Investigation of Breast Cancer Risk Factors in northern states of Sudan using Logistic Regression Analysis

Background: Breast cancer is the most common type of cancers and  leading cause of death among women worldwide. In Sudan breast cancer is the most common type of cancer and its incidence has been rising for the past two decades.Objective: To investigate whether the breast risk factors of northern states (Northern and River Nile) are different from other states in Sudan.Methods: A case-control study was conducted in Radiation and Isotopes Centre Khartoum RICK targeting the breast cancer patients who came to get treatment or follow-up during 2010. A total of 60 breast cancer patients from northern states and 60 control breast cancer patients from other Sudan states were interviewed using purposively designed questionnaires. Logistic regression has been used for modeling the probability that a breast cancer could be developed as a function of risk factors.Results: This study showed that risk factors of breast cancer do not differ significantly between northern states (Northern and River Nile) and other Sudan states except the education level, are the patient alive, disease history and lactation.Conclusion: There is no difference between risk factors of breast cancer in all Sudanese states; all Sudanese women are exposed to breast cancer with matching risk factors.Key words: breast, risk factors, logistic regression

The use of medicinal plants in health care practices by Rohingya refugees in a degraded forest and conservation area of Bangladesh

People in developing countries traditionally rely on plants for their primary healthcare. This dependence is relatively higher in forests in remote areas due to the lack of access to modern health facilities and easy availability of the plant products.We carried out an ethno-medicinal survey in Teknaf Game Reserve (TGR), a heavily degraded forest and conservation area in southern Bangladesh, to explore the diversity of plants used by Rohingya refugees for treating various ailments. The study also documented the traditional utilization, collection and perceptions of medicinal plants by the Rohingyas residing on the edges of this conservation area. We collected primary information through direct observation and by interviewing older respondents using a semi-structured questionnaire. A total of 34 plant species in 28 families were frequently used by the Rohingyas to treat 45 ailments, ranging from simple headaches to highly complex eye and heart diseases. For medicinal preparations and treating various ailments, aboveground plant parts were used more than belowground parts. The collection of medicinal plants was mostly from the TGR. © 2009 Taylor & Francis

Selecting Suitable Drainage Pattern to Minimize Flooding in Sangere Village Using GIS and Remote Sensing

Water shed analysis is a geographic information system (GIS) based technique designed to model the way surface water flows on the earth surface. This was the method adopted to select suitable drainage pattern to minimized flood in some parts of sangere. The process of watershed computes the local direction of flow and defines the stream network and the areas drained by particular system. The data used for these calculation (that is, aspect, slope and height differences) are derived from the digital elevation model (DEM) of the area, which was first generated from spot heights obtained from the ground survey using Total Station. ILWIS 3.3 software package was employed in the production of slope and aspect map from which watershed map was produced. The result shows the production of watershed for build up area and suitable drainage network. The research recommended watershed analysis for the control of flood in sangere and the construction of side drainages along the streets.Keywords: Watershed, Aspect, Slope, Drainage, Flood

Evaluation of Different Concentrations And Frequency of Foliar Application of Moringa Extract on Growth & Yield of Onion, Allium cepa Lam

Field trials were conducted between 2010/11 and 2011/12 at the Forestry Research Institute of Nigeria (FRIN) of Federal College of Forestry Mechanization Afaka, Kaduna experimental site, 10o 031N, 07o 211 E and 644m above sea level in the Northern guinea savanna agro-ecological zone during 2011 to 2012 dry season. The objective was to evaluate the effect  of different concentration and frequency of foliar application of Moringa extract on growth and yield of Onion (Allium cepa Lam). Fresh Moringa oleifera shoots were obtained from experimental site of the College when it was 35 days old, air dried for some days and crushed with water (10kg of dry material in water) in a household blender for 10 minute. The solution was filtered through a filter paper (Whattman No 42) and the liquid extracts obtained were diluted with water to produce the treatments. The treatments consisted of four concentration 2% (1 litre of extract/50 litre of water), 4% (1 litre of extract/25 litre of water), 3.2% (litre of extract/31 litre of water), 3.7% (1 litre of extract/27 litre of water) and a control (no extract) and two frequency of foliar application once (3weeks) and twice 3 and 6 weeks after transplanting. The trial was laid in a Randomized Complete Block Design(RCBD) and replicated three times. Data were collected on number of leaves/plant, plant height and crop vigour score at 5, 7 and 9 WAT. The data collected were subjected to analysis of variance. Result obtained showed a significant (P = 0.05) effect of the treatments on the characters measured with moringa extract concentration ratio of 1:2 (50%) and frequency periods of foliar application at 3, and 6 weeks after transplanting manifesting the highest effect. Based on the result, application of Moringa extract concentration ratio of 1:2(50%) and frequency period of foliar application at 3, and 6 weeks after transplanting of onion should be adopted for use in Northern guinea savannah ecological zone on the variety of onion tested, since it is easier to get Moringa all year round and in large quantities for large hectare of farm land.Key words: Moringa, Extract, Onion bulb and Concentratio

An architecture for evolving the electronic programme guide for online viewing

Watching television and video content is changing towards online viewing due to the proliferation of content providers and the prevalence of high speed broadband. This trend is coupled to an acceleration in the move to watching content using non-traditional viewing devices such as laptops, tablets and smart phones. This, in turn, poses a problem for the viewer in that it is becoming increasingly difficult to locate those programmes of interest across such a broad range of providers. In this thesis, an architecture of a generic cloud-based Electronic Programme Guide (EPG) system has been developed to meet this challenge. The key feature of this architecture is the way in which it can access content from all of the available online content providers and be personalized depending on the viewer’s preferences and interests, viewing device, internet connection speed and their social network interactions. Fundamental to its operation is the translation of programme metadata adopted by each provider into a unified format that is used within the core system. This approach ensures that the architecture is extensible, being able to accommodate any new online content provider through the addition of a small tailored search agent module. The EPG system takes the programme as its core focus and provides a single list of recommendations to each user regardless of their origins. A prototype has been developed in order to validate the proposed system and evaluate its operation. Results have been obtained through a series of user trials to assess the system’s effectiveness in being able to extract content from several sources and to produce a list of recommendations which match the user’s preferences and context. Results show that the EPG is able to offer users a single interface to online television and video content providers and that its integration with social networks ensures that the recommendation process is able to match or exceed the published results from comparable, but more constrained, systems