123 research outputs found
Adverse birth outcome: a comparative analysis between cesarean section and vaginal delivery at Felegehiwot Referral Hospital, Northwest Ethiopia: a retrospective record review [Corrigendum]
No full textAbebe Eyowas F, Negasi AK, Aynalem GE, Worku AG. Pediatric Health, Medicine and Therapeutics. 2016;7:65–70On page 65 Abel Fekadu Dadi should have been listed as an author. The incorrect author list was:Fantu Abebe Eyowas1Ashebir Kidane Negasi1Gizachew Eyassu Aynalem1Abebaw Gebeyehu Worku2The correct author list should have been:Fantu Abebe Eyowas1Ashebir Kidane Negasi1Gizachew Eyassu Aynalem1Abebaw Gebeyehu Worku2Abel Fekadu Dadi2Read the original articl
Flexible two-piece distributions for right censored survival data
No full textAn important complexity in censored data is that only partial information on the variables of interest is observed. In recent years, a large family of asymmetric distributions and maximum likelihood estimation for the parameters in that family has been studied, in the complete data case. In this paper, we exploit the appealing family of quantile-based asymmetric distributions to obtain flexible distributions for modelling right censored survival data. The flexible distributions can be generated using a variety of symmetric distributions and monotonic link functions. The interesting feature of this family is that the location parameter coincides with an index-parameter quantile of the distribution. This family is also suitable to characterize different shapes of the hazard function (constant, increasing, decreasing, bathtub and upside-down bathtub or unimodal shapes). Statistical inference is done for the whole family of distributions. The parameter estimation is carried out by optimizing a non-differentiable likelihood function. The asymptotic properties of the estimators are established. The finite-sample performance of the proposed method and the impact of censorship are investigated via simulations. Finally, the methodology is illustrated on two real data examples (times to weaning in breast-fed data and German Breast Cancer data).sponsorship: The authors are grateful to the editor, and associate editor and reviewers for their valuable comments that led to an improvement of the manuscript. The second author gratefully acknowledge support from Research Grant FWO G0D6619N of the Flemish Science Foundation, and from the C16/20/002 project of the Research Fund KU Leuven. (Flemish Science Foundation|FWO G0D6619N, Research Fund KU Leuven|C16/20/002)status: Published onlin
A hybrid hazard-based model using two-piece distributions
No full textCox proportional hazards model is widely used to study the relationship between the survival time of an event and covariates. Its primary objective is parameter estimation assuming a constant relative hazard throughout the entire follow-up time. The baseline hazard is thus treated as a nuisance parameter. However, if the interest is to predict possible outcomes like specific quantiles of the distribution (e.g. median survival time), survival and hazard functions, it may be more convenient to use a parametric baseline distribution. Such a parametric model should however be flexible enough to allow for various shapes of e.g. the hazard function. In this paper we propose flexible hazard-based models for right censored data using a large class of two-piece asymmetric baseline distributions. The effect of covariates is characterized through timescale changes on hazard progression and on the relative hazard ratio; and can take three possible functional forms: parametric, semi-parametric (partly linear) and non-parametric. In the first case, the usual full likelihood estimation method is applied. In the semi-parametric and non-parametric settings a general profile (local) likelihood estimation approach is proposed. An extensive simulation study investigates the finite-sample performances of the proposed method. Its use in data analysis is illustrated in real data examples.The authors thank the reviewers for their valuable comments that led to an improvement
of the manuscript. The second author gratefully acknowledges support from Research Grant C16/20/002
project of the Research Fund KU Leuven
Two-piece distribution based semi-parametric quantile regression for right censored data
No full textWidely used methods such as Cox proportional hazards, accelerated failure time, and Bennet proportional odds models do not model the quantiles directly, but rather allow to assess the influence of the covariates only on the location of the distribution. Quantile regression allows to assess the effects of covariates, not only on a location parameter (such as a mean or median) but also on specific percentiles of the conditional distribution. In recent years, a large family of flexible two-piece asymmetric distributions where the location parameter coincides with a specific quantile of the distribution has been studied. In a conditional (regression) setting the use of such a family of two-piece asymmetric distributions has only been investigated in the complete data case in the literature. In this paper, we propose a semi-parametric procedure to estimate the conditional quantile curves of two-piece asymmetric distributions based on right censored survival data. We use a local likelihood estimation technique in a multi-parameter functional form, via which the effect of a covariate on the location, scale, and index of the conditional survival distribution can be assessed. The finite sample performance of the estimators is investigated via simulations, and the methodology is illustrated on real data examples.The authors are grateful to an Associate Editor and two reviewers for their comments which led to an improvement of the manuscript. We thank the authors of Christou and Akritas (2019) to provide us with the R code to calculate their estimator in the SIQR model. The second author gratefully acknowledges support from Research Grant FWO G0D6619N of the Flemish Science Foundation, and from the C16/20/002 project of the Research Fund KU Leuven. The resources and services used in this work were provided by the VSC (Flemish Supercomputer Center), funded by the Research Foundation - Flanders (FWO) and the Flemish Government
