The Learning Orientation of Mandarin among Third-year Students of Mandarin Study Program at Universitas Negeri Malang

The Mandarin Language Education Study Program at the Universitas Negeri Malang routinely reviews the curriculum once a year. The learning curriculum is intended to develop and be relevant to the needs of students at all time. One way to be able to adjust the curriculum to the needs of students is to know the learning orientation of students studying Mandarin. Hence, the purpose of this study was to determine the learning orientation of third-year students of Mandarin study program at the Universitas Negeri Malang in learning Mandarin. The supporting instruments used were questionnaire sheets and interview guidelines. Data were analysed using the Miles and Huberman analysis. The results show that there were four learning orientations in Mandarin, namely learning Mandarin because it is an important communication tool at this time; it is considered to be easier to get a job; the popularity of Mandarin; and Mandarin can increase self-confidence. Based on this, the orientation of learning Mandarin for third-year students of Mandarin study program at the Universitas Negeri Malang was extrinsic and instrumental. Keywords: learning orientation, Mandarin language, third-year student

Economic Feasibility of a New Method to Estimate Mortality in Crisis-Affected and Resource-Poor Settings

INTRODUCTION: Mortality data provide essential evidence on the health status of populations in crisis-affected and resource-poor settings and to guide and assess relief operations. Retrospective surveys are commonly used to collect mortality data in such populations, but require substantial resources and have important methodological limitations. We evaluated the feasibility of an alternative method for rapidly quantifying mortality (the informant method). The study objective was to assess the economic feasibility of the informant method. METHODS: The informant method captures deaths through an exhaustive search for all deaths occurring in a population over a defined and recent recall period, using key community informants and next-of-kin of decedents. Between July and October 2008, we implemented and evaluated the informant method in: Kabul, Afghanistan; Mae La camp for Karen refugees, Thai-Burma border; Chiradzulu District, Malawi; and Lugufu and Mtabila refugee camps, Tanzania. We documented the time and cost inputs for the informant method in each site, and compared these with projections for hypothetical retrospective mortality surveys implemented in the same site with a 6 month recall period and with a 30 day recall period. FINDINGS: The informant method was estimated to require an average of 29% less time inputs and 33% less monetary inputs across all four study sites when compared with retrospective surveys with a 6 month recall period, and 88% less time inputs and 86% less monetary inputs when compared with retrospective surveys with a 1 month recall period. Verbal autopsy questionnaires were feasible and efficient, constituting only 4% of total person-time for the informant method's implementation in Chiradzulu District. CONCLUSIONS: The informant method requires fewer resources and incurs less respondent burden. The method's generally impressive feasibility and the near real-time mortality data it provides warrant further work to develop the method given the importance of mortality measurement in such settings

Landscape Diversity Related to Buruli Ulcer Disease in Côte d'Ivoire

Buruli ulcer (BU) is one of the most neglected but treatable tropical diseases. The causative organism, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is from the family of bacteria that causes tuberculosis and leprosy. This severe skin disease leads to long-term functional disability if not treated. BU has been reported in over 30 countries mainly with tropical and subtropical climates, but Côte d'Ivoire is one of the most affected countries. M. ulcerans is an environmental bacterium and its mode of transmission to humans is still unclear, such that the disease is often referred to as the “mysterious disease” or the “new leprosy”. Here, we explored the relationship between environmental and socioeconomic factors and BU cases on a nationwide scale. We found that irrigated rice field cultures areas, and, to a lesser extent, banana fields as well as areas in the vicinity of dams used for irrigation and aquaculture purposes, represent high risk zones for the human population to contract BU in Côte d'Ivoire. This work identifies high-risk areas for BU in Côte d'Ivoire and deserves to be extended to different countries. We need now to obtain a global vision and understanding of the route of transmission of M. ulcerans to humans in order to better implement control strategies

Carbon Nanotube Solar Cells

We present proof-of-concept all-carbon solar cells. They are made of a photoactive side of predominantly semiconducting nanotubes for photoconversion and a counter electrode made of a natural mixture of carbon nanotubes or graphite, connected by a liquid electrolyte through a redox reaction. The cells do not require rare source materials such as In or Pt, nor high-grade semiconductor processing equipment, do not rely on dye for photoconversion and therefore do not bleach, and are easy to fabricate using a spray-paint technique. We observe that cells with a lower concentration of carbon nanotubes on the active semiconducting electrode perform better than cells with a higher concentration of nanotubes. This effect is contrary to the expectation that a larger number of nanotubes would lead to more photoconversion and therefore more power generation. We attribute this to the presence of metallic nanotubes that provide a short for photo-excited electrons, bypassing the load. We demonstrate optimization strategies that improve cell efficiency by orders of magnitude. Once it is possible to make semiconducting-only carbon nanotube films, that may provide the greatest efficiency improvement

