bluuebunny/crossref_metadata_2025_split huggingface dataset:
Iron deficiency anaemia in pregnancy and its prevention; paradigm changes over three decades
Authors: Goonewardene Malik 
Published: September 2021

In Sri Lanka, the prevalence of anaemia in pregnancy was estimated to be approximately 29% in 2001 but is estimated to have significantly reduced to be < 20%, at least in certain areas, during the last decade. Among its many causes, nutritional iron deficiency anaemia (IDA) is the commonest, but establishing a definitive diagnosis is difficult. Strategies adopted globally, as well as in Sri Lanka, to prevent IDA in pregnancy, have changed significantly during the last three decades. A comprehensive literature review was carried out and inter alia three relevant World Health Organization Guidelines, in which the author was a member of the guideline development group and six other publications of the author, on the topic of iron deficiency (ID) and IDA in pregnancy are included in this review. Ten studies on the detection and prevention of ID and IDA in pregnancy, carried out from 1990 to 2017 at the Academic Obstetrics and Gynaecology Unit (AOGU) of the Teaching Hospital Mahamodera, Galle (THMG) are described. The results and conclusions of these studies were: poor compliance and unsatisfactory methods of ingestion of the antenatal oral iron supplement could have contributed to the high rates of ID and IDA at term during the period 1990 to 1992; haematological indices during pregnancy need to be interpreted with caution; although the agreement between haematological indices obtained from different laboratories in Galle in 2000 was unsatisfactory, better agreement was observed in 2015; the rates of ID and IDA in pregnant women presenting for antenatal care to the AOGU of the THMG have significantly decreased from approximately 69% and 44% respectively in 1990 to approximately 37% and 17% respectively in 2015. Therefore, weekly antenatal oral iron supplements should be adequate to improve birth outcomes in the non-anaemic women attending this clinic.
Immunohistochemical assessment of PTEN expression and itsassociation with tamoxifen resistance in ER positive breast cancers
Authors: Wijesiri T. W. , Peiris H. H. , Mudduwa L. K. B. 
Published: September 2021

Introduction: Although Estrogen Receptor (ER) positivity is a good prognostic factor in breast carcinoma (BC), a subset of patients experiences poor disease-free survival (DFS). Mutation in phosphatase and tensin homologue deleted on chromosome ten (PTEN) is identified as a poor prognostic feature in BC. This study was designed to find out the impact of lost or poor PTEN expression on ER positive BC, in terms of the recognized prognostic factors and survival outcome to find out its association with tamoxifen resistance. Methods: This was a cross sectional study with a follow up component. BC tissue blocks submitted to our unit from 2006 to 2012 were selected. From the laboratory data, patients who had ER positive BC, undergone mastectomy, treated with tamoxifen were selected. All clinicopathological parameters, DFS and overall survival (OS) were analysed against lost or poor PTEN expression. Clinicopathological features were compared using Chi-square test. Kaplan-Meier model with log-rank test was used for the survival analysis. Results: A total of 130 BC patients satisfied the inclusion criteria. PTEN expression was lost or poor in 82.3% (n=107) patients. PTEN expression had a positive association with the level of ER expression (p=0.011) and a negative association with Nottingham prognostic index (NPI) (p=0.045) and pathological stage (p<0.048). Only 12.1% (n=16) patients had recurrences and 7.69% (n=10) had died over a period of 51 months of mean follow up. There was no significant association between PTEN expression and survival. Conclusions: This study showed that there is a statistically significant association between lost or poor PTEN expression and low ER expression, high NPI and stage 3 in ER positive BC. Further studies including larger study sample with a longer follow up are recommended to find out the association of PTEN with the survival in ER positive BC treated with tamoxifen.
Characteristics of cases of fatal drowning at a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka
Authors: Ariyarathna H. T. D. W. , Jayathilaka E. L. P. A. 
Published: September 2021

