Assessment of level of knowledge and utilization of emergency contraception among female students of Hawassa University, south Ethiopia

Introduction: Emergency contraception is used as an emergency procedure to prevent unintended pregnancy secondary to an unprotected se xual intercourse and method failure. Hence, this study assessed the level of knowledge and utilization of emergency contraception among undergraduate regular female students of Hawassa University, south Ethiopia. Methods: An institution-based cross-sectional survey was conducted among female students of Hawassa University in December 2012. Seven hundred seventy six of the students were sampled by using multistage sampling technique. Pretested structured questionnaire was used to collect the data. Results: The majority 719 (92.7%) of female university students ever had sexual intercourse and 17 (2.2%) experienced forced sex. Eight (47%) of these 17 students experienced unintended pregnancy all of which resulted in an induced abortion. Three hundred seventy nine (72.2%) of the respondents had knowledge about emergency contraceptives and only 41 (10.8%) of them had ever used emergency contraceptives;oral contraceptive pills were the most widely used form of all emergency contraceptives 41 (10.8%). Age, marital status and age at menarche were associated with knowledge of emergency contraception;moreover, residence, year of study and experience of forced sex were found to be predictors of emergency contraception utilization. Conclusion: Female university students had been experiencing high rate of unintended sexual practice and pregnancy, low knowledge level and utilization of emergency contraceptives;moreover, they had no youth-friendly access to the services. Therefore, there is a need for collaborated effort to improve service access and scale up their utilization level to prevent unwanted pregnancy.

Cytologic patterns of lymph node diseases in Hawassa University Referral Hospital,Southern Ethiopia

Objective:To assess the cytological patterns of lymph node diseases in patient attended Hawassa University Referral Hospital,Southern Ethiopia.Methods:A five years retrospective descriptive study design was conducted on fine needle aspiration cytology reports of patients referred to pathology laboratory of Hawassa University Referral Hospital from September,2009 to September,2014.Results:A total of 1067 lymph nodes were aspirated in the study period.Cervical lymphadenopathy was the most frequent(48.82%)followed by submandibular(22.77%)lymph nodes.The age group of 11-20 years was the most affected age group while age group above 60 with less frequency.Tuberculosis lymphadenitis was the highest(48.82%),chronic non-specific lymphadenitis(20.33%),reactive(16.21%),pyogenic abscess(5.99%)and the rest were malignancies.Conclusions:Lymphadenopathy can be associated with a wide range of disorders.However tuberculosis lymphadenitis is the most common cause of enlarged lymph node in the study area.

Assessment of Seasonal Rainfall Prediction in Ethiopia: Evaluating a Dynamic Recurrent Neural Network to Downscale ECMWF-SEAS5 Rainfall

Seasonal rainfall plays a vital role in both environmental dynamics and decision-making for rainfed agriculture in Ethiopia, a country often impacted by extreme climate events such as drought and flooding. Predicting the onset of the rainy season and providing localized rainfall forecasts for Ethiopia is challenging due to the changing spatiotemporal patterns and the country's rugged topography. The Climate Hazards Group Infra Red Precipitation with Station Data(CHIRPS), ERA5-Land total precipitation and temperature data are used from 1981–2022 to predict spatial rainfall by applying an artificial neural network(ANN). The recurrent neural network(RNN) is a nonlinear autoregressive network with exogenous input(NARX), which includes feed-forward connections and multiple network layers, employing the Levenberg Marquart algorithm. This method is applied to downscale data from the European Centre for Medium-range Weather Forecasts fifth-generation seasonal forecast system(ECMWF-SEAS5) and the Euro-Mediterranean Centre for Climate Change(CMCC) to the specific locations of rainfall stations in Ethiopia for the period 1980–2020. Across the stations, the results of NARX exhibit strong associations and reduced errors. The statistical results indicate that, except for the southwestern Ethiopian highlands, the downscaled monthly precipitation data exhibits high skill scores compared to the station records, demonstrating the effectiveness of the NARX approach for predicting local seasonal rainfall in Ethiopia's complex terrain. In addition to this spatial ANN of the summer season precipitation, temperature, as well as the combination of these two variables, show promising results.

