Search-based amorphous slicing

Amorphous slicing is an automated source code extraction technique with applications in many areas of software engineering, including comprehension, reuse, testing and reverse engineering. Algorithms for syntax-preserving slicing are well established, but amorphous slicing is harder because it requires arbitrary transformation; finding good general purpose amorphous slicing algorithms therefore remains as hard as general program transformation. In this paper we show how amorphous slices can be computed using search techniques. The paper presents results from a set of experiments designed to explore the application of genetic algorithms, hill climbing, random search and systematic search to a set of six subject programs. As a benchmark, the results are compared to those from an existing analytical algorithm for amorphous slicing, which was written specifically to perform well with the sorts of program under consideration. The results, while tentative at this stage, do give grounds for optimism. The search techniques proved able to reduce the size of the programs under consideration in all cases, sometimes equaling the performance of the specifically-tailored analytic algorithm. In one case, the search techniques performed better, highlighting a fault in the existing algorith

Knowledge of HIV/AIDS and Risk Behaviour among Students of Colleges of Education in Osun State, Nigeria

This study examined the knowledge and risk behaviours on HIV/AIDS of students in colleges of Education in Osun State. The study sampled 1600 students (male and female) from two colleges of Education. A descriptive survey was adopted for the study using stratified random sampling techniques. A self- developed questionnaire served as data collection tool. The data analysis was done using descriptive statistics of frequencies and percentages, while t-test and multiple regression analyses were used to test the hypothesis at 0.05 level of significance. Result showed that many of the students in these colleges still do not have much knowledge about HIV/AIDS. Misinformation about HIV/AIDS prevention still persists and pronounced among the youths despite all the efforts of the national and international organizations. There is need for HIV/AIDS education in all Colleges of Education and other tertiary institutions in Nigeria to be taken more seriously than before. Despite the high level of knowledge of some of the students, their risky-behaviour has not changed.Key words: Risk-behaviour, knowledge, HIV/AIDS College of EducationIlesa, and Ila-Orangun

Clients’ satisfaction with immunisation services in the urban and rural primary health centres of a South-Eastern State in Nigeria

Objectives: To determine clients’ satisfaction with immunisation services in the urban and rural primary health centres of a South-eastern state inNigeriaMethods: A three-stage sampling method was used to select 800 clients who presented with their children/wards to 18 of the 440 primary health centres. Exit interviews were conducted using an adapted, semi-structured questionnaire. A composite index of satisfaction with immunisationservices, denoted as true satisfaction, was assessed as the proportionof clients who reported being satisfied with the immunisation services received on the day of data collection, who were ready to use the health centre again for immunisation services, and who were willing to recommend the health centre to others for the same services.Findings: The mean age of the clients was 28.9±4.5 and 26.7±5.1 years old in the urban and rural areas, respectively. The main reasons why the clients chose the primary health centres for immunisation services were because of their proximity to the health centres in the urban area (34.3%)and the availability of vaccines in the rural area (35.3%). The majority of clients in the urban (84.5%) and rural areas (94.3%) were truly satisfied with the immunisation services. A long waiting time and uncomfortable waiting areas were the major sources of dissatisfaction among the clients. Factors that were associated with the clients’ true satisfaction with  immunisation services included being a client in an urban area (adjusted odds ratio (AOR)=0.2, 95% confidence interval (CI): 0.1-0.4), being married, (AOR=33.5, 95% CI: 12.7- 88.1), being of the Igbo ethnic nationality (AOR=14.9, 95% CI: 3.9-57.4), being a Christian (AOR=21.1, 95% CI: 2.9-154.6), and being in close proximity to the health centres (AOR=2.6, 95% CI: 1.5-4.4).Conclusion: The waiting time needs to be reduced and the physical conditions of the waiting area need to be improved to reduce the clients’ dissatisfaction with the services, particularly in urban areas.Keywords: Clients’ satisfaction, immunisation, primary health centres, urban and rural, Enugu State

Breastfeeding and postimmunisation fever amongst infants receiving Diphtheria- Pertussis-Tetanus vaccine at a tertiary health institution in Ibadan, Nigeria

