Occurrence and fertility rates of hydatid cysts in sheep and goats slaughtered at Modjo Luna Export Slaughter House, Ethiopia

In Ethiopia very limited studies were conducted in small ruminant hydatidosis compared to cattle. A cross-sectional study was conducted at Modjo Luna Export Slaughter House from December 2009 to February 2010 to determine the prevalence and fertility of hydatid cysts. A total of 325 sheep and 440 goats were examined. Examination of lung, liver, kidney, heart and carcass was conducted following standard postmortem procedures. Fertility of hydatid cysts was tested by absence or presence of motility and staining with 0.1% aqueous eosin solution. Out of 325 sheep and 440 goats examined 25 (7.7%) sheep and 27(6.13%) goats had hydatid cysts. The prevalence was high in sheep compared to goats although the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05). The organ distribution of hydatid cyst in sheep was 15 (60%) in lung, 9 (36%) in liver and 1 (4%) both the liver and lungs. In goats, hydatid cysts were recovered from 19 (70%) of the lung, 5 (18.5%) of the liver, 1 (3.7%) of the kidney, 2 (7.4%) of the heart and 2 (7.4%) of the muscle. In both sheep and goats the infection was more in lungs, followed by liver. Eighty percent of the cysts found in the lung of sheep were fertile, while there was no fertile cyst detected in the lung of goats and the difference was statistically significant (P < 0.05). In Ethiopia, to break the life cycle of echinococcosis/hydatidosis, public education on habit of feeding condemned organs to dogs should be undertaken

Bovine cysticercosis and human taeniosis in South-west Shoa zone of Oromia Region, Ethiopia

A cross-sectional study was conducted in cattle slaughtered at Sebeta, Tulu Bolo and Weliso abattoirs in southwest shoa zone of Oromia region, Ethiopia to estimate the prevalence of bovine cystiercosis using routine meat inspection method, and questionnaire surveys were undertaken to assess the status of taeniosis and associated risk factors in human in these towns. Accordingly, out of 1216 carcasses examined, 4.6 % were found infected with Cysticercus bovis. Among the positive cases for C. bovis, 39.3 % were viable and 60.7% were non-viable cysts while it was more prevalent in the heart and tongue (39.3% and 30.4%, respectively) than in the diaphragm and liver. Out of 392 respondents, 55.1% had contracted T. saginata at least once in the past years. The prevalence was significantly higher in adults (> 20 years) than youngsters (< 20 years) (P<0.001), in male than females (P=0.046), in Christian than Muslim community (P=0.011), in butchers and abattoir workers than in other occupation (P<0.001), in illiterate than in literate and university graduates (P=0.001) and in raw meat consumers than in others (P<0.01. In conclusion, bovine cysticercosis caused by C. bovis and associated human taeniosis are important problems in the study areas. Improvement in meat inspection procedures and sanitary conditions in the study areas are needed.Key words: Cysticercosis, Cattle, Human, Taeniosis, Ethiopia

Comparative clinico-pathological observations in young Zebu (Bos indicus) cattle experimentally infected with Trypanosoma vivax isolates from tsetse infested and non-tsetse infested areas of Northwest Ethiopia

