Grain Yield and Economic Evaluation of Interaction Effects of Seed Rate and N and P Fertilizations on Grain Yield of Bread Wheat Varieties in Northern Ethiopia

A study to investigate the effect of interaction effect of seed rate and N and P Fertilizations on grain yield of bread wheat varieties was evaluated 2014 main cropping season on vertisols of Ofla and Emba Alaje districts of southern Tigray Ethiopia. The design of the experiment was split split plot design and the treatment consists, three recently released bread wheat varieties (Mekele 3, Mekele 4 and Dandaa’), assigned as a main plot, Four level of N/P205 combination (46/46, 92/69,115/92 and 138/115 kg N/P205 ha-1) arranged in a sub plot and , four level of seed rates for each varieties (66,132,177and 221 kgha-1 for Mekele 3,72,145,193 and 242 kgha-1 for Mekele 4 and 79,158,210 and 263 kgha-1 for Dandaa’ ) replicated three times.  The analysis of variance (ANOVA) indicate that significantly (P<0.05) varietal, fertilizer, seed rate, variety x fertilizer, variety x seed rate, fertilizer x seed rate, variety x fertilizer x seed rate interaction effect on grain yield of bread wheat varieties. Grain yield increase with increasing of seed rate and N/P205 fertilizer rate in the main effect, however  in the interaction effect of Variety, fertilizer and seed rate  indicate that 138/115kg of N/P205 ha-1 with 177 kgha-1 seed rate, 115/92 kg of N/P205 ha-1 with 72 kgha-1 seed rate and 115/92 kg  N/P205 ha-1 with 260 kgha-1 seed rate reached higher  economical return with maximum grain yield production for , Mekele3,Mekele 4 and Dandaa’ variety respectively. Keywords: variety, seed rate, fertilizer, wheat, interactio

Patterns of sexual risk behavior among undergraduate university students in Ethiopia: a cross-sectional study

Introduction: As part of the young age bracket, undergraduate university students are exposed to a range of risky behaviors including HIV/AIDS. Given the paucity of data among the risk behaviors of African university students, this study was conducted to examine the sexual risk behaviors of this group in Ethiopia. Methods: A self-administered questionnaire was used to collect information on socio-demographic and sexual risk behavior characteristics among 1,286 undergraduate students at Haramaya University, Ethiopia from March to April, 2010. Multivariate logistic regression models were used to derive adjusted odds ratios (OR) and 95% confidence intervals (95% CI). Results: About 355 (28%; 95% CI 25.5-30.5) students reported to have had sexual intercourse at least once. More proportion of male students ever had sex compared to females (OR 4.8; 95% CI 3.4-6.8, p<0.001). One fifth (22.8%) of these students had their sexual debut after they joined university. About six percent of students with sexual experience reported having had intercourse with same-sex partners. Half of the males with sexual experience had intercourse with a commercial sex worker. About 60% of students reported to have used a condom rarely. Conclusion: Our findings indicate that there is a high level of sexual risk behavior among the study population. Significant proportion of students were sexually active, the majority started sexual intercourse before they joined university. We recommend awareness campaigns and interventions on sexual and reproductive health issues for high school and university students in Ethiopia.Pan African Medical Journal 2012; 12:3

Dietary Diversity Practice and Associated Factors Among Infants and Young Children in Haramaya Town, Ethiopia

Optimum child feeding is crucial for growth, development, and better health in later life. Dietary diversity is a critical part of the feeding practices. However, there is limited evidence on dietary diversity practice in low-income countries, like Ethiopia. This study assessed dietary diversity practice and associated factors among mothers of infants and young children aged 6-23 months in Haramaya Town, Eastern Ethiopia. Community based cross-sectional study design was used and study participants were selected by simple random sampling. Data were collected using a pre-tested questionnaire by face-to-face interview. The collected data were entered to EpiData version 3.1 and exported to SPSS version 22.0 for analysis. Characteristics of the study participants were described by using frequencies, percentages, summary measures, and tables. Bi-variable and multi-variable analyses were used to identify the associated factors. Statistical significance was declared at p-value < 0.05. The study included 635 participants yielding to a response rate of 98.1%. The prevalence of dietary diversity practice was 25.2%. Mothers learned up to secondary level or above [(AOR=2.97, 95% CI: (1.26, 6.99)], mothers who had job [(AOR=3.21, 95% CI: (1.41, 7.29)], older children [(AOR=2.51, 95% CI: (1.45, 4.34)], male children [(AOR= 2.08, 95% CI: (1.29, 3.33)], healthy children [(AOR=2.65, 95% CI: 1.36, 5.16)] and richest households [(AOR=4.45, 95% CI: 1.94, 10.22)] were associated with dietary diversity practice. Generally, the dietary diversity practice was low. Therefore, attention should be given to mothers with no formal education and efforts should be done to improve the socioeconomic status of the households

Risk Factors that Affect Morbidity and Mortality in Patients with Perforated Peptic Ulcer Diseases in a Teaching Hospital

