Has there been a turning point in the numbers of AIDS and HIV antibody positive cases in Ireland?

Significant developments in the prevention and treatment of human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) infection and acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) have taken place in recent years. Changes in the size of the HIV and AIDS epidemic need to be monitored to assess these developments and plan future services. This paper describes temporal trends in the incidence of HIV and AIDS in Ireland, describing separately the major risk groups, and to explore possible associations between these trends with developments in care. The annual numbers of HIV and AIDS in Ireland were analysed to determine whether there has been a turning point in incidence. There has been an overall decrease in the numbers of AIDS cases since 1993, with both homosexual and intravenous drug users (IDU) risk groups exhibiting a decrease. For HIV antibody positive individuals, overall numbers have remained constant. However, there has been an upward trend in the heterosexual risk group and a downward trend in the IDU risk group. Thus both AIDS and HIV numbers exhibit turning points. Declines in HIV and AIDS incidence in the homosexual and IDU risk groups are indirectly attributable to health safety and treatment programmes. The increase in HIV antibody positive cases among heterosexuals may reflect a relapse in safe sex behaviour

Use of indigenous technology in processing and utilization of non-timber forest product in south-eastern Nigeria

Nigeria is richly endowed with numerous non-wood resources such as Treculia africana, Brachyestegia eurycoma, Pencladethra macrophylla and Detarium microcarpum. Investigation on the use of indigenous technology in processing and utilization of B. eurycoma, T. africana P. macrophylla and D. microcarpum was carried out in five (5) eastern states of Nigeria. Purposive sampling of the population to ensure that only those targeted was adopted in Akwa, Abalikili, Umuahia, Owerri, and Enugu states. Information used for this paper came from both primary and secondary sources. Ten (10) respondents were interviewed from each secondary source of information. The use of indigenous technology to process these forest products to forest foods is currently limited by use of crude methods, inability to expand production and lack of encouragement by government. The government of Nigeria can develop a political will to make it more attractive to men for greater productivity, through research into modern methods of processing of forest foods.Keywords: indigenous technology, processing, utilization, non-timber forest product

Distribution of commercial Mobydick (Gomphocarpus spp) grown in Kenya as revealed by morphological characterization

The genus Asclepias of Gomphocarpus subspecies commonly known as mobydick is currently grown commercially as a cutflower in Kenya. Asclepias refers to milkweed species grown in America and other Western worlds while Gomphocarpus refers to Asclepias species in Africa and Arabia continents. The varieties are distinguished mainly by boll characteristics which include size, shape, and plant height. In the farmers’ fields, Gomphocarpus physocarpus and Gomphocarpus fruticosus integrate to form a continuum and are difficult to distinguish. However, there is no precise data on the available commercial varieties of Gomphocarpus species grown and exported from Kenya. The species has recently been domesticated in Kenya but characterization has not been done. The objective of the study was to determine the distribution of major Gomphocarpus varieties in Kenya. A preliminary survey was done using the morphological characteristic of height to determine the prevalent type among farmers. The survey was conducted between April and June, 2011. The sampled areas were Machakos, Murang`a, Nandi, Nyeri, Bomet, Embu, Laikipia, Kisumu, Meru, Kajiado, Migori and Makueni districts. In order to get accurate information on the data collection sites, each farm was mapped by Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver; this instrument gave the altitudes (elevations), latitudes and longitudes of the sampled areas. A line level was used to establish the slope of the various sampled sites. Using boards graduated in the metric system, a distance of 10 metres between the boards was used. The board was moved up and down the slope until the spirit level showed that the string was horizontal. In this case, a difference in height of 10 cm would mean a slope of 1 %, whereas a height difference of 5 cm meant a gradient of 0.5% and 2.5 cm difference in height represented 0.25% gradient. A total of 145 farmers were selected at random and interviewed using a questionnaire. Soil samples were collected from sampled farms and analyzed in JKUAT laboratory using the hydrometer method. Materials used for soil structural analysis were water, sieves, hydrometer, sodium hexametaphosphate solution, amyl alcohol, soil dispersing stirrer, reciprocating shaker and soil textural triangle. The results showed that of the 145 farmers, 84.8% grew tall mobydick variety while 15.6 % grew the short variety. The results also indicate that 30.9% of all farmers growing the tall variety are in Machakos, Muranga (6.5 %), Nandi (11.4 %), Nyeri (14.6 %), Bomet( 7.3%), Embu (4.9 %), Laikipia ( 6.5%) , Kisumu (4.1%) , Meru (11.4 %) and the least were in Kajiado, Migori and Makueni each recording 0.8 %. As regards altitude, 84.8 % of all mobydick farmers grow the tall variety between 887-1388 m above sea level. Data collected on agro-ecological zones indicate that mobydick grows across UM4, LU4, UM2, LM4, SU3, LM3, LM1 and LM5 with 84.8 % of all farmers growing the tall variety. In conclusion, the tall variety is the most dominant of the commercial mobydick varieties among the Kenya farmers. The variety also dominates all agro-ecological zones at the current status.Key words: Asclepias, characterization, cutflower, distribution, Mobydic

The cost of inadequate sleep among on-call workers in Australia: A workplace perspective

