epulis: a report of two cases and review of the literature

Background: Congenital epulis of the newborn is a rare benign soft-tissue tumour of the gingival, which is also called gingival granular cell tumour of the newborn. These slow growing soft tissue tumors affect the gingivae of a new born child. It is essential to document the presentation and the management of this lesion because of its rare nature.Aim: To highlight the clinical presentation, diagnosis and management of the lesion. Methods: Two clinical cases of congenital epulis were used to illustrate the presentation and surgical management of the lesion.Findings: The first clinical case is a one month old female child with a protruding gum tumour on the anterior alveolar process of the mandible. The second case is a one week old male child with a gingival growth on the anterior alveolar process of the mandible. All the tumours were surgically excised under local anaesthesia. Conclusion: Congenital epulis could interfere with the functions of the oral cavity. Therefore, it is imperative to surgically excise it when diagnosed. Following the management of the two cases presented, it is essential that the mouth of all newborns must be examined to rule out any such lesion.Key words: Congenital epulis, gingival, tumour, alveolar process, neonate, surgical excisio