KOB (Germany)

Opportunistic infections (OIs) play a crucial role in the morbidity and mortality of HIV-infected individuals. Despite the increasing use of antiretroviral therapy, there remains a lack of comprehensive data on the incidence of OIs to provide a clearer national picture. Therefore, this systematic review and meta-analysis aim to determine the pooled incidence and identify the predictors of OIs among people living with HIV in Ethiopia. A systematic search was conducted across multiple electronic databases to identify relevant studies. The degree of heterogeneity across studies was assessed using the I 2 statistic. Subgroup analyses were conducted to explore sources of heterogeneity. A funnel plot and Egger's test were used to assess publication bias. Adjusted hazard ratio with 95% CI was used to assess the relationship between predictors and OIs occurrence. In total, 24 studies met the inclusion criteria and were analyzed. The pooled incidence rate of OIs among people living with HIV in Ethiopia was found to be 6.96 per 100 person-years (95% CI: 5.14-8.78) based on a random-effects model. The meta-analysis identified predictors of OIs among people living with HIV, including poor adherence (pooled AHR 1.42, 95% CI: 1.12, 1.80), CD4 count < 200 cells/mm3 (AHR 1.49, 95% CI: 1.25, 1.78), being bedridden (AHR 1.45, 95% CI: 1.10, 1.90), and advanced WHO clinical stage (AHR 1.57, 95% CI: 1.24, 1.98). The burden of OIs continues to be a major health concern among people living with HIV/AIDS. Low CD4 count, poor adherence to ART, being bedridden, and advanced clinical stage were significantly associated with the occurrence of OIs.

INTRODUCTION: Trachoma is one of the leading chronic diseases in children 1–9 years old and a cause of death primary in resources limited countries. Even though unlimited efforts have been undertaken to control the disease, it remains a major public health challenge in developing nations. In this comprehensive meta-analysis, we aimed to evaluate the pooled estimate and the factors associated with trachoma among 1–9 years old children. METHODS: Potential research articles were retrieved from PubMed/Medline, SCOPUS, EMBASE, and electronic databases. Following PRISMA guidelines, a total of 38 observational studies were included in this study. The pooled single estimate of prevalence and odds ratio (OR) was calculated for each predictor. The data was analyzed using STATA version 14. A random effect model was used if the heterogeneity (I(2)) was greater than 50% and a p value less than 0.05 was considered a significance level. RESULTS: In this meta-analysis, we evaluated a total of 218,002 children aged 1–9 years and found estimate of trachoma prevalence of 20.49% (95% CI: 17.49, 23.49%). We identified several predictors associated with trachoma infection. These include: lack of access to piped drinking water (OR = 3.36, 95%Cl 2.42, 4.65), absence of household latrine (OR = 3.3, 95%Cl 2.35, 4.64), failure to wash face with soap (OR = 2.66, 95%Cl 2.0, 3.54), absence of waste disposal (OR = 2.57, 95%Cl 1.74, 3.79), and taking more than 30 min to fetch water (OR = 3.24, 95%Cl 1.85, 5.67). Furthermore, the presence of animal pens in the living area (OR = 3.28, 95%Cl 2.4, 4.47), inadequate knowledge of caregivers/mothers (OR = 3.56, 95%Cl 2.36, 5.36), family size greater than five (OR = 2.86, 95%Cl 1.39, 5.89), face washing < two times per day (OR = 3.09, 95%Cl 2.05, 4.67), presence of flies on the face (OR = 3.31, 95%Cl 2.09, 5.24) were also identified as significant predictors of trachoma. CONCLUSION: In overall, the present study revealed that the burden of trachoma among children was aged 1-9 years in Ethiopia 20.49%. The predictors associated with trachoma among children includes absence of household latrines, lack of access to piped drinking water, failure to wash face with soap, taking more than 30 min to fetch water, presence of animal pens in the living compound, inadequate knowledge of caregivers/mothers, family size exceeding five, infrequent face washing, the presence of flies on children’s faces, and insufficient waste disposal. Our findings suggest that, in addition to existing preventative strategies, there is an urgent need for improved personal and environmental hygiene practices, as well as addressing these factors.

