Contamination of Sachet Water in Nigeria: Assessment and Health Impact

Adequate supply of fresh and clean drinking water is a basic need for all human beings. Water consumers are frequently unaware of the potential health risks associated with exposure to water borne contaminants which have often led to diseases like diarrhoea, cholera, dysentery, typhoid fever, legionnaire’s disease and parasitic diseases. The inadequacy of pipe borne water-supply in Nigeria is a growing problem; as a result people resort to buying water from vendors, and sachet or bottled water became a major source of drinking water. Although, portable and affordable, the problems of its purity and other health concerns have begun to manifest. Sachet water have been reported to contain bacteria such as Bacillus sp., Pseudomonas sp., Klebsiella sp., Streptococcus sp., and oocysts of Cryptosporidia sp. Apart from environmental contaminants, improper storage and handling by vendors also poses a serious threat to the health of the ignorant consumers. This paper tends to review the quality of these ‘pure water’; its physical examination, microbial assessments, its impacts on health, and the various strategies adopted by the concerned authorities to regulate this thriving industry

Evaluation de l'efficacité d'un traitement spécifique contre les diarrhées du chamelon

L'efficacité d'une formule d'un réhydratant associée à un traitement anti-infectieux a été évaluée chez 21 chamelons diarrhéiques dans la région de Dakhla et de Guelmim au Sud du Maroc. Un examen clinique et des prélèvements de sang et de matières fécales ont été réalisés avant et après trois jours de traitement. Les résultats ont montré que ce traitement a été efficace contre les diarrhées du chamelon. Les paramètres cliniques ont été rétablis et les signes cliniques et biochimiques de la déshydratation ont été corrigés. En effet, le traitement de trois jours a entraîné une amélioration de l'état général avec diminution de la température corporelle, reprise de l'appétit, une bonne réactivité et disparition de l'énophtalmie et de la persistance du pli cutané. Pour les selles, des effets significatifs ont été notés sur la consistance, la couleur, l'odeur et la présence de substances étrangères. Pour les paramètres sanguins, le traitement a induit une baisse significative de l'hématocrite, une augmentation de la natrémie, de la magnésémie, de la bicarbonatémie et de la glycémie. (Résumé d'auteur

