Prevalence of hepatitis C Antibody in Human Immunodeficiency Virus infected children

Background: Hepatitis C virus (HCV) is a major public health problem for Human Immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infected population. Both infections share same routes of transmission, and quite often co-exist, with dual infections associated with reciprocal and mutually more rapid progression than either infection alone. Co-infection also adversely impacts on the course and management of both infections. This study was carried out to document the prevalence and determinants of HCV sero-positivity in HIVinfected children.Methodology: A total of 132 HIVinfected children attending the Paediatric Antiretroviral Clinic were recruited as subjects. Another 132 HIV negative children matched for age and sex were recruited as controls. Relevant demographic data was taken from each child. Blood samples were also obtained from each child and from their mothers when available, and assayed for the presence of anti-HCV using a membranebased immune-assay kit.Results: The sero-prevalence of HCV antibodies was 9.8% among HIV-infected children and 3.0% among the controls. This was a statistically significant difference (p = 0.042, Fisher exact). HCV sero-postivity was more frequent in children after 5 years of age in both subjects (92.3%) and controls (100.0%). Injection at patent medicine vendor (PMV) was noted to be the most risky practice leading to HCV in children, with more than thrice the chances of HCV sero-positivity than in those who didn’t receive injections at PMV. Four mothers of the HIV-infected children were co-infected with HCV and none in the control group. All 4 children of these dually infected mothers were also co-infected. Controlling for other factors, children of HIV infected mothers were more than twice as likely to have HCV antibody as children whose mothers were HIV negative (RR = 2.67). Similarly, HCV infected mothers have 12% greater chance of transmitting HCV to their children than noninfected mothers and children delivered vaginally were 1.6 times more likely to have HCV antibody than those delivered via caesarean section.Conclusions: The prevalence of anti-HCV in HIV-infected children is significantly higher than that of HIV uninfected peers. Factors strongly associated with HCV sero -positivity identified are maternal HIV and HCV infections, vaginal delivery and injections at patent medicine vendor.Keywords: HCV; HIV; childre

PMSS: Producer Mobility Support Scheme Optimization with RWP Mobility Model in Named Data Networking

Abstract: The movement pattern of mobile producer plays an important role in mobility performance analysis of the wireless and mobile network. However, the producer mobility behavior is directly affecting the handoff latency and signaling overhead cost. Many researchers provide analytical investigation to analyze and solve the handoff problems and compared with the simulation result. To justify between simulation and analytical investigation, movement behavior of mobile node needs to be included in the analytical investigation to make it possible to compare with the simulation-based result. This paper incorporated Random WayPoint Mobility (RWPM) model, to determine the behavior of mobile producer, for analytical solution of producer mobility support in NDN. In this paper, we introduce mobility Interest packets to conveyed new prefix or location of mobile producer, a broadcasting strategy to facilitate the handoff process and the immobile anchor router was modified to perform a dual function that is, tagging of anchors and broadcasting of tagged mobility Interest packets. The performance analysis for mobile producer behavior and handoff latency shows that our proposed Producer Mobility Support Scheme (PMSS) reduces handoff latency compared to DNS-like and Home Agent routing approach

Database and Data Mining in Social Networking

Today’s data driven world exploiting the latest trends of database and its allied technologies like Data Warehouse and Data Mining. Data Mining in recent years emerged as one of the most efficient database technique proved to be very reliable almost in every organisation enabling to find previously unknown hidden data patterns for the benefit of organisation. At the same time it is imposing serious problems concerned to data privacy and its potential misuse

Performance of Napier Grass (\u3ci\u3eCenchrus purpureus\u3c/i\u3e L.) Genotypes Grown under Limited Soil Moisture

Napier grass (Cenchrus purpureus Schumach L.) is an important perennial forage native to Africa and grown in many tropical and subtropical countries. It is considered as a short-term drought tolerant forage which is a useful trait in areas that are characterized by low precipitation during the dry season. To exploit the potential of this grass and identify water use efficient (WUE) genotypes, a field drought stress trial was conducted at Bishoftu, Ethiopia. Eighty-four Napier grass genotypes were planted in a p-rep design in four replications. The genotypes were evaluated for forage performance during the dry season of 2019 and 2020 based on agro-morphological traits under two soil moisture regimes- moderate water stress (MWS) and severe water stress (SWS). The results indicated the existence of significant diversity among the genotypes for agro-morphological traits and photosynthetic performance. Consistently high biomass producing genotypes with enhanced water use efficiency were observed across harvests in each soil moisture regime, which indicates the possibility of utilizing these genotypes for high biomass production under low soil moisture conditions after further validation in other environments

Genetic Diversity among and within Accessions of a Lablab (\u3ci\u3eLablab purpureus\u3c/i\u3e) Collection Maintained in the ILRI Forage Genebank

Lablab (Lablab purpureus L.) is an important annual multi-purpose legume used as a vegetable for human consumption, as forage for livestock, and as green manure and a cover crop to improve soil fertility. It has a high feed value with good digestibility and high crude protein content. The International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) forage genebank holds a diverse set of 340 lablab accessions collected from different regions of the world. A total of 1,843 plants from 142 lablab accessions (1 to 29 plants per accession genotyped individually) were genotyped by the genotyping-by-sequencing (GBS) method of the DArTseq platform. The genotyping produced a total of 38,824 and 64,793 genome-wide single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) and SilicoDArT high-density markers, respectively. The short sequence reads corresponding to the markers were mapped on the mungbean (Vigna radiata) reference genome, with approximately 37% of the SNPs and 26 % of the SilicoDArTs able to be mapped. A subset of 1,000 robust markers was filtered by different criteria and used for the diversity analysis. Clustering analysis using the discriminant analysis of principal components (DAPC) detected five major groups, each with further subgroups. Analysis of molecular variance (AMOVA) showed a highly significant (P \u3c 0.00001) variation, explaining more than 73 % of the variance among the accessions. A significant variation (P \u3c 0.005) was also observed among plants within accessions, which explained about 27 % of the variation. The results of this study provide a useful guide for the management and rationalization of activities of the lablab germplasm collection at the ILRI genebank. The substantial genetic diversity observed in the collection reveals the potential of the population for further genetic studies

Systematic Review on Security and Privacy Requirements in Edge Computing: State of the Art and Future Research Opportunities

Edge computing is a promising paradigm that enhances the capabilities of cloud computing. In order to continue patronizing the computing services, it is essential to conserve a good atmosphere free from all kinds of security and privacy breaches. The security and privacy issues associated with the edge computing environment have narrowed the overall acceptance of the technology as a reliable paradigm. Many researchers have reviewed security and privacy issues in edge computing, but not all have fully investigated the security and privacy requirements. Security and privacy requirements are the objectives that indicate the capabilities as well as functions a system performs in eliminating certain security and privacy vulnerabilities. The paper aims to substantially review the security and privacy requirements of the edge computing and the various technological methods employed by the techniques used in curbing the threats, with the aim of helping future researchers in identifying research opportunities. This paper investigate the current studies and highlights the following: (1) the classification of security and privacy requirements in edge computing, (2) the state of the art techniques deployed in curbing the security and privacy threats, (3) the trends of technological methods employed by the techniques, (4) the metrics used for evaluating the performance of the techniques, (5) the taxonomy of attacks affecting the edge network, and the corresponding technological trend employed in mitigating the attacks, and, (6) research opportunities for future researchers in the area of edge computing security and privacy

Factors influencing the utilization of public primary health care facilities in Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano State, Nigeria

