Prevalence and Social Correlates of Injury Among In-School Adolescents in Botswana

Injury is a significant public health concern that has received limited attention in Africa. There is in particular a lack of data regarding injury and its social correlates among in-school adolescents in Botswana. This article discusses how cross-sectional data from the 2005 Botswana Global School-based Health Survey (GSHS) were analysed with the aim of estimating the incidence and social correlates of serious injury. Results indicated that of the 2 197 students, 65.8% (68.1% among boys and 63.8% among girls) had sustained at least one seriousinjury during the previous 12 months. Variables positively associated with the outcome of serious injury during the past 12 months in univariate analysis were current smoking, current alcohol use, excessive drinking, illicit drug use, truancy, bullied and having gone hungry, while in multivariate analysis being bullied, having gone hungry and truancy remained associated with serious injury during the past 12 months

Linear quantum trajectories: Applications to continuous projection measurements

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Anticonvulsant profile of nardostachys jatamansi roots in albino rats

Background: Epilepsy is a common neurological disorder. Despite the massive scale of the problem and much research, epilepsy remains poorly understood. Most of the currently used antiepileptic drugs have some neurotoxic effects, cognitive deficits and teratogenic effects, which decrease their clinical utility and up to 30% of patients are still refractory to treatment. The present study is undertaken to evaluate the anticonvulsant activity of ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi root in albino rats.Methods: Albino rats (150-200 gms) of male sex were randomly selected, from central animal facility. They were divided into 5groups(per model) of 6 rats each, control group-propylene glycol 0.5 ml, standard group-sodium valproate (300 mg/kg), dose 1-ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots (100 mg/kg), dose 2-ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots (200 mg/kg) and dose 3-ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots (400 mg/kg). The anti-convulsant activity was screened using maximal electroshock seizure model and pentylenetetrazole model. Results were analysed by ANOVA followed by post hoc Fisher’s LSD test.Results: The ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots at the dose of 400 mg/kg has shown significant anticonvulsant activity in maximal electroshock seizure (MES) model. Whereas, in pentylenetetrazole induced seizure model, the ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots has shown significant anticonvulsant activity at the dose of 200 mg/kg and 400 mg/kg body weight.Conclusions: The anticonvulsant activity of ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots was less when compared to Sodium Valproate in Maximal Electro Shock model. Whereas, in Pentylenetetrazole induced seizure model, anticonvulsant activity of ethanolic extract of nardostachys jatamansi roots was comparable to sodium valproate

Option values, switches and wages: an analysis of the employmentguarantee scheme in India

Consistent with the theory of real options, it is argued that the value of the Employment Guarantee Scheme (EGS) in the Indian state of Maharashtra and its impact on workers’ behaviour do not depend so much on its income supplementation as on enlargement of opportunities in an uncertain environment of the local labour market. The choice between the EGS and other activities in rural areas is modelled in a dynamic optimisation framework that takes into account a fixed wage rate and certainty of employment under the former and a stochastic wage rate in the latter. Besides, entry and exit costs of various employment options are taken into account. Finally, allowance is made for volatility of regular labour market activities (e.g. agricultural wage earnings). The predictions of this model are validated with the help of a panel household survey in a semi-arid region of south India. If this analysis has any validity, the incentive case for rural public works schemes such as the EGS in terms of screening and deterrent arguments, premised on a fixed wage rate differential, needs to be reformulated

Generalization Error in Deep Learning

Deep learning models have lately shown great performance in various fields such as computer vision, speech recognition, speech translation, and natural language processing. However, alongside their state-of-the-art performance, it is still generally unclear what is the source of their generalization ability. Thus, an important question is what makes deep neural networks able to generalize well from the training set to new data. In this article, we provide an overview of the existing theory and bounds for the characterization of the generalization error of deep neural networks, combining both classical and more recent theoretical and empirical results

Entropic measure of wave-packet spreading and ionization in laser-driven atoms

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Recommendations for the use of endoscopic lung volume reduction in South Africa: Role in the treatment of emphysema

Emphysema is a very common cause of morbidity and mortality in South Africa (SA). Therapeutic options in severe emphysema are limited. Endoscopic lung volume reduction (ELVR) is increasingly being used internationally for the treatment of advanced emphysema in a subset of patients with advanced disease, aiming to obtain the same functional advantages as surgical lung volume reduction while reducing risks and costs. In addition to endobronchial valves, ELVR using endobronchial coils is now available in SA. The high cost of these interventions underscores the need for careful patient selection to best identify those who may or may not benefit from ELVR-related procedures. The Assembly on Interventional Pulmonology of the South African Thoracic Society appointed a committee comprising both local and international experts to extensively review all relevant evidence and provide advice on the use of ELVR in SA based on published evidence, expert opinion and local access to the various devices