The Relationship Between Youths\u27 Risky Sexual Behavior and Race/Ethnicity

According to the CDC, young people, aged 15-24 years, share the greatest risk of new sexually transmitted diseases (STD) and the negative impact of alcohol and drug use. The purpose of this quantitative study, based on the theory of social-psychological problem-behavior, was to analyze the 2013 YRBSS secondary data and document if a relationship existed between race/ethnicity and youth sexual behavior, alcohol consumption, and drug use for the 13,583 survey participants. A Kolmogorov-Smirnov test and Chi-Square were conducted to answer the research questions. Results indicated that American Indian/Alaskan Natives were most likely to report first sexual activity before 11 years old (7.5%), while Asians were most likely to report never having sex (76.6%). Race/ethnicity also impacted all other variables, such as drugs, with a mixture of results. Hispanic/Latinos were most likely to report higher alcohol consumption (15.12%) compared to Multiple Hispanic (5.12%), while, Multiple Non-Hispanic were more likely to report use of drugs before sexual activity (9.7%) compared to Hispanic Latinos (7.99%). Social change implication of the study called for developed and effective sustainable interventions to help youth with behavior, and it required full integration of race/ethnicity as prerequisites in alleviation strategy. Dissemination plans involved use of public health campaigns, school workshops, and churches to fight the negative impact on youth

Biogeochemical data from the HIPE project in Lakes Edward and George (East African Rift)

