Geographical Distribution And Seasonal Fluctuation Of Snails And Their Intermediate Hosts In The Blue Nile STATE, SUDAN

The present study was carried out at the Blue Nile State to assess the distribution of snails in freshwater canals especially the intermediate hosts of Schistosoma and their epidemiology. Snails were collected by the standard scooping method, from small water bodies and canals. The snails’ habitats were critically studied. Collected aquatic forms were transferred to the prepared laboratory, where snails were cleaned from the vegetation cover and the attached debris, the snails were then counted and sorted to species and separated in labelled plastic bowls The study recorded the presence of the Prosobrancha (Melanoides.tuberculata, Lanistus.carinatus and Cleopatra. bulimoides) which are of no medical importance and the Pulmonate (Bulinus.truncatus, Bulinus.forskalii and Biomphalaria pfeifferi) of which Bulinus.for skalii is of no medical importance. The dominated snail was Melanoides.tuberculata. The density of all snails dropped during the flood season, except for Melanoides.tuberculata which is able to protect its soft tissues inside the snails by the operculum.  A significant relation (p < 0.05) was found between the physical (turbidity and temperature), chemical and biological (decaying matter) characteristics of the water bodies and reproduction of snails. The density of the snails was negatively affected by distance of the site from the point of water entrance into the canal, season, abundance and density of vegetation. The results showed infectivity of Bulinus.truncatus in water sites frequently visited by the people indicating that schistosomiasis is endemic in the area. The results showed that Bulinus.truncatus is highly susceptible to S. haematobium infection. هذه الدراسة نفذت في ولاية النيل الأزرق لتحديد توزيع الحلزونات في قنوات الماء العذب خصوصاً العائل الوسيط للشستوسوما ووبائيته . أجريت المسوحات الحلزونية لفترة 12 شهر خلال الفترة من مايو 2009 الى أبريل 2010 مستخدمين في ذلك المجرفة. أما بيئة الحلزونات فقد دُرست بشكل بالغ الأهمية فكل الأشكال المائية التي جمعت نقلت الى المعمل المحضر لذلك ، حيث تم نظافة الحلزونات مِنْ غطاءِ النباتاتَ والحطامَ الملحقَ، ثمّ حسابَ وتصنّيفَ الحلزونات إلى النوعِ المحدد وفُصِلَها في طاساتَ بلاستيكيةَ موضح عليها أسماء الحلزونات .وجدت ستة أنواع من الحلزونات في قنوات هذه الولاية هي الحلزونات الرئوية ذات الأهمية الطبية للعائل الوسيط للبلهارسيا التي تصيب الإنسان والتي تنقل بلهارسيا المجاري البولية وبلهارسيا الامعاء على التوالي . Bulinus truncatus (بولاينس ترنكاتس) Biomphalaria pfeifferi, (بيومفالاريا فيفراى) و Bulinus forskalii  (بولاينس فورسكالي) الذي ليس له أهمية طبية . بينما الحلزونات غير الرئوية مثل Melanoides tuberculata,  (ميلانويدز تيوبركيوليتا) كان له السيطرة علي الحلزونات الأخرى و Cleopatra bulimoides (كليوباترا بوليمويدز)  و  Lanistus.carinatus  (لانستس كارينيتس) وهذه ليست ذات أهمية طبية . كثافة كل الحلزونات إنخفضت خلال موسم الفيضان ما عدا Melanoides tuberculata (ميلانويدز تيوبركيوليتا) الذي يحمي الأنسجة الداخلية بغطاء ولا يتأثر بتعكير الماء. هنالك علاقة هامة (p < 0.05) وجدت بين الخصائص الفيزيائية والكيميائية والإحيائية للأجسام المائية وتكاثر أو توالد الحلزونات . كثافة الحلزوناتِ تتأثر سلبياً بمسافةِ الموقعِ مِنْ نقطةِ مدخلِ الماءِ إلى القناةِ والفصلِ من السنة ووفرةِ وكثافةِ النباتاتِ . أثبتت النَتائِجُ قابليةَ اصابة Bulinus truncatus (بولاينس ترنكاتس) في مواقعِ الماءِ التي تزارَ بشكل متكرّر مِن قِبل الناسِ مما يُشيرُ بأنّ مرض البلهارسيا مستوطنُ في المنطقةِ. كما أثبتت النَتائِجُ أيضاً بأن Bulinus truncatus (بولاينس ترنكاتس) إلى حدٍ كبير معرّض للعدوى ببلهارسيا المجاري البولية

Distribution of Snails in Elseilate Agricultural Scheme, Khartoum, Sudan.