BACKGROUND: The Northwest region of Ethiopia is affected by both tsetse and non-tsetse transmitted trypanosomosis with a huge impact on livestock productivity. The objective of this experimental study was to determine clinical and pathological findings in young Zebu cattle experimentally infected with Trypanosoma vivax isolates from tsetse infested and non-tsetse infested areas of Northwest Ethiopia. A total of 18 cattle (Bos indicus) aged between 6 and 12 months, purchased from a trypanosome-free and confirmed to be trypanosome negative divided into three groups of six animals were used. Animals in the first two groups (Group TT: tsetse infested isolate infected and Group NT: non-tsetse infested isolate infected) received 2 mL of infected blood from donor animals at 10(6) trypanosomes/mL, and the remaining group was non-infected control (NIC). Each group was observed for a period of eight consecutive weeks, daily for clinical signs and once per week for parasitaemia. Postmortem examinations were done on euthanized animals, and tissue samples were taken for histopathological analysis. RESULTS: The prepatent period of the disease was earlier in the NT group 6 days post infection (dpi) than TT group 12 dpi. The infection was characterized by reduced feed intake, intermittent pyrexia and parasitaemia, enlarged lymph nodes, lacrimation, reduced feed intake and emaciation. Less frequently diarrhea, oedema and nervous signs were observed in both groups of infected animals. At necropsy, infected animals showed enlarged spleen, enlarged lymph nodes, pneumonic and emphysematous lung, enlarged liver, and haemorrhages on the brain and intestine. Histopathological analysis revealed lymphoid hyperplasia of the spleen, necrosis of the liver, encephalitis and hyperplasia of lymph nodes. CONCLUSION: Trpanosoma vivax isolates from both tsetse infested and non-tsetse areas showed a variety of virulence factors leading to the development of acute clinical signs, gross and histopathological lesions. However, the parasitaemia and clinical signs appeared earlier in the NT compared to TT infected groups

EFFECT OF PEG COATING ON NANOPARTICLE DIFFUSION THROUGH TUMOUR EXTRACELLULAR MATRIX

INTRODUCTION Nanoparticle drug delivery systems have the potential to improve current cancer treatments through encapsulating cytotoxic agents and delivering them to specific sites in the body. One such class of particle, liposomes, has already found some commercial success [1]. Liposomes are vesicles composed of a lipid bi-layer surrounding an aqueous solution. Poly(ethylene) glycol (PEG) surface coating is commonly used to improve the hydrophilicity of liposomes, thereby increasing their stability in aqueous solutions. Furthermore, PEG limits the binding of blood antigens, which minimizes opsonisation and phagocytosis, extending circulation time in the blood stream. When applied to the surface of liposomes at lower molecular weights and surface densities, PEG adopts a “mushroom” conformation, in which adjacent chains of PEG do not interact laterally, therefore portions of the bi-layer remain exposed [2]. However, at higher molecular weights and surface densities, the “brush” conformation is adopted; where lateral interactions occur between neighbouring PEG strands and provide complete coverage of the lipid bi-layer [2]. This study will investigate the effect of varying PEG molecular weight and surface density on liposome transport through tumour extracellular matrix. METHODS Seven different formulations of liposomes were synthesized using a modification of the lipid extrusion method described in [1]. Molecular weight and surface density values were chosen to include both PEG conformations. The Type I collagen hydrogel was prepared with a collagen concentration of 2.5mg/mL. Confocal Microscopy was used to track the liposome transport into the gels via the bilayer incorporated Rhodamine dye. While simple collagen hydrogels may not capture all of the complexity of native tumour ECM, they allow for more carefully controlled conditions than in vivo models. Images were taken every 30 minutes until the 900 minute mark. RESULTS As shown in Figure 1, the liposomes with a lower PEG loading (DOPC, 5, 10% PEG 1000, 5, 10% PEG 2000), all accumulated at the interface of the hydrogel, and had identical diffusion coefficients. The 5% and 10% PEG 5000 however, accumulated significantly less and therefore had a much greater diffusion coefficient.DISCUSSION AND CONCLUSIONS The liposomes with low PEG surface density, and DOPC control liposomes shown in Figure 1, are all within the “mushroom” conformation of PEG [2] and therefore would all have exposed bilayer which is not shielded by the PEG strands. The formulations that penetrated deeply were notably only higher PEG surface densities (5 and 10% PEG 5000) which literature suggests would have been in the “brush” conformation [2]. This suggests that the high PEG surface densities sterically shielded the liposomes, and reduced the electrostatic interactions between the hydrogels and the liposomes, allowing increased diffusion