The geo-referenced and timestamped data-set consists of 7 files: - “db_cruise_CTD” contains the CTD profiles obtained during the cruises - “db_cruise_GHGs” contains CO2, CH4, N2O dissolved concentrations, chlorophyll-a concentrations, inorganic nutrients (NO3-, N2O-, NH4+, PO43-) and d13C-CH4 from the 4 cruises - “db_monitoring” contains CO2, CH4, N2O dissolved concentrations, chlorophyll-a concentrations, and POC from the monitoring at two stations (January 2017 to December 2019) - “db_uw” contains the continuous of CO2 and CH4 (plus EXO-II data) on 19/03/2019 - “meteo_Mweya” contains the meteorological data acquired from June 2016 to March 2019 - “db_monitoring_CTD” contains the CTD profiles from the deep station of the monitoring. - “mooring” contains the temperature data from a mooring at a station 10 m deep (March 2019) Data were acquired in Lake Edward, Kazinga Channel and Lake George on four occasions (20/10-07/11/2016, 23/03-08/04/2017, 18/01-02/02/2018, 21/03-30/03/2019). From January 2017 to December 2019, a shallow station (3 m bottom depth) and a deeper station (22 m bottom depth) were regularly sampled, every 21 d in 2017 and 2018, and every 30 d in 2019. A mooring was deployed at a station at 10m bottom depth in Lake Edward (-0.2459°N 29.8635°E) equipped with RBR Solo temperature sensors at 6 depths from surface to 1m above the sediment (0.2, 1.0, 2.0, 5.0, 7.5 and 9.0 m depth) from 21/03/2019 (13:00 local time (LT)) to 23/03/2019 (13:50 LT). Solar radiation, ultraviolet radiation, wind speed (cup anemometer), wind direction (wind vane), rain (mechanical rain collector), air temperature, barometric pressure data were acquired with a Davis Instruments weather station (Vantage Pro2 fitted with standard manufacturer sensors) in Mweya on top of a building of the Uganda Wildlife Authority, 4m above ground (-0.190384°N 29.899103°E) . Data were measured every 5 seconds, averaged and logged every 10 minutes. During the March 2019 cruise, continuous measurements (1 min interval) of partial pressure of CO2 (pCO2) and of partial pressure of CH4 (pCH4) were made with an equilibrator designed for turbid waters consisting of a tube filled with glass marbles (Frankignoulle et al. 2001) coupled to a Los Gatos Research off-axis integrated cavity output spectroscopy analyzer (Ultraportable Greenhouse Gas Analyzer with extended range for CH4). In parallel water temperature, specific conductivity, pH, dissolved oxygen saturation level (%O2), turbidity, chlorophyll-a (Chl-a), and fluorescent dissolved organic matter (FDOM) were measured with an YSI EXO-II multi-parameter probe, position with a Garmin geographical position system (Map 60S) portable probe, and depth with a Humminbird Helix 5 echo-sounder. Surface water was pumped to the equilibrator and the multi-parameter probe (on deck) with a 12V-powered water pump (LVM105) attached to the side of the boat at a fixed depth of about 0.5 m depth. Discrete sampling was done from the side of the boat with a 5.0 L Niskin bottle (General Oceanics). During the first cruise, vertical profiles of water temperature, specific conductivity, pH, %O2 and Chl-a were measured with a Hydrolab DS5 multi-parameter probe, while during the other three cruises and also during the monitoring, turbidity and FDOM were measured additionally with a YSI EXO-II multi-parameter probe. Both multi-parameter probes were calibrated according to manufacturer’s specifications, in air for %O2 and with standard solutions for other variables: commercial pH buffers (4.00, 7.00, 10.00), a 1000 µS cm-1 standard for conductivity. pCO2 was measured directly after water sampling with a Li-Cor Li-840 infra-red gas analyser (IRGA) based on the headspace technique with 4 polypropylene 60 ml syringes (Borges et al. 2015). The Li-Cor 840 IRGA was calibrated before and after each cruise with ultrapure N2 and a suite of gas standards (Air Liquide Belgium) with CO2 mixing ratios of 388, 813, 3788 and 8300 ppm. The overall precision of pCO2 measurements was ±2.0%. Samples for CH4 and N2O were collected from the Niskin bottle with a silicone tube in 60 ml borosilicate serum bottles (Wheaton), poisoned with 200 µL of a saturated solution of HgCl2 and sealed with a butyl stopper and crimped with an aluminium cap. Measurements were made with the headspace technique (Weiss 1981) and a gas chromatograph (GC) (SRI 8610C) with a flame ionisation detector for CH4 and electron capture detector for N2O calibrated with CO2:CH4:N2O:N2 gas mixtures (Air Liquide Belgium) with mixing ratios of 1, 10 and 30 ppm for CH4, 404, 1018, 3961 ppm for CO2, and 0.2, 2.0 and 6.0 ppm for N2O. The precision of measurement based on duplicate samples was ±3.9% for CH4 and ±3.2% for N2O. Samples for the stable isotope composition of CH4 (δ13C-CH4) were collected and preserved as described above for the CH4 concentration. The δ13C-CH4 was determined with a custom developed interface, whereby a 20 ml He headspace was first created, and CH4 was flushed out through a double-hole needle, non-CH4 volatile organic compounds were trapped in liquid N2, CO2 was removed with a soda lime trap, H2O was removed with a magnesium perchlorate trap, and the CH4 was quantitatively oxidized to CO2 in an online combustion column similar to that of an elemental analyzer. The resulting CO2 was subsequently pre-concentrated by immersion of a stainless steel loop in liquid N2, passed through a micropacked GC column (Restek HayeSep Q, 2m length, 0.75mm internal diameter), and finally measured on a Thermo DeltaV Advantage isotope ratio mass spectrometer (IRMS). Calibration was performed with CO2 generated from certified reference standards (IAEA-CO-1 or NBS-19, and LSVEC) and injected in the line after the CO2 trap. Reproducibility of measurement based on duplicate injections of samples was typically better than ±0.5 ‰. Water was filtered on Whatman glass fibre filters (GF/F grade, 0.7 µm porosity) for particulate organic carbon (POC) and Chl-a (47 mm diameter). Filters for POC were stored dry and filters for Chl-a were stored frozen at -20°C. Filters for POC analysis were decarbonated with HCl fumes for 4h and dried before encapsulation into silver cups; POC concentration was analysed on an EA-IRMS (Thermo FlashHT with DeltaV Advantage), with a reproducibility better than ±5%. Data were calibrated with certified (IAEA-600: caffeine) and in-house standards (leucine and muscle tissue of Pacific tuna) that were previously calibrated versus certified standards. The Chl-a samples were analysed by HPLC according to Descy et al. (2005), with a reproducibility of ±0.5% and a detection limit of 0.01 µg L-1. The water filtered through GF/F Whatman glass fibre filters was collected and further filtered through polyethersulfone syringe encapsulated filters (0.2 µm porosity) for nitrate (NO3-), nitrite (NO2-) and ammonium (NH4+) and were stored frozen (-20°C) in 50 mL polypropylene vials. NO3- and NO2- were determined with the sulfanilamide colorimetric with the vanadium reduction method (APHA, 1998), and NH4+ with the dichloroisocyanurate-salicylate-nitroprussiate colorimetric method (SCA, 1981). Detection limits were 0.3, 0.01, and 0.15 µmol L-1 for NH4+, NO2- and NO3-, respectively. Precisions were ±0.02 µmol L-1, ±0.02 µmol L-1, and ±0.1 µmol L-1 for NH4+, NO2- and NO3-, respectively. References APHA, 1998. Standard methods for the examination of water and wastewater, American Public Health Association. Borges, A. V., Darchambeau, F., Teodoru, C. R., Marwick, T. R., Tamooh, F., Geeraert, N., Omengo, F. O., Guérin, F., Lambert, T., Morana, C., Okuku, E., and Bouillon, S.: Globally significant greenhouse gas emissions from African inland waters, Nature Geosci., 8, 637-642, doi:10.1038/NGEO2486, 2015. Descy, J.-P., Hardy, M.-A., Sténuite, S., Pirlot, S., Leporcq, B., Kimirei, I., Sekadende, B., Mwaitega, S. R., and Sinyenza, D., 2005. Phytoplankton pigments and community composition in Lake Tanganyika. Freshw. Biol., 50, 668-684. Frankignoulle, M., Borges, A., Biondo R., 2001. A new design of equilibrator to monitor carbon dioxide in highly dynamic and turbid environments. Water Res., 35, 1344-1347. Standing committee of Analysts: Ammonia in waters. Methods for the examination of waters and associated materials. 16 pp., 1981. Weiss, R.F., 1981. Determinations of carbon dioxide and methane by dual catalyst flame ionization chromatography and nitrous oxide by electron capture chromatography. J. Chromatogr. Sci., 19, 611-616