Optimal Bidding Strategies of Microgrid with Demand Side Management for Economic Emission Dispatch Incorporating Uncertainty and Outage of Renewable Energy Sources

In the restructured electricity market,microgrid(MG),with the incorporation of smart grid technologies,distributed energy resources(DERs),a pumped-storage-hydraulic(PSH)unit,and a demand response program(DRP),is a smarter and more reliable electricity provider.DER consists of gas turbines and renewable energy sources such as photovoltaic systems and wind turbines.Better bidding strategies,prepared by MG operators,decrease the electricity cost and emissions from upstream grid and conventional and renewable energy sources(RES).But it is inefficient due to the very high sporadic characteristics of RES and the very high outage rate.To solve these issues,this study suggests non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm Ⅱ(NSGA-Ⅱ)for an optimal bidding strategy considering pumped hydroelectric energy storage and DRP based on outage conditions and uncertainties of renewable energy sources.The uncertainty related to solar and wind units is modeled using lognormal and Weibull probability distributions.TOU-based DRP is used,especially considering the time of outages along with the time of peak loads and prices,to enhance the reliability of MG and reduce costs and emissions.

Software Reliability Prediction Using Ensemble Learning on Selected Features in Imbalanced and Balanced Datasets: A Review

Redundancy,correlation,feature irrelevance,and missing samples are just a few problems that make it difficult to analyze software defect data.Additionally,it might be challenging to maintain an even distribution of data relating to both defective and non-defective software.The latter software class’s data are predominately present in the dataset in the majority of experimental situations.The objective of this review study is to demonstrate the effectiveness of combining ensemble learning and feature selection in improving the performance of defect classification.Besides the successful feature selection approach,a novel variant of the ensemble learning technique is analyzed to address the challenges of feature redundancy and data imbalance,providing robustness in the classification process.To overcome these problems and lessen their impact on the fault classification performance,authors carefully integrate effective feature selection with ensemble learning models.Forward selection demonstrates that a significant area under the receiver operating curve(ROC)can be attributed to only a small subset of features.The Greedy forward selection(GFS)technique outperformed Pearson’s correlation method when evaluating feature selection techniques on the datasets.Ensemble learners,such as random forests(RF)and the proposed average probability ensemble(APE),demonstrate greater resistance to the impact of weak features when compared to weighted support vector machines(W-SVMs)and extreme learning machines(ELM).Furthermore,in the case of the NASA and Java datasets,the enhanced average probability ensemble model,which incorporates the Greedy forward selection technique with the average probability ensemble model,achieved remarkably high accuracy for the area under the ROC.It approached a value of 1.0,indicating exceptional performance.This review emphasizes the importance of meticulously selecting attributes in a software dataset to accurately classify damaged components.In addition,the suggested ensemble learning model successfully addressed the aforementioned problems with software data and produced outstanding classification performance.

Colonic schistosomiasis mimicking cancer,polyp,and inflammatory bowel disease:Five case reports and review of literature

BACKGROUND Schistosomiasis,officially named as a neglected tropical disease by The World Health Organization,is a serious parasitic disease caused by trematode flukes of the genus Schistosoma.It is a common infectious disease,endemic in more than 78 countries.The disease can involve various organs and poses far-reaching public health challenges.CASE SUMMARY Here,we present a series of five patients with variable presentations:an asymptomatic patient who was diagnosed with colonic schistosomiasis upon screening colonoscopy;2 patients with clinical suspicion of colonic cancer;and 2 patients with a clinical diagnosis of inflammatory bowel disease.All patients were subsequently confirmed to have colonic schistosomiasis after colonoscopy and histopathologic examination.The clinical manifestations,colonoscopy features and histologic findings of the patients are described.Most of the patients showed significant clinical improvement following administration of oral praziquantel.CONCLUSION Intestinal schistosomiasis can present with features mimicking other gastrointestinal conditions.This disease should be a diagnostic consideration in patients who live in or have traveled to endemic areas.