Lasten huolista puhuen hyviin käytäntöihin kodin ja koulun yhteistyönä

Opinnäytetyö tehtiin pilottihankkeena yhteistyössä Sosiaali- ja terveysalan tutkimus- ja kehittämislaitoksen (Stakes) ja Nurmijärven kunnan Isoniitun koulun kanssa. Tarkoituksena oli selvittää kyselyjen avulla viidesluokkalaisten ja heidän vanhempiensa huolten aiheita ja pohtia hyviä käytäntöjä huolien vähentämiseksi. Tarkoituksena oli myös kartoittaa mitä koululaiset, kotiaikuiset ja kouluaikuiset voivat tehdä yhdessä huolien vähentämiseksi. Tutkimuksessa on tehty kyselyt myös Isoniitun opettajille ja Steinerkoulun oppilashuoltoryhmälle. Steinerkoulu valittiin siksi, että koulun toimintaideologia on erilainen kuin tavallisessa suomalaisessa koulujärjestelmässä. Vertailu tuo työhön erilaista pedagogista näkökulmaa. Nykyisin kouluissa on käytössä erilaisia tapoja kodin ja koulun yhteistyössä kuten esimerkiksi vanhempainillat, kolmikantakeskustelut ja vanhempainvartit. Tämän opinnäytetyön pyrkimyksenä oli luoda uusi käytäntö ala-aste ikäisten lasten ja heidän vanhempiensa huolien kartoittamiseen ja hyvien käytäntöjen pohtimiseen Learning cafe–menetelmää käyttäen. Menetelmää ei ole koulumaailmassa aikaisemmin käytetty eikä viidesluokkalaisiin kohdennettuja aikaisempia tutkimuksia ole tiedossa. Tarkoituksena oli myös löytää keino varhaiseen puuttumiseen mielekkäällä tavalla ennen kuin lasten pienistä huolista tulee niin suuria, että omat ratkaisukeinot eivät enää riitä. Tutkimuskysymyksinä olivat; Mitä huolen aiheita viidesluokkalaisilla lapsilla on ja miten lasten huolia voidaan vähentää? Mitä huolen aiheita viidesluokkalaisten vanhemmilla on ja miten heidän huolia voidaan vähentää? Miten kotiaikuiset ja kouluaikuiset voivat edistää yhdessä lasten hyvinvointia? Laadullinen tutkimusaineisto analysoitiin sisällönanalyysiä käyttäen. Tutkimusmenetelminä olivat havainnointi lasten ja aikuisten Learning cafe -tilaisuuksissa sekä koteihin ja opettajille lähetetyt kyselylomakkeet. Tulokset perustuvat lasten ja koti- ja kouluaikuisten kyselyistä saatuihin tuloksiin. Pieni muotoisen tutkimuksemme tulosten mukaan lasten sekä aikuisten suurimpana huolen aiheena ovat läksyt, kokeet, arvosanat, aikuisten vähäinen aika ja kaverisuhteet. Menetelmänä Learning cafe koettiin innostavana ja erilaisena keinona nykyisiin menetelmiin verrattuna. Menetelmällä saadaan osallistujat keskustelemaan avoimesti asioista ja myös pohtimaan vaihtoehtoja huolien ratkaisemiseksi. Menetelmän avulla myös kaikki osapuolet voivat tulla kuulluksi samanaikaisesti joka lisää motivaatiota yhteistyöhön. Erityisesti lasten cafe osoitti, että lapsilla on jo tässä iässä varsin mielekkäitä ja syvällisiä ajatuksia. Lapset osaavat pohtia omien huoliensa suuruus astetta ja heillä on myös rakentavia ehdotuksia huolien helpottamiseksi, hyviksi käytännöiksi. Huolia kyselyssä pohdittiin asteikolla; pienet huolet, harmaan alueen huolet ja suuret huolet. Aikuisten kohdalla niukka osallistuminen, vain kolme vanhempaa, Learning cafe–tilaisuuteen oli yllätys, mutta ne jotka osallistuivat, olivat tyytyväisiä kokemaansa. Kyselyjen perusteella aikuiset toivovat uusia keinoja kodin ja koulun yhteistyöhön. Jatkossa kannattaa miettiä Learning cafen toteuttamista yhdessä lasten ja vanhempien kanssa, jolloin he pääsisivät miettimään hyviä käytäntöjä yhteisille huolille. Yhdessä pohtien molemmilla osapuolilla olisi mahdollisuus tulla kuulluksi ja yhteistyötä voisi olla helpompi tehdä niin lasten ja aikuisten kuin koulu ja kodinkin välillä. Mielenkiintoista olisi myös selvittää miten lasten ja aikuisten hyvät käytännöt ovat jalkautuneet arkeen. Onko niihin helppo viitata esimerkiksi koulun arkityössä, kun lapset kokevat painetta läksyjen tai kokeiden takia. Muistuttavatko lapset toisiaan yhdessä laadituista käytännöistä.Reaching good practices via discussions on concerns of children in co-operation between home and school This research was conducted as a pilot project in co-operation with National Research and Development Centre for Welfare and Health (Stakes) and Isoniittu School in Nurmijärvi. The goal was to investigate the concerns of fifth graders and their parents and to consider good practices for reducing them by using specific questionnaires. A Goal was also to survey what pupils, adults at home and adults at school can do together to reduce the concerns. Questionnaires were also sent to the teachers of Isoniittu and pupil welfare team of Steiner School. Steiner School was chosen as its ideology differs from common ideology in the Finnish School system. This comparison brought different pedagogical perspective to the subject. Currently there are several different ways of co-operation between home and school, such as parents' evenings, tripartite discussions and parents’ quarters. The purpose of the this re-search was to create a new practice for surveying the concerns of children in primary school and their parents as well as for discussing good practices by using Learning Café method.There are also no known researches focusing on the fifth graders. The Purpose was also to find a means to enable early interference in children’s concerns in a meaningful way in order to prevent those concerns becoming too big and irresolvable by the child´s own means. The research questions were: What are the concerns of fifth graders and how could these concerns of children be reduced? What are the concerns of the parents of fifth graders and how could their concerns be reduced? How can adults at home and adults at school in co-operation improve well-being of children? Qualitative research material was ana-lyzed by utilizing content analysis. Observation of children and adults in Learning Café events as well as questionnaires sent to homes and teachers were used as research methods. Results are based on the results from questionnaires for children and adults at home and school. Homework, exams and grades in addition to adults’ lack of time and friendships are the major concerns of children and adults according to the results. Learning Café method was perceived inspiring and different compared to current methods. This method facilitates open discussion and drives participants into discussing options for resolving concerns. This method also allows all parties to be heard simultaneously which increases the motivation for co-operation. Espe-cially children’s café proved that children of this age already do have fairly meaningful and profound thoughts. Children are able to deliberate the magnitude of their concerns and they have constructive proposals for relieving those concerns, in becoming good practices. Concerns were deliberated in the questionnaire with the following grading; small concerns, grey area concerns and big concerns. The modest participation of adults in Learning Café event, only three (3) adults, was a surprise. However, those who participated were pleased with the experience. According to the questionnaire adults wish for new methods for co-operation between home and school. Further research could include execution of Learning Café together with children and par-ents. This way they would have an opportunity to consider good practices for common con-cerns. This way both parties would be heard and co-operation would be easier between chil-dren and adults as well as between school and home. It would also be interesting to find out how the good practices of children and adults have been implemented in the everyday rou-tine. Are they easy to refer to, for example, in everyday work at school when children are experiencing the pressure of homework and exams? Do children remind of each other of the jointly prepared and agreed practices? Key words: parenthood, early interference, dialog, bringing concern into discussion, good practices