Contextualization of psychological treatments for government health systems in low-resource settings: group interpersonal psychotherapy for caregivers of children with nodding syndrome in Uganda.

BACKGROUND: Evidence for the effectiveness of psychological treatments in low- and middle-income countries is increasing. However, there is a lack of systematic approaches to guide implementation in government health systems. The objective of this study was to address this gap by employing the Replicating Effective Programs (REP) framework to guide contextualization of a psychological treatment in the Uganda public health system for caregivers of children affected by nodding syndrome, a neuropsychiatric disorder endemic to Sub-Saharan Africa associated with high morbidity and disability. METHODS: To contextualize a psychological treatment, we followed the four components of the REP framework: pre-conditions, pre-implementation, implementation, and maintenance and evolution. A three-step process involved reviewing health services available for nodding syndrome-affected families and current evidence for psychological treatments, qualitative formative research, and analysis and documentation of implementation activities. Stakeholders included members of affected communities, health care workers, therapists, local government leaders, and Ministry of Health officials. Detailed written, audio, and video documentation of the implementation activities was used for content analysis. RESULTS: During the pre-condition component of REP, we selected group interpersonal therapy (IPT-G) because of its feasibility, acceptability, effectiveness in the local setting, and availability of locally developed training materials. During the pre-implementation component, we adapted the training, logistics, and technical assistance strategies in conjunction with government and stakeholder working groups. Adaptations included content modification based on qualitative research with caregivers of children with nodding syndrome. During the implementation component, training was shortened for feasibility with government health workers. Peer-to-peer supervision was selected as a sustainable quality assurance method. IPT-G delivered by community health workers was evaluated for fidelity, patient outcomes, and other process-level variables. More than 90% of beneficiaries completed the treatment program, which was effective in reducing caregiver and child mental health problems. With the Ministry of Health, we conducted preparatory activities for the maintenance and evolution component for scale-up throughout the country. CONCLUSIONS: The REP framework provides a systematic approach to guide contextualization of psychological treatments for delivery in low-resource public health systems. Specific recommendations are provided for REP\u27s application in global mental health. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN11382067 ; 08/06/2016; retrospectively registered

Cyanocystopsis kitagatae gen. et sp. nov. (Cyanoprokaryota/ Cyanobacteria) from the tropical lake Kitagata (Uganda, Africa)

peer reviewedThe paper describes a new genus and new species of Cyanoprokaryota, referred to Pleurocapsales incertae sedis – Cyanocystopsis kitagatae gen. et sp. nov. The new taxon is characterized by the presence of two different stages (filamentous, formed by spherical cells and stalked bundles of claviform cells). The branching of filaments, which leads to the formation of clusters of claviform cells, is caused by cell division, which slightly resembles the true-branching of cyanoprokaryotes. However, this division is peculiar by its subsequent character and excentric disposition of the daughter cells, which leads to the formation of specific tetrads, from which the claviform cells develop. Spores (aplanospores) and vegetative reproductive stages of the alga have been observed. The new species was found as a dominant in a fixed phytoplankton sample from the small, hypertrophic and hypersaline tropical crater lake Kitagata (Uganda, Africa). The pigment marker analysis of the same sample proved the high (ca 96%) cyanoprokaryote contribution to the phytoplankton biomass.HIP