Climate Basics, Climate Information Service, Climate Risk Management Training Guide

Climate Basics, Climate Information Service, Climate Risk Management Training Guid

Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) Training Guide

Agriculture, as the backbone of the Ethiopian economy, contributes roughly 40% of GDP, more than 75% of employment, and 80% of foreign exchange earnings (FAO 2021). Ethiopian agriculture is heavily reliant on natural rainfall, with irrigation used on only about 5% of total cultivated land (USAID 2021). As a result, the sector is highly vulnerable to climate change. Climate change endangers the country's agriculture development, natural resources, biodiversity conservation, and government poverty-reduction efforts. Climate change-related impacts such as food insecurity, malnutrition, poverty, biodiversity loss, and loss of livelihood are deeply intertwined and continue to be the country's primary development challenges. In 2021/2022, climate change has caused Ethiopia to suffer one of its worst droughts that has ravaged vast parts of the country. The drought has ravaged livestock and wildlife resources. Future prediction suggest that Ethiopia will continue to suffer from climate change related problems. Thus action is needed to address problem

Integrating Climate Basics, Climate Information Service, Climate Risk Management and Climate Smart Agriculture into the undergraduate agriculture Curriculum in Ethiopian Higher Education

Agriculture contributes about 40% to the country’s GDP, more than 75% to employment, and 80% to foreign exchange earnings of the Ethiopia’s economy. However, climate change poses a serious risk to the sector. On the other hand, agriculture is a major contributor (i.e., about 55%) of the country’s greenhouse gas emission. To address the strong and bidirectional interrelationships between climate change and agriculture, the agricultural sector needs to transform in a climate-smart way. Climate change education will have paramount importance for tackling the problems associated with climate change through generating climate smart technologies for the enhancement of sustainable agricultural production and biodiversity conservation. Climate Change Educations (CCE) and trainings have long been recognized by the national CCE strategy (2017-2030), United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (Agenda 2030) as key tools to unravel the complex and multi-sectoral challenges induced/posed by climate change. Thus, specifically, including the concepts of Climate Information Service (CIS) Climate Risk Management (CRM) and Climate smart agriculture (CSA) in the existing climate related courses is critical to build climate resilient agricultural sector in Ethiopia. Thus, Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) in collaboration with Ethiopian Higher Educations initiated to integrate the concept of CIS and CSA in the agricultural program in Ethiopia. Therefore, this document, explore if there is a gap between climate related course contents and the current CIS, CRM and CSA knowledge and innovations to addresses climate related agricultural challenges in ten undergraduate agricultural curricula of Ethiopian Higher Education Institutes. Ten climate related course descriptions were content analyzed to analyze gaps related to the concepts of CIS, CRM and CSA. The study found that there were gaps between the current curriculum and the desired knowledge and innovation of CIS, CRM and CSA to addresses the current and emerging climate change challenges in the agricultural sector. These results emphasize the need for curriculum review and reform to ensure CIS, CRM and CSA knowledge and innovations equipping the university graduates with comprehensive knowledge of climate change

Tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship (TAPS) in Ethiopia: a scoping review and narrative synthesis