Profiling children with cerebral visual impairment in a tertiary eye care center
No full textBackground: Cerebral visual impairment (CVI) is a bilateral visual impairment that affects children in all industrialized countries. It has become more common in low-income countries as a result of the increased survival rates of children who suffer from severe neurological conditions during the perinatal period. The purpose of this study was to determine the characteristics of children with CVI in a tertiary children’s eye care center population.Methods: From October 2020 to September 2021, a cross-sectional study was conducted to select all consecutive patients with a diagnosis of cerebral visual impairment aged 6 months to 16 years. On the neurological deficit, information was gathered from the patient’s referral: parental interviews, observations, and direct assessment were used for functional vision characteristics, and an ophthalmic examination was performed for eye findings. The interviewees’ responses were matched to the ten specific behavioral characteristics shared by children with CVI. Cortical visual impairment was diagnosed using three criteria: [the vision loss is not explained by abnormalities found on the eye examination, a neurological medical diagnosis, and the child exhibits one of the unique visual and behavioral characteristics described by Roman Lantz]. A descriptive statistical analysis (frequency, mean, and range) was calculated. Results: Forty children with CVI (1.96% of total children) were seen. The mean age was 2.56 ( 1.98) years. There were 24 (60%) males. On a referral paper of 28, hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy was the commonest cause mentioned (70.0%). Seizures were the most frequent neurological deficit at presentation. Ophthalmic and neurologic impairments were found in 42.5% of children with CVI. Based on Roman-Lantzy’s three phases of the CVI Range, 90% of children with CVI at the test time had Phase I or Phase II vision.Conclusion: According to the findings of this study, visual impairment is critical in the diagnosis of CVI. The prevalence of CVI as a cause of childhood vision impairment is significant. Hypoxic-ischemic encephalopathy is the most common cause of CVI. All children with CVI have serious neurological issues, and the majority have associated ophthalmic abnormalities
Effect of Different Levels of Dried Sugar Cane Tops Inclusion on the Performance of Washera Sheep Fed Basal Diet of Grass Hay, Ethiopia
No full textCopyright: © 2015 Worku A, et al. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License, which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original author and source are credited. Background: Ruminants feed largely on crop resides as their basal diet. Despite their vast use as a livestock feed, crop residues are naturally of low quality and do not fulfill the nutrient requirement of animals. Thus, the deficit in the basal feed of quantity can be covered with sugar cane tops that are potential feed for better performance of animals. This study aimed with to evaluate the effect of different level of Dried Sugar Can tops inclusion on carcass characteristics and Economic Feasibility of Washera sheep fed a basal diet of grass hay. Methodology: A study was conducted at Bure Agricultural Technical Vocational Educational Training (ATVET) College using twenty yearling Washera sheep with initial body weight (BW) of 18.15 ± 1.85 (mean ± SD). The experimental design was randomized complete block design, and sheep were blocked into five blocks of four animals based on their initial BW and randomly assigned to one of the treatments within a block. Treatments were hay ad libitum+100 g/head/d CM for T1 and an additional 120 g, 240 g and 360 g SCT per head/day on dry matter basis for T2, T3 and T4, respectively. The experiment consisted 90 days of Growth trials followed by evaluation of carcass components at the end
Effect of play-based family-centered psychomotor/psychosocial stimulation on the development of severely acutely malnourished children under six in a low-income setting: a randomized controlled trial
No full textBackground: The World Health Organization (WHO) recommends incorporating psychosocial stimulation into the
management of severe acute malnutrition (SAM). However, there is little evidence about the effectiveness of these
interventions for SAM children, particularly when serious food shortages and lack of a balanced diet prevail. The
objective of this study was to examine whether family-based psychomotor/psychosocial stimulation in a lowincome setting improves the development, linear growth, and nutritional outcomes in children with SAM.