Identifying and Ranking Dangerous Road Segments a Case of Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula Two-Lane Two-Way Rural Highway, Ethiopia

According to the study made by United Nation Economic Commission for Africa, Ethiopia stands as one of the worst countries with respect to road safety performance in terms of traffic accident fatalities per 10,000 vehicles (i.e. 95 in 2007/8). Road safety generally depends on humans, vehicles, and highway conditions. These factors influence road safety separately or in combination. One of the basic means to improve road safety is to reduce hazardous conditions of roads. The main objective of this study is to identify and rank hazardous locations and propose appropriate simple and inexpensive countermeasures along Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula main two-lane rural road. Accordingly, the road and traffic data were collected from field investigation and Ethiopian Road Authority and accident data were gathered from police stations. Then, the study road equally divided into short sections of 1.5 km and traffic volume and accident frequencies assigned for each road site to predict theoretical frequencies of accident. Empirical Bayes method and Safety Performance Function have been used to estimate an index known as Potential for Safety Improvement (PSI) for each site of the study area to identify and rank road sites. The result showed that out of 43 road segments 22 of them were identified as dangerous road segments. Moreover, based on further criterion established for screening the ranked road sections 8 road segments were found the most dangerous road segments as they have contributed 76% of total PSI values. The degree of haphazardness of a given road segment in the study area has directly associated with the availability of risk indicating road and traffic factors. Finally, it recommends that regulatory body of road safety in the study area should give high priority and immediate response for the improvement of most dangerous road segments.

Chemical Composition of Industrial Effluents and Their Effect on the Survival of Fish and Eutrophication of Lake Hawassa, Southern Ethiopia

Growing trends in industrialization in Ethiopia have raised concerns about pollution of water bodies particularly of lakes. This study was therefore conducted to 1) characterize the chemical contents of major industrial effluents (namely textile ceramic and soft drink factories) that reached Lake Hawassa and 2) investigate the effects of the above mentioned factory effluents on survival of larvae fish and growth of algae. Effluent samples were collected from the outlet lagoons of each factory in December, 2009. Then, effluent samples were analyzed for total N, NO3-N, NH4-N, S2-, , , COD, total dissolved solids (TDS) and heavy metals at the federal Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Laboratory, Addis Ababa. The experiments on the impact of effluents on survival of fish larvae and growth of algae were conducted using six concrete paved ponds (with different concentration of effluent). The results of chemical analysis showed that textile effluent had high COD (nearly 3 times higher), TDS (19 times higher) as well as (39 times higher) than the maximum permissible limits (MPL) set by Environmental Protection Authority (EPA). Among heavy metals, Zn and Fe of textile effluent were much higher (41 and 1.5 times higher, respectively) than the MPL set by EPA. Ceramic effluent also contained high concentration of (24.5 times), S2-, (2 times) and Zn (14 times) exceeding the limit of EPA. Regarding soft drink factory, high values of COD, and Zn were found in the effluent than the limit specified by EPA. The biological treatment lagoons of the respective source were not effective since the effluents were taken from the last treatment lagoon (outlet lagoon) and some of the measured parameters were higher than MPL. Results of the pond experiment showed that 5%, 10% and 20% concentration levels of the HTF effluent killed significantly high proportion of the fry (65%, 86.8% and 88.7%, respectively). In contrast, fry mortality in ceramic and soft drink effluent treatments, even at 10 and 20% concentration levels, stayed nearly below 10%, which were not far off from the mortality of the control groups. Algal biomass in the treated ponds varied with the type of effluent treatment and concentration level. Compared with the first day, chlorophyll “a” concentration measured on the 7th day had increased by 51%, 48%, 74%, 27% and 31% at 0%, 1%, 5%, 10% and 20% concentrations, respectively of textile effluent. The 5% treatment level of textile effluent caused the highest rate of algal growth above the growth rate observed in the control pond, but further increased in concentration to 10% and 20% resulted in a lower growth of algae than in the control pond. Therefore, textile effluent may boost up algae growth at lower concentrations (~5%) but at higher concentration levels its toxic effect may become inhibitory. Regarding the effluent of soft drink factory, algal growth progressively diminished with increasing concentration of the effluent. The overall change (between initial and day 7) in chlorophyll “a” concentration was highest in the control pond (36.2%) and decreased with increasing effluent concentration (1% to 20%) from 21.7% to -9.4%. On the other hand, algal growth under ceramic effluent treatment was comparable with that observed in the control pond.

