scholarly journals The Impact of Environmental Factors on Malaria Prevalence in a Peri-Urban Community in Kwara State, Nigeria

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Olubunmi Ajike Mokuolu ◽  
Oluwayemisi D Adegboye ◽  
Olugbenga A Mokuolu

<p>There is a consensus on the relationship between Malaria Prevalence (MP) and Environmental Factors (EF); however, there is a dearth of published data providing this evidence in a quantifiable way. This community based study was undertaken to identify the magnitude of the relationship between MP and key environmental factors in Okelele, Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. A multi-staged sampling procedure was adopted for the selection of 501 children from 200 households. Children under the age of 14 years in the selected households were sampled to obtain baseline MP using malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (mRDT) kit. Key household informant interviews and structured questionnaire were used. Relevant socio-demographic characteristics of the households, EF and non EF were determined. Acquired data was analyzed using statistical tools to determine the relationship between various independent variables and mRDT. Variables were also entered into a multiple regression equation for the generation of a mathematical model. Ethical consent was obtained from the parents before samples were taken.The study showed that EF contributed to MP in the study area.  Integrated waste management system, and regular environmental sanitation were recommended.</p>

2014 ◽  
Vol 3 (3) ◽  
pp. 173
Author(s):  
Olubunmi Ajike Mokuolu ◽  
Oluwayemisi D Adegboye ◽  
Olugbenga A Mokuolu

<p>There is a consensus on the relationship between Malaria Prevalence (MP) and Environmental Factors (EF); however, there is a dearth of published data providing this evidence in a quantifiable way. This community based study was undertaken to identify the magnitude of the relationship between MP and key environmental factors in Okelele, Ilorin East Local Government Area of Kwara State, Nigeria. A multi-staged sampling procedure was adopted for the selection of 501 children from 200 households. Children under the age of 14 years in the selected households were sampled to obtain baseline MP using malaria Rapid Diagnostic Test (mRDT) kit. Key household informant interviews and structured questionnaire were used. Relevant socio-demographic characteristics of the households, EF and non EF were determined. Acquired data was analyzed using statistical tools to determine the relationship between various independent variables and mRDT. Variables were also entered into a multiple regression equation for the generation of a mathematical model. Ethical consent was obtained from the parents before samples were taken.The study showed that EF contributed to MP in the study area.  Integrated waste management system, and regular environmental sanitation were recommended.</p>


Author(s):  
GV Chernova ◽  
VV Sidorov ◽  
LV Shiryaeva

Introduction: Many published data on variability of anthropometric characteristics of newborns related to the influence of adverse environmental factors during their antenatal development have been accumulated by now. The purpose of our work was to study the relationship between certain parameters of antenatal physical development of newborns and varying environmental and climatic conditions. Materials and methods: Anthropometric measurements were taken in the delivery room immediately after birth and then assessed against environmental and climatic characteristics of the antenatal period. Results: We established the relationship between the exposure to different environmental and climatic factors, including radiation, during the antenatal period and anthropometric characteristics of the examined newborns. We observed a quantitative variety of signs and found that the body mass was most “sensitive” to the impact of adverse environmental factors. At the same time, the phenogenetic analysis helped establish a significant effect of atmospheric pressure on the body mass. The effects of radiation exposure were, to a greater extent, associated with the signs of influence of both environmental (including the total and ultraviolet radiation – in 57.3 % and 67.8 % of cases, respectively) and genetic factors (in 42.7 % and 32.2 % of cases, respectively). Conclusion: The established genotype-environment effects of exposures to changing environmental and climatic conditions prove the importance of continuing longitudinal observations of the examined infants using a cytogenetic analysis.