Method: Children with SAM (N = 339) admitted for treatment to the Jimma University Specialized Hospital, Ethiopia,
were randomized to a control (n = 170) or intervention (n = 169) group. Both groups received routine medical care
and nutritional treatment at the hospital. The intervention group additionally received play-based psychomotor/
psychosocial stimulation during their hospital stay, and at home for 6 months after being discharged from hospital.
The fine motor (FM) and gross motor (GM) functions, language (LA) and personal-social (PS) skills of the children
were assessed using adapted Denver II, the social-emotional (SE) behavior was assessed using adapted Ages and
Stages Questionnaires: Social-Emotional, and the linear growth and nutritional status were determined through
anthropometric assessments. All outcomes were assessed before the intervention, upon discharge from hospital,
and 6 months after discharge (as end-line). The overtime changes of these outcomes measured in both groups
were compared using Generalized Estimating Equations.
(Continued on next page)
© The Author(s). 2019 Open Access This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0
International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and
reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to
the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. The Creative Commons Public Domain Dedication waiver
(http://creativecommons.org/publicdomain/zero/1.0/) applies to the data made available in this article, unless otherwise stated.
* Correspondence: [email protected] †
Teklu Gemechu Abessa and Marita Granitzer contributed equally to this
work.
1
Department of Special Needs and Inclusive Education, College of Behavioral
Sciences and Education, Jimma University, Jimma, Ethiopia
2
REVAL Rehabilitation Research Center, Biomedical Research Institute, Faculty
of Rehabilitation Sciences and Physiotherapy, Hasselt University, Hasselt,
Belgium
Full list of author information is available at the end of the article
Abessa et al. BMC Pediatrics (2019) 19:336
https://doi.org/10.1186/s12887-019-1696-z
(Continued from previous page)
Results: The intervention group improved significantly on GM during hospital follow-up by 0.88 points (p < 0.001,
effect size = 0.26 SD), and on FM functions during the home follow-up by 1.09 points (p = 0.001, effect size = 0.22
SD). Both young and older children benefited similarly from the treatment. The intervention did not contribute
significantly to linear growth and nutritional outcomes.
Conclusion: Psychomotor/psychosocial stimulation of SAM children enhances improvement in gross motor
functions when combined with standard nutrient-rich diets, but it can enhance the fine motor functions even
when such standard dietary care is not available.
Trial registration: The trial was retrospectively registered on 30 January 2017 at the US National Institute of Health
(ClinicalTrials.gov) # NCT03036176.This study is part of the Jimma University-Interuniversity Collaboration partnership program funded by Vlaamse Interuniversitaire Raad - Universitaire Ontwikkelingssamenwerking (VLIR-UOS). The funder had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to prepare or publish the manuscript
Językowy portret złodzieja w „Worku Judaszow” Sebastiana Fabiana Klonowica
No full textThe author presents a picture of a thief in Worek Judaszow by S.F. Klonowic.
