Treatment Outcomes and Associated Factors of Tuberculosis Patients on Directly Observed Treatment (Short Course) in a Tertiary Hospital in Port Harcourt, Nigeria

Introduction: Although concerted efforts have been implemented to achieve tuberculosis (TB) prevention and control, varying  outcomes have been reported in several quarters, despite the implementation of the directly observed treatment short-course (DOTS) strategy in virtually all parts of the world. It was considered necessary to assess the treatment outcomes of TB patients on DOTS strategy and the associated factors against the World Health Organization (WHO) target at the University of Port Harcourt Teaching Hospital (UPTH) Port Harcourt, to stimulate improvements in efforts toward patients care in the hospital and elsewhere. Methods: Ahealth facility‑based review of patients’ records(January 1, 2014–December 31, 2018) at the TB Clinic of UPTH was carried out using a validated data record sheet. Patients undergoing treatment were excluded. Data were analyzed with the SPSS software version 20. Outcome frequencies were summarized, and the Pearson’s Chi‑square test was used to determine the association between the outcome and independent variables at P ≤ 0.05 statistical significance level. Results: Overall, 174 (25.7%) had completed treatment, 181 (26.7%) were cured, 95 (14.0%) died, 70 (10.3%) transferred out, 45 (6.6%) defaulted, 49 (7.2%) were not evaluated, 44 (6.5%) were lost to follow‑up, and 8 (1.2%) failed treatment. There was a 17.6% decline in the proportion of patients that completed treatment from 35.9% in 2014 to 18.3% in 2018. On the contrary, there was an increase in the proportion of patients that were cured, from 14.1% in 2014% to 26.1% in 2018. Conclusions: The treatment success rate for TB in the hospital was below the WHO benchmark of 85% cure rate throughout the period under review. Basic reforms in the service delivery processes that specifically targets groups at risk (male patients, sputum  smear‑negative TB patients, and patients with human immunodeficiency virus/TB co-infection) with drug adherence counselling, defaulter tracing arrangements, and emphasis on drug‑susceptibility testing are recommended to improve treatment outcomes. Keywords: Directly observed treatment short-course, Nigeria, Rivers State, tuberculosis treatment, tuberculosis outcome

Oregon City School District Enrollment Forecasts, 2010-11 to 2019-20

This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center. The study includes analyses of population, housing and enrollment trends affecting the District in recent years, low, middle, and high range forecasts of district-wide enrollment by grade level for the 2010-11 to 2019-20 school years and middle range forecasts of individual school enrollments for the 2010-11 to 2014-15 school years. The District’s K-12 enrollment of 7,764 in 2009-10 was 232 students (2.9 percent) below its 2004-05 peak enrollment of 7,796 students. The 2008-09 to 2009-10 loss of 114 students (1.4 percent) was the District’s biggest K-12 enrollment decline in more than 20 years. Despite the overall loss, kindergarten and 1st grade enrollments experienced a third consecutive year of small enrollment increases

Portland Public Schools Enrollment Forecasts, 2011-12 to 2025-26, Based on October 2010 Enrollments

In Fall 2011, Portland Public Schools (PPS) enrolled 46,206 students in grades K-12, an increase of 465 students from Fall 2010. This is the third consecutive year of enrollment growth, following 12 consecutive years of enrollment losses that occurred between 1996- 97 and 2008-09. For the three year period since 2008-09, PPS K-12 enrollment has grown by 1,182 students, or 2.6 percent. In seven of the past eight years, actual K-12 enrollment in the first year of the forecast has been within 300 students of the medium scenario characterized as the “most likely” Enrollment Forecast in reports similar to this one. However, in all eight of those years actual enrollment was higher than the one year medium scenario forecast. Fall 2011 K- 12 enrollment was 227 students (0.5 percent) higher than the medium scenario forecast but 27 students (0.1 percent) lower than the high scenario forecast prepared in Spring 2011. The Enrollment Forecasts in this report were prepared in Spring and Summer 2011, based on historic enrollment data from 2010-11 and previous years. However, the entire report was not ready for publication until after 2011-12 enrollment data became available. This preface briefly addresses the district-wide trends observed in 2011-12 and evaluates the forecasts in the short term. The next report will include more analysis of enrollment trends with respect to area demographics and trends within sub-areas such as high school clusters. The 2011-12 enrollment figures in this preface were published by the District on November 18, 2011