Dissolved organic matter composition and reactivity in Lake Victoria, the World’s largest tropical lake

peer reviewedWe report a data set of dissolved organic carbon (DOC) concentration and dissolved organic matter (DOM) composition (stable carbon isotope signatures, absorption and fluorescence properties) obtained from samples collected in Lake Victoria, a large lake in East Africa. Samples were collected in 2018-2019 along a bathymetric gradient (bays to open waters), during three contrasting seasons: long rainy, short rainy and dry, which corresponded to distinctly water column mixing regimes, respectively, stratified, semi-stratified and mixed regimes. Eight DOM components from parallel factor analysis (PARAFAC) were identified based on three-dimensional excitation–emission matrices (EEMs), which were aggregated into three main groups of components (microbial humic-like, terrestrial humic-like, protein-like). Spatially, the more productive bays were characterized by higher DOM concentration than deeper more offshore waters (fluorescence intensity and DOC were ~80% and ~30% higher in bays, respectively). Seasonally, the DOM pool shifted from protein-like components during the mixed regime to microbial humic-like components during the semi-stratified regime and to terrestrial humic-like components during the stratified regime. This indicates that pulses of autochthonous DOM derived from phytoplankton occurred when the lake was mixing, which increased the availability of dissolved inorganic nutrients. Subsequently, this freshly produced autochthonous DOM was microbially processed during the following semi-stratified regime. In the open waters, during the stratified regime, only terrestrial refractory DOM components remained because the labile and fresh stock of DOM created during the preceding mixed season was consumed. In the bays, the high terrestrial refractory DOM during the stratified regime may be additionally due to the allochthonous DOM input from the runoff. At the scale of the whole lake, the background refractory DOM probably comes mainly from precipitation and followed by river inputs.LAVIGA

Gender and innovation for climate-smart agriculture. Assessment of gender-responsiveness of RAN's agricultural-focused innovations

Ownership of agricultural production resources has generally been shown by research to be male dominated and to have wide disparities between males and females. The disparities are more pronounced in rural areas where women have less income, smaller pieces of land, and have inadequate market for their produce. In dealing with Climate Smart Agriculture (CSA) adoption and with agricultural technology adoption, there has been increasing recognition of the importance of focusing on the gender-based needs behind the adoption choice itself. Grounded in the belief that solutions to Africa’s resilience challenges lie in understanding what makes communities thrive in adversity, ResilientAfrica Network (RAN) is a multidisciplinary innovation lab that leverages the creativity and talent of youth, students, scholars and communities to develop and scale innovative ideas. Given how dominant agriculture is among RAN's problem sets for strengthening resilience through innovation, RAN sought to understand how supported innovations had contributed to gender-responsive climate smart agriculture solutions. What lessons could be learned from Women of Uganda Network (WOUGNET) in their history of engagement with women farmers to co-create a gender-responsive innovation process to strengthen resilience through the agricultural sector? With the support of CCAFS, RAN and WOUGNET conducted a gender assessment exercise to evaluate if the current solutions/innovations are gender responsive or not. Three innovations were selected that are primarily focused towards CSA and that had affordability and ease of use as key objectives. The gender assessment embraced a qualitative research approach. This choice was guided by the need to appreciate respondents’ understanding and experiences or perceptions of the different innovations that RAN has been nurturing and developing over the years. The respondents were purposively selected based on availability and on being located in any of the four Northern Uganda districts of Apac, Kole, Lira and Oyam where WOUGNET has actively engaged with women farmers. From the study, it was clear that men and women farmers are willing to embrace new technologies, practices and innovations in their pursuit of enhanced agricultural productivity and new opportunities. That said, a clearly gendered view emerged from the assessment in that uptake of the innovations was to a large extent driven by socio-cultural norms and expectations related to issues of ownership, work, decision making capacity, and income generation and control. For instance, use of the innovations can reduce time spent on farming activities and can open up time and space to explore new opportunities. However, if gender considerations are not taken into account, such time could be used to negatively impact on the work burden for women farmers as it may be taken that the women are now free to take on new work – even that which would have been previously done by the men in their households

Dataset for "Limnological changes in Lake Victoria since the mid‐20th century"