Introduction: Deaths due to drowning largely manifest as preventable accidents or suicides. This study deals with characteristics of cases of fatal drowning presented to a tertiary care hospital in Sri Lanka. Methods: A descriptive study was conducted retrospectively based on postmortem reports of deaths due to drowning available at the Colombo South Teaching Hospital from September 2015 to September 2020. The study reviews characteristics of fatal drowning cases reported to the institution including their epidemiology, features, injury patterns and associated factors. Results: Drowning accounted for 1.35% (n = 65) of total postmortems performed. The male to female ratio was 8:1. Children below 15 years of age contributed to 7.7% of the deaths. Accidental deaths were the commonest followed by suicide and homicide respectively. Evidence of alcohol consumption was noted in 30.8% (n = 20) and the majority of the drownings occurred in the sea. No putrefaction was seen in 58.5% (n = 38) bodies. The characteristic froth was noted in 43.1% (n = 28) of the study sample and there had not been a significant association between the presence of froth with the medium of water. Facial and chest injuries were the commonest associated injuries. Four cases of late death (near drowning) were reported. Twenty-six (40%) deaths could have been prevented. Conclusions: This study helps to emphasize an existing problem in Sri Lanka. The prevention of drowning is mostly an achievable goal in Sri Lanka as long as the risk factors and epidemiology are known along with an adequate emphasis.
Clinical evaluation of two glass ionomer restorative materials in class I cavities
Authors: Abdalla Ali I. , Hassan Mostafa M. , Naanosh Mohamed R. 
Published: September 2021

Aim
To evaluate the clinical performance of two glass ionomer restorative materials (EQUIA Forte Fil and IonoStar Molar) and a nanohybrid composite (Tetric EvoCeram) in class I cavities over 1 year.

Patients and methods
Twenty patients of age 25–40 years received 60 restorations. Each patient received three different restorations representing the tested materials. Class I cavity was prepared according to the caries extension. All the materials were applied following the manufacturer's instructions. Finishing and polishing was performed using finishing burs and polishing discs. Each restoration was evaluated clinically at baseline (24 h), 6 months and after 1 year using modified USPHS.

Results
The recall rate was 100% after 1 year. The alpha rating for retention and restoration fracture for EQUIA Forte Fil were 95%, IonoStar Molar 85%, Tetric EvoCeram 100% alpha ratings. For marginal discoloration for EQUIA Forte Fil were 95%, IonoStar Molar 80%, Tetric EvoCeram 95% alpha ratings. For marginal adaptation for EQUIA Forte Fil were 90%, IonoStar Molar 80%, Tetric EvoCeram 90% alpha ratings. For anatomic form for EQUIA Forte Fil 95%, IonoStar Molar 75%, Tetric EvoCeram 95% alpha ratings. For color match for EQUIA Forte Fil 85%, IonoStar Molar 80%, Tetric EvoCeram 90% alpha ratings. For surface texture for EQUIA Forte Fil 85%, IonoStar Molar 90%, Tetric EvoCeram 95% alpha ratings. For secondary caries for EQUIA Forte Fil 95%, IonoStar Molar 85%, Tetric EvoCeram 100% alpha ratings.
Using χ
2 test, there was no statistically significant difference between the tested groups for marginal discoloration, marginal adaptation, anatomic form, color match, and surface texture (P<0.05).

Conclusion
EQUIA Forte Fil Glass ionomer achieved clinically superior results after 1 year of service. IonoStar Molar Glass ionomer also achieved acceptable results. Tetric EvoCeram composite achieved superior clinical results for all criteria of the evaluation. A longer evaluation period may be recommended to decide the use of these materials safely in class I cavities.
On nonmonogenic number fields defined by
Authors: Jakhar Anuj , Kumar Surender 
Published: September 2021

AbstractLet q be a prime number and
$K = \mathbb Q(\theta )$
be an algebraic number field with
$\theta $
a root of an irreducible trinomial
$x^{6}+ax+b$
having integer coefficients. In this paper, we provide some explicit conditions on
$a, b$
for which K is not monogenic. As an application, in a special case when
$a =0$
, K is not monogenic if
$b\equiv 7 \mod 8$
or
$b\equiv 8 \mod 9$
. As an example, we also give a nonmonogenic class of number fields defined by irreducible sextic trinomials.
Cost Analysis of Current Distribution and Redesigned Distribution Systems for Vaccines in Rwanda
Authors: Mudaheranwa Evodie , Stany Stany , Sibomana Hassan , Hitimana Regis , Nzayirambaho Manassé 
Published: September 2021