Background: This study was done to identify risk factors that affect the morbidity and mortality of patients operated for a perforated peptic ulcer in a resource-limited setting.Methods: A two years (January 1, 2016 - December 30, 2018) retrospective cross- sectional study was done on patients admitted and operated for PPU at Yekatit 12 Hospital, Addis Ababa,Ethiopia.Results: A total of 93 patients were operated. The median age affected was 29 years (Range 15-75 years). Male to female ratio was 7.5:1. Chewing chat, smoking and alcohol use were seen in 22 (23.6%), 35(37.6%), and 34(36.5%), cases respectively. Only 23.6% gave previous history of dyspepsia. The median duration of illness was 48hours and the duodenal to gastric ulcer perforation ratio was 6.5:1. In majority of the cases (63.3%) the perforation diameter was <10mm (63.3%). Cellan-Jones repair of the perforations was done in 92.5% of cases. A total of 47 complications were seen in 25 cases. The total complications and mortality rates were 25(26.8%) and 6(6.5%) respectively. The most common postoperative complication was pneumonia (13.97%) followed by superficial surgical site infection (10.8%). Mortality rate was highest among patients >50yrs [AOR (95%CI) =2.4(2-30)]. Delayed presentation of >24 hours [AOR (95%CI) =4.3(1.4-13.5)] and a SBP <90mmhg [AOR (95%CI) =4.8(1-24)] were found to be significantly related with higher complication rate.Conclusions: Patients who presented early and immediate corrective measures were instituted had better outcomes while those seen late developed unfavorable out-come with significantly higher complications. Therefore, early detection and treatment of PPU is essential

Maternal near miss among women admitted in major private hospitals in eastern Ethiopia:a retrospective study

Background Since maternal mortality is a rare event, maternal near miss has been used as a proxy indicator for measuring maternal health. Maternal near miss (MNM) refers to a woman who nearly died but survived of complications during pregnancy, childbirth or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy. Although study of MNM in Ethiopia is becoming common, it is limited to public facilities leaving private facilities aside. The objective of this study was to assess MNM among women admitted in major private hospitals in eastern Ethiopia. Methods An institution based retrospective study was conducted from March 05 to 31, 2020 in two major private hospitals in Harar and Dire Dawa, eastern Ethiopia. The records of all women who were admitted during pregnancy, delivery or within 42 days of termination of pregnancy was reviewed for the presence of MNM criteria as per the sub-Saharan African MNM criteria. Descriptive analysis was done by computing proportion, ratio and means. Factors associated with MNM were assessed using binary logistic regression with adjusted odds ratio (aOR) along with its 95% confidence interval (CI). Results Of 1214 pregnant or postpartum women receiving care between January 09, 2019 and February 08, 2020, 111 women developed life-threatening conditions: 108 MNM and 3 maternal deaths. In the same period, 1173 live births were registered, resulting in an MNM ratio of 92.1 per 1000 live births. Anemia in the index pregnancy (aOR: 5.03; 95%CI: 3.12-8.13), having chronic hypertension (aOR: 3.13; 95% CI: 1.57-6.26), no antenatal care (aOR: 3.04; 95% CI: 1.58-5.83), being > 35 years old (aOR: 2.29; 95%CI: 1.22-4.29), and previous cesarean section (aOR: 4.48; 95% CI: 2.67-7.53) were significantly associated with MNM. Conclusions Close to a tenth of women admitted to major private hospitals in eastern Ethiopia developed MNM. Women with anemia, history of cesarean section, and old age should be prioritized for preventing and managing MNM. Strengthening antenatal care and early screening of chronic conditions including hypertension is essential for preventing MNM

Early Marriage among young girls in Eastern Ethiopia: trend during 2008-2018 [version 2; peer review: 2 approved]

Early marriage practices undermine girls’ autonomy and seriously affect their physical and mental wellbeing. Monitoring the trends and understanding the drivers is essential in intervening against early marriage. However, many studies on early marriage in Ethiopia are cross-sectional, focusing only on the magnitude at a single point in time. Hence, we extracted data of girls of 10-17 years from Kersa Health and Demographic Surveillance System (Kersa HDSS) database for the period of 2008–2018 in order to examine the trends of early marriage. In this data note we provide the details of a research database of 24,452 girls in the age group of 10-17 years. The extracted data include date of marriage and the girls’ socio-demographic variables. Other variables considered to be potentially associated with timing of marriage were also extracted. The purpose of this publication is to describe the dataset for external researchers who may be interested in making use of it as a secondary use of their routinely collected data. This dataset is available at   https://doi.org/10.6084/m9.figshare.15034812

Low awareness and common misconceptions about schistosomiasis in endemic lowland areas in Western Ethiopia: a mixed-methods study

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Things that take from people’s bodies: rumours about minimally invasive tissue sampling and evil spirits in ethiopia

In this paper we describe how the innovative technique of minimally invasive tissue sampling (MITS) and the researchers associated with it came to represent the fears, anger, and suspicions of a community in Eastern Ethiopia. MITS was developed to lessen the uncertainty over causes of death in low- and middle-income countries (Bassat et al. 2016). It is a medical procedure where a core biopsy instrument is used to extract numerous small tissue samples from a pre-defined set of organs (brain, lung, heart, liver, bone marrow) in deceased children under 5 and stillbirths. Additionally, MITS practitioners collect blood, urine, stool, and cerebral spinal fluid, take nasopharyngeal and oropharyngeal swabs, and include measurements and several pictures of the body to identify any abnormalities. In the study site, MITS has become more than just an act of extracting samples. Instead, it is a social process that begins when the research team learns about the death of a child and ends when the child is buried. Furthermore, the act of sample taking has come to represent the underlying fears, anger, and suspicions in the com-munity about organ and blood theft, and those researchers associated with it – whether social scientists or histopathologists – have become the embodiment of an evil spirit called tuqatta, who survives on blood and organs, and conducts ritual sacrifice by offering the blood of its victims to spiritual ancestors. We suggest that the tuqatta embodies the strongly felt suspicion that the MITS intervention is not there for people’s benefit, but rather that it is taking something from them. The emergence of the tuqatta in the research site highlights the vulnerability that people feel in relation to this global health medical intervention. We conclude by arguing that local frames of understanding should not be dismissed as ‘rumours’ or simply as something to overcome in health research; rather, they require serious attention and indicate the need for open dialogue between researchers and the public