Toxins ◽  
2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (2) ◽  
pp. 158
Author(s):  
Colin Eady

For 30 years, forage ryegrass breeding has known that the germplasm may contain a maternally inherited symbiotic Epichloë endophyte. These endophytes produce a suite of secondary alkaloid compounds, dependent upon strain. Many produce ergot and other alkaloids, which are associated with both insect deterrence and livestock health issues. The levels of alkaloids and other endophyte characteristics are influenced by strain, host germplasm, and environmental conditions. Some strains in the right host germplasm can confer an advantage over biotic and abiotic stressors, thus acting as a maternally inherited desirable ‘trait’. Through seed production, these mutualistic endophytes do not transmit into 100% of the crop seed and are less vigorous than the grass seed itself. This causes stability and longevity issues for seed production and storage should the ‘trait’ be desired in the germplasm. This makes understanding the precise nature of the relationship vitally important to the plant breeder. These Epichloë endophytes cannot be ‘bred’ in the conventional sense, as they are asexual. Instead, the breeder may modulate endophyte characteristics through selection of host germplasm, a sort of breeding by proxy. This article explores, from a forage seed company perspective, the issues that endophyte characteristics and breeding them by proxy have on ryegrass breeding, and outlines the methods used to assess the ‘trait’, and the application of these through the breeding, production, and deployment processes. Finally, this article investigates opportunities for enhancing the utilisation of alkaloid-producing endophytes within pastures, with a focus on balancing alkaloid levels to further enhance pest deterrence and improving livestock outcomes.


2021 ◽  
Vol 13 (10) ◽  
pp. 5445
Author(s):  
Muyun Sun ◽  
Jigan Wang ◽  
Ting Wen

Creativity is the key to obtaining and maintaining competitiveness of modern organizations, and it has attracted much attention from academic circles and management practices. Shared leadership is believed to effectively influence team output. However, research on the impact of individual creativity is still in its infancy. This study adopts the qualitative comparative analysis method, taking 1584 individuals as the research objects, underpinned by a questionnaire-based survey. It investigates the influence of the team’s shared leadership network elements and organizational environmental factors on the individual creativity. We have found that there are six combination of conditions of shared leadership and organizational environmental factors constituting sufficient combination of conditions to increase or decrease individual creativity. Moreover, we have noticed that the low network density of shared leadership is a sufficient and necessary condition of reducing individual creativity. Our results also provide management suggestions for practical activities during the team management.


2018 ◽  
Vol 56 (12) ◽  
Author(s):  
Twisha S. Patel ◽  
Peggy L. Carver ◽  
Gregory A. Eschenauer

ABSTRACT The purpose of this review is to critically analyze published data evaluating the impact of azole pharmacokinetic and pharmacodynamic parameters, MICs, and Candida species on clinical outcomes in patients with candidemia. Clinical breakpoints (CBPs) for fluconazole and voriconazole, which are used to determine susceptibility, have been defined by the Clinical and Laboratory Standards Institute (CLSI) for Candida species. Studies evaluating the relationship between treatment efficacy and in vitro susceptibility, as well as the pharmacodynamic targets, have been conducted in patients treated with fluconazole for candidemia; however, for species other than Candida albicans and Candida glabrata, and for other forms of invasive candidiasis, data remain limited and randomized trials are not available. Limited data evaluating these relationships with voriconazole are available. While pharmacodynamic targets for posaconazole and isavuconazole have been proposed based upon studies conducted in murine models, CBPs have not been established by CLSI. Fluconazole remains an important antifungal agent for the treatment of candidemia, and data supporting its use based on in vitro susceptibility are growing, particularly for C. albicans and C. glabrata. Further investigation is needed to establish the roles of voriconazole, posaconazole, and isavuconazole in the treatment of candidemia and for all agents in the treatment of other forms of invasive candidiasis.


Author(s):  
Chakkrit Tantithamthavorn ◽  
Shane McIntosh ◽  
Ahmed E Hassan ◽  
Kenichi Matsumoto

Shepperd et al. (2014) find that the reported performance of a defect prediction model shares a strong relationship with the group of researchers who construct the models. In this paper, we perform an alternative investigation of Shepperd et al. (2014)’s data. We observe that (a) researcher group shares a strong association with the dataset and metric families that are used to build a model; (b) the strong association among the explanatory variables introduces a large amount of interference when interpreting the impact of the researcher group on model performance; and (c) after mitigating the interference, we find that the researcher group has a smaller impact than the metric family. These observations lead us to conclude that the relationship between the researcher group and the performance of a defect prediction model may have more to do with the tendency of researchers to reuse experimental components (e.g., datasets and metrics). We recommend that researchers experiment with a broader selection of datasets and metrics to combat potential bias in their results.


