Reasons for low uptake of referrals to ear and hearing services for children in Malawi.

BACKGROUND: Early detection and appropriate intervention for children with hearing impairment is important for maximizing functioning and quality of life. The lack of ear and hearing services in low income countries is a significant challenge, however, evidence suggests that even where such services are available, and children are referred to them, uptake is low. The aim of this study was to assess uptake of and barriers to referrals to ear and hearing services for children in Thyolo District, Malawi. METHODS: This was a mixed methods study. A survey was conducted with 170 caregivers of children who were referred for ear and hearing services during community-based screening camps to assess whether they had attended their referral and reasons for non-attendance. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 23 caregivers of children who did not take up their referral to explore in-depth the reasons for non-uptake. In addition, 15 stakeholders were interviewed. Thematic analysis of the interview data was conducted and emerging trends were analysed. RESULTS: Referral uptake was very low with only 5 out of 150 (3%) children attending. Seven main interacting themes for non-uptake of referral were identified in the semi-structured interviews: location of the hospital, lack of transport, other indirect costs of seeking care, fear and uncertainty about the referral hospital, procedural problems within the camps, awareness and understanding of hearing loss, and lack of visibility and availability of services. CONCLUSION: This study has highlighted a range of interacting challenges faced by families in accessing ear and hearing services in this setting. Understanding these context specific barriers to non-uptake of ear and hearing services is important for designing appropriate interventions to increase uptake

MitoNeoD:a mitochondria-targeted superoxide probe

Mitochondrial superoxide (O2⋅−) underlies much oxidative damage and redox signaling. Fluorescent probes can detect O2⋅−, but are of limited applicability in vivo, while in cells their usefulness is constrained by side reactions and DNA intercalation. To overcome these limitations, we developed a dual-purpose mitochondrial O2⋅− probe, MitoNeoD, which can assess O2⋅− changes in vivo by mass spectrometry and in vitro by fluorescence. MitoNeoD comprises a O2⋅−-sensitive reduced phenanthridinium moiety modified to prevent DNA intercalation, as well as a carbon-deuterium bond to enhance its selectivity for O2⋅− over non-specific oxidation, and a triphenylphosphonium lipophilic cation moiety leading to the rapid accumulation within mitochondria. We demonstrated that MitoNeoD was a versatile and robust probe to assess changes in mitochondrial O2⋅− from isolated mitochondria to animal models, thus offering a way to examine the many roles of mitochondrial O2⋅−production in health and disease

The Ursinus Weekly, December 6, 1943

Ursinus girls give to war fund drive • Movie will be shown Friday • WSGA to have war stamp booth • Jackie Loughead\u27s orchestra to play at senior ball this Saturday night • Curtain Club to give Jupiter Laughs next • Civil service seeks over 100 draftsmen • Red Cross requests blood donations • Jane Kircher becomes new IRC president • Pre-med society will see medical movies tomorrow • English and Spanish clubs have meetings this week • Y\u27s to entertain students at tea in Shreiner Hall • Head cook at college dies at home of heart attack • Freshmen revel at annual banquet in Freeland Hall - without sophomores • Phys-edders meet tonight • Big and little sisters will attend movie Friday • Dr. George Hartzell speaks to students at vespers • Miss Eleanor F. Snell has coached successful teams here twelve years • Collier\u27s team tops intramural list • Pennsylvania bows to Ursinus coeds • Girls defeat Swarthmore hockey team to finish undefeated, untied season • Soccer men close season with two wins, one defeat • Grapplers report for first practice • Second team ties Garnet • Jayvees down U. of Penn • Dr. Horace Williams dies • Women debaters to discuss Navy unit here as asset • German Club hears Fausthttps://digitalcommons.ursinus.edu/weekly/1720/thumbnail.jp

The Influence of Religion on Capital Structure Decision among Small and Medium Enterprises in Ghana

This paper examines the influence of religion on capital structure decisions of small and medium enterprises (SMEs) in Ghana. The issue is very relevant considering the meritorious contributions SMEs offer to growth of the Ghanaian economy. Exploratory- descriptive of its kind, this study adopts quantitative and quota sampling approaches to select 200 SMEs owned and manage being Christians and Moslems. Statistically, the results of the study suggest that religion has a significantly weak influence as far as decisions on capital structure are concern. The direction of the study revealed that relative to Muslims, SME operators being Christians greatly accounted to the significant influence religion had on total capital structure of SME businesses. Since most SMEs owners value full ownership of their business, any capital structure that risk their full control may not be entertain. Keywords: Capital Structure, Religion, Small and medium enterprise (SME