© 2018 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. On-call or stand-by is becoming an increasingly prevalent form of work scheduling. However, on-call arrangements are typically utilised when workloads are low, for example at night, which can result in inadequate sleep. It is a matter of concern that on-call work is associated with an increased risk of workplace injury. This study sought to determine the economic cost of injury due to inadequate sleep in Australian on-call workers. The prevalence of inadequate sleep among on-call workers was determined using an online survey, and economic costs were estimated using a previously validated costing methodology. Two-thirds of the sample (66%) reported obtaining inadequate sleep on weekdays (work days) and over 80% reported inadequate sleep while on-call. The resulting cost of injury is estimated at $2.25 billion per year ($1.71–2.73 billion). This equates to $1222 per person per incident involving a short-term absence from work;$2.53 million per incident classified as full incapacity, and $1.78 million for each fatality. To the best of our knowledge this is the first study to quantify the economic cost of workplace injury due to inadequate sleep in on-call workers. Well-rested employees are critical to safe and productive workplace operations. Therefore, it is in the interest of both employers and governments to prioritise and invest far more into the management of inadequate sleep in industries which utilise on-call work arrangements

Consanguineous matings among Egyptian population

Consanguinity is the blood relationship that exists among individuals that descend from a common ancestor. The objectives of the study was to explore the frequency and socio-economic determinants of consanguinity in Egypt. The study was carried out using a cross-sectional approach which included 10,000 unselected couples. All couples were recruited from the prenatal, gynecologic, neonatal and pediatric clinics as well as vaccination centers in three hospitals one in Lower Egypt (Cairo) and two in Upper Egypt (Sohag and Assuit). Consanguineous marriage is still high in Egypt (35.3%), especially among first cousins (86%). However the frequency varies by region. It is higher in Sohag (42.2%) and Cairo (36.1%) than in Assuit (21.7%). Also it was higher in rural areas (59.9%) than in semi-urban and urban areas (23.5% and 17.7%, respectively). It was associated with decreased age of marriage, low educational level and unemployment in the couples which means that the socio-economic determinants are still working in maintaining this high rate of consanguinity. This is in addition to the high divorce rate and increased number of unmarried females in Egypt. Advances in genetics have led to a deeper understanding of the effect of inbreeding on the occurrence of genetic diseases. As prolonged parental inbreeding has led to a background of homozygosity above that predicted by simple models of consanguinity, we encourage counselors to call on a reliable computer program for calculation of the recurrence risks in these families. Keywords: Consanguineous marriage; Socio-economic; determinants; Recurrence risk; Egyp

Conservation planning in agricultural landscapes: hotspots of conflict between agriculture and nature

Aim: Conservation conflict takes place where food production imposes a cost on wildlife conservation and vice versa. Where does conservation impose the maximum cost on production, by opposing the intensification and expansion of farmland? Where does conservation confer the maximum benefit on wildlife, by buffering and connecting protected areas with a habitable and permeable matrix of crop and non-crop habitat? Our aim was to map the costs and benefits of conservation versus production and thus to propose a conceptual framework for systematic conservation planning in agricultural landscapes. Location: World-wide. Methods: To quantify these costs and benefits, we used a geographic information system to sample the cropland of the world and map the proportion of non-crop habitat surrounding the cropland, the number of threatened vertebrates with potential to live in or move through the matrix and the yield gap of the cropland. We defined the potential for different types of conservation conflict in terms of interactions between habitat and yield (potential for expansion, intensification, both or neither). We used spatial scan statistics to find 'hotspots' of conservation conflict. Results: All of the 'hottest' hotspots of conservation conflict were in sub-Saharan Africa, which could have impacts on sustainable intensification in this region. Main conclusions: Systematic conservation planning could and should be used to identify hotspots of conservation conflict in agricultural landscapes, at multiple scales. The debate between 'land sharing' (extensive agriculture that is wildlife friendly) and 'land sparing' (intensive agriculture that is less wildlife friendly but also less extensive) could be resolved if sharing and sparing were used as different types of tool for resolving different types of conservation conflict (buffering and connecting protected areas by maintaining matrix quality, in different types of matrix). Therefore, both sharing and sparing should be prioritized in hotspots of conflict, in the context of countryside biogeography

VAMPIRE® fundus image analysis algorithms:Validation and diagnostic relevance in hypertensive cats

OBJECTIVES: To validate a retinal imaging software named VAMPIRE® (Vascular Assay and Measurement Platform for Images of the Retina) in feline patients and test the clinical utility in hypertensive cats. ANIMALS STUDIED: One hundred and five healthy cats were enrolled. They represented the normal dataset used in the validation (group 1). Forty-three hypertensive cats with no noticeable retinal abnormalities were enrolled for the clinical validity of the software (group 2). PROCEDURES: Eleven points (4 veins, 4 arteries, and 3 arterial bifurcations) were measured for each digital image. Repeatability and reproducibility of measurements were assessed using two independent operators. Data were statistically analyzed by the Mann-Whiney and Tukey box plot. Significance was considered when P < 0.05. RESULTS: Two hundred and ten retinal images were analyzed for a total of 2310 measurements. Total mean was 9.1 and 6.1 pixels for veins and arteries, respectively. First, second, and third arteriolar bifurcations angles were 73.6°, 76.9°, and 85.4°, respectively. A comparison between groups 1 and 2 showed a statistically significant reduction in arteriolar diameter (mean 3.3 pixels) and branch angle (55°, 47.8° and 59.9°) associated with increasing vein diameter (mean 24.15 pixels). CONCLUSIONS: Current image analysis techniques used in human medicine were investigated in terms of extending their use to veterinary medicine. The VAMPIRE® algorithm proved useful for an objective diagnosis of retinal vasculature changes secondary to systemic hypertension in cats, and could be an additional diagnostic test for feline systemic hypertension