The study was carried out in Elseilate Agricultural Scheme, East Nile Province to determine the distribution of snails in the canals. Surveys were conducted during two seasons i.e. March / April 1997 and September / October 1997 using a dip-net scoop from 28 sites. Seven species of snails were found. These were Bulinus truncatus, Bulinus forskalii, Biomphalaria pfeifferi, Lymnaea natalensis, Physa acuta, Melanoides tuberculata and Cleopatra bulimoides. The following plant species were also found: Spirogyra sp., Potamogeton nodosus., Typha sp., Cyperus sp., Cynadon dactylon., Cymbopogon sp., Cassia senna., Calotropis procera., Acacia nilotica and Prosopis sp. Most snails species showed high densities during March / April when water in canals was clear compared with September / October season when water was turbid due to the flood season of the Blue Nile. This was particularly so for B. pfeifferi and B. truncatus which transmit S. mansoni and S. haematobium, respectively.  Cleopatra bulimoides had a high density during September / October. Snails were observed in this study to have high densities in minor canals and abueshreens. These canals are characterized generally by low currents, low depth and vegetation densities. هذه الدراسة نفذت في مشروع السيليت الزراعي ، محلية شرق النيل ولاية الخرطوم لتحديد توزيع الحلزونات في قنوات هذا المشروع. أجريت المسوحات الحلزونية في مارس / أبريل 1997 وسبتمبر / أكتوبر 1997 مستخدمين في ذلك المجرفة. تمت زيارة  28 موقعاً أثناء الفصلين. وجدت سبعة أنواع من الحلزونات في قنوات هذا المشروع هي (Bulinus truncates) بولاينس ترنكاتس Bulinus forskalii), ) بولاينس فورسكالي (  Biomphalaria pfeifferi,) بيومفالاريا فيفراى ( Lymnaea natalensis) ليمنيا نتالينسس,( Physa acuta) فيسا أكيوتا (Melanoides tuberculata,)  ميلانويدز تيوبركيوليتا و( Cleopatra bulimoides) كليوباترا بوليمويدز. أما أنواع النباتات المائية التي وجدت في المشروع كانت كالآتي: Spirogyra sp)) طحلب سبيروجيرا (Potamogeton nodosus) بوتاموجيتون نودوزس ،( Typha sp )  نوع التيفا ، (Cyperus sp ) نوع السيبيروس ، (Cynadon dactylon) سينادون داكتيلون ، (Cymbopogon sp) نوع السيمبوبوجون ، (Cassia senna) السنمكة ، Calotropis procera)) كالوتروبيس بروسيرا العشر  ، (Acacia nilotica)  السنط النيلية ، و( Prosopis sp) نوع بروزوبيس. أغلب أنواع الحلزونات التي وجدت كانت كثافتها عالية في مارس / أبريل عندما كانت الماء في القنوات نظيفة وصافية مقارنة بشهري سبتمبر / أكتوبر عندما يكون المياه في القنوات عكره تزامناً مع موسم فيضان النيل الأزرق. هذه كانت خصوصاً للحلزونات الرئوية (Bulinus truncates) بولاينس ترنكاتس (Biomphalaria pfeifferi), بيومفالاريا فيفراى التي تنقل البلهارسيا المعوية و البولية على التوالي . أما الحلزونات غير الرئوية مثل (Cleopatra bulimoides) كليوباترا بوليمويدز  كانت كثافتها عالية في  سبتمبر / أكتوبر . في هذه الدراسة لوحظ أن كثافة الحلزونات عالية في القنوات الصغيرة (الترع) وأبو عشرين . وهذه القنوات تمتاز عموماً بالتيارات المائية المنخفضة ، العمق المنخفض ، والكثافة العالية في النباتات المائية