Objective: To determine the incidence of fever after vaccination with the first dose of diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus (DPT) among exclusively breastfed and non-exclusively breastfed infants in Ibadan, Nigeria.Methods: A prospective study was conducted on a cohort of 710 infants who received first dose of DPT vaccine at the Immunisation Clinic of a tertiary health institution in Ibadan, between July and October 2011. Based on the feeding pattern in a 24-hour feeding recall by mothers, infants were classified into exclusive and nonexclusive breastfeeding groups. Each of the infant's mothers was provided with a digital thermometer and instructed on how to measure the temperature of her infant. The information about the incidence of fever was obtained by telephone on the third day after vaccination.Results: Only 682 completed the study. The overall rates of exclusive and non-exclusive breastfeeding were 48% and 52%, respectively. Compared with the infants who were non-exclusively breastfed, those who were breastfed exclusively had a risk for fever of 0.675 (95% CI, 0.558-0.817). The place of delivery and the highest level of education were confounders and effect modifiers of the association between breastfeeding and fever.Conclusions: These findings suggest that exclusive breastfeeding is associated with a decreased incidence of fever after immunisation.Keywords: Exclusive breastfeeding; Post-immunisation fever; Diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus vaccination; Nigeri

Measles Case-based Surveillance and Outbreak response in Nigeria; An Update for Clinicians and Public Health Professionals

The Federal Ministry of Health recommendations for response during measles epidemics in Nigeria previously focused on case management using antibiotics and Vitamin. A supplements and did not include outbreak responseimmunization (ORI) campaigns. However, with the revision of the existing national technical guideline on measles casebased surveillance and outbreak response in Nigeria in 2012 in line with the World Health Organization  recommendation on response to measles outbreak in measles mortality reduction settings, there is a need to  update members of the Nigerian public health community on these revisions to ensure appropriate implementation and compliance. This article therefore seeks to provide clinicians and other public health professionals in Nigeria with updates on recent developments in measles case-based surveillance and outbreak response in Nigeria.Keywords: Measles surveillance, Outbreak response, Clinicians, Nigeria

Accuracy and Quality of Routine Immunisation Data Monitoring System in two South-Eastern Districts of Nigeria

Background To assess the accuracy and quality of immunisation data in Ogbaru (OGB) and Onitsha North (ONN) Local  Government Areas (LGAs) of Anambra State, Nigeria.Methods A validated methodology of immunisation Data Quality Audit was used. All the Health Facilities  (HFs) conducting immunisation in OGB (28) and ONN (20) as well as the two LGAs'  Immunisation Units (IUs) were visited. The records of the third dose of Diphtheria-pertussis-tetanus  (DPT3) and measles immunisation at the HFs from January to December 2009 was recounted and  compared with reported data at the LGA IUs for the same period. An Accuracy Ratio (AR), which  expresses the ratio of immunisation recounted at the HFs to that reported to the LGAs IUs was obtained.  AR of 0.95 to 1.05 indicates data accuracy. Immunisation Focal Persons (IFPs) in each HF were  interviewed using a validated tool that contained a 70-point knowledge scale and a 120-item quality score (QS) on the data monitoring system.Results The proportions of HFs with accurate data for DPT3 were 32.1% and 45.0% (p=0.39) in OGB and ONN respectively. The overall AR was 0.89 in OGB and 0.96 in ONN. The mean knowledge score   among IFPs in the LGAs was 44.1±8.0 and 46.2±6.9 (p<0.05), while the mean QS for HFs was   74.5±18.0 and 73.6±13.2 in OGB and ONN respectively (p<0.05). There was a fair correlation between   the overall QS and the overall knowledge score in the two LGAs, r=0.3 (p<0.05).Conclusion Auditing showed inaccurate and low quality of data reporting in the LGAs. Keywords Routine immunisation; Immunisation monitoring system; Data quality audit

Outcome of training on yellow fever surveillance in a South-Western State, Nigeria: Implications for improved field implementation

