Presentative deictics in Oromo

This study deals with the forms, meanings and functions of presentative deictics in Oromo. Basically, presentatives deictics are deictic expressions that are used in directing the attention of an addressee towards a referent mentioned by a speaker in the communication situation. They are expressed in the use of proximal and distal presentative deictic adverbs, adverbial phrases or determiners. This is a qualitative descriptive study and the data were collected through note-taking of free language use, elicitation, and introspection. The data thus collected were transcribed phonemically using IPA. The data were arranged in interlinear morpheme-by-morpheme basis in three lines following the Leipzig Glossing Rules. The results of the analyses contained lexicalizations of presentative expressions commonly used, (morpho)-syntactc properties of presentatives in different discourse contexts, the exophoric and referential functions of presentatives of which the exophoric function takes into account referents found in the environment where communication is taking place, and the referential functions were concerned with reference to linguistic items in the text. The offerative and the directive functions come under the exophoric use, whereas cataphoric, anaphoric and discourse signal functions come under referential functions. The meanings of the presentative deictics are based on the context in which they are used.

Assessment of Availability and Quality of Emergency Obstetric and Newborn Care Service in Southwestern Oromia, Ethiopia, 2017

Background. Emergency obstetrics and newborn care (EmONC) is an important lifesaving function which can avert the death of women facing obstetrics-related complications. It is a cost-effective, significant intervention to decrease maternal and neonatal morbidity and mortality in poor resource settings, including Ethiopia. Objective. The aim of this study was to assess the availability and quality of the EmONC services in southwestern Oromia, Ethiopia, in 2017. Methods. An institutional-based cross-sectional study was implemented from April to May 2017. Data were collected using checklists and questionnaires developed from different studies. Data were analyzed using EPI-info and exported to SPSS version 20 for further analysis. Each descriptive statistic was summarized using frequency, percentage, and tables for categorical variables. Results. Despite the fact that the overall coverage of fully functioning basic emergency obstetric and newborn care (BEmONC) facilities was greater than 5 per 500,000 people, nearly one-fourth (25.64%) provided less than expected signal functions, indicating that these facilities were nonfunctional. There were only 0.24 comprehensive emergency obstetric and newborn care (CEmONC) facilities per 500,000 people. The result of this study also revealed that the quality of EmONC facilities in all health-care settings was poor. Conclusion and Recommendation. There were gaps in performance signal functions as well as the availability and quality of EmONC in the study area. Availability and quality of EmONC necessitate improvements through enhancing health-care providers’ skills by training and mentoring as well as enabling facilities accessible for utilization of EmONC. Further research is needed to identify factors that could be barriers to the performance quality and coverage of EmONC services.

The infrastructural capacity of Ghanaian health facilities to provide safe abortion and post-abortion care: a cross-sectional study

Background Ghana is one of few countries in sub-Saharan Africa with relatively liberal abortion laws, but little is known about the availability and quality of abortion services nationally. The aim of this study was to describe the availability and capacity of health facilities to deliver essential PAC and SAC services in Ghana. Methods We utilized data from a nationally representative survey of Ghanaian health facilities capable of providing post-abortion care (PAC) and/or safe abortion care (SAC) (n = 539). We included 326 facilities that reported providing PAC (57%) or SAC (19%) in the preceding year. We utilized a signal functions approach to evaluate the infrastructural capacity of facilities to provide high quality basic and comprehensive care. We conducted descriptive analysis to estimate the proportion of primary and referral facilities with capacity to provide SAC and PAC and the proportion of SAC and PAC that took place in facilities with greater capacity, and fractional regression to explore factors associated with higher structural capacity for provision. Results Less than 20% of PAC and/or SAC providing facilities met all signal function criteria for basic or comprehensive PAC or for comprehensive SAC. Higher PAC caseloads and staff trained in vacuum aspiration was associated with higher capacity to provide PAC in primary and referral facilities, and private/faith-based ownership and rural location was associated with higher capacity to provide PAC in referral facilities. Primary facilities with a rural location were associated with lower basic SAC capacity. Discussion Overall very few public facilities have the infrastructural capacity to deliver all the signal functions for comprehensive abortion care in Ghana. There is potential to scale-up the delivery of safe abortion care by facilitating service provision all health facilities currently providing postabortion care. Conclusions SAC provision is much lower than PAC provision overall, yet there are persistent gaps in capacity to deliver basic PAC at primary facilities. These results highlight a need for the Ghana Ministry of Health to improve the infrastructural capability of health facilities to provide comprehensive abortion care.