Tigard-Tualatin School District Enrollment Forecast Update, 2011-12 to 2020-21

This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC). The study includes analysis of population, housing and enrollment trends affecting the District in recent years, estimates of the impacts of housing development on TTSD enrollment, and forecasts of districtwide and individual school enrollments for the 2011-12 to 2020-21 school years. The Tigard-Tualatin School District (TTSD) enrolled 12,393 students in Fall 2010, a decrease of 74 students (0.6 percent) from Fall 2009. The loss occurred at both the elementary and middle school levels, with decreases of 41 students (0.7 percent) in grades K-5 and 123 students (4.2 percent) in grades 6-8. Conversely, district-wide enrollment in high school grades 9-12 increased by 90 students (2.3 percent)

North Clackamas School District Enrollment Forecasts, 2011-12 to 2020-21

This report presents the results of a demographic study conducted by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC). The study includes analysis of population, housing and enrollment trends affecting the North Clackamas School District (NCSD) in recent years and forecasts of district-wide and individual school enrollments for the 2011-12 to 2020-21 school years. The District enrolled 17,368 students in Fall 2010, a decrease of 210 students (1.2 percent) from Fall 2009. This was the second consecutive year of decline in enrollment following 22 consecutive years of K-12 enrollment growth between 1986-87 and 2008- 09. This year, for the first time in at least 20 years, total enrollment in schools east of I- 205 did not grow. The Clackamas Feeder System total enrollment was basically unchanged from Fall 2009, with a net loss of 15 students. The Milwaukie and Rex Putnam feeder systems had net enrollment losses of 86 and 72 students respectively. The losses at schools west of I-205 were consistent with long term trends but much smaller than in the previous year, between Fall 2008 and Fall 2009

Bend-La Pine School District: Population and Enrollment Forecasts 2010-11 to 2030-31

The Bend-La Pine School District (BLPSD) enrolled 15,898 students in Fall 2009, an increase of 61 students from Fall 2008. This followed a loss of 13 students between Fall 2007 and Fall 2008. These two most recent years are in sharp contrast with the previous 19 years of uninterrupted gains of more than 200 students each year. K-12 enrollment growth averaged about 350 students per year from 1990 to 2000, and about 400 students per year from 2000 to 2007. The enrollment trends align closely with the housing and employment trends described in this report. Housing growth began to slow early in 2007, job losses became evident by the end of 2007, and the migration of families with children into the District tapered off beginning in 2008. In spite of this slowdown, there is still momentum from the District’s recent high population growth and increase in births. All school levels, elementary, middle, and high, remain at or near their all time high enrollments. Kindergarten and 1st grade enrollments, typically the leading indicators of shifting enrollment trends, have not declined. They were each slightly larger in Fall 2009 than in Fall 2007. The primary purpose of this study by the Portland State University Population Research Center (PRC) is to provide school Enrollment Forecasts that will be used by the District, Deschutes County, and the City of Bend for long range planning. These district-wide forecasts by grade level for the BLPSD are consistent with the Deschutes County Coordinated Population Forecast (DCCPF) adopted by the Deschutes County Board of Commissioners in September 2004

The Influence of Stimulus Deviance on Electrophysiologic and Behavioral Responses to Novel Events

This study investigated the role of stimulus deviance in determining electrophysiologic and behavioral responses to “novelty.” Stimulus deviance was defined in terms of differences either from the immediately preceding context or from long-term experience. Subjects participated in a visual event-related potential (ERP) experiment, in which they controlled the duration of stimulus viewing with a button press, which served as a measure of exploratory behavior. Each of the three experimental conditions included a frequent repetitive background stimulus and infrequent stimuli that deviated from the background stimulus. In one condition, both background and deviant stimuli were simple, easily recognizable geometric figures. In another condition, both background and deviant stimuli were unusual/unfamiliar figures, and in a third condition, the background stimulus was a highly unusual figure, and the deviant stimuli were simple, geometric shapes. Deviant stimuli elicited larger N2-P3 amplitudes and longer viewing durations than the repetitive background stimulus, even when the deviant stimuli were simple, familiar shapes and the background stimulus was a highly unusual figure. Compared to simple, familiar deviant stimuli, unusual deviant stimuli elicited larger N2-P3 amplitudes and longer viewing times. Within subjects, the deviant stimuli that evoked the largest N2-P3 responses also elicited the longest viewing durations. We conclude that deviance from both immediate context and long-term prior experience contribute to the response to novelty, with the combination generating the largest N2-P3 amplitude and the most sustained attention. The amplitude of the N2-P3 may reflect how much “uncertainty” is evoked by a novel visual stimulus and signal the need for further exploration and cognitive processing

The use of farmers' knowledge in coffee agroforestry management: implications for the conservation of tree biodiversity