Background: Neonates are commonly admitted to neonatal intensive care units, and the type(s) of admission determine the outcome of the neonate. Therefore, we sought to assess the magnitude of neonatal admission and associated factors at selected hospitals in Wollo, northeast Ethiopia in 2022. Methods: A cross-sectional study on 422 admitted mother–neonate pairs was conducted. Data were collected by face-to-face interviews and reviewing patient records and then entered and analyzed using EpiData version 3.1 and Stata version 14, respectively. Binary logistic regression analyses were employed, and P < 0.05 was considered statistically significant on multivariate analysis. Results: The prevalence of neonatal sepsis was 53.4% (95% CI 48.5%– 58.2%), low birth weight 36.9% (95% CI 32.3%– 41.7%), prematurity 24.2% (95% CI 20.3%– 28.5%), and hypoglycemia 9.7% (95% CI 7.2%– 13%). Urinary tract infection (AOR 2.22, 95% CI 1.13– 4.34), history of abortion (AOR 1.95, 95% CI 1.002– 3.78), and twin pregnancy (AOR 6.34, 95% CI 1.84– 11.83) were associated with low birth weight. Premature rupture of membrane (AOR 2.87 95% CI 1.31– 6.28), history of abortion (AOR 2.36, 95% CI 1.20– 4.61), and instrumental delivery (AOR 5.25, 95% CI 1.65– 16.71) were associated with neonatal sepsis. Male sex (AOR 2.78, 95% CI 1.45– 5.34), pregnancy-induced hypertension (AOR 2.73, 95% CI 1.13– 6.60), antepartum hemorrhage (AOR 3.24, 95% CI 1.03– 10.20), and premature rupture of membrane (AOR 2.77, 95% CI 1.23– 6.24) were associated with prematurity. Conclusion: The prevalence of low birth weight, prematurity, and neonatal sepsis was high, but neonatal hypoglycemia was low. Urinary tract infection, history of abortion, and twin pregnancy were associated with low birth weight. Premature rupture of membrane, history of abortion, and instrumental delivery were associated with neonatal sepsis. Male sex, pregnancy-induced hypertension, antepartum hemorrhage, and premature ruptures of membrane were associated with prematurity. Keywords: admission diagnosis, discriminant analysis, Ethiopia, neonatal admission, neonate

M. Webb (London, UK), and CM.Yang (Singapore).We are grateful to the Library of National Museum of Natural History (Leiden, The Netherlands) and the Library of The Netherlands Entomological Society, especially to G. Tweehuysen and R. van Kampen (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), for helping with literature requests which always consisted oElong lists of journal volumes; and to W. Hogenes (Amsterdam, The Netherlands), D.A. Polhemus (Washington DC, USA) & CM.Yang (Singapore) for helping with some publications on the fauna of continental Malaysia.We appreciate the discussion with J. T. Polhemus and D.A. Polhemus on some taxonomic problems.Also, they made a part of one of their manuscripts on Naucoridae available to us.We thank 1. Cheng (La Jolla, USA) for her generous offering of important data on the genus Halobates, and also for reading the text on Halobatinae and giving useful comments.We thank The Royal Society of South Australia for permission to use illustrations no. 121, 127and 157, which were originally published in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Australia.We acknowledge deeply the help from Dr. G. Thirumalai (Chennai, India) and Dr. A. Bal (Calcutta, India) for confirming the situation of the type ofVentidius distanti Paiva, deposited in the Zoological Survey ofIndia

Pictures or images play an important role as a mass communication medium. When images are coded and transmitted over noisy communication channels, images are often corrupted by impulse noise. A method is proposed to eliminate impulsive noise with gaussian or uniform distribution in digital images. This noise removing method is based on two steps: impulse noise detection and filtered image reconstruction. Motivated by the success of neural computing in pattern classification, an unsupervised neural network has been employed in detecting the positions of the noisy pixels. When the noisy pixels are detected, a number of noise-exclusive filtering algorithms are invoked to eliminate the noise. These filters do not affect those pixels that are not corrupted. The filtering scheme presented can suppress impulse noise effectively as well as avoiding blurring or degrading the digital image quality. Experimental results and associated statistics demonstrate that the performance of the noise-exclusive filters is superior to many other well-known methods.

Target tracking problem is normally composed of three main major functions: automatic track initiation, correlation, and track update.target tracking algorithms are usually based on applying optimal filtering theory.There have been numerous derivations of the optimal relations between the tracking parameters.In this paper, track update based on an adaptive Kalman algorithm with simplest case the adaptive a og filter is formulated as shown in Fig. 1.The necessary relations for pre-update extrapolation gain selection, update position, velocity filtering or smoothing, covariance matrix, and post-update are discussed.Implementation and results of multi-target tracking (MU) using simulated electronic system input are presented.Results show a significant improvement in position and velocity of target tracking performance.