# Background Tobacco advertising, promotion and sponsorship (TAPS) has been shown to increase tobacco use in both adults and young people. In Ethiopia, TAPS is recognised as a top priority for the government, and all tobacco advertising, promotion, and sponsorship forms are prohibited. There is recognition that there are gaps in the evidence needed to inform policy and practice on TAPS, but the extent and nature of these gaps have not been explored. This review was aimed at understanding the extent and nature of the evidence gaps on TAPS in Ethiopia and identifying primary research priorities to inform future research direction. # Methods Systematic searches were conducted in February 2022 in the following research databases: Medline, EMBASE, and PsycInfo. Two reviewers independently screened the study reports for eligibility and extracted data from the eligible studies. The extracted data was collated and summarised descriptively and policy, practice, and research recommendations were drawn. Research topics on TAPS in Ethiopia that stakeholders perceived to be priorities for primary research were identified through a consultation workshop. # Results 579 research reports were identified, and only six studies were included in the scoping review. The included studies explored the following topics: the use of tobacco imagery in movies/films (two studies); the association between mass media exposure or home internet access and tobacco use (two studies), watching of televised football and tobacco smoking in adolescents (one study), exposure to point-of-sale advertising of tobacco products and daily occurrence of smoking or second-hand smoke exposure in the home among women (one study), and exposure to anti-smoking messages through mass media and disparities in risk perceptions across socio-economic and urban-rural subgroups (one study). None of the included studies investigated tobacco-related sponsorship. The top research priority topics identified by stakeholders in Ethiopia were: 1) barriers and facilitators to TAPS policy implementation, enforcement, and compliance monitoring; and 2) developing and testing effective, low-cost, and scalable strategies for TAPS enforcement and compliance monitoring. # Conclusions There is a need for research evidence to inform policy and practice on TAPS in Ethiopia, particularly on barriers and facilitators to TAPS policy implementation, enforcement, compliance monitoring, and effective, low-cost, and scalable strategies for TAPS enforcement and compliance monitoring

Integrating Climate Products in the Existing Undergraduate Curricula: An Approach to Respond to Climate Change through Climate Education

Climate change is real, and the severity of the problem is critical in developing countries where agriculture is the backbone of the economy. The agricultural sector in Ethiopia is highly climate dependent. More than 95% of farmed land grows crops under rain-fed agriculture. Given continually increasing climate change trends and variability, Ethiopia is expected to get hotter in the foreseeable future. This situation will increase small farm households' vulnerability to climate-related shocks that may induce food insecurity, malnutrition, diet-related non-communicable diseases, and large-scale displacements. Since there is no vaccine for climate change, equipping next-generation agricultural science graduates with the concepts of Climate Information Services (CIS) and Climate-Smart Agriculture (CSA) is one of the best ways to address climate change related challenges and envision knowledge-based innovative practices that strengthen adaptation to climate change and leverage mitigation actions. Climate Change Education (CCE) and trainings have long been recognized by the national CCE strategy (2017-2030), the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, the Paris Climate Change Agreement, and the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations (Agenda 2030) as key tools to unravel the complex and multi-sectorial challenges induced/posed by climate change. Thus, Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA), in collaboration with Ethiopian Higher Education, initiated the integration of the concept of CIS and CSA in the agricultural program in Ethiopia. Demand was created among Ethiopian public universities by engaging university vice presidents, Professionals from agriculture and climate sciences. Through consultation workshops and discussions with university management, it was noted that integrating climate products as a sub-chapter and case studies in the existing curriculum is one of the strategies to respond to climate change through education. To implement the integration of climate products (CIS, CSA, CRMA and CB) in the existing curricula, a committee was named to collect the agriculture curricula, execute gap analyses and recommend the integration of CP in the existing curriculum. A draft document was produced and circulated among committees, and the comments were received. The gap analyses revealed that there were 11 climate-related courses offered in 10 departments in the Undergraduate program. The courses were either shallowly addressed or do not address climate products in the curricula. This has necessitated integrating the existing curriculum with climate products to contribute to the efforts of climate education, ensuring the relevance and quality of education. A validation workshop was organized, and the findings of the gap analyses and gap-filling recommendations were presented to university representatives drawn from 27 Universities. Comments in the validation workshop were included, and a final integrated curriculum was approved. A document that integrated climate products were produced and passed to the universities, and action points and a timeline was established for implementation. It was recommended that incorporating CP in the curricula be extended to other disciplines (e.g., health, Water Engineering etc.). It was also suggested to extend the experience to PG programs of all disciplines coupled with strong capacity-building efforts for teaching staff. It was also recommended that a standalone, common course and credited courses should be offered to all University students to advance climate education and respond to climate change