Dataset of light- (Secchi depth, vertical attenuation coefficient, euphotic depth), physico-chemical- (oxygen saturation, water temperature, specific conductivity, pH) and ecological-parameters (inorganic nutrients, particulate organic carbon, particulate nitrogen and phosphorus, Chlorophyll-a, phytoplankton biomass and composition) obtained from samples collected in Lake Victoria, a large lake in East Africa. Samples were collected in 2018-2019 in nearshore and offshore waters (Uganda), during three contrasting seasons: heavy rains (March), low rains (October) and dry (June), which corresponded to distinct water column mixing regimes, respectively, late-stratified, early-stratified and mixed regimes. Sampling was carried out during day light (between 7 am and 6 pm) in shallow nearshore sites (23, 15 and 16 stations for the mixed, early- and late-stratified seasons, respectively) to deeper offshore (7, 8 and 10) sites. At each sampling site we measured light parameters and we carried out vertical profiles (at a depth interval of 10 m, from the lake surface to the lake bottom) of physico-chemical and ecological parameters. In addition, while traveling between each sampling site we performed continuous measurements of physico-chemical parameters

Mandatory anatomy dissection, effect on examination performance

Regular class attendance is evidence of professionalism. This has led to mandatory class attendance in many disciplines including anatomy. However, there is paucity of data on the effect of mandatory class attendance on student performance in resource-limited settings. The objective of this study was to determine the effect of mandatory attendance of anatomy dissections on student’s practical exams. This was an audit of undergraduate first year health professional students performance on the practical summative Steeplechase exam for the anatomy of limbs in two consecutive academic years at Makerere University. The second lot of first year students in the study had all their scheduled anatomy dissection sessions roll called to confirm their attendance that was the intervention arm in the study. The data was analysed with STATA statistical computing software version 13. Some of the tests run on this data included independent samples t test and Regression analysis. The overall performance of students in the academic year varied with roll call and was significantly lower than that in the previous academic year without roll call (mean difference -8.04 95% CI -10.76 to -5.31). Significant reductions in performance were also observed with type of student sponsorship (P<0.01) and the program they were pursuing (P<0.01). Roll calling had the largest effect on student performance demonstrated by the 0.23 standard deviation reduction in performance of students. This study shows that mandatory attendance of anatomy dissections leads to a reduction in the student’s performance on practical anatomy examinationsKeywords: Anatomy dissection, class attendance, examination performanc

Prevalence of Autotrophy in Non-humic African Lakes

peer reviewedHeterotrophic respiration of organic matter (OM) is thought to dominate over aquatic primary production (PP) in most freshwater lake ecosystems. This paradigm implies that lateral transport of OM from the terrestrial biosphere subsidize the major fraction of aquatic respiration and that many lakes are a net source of carbon dioxide (CO2) to atmosphere. Nevertheless, African lakes were absent of the datasets upon which this paradigm was built. Here, we report a comprehensive and methodologically consistent data set of pelagic PP and community respiration (CR) obtained over the last decade in contrasting non-humic African lakes including 5 of the East African Great lakes (Tanganyika, Kivu, Edward, Albert, Victoria) and smaller shallow lakes located in Eastern Africa. Also, we determined the partial pressure of CO2 in surface waters and examined the sources and dynamics of organic and inorganic carbon by means of stable isotope tools across a wide range of physical and chemical conditions and productivity status. Our observations revealed that the threshold value at which the equivalence between PP and CR is met is substantially lower in Africa (10 mmol C m−3 d−1) than at higher latitude (25 mmol C m−3 d−1), suggesting that non-humic African lakes tend to be more autotrophic than expected from empirical relationships derived from data collected in boreal and temperate regions. Integrated at the regional scale, we estimate that PP is about 20 times higher than the organic carbon burial in sediments. It implies that a large fraction (< 90%) of PP is effectively recycled in the warm water column of non-humic African lakes

An Investigation into the Determining Factors of Zoo Visitor Attendances in UK Zoos

The debate as to which animals are most beneficial to keep in zoos in terms of financial and conservative value is readily disputed; however, demographic factors have also been shown to relate to visitor numbers on an international level. The main aims of this research were: (1) To observe the distribution and location of zoos across the UK, (2) to develop a way of calculating zoo popularity in terms of the species kept within a collection and (3) to investigate the factors related to visitor numbers regarding admission costs, popularity of the collection in terms of the species kept and local demographic factors. Zoo visitor numbers were positively correlated with generated popularity ratings for zoos based on the species kept within a collection and admission prices (Pearson correlation: n = 34, r = 0.268, P = 0.126 and n = 34, r = −0.430, P = 0.011). Animal collections are aggregated around large cities and tourist regions, particularly coastal areas. No relationship between demographic variables and visitor numbers was found (Pearson correlation: n = 34, r = 0.268, P = 0.126), which suggests that the popularity of a zoo's collection relative to the types and numbers of species kept is more indicative of a collection's visitor numbers than its surrounding demographic figures. Zoos should incorporate generating high popularity scores as part of their collection planning strategies, to ensure that they thrive in the future, not only as tourist attractions but also as major conservation organizations