Adapted motivational interviewing to improve the uptake of treatment for glaucoma in Nigeria: study protocol for a randomized controlled trial.

BACKGROUND: Glaucoma is a chronic eye disease associated with irreversible visual loss. In Africa, glaucoma patients often present late, with very advanced disease. One-off procedures, such as laser or surgery, are recommended in Africa because of lack of or poor adherence to medical treatment. However, acceptance of surgery is usually extremely low. To prevent blindness, adherence to treatment needs to improve, using acceptable, replicable and cost-effective interventions. After reviewing the literature and interviewing patients in Bauchi (Nigeria) motivational interviewing (MI) was selected as the intervention for this trial, with adaptation for glaucoma (MIG). MI is designed to strengthen personal motivation for, and commitment to a specific goal by eliciting and exploring a person's reasons for change within an atmosphere of acceptance and compassion. The aim of this study is to assess whether MIG increases the uptake of laser or surgery amongst glaucoma patients where this is the recommended treatment. The hypothesis is that MIG increases the uptake of treatment. This will be the first trial of MI in Africa. METHODS: This is a hospital based, single centre, randomized controlled trial of MIG plus an information sheet on glaucoma and its treatment (the latter being "standard care") compared with standard care alone for glaucoma patients where the treatment recommended is surgery or laser.Those eligible for the trial are adults aged 17 years and above who live within 200 km of Bauchi with advanced glaucoma where the examining ophthalmologist recommends surgery or laser. After obtaining written informed consent, participants will be randomly allocated to MIG plus standard care, or standard care alone. Motivational interviewing will be delivered in Hausa or English by one of two MIG trained personnel. One hundred and fifty participants will be recruited to each arm. The primary outcome is the proportion of participants undergoing laser or surgery within two months of the date given to re attend for the procedure. MIG quality will be assessed using the validated MI treatment integrity scale. DISCUSSION: Motivational interviewing may be an important tool to increase the acceptance of treatment for glaucoma. The approach is potentially scalable and may be useful for other chronic conditions in Africa. TRIAL REGISTRATION: ISRCTN79330571 (Controlled-Trials.com)

X=Y–ZH compounds as potential 1,3-dipoles. Part 64: Synthesis of highly substituted conformationally restricted and spiro nitropyrrolidines via Ag(I) catalysed azomethine ylide cycloadditions

1,3-Dipolar reactions of imines of both acyclic and cyclic α-amino esters with a range of nitroolefins using a combination of AgOAc or Ag2O with NEt3 are described. In most cases the reactions were highly regio- and stereospecific and endo-cycloadducts were obtained in good yield. However, in a few cases the initially formed cycloadducts underwent base catalysed epimerisation. The stereochemistry of the cycloadducts was assigned from NOE data and established unequivocally in several cases by X-ray crystallography

Spanish ATLAS tier-2: Facing up to LHC Run 2

The goal of this work is to describe the way of addressing the main challenges of Run 2 by the Spanish ATLAS Tier-2. The considerable increase of energy and luminosity for the upcoming Run 2 with respect to Run 1 has led to a revision of the ATLAS computing model as well as some of the main ATLAS computing tools. In this paper, the adaptation to these changes will be described. The Spanish ATLAS Tier-2 is a R&D project which consists of a distributed infrastructure composed of three sites and its members are involved in ATLAS computing progress, namely the work in different tasks and the development of new tools (e.g. Event Index)This work has been supported by MINECO, Spain (Proj. Ref. FPA2010-21919-C03-01,02,03 & FPA2013-47424-C3,01,02,03), which include FEDER funds from the European Unio

