Economic burden of diabetes mellitus in the WHO African region

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>In 2000, the prevalence of diabetes among the 46 countries of the WHO African Region was estimated at 7.02 million people. Evidence from North America, Europe, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean indicates that diabetes exerts a heavy health and economic burden on society. Unfortunately, there is a dearth of such evidence in the WHO African Region. The objective of this study was to estimate the economic burden associated with diabetes mellitus in the countries in the African Region.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>Drawing information from various secondary sources, this study used standard cost-of-illness methods to estimate: (a) the direct costs, i.e. those borne by the health systems and the families in directly addressing the problem; and (b) the indirect costs, i.e. the losses in productivity attributable to premature mortality, permanent disability and temporary disability caused by the disease. Prevalence estimates of diabetes for the year 2000 were used to calculate direct and indirect costs of diabetes mellitus. A discount rate of 3% was used to convert future earnings lost into their present values. The economic burden analysis was done for three groups of countries, i.e. 6 countries whose gross national income (GNI) per capita was greater than 8000 international dollars (i.e. in purchasing power parity), 6 countries with Int$2000–7999 and 33 countries with less than Int$2000. GNI for Zimbabwe was missing.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The 7.02 million cases of diabetes recorded by countries of the African Region in 2000 resulted in a total economic loss of Int$25.51 billion (PPP). Approximately 43.65$11,431.6, Int$4,770.6 and Int$ 2,144.3 per diabetes case per year in the three groups respectively.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>In spite of data limitations, the estimates reported here show that diabetes imposes a substantial economic burden on countries of the WHO African Region. That heavy burden underscores the urgent need for increased investments in the prevention and management of diabetes.</p

Effect of stocking density of fish on water quality and growth performance of European Carp and leafy vegetables in a low-tech aquaponic system

Aquaponics (AP) is a semi-closed system of food production that combines aquaculture and hydroponics and represents a new agricultural system integrating producers and consumers. The aim of this study was to test the effect of stocking densities (APL, 2.5 kg m-3; APH, 4.6 kg m-3) on water quality, growth performance of the European Carp (Cyprinus carpio L.), and yield of leafy vegetables (catalogna, lettuce, and Swiss Chard) in a low-technology AP pilot system compared to a hydroponic cultivation. The AP daily consumption of water due to evapotranspiration was not different among treatments with an average value of 8.2 L d-1, equal to 1.37% of the total water content of the system. Dissolved oxygen was significantly (p < 0.05) different among treatments with the lowest median value recorded with the highest stocking density of fish (5.6 mg L-1) and the highest median value in the hydroponic control (8.7 mg L-1). Marketable yield of the vegetables was significantly different among treatments with the highest production in the hydroponic control for catalogna (1.2 kg m-2) and in the APL treatment for Swiss Chard (5.3 kg m-2). The yield of lettuce did not differ significantly between hydroponic control and APL system (4.0 kg m-2 on average). The lowest production of vegetables was obtained in the APH system. The final weight (515 g vs. 413 g for APL and APH, respectively), specific growth rate (0.79% d-1 vs. 0.68% d-1), and feed conversion (1.55 vs. 1.86) of European Carp decreased when stocking density increased, whereas total yield of biomass was higher in the APH system (4.45 kg m-3 vs. 6.88 kg m-3). A low mortality (3% on average) was observed in both AP treatments. Overall, the results showed that a low initial stocking density at 2.5 kg m-3 improved the production of European Carp and of leafy vegetables by maintaining a better water quality in the tested AP system

Investigating the attitude towards entrepreneurship among Business Studies learners in selected secondary schools

This study investigates the attitude towards entrepreneurship among Business Studies learners in selected secondary schools in Magaliesburg, South Africa. This study utilized a non-probability sampling for the selection of participants. Convenient sampling was used to select learners who were willing to take part in the study. The sample composed of 300 (Grade 10-12) learners registered at two schools in Hekpoort farm which is an area nestled on the southern slopes of the Magaliesberg. A mixed method approach was adopted for the study, using interviews, observations and a questionnaire. Some of the findings from the quantitative data analysis showed that individually, learners consider entrepreneurship to be a highly attractive career and to a certain extent it cannot be taught. Amongst others, it was recommended that learners should to be encouraged to participate more in small business activities in order to gain exposure on the basic elements of entrepreneurship

Distillery anaerobic digestion residues as fertilizers for field vegetable crops: Performance and efficiency in mid-term successions

