Prevalence and risk factors of childhood diarrhea among wastewater irrigating urban farming households in Addis Ababa

\ua9 2023 Ali et al. This is an open access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited.Introduction Childhood diarrhea is one of the major contributors to the morbidity of under-five children in Ethiopia. Although researchers determine the risk factors varyingly, the exposure route to the pathogens is usually complicated. This study aims to investigate the prevalence and risk factors of diarrhea among children under the age of five among wastewater irrigation farming households in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Methods Cross-sectional study was conducted among 402 farming households from November 2021 to February 2022. Data was collected using a face-to-face interviewer-administered questionnaire. Stata version 14 software was used to analyze data. Factors associated with the prevalence of diarrhea was identified using binary logistic regression. Multivariable analysis was carried out to determine an adjusted odds ratio at a confidence level of 95% and level of significance at 0.05. Results The overall prevalence of under-five children diarrheal cases was 22.3%. The odds of diarrhea are associated with a multitude of variables. Major wastewater-related determinants associated with diarrhea are body washing with irrigation water [AOR: 37.7, 95%CI (3.1, 358)], contaminated cloth with irrigation water [AOR:10.8,95%CI(0.6, 205)], use of protective clothing during farm work [28.9,95%CI (3.9, 215)], use of farm work cloths at home [AOR: 31.7, 95%CI (4.4, 226)], and bringing unwashed farm tools to home [94 (5.7, 1575)]. Conclusion The high prevalence of under-five children diarrheal disease among wastewater irrigation households was strongly associated with factors related to occupational exposure. Thus, to decrease childhood diarrheal among urban agriculture farmers, appropriate precautions need to be taken

Clinical Performance of an Automated Reader in Interpreting Malaria Rapid Diagnostic Tests in Tanzania.

Parasitological confirmation of malaria is now recommended in all febrile patients by the World Health Organization (WHO) to reduce inappropriate use of anti-malarial drugs. Widespread implementation of rapid diagnostic tests (RDTs) is regarded as an effective strategy to achieve this goal. However, the quality of diagnosis provided by RDTs in remote rural dispensaries and health centres is not ideal. Feasible RDT quality control programmes in these settings are challenging. Collection of information regarding diagnostic events is also very deficient in low-resource countries. A prospective cohort of consecutive patients aged more than one year from both genders, seeking routine care for febrile episodes at dispensaries located in the Bagamoyo district of Tanzania, were enrolled into the study after signing an informed consent form. Blood samples were taken for thick blood smear (TBS) microscopic examination and malaria RDT (SD Bioline Malaria Antigen Pf/PanTM (SD RDT)). RDT results were interpreted by both visual interpretation and DekiReaderTM device. Results of visual interpretation were used for case management purposes. Microscopy was considered the "gold standard test" to assess the sensitivity and specificity of the DekiReader interpretation and to compare it to visual interpretation. In total, 1,346 febrile subjects were included in the final analysis. The SD RDT, when used in conjunction with the DekiReader and upon visual interpretation, had sensitivities of 95.3% (95% CI, 90.6-97.7) and 94.7% (95% CI, 89.8--97.3) respectively, and specificities of 94.6% (95% CI, 93.5--96.1) and 95.6% (95% CI, 94.2--96.6), respectively to gold standard. There was a high percentage of overall agreement between the two methods of interpretation. The sensitivity and specificity of the DekiReader in interpretation of SD RDTs were comparable to previous reports and showed high agreement to visual interpretation (>98%). The results of the study reflect the situation in real practice and show good performance characteristics of DekiReader on interpreting malaria RDTs in the hands of local laboratory technicians. They also suggest that a system like this could provide great benefits to the health care system. Further studies to look at ease of use by community health workers, and cost benefit of the system are warranted

The usefulness of rapid diagnostic tests in the new context of low malaria transmission in zanzibar.