Strangeness Enhancement in Cu+Cu and Au+Au Collisions at \sqrt{s_{NN}} = 200 GeV

We report new STAR measurements of mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$, $\Xi^{-}$, $\bar{\Xi}^{+}$, $\Omega^{-}$, $\bar{\Omega}^{+}$ particles in Cu+Cu collisions at \sNN{200}, and mid-rapidity yields for the $\Lambda$, $\bar{\Lambda}$, $K^{0}_{S}$ particles in Au+Au at \sNN{200}. We show that at a given number of participating nucleons, the production of strange hadrons is higher in Cu+Cu collisions than in Au+Au collisions at the same center-of-mass energy. We find that aspects of the enhancement factors for all particles can be described by a parameterization based on the fraction of participants that undergo multiple collisions

Measurement of W± Z production in proton-proton collisions at √(s)=7 TeV with the ATLAS detector

A study of W(+/-)Z production in proton-proton collisions at root s = 7 TeV is presented using data corresponding to an integrated luminosity of 4.6 fb(-1) collected with the ATLAS detector at the Large Hadron Collider in 2011. In total, 317 candidates, with a background expectation of 68 +/- 10 events, are observed in double-leptonic decay final states with electrons, muons and missing transverse momentum. The total cross-section is determined to be sigma(tot)(WZ) = 19.0(-1.3)(+1.4)(stat.) +/- 0.9(syst.) +/- 0.4(lumi.) pb, consistent with the Standard Model expectation of 17.6(-1.0)(+1.1) pb. Limits on anomalous triple gauge boson couplings are derived using the transverse momentum spectrum of Z bosons in the selected events. The cross-section is also presented as a function of Z boson transverse momentum and diboson invariant mass

Inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow in Au + Au collisions at sNN\sqrt{s_{NN}} = 7.7 - 39 GeV

A systematic study is presented for centrality, transverse momentum ($p_T$) and pseudorapidity ($\eta$) dependence of the inclusive charged hadron elliptic flow ($v_2$) at midrapidity($|\eta| < 1.0$) in Au+Au collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 7.7, 11.5, 19.6, 27 and 39 GeV. The results obtained with different methods, including correlations with the event plane reconstructed in a region separated by a large pseudorapidity gap and 4-particle cumulants ($v_2{4}$), are presented in order to investigate non-flow correlations and $v_2$ fluctuations. We observe that the difference between $v_2{2}$ and $v_2{4}$ is smaller at the lower collision energies. Values of $v_2$, scaled by the initial coordinate space eccentricity, $v_{2}/\varepsilon$, as a function of $p_T$ are larger in more central collisions, suggesting stronger collective flow develops in more central collisions, similar to the results at higher collision energies. These results are compared to measurements at higher energies at the Relativistic Heavy Ion Collider ($\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 62.4 and 200 GeV) and at the Large Hadron Collider (Pb + Pb collisions at $\sqrt{s_{NN}}$ = 2.76 TeV). The $v_2(p_T)$ values for fixed $p_T$ rise with increasing collision energy within the $p_T$ range studied ($< 2 {\rm GeV}/c$). A comparison to viscous hydrodynamic simulations is made to potentially help understand the energy dependence of $v_{2}(p_{T})$. We also compare the $v_2$ results to UrQMD and AMPT transport model calculations, and physics implications on the dominance of partonic versus hadronic phases in the system created at Beam Energy Scan (BES) energies are discussed.Comment: 20 pages, 12 figures. Version accepted by PR

Search for supersymmetry in final states with jets, missing transverse momentum and one isolated lepton in √s = 7 TeV pp collisions using 1 fb-1 of ATLAS data

We present an update of a search for supersymmetry in final states containing jets, missing transverse momentum, and one isolated electron or muon, using 1.04 fb(-1) of proton-proton collision data at root s =7 TeV recorded by the ATLAS experiment at the LHC in the first half of 2011. The analysis is carried out in four distinct signal regions with either three or four jets and variations on the (missing) transverse momentum cuts, resulting in optimized limits for various supersymmetry models. No excess above the standard model background expectation is observed. Limits are set on the visible cross section of new physics within the kinematic requirements of the search. The results are interpreted as limits on the parameters of the minimal supergravity framework, limits on cross sections of simplified models with specific squark and gluino decay modes, and limits on parameters of a model with bilinear R-parity violation