Nigeria is in the process of strengthening yellow fever case-based surveillance with the collection of serum samples among suspected case patients. Atraining conducted for surveillance officers in the local government areas (LGAs) of Osun State on yellow fever case-based surveillance was assessed to determine its immediate impact on the knowledge of participants. The training focused mainly on how to detect and report a suspected case of yellow fever to the national authorities and the reference laboratory. Training materials included theWorld Health Organization district guidelines for yellow fever surveillance.Apre and post test was used to evaluate the immediate impact of the training on knowledge among participants. Atotal of 31 officers participated. The mean scores for pre and post tests were 7.1 (SD 3.6) and 20.7 (SD 3.4) out of a total of 30 points respectively. More than 80% of participants rated the training as excellent in overall organization.All participants indicated that they were very confident to fully implement yellow fever surveillance in their LGAs

Poverty Eradication and Sustainability of Healthful Living in Nigeria

Poverty is not simply a lack of adequate income; it is a multi-dimensionalphenomenon that extends beyond the economic arena to encompass factors such as the inability to participate in social and political life. In short,poverty is the deprivation of one�s ability to live as a free and dignifiedhuman being with the full potential to achieve one�s desired goals in life.Poverty level remains stubbornly-and-unacceptably high in sub-SaharaAfrica. This paper discussed poverty eradication as a tool to sustainablehealthful living in developing countries with special reference to Nigeriaunder the following:- poverty on human environment, Nigeria experiencesand poverty eradication program. In Nigeria it was evident that despite allsocio-economic, educational measures and police such as structuraladjustment programme (SAP) austerity measures, Universal Basic Education(UBE), devaluation of naira and seven point agenda mounted to improveeconomic status of family, have yield nothing but increased suffering, poorhealth and wide spread of social economic gap between families. li

Clinical characteristics and outcome of patients with upper gastrointestinal bleeding at the emergency department of a tertiary hospital in Nigeria

Background: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding is a potentially life threatening condition with multiple causes. There is scarcity of health data depicting the clinical characteristics of the condition in African countries. This study was designed to describe the demographic, clinical characteristics and outcome of the patients who presented to our Emergency Department.Methods: The records of cohort of all patients admitted with upper gastrointestinal tract bleeding from 1 January 2011 to 31 December 2012 were retrospectively reviewed from admission to discharge or death.Results: There were 169 patients with median age of 44.0 years (range 13-89); 25 (15.0%) of them were known peptic ulcer disease patients. Most (69.2%) of the patients were males. The most common presenting symptom was haematemesis (34.9%) followed by melaena (16.6%). There was a history of NSAIDs use in 16.8% and alcohol ingestion in 12%. Upper Gastrointestinal Endoscopy was performed in 6.8% cases. Twenty-three (13.6%) patients died. There was association between mortality and diastolic blood pressure; more deaths (1/7; 14.3%) occurred in those with diastolic blood pressure > 90mmHg compared with <90mmHg (5/70; 7.1%) (P = 0.002). There were more deaths among patients who did not receive blood transfusion (4/40; 10.0%) compared with those who had blood transfusion (2/37; 5.4%) (P=0.008).Conclusions: The common presentations were haematemesis and melaena, mainly in middle aged men with mortality in one out of seven patients. The high mortality may be due to co-morbidities and poor support services.Keywords: Upper gastrointestinal bleeding, Emergency department, Characteristics, Outcom

Representativeness of suspected measles cases reported in a southern district of Nigeria

AbstractObjectiveTo compare the characteristics of suspected measles cases at the health facilities and to determine the representativeness of the data.MethodsWe visited 25 hospitals in the Aniocha Local Government Area (LGA) of Delta State, Nigeria, from which information on reportable diseases was collected. In particular, the suspected measles cases in their registries between January 1, 2007, and June 30, 2008, were reviewed. We compared the characteristics, including age, sex, location, and month of reporting, of the suspected cases with the LGA surveillance records.ResultsIn the LGA records, 10% cases involved individuals older than 14 years, compared with 20% in the same age group in the health facility records. Based on geographic location, 53% of the measles cases among the hospital records came from a single location, in contrast to only 30% of the cases among the LGA records. An analysis considering time revealed that 30% of the cases in the LGA records occurred in August 2007, whereas 20% of hospital cases were reported in February and May 2008 combined.ConclusionsThe two record types differed considerably in all of the characteristics used in this comparison