Quantifying the Influence of Road Geometric Parameters on Road Safety (Case Study: Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula Rural Two-Lane Highway, Ethiopia)

Road safety depends on humans, vehicles, and highway conditions. These factors influence road safety separately or in combination. Despite these facts, the police report indicated that only a single cause of accident has been reported for a given accident in Ethiopia and the number of accidents that had been caused by road defect accounted around 1% of total accidents per year, which underestimates its contribution to road accidents. Beside these facts, only a few studies were carried out in Ethiopia on this issue. Even though dangerous road segments were identified and ranked along the same study area of this paper in our previous publication, Hawassa-Shashemene-Bulbula two-lane rural highway, the influences of road geometric parameters on road safety were not correlated along this study area. Therefore, it is imperative to clarify the relationship between the expected number of traffic accidents and the geometric conditions of the road under study to reduce accidents and provide safe driving environment. The main objective of this study was to quantify the influence of road geometric parameters on road safety. Using historical accident data, traffic data, and road data, the expected numbers of accidents were estimated by using the empirical Bayes (EB) method. Then, the expected numbers of accidents have been correlated with one or more road geometric parameters at a time. Accordingly, the identified dangerous road segments in the previous publication (DOI: 10.4236/jtts.2018.83009) were further analyzed to estimate the influence of road geometric parameters on road safety based on expected accident frequency. The result of the analysis shows that the radius of horizontal curve, superelevation, transition curve length, lane and shoulder widths were negatively correlated with the expected frequencies of accidents. Whereas the numbers of horizontal and vertical curves per segment, grade of the road, the occurrence of left turn horizontal curves with down grade and right turn horizontal curves with upgrade were positively correlated with the expected number of accidents. Therefore, it has been concluded that the influence of road geometry has significant effect on the occurrence of accidents along this study area.

Impact of Land Cover Change on Water Quality and Stream Flow in Lake Hawassa Watershed of Ethiopia

Quantifying the hydrologic response of land use/land cover change (LULCC) is of paramount importance to improve land management. This study was carried out to analyze the effect of LULCC on water quality and quantity. LULCC of the watershed in 1986, 1999 and 2011 was analyzed from Landsat satellite images using supervised classification. Time series and point data were collected from the upper and lower sections of Wedesa, Wesha and Hallo Rivers. Water quality parameters (turbidity, suspended solid (SS), total dissolved solid (TDS), pH, electric conductivity (EC), total organic carbon (TOC), ammonia, nitrate and phosphate) were analyzed in the laboratory. A considerable decline in forest and an increase in woodland were observed in the watershed during the indicated periods. Turbidity, SS, TDS and EC were significantly higher (P < 0.05) in the lower section of the rivers compared to the upper ones. Ammonia, nitrate and phosphate were higher in the lower section of some rivers compared to the upper ones. In general, water quality in the upper watershed of the three rivers was better than the lower one with respect to considered parameters, which might be related to the observed LULCC. Most water quality parameters varied (P < 0.05) seasonally in both the upper and lower sections of the rivers. Despite the irregular rainfall pattern and increased water consumption from the catchment, the annual discharge of the Tikur-Wuha River to Lake Hawassa shows an increasing trend. We concluded that the discharge is not only related to the upstream LULCC but also to the management of the Cheleleka wetland. However, further investigation is required to determine the dominant factors affecting inflow discharge to Lake Hawassa.

