Southern Ocean fronts: Controlled by wind or topography?

The location of fronts has a direct influence on both the physical and biological processes in the Southern Ocean. Here we explore the relative importance of bottom topography and winds for the location of Southern Ocean fronts, using 100 years of a control and climate change simulation from the high resolution coupled climate model HiGEM. Topography has primary control on the number and intensity of fronts at each longitude. However, there is no strong relationship between the position or spacing of jets and underlying topographic gradients because of the effects of upstream and downstream topography. The Southern Hemisphere Westerlies intensify and shift south by 1.3 degrees in the climate change simulation, but there is no comparable meridional displacement of the Antarctic Circumpolar Current's (ACC) path or the fronts within its boundaries, even over flat topography. Instead, the current contracts meridionally and weakens. North of the ACC, the Subtropical Front (STF) shifts south gradually, even over steep topographic ridges. We suggest the STF reacts more strongly to the wind shift because it is strongly surface intensified. In contrast, fronts within the ACC are more barotropic and are therefore more sensitive to the underlying topography. An assessment of different methods for identifying jets reveals that maxima of gradients in the sea surface height field are the most reliable. Approximating the position of fronts using sea surface temperature gradients is ineffective at high latitudes while using sea surface height contours can give misleading results when studying the temporal variability of front locations.</p

Interconnectivity between volume transports through Arctic straits

Arctic heat and freshwater budgets are highly sensitive to volume transports through the Arctic‐Subarctic straits. Here we study the interconnectivity of volume transports through Arctic straits in three models; two coupled global climate models, one with a third‐degree horizontal ocean resolution (HiGEM1.1) and one with a twelfth‐degree horizontal ocean resolution (HadGEM3), and one ocean‐only model with an idealized polar basin (tenth‐degree horizontal resolution). The two global climate models indicate that there is a strong anti‐correlation between the Bering Strait throughflow and the transport through the Nordic Seas, a second strong anti‐correlation between the transport through the Canadian Artic Archipelago (CAA) and the Nordic Seas transport, and a third strong anti‐correlation is found between the Fram Strait and the Barents Sea throughflows. We find that part of the strait correlations is due to the strait transports being coincidentally driven by large‐scale atmospheric forcing patterns. However, there is also a role for fast wave adjustments of some straits flows to perturbations in other straits since atmospheric forcing of individual strait flows alone cannot lead to near mass balance fortuitously every year. Idealized experiments with an ocean model (NEMO3.6) that investigate such causal strait relations suggest that perturbations in the Bering Strait are compensated preferentially in the Fram Strait due to the narrowness of the western Arctic shelf and the deeper depth of the Fram Strait

Spatial and Temporal Scales of Sverdrup Balance

Sverdrup balance underlies much of the theory of ocean circulation and provides a potential tool for describing the interior ocean transport from only the wind stress. Using both a model state estimate and an eddy-permitting coupled climate model, this study assesses to what extent and over what spatial and temporal scales Sverdrup balance describes the meridional transport. The authors find that Sverdrup balance holds to first order in the interior subtropical ocean when considered at spatial scales greater than approximately 5°. Outside the subtropics, in western boundary currents and at short spatial scales, significant departures occur due to failures in both the assumptions that there is a level of no motion at some depth and that the vorticity equation is linear. Despite the ocean transport adjustment occurring on time scales consistent with the basin-crossing times for Rossby waves, as predicted by theory, Sverdrup balance gives a useful measure of the subtropical circulation after only a few years. This is because the interannual transport variability is small compared to the mean transports. The vorticity input to the deep ocean by the interaction between deep currents and topography is found to be very large in both models. These deep transports, however, are separated from upper-layer transports that are in Sverdrup balance when considered over large scales

Towards an Authentic Nigeria Hymnody: The Study of Yoruba Hymnody

The indigenous hymnology has experienced a lot of tonality distortion in Nigeria due to the direct translation of Western hymn tunes to the indigenous hymns. Different scholars have identified this act of perversion, but little or no documentation can be found on the method(s) that can be used in correcting this perverse act. The focus of this paper is on Yoruba hymnody. In this light, the paper examines and discuss the abnormality found in Yoruba indigenous hymns, through an analytical content of three selected indigenous Yoruba hymns and propounds methods and implementation strategies towards correcting the aforementioned act of perversion. Findings revealed that most of the indigenous hymns had been distorted in meaning due to the deformation of the indispensable Yoruba tone language. The paper discusses and draws out specific lessons that would serve as channels and even methods for consideration during composition, especially by Nigerian art composers. Tackling this challenge from a unanimous perspective, the effort will address the articulation and use of tonal inflexions in Yoruba Nigerian hymns

