15 research outputs found
Daudi Matengo Mijak
Get PDFabstract: Daudi Matengo Mijak was four years old the night the Arabs came into his village and started killing people.
“Lost Boys Found” is an ongoing, interdisciplinary project that is collecting, recording and archiving the oral histories of the Lost Boys/Girls of Sudan. The collection is a work-in-progress, seeking to record the oral history of as many Lost Boys/Girls as are willing, and will be used in a future book.Age: 21Region: Upper NileThis picture and bio was donated to the Lost Boys Found project from The Arizona Lost Boys Cente
An Evaluation of The Impact of Financial Reforms on The Efficiency of The Banking Sector of Tanzania: A Case Of National Bank of Commerce and CRDB Bank
No full textMaster of Business Administration degree.This study was an evaluation of the impact of financial reforms on the efficiency of the banking sector of Tanzania. The study sought to meet the following objectives; to determine the extent to which the current performance of National Bank of Commerce (NBC Ltd.) and CRDB bank Ltd. in Tanzania can be attributed to financial reforms; to examine the views of management and staff of National Bank of Commerce (NBC Ltd.) and CRDB bank Ltd. on sequencing and timing of financial reforms’ activities in Tanzania; and to establish challenges faced by National Bank of Commerce (NBC Ltd.) and CRDB bank Ltd. in adopting financial reforms in Tanzania. The study used a descriptive research design where data were gathered using interviews and questionnaires. The response rate on questionnaires was81% and that of interviews was 67%. The response rates were therefore considered adequate for data analysis. The data were analyzed using Predictive Analytical Software (PASW statistics 17.0).The key findings of the study indicated that the financial reforms’ activities which have taken place so far have had a positive impact on the efficiency of the banking sector. Most of the respondents from the two banks agreed that measures such as liberalization of interest rates, enhancement of bank supervision and elimination of credit controls have increased financial accessibility to various sectors and have also contributed to good corporate governance. However, there were some critical challenges associated with the reforms’ activities and on how the control of these activities should be administered. It was also revealed that there has not been appropriate sequencing and timing of some financial reforms’ activities and that more has to be done to shape the reforms for the interest of improving the country’s banking sector.Daystar University, School of Business and Economic
Adoption of the Wealth Index Approach in Analyzing the Determinants of Household’s Poverty in Tanzania
Get PDFThis study examines the determinants of poverty in Tanzania using the 2015 Tanzania Demographic and Health Survey data. Ordered logit model was used to model the determinants of poverty and the study revealed that age, sex, household size, level of education, marital status, type of residence and access to financial services are significant in explaining the status of poverty. All of the mentioned variables are significant at 1% except sex of the household head which was significant at 5%. Since it is the global goal to reduce poverty, the study recommends that the government should invest more in education to improve knowledge and skills of individuals, improve financial services and financial inclusion especially in rural areas to eradicate poverty and remove rural-urban disparity. Keywords: Poverty, Household, Wealth Index, Ordered logit model and Tanzania DOI: 10.7176/JESD/12-14-03 Publication date:July 31st 2021
Effect of Hepatitis C Infection on HIV-Induced Apoptosis
Get PDFabstract: Background
Hepatitis C virus (HCV) coinfection was reported to negatively affect HIV disease and HIV infection has a deleterious effect on HCV-related liver disease. However, despite common occurrence of HCV/HIV coinfection little is known about the mechanisms of interactions between the two viruses.
Methods
We studied CD4+ and CD8+ T cell and CD19+ B cell apoptosis in 104 HIV-positive patients (56 were also HCV-positive) and in 22 HCV/HIV-coinfected patients treated for chronic hepatitis C with pegylated interferon and ribavirin. We also analyzed HCV/HIV coinfection in a Daudi B-cell line expressing CD4 and susceptible to both HCV and HIV infection. Apoptosis was measured by AnnexinV staining.
Results
HCV/HIV coinfected patients had lower CD4+ and CD8+ T cell apoptosis and higher CD19+ B cell apoptosis than those with HIV monoinfection. Furthermore, anti-HCV treatment of HCV/HIV coinfected patients was followed by an increase of CD4+ and CD8+ T cell apoptosis and a decrease of CD19+ B cell apoptosis. In the Daudi CD4+ cell line, presence of HCV infection facilitated HIV replication, however, decreased the rate of HIV-related cell death.
Conclusion
In HCV/HIV coinfected patients T-cells were found to be destroyed at a slower rate than in HIV monoinfected patients. These results suggest that HCV is a molecular-level determinant in HIV disease.The article is published at http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.007592
The Effects of Public Procurement Practices on Procurement Prices: A Case of Selected Procuring Entities
Get PDFThe main objective of the study was to assess the effects of public procurement practices on the procurement prices among the selected procuring entities in Dar es Salaam. Specifically, the study aimed at determining the effects of competition, centralization, timely payment, negotiation and integrity on procurement prices reasonableness among the selected procuring entities. The study was carried out at Dar es Salaam with the inclusion of three procuring entities; College of Business Education (CBE), Institute of Adult Education (IAE) and Tanzania Public Service College (TPSC). The study employed convergent mixed research design, where both quantitative and qualitative data were collected from 210 and 20 respondents respectively for triangulation of findings. The study findings indicated that competition, timely payment, negotiation and integrity have significant positive effects on procurement prices reasonableness among the selected procuring entities. However, it was revealed that centralization has insignificant negative effect on procurement prices reasonableness contrary to the study hypothesis. The study recommends more amendments on the public procurement rules, regulations and guidelines so as to warrant the effectiveness of competition, timely payment, negotiation and integrity in the public procurement proceedings for attainment of reasonable procurement prices. Moreover, the study recommends for the government to provide fully support to the policy makers and individual procuring entities in respect to the aforesaid matters
Assessment of the Contribution of Financial Accountability on the Performance of Local Government Authorities in Tanzania: Case of Newala Town Council
Get PDFThis study investigated the contribution of financial accountability on the performance of local government authorities in Tanzania by using the case study of Newala Town Council. The study applied both quantitative and qualitative research methods. The sample size includes 68 respondents and the author applied SPSS to analyze the quantitative data. Findings from the study show that financial accountability has a significant impact on the performance of local government authorities. The results shows that financial accountability has helped the council in attaