Nutritional intake of people living with HIV/Aids (PLWHA) in rural communities of Benue State, Nigeria

Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV) among rural dwellers depletes quality of agricultural labour, productivity and reduces quality of life. Uptake of Antiretroviral Therapy (ART) has not significantly reduced consequences of infection, as the effort is being compromised by poor nutritional intake. This study analysed the nutritional intake of People Living with HIV/AIDS (PLWHA) in rural communities of Benue State, Nigeria. Data was collected from 190 PLWHA randomly selected from members of two rural support groups with high prevalence of HIV in Benue State using interview schedule. The data was analysed using descriptive statistics, Pearson product moment correlation and Chi Square at 0.05. Mean age of respondents was 37.5±11.9, 58.9% were females while majority had secondary school education (46.6%). Diet diversity score (4.1±1.3) was low among majority (64.7%) of the respondents. Predominant food group consumed was tubers (80.0%) and cereals (55.3%). Iron (3.01) was the nutrient most consumed while vitamin B groups (1.15-1.60) were least consumed. However, age (r=-0.15) and uptake of ART (χ2=4.41) had significant relationship with nutritional intake. The study concluded that diet of PLWHA in Benue State was low in micronutrients, thus there is need for extension workers to be more pro-active in educating people living with HIV/AIDS in rural households on the need for good nutritional intake especially fruits and vegetables.Keywords: People Living with HIV/AIDS, Diet diversity, Nutritional Intak

Jumlah Sel T CD4+ Pasien HIV Koinfeksi HCV RNA POsitif dan Negatif RSUD DR. Moewardi di Surakarta

Latar Belakang: Koinfeksi HCV pada pasien HIV sering terjadi dan diduga dapat menyebabkan penurunan jumlah sel T CD4+. Penelitian ini bertujuan untuk mengetahui perbedaan jumlah sel T CD4+ pasien HIV dengan status RNA HCV positif dan status RNA HCV negatif RSUD Dr. Moewardi di Surakarta. Metode: Data status koinfeksi HCV, jumlah sel T CD4+, jenis kelamin dan usia dari 156 pasien HIV Rumah Sakit Umum Daerah (RSUD) Dr. Moewardi pada bulan November 2011 hingga Febuari 2012 dianalisis menggunakan uji Man-Whitney dan Chi-Square. Hasil: Status RNA HCV positif dimiliki oleh 27,6% (43/156) pasien HIV dan banyak ditemukan pada pasien dengan jenis kelamin laki-laki [Odds Ratio (OR) = 1,54; 95% Confidence Interval (95% CI) = 0,752 - 3,174; p = 0,235], kelompok usia > 37 tahun (OR = 1,18; 95% CI = 0,581 - 2,385; p = 0,650) dan pasien HIV dengan jumlah sel T CD4+ 200 sel/l (OR = 4,00; 95% CI = 1,708 - 9,389; p = <0,005). Pasien HIV dengan status RNA HCV positif memiliki rata-rata jumlah sel T CD4+ lebih tinggi dibanding pasien HIV dengan status RNA HCV negatif (576,6 556,2 sel/l dan 311,1 304,4 sel/l, masing-masing; p = 0,001). Seluruh perempuan dengan status RNA HCV positif memiliki jumlah sel T CD4+ 200 sel/l. Simpulan: Terdapat perbedaan jumlah sel T CD4+ antara pasien HIV status RNA HCV positif dengan status RNA HCV negatif

Reducing the incidence of by-catch through fishing gear modification

There have been considerable efforts in recent time to modify fishing gears and practices to target particular sizes and species of fish (fin and shell) and other marine organisms more efficiently. These efforts are coming on the heels of the negative- impact they tend to have on the population of organisms in the aquatic ecosystem. By-catch consideration and gear modification play an important role in the regulation of several consideration and gear modification play an important role in regulation of several major fisheries now by catch reduction devices and other innovative gear modification are continuously being proposed and tested to mitigate against these problems among which are the turtle excluder device (TEDS) in the shrimp trawls to reduce mortality of endangered sea turtle, sorting grids and scaring device in long fisheries. Recommendation are made on effective monitoring of fishing gear to ensure that devices aimed at reducing by-catch are included and fishermen use only the appropriate gears to limit by-catch and discards