Assessment of Diarrheal Disease Management Practice in Under-Five-Year Children According to WHO Guideline in Health Facilities of Hawassa City, SNNPR, Ethiopia

Objective: To explore the practice of management of diarrhea in under-5-year children at health facilities found in Hawassa town, and associated factors with malpractice in comparison. Methodology: Cross Sectional study was conducted in 2 hospitals, 2 health centers and 2 private clinics that are found in Hawassa city which is found in Southern Nations, Nationalities and peoples (SNNP), 275 KM to south from Addis Ababa, capital city of Ethiopia from august 2017-October 2017. Structured checklist was used to retrieve the required information from the patients on arrival and stay in pediatrics OPDs and wards. The data analysis carried out using SPSS version 20.0. Logistic regression was carried out to analyze the association between the independent and dependent variables. Statistically significant associations were declared at p-values of less than or equal to 0.05. Results: Out of 420, about 397 (94.5%) children with diarrheal disease between the ages of 3 - 59 months were studied. The study subjects were from governmental hospitals (35.5%), health centers (34.5%) and private clinics (30%) that are found in Hawassa City. Sign of dehydration was 66 (17%) of which majority 59 (83%) of them were rehydrated. As to Zink supplementation, only 180 (45%) received it;antibiotics were the commonly (59.1%) prescribed drugs. Only 43.3% of children were appropriately managed. Hospitals had higher odds of inappropriate management of diarrhea with AOR = 1.61 (95% CI: 1.04 - 2.5) and children one year or younger were more inappropriately managed for diarrhea at the health facilities with AOR of 2.3 (95% CI: 1.57 - 4.41). Conclusions: In the current study the management of diarrhea at the health facilities is unsatisfactory as only less than half of children with diarrhea were properly managed. Treatment of diarrhea at hospital level and the patient’s age being less than 1 year were found to significantly affect the level of mismanagement of the diarrheal disease. Therefore, orientation and trainings for health care providers especially GPs and Residents should be given to adhere to recommended zinc therapy, Oral Rehydration Salts (ORS) replacement therapy and rational antibiotics prescription.

CRISPR-Cas9 mediated phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics

Inappropriate use of antibiotics is globally creating public health hazards associated with antibiotic resistance.Bacteria often acquire antibiotic resistance by altering their genes through mutation or acquisition of plasmid-encoding resistance genes.To treat drug-resistant strains of bacteria,the recently developed CRISPR-Cas9 system might be an alternative molecular tool to conventional antibiotics.It disables antibiotic-resistance genes(plasmids)or deactivates bacterial virulence factors and sensitizes drug-resistant bacteria through site-specific cleavage of crucial domains of their genome.This molecular tool uses phages as vehicles for CRISPR-cas9 delivery into bacteria.Since phages are species-specific and natural predators of bacteria,they are capable of easily injecting their DNA to target bacteria.The CRISPR system is packaged into phagemid vectors,in such a way that the bacteria containing the antibiotic-resistance plasmid sequence or that containing specific DNA sequences were made to be targeted.Upon CRISPR delivery,Cas9 is programmed to recognize target sequences through the guide RNA thereby causing double-strand cleavage of targeted bacterial DNA or loss of drug resistance plasmid,which results in cell death.Remarkably,the safety and efficacy of this newly developed biotechnology tool and the biocontrol product need to be further refined for its usage in clinical translation.

Vegetation structural characteristics and topographic factors in the remnant moist Afromontane forest of Wondo Genet, south central Ethiopia