Background
Immunization supply chain management is among the components of immunization program, making vaccines delivery possible to reach every child. Nevertheless, it has been found to be static with rapid changes linked to the introduction of new vaccines. The success of Rwanda immunization program with coverage of 94.3% was attributed to human resource and capital investment from both the Ministry of Health and its development partners. However, the current distribution system design does not contribute to self-financing of the program in the long-run considering the distribution mode and frequency applied. The cost analysis study has never been done before and is expected to address the issue of long-term sustainability of the program as it will inform the system re-design activities.
Objective
Assessing how much the program would save if the system is re-designed by changing distribution mode and frequency from the Central Vaccine Store to District Vaccine Stores.
Methods
Administrative and financial records were reviewed to determine the cost of the current vaccine distribution system to be compared to estimated cost of a proposed distribution system with reduced frequencies between Central Vaccine Store and District Vaccine Stores.
Results
By comparing the costs of the two systems, applying the proposed distribution model with less distribution frequencies reduced the current cost by 37%.
Conclusion
The findings confirm a huge opportunity of getting the current vaccine distribution costs reduced when the distribution system is redesigned, hence contributing to financial sustainability of the vaccination program.
Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(2): 207-221
Factors Influencing Annual Procurement Planning of Medicines and Medical Supplies in Public Health Facilities in Kampala District
Authors: Ajulong Martha Grace , Okiria John Charles , Owako Martin 
Published: September 2021

BackgroundDespite significant progress made by many countries towards meeting the millennium development goals and now sustainable development goals, there has been little improvement in access to essential medicines in developing countries.ObjectivesThe main aim of this study is to assess the factors influencing annual procurement planning of medicines and medical supplies in the public health facilities in Kampala district.MethodsThis study targeted respondents from government Health facilities in Kampala with a total population of 424 employees and applied simple random sampling to select 206 health workers. The researcher adopted mixed research approach with application of descriptive statistics, correlational and explanatory research designs that were used to maximize reliability and validity of findings. While the qualitative data was gathered through reviewing logistics tools, a physical count of the 30% purposively selected stock cards and interview of the staffs was carried out in health facilities in Kampala district, a Statistical Package for Social Science (SPSS) version 20 was used to analyze the quantitative data. Accordingly, a chi-square was used to determine the association between independent and dependent variables.ResultsThe findings indicated that 37.8% of the staff responded positively about the availability of annual procurement plan while the rest were from various health facilities. A significant association was observed between knowledge and availability of annual Procurement planning (X2 = 34.7; p value =.0001), as well as management support and Annual Procurement Planning (X2 = 9.87; P value = .008).ConclusionIn conclusion, the finding generated from analysis of quantitative and qualitative data revealed that a majority of the factors influencing annual procurement planning had a positive effect on medical supplies in public health facilities in Uganda although the capacity and capability of health workers, quality of logistics management information systems, and management support desires improvement.
Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(2): 292-309
Assessment of Storage and Inventory Practices to Improve Medicine Supply Chain in Jubek State South Sudan
Authors: Manyuat Adut Jervase , Carasso Kashi , Makhado Mulatedzi 
Published: September 2021