Longest cycles in threshold graphs

AbstractThe length of a longest cycle in a threshold graph is obtained in terms of a largest matching in a specially structured bipartite graph. It can be computed in linear time. As a corollary, Hamiltonian threshold graphs are characterized. This characterization yields Golumbic's characterization and sharpens Minty's characterization. It is also shown that a threshold graph has cycles of length 3, …, l where l is the length of a longest cycle

Dry Sliding wear behaviour of Ferrite-Martensite Dual Phase Steels

In the present investigation, High Strength Low Alloy Steel (HSLA) was subjected to Intermediate Quench (IQ) heat treatment process at four different intercritical temperatures to obtain Dual Phase(DP) steels of varying percentages of ferrite-martensite microstructure The intercritical holding temperatures were 730oC, 750oC, 780oC and 810oC. The corresponding martensite volume fraction obtained were48%,56%,63%and 69%. Specimens for the wear test were prepared as per the ASTM recommended procedures and were tested for the dry sliding wear behaviour at different loading conditions ranging from 19.62N to 49.05N and at constant sliding velocity of 1.257ms-1, on a Pin-on-Disc wear testing machine. The investigation reveals that amount of martensite volume fraction in the dual phase microstructure increases with increase in intercritical temperature and the wear resistance of the Dual Phase steel increases with increase in percentage volume fraction of martensite in the dual phase ferrite-martensite microstructure

Nonlinear Analysis of Existing RC Bridge Using SAP 2000

There are many literatures available on the seismic evaluation procedures of multi-storied buildings using nonlinear static (pushover) analysis. There are presently no comprehensive guidelines to assist the practicing structural engineer to evaluate existing bridges and suggest design and retrofit schemes. In order to address this problem, the aims of the present project was to carry out a seismic evaluation case study for an existing RC bridge using nonlinear static (pushover) analysis.  In the present study a 4 Span RC Bridge  existed in SH-12 in Karnataka, India, was selected and by defining FEMA 356 Auto hinges conducted Nonlinear Static (Pushover) Analysis using (ATC 40) Capacity Spectrum Method and software SAP2000 was used to analyze the Bridge. The evaluation results presented here shows that the selected bridge does not have the capacity to meet the desired performance level and it requires retrofitting. Keywords: RC Bridge, FEMA 356, Nonlinear Static (Pushover) Analysis, SAP 2000, ATC 40

Development of a Small Satellite Series ISRO Experience

The development of a small Stretched Rohini Satellite Series (SROSS) in the Indian Space Research Organization (ISRO) has moved hand in hand with that of one class of indigenous launch vehicles, the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicle (ASLV). In other words, these satellites have been developed as compatible payloads for those launch vehicles. The first two satellites SROSS-1 and SROSS-2 although were very versatile satellites carrying space science related payloads could not be orbited owing to failure of launch vehicles. The third satellite in the series, SROSS-C, was a smaller satellite launched by the third developmental flight ASLV-D3 on May 20, 1992. Earlier, the 40kg class rohini satellites (RS) were developed as payloads for the smaller launch vehicles (SLV-3) during the pre-eighties, which were suitably augmented to the Augmented Satellite Launch Vehicles to carry the 150 kg class Stretched Rohini Satellite Series during the pre and post nineties. This new satellite series were configured on the basis of a common bus concept, which are extremely compact, cost effective as well as innovative. It is compact because subsystems are very densely packed, cost effective because the bus is common and hence easily reproducible, and innovative because it is modular and hence easily reconfigurable. The paper describes some of these important aspects giving full narration of the development including pre-launch, launch and on-orbit operations of SROSS-C in detail