Origin of the Chordate Notochord

The phylum of Chordata is defined based on the discovery of a coelom-like dorsal notochord in ascidian and amphioxus embryos. Chordata can be classified into three subphylums, Cephalochordata, Urochordata, and Vertebrata, united by the presence of a notochord at some point during development. The origin of the notochord, the signature anatomical structure of chordates, has been under debate since the publication of Alexander Kovalevsky’s work in the mid-19th century that placed ascidians close to the vertebrates on the phylogenetic tree. During the late 20th century, the development of molecular and genetic tools in biology brought about a revival of studies on the evolutionary path of notochord development. Two main hypotheses for the origin of the notochord were proposed, the de novo theory and the axochord theory. The former states that notochord has developed de novo from the mid-dorsal archenteron of a chordate ancestor with simple morphology and no central nervous system nor notochord homolog. The putative notochord along the dorsal side of the animal is proposed to take on the signal functions later from the endoderm and ectoderm. An alternative hypothesis, the axochord theory, proposes that notochord has evolved from the mid-line muscle tissue, the so-called axochord, in annelids. Structural and molecular evidence point to the midline muscle of annelids as a distant homolog of the notochord. This hypothesis thus suggests a notochord-like structure in the urbilaterian ancestor, opposed to the consensus that notochord is a chordate-specific feature. In this review, we introduce the history of the formation of these views and summarize the current understandings of embryonic development, molecular profile, and gene regulatory networks of notochord and notochord-like structures.

What are the essential components of Antenatal Care? A systematic review of the literature and development of signal functions to guide monitoring and evaluation.

Background Antenatal Care (ANC) is one of the key care-packages required to reduce global maternal and perinatal mortality and morbidity Objectives To identify the essential components of ANC and develop signal functions Search strategy MESH headings for databases including Cinahl, Cochrane, Global Health, Medline, PubMed, and Web of Science Selection Criteria Papers and reports on content of ANC published from 2000-2020 Data collection and Analysis Narrative synthesis of data and development of signal function through 7 consensus-building workshops with 184 stakeholders Main Results A total of 221 papers and reports are included from which 28 essential components of ANC were extracted and used to develop 15 signal functions with the equipment, medication and consumables required for implementation of each. Signal functions for the prevention and management of infectious diseases (malaria, HIV, tuberculosis, syphilis and tetanus) can be applied depending on population disease burden. Screening and management of pre-eclampsia, gestational diabetes, anaemia, mental and social health (including intimate partner violence) are recommended universally. Three signal functions adress monitoring of foetal growth and wellbeing and identification and management of obstetric complications. Promotion of health and wellbeing via education and support for nutrition, cessation of substance abuse, uptake of family planning, recognition of danger signs and birth preparedness are included as essential components of ANC. Conclusions New signal functions have been developed which can be used for monitoring and evaluation of content and quality of ANC. Country adaptation and validation is recommended.

Appetite regulating genes in zebrafish gut; a gene expression study

The underlying molecular pathophysiology of feeding disorders, particularly in peripheral organs, is still largely unknown. A range of molecular factors encoded by appetite-regulating genes are already described to control feeding behaviour in the brain. However, the important role of the gastrointestinal tract in the regulation of appetite and feeding in connection to the brain has gained more attention in the recent years. An example of such inter-organ molecular interaction can be the signals mediated by leptin, a key regulator of body weight, food intake and metabolism, with conserved anorexigenic effects in vertebrates. Leptin signal functions through its receptor ( lepr ) in multiple organs, including the brain and the gastrointestinal tract. So far, the regulatory connections between leptin signal and other appetite-regulating genes remain unclear, particularly in the gastrointestinal system. In this study, we used a zebrafish mutant with impaired function of leptin receptor to explore gut expression patterns of appetite-regulating genes, under different feeding conditions (normal feeding, 7-day fasting, 2 and 6-hours refeeding). We compared these expression patterns to those from wild-type zebrafish, in order to identify leptin-dependent differentially expressed genes located in the zebrafish gut. We provide evidence that most appetite-regulating genes are expressed in the zebrafish gut. On one hand, we did not observed significant differences in the expression of orexigenic genes after changes in the feeding condition, and only one orexigenic gene, hcrt , displayed differential expression under impaired leptin signal. On the other hand, we found 8 anorexigenic genes in wild-types ( cart2 , cart3 , dbi , oxt , nmu , nucb2a , pacap and pomc ), as well as 4 genes in lepr mutants ( cart3 , kiss1, kiss1r and nucb2a ), to be differentially expressed in the zebrafish gut after changes in feeding conditions. Most of these genes also showed significant differences in their expression between wild-type and lepr mutant in at least one of the feeding conditions. Finally, we observed that impaired leptin signalling influences potential regulatory connections between anorexigenic genes in zebrafish gut, particularly connections involving cart2 , cart3 , kiss1 , kiss1r , mchr2 , nmu , nucb2a and oxt . Altogether, these transcriptional changes propose a potential role of the gastrointestinal tract in the regulation of feeding through changes in expression of certain anorexigenic genes in zebrafish.