BackgroundIn order to deliver quality health services, safe, effective, affordable and quality medicines are needed. Inappropriate storage conditions, poor infrastructure and poor medicine management practices may lead to poor medicines quality, stock damage and expiration.ObjectiveAssess storage and inventory practices to improve the medicine supply chain in South Sudan.MethodologyThe study used a descriptive cross-sectional design. The study population comprised 12 Health Centers in Juba where inventory management was practiced. Both questionnaire‐guided interviews for staff self‐assessment, and observer assessment were used by the researcher. With regard to storage and inventory management, the researcher collected data on the condition of storerooms with regards to availability of enough storage space, availability of enough storage equipment, and temperature conditions of the medicines stores, among others.ResultsThe study found that store and inventory management practices varied widely in the different health facilities. Hospitals and central medical stores exhibited good or average inventory and storeroom management practices, respectively. The two hospitals and medical stores scored 100% in the elements in the assessment of storerooms and stock management. Some primary health care centers exhibited good inventory and store room management practice, whilst others were rated as average or poor. Most of the elements assessed scored 37% in storeroom assessment while elements assessed for inventory management scored less than 75%. There was great similarity between the observation assessment and the self-assessment.ConclusionIn conclusion, store and inventory management practices and knowledge of the respondents varied in the different health facilities. Hospitals and central medical stores exhibited good, average and poor inventory and storeroom management practices assessed through self-assessment and observation assessment by the researcher. There was a great similarity between the observation assessment and the self-assessment.
Rwanda J Med Health Sci 2021;4(2): 310-320
In Vivo Antidiabetic Activities of Polyherbal Extracts against Streptozotocin- Nicotinamide Induced Type 2 Diabetic Mice Model
Authors: Jagtap Pradnya , Nimbalkar Yashashri , Patil Vidya , Patil Ravindra Y. 
Published: September 2021

Diabetes mellitus is a chronic metabolic disorder and rapidly increasing cases of diabetes throughout the world are major concerns in both developed and developing countries. Currently available oral antidiabetic medicines have limitations in efficacy and safety, which in conjunction with the emergence of diabetes mellitus as a global epidemic have aided the popularity of alternative therapies to manage the disease safely and more efficiently. Herbal medicines are accepted as alternative therapies for blood sugar control. Gymnema sylvestre, Boerhavia diffusa, Tinospora cordifolia, and Argyreia nervosa are some potent herbs used for the management of diabetes. Mixing of these plants in different ratios may produce synergistic antidiabetic actions which may have greater antidiabetic activity. Hence, the present study aimed to determine the anti-diabetic activities of polyherbal extracts in streptozotocin-nicotinamide induced type 2 diabetic mice. The administration of polyherbal extract orally at doses of 100, 200 and 400 mg/kg significantly decreased the blood glucose levels compared to the control diabetic mice. The polyherbal extract significantly lowered the elevated total cholesterol, triglycerides and low-density lipoprotein levels, while increased the high-density lipoprotein indicating antihyperlipidemic activity. The present study reveals that polyherbal extract at a dose of 400 mg/kg body weight resulted in a significant decline (p < 0.001) in blood glucose level.
Keywords: Polyherbal extracts; diabetes mellitus; Oral glucose tolerance test; Streptozotocin-Nicotinamide
Multi-Vehicle Speed Estimation Algorithm Based on Real-Time Inter-Frame Tracking Technique
Authors: Kisingo Ernest , Hamisi Ndyetabura , Iddi Hashim U. , Maiseli Baraka J. 
Published: September 2021

Inappropriate vehicle speeding remains a central factor that causes road accidents claiming millions of lives every year. This challenge has raised concerns for vehicle speed estimation as an attempt to promote speed enforcement methods. Traditionally, radar and lidar systems have widely been used for this purpose, despite their several shortfalls: cosine error effects, need for direct line-of-sight, and inability to simultaneously and accurately measure speed from multiple vehicles. The current work proposes an algorithm and a multi-vehicle speed estimation system in a multi-lane road environment to address multi-vehicle speed estimation shortfalls. The proposed solution exploits image processing and computer vision techniques to flag vehicles with inappropriate speeding patterns. A series of experiments showed that the developed system generates more accurate results than those given by the lidar system. In essence, the proposed system can estimate the speed of up to six vehicles concurrently. It can produce an average percentage error of 2.7% relative to the actual speed measured by a speedometer. This error is 5.4% lower than that demonstrated by the lidar system, emphasizing that the proposed system may be a more suitable approach to traffic laws enforcement.
Keywords: Computer vision; image processing; inter-frame differencing; vehicle tracking; road accident
Robust Trilateration Based Algorithm for Indoor Positioning Systems
Authors: Pande Simeon , Ibwe Kwame S 
Published: September 2021

