A Study on the Major Causes of Organ and Carcass Condemnation in Cattle Slaughtered at Wolaita Sodo Municipality Abattoir

A cross-sectional study was conducted from November 2011 to March 2012 in Wolaita Sodo municipality abattoir to identify the major causes of organ and carcass condemnations and to estimate the direct economic losses due to organs and carcass condemnations. The study was conducted on cattle slaughtered at Sodo municipal abattoir. From the cattle slaughtered in this abattoir, 408 were selected randomly and examined by antemortem and postmortem examination for two days per week of visiting the abattoir (Saturday and Wednesday). Standard antemortem and postmortem inspection procedure was used for the study throughout the study period. During the antemortem examination, the following abnormalities were detected lameness 5(1.22%), local swelling 3(0.73%), rough hair coat 10(2.45%), emaciation 3(0.73%) and depression 2(0.49%). Out of 408 cattle inspected at postmortem examination; 111(27.2%) livers, 46(11.27%) lungs, 36(8.8%) kidneys, 9(2.2%) hearts and 1(0.25%) whole carcasses were rejected due to gross abnormalities. In liver 82(20.9%) fasciolosis and 15(3.67%) hydatidosis, in lung 28(6.86%) hydatid cyst, in kidney 19(4.65%) hydatid cyst and in heart 4(0.98%) pericarditis and 3 (0.73%) hydatid cysts were found as the major causes responsible for rejection of respective organ. There was statistically significant difference observed between the judgments given and the different body condition categories (χ2 = 14.294; p= 0.006) of cattle. The current study revealed that fasciolosis and hydatidosis were the major causes of condemnation that lead to huge economic losses. The average annual economic losses was calculated and found 354,821.8 Ethiopian birr due to condemnation of organs and carcass. Therefore, in order reduce this loss and to control major disease problem with animals’ government and private agencies should have to work together on abattoir data. Keywords: Abattoir, Antemortem, Carcass, Cattle, Condemnation, Organ, Postmortem, Sodo, Wolait

Complexity at the Science-Policy Interface in Ethiopia’s Policy Spaces

The mechanics of interaction between science and policy in the context of complex policy spaces has remained a subject of scholarly debate. Recent focus is shifting towards promoting science-policy interfaces as spaces for integration of science into decision making. However, the question of what these spaces are and how they function remains a puzzle. While existing literature agrees on the apparent disruption of communication between knowledge generation and policy; or offers suggestions on factors that facilitate or inhibit communication, it often fails to present a comprehensive understanding on the mechanisms of actual interchange. Besides, research tends to sideline considerations of complexity disregarding the dynamism of social processes and the intricate relationships among interests, value systems, narratives and power plays influencing policy outcomes. This research analyses how various actors with specific self-interests and positions interact across a range of national policy spaces in the backdrop of conflicting/ reinforcing narratives, structures, and agency characterizing the spaces. Using an “emergent policy environment” framework which is characterized by analytical categories comprising discourses, structures, and agency, the first paper analyzes how the 2011 Climate Resilient Green Economy Strategy came to be, in a policy context characterized by competing narratives, mandate [re]arrangements, and power inter-plays. Through evidence generated by administering a series of open-ended questions, the paper challenges the linear thinking that assumes policies as inevitable products. It establishes that the national climate policy process is complex, entailing interactions among and between national and supranational actors espousing varied, if not polarized, interests and values. These intricacies and nuanced details determine which narrative gains expression in the national climate policy. The second paper uses a set of structured interviews, Focus Group Discussions, and document analysis to examine the Ethiopian Rural Economic Development and Food Security (REDFS) as a science-policy space. It analyzed how the REDFS performs its function of aligning donor-government interaction across the pastoralist livelihood systems. I explored how actors represent themselves (agency) and use opportunities to represent their individual and collective interests in policy outcomes under the collective mandates conferred to them by political structures - in this case, the REDFS. Taking the 2017 Prosopis Management Strategy as one policy outcome, the paper concludes that networked actor interests employed specific narratives and directed resources to influence policy directions to drive policies in their favor. The third paper draws on information generated from a series of interviews and author’s own observation to understand how a national multi-stakeholder process resulted in a high-consensus political document known as Ethiopia’s 2040 Scenarios. Overall, the dissertation research is built upon a combination of qualitative methods including author’s own lived experience to provide empirical evidence on what the social process of policy making looks like in the context of Ethiopia’s policy spaces. It concludes that collaborative knowledge production for policy is possible through carefully facilitated interactive processes, managed through a “safe space” platform, and enabled by creating and nurturing trust all-along the policy development journey

Practice of Postoperative Pain Management in Under-Five Children in A Tertiary Hospital: A Prospective Crossectional Study

BACKGROUND: Despite advancements in pain management, children have remained undertreated for postoperative pain. Data regarding the practice of post-operative pain management in paediatric patients remains less available in the developing world. This study was aimed at evaluating practice of postoperative pain management in under five children. METHODS: A prospective cross sectional one-year study was conducted on all paediatric patients who underwent major paediatric surgical procedures from February 1, 2020 to January31, 2021, at a tertiary hospital in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. RESULT: A single type of analgesic medication was used in 67.1% patients. Analgesic medications were administered on standing base only in 64.4% of patients. Patients’ charts had no documentation of pain assessment both in the neonatal intensive care units and wards.32.89 % of assessed patients had moderate to severe pain record. CONCLUSION: Significant number of patients suffer from post-operative pain because of absence of proper pain assessment and inadequate administration of analgesic medication.   &nbsp

Compost effects on soil organic matter: Transformation, composition and stabilization