Analysing a linguistic creation of the appearance, character and behaviour of
the characters, she underlines that the descriptive language interprets the reality
to shape the reader’s behaviour towards it. The author indicates that the
convention of ugliness served Klonowic to create the character being a personal
antimodel
Prevalence of chronic kidney disease and associated factors among patients visiting renal unit of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia: A cross-sectional study design
No full textOBJECTIVE: This study aimed to assess the magnitude of chronic kidney disease among patients attending the renal unit of St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. METHODS: Institution-based cross-sectional study was conducted among 620 randomly selected patients who visited St. Paul’s Hospital Millennium Medical College renal unit from 1 January to 31 December, 2019. Data on sociodemographic characteristics, clinical conditions, behavioral risk factors, electrolytes, and renal function tests were extracted from patients’ medical records. To enter and analyze data, EpiData 3.1 and SPSS 22 were used, respectively. Bivariable and multivariable logistic regression analyses were conducted to see the association between predictor variables and chronic kidney disease. Adjusted odds ratio at 95% confidence interval was used to describe significant association. A p-value <0.05 was considered to declare an association between chronic kidney disease and independent variables. RESULTS: Of 620 patients, 139 (22.4%; 95% confidence interval: 19.2, 25.6) and 61 (9.8%; 95% confidence interval: 7.4, 12.3) had chronic kidney disease using cut-off value of 90 and 60 ml/min/1.73 m(2), respectively. Having urinary tract obstruction (adjusted odds ratio = 2.32; 95% confidence interval: 1.32, 4.06), hypertension (adjusted odds ratio = 4.06; 95% confidence interval: 2.50, 6.59), diabetes mellitus (adjusted odds ratio = 2.80; 95% confidence interval: 1.62, 4.85), cardiovascular disease (adjusted odds ratio = 2.54; 95% confidence interval: 1.60, 4.01), and age (adjusted odds ratio = 1.83; 95% confidence interval: 1.44, 3.57), family history of chronic kidney disease (adjusted odds ratio = 2.26; 95% confidence interval: 1.36, 3.75) were factors positively associated with having chronic kidney disease. CONCLUSION: Nearly, one out of five and one out of ten patients who visited the renal unit had chronic kidney disease using the two thresholds as a cut value. Patients with concomitant urinary tract obstruction, age, hypertension, diabetes mellitus, cardiovascular disease, and a family history of chronic kidney disease were more likely to develop chronic kidney disease. Regular screening for chronic kidney disease, optimal blood sugar, and blood pressure management should be practiced
Detection of pencillin residue in cow milk at Kombolcha dairy farms, Northeastern Ethiopia
No full textThe use of antibiotics in dairy cattle for the treatment of diseases such as mastitis has contributed to the presence of residues in dairy products. Penicillin is commonly used veterinary drug to treat mastitis in dairy cattle. However, abundant use of it may be associated with the presence of its residues in milk at unsafe concentrations that can adversely affect public health. Therefore the present study was undertaken to detect penicillin residues in milk from six private dairy farms at Kombolcha North East Ethiopia during the time period between December 2015 and March 2016. A total of 100 milk samples were collected from healthy lactating cows of six dairy farms and were screened for Penicillin residues by using Delvotest SP NT. Moreover a questionnaire survey was carried out by personal interviews with all of the dairy farm owners from whom milk samples were taken, to assess their awareness about dairy farm management practices and antibiotic residues. Penicillin residues (at five parts per billion or higher) were found in 36% of the samples test. Prevalence of penicillin residues in different farms ranged from 25% to 50%. Questionnaire survey among the dairy farm owners established that not a single dairy farm owner ever used antibiotic test kit for detection of residues. Similarly post milking teat dipping, marking of milking equipment for treated cows and dry cow therapy for controlling mastitis was practised only in one dairy farm out of 6 farms. 4 farm owners (66.6%) knew the impact of residue in milk processing manufactures, however all of them were aware of antibiotic residues of having public health impact, drug withdrawal period, and all of them used different milking equipment and kept records for treated cows. The results of the present investigation indicate that penicillin residues exist within the milk of dairy farms in Kombolcha town. Co-ordinated nationwide surveillance of animals’ by products for antibiotics residues is required together with determining their concentration, and initiating monitoring programmes and awareness campaigns to sensitize the populace on the dangers associated with residues in animal products in EthiopiaKey words: Cow, Ethiopia, Delvotest, Penicillin-residues, raw-mil
- …