For forest ecosystem management to be effective, knowledge of the horizontal and vertical structural diversity of a forest is essential. The moist Afromontane highlands of Wondo Genet in south-central Ethiopia present an opportunity to restore and rehabilitate and enhance the ecosystem services to be obtained from this forest sustainably. We focused on the forest structural characteristics to better understand the current forest conditions to assist in the sustainable management of this resource. A total of 75 （20 m × 20 m） quadrats were sampled and diame- ter at breast height （DBH） 〉2 cm and stem height 〉2 m were measured. Species identity and abundance, elevation, slope, and aspect were recorded for each plot. Structural characteristics were computed for each plot. Relationship of topographic factors with vegetation characteristics was conducted using R-Software. A total of 72 woody species was re- corded. Whereas, the overall diameter distribution shows an inverted J-shaped curve, the basal area followed a bell-shaped pattern. Five types of population structures are revealed. The mean tree density and basal area was 397.3 stems.ha-1 and 31.4 m2.ha-1, respectively. Only 2.8% of the tree species have densities of 〉25 stems.ha^-1 and the percentage dis- tribution of trees show 56.2% in the DBH class 2-10 cm, indicating that the forest is dominated by medium-sized trees. Celtis africana （8.81 m2.ha^-1） and Pouteria adolfi-friederieii （5.13 m2.ha^-1） make the highest contribution to the basal area and species importance value index. The families/species with the highest importance value index are Ulmaceae, Fabacea and Sapotaceae. Species abundance （r2 = 0.32, p 〈0.001） and species richness （P =0.50, p 〈0.001） are positively related with tree density. Tree density is negatively related with elevation （~ = -0.36, p 〈0.001）, slope （r2 =-0.15, p 〈0.001） and aspect （r2 = -0.07, p 〈0.05）. While basal area is negatively related with elevation （r2 =-0.14, p 〈0.001）, it has a positive relationship with tree density （r2 =0.28, p 〈0.001 and species richness （r2 =0.098）. Species with poor population structure should be assisted by restoration tasks and further anthropogenic distur- bance such as illegal logging and fuel wood extraction should be re- stricted.

Influence of topographic aspect on floristic diversity, structure and treeline of afromontane cloud forests in the Bale Mountains,Ethiopia

We studied the influence of east and west aspects on floristic composition, diversity, structure and treeline of afromontane cloud forests at Rira in the Bale Mountains, southeast Ethiopia. In addition, we studied how aspect relates to and/or interacts with other topographic and edaphic factors in influencing vegetation diversity. Strati- fied systematic plot sampling was used to survey the floristic composition, diversity and structure of forests on east- and west-facing slopes. The sample plot size was 20 x 20 m and a total of 36 plots were inventoried. A total of 72 composite soil samples were collected and analysed. Woody species richness of the forest on the east-facing slope was 1.7 times higher than on the west-facing slope. Shannon, Simpson and Log-series alpha diversity indices and evenness of forests on the east-facing slope were sig- nificantly higher than on the west-facing slope. NMDS ordination indicated that the east- and west-facing slopes formed two clusters of species and aspect explained 55.2 % and 10.4 % of the variation in species richness and abun- dance, respectively. There was no significant difference between aspects in stand structure except in dominantheight, which was higher on the east-facing slopes. There was significant interaction between aspect and elevation in influencing woody species diversity. The four plant com- munity groups, which were identified using cluster and indicator species analysis were represented differently on the east and west aspects. The treeline on the east-facing slope （3352 m） was located about 110 m higher than on the west-facing slope （3240 m）. Soil moisture deficiency was unlikely to be a limiting factor on either site. Near the equator, east-west aspect was shown to have considerable impact on floristic composition, diversity, structure, and treeline position of montane forests. Diurnal cloud move- ment patterns and its impact on microclimate of slope aspect should be taken into account in future studies of cloud forest diversity, structure, and treeline position.

Evaluation of common bean(Phaseolus vulgaris L.)genotypes for drought stress adaptation in Ethiopia