This cumulative dissertation consists of three manuscripts recently published in peer reviewed international scientific journals and other additional work (not yet published). The dissertation begins with an introduction that presents a general background and justification why studying soil organic matter (SOM) at the molecular level is currently an area of the research interest, fundamentals and impact of recycling organic waste as compost in agricultural soil on the composition, stabilization and transformation of SOM

Transregional Conflict Crossing the Red Sea: The Horn of Africa

In diesem Beitrag werden die Sicherheitsinterdependenzen und Freund-Feind-Muster zwischen den Akteuren am Horn und am Golf diskutiert, um einige der besonders komplexen Konflikte am Horn von Afrika zu erklären. Der Einfluss der Golfstaaten auf die Konfliktdynamik am Horn steigt wieder und wird immer wichtiger. Dieser Einfluss ist nicht nur einseitig. Akteure am Horn treten zunehmend in der Rivalität am Golf auf. Einige Golfstaaten, vor allem Saudi-Arabien und die Emirate, zielen darauf ab, den Einfluss des Iran, der Türkei und Katars in der Region einzudämmen. Dies wird anhand von drei Fallbeispielen veranschaulicht: Die Sicherheit des Roten Meeres, die Intervention der Golfstaaten in die Konfliktdynamik in Somalia und der Golaktor bei der jüngsten Annäherung zwischen Äthiopien und Eritrea. Diese Fälle und zusätzlich die zunehmenden militärischen, diplomatischen und wirtschaftlichen Interventionen der Golfstaaten am Horn deuten darauf hin, dass beide Regionen enger zusammenrücken. Was wir also haben, ist eine aufkommende Sicherheitsinterdependenz, die durch ein sich zunehmend verfestigendes Muster von Freundschaft / Feindschaft gekennzeichnet ist. Da dies zwei Regionen umfasst, ist ein Regulierungssystem vermittels einer kooperativen Plattform erforderlich, die Staaten und Organisationen der aufstrebenden Region zusammenbringt.This contribution argues security interdependence and patterns of amity / enmity between Horn and Gulf actors help in explaining some of the peculiarly complex conflicts in the Horn of Africa. Gulf influence on conflict dynamics in the Horn is resurging, and is becoming more consequential. The influence is not merely unidirectional. Actors in the Horn are increasingly featuring in the Gulf’s own rivalry. Some Gulf countries, primarily Saudi Arabia and the Emirates, aim to curb the influence of Iran, Turkey and Qatar in the region. This is illustrated using three case studies: the Red Sea’s maritime security; Gulf intervention in conflict dynamics in Somalia, and the Gulf ‘factor’ in the recent Ethio-Eritrea rapprochement. These cases, on top of the Gulf’s increasing military, diplomatic and economic interventions in the Horn, indicate that the two regions are being knit tightly closer. What we have thus is an emergent security interdependence marked by an increasingly solidifying pattern of amity / enmity. As this straddles two regions, it calls for a regulatory scheme through a cooperative platform that brings together states and organizations representing the emerging region

Dose–Volume Constraints fOr oRganS At risk In Radiotherapy (CORSAIR): An “All-in-One” Multicenter–Multidisciplinary Practical Summary

BACKGROUND: The safe use of radiotherapy (RT) requires compliance with dose/volume constraints (DVCs) for organs at risk (OaRs). However, the available recommendations are sometimes conflicting and scattered across a number of different documents. Therefore, the aim of this work is to provide, in a single document, practical indications on DVCs for OaRs in external beam RT available in the literature.MATERIAL AND METHODS: A multidisciplinary team collected bibliographic information on the anatomical definition of OaRs, on the imaging methods needed for their definition, and on DVCs in general and in specific settings (curative RT of Hodgkin's lymphomas, postoperative RT of breast tumors, curative RT of pediatric cancers, stereotactic ablative RT of ventricular arrythmia). The information provided in terms of DVCs was graded based on levels of evidence.RESULTS: Over 650 papers/documents/websites were examined. The search results, together with the levels of evidence, are presented in tabular form.CONCLUSIONS: A working tool, based on collected guidelines on DVCs in different settings, is provided to help in daily clinical practice of RT departments. This could be a first step for further optimizations

Quality of anti-malarial drugs provided by public and private healthcare providers in south-east Nigeria

BACKGROUND: There is little existing knowledge about actual quality of drugs provided by different providers in Nigeria and in many sub-Saharan African countries. Such information is important for improving malaria treatment that will help in the development and implementation of actions designed to improve the quality of treatment. The objective of the study was to determine the quality of drugs used for the treatment of malaria in a broad spectrum of public and private healthcare providers. METHODS: The study was undertaken in six towns (three urban and three rural) in Anambra state, south-east Nigeria. Anti-malarials (225 samples), which included artesunate, dihydroartemisinin, sulphadoxine-pyrimethamine (SP), quinine, and chloroquine, were either purchased or collected from randomly selected providers. The quality of these drugs was assessed by laboratory analysis of the dissolution profile using published pharmacopoeial monograms and measuring the amount of active ingredient using high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC). FINDINGS: It was found that 60 (37%) of the anti-malarials tested did not meet the United States Pharmacopoeia (USP) specifications for the amount of active ingredients, with the suspect drugs either lacking the active ingredients or containing suboptimal quantities of the active ingredients. Quinine (46%) and SP formulations (39%) were among drugs that did not satisfy the tolerance limits published in USP monograms. A total of 78% of the suspect drugs were from private facilities, mostly low-level providers, such as patent medicine dealers (vendors). CONCLUSION: This study found that there was a high prevalence of poor quality drugs. The findings provide areas for public intervention to improve the quality of malaria treatment services. There should be enforced checks and regulation of drug supply management as well as stiffer penalties for people stocking substandard and counterfeit drugs

Guidelines for Field Surveys of the Quality of Medicines: A Proposal

Paul Newton and colleagues propose guidelines for conducting and reporting field surveys of the quality of medicines