The improbable transmission of Trypanosoma cruzi to human: the missing link in the dynamics and control of Chagas disease

Chagas disease has a major impact on human health in Latin America and is becoming of global concern due to international migrations. Trypanosoma cruzi, the etiological agent of the disease, is one of the rare human parasites transmitted by the feces of its vector, as it is unable to reach the salivary gland of the insect. This stercorarian transmission is notoriously poorly understood, despite its crucial role in the ecology and evolution of the pathogen and the disease. The objective of this study was to quantify the probability of T. cruzi vectorial transmission to humans, and to use such an estimate to predict human prevalence from entomological data. We developed several models of T. cruzi transmission to estimate the probability of transmission from vector to host. Using datasets from the literature, we estimated the probability of transmission per contact with an infected triatomine to be 5.8x10(-4) (95%CI: [2.6; 11.0] x 10(-4)). This estimate was consistent across triatomine species, robust to variations in other parameters, and corresponded to 900-4,000 contacts per case. Our models subsequently allowed predicting human prevalence from vector abundance and infection rate in 7/10 independent datasets covering various triatomine species and epidemiological situations. This low probability of T. cruzi transmission reflected well the complex and unlikely mechanism of transmission via insect feces, and allowed predicting human prevalence from basic entomological data. Although a proof of principle study would now be valuable to validate our models' predictive ability in an even broader range of entomological and ecological settings, our quantitative estimate could allow switching the evaluation of disease risk and vector control program from purely entomological indexes to parasitological measures, as commonly done for other major vector borne diseases. This might lead to different quantitative perspectives as these indexes are well known not to be proportional one to another

Family Relationship, Water Contact and Occurrence of Buruli Ulcer in Benin

Mycobacterium ulcerans disease (Buruli ulcer) is the most widespread mycobacterial disease in the world after leprosy and tuberculosis. How M. ulcerans is introduced into the skin of humans remains unclear, but it appears that individuals living in the same environment may have different susceptibilities. This case control study aims to determine whether frequent contacts with natural water sources, family relationship or the practice of consanguineous marriages are associated with the occurrence of Buruli ulcer (BU). The study involved 416 participants, of which 104 BU-confirmed cases and 312 age, gender and village of residence matched controls (persons who had no signs or symptoms of active or inactive BU). The results confirmed that contact with natural water sources is a risk factor. Furthermore, it suggests that a combination of genetic factors may constitute risk factors for the development of BU, possibly by influencing the type of immune response in the individual, and, consequently, the development of BU infection per se and its different clinical forms. These findings may be of major therapeutic interest

Risk Factors for Buruli Ulcer: A Case Control Study in Cameroon

Buruli ulcer (BU) is a neglected tropical infectious disease caused by Mycobacterium ulcerans. While BU is associated with areas where the water is slow-flowing or stagnant, the exact mechanism of transmission of the bacillus is unknown, impairing efficient control programs. Two hypotheses are proposed in the literature: previous trauma at the lesion site, and transmission through aquatic insect bites. Using results from a face-to-face questionnaire, our study compared characteristics from Cameroonian patients with Buruli ulcer to people without Buruli ulcer. This latter group of people was chosen within the community or within the family of case patients. The statistical analysis confirmed some well-known factors associated with the presence of BU, such as wearing short lower-body clothing while farming, but it showed that the use of bed nets and the treatment of wounds with leaves is less frequent in case patients. These newly identified factors may provide new insight into the mode of transmission of M. ulcerans. The implication of domestic or peridomestic insects, suggested by the influence of the use of bed nets, should be confirmed in specific studies

Distribution of Mycobacterium ulcerans in Buruli Ulcer Endemic and Non-Endemic Aquatic Sites in Ghana