In agroforestry systems, the survival of shade trees is often the result of farmers' deliberate selection. Therefore, how communities generate knowledge and apply it to resource management practices influence the potential for biodiversity conservation of agroforestry systems. In this study, we investigated the use of knowledge by farmers to manage coffee (Coffea arabica) agroforests and the consequences for the conservation of tree biodiversity and composition of surrounding forests. We interviewed 50 coffee farmers to investigate their shade tree preferences and sources of knowledge of the properties of shade trees and coffee management practices; we also conducted tree inventories in 31 coffee farms and 10 forest sites in La Sepultura Biosphere Reserve in Chiapas, Mexico. Our results showed that farmers are modifying agroforests according to their knowledge and tree preferences, and that the resulting agroforest is lower in tree diversity and dominated by pioneer and farmers' preferred tree species as compared to forests. The principal sources of knowledge of management practices are external sources, such as governmental and non‐governmental organizations, whereas the primary source of tree specific knowledge is empirical knowledge. We found that the higher proportion of pioneer trees relative to forest is mostly explained by farmers' tree selection decisions (63%) rather than as a byproduct of management practices (37%) that disturb the soil and open the canopy, altering light penetration and microclimate conditions. Based on interviews and tree inventories, we found that farmers gradually replace canopy trees of neutral and disliked species by preferred species, in particular Inga spp. We found that external sources continue to promote the idea that Inga spp. trees bring significant benefits to coffee production in spite of a lack of scientific evidence to support this claim. This indicates that farmers are receptive to incorporate outside knowledge into their knowledge systems and adapt their resource management practices accordingly. Our findings highlight the importance of disseminating sound and clear scientific information to practitioners who work directly with farming communities to ensure that accurate and up‐to‐date information is being contributed to local knowledge systems

Development and characterization of a Yucatan miniature biomedical pig permanent middle cerebral artery occlusion stroke model

BACKGROUND: Efforts to develop stroke treatments have met with limited success despite an intense need to produce novel treatments. The failed translation of many of these therapies in clinical trials has lead to a close examination of the therapeutic development process. One of the major factors believed to be limiting effective screening of these treatments is the absence of an animal model more predictive of human responses to treatments. The pig may potentially fill this gap with a gyrencephalic brain that is larger in size with a more similar gray-white matter composition to humans than traditional stroke animal models. In this study we develop and characterize a novel pig middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) ischemic stroke model. METHODS: Eleven male pigs underwent MCAO surgery with the first 4 landrace pigs utilized to optimize stroke procedure and 7 additional Yucatan stroked pigs studied over a 90 day period. MRI analysis was done at 24 hrs and 90 days and included T2w, T2w FLAIR, T1w FLAIR and DWI sequences and associated ADC maps. Pigs were sacrificed at 90 days and underwent gross and microscopic histological evaluation. Significance in quantitative changes was determined by two-way analysis of variance and post-hoc Tukey’s Pair-Wise comparisons. RESULTS: MRI analysis of animals that underwent MCAO surgery at 24 hrs had hyperintense regions in T2w and DWI images with corresponding ADC maps having hypointense regions indicating cytotoxic edema consistent with an ischemic stroke. At 90 days, region of interest analysis of T1 FLAIR and ADC maps had an average lesion size of 59.17 cc, a loss of 8% brain matter. Histological examination of pig brains showed atrophy and loss of tissue, consistent with MRI, as well as glial scar formation and macrophage infiltration. CONCLUSIONS: The MCAO procedure led to significant and consistent strokes with high survivability. These results suggest that the pig model is potentially a robust system for the study of stroke pathophysiology and potential diagnostics and therapeutics

A Commodity Supply Mix for More Regionalized Life Cycle Assessments

Supply chain information is invaluable to further regionalize product life cycle assessments (LCAs), but detailed information linking production and consumption centers is not always available. We introduce the commodity supply mix (CSM) defined as the trade-volume-weighted average representing the combined geographic areas for the production of a commodity exported to a given market with the goal of (1) enhancing the relevance of inventory and impact regionalization and (2) allocating these impacts to specific markets. We apply the CSM to the Brazilian soybean supply chain mapped by Trase to obtain the mix of ecoregions and river basins linked to domestic consumption and exports to China, EU, France, and the rest of the world, before quantifying damage to biodiversity, and water scarcity footprints. The EU had the lowest potential biodiversity damage but the largest water scarcity footprint following respective sourcing patterns in 12 ecoregions and 18 river basins. These results differed from the average impact scores obtained from Brazilian soybean production information alone. The CSM can be derived at different scales (subnationally, internationally) using existing supply chain information and constitutes an additional step toward greater regionalization in LCAs, particularly for impacts with greater spatial variability such as biodiversity and water scarcity