BACKGROUND\ud \ud We assessed if histidine-rich-protein-2 (HRP2) based rapid diagnostic test (RDT) remains an efficient tool for Plasmodium falciparum case detection among fever patients in Zanzibar and if primary health care workers continue to adhere to RDT results in the new epidemiological context of low malaria transmission. Further, we evaluated the performance of RDT within the newly adopted integrated management of childhood illness (IMCI) algorithm in Zanzibar.\ud \ud METHODS AND FINDINGS\ud \ud We enrolled 3890 patients aged ≥2 months with uncomplicated febrile illness in this health facility based observational study conducted in 12 primary health care facilities in Zanzibar, between May-July 2010. One patient had an inconclusive RDT result. Overall 121/3889 (3.1%) patients were RDT positive. The highest RDT positivity rate, 32/528 (6.1%), was found in children aged 5-14 years. RDT sensitivity and specificity against PCR was 76.5% (95% CI 69.0-83.9%) and 99.9% (95% CI 99.7-100%), and against blood smear microscopy 78.6% (95% CI 70.8-85.1%) and 99.7% (95% CI 99.6-99.9%), respectively. All RDT positive, but only 3/3768 RDT negative patients received anti-malarial treatment. Adherence to RDT results was thus 3887/3889 (99.9%). RDT performed well in the IMCI algorithm with equally high adherence among children <5 years as compared with other age groups.\ud \ud CONCLUSIONS\ud \ud The sensitivity of HRP-2 based RDT in the hands of health care workers compared with both PCR and microscopy for P. falciparum case detection was relatively low, whereas adherence to test results with anti-malarial treatment was excellent. Moreover, the results provide evidence that RDT can be reliably integrated in IMCI as a tool for improved childhood fever management. However, the relatively low RDT sensitivity highlights the need for improved quality control of RDT use in primary health care facilities, but also for more sensitive point-of-care malaria diagnostic tools in the new epidemiological context of low malaria transmission in Zanzibar.\ud \ud TRIAL REGISTRATION\ud \ud ClinicalTrials.gov NCT01002066

Network-wide localization of optical-layer attacks

Optical networks are vulnerable to a range of attacks targeting service disruption at the physical layer, such as the insertion of harmful signals that can propagate through the network and affect co-propagating channels. Detection of such attacks and localization of their source, a prerequisite for securenetwork operation, is a challenging task due to the limitations in optical performance monitoring, as well as the scalability and cost issues. In this paper, we propose an approach for localizing the source of a jamming attack by modeling the worst-case scope of each connection as a potential carrier of a harmful signal. We define binary words called attack syndromes to model the health of each connection at the receiver which, when unique, unambiguously identify the harmful connection. To ensure attack syndrome uniqueness, we propose an optimization approach to design attack monitoring trails such that their number and length is minimal. This allows us to use the optical network as a sensor for physical-layer attacks. Numerical simulation results indicate that our approach obtains network-wide attack source localization at only 5.8% average resource overhead for the attackmonitoring trails

Intravenous postoperative fluid prescriptions for children: A survey of practice

<p>Abstract</p> <p>Background</p> <p>Postoperative deaths and neurological injury have resulted from hyponatraemia associated with the use of hypotonic saline solutions following surgery. We aimed to determine the rates and types of intravenous fluids being prescribed postoperatively for children in the UK.</p> <p>Methods</p> <p>A questionnaire was sent to members of the British Association of Paediatric Surgeons (BAPS) and Association of Paediatric Anaesthetists of Great Britain and Ireland (APAGBI) based at UK paediatric centres. Respondents were asked to prescribe postoperative fluids for scenarios involving children of different ages. The study period was between May 2006 and November 2006.</p> <p>Results</p> <p>The most frequently used solution was sodium chloride 0.45% with glucose 5% although one quarter of respondents still used sodium chloride 0.18% with glucose 4%. Isotonic fluids were used by 41% of anaesthetists and 9.8% of surgeons for the older child, but fewer for infants. Standard maintenance rates or greater were prescribed by over 80% of respondents.</p> <p>Conclusion</p> <p>Most doctors said they would prescribe hypotonic fluids at volumes equal to or greater than traditional maintenance rates at the time of the survey. A survey to describe practice since publication of National Patient Safety Agency (NPSA) recommendations is required.</p

Personal identification based on mobile-based keystroke dynamics

This paper is addressing the personal identification problem by using mobile-based keystroke dynamics of touch mobile phone. The proposed approach consists of two main phases, namely feature selection and classification. The most important features are selected using Genetic Algorithm (GA). Moreover, Bagging classifier used the selected features to identify persons by matching the features of the unknown person with the labeled features. The outputs of all Bagging classifiers are fused to determine the final decision. In this experiment, a keystroke dynamics database for touch mobile phones is used. The database, which consists of four sets of features, is collected from 51 individuals and consists of 985 samples collected from males and females with different ages. The results of the proposed model conclude that the third subset of features achieved the best accuracy while the second subset achieved the worst accuracy. Moreover, the fusion of all classifiers of all ensembles will improve the accuracy and achieved results better than the individual classifiers and individual ensembles