Drought stress linked with climate change is one of the major constraints faced by common bean farmers in Africa and elsewhere. Mitigating this constraint requires the selection of resilient varieties that withstand drought threats to common bean production.This study assessed the drought response of 64 small red-seeded genotypes of common bean grown in a lattice design replicated twice under contrasting moisture regimes,terminal drought stress and non-stress, in Ethiopia during the dry season from November2014 to March 2015. Multiple plant traits associated with drought were assessed for their contribution to drought adaptation of the genotypes. Drought stress determined by a drought intensity index was moderate(0.3). All the assessed traits showed significantly different genotypic responses under drought stress and non-stress conditions. Eleven genotypes significantly(P ≤ 0.05) outperformed the drought check cultivar under both drought stress and non-stress conditions in seed yielding potential. Seed yield showed positive and significant correlations with chlorophyll meter reading, vertical root pulling resistance force, number of pods per plant, and seeds per pod under both soil moisture regimes, indicating their potential use in selection of genotypes yielding well under drought stress and non-stress conditions. Clustering analysis using Mahalanobis distance grouped the genotypes into four groups showing high and significant inter-cluster distance, suggesting that hybridization between drought-adapted parents from the groups will provide the maximum genetic recombination for drought tolerance in subsequent generations.

Development of Epstein-Barr virus-associated gastric cancer:Infection,inflammation,and oncogenesis

Epstein-Barr virus(EBV)-associated gastric cancer(EBVaGC)cells originate from a single-cell clone infected with EBV.However,more than 95%of patients with gastric cancer have a history of Helicobacter pylori(H.pylori)infection,and H.pylori is a major causative agent of gastric cancer.Therefore,it has long been argued that H.pylori infection may affect the development of EBVaGC,a subtype of gastric cancer.Atrophic gastrointestinal inflammation,a symptom of H.pylori infection,is observed in the gastric mucosa of EBVaGC.Therefore,it remains unclear whether H.pylori infection is a cofactor for gastric carcinogenesis caused by EBV infection or whether H.pylori and EBV infections act independently on gastric cancer formation.It has been reported that EBV infection assists in the oncogenesis of gastric cancer caused by H.pylori infection.In contrast,several studies have reported that H.pylori infection accelerates tumorigenesis initiated by EBV infection.By reviewing both clinical epidemiological and experimental data,we reorganized the role of H.pylori and EBV infections in gastric cancer formation.

Socio-ecological vulnerability to climate change/variability in central rift valley,Ethiopia

Climate change/variability and environmental degradation have increased in the central rift valley of Ethiopia,which in turn making the people inhabiting in that ecosystem more vulnerable to the impacts.The purposes of this study were to assess the vulnerability of households andagro-ecosystems to climate change and environmental degradation and the factors determining vulnerabilities in the central rift valley,Ethiopia.Data were collected between November 2014 and May 2015 by interviewing 355 respondents.This has been supplemented with focus group discussions and key informant interviews.The indicator and matrix methods were used to describe socio-ecological vulnerabilities.The resultsshowed that about 9%of the respondents were highly vulnerable to climate change/variability,and environmental degradation.Households in the lowland have the largest proportion of high vulnerable households(60%),while households in highland have the largest proportion of low vulnerable households(30%).In the lowland agro-ecology,the adaptive capacity component has contributed the largest share to household's vulnerability index to the impacts of climate change/variability and environmental degradation.The sensitivity component has higer contribution in highland agro-ecology and the exposure component in the midland agro-ecology.There were variations of income deviation between agro-ecologies that lead to variation in vulnerability of households.Household vulnerability index has shown a very light negative correlation with livelihood diversification index.The poorest households with little share of the total income distribution and with low livelihood diversity index,were the most vulnerable.The results showed that the highest exposure index on ecosystem functions and agricultural performance were in the lowland agro-ecology.This study highlighted the need to assess the social and ecological vulnerabilities in integrated approach as singling out one from the other is difficult.That is,social vulnerability impacts ecological vulnerability and vice versa.