Genetics of brain fiber architecture and intellectual performance

The study is the first to analyze genetic and environmental factors that affect brain fiber architecture and its genetic linkage with cognitive function. We assessed white matter integrity voxelwise using diffusion tensor imaging at high magnetic field (4 Tesla), in 92 identical and fraternal twins. White matter integrity, quantified using fractional anisotropy (FA), was used to fit structural equation models (SEM) at each point in the brain, generating three-dimensional maps of heritability. We visualized the anatomical profile of correlations between white matter integrity and full-scale, verbal, and performance intelligence quotients (FIQ, VIQ, and PIQ). White matter integrity (FA) was under strong genetic control and was highly heritable in bilateral frontal (a2 = 0.55, p = 0.04, left; a2 = 0.74, p = 0.006, right), bilateral parietal (a2 = 0.85, p < 0.001, left; a2 = 0.84, p < 0.001, right), and left occipital (a2 = 0.76, p = 0.003) lobes, and was correlated with FIQ and PIQ in the cingulum, optic radiations, superior fronto-occipital fasciculus, internal capsule, callosal isthmus, and the corona radiata (p = 0.04 for FIQ and p = 0.01 for PIQ, corrected for multiple comparisons). In a cross-trait mapping approach, common genetic factors mediated the correlation between IQ and white matter integrity, suggesting a common physiological mechanism for both, and common genetic determination. These genetic brain maps reveal heritable aspects of white matter integrity and should expedite the discovery of single-nucleotide polymorphisms affecting fiber connectivity and cognition

COVID-19 and neglected tropical diseases in Africa: impacts, interactions, consequences

The world has been assaulted by COVID-19. Unpredictable changes in all sectors of economies and societies will manifest themselves over the coming months and years. The most robust health systems have become overwhelmed and pre-occupied in response to the virus. The impact of COVID-19 will evolve from an acute medical emergency response to a chronic ‘maintenance’ phase, with health services adapting to life with the virus as another infectious agent. However, economic and societal costs will vastly outweigh initial medical costs, given the widely predicted global depression—trivial compared with the cost of preparedness that should have been undertaken. The most vulnerable in society will be driven into deeper poverty. The consequential mental health morbidity and suicidal ideations will place an increased burden on already overstretched services, against the background of mental illness being the world's leading cause of morbidity.1 This is likely to be exacerbated by increased violence and social stress on already depressed economies with high levels of unemployment. There may be hope for a vaccine, but its efficacy, duration of immunity and the complexities of distribution in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) will be major challenges. The longer-term consequences of the pandemic for Africa will be profound, given health system fragilities.2 In this editorial, we discuss the potential impact of COVID-19 on neglected tropical disease (NTD) programmes as health services seek to function in the newly changed COVID-19 environmen

Obstetric Determinants of Birth Weight Status of Babies Born at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital, Kenya

Background: Low birth weight (LBW) is a serious public health problem, especially in developing countries. Globally, 15.5% of all births are born LBW and 95.6% of them are in developing countries. In Kenya, 8% of babies are born LBW and at Jaramogi Oginga Odinga Teaching and Referral Hospital (JOOTRH), it is 11.1%. Despite several efforts such as antenatal care services put in place to improve the quality of maternal and child health, the rates of LBW are still high. LBW is a major cause of mortality and morbidity in infants. Objective: The objective of this study was to assess obstetric determinants of the birth weight status of babies born at JOOTRH, Kenya. Materials and Methods: This was a cross-sectional study with a sample size of 131 babies plus their mothers from a total population of 538 deliveries during the study period. Systematic random sampling was used to select the respondents. Data was collected using a questionnaire and record review checklist. Data analysis was done using descriptive statistics and inferential statistics, specifically logistic regression. Result: The study results showed that the prevalence of LBW was 13.7%. LBW was strongly associated with a birth interval of &lt; 24 months (AOR = 13.722), hypertension (AOR = 11.753), previous history of LBW (COR = 14.0), and gestation at birth (COR = 3.75). Gravidity, previous history of miscarriage and gestation at which antenatal visits started had no association with LBW. Conclusion: The prevalence of LBW is 13.7%, higher than the national rate of 8% and statistically significant with a Z score of 2.398, p = 0.016. The birth interval of &lt; 24 months, hypertension, previous history of LBW, and gestation at birth influenced the occurrence of LBW. Focused antenatal care to ensure early detection and management of high-risk pregnancies and educate pregnant mothers on the birth spacing of more than two years between two successive pregnancies to allow replenishment of nutrient stores is important in reducing LBW

Nutrition Quality of the Child Feeds Used Among Children Aged 6 to 24 Months in Marsabit County

Child feeding practices is considered one of the determinants of malnutrition in under-fives. Inadequate feeding practice is often a greater factor of malnutrition than lack of food.&nbsp; Globally, 1 in 3 children under the age of five are not obtaining adequate nutrition thus are not growing well. In ASAL regions of Kenya, the main driver of acute malnutrition is poor dietary intake coupled with inappropriate feeding practices. In Marsabit County, undernutrition prevalence varies in different sub-counties. There are areas where malnutrition is very high whereas other areas are relatively low. In the same setting however, there are children with good health and nutritional status. Therefore, this study aimed to determine nutrition quality of the child feeds used among children aged 6 to 24 months in Marsabit County. This study adopted an experimental design for laboratory analysis of the food samples. Snowballing technique was used to select 9 women groups with children aged 6-24 months for participatory assessment of child feeding practices. Focus Group Discussion and key Informant Interview guides for qualitative data. A child food sample collection guide was used during collection of child feeds for laboratory analysis. Univariate analysis was used to obtain frequency distribution of nutrition quality of the child feeds. The study concludes that nutrition quality of feeds has a significant effect on child feeding practices in Marsabit County, Kenya. Based on the findings this study recommends that the Marsabit County government should promote the use of traditional food processing methods, such as fermentation, germination, roasting, drying, and frying, through community nutrition programs to enhance the nutrient content of child foods. These programs should focus on educating mothers and caregivers on how to effectively apply these methods to local foods to improve their nutritional value