Abstract
Indoor Positioning Systems (IPS) plays crucial roles in indoor environment items positioning used in self-navigating robots and helping hands. To obtain position information, positioning algorithms employing Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI) are of great benefits since they reuse the existing radio wireless infrastructures for indoor positioning. However, the changes in the indoor environment decrease the overall accuracy of the developed indoor positioning algorithms. To cope with the challenge of environmental dependency in indoor positioning, a robust algorithm using radio signal identification was developed. The algorithm uses circle expansion and reduction mechanism to achieve better RSSI-Distance relationship. The distances from RSSI-Distance relationship are used in trilateration algorithm for position estimation. Experiments were performed to compare position accuracy of the basic RSSI-Based and the proposed algorithm. Simulation results showed that proposed algorithm showed less average positioning errors by 11.2066% and 3.7279% at path loss coefficients of 3.11 and 3.21, respectively compared to the existing algorithms. Likewise, the proposed algorithm showed 2.7282% increase in positioning error when environment was changed from that of path loss coefficient 3.11 to 3.21. The existing basic algorithms show error fluctuation of 10% with the same environment changes.
Keywords: Indoor Positioning System; RFID; RSSI; Trilateration
Insecticidal Activities of Aqueous Extracts of Five Nigerian Aromatic Spices against Garden Eggplant Defoliators and Fruit Borer Leucinodes orbonalis Guenee: Lepidoptera: Crambidae
Authors: Ugwu Juliana A. , Kareem Kehinde T. , Aluko Julius O. 
Published: September 2021

The study evaluated the prospects of aqueous extracts of five Nigerian spices against garden eggplant defoliators and fruit borer (Leucinodes orbonalis) in the field. The treatments consisted of Piper guineense (black pepper), Aframomum melegueta (aligator pepper), Eugenia aromatica (cloves), Zingiber officinale (ginger), Capsicum annum (chilli pepper) and untreated check (control). All the aqueous extracts evaluated reduced leaf damaged by defoliators on garden eggplant compared to control. P. guineense, with mean value of 11.02 number of perforations, was the most effective against defoliators, followed by E. aromatica (12.97) reducing leaf damage by 39.64 and 28.74%, respectively. However, their efficacies against defoliating insects were not significantly different (p > 0.05) among other extracts. P. guineense was also more effective than other spices against infestations by garden eggplant fruit borer and larvae density on fruits with mean values of 1.07 and 0.47, respectively. Plots treated with P. guineense recorded highest fruit yield (629 g/plant), followed by E. aromatica (219.3 g/plant). Piper guineense and E. aromatica extracts were thus more efficacious than other spices against defoliating and fruit boring insects of garden eggplants. Adopting the applications of extracts from these spices in home garden will minimize environmental and health hazards associated chemical pesticides and enhance healthy living among the populace.
Keywords: spices, aqueous extracts, garden eggplant, Leucinodes orbonalis.
Bayesian Hetero-Elasticnet (A Gibbs Sampler Approach)
Authors: Oloyede Isiaka 
Published: September 2021

Combined heteroscedasticity and multicollinearity as dual non-spherical disturbances were experimented asymptotically. A Gibbs Sampler technique was used to investigate the asymptotic properties of hetero-elasticnet estimator with mean squares error (MSE) and bias as performance metrics. The seed was set to 12345; is set at ; Xs variables were generated as follow: the design matrix was generated from the multivariate normal distribution with mean > 0 and variance . and are truncated with Harvey (1976) heteroscedastic error structure; are collinear covariate with pairwise correlation between 0.6 and 0.9, the sample sizes were 25, 100 and 1000. The number of replications of the experiment was set at 10,000 with burn-in of 1000 which specified the draws that were discarded to remove the effects of the initial values. The thinning was set at 5 to ensure the removal of the effects of autocorrelation in the MCMC simulation. The study found that there is consistency of estimator asymptotically as the sample sizes increases from 25 to 50 so also to 1000, the larger sample size depicted least bias. The estimator exhibited efficiency asymptotically as larger sample sizes depicted least mean squares error. The study therefore recommended Bayesian hetero-elasticnet when data exhibit both heteroscedasticity and multicollinearity.
Keywords: Elasticnet; Bayesian Inference and Gibbs sampler