Crime Risk Stations: Examining Spatiotemporal Influence of Urban Features through Distance-Aware Risk Signal Functions

Static indicators may fail to capture spatiotemporal differences in the spatial influence of urban features on different crime types. In this study, with a base station analogy, we introduced crime risk stations that conceptualize the spatial influence of urban features as crime risk signals broadcasted throughout a coverage area. We operationalized these risk signals with two novel risk scores, risk strength and risk intensity, obtained from novel distance-aware risk signal functions. With a crime-specific spatiotemporal approach, through a spatiotemporal influence analysis we examined and compared these risk scores for different crime types across various spatiotemporal models. Using a correlation analysis, we examined their relationships with concentrated disadvantage. The results showed that bus stops had relatively lower risk intensity, but higher risk strength, while fast-food restaurants had a higher risk intensity, but a lower risk strength. The correlation analysis identified elevated risk intensity and strength around gas stations in disadvantaged areas during late-night hours and weekends. The results provided empirical evidence for a dynamic spatial influence that changes across space, time, and crime type. The proposed risk functions and risk scores could help in the creation of spatiotemporal crime hotspot maps across cities by accurately quantifying crime risk around urban features.

Using Signal Functions to Measure Third Delays in the Management of Obstetric Emergencies: A Study of Midigo Health Centre IV

Signal functions are a representative shortlist of key interventions and activities that address major causes of morbidity or mortality and that are indicative of a certain type and level of care in a health facility. For example, signal functions indicative of "basic emergency obstetric care (EmOC)" could be provided by midwives at a lower level health centre, whereas "comprehensive EmOC" signal functions indicate a higher level of care, usually at a hospital or . Thus, signal function test is very vital in measuring Obstetric and Newborn Functionality of Health Facilities. On the other hand, third delays are the delays in receiving adequate and appropriate treatment at the healthcare facility by mothers during and after pregnancy.

The Quality of Service Provision to Newborns in the Primary Healthcare, West Gojjam Zone, North-West of Ethiopia: A Cross-sectional Survey

Background: During 2019, neonatal conditions in Ethiopia accounted for 56% of under-5 deaths, with 33 neonatal deaths occurring for every 1,000 live births. More than 80% of all newborns deaths are caused by preventable and treatable conditions with available interventions. In Ethiopia, mortality rates for newborn babies have remained stubbornly high over the decades. Methods: A cross-sectional survey design was employed. Interviewer-administered questionnaires were administered to 221 health workers and health extension workers in 142 health facilities from April to July 2017. Data was entered in the EpiData 3.1, exported to SPSS and STATA for analysis. Results: Out of the ten quality of newborn care variables, 8.7 [95%CI: 6.03-11.303], the highest mean was achieved by primary hospitals, followed by urban health centres with a 6.4 mean [95%CI:5.168-7.601]. However, nearly half of the rural health centres were providing quality of newborn care at the mean of 5.7 [95%CI: 5.152-6.18], and below half was provided by health posts, 4.5 [95%CI: 3.867-5.116]. From the seven emergency newborn care signal functions, primary hospitals had a higher mean score, 6.3 [95%CI: 6.007-7.325] and rural health centres had a lowest mean score, 2.3 [95%CI: 2.043-2.623]. The availability of essential equipment is also significantly associated with the quality of neonatal care provision in the health facilities (p < 0.05). Overall, the effectiveness of the neonatal healthcare services has a significant association with the health facilitates readiness score [95%CI: 0.134-0.768]. Conclusion: The quality of newborn care was high at the higher-level health facilities and lower in the lower level health facilities such as rural health centres and health posts; where these facilities are designed to provide the newborn care services to the majority of the rural communities. In addition, the provision of emergency newborn care signal functions were critically low in rural health centres where these are a referral receiving health facilities from health posts. Thus, the rural health centres and health posts should be targeted to improve their readiness to provide the quality of services for newborns as per their expected level of care.