Mycobacterium ulcerans, the causative agent of Buruli ulcer, is an emerging environmental bacterium in Australia and West Africa. The primary risk factor associated with Buruli ulcer is proximity to slow moving water. Environmental constraints for disease are shown by the absence of infection in arid regions of infected countries. A particularly mysterious aspect of Buruli ulcer is the fact that endemic and non-endemic villages may be only a few kilometers apart within the same watershed. Recent studies suggest that aquatic invertebrate species may serve as reservoirs for M. ulcerans, although transmission pathways remain unknown. Systematic studies of the distribution of M. ulcerans in the environment using standard ecological methods have not been reported. Here we present results from the first study based on random sampling of endemic and non-endemic sites. In this study PCR-based methods, along with biofilm collections, have been used to map the presence of M. ulcerans within 26 aquatic sites in Ghana. Results suggest that M. ulcerans is present in both endemic and non-endemic sites and that variable number tandem repeat (VNTR) profiling can be used to follow chains of transmission from the environment to humans. Our results suggesting that the distribution of M. ulcerans is far broader than the distribution of human disease is characteristic of environmental pathogens. These findings imply that focal demography, along with patterns of human water contact, may play a major role in transmission of Buruli ulcer

Illness meanings and experiences for pre-ulcer and ulcer conditions of Buruli ulcer in the Ga-West and Ga-South Municipalities of Ghana

ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Ghana is a Buruli ulcer (BU) endemic country yet there is paucity of socio-cultural research on BU. Examining distinctive experiences and meanings for pre-ulcers and ulcers of BU may clarify the disease burden, illness experience and local perceptions of causes and spread, and environmental features of BU, which are useful to guide public health programmes and future research. This study aimed to explain local meanings and experiences of BU for persons with pre-ulcers and ulcers in the Ga-West and Ga-South municipalities in Accra. METHODS: Semi-structured interviews based on the Explanatory Model Interview Catalogue framework were administered to 181 respondents comprising 15 respondents with pre-ulcers and 166 respondents with ulcers. The Wilcoxon rank-sum test was used to compare categories of illness experiences (PD) and perceived causes (PC) among respondents with pre-ulcer and ulcer conditions. The Fisher's exact test was used to compare the most troubling PD and the most important PC variables. Qualitative phenomenological analysis of respondents' narratives clarified illness experiences and meanings with reference to PC and PD variables. RESULTS: Families of respondents with pre-ulcers and the respondents themselves were often anxious about disease progression, while families of respondents with ulcers, who had to give care, worried about income loss and disruption of school attendance. Respondents with pre-ulcers frequently reported swimming in ponds and rivers as a perceived cause and considered it as the most important PC (53.3%). Respondents with ulcers frequently attributed their BU illness to witchcraft (64.5%) and respondents who claimed they had no water contact, questioned the credibility of health messages CONCLUSIONS: Affected persons with pre-ulcers are likely to delay treatment because of social and financial constraints and the absence of pain. Scepticism on the role of water in disease contagion and prolonged healin is perceived to make ideas of witchcraft as a PC more credible, among respondents with ulcers. Health messages should address issues of locally perceived risk and vulnerability. Guided by study findings, further research on the role of environmental, socio-cultural and genetic factors in BU contagion, is also needed to clarify and formulate health messages and strengthen public health initiative

Ecology and Transmission of Buruli Ulcer Disease: A Systematic Review

Buruli ulcer is a neglected emerging disease that has recently been reported in some countries as the second most frequent mycobacterial disease in humans after tuberculosis. Cases have been reported from at least 32 countries in Africa (mainly west), Australia, Southeast Asia, China, Central and South America, and the Western Pacific. Large lesions often result in scarring, contractual deformities, amputations, and disabilities, and in Africa, most cases of the disease occur in children between the ages of 4–15 years. This environmental mycobacterium, Mycobacterium ulcerans, is found in communities associated with rivers, swamps, wetlands, and human-linked changes in the aquatic environment, particularly those created as a result of environmental disturbance such as deforestation, dam construction, and agriculture. Buruli ulcer disease is often referred to as the “mysterious disease” because the mode of transmission remains unclear, although several hypotheses have been proposed. The above review reveals that various routes of transmission may occur, varying amongst epidemiological setting and geographic region, and that there may be some role for living agents as reservoirs and as vectors of M. ulcerans, in particular aquatic insects, adult mosquitoes or other biting arthropods. We discuss traditional and non-traditional methods for indicting the roles of living agents as biologically significant reservoirs and/or vectors of pathogens, and suggest an intellectual framework for establishing criteria for transmission. The application of these criteria to the transmission of M. ulcerans presents a significant challenge