Understanding nitrogen use efficiency (NUE) of crops plays an important role in achieving sustainable production. Intensive agriculture has adversely affected social and environmental issues worldwide over the past few decades. Anaerobic digested residues from the distillery industry (DADRs) can be used in agriculture, thereby recycling valuable organic materials that can supply organic N. An experiment using DADRs in horticulture was conducted to evaluate the performance of different treatments on yield and NUE. The experiment was conducted for five years, growing lettuce, cauliflower, chicory, potato, Swiss chard, catalogna chicory, tomato, pepper, and melon in two different succession schemes. Five fertilization treatments were designed, including a mineral fertilization control, in which nitrogen (N) was supplied according to standard recommendations in the area. The other treatments were an unfertilized control and three treatments in which 50%, 75%, and 100% of the N were supplied by DADRs and the remaining with common chemical fertilizer. Major findings were: (1) Spring\u2013summer crops showed the lowest N-uptake and N recovery, during this period high chemical fertilization can cause environmental problems such as N leaching, and fertilization with 100% DADRs is a viable alternative; (2) fall\u2013winter crops can be fertilized by combining 50% mineral N and 50% organic N, supplying the nutrients required by the crops during the growing cycle

A Survey on the Path Computation Element (PCE) Architecture

Quality of Service-enabled applications and services rely on Traffic Engineering-based (TE) Label Switched Paths (LSP) established in core networks and controlled by the GMPLS control plane. Path computation process is crucial to achieve the desired TE objective. Its actual effectiveness depends on a number of factors. Mechanisms utilized to update topology and TE information, as well as the latency between path computation and resource reservation, which is typically distributed, may affect path computation efficiency. Moreover, TE visibility is limited in many network scenarios, such as multi-layer, multi-domain and multi-carrier networks, and it may negatively impact resource utilization. The Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF) has promoted the Path Computation Element (PCE) architecture, proposing a dedicated network entity devoted to path computation process. The PCE represents a flexible instrument to overcome visibility and distributed provisioning inefficiencies. Communications between path computation clients (PCC) and PCEs, realized through the PCE Protocol (PCEP), also enable inter-PCE communications offering an attractive way to perform TE-based path computation among cooperating PCEs in multi-layer/domain scenarios, while preserving scalability and confidentiality. This survey presents the state-of-the-art on the PCE architecture for GMPLS-controlled networks carried out by research and standardization community. In this work, packet (i.e., MPLS-TE and MPLS-TP) and wavelength/spectrum (i.e., WSON and SSON) switching capabilities are the considered technological platforms, in which the PCE is shown to achieve a number of evident benefits

Orchestrating Lightpath Adaptation and Flexible Functional Split to Recover Virtualized RAN Connectivity

This study shows that a two-step recovery scheme orchestrating lightpath transmission adaptation and evolved NodeB (eNB) functional split reconfiguration preserves the Virtualized RAN fronthaul connectivity even when network capacity is scarce.This work has been partially funded by the EU H2020 “5G-Transformer” Project (grant no. 761536

Orchestrating Lightpath Recovery and Flexible Functional Split to Preserve Virtualized RAN Connectivity

In the next-generation radio access network (NG RAN), the next-generation evolved NodeBs (gNBs) will be, likely, split into virtualized central units (CUs) and distributed units (DUs) interconnected by a fronthaul network. Because of fronthaul latency and capacity requirements, optical metro-ring networks are among the main candidates for supporting converged 5G and non-5G services. In this scenario, a degradation in the quality of transmission of the lightpaths connecting DU and CU can be revealed (or anticipated) based on monitoring techniques. Thus, the lightpath transmission parameters can be adapted to maintain the required bit error rate (BER). However, in specific cases, the original requested capacity between DU and CU could be not guaranteed, thus impacting the service. In this case, another DU–CU connectivity should be considered, relying on a change of the so-called functional split. This study proposes a two-step recovery scheme orchestrating lightpath transmission adaptation and functional split reconfiguration to guarantee the requested connectivity in a virtualized RAN fronthaul. Results show that, for the connections that cannot be transported by the original lightpath, a graceful degradation followed by a recovery is possible within tens of seconds.This work was partly funded by the project H2020-ICT-2016-2 “5G-TRANSFORMER” (761536

Distributed support of link sleep mode for energy efficient GMPLS networks

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Implementation of Standard Solar PV Projects in Nigeria

The basic operating principle of Photovoltaic device is the conversion of solar irradiation into electricity. There are several applications of this principle. In Nigeria, most solar PV projects are designed for street lighting, water pumping and general stand-alone/minigrid rural electrifications. However, several solar PV projects being installed in various parts of this country fail to meet the minimum life-span due to a number of limiting factors. These include poor or improper fundamental design, use of sub-standard components, adoption of poor installation procedure by inexperienced personnel, bad construction/civil works among other factors. This has become a problem in the country and many are beginning to feel disgusted with solar PV projects as the heavy investments in such projects do not seem to be commensurate with their performances and satisfactions derivable. This paper therefore presents an overview of the performances of solar PV projects and a concise procedural approach to the implementation of standard solar PV projects in the country. In-depth analysis of performances of existing systems was also considered and the limiting factors identified with specific recommendations for improvement. We believe that if power projects are designed and executed properly by experienced technical experts, using the appropriate components and best technical procedures, standard PV projects with maximum performance output could be achieved