Genome ◽  
1993 ◽  
Vol 36 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-7 ◽  
Author(s):  
R. A. Morton

The impact of insecticide resistance is well documented. It includes the toxic effects of pesticides on the environment and the cost of the increased amounts of insecticides required to effectively control resistant insects. Resistance evolves by the selection of genes that confer tolerance to insecticides. Several resistance genes have been identified and cloned in Drosophila, including genes for mutant target molecules and genes that increase insecticide degradation. Drosophila is a useful system to understand the evolution of quantitative traits in general as well as the population genetics of insecticide resistance. Through it, we may hope to understand the relationship between discrete genetic change and continuously varying characters. In addition, molecular genetic techniques developed using Drosophila can eventually be transferred to other insects in order to help control pest populations.Key words: insecticide resistance, evolution of tolerance, selection of resistant genes, molecular genetics, Drosophila.


2018 ◽  
Vol 52 (3/4) ◽  
pp. 596-618 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ravi Shekhar Kumar ◽  
Satyabhusan Dash ◽  
Naresh K. Malhotra

Purpose This study aims to propose and empirically test new improved customer-based brand equity (CBBE) creation framework, which advocates marketing activities create CBBE through customer experience (CE). The proposed framework is in contrast to extant literature suggesting marketing activities directly create CBBE. Design/methodology/approach Qualitative interviews with patients, followed by interaction with respondents using a structured questionnaire, were used to collect the data. Findings The results suggest that CE is the focal mediating variable for the relationship between marketing activities and CBBE. Out of 15 marketing activities, 8 positively impacted CBBE through CE and 2 negatively affected CBBE through CE. Among the remaining five, three had only a direct positive impact on CBBE and two neither directly nor indirectly impacted CBBE. Research limitations/implications The effects of only individual marketing activity, and not of the interaction among marketing activities, were assessed. Practical implications The study provides insights into the importance of CE in building CBBE for credence-dominant services (e.g. healthcare). This work will help managers in implementing experiential marketing by designing suitable activities for creating service CBBE. Originality/value The study outlines service CBBE creation through CE, offering specific insights for the healthcare market.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 (6(J)) ◽  
pp. 146-152
Author(s):  
Christine Ivy Hurasha, ◽  
Tafara Chiremba

Abstract: The purpose of the study was to explore the impact of electronic commerce on business performance with specific focus on business organisations in Harare, Zimbabwe. This was achieved through investigating the relationship between e-commerce investment and indicators of business performance such as cost operations, service operations and profit levels. A structured questionnaire was developed and administered to 40 respondents from 10 e-commerce organisations. The study revealed that there was a positive relationship between e-commerce investment and business performance. It was revealed that an investment in e-commerce by organisations in Zimbabwe would increase profit levels, improve service operations and reduce transaction costs. The researchers recommended that organisations that have already adopted e-commerce should raise customer awareness and interest in e-commerce and promote the usage of the technology. They also recommended that policy makers such as the Government must take a leading role in the funding of education and the development of infrastructure in order to encourage more organizations and consumers to participate in e-commerce.Keywords: E-commerce, Business performance, Business organisations, Service operations, Cost operations


2019 ◽  
pp. 1-11
Author(s):  
Javier Saucedo-Monarque ◽  
Oscar Ernesto Hernández-Ponce ◽  
Luis Enrique Valdez-Juárez

The results presented in this study related the factor of organizational culture with innovation for the development of small tourist businesses (SMEs) in the municipality of Caborca, Sonora. For which an exploratory analysis of the model, was made to subsequently analyze the Association of variables through the model of the Chi-square and thus be able to check the predictive and explanatory power of the same by means of Probit and Logit analysis. The collection of data was used as measurement instrument a structured questionnaire was administered to managers or entrepreneurs of tourism SMEs in the municipality of Caborca, Sonora. Where was the reliability of the instrument for measuring, the R² and significance of the model Chi square statistical analysis was used to identify the relationship and association between the variables of the proposed model, obtaining the coefficient Gamma with a strong correlation between the variables, as well as Gamma, Probit and Logit values, acceptable values for the relationship between the dependent variable and the independent variable was observed. A higher rate and robustness of prediction of the variables with acceptable significance was also obtained.


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