Effects of level soil bunds and stone bunds on soil properties and its implications for crop production: the case of Bokole watershed, Dawuro zone, Southern Ethiopia

Level soil bunds (LSB) and stone bunds (SB) have been widely implemented in the Bokole watershed since 2000 through support of the World Food Program (WFP). However, the performance of them against the target of the structure has not been studied. This study analyzed the effect of LSB and SB on selected soil properties, when compared with nonterraced cropland. The Bokole watershed was divided into two units. From upper watershed, three croplands with LSB (aged 4, 6, and 9 years) and three nonterraced croplands each adjacent to one of the LSB were selected. Similarly, in lower watershed, SB aged 4, 6, and 8 years and three nonterraced croplands each adjacent to one of the SB were selected. From each cropland with LSB and SB, three composite soil samples (rep licates) were collected systematically in X designed rectangular plot. From each nonterraced cropland, three composite soil samples (replicates) were collected in X designed square plot. A total of 36 soil samples were analyzed for Soil Organic Carbon (SOC), Total Nitrogen (TN), Available Phosphorus (AP), Available Potassium (AK), pH, and Cation Exchange Capacity (CEC) following standard laboratory procedures. Most soil parameters were not significantly different in cropland with LSB and SB compared to nonterraced. However, in LSB aged 4 years and SB aged 6 years AP and pH were significantly less than their adjacent-nonterraced cropland. In SB aged 8 years, SOC, AP, AK, and pH were also significantly less than adjacent-nonterraced cropland. Past erosion, and past land uses are likely factors contributed to the observed result. It was inferred that the mean con tribution of LSB and SB alone for crop production with regard to analyzed soil parameters was not significant in the considered sites. Additional soil fertility management practices should be incorporated for better effect.

Ocular manifestation and their associated factors among HIV/AIDS patients receiving highly active antiretroviral therapy in Southern Ethiopia

AIM：To assess the pattern of ocular manifestation and associated factors among human immunodeficiency virus（HIV）/acquired immunodeficiency syndrome（AIDS） patients on highly active antiretroviral therapy（HAART） at Hawassa University Referral Hospital, Southern Ethiopia. METHODS：A cross sectional study was conducted from January 2014 to April 2015. After obtaining informed written consent, 240 adult HIV/AIDS patients on HAART were randomly selected regardless of their ophthalmic symptoms, WHO status or CD4 count. Data were collected using structured questionnaires and ophthalmologic clinical examination. Data were entered and analyzed using SPSS version 20.0 software. RESULTS：The mean duration of HAART was 62.5mo. The prevalence of HIV related ocular manifestation was 14.2%. Seborrheic blepharitis（5%） was the most common ocular manifestation, followed by squamoid conjunctival growth（3.8%）. The rate of ocular manifestation was significantly higher among study participants who had CD4＋ count 〈200 cells/μL（AOR=3.83; 95%CI：1.315-11.153）, low duration of HAART（AOR=3.0; 95%CI：1.305-6.891） and who had primary school education [odds ratio（OR） =2.8; 95%CI：1.105-7.099]. Prevalence of visual impairment and blindness was 10.9% and 5.8%, respectively.CONCLUSION：HAART may be the reason for the decline in the prevalence of ocular manifestation in HIV/AIDS patients in the study area. Ophthalmologic screening of HIV/AIDS patients, especially those with CD4 counts of 〈200/μL cells and in the first five years of HAART followup is recommended to reduce visual impairment and/or blindness.

Assessment of the Effectiveness of Watershed Management Intervention in Chena Woreda, Kaffa Zone, Southwestern Ethiopia

The main purpose of this study was to assess the effectiveness of watershed management intervention in Chena Woreda. A systematic sampling technique was used to select sample micro-watersheds, and random sampling method was used to select individual households from both intervention and non-intervention areas. Data were collected through field observation, household questionnaire survey, focused group discussion, in-depth interview and key informant interview. Moreover, physical soil and water conservation structures’ layout measurement was conducted. Descriptive statistics, t-test, chi-square test and participation index were used for data analyses. The study revealed that the intervention has good achievements in reducing soil erosion, improving water availability and quality, developing tree plantation and diversifying household income sources in the catchment. However, poor community participation, lack of the structures design alignment with standards, inappropriate time of implementation, lack of diversified soil water conservation measures, absence of regular maintenance and management of the structures were some of the major limitation of the intervention. Therefore, this study recommends that the stake-holders should make appropriate correction measures for observed failures and further interdisciplinary study should be conducted to explore the problems.