Using Combined Morphological, Allometric and Molecular Approaches to Identify Species of the Genus Raillietiella (Pentastomida)

Taxonomic studies of parasites can be severely compromised if the host species affects parasite morphology; an uncritical analysis might recognize multiple taxa simply because of phenotypically plastic responses of parasite morphology to host physiology. Pentastomids of the genus Raillietiella are endoparasitic crustaceans primarily infecting the respiratory system of carnivorous reptiles, but also recorded from bufonid anurans. The delineation of pentastomids at the generic level is clear, but the taxonomic status of many species is not. We collected raillietiellids from lungs of the invasive cane toad (Rhinella marina), the invasive Asian house gecko (Hemidactylus frenatus), and a native tree frog (Litoria caerulea) in tropical Australia, and employed a combination of genetic analyses, and traditional and novel morphological methods to clarify their identity. Conventional analyses of parasite morphology (which focus on raw values of morphological traits) revealed two discrete clusters in terms of pentastome hook size, implying two different species of pentastomes: one from toads and a tree frog (Raillietiella indica) and another from lizards (Raillietiella frenatus). However, these clusters disappeared in allometric analyses that took pentastome body size into account, suggesting that only a single pentastome taxon may be involved. Our molecular data revealed no genetic differences between parasites in toads versus lizards, confirming that there was only one species: R. frenatus. This pentastome (previously known only from lizards) clearly is also capable of maturing in anurans. Our analyses show that the morphological features used in pentastomid taxonomy change as the parasite transitions through developmental stages in the definitive host. To facilitate valid descriptions of new species of pentastomes, future taxonomic work should include both morphological measurements (incorporating quantitative measures of body size and hook bluntness) and molecular data

The Impact of Life Cycle Cost Analysis (LCC) Towards Maintenance Performance for High-Rise Residential Lift System

Building maintenance has become an invaluable process in the field of the built environment with the purpose of retaining building value and quality. Life Cycle Cost (LCC) is important in the maintenance field as it can reduce maintenance costs without affecting the performance of services. However, the application of LCC in this country is limited due to a lack of awareness and knowledge about LCC. This research intends to identify the components of LCC and its impact on the maintenance performance of lift systems in high-rise residential buildings. Lift systems are important for high-rise buildings to transport occupants from the ground floor to upper floors but most lift systems have not been effectively managed and maintained in Malaysia, which has resulted in severe injuries to users and even death. Yet, there is a lack of data regarding high-end high-rise residential buildings. Hence, this research will focus on lift systems in high-end high-rise residential buildings. A mixed-method approach has been adopted whereby questionnaires were distributed to building managers of high rise residential buildings in Klang Valley and interviews were conducted with building managers from the selected case studies. With the application of LCC, the maintenance team can consider all the LCC components of the lift system during the decision-making process and improve the maintenance performance of the lift system by having lower breakdown rates, fewer complaints received and quicker response times

Osmoregulators proline and glycine betaine counteract salinity stress in canola

Salt inundation leads to increased salinization of arable land in many arid and semi-arid regions. Until genetic solutions are found farmers and growers must either abandon salt-affected fields or use agronomic treatments that alleviate salt stress symptoms. Here, field experiments were carried out to study the effect of the osmoregulators proline at 200 mg L-1 and glycine betaine at 400 mg L-1 in counteracting the harmful effect of soil salinity stress on canola plants grown in Egypt. We assessed growth characteristics, yield and biochemical constituents. Results show first that all growth characters decreased with increasing salinity stress but applied osmoregulators alleviated these negative effects. Second, salinity stress decreased photosynthetic pigments, K and P contents, whilst increasing proline, soluble sugars, ascorbic acid, Na and Cl contents. Third, application of osmoregulators without salt stress increased photosynthetic pigments, proline, soluble sugars, N, K and P contents whilst decreasing Na and Cl contents. It is concluded that the exogenously applied osmoregulators glycine betaine and proline can fully or partially counteract the harmful effect of salinity stress on growth and yield of canola.© INRA and Springer-Verlag, France 2012