Low pH immobilizes and kills human leukocytes and prevents transmission of cell-associated HIV in a mouse model

BACKGROUND: Both cell-associated and cell-free HIV virions are present in semen and cervical secretions of HIV-infected individuals. Thus, topical microbicides may need to inactivate both cell-associated and cell-free HIV to prevent sexual transmission of HIV/AIDS. To determine if the mild acidity of the healthy vagina and acid buffering microbicides would prevent transmission by HIV-infected leukocytes, we measured the effect of pH on leukocyte motility, viability and intracellular pH and tested the ability of an acidic buffering microbicide (BufferGel(®)) to prevent the transmission of cell-associated HIV in a HuPBL-SCID mouse model. METHODS: Human lymphocyte, monocyte, and macrophage motilities were measured as a function of time and pH using various acidifying agents. Lymphocyte and macrophage motilities were measured using video microscopy. Monocyte motility was measured using video microscopy and chemotactic chambers. Peripheral blood mononuclear cell (PBMC) viability and intracellular pH were determined as a function of time and pH using fluorescent dyes. HuPBL-SCID mice were pretreated with BufferGel, saline, or a control gel and challenged with HIV-1-infected human PBMCs. RESULTS: Progressive motility was completely abolished in all cell types between pH 5.5 and 6.0. Concomitantly, at and below pH 5.5, the intracellular pH of PBMCs dropped precipitously to match the extracellular medium and did not recover. After acidification with hydrochloric acid to pH 4.5 for 60 min, although completely immotile, 58% of PBMCs excluded ethidium homodimer-1 (dead-cell dye). In contrast, when acidified to this pH with BufferGel, a microbicide designed to maintain vaginal acidity in the presence of semen, only 4% excluded dye at 10 min and none excluded dye after 30 min. BufferGel significantly reduced transmission of HIV-1 in HuPBL-SCID mice (1 of 12 infected) compared to saline (12 of 12 infected) and a control gel (5 of 7 infected). CONCLUSION: These results suggest that physiologic or microbicide-induced acid immobilization and killing of infected white blood cells may be effective in preventing sexual transmission of cell-associated HIV

Bose-Einstein Correlations of Three Charged Pions in Hadronic Z^0 Decays

Bose-Einstein Correlations (BEC) of three identical charged pions were studied in 4 x 10^6 hadronic Z^0 decays recorded with the OPAL detector at LEP. The genuine three-pion correlations, corrected for the Coulomb effect, were separated from the known two-pion correlations by a new subtraction procedure. A significant genuine three-pion BEC enhancement near threshold was observed having an emitter source radius of r_3 = 0.580 +/- 0.004 (stat.) +/- 0.029 (syst.) fm and a strength of \lambda_3 = 0.504 +/- 0.010 (stat.) +/- 0.041 (syst.). The Coulomb correction was found to increase the \lambda_3 value by \~9% and to reduce r_3 by ~6%. The measured \lambda_3 corresponds to a value of 0.707 +/- 0.014 (stat.) +/- 0.078 (syst.) when one takes into account the three-pion sample purity. A relation between the two-pion and the three-pion source parameters is discussed.Comment: 19 pages, LaTeX, 5 eps figures included, accepted by Eur. Phys. J.

Les cultures vivrières associées aux arbustes natifs : un modèle adapté au climat sahélien

Basé sur des cas d'étude au Sénégal, ce chapitre dresse le bilan de 15 années de recherches sur le fonctionnement des sols d'agrosystèmes associant plantes cultivées (milarachide) et arbustes natifs au Sahel. Les travaux, publiés pour la plupart, ont montré que Guiera senegalensis et Piliostigma reticulatum redistribuent l'eau dans le sol, stimulent les microorganismes du sol et génèrent des îlots de fertilité au bénéfice de la culture associée. Ainsi, les rendements des cultures sont augmentés, y compris en absence de fertilisants : jusqu'à +137 % pour le mil en présence de P. reticulatum à Nioro-du-Rip. Cela justifie l'intérêt de maintenir ces arbustes dans les champs en appliquant une gestion agroécologique