This study is concerned with the examination of factors responsible for the utilization of public primary healthcare services in Kumbotso Local Government Area of Kano State. Primary health care (PHC) can be considered the first level of contact between the patient and the health care system. The Andersen Model of Healthcare Utilisation was used as theoretical guide and frame of analysis in the study. The model is a conceptual framework developed and used to understand health behaviour and possible reasons for utilization of available healthcare facilities and services. The study is a survey research design. A total of 295 respondents were sampled for the study. These include 285 members of the public who were sampled through a multi stage cluster sampling for questionnaire administration and 10 other respondents (Doctors, Nurses, and Community Health Extension Workers) who were purposively sampled for in-depth interview. The study utilized both qualitative and quantitative instruments for data collection. The findings revealed that awareness has influence on the utilization of PHC services in the study area. It also revealed that even though there is high rate of patronage of PHC facilities in the area, respondents reported facing problems associated with availability of drugs, healthcare personnel for effective PHC delivery. It recommended that the government should ensure compliance with the WHO benchmark for PHC delivery.Keywords: Primary health care, Awareness, Availability, Access, Health workers behaviou

Physicochemical Parameters and Heavy Metals Analysis of Wastewater from Kakuri Drain in Makera/Kakuri Industrial Layout, Kaduna, Nigeria

The Kakuri drain carries wastewater from Kakuri/Makera industrial layout and environ into river Kaduna. Samples were collected from points/stations 200m apart and labeled as points C, D, E and F, for a period of six months. Physico-chemical studies shows level of determined parameters to be within safe limits as recommended by WHO. Temperature reading showed an average of +_25.50C in water as against 26.50C on surface water. The Dissolved oxygen (DO) in the water was recorded as _+1.77mg/l, while the BOD had a mean of _+9.93mg/l .The level of heavy metals in the wastewater showed chromium with levels higher than the approved values recommended by WHO. Level of metals analyzed were as follows; chromium _+ 0.05853ppm. Lead _+0.03058ppm, copper _+1.08505ppm and _+0.45203ppm for zinc. Mean concentration of TDS for the various sampling points (C,ED,E and F) showed  significant difference ( at 5% significant level), with the highest value of _+488.83mg/l in September and the lowest value of _+415.33mg/l recorded in April. Values may appear low, but the effect of bioaccumulation in crops raised by using such water for irrigation and subsequently consumed by man cannot be underestimated

Correlates of postpartum sexual activity and contraceptive use in Kano, northern Nigeria

Practices related to resumption of coitus after childbirth remains poorly documented in Nigeria. This study examined factors associated with sexual intercourse, delivery-coitus interval, and contraceptive use among postpartum women attending a tertiary centre in Kano, northern Nigeria. A cross section of 317 women attending immunization, postnatal and family planning clinics within 12 months of childbirth was interviewed using a structured questionnaire. Vaginal intercourse was resumed by most women (n=212; 66.9%, 95% Confidence Interval (CI) = 61.8%, 72.2%) with delivery-coitus resumption interval (mean ± SD) of 9.6±5.2 weeks postpartum. The majority (67.9%) resumed sexual activity within 8 weeks of delivery. Nearly two-thirds 65.6% (n=139/212) of the sexually active women reported current use of contraceptives. Onset of postpartum sexual activity was independently associated with mode of delivery adjusted odds ratio (AOR) (95%CI)= 1.10 (1.03,1.78), baby‘s age AOR (95%CI) =2.10 (1.27, 8.70), number of living children AOR (95%CI)=1.21 (1.07,1.79), onset of menstruation AOR (95%CI)=0.34 (0.17,0.69) and co-habitation AOR (95%CI)=0.47 (0.016, 0.14). Contraceptive use was predicted by educational status, sexual activity, baby‘s age and menstruation. Most women attending maternal and child health clinics resumed sexual intercourse within 2 months of delivery, but only two-thirds used modern contraceptive methods. Contraceptive counseling should commence early, preferably during pregnancy.Keywords: sexual intercourse, postpartum, contraceptive use, predictors, Nigeri