Open Source Software Low Cost Alternatives for Healthcare

Healthcare is the worlds second largest and also the fastest growing service sector. A well-managed and low cost healthcare system is of great importance to a country where large population with diverse social, educational and economical background is to be served. With health care being a government sector service, most of the hospitals are providing services with limited resources thus lacking the best services at time. ICT can play an important role in improving the services by managing the resources optimally and efficiently as ICT based tools can be used for resource management, patient record keeping, sharing the information, faster processing of data, managing the people at hospital etc. The development of an exhaustive healthcare system involves complex issues like finance, performance, security, scalability, and adherence to standards. Further, open source software solutions can help the hospitals to achieve the required services at lower cost. The paper presents the justifications to use open source solutions for hospitals and at the end will discus a case study about customization of the existing open source Hospital information system CARE2X, to fit into the workflow requirements of an Indian hospital with the advice of doctors. Customized CARE2X is implemented in Pathology department of client hospital

The climatic changes and their role in the urban planning in Iraq (GIS.RS)

Known as the green establishment or sustainable building, they are buildings whose design depends on building technologies that take into account the environment in the materials used, energy consumption and sustainability. Climatic considerations were taken in the field of urban planning of the city? A number of scientific hypotheses have been formulated that serve as an organizational framework for this study. They were represented in the following: The emergence and formation of Iraqi cities in their current location resulted in various environmental impacts. The study aimed to identify the effect of climate elements in determining the location of cities, and to identify the effect of climate elements in The establishment of housing and its characteristics in terms of building materials and others, and the study adopted an analytical approach based on the analysis of a number of climatic factors that significantly affect the establishment of cities. A group of programs were used in this study that complemented others, including the Erdas V.9.1 program and the Alois program. (IL WIS 3.7) and the geographic information systems program (ARCGIS-V.10) The satellite images of the US satellite Landsat for the years 1970 (ETM) 2021 (ETM + 7) were obtained and satellite images were analyzed. The borders of northern Baghdad were projected onto the satellite images and a cut was made. Sub setting for satellite image analysis

BRAND MESSAGE VS BRAND PERCEPTION

Purpose: In today’s fast moving business world, where information has become readily available and consumers have become socially aware, brands have had to regularly keep themselves updated and relevant to the consumers to be able to remain competitive. Brands often claim certain attributes as their USPs which tries to set them apart from their competition. However, in some situation those attributes have not directly translated in the minds of the consumers. The objective of this research is to try to determine the reason behind the disconnect between the brand message and the perception that consumers hold and to suggest ways on how to diminish that gap. Through this study we have tried to answer the following questions: How is a brand message created? What drives a consumer’s perception about a brand? How to understand the disconnect between the message and the brand? How to decrease this gap? Methodology: The methodology to be used is mixed (open and closed ended) questionnaires to be distributed amongst two groups of interest. The first group is brand managers and marketing managers from a selective few brands. The second group is students of business management who have a basic understanding of market. Findings: Our study shows that even though brand managers do try to go for creating trust and synergy with the consumer in order to further their brand, they emphasize more on their market orientation, positioning and pricing. Some of the brand managers keyed satisfaction and trust of the consumer on their brand as an important element. With the findings of our research, we are in a position to state this firmly that in local market comprising of highly diversified brands portfolio, the spectrum of consumer preference is highly unpredictable.   Conclusion: In order to get better and efficient results of marketing efforts that a brand owner undergo for stated intended outcomes, it is of utmost importance to clearly communicate the intended message without any ambiguities to the target audience. Brand owners have a large set of strategic tools to create a profound impact, utilizing these to the optimal level may result in intended and desired better performance of the brand

Insurance Reserve Prediction: Opportunities and Challenges

Predicting claims’ reserve is a critical challenge for insurers and has dramatic consequences on their managerial, financial and underwriting decisions. The insurers’ capital and their underwriting capacity of further business are impacted by inaccurate reserve estimates. Increasing premium rates and adjusting the underwriting policy decisions may balance the impact of unexpected claims, but will have a negative impact on their business opportunities. To address this, several papers focusing on the prediction of insurance reserve have been published in the literature. In this paper, we provide a comprehensive review of the research on the insurance reserve prediction techniques in economics and actuarial science literature as well as machine learning and computer science literature. Moreover, we classify these techniques into different approaches based on the prediction mechanism they use in estimation. For each approach, we survey reserve prediction methods, and then show the similarities and differences among them. In addition, the review is armed with a discussion on the challenges and the future opportunities

Development of a Prototype for Critical Disease Predictions using Data Mining

The goal of this paper is to present breast cancer prototype model along with the prediction of heart diseases by employing data mining techniques. The data used in the study had been retrieved from Public-Use Data, which is available online. The data comprised of 699 and 909 records for breast cancer and heart disease respectively. For data prediction and mining, C4.5 and C5.0, which are decision tree algorithms, were used on the data, used in the study. The results of both data sets using both algorithms were also compared. The paper also outlines the significance of evidence based medicine, which is the novel and innovative approach in healthcare decision making process [5]. It is essential that the clinical decisions are supported and based on scientific evidence, which ensures that they are sound and effective decisions. This paper also will depict the importance of data mining in modern healthcare

Performance of High-volume Fly Ash Self-compacting Concrete Exposed to External Sulfate Attack

The high-volume fly ash concrete, HVFAC, could be defined as any concrete mix having fly ash content larger than 50 percent of the total cementitious materials content. Due to the availability of fly ash in large quantities globally with low cost, HVFAC could be considered as a solution for the environmental impact of Portland cements. In this study the durability of two high-volume fly ash self-compacting concrete, HVFASCC, mixes exposed to the effects of two sulfate aggressive solutions was investigated. The fly ash, class F, contents for these mixes were 50 and 60 percent by weight of Portland cement. The external sulfate attack was simulated by submerging the concrete specimens in 5 percent sodium and magnesium sulfate solutions separately for 240 days. Six mixes were produced for this purpose, they were: 2 reference mixes cured in water, 2 mixes submerged in Na2SO4 solution and 2 mixes submerged in MgSO4 solution. The testing program includes: slump flow, V-funnel, L-box, weight change, XRD and the strength tests: compressive, splitting and flexural strengths. The fly ash content has a positive effect on the rheology (workability) of all tested mixtures. In other words, increasing the cement replacement level from 50 to 60 percent has enhanced the filling ability, passing ability, and segregation resistance of the investigated SCC mixes. The test results show that the magnesium solution has the higher harmful effect on all mixes than the sodium solution. The replacements of Portland cement by the assigned percentages of fly ash have significantly increased the resistance of SCC to the external sulfate attack due to lime consuming reaction

Discussing the Role of Classification Algorithms in Clinical Predictions with help of Case Studies

This paper discuss about the important role of classification algorithms in clinical predictions , two case studies one for breast cancer and other for heart disease prediction with help of classification data mining techniques is presented in this paper. Online freely accessible data is used for the said case studies. Used data is publicly available data on internet consisting of 909 records for heart disease and 699 for breast cancer. C4.5 and the C5.0 Two well-known decision tree algorithms used to get the rules for predictions, and these rules used for improving the quality of an open source Pathology Management System based on Care2x.Performances of these algorithms are also compared. This Paper will further discuss about the importance of open source software in healthcare as well as how a pathology management system can adopt Evidence Based Medicine (EBM). EBM is a new and important approach which can greatly improve decision making in health care. EBM's task is to prevent, diagnose and medicate diseases using medical evidence [5].Clinical decisions must be based on scientific evidence that demonstrates effectiveness. This paper is basically extension of our previous work ‘A Prototype of Cancer/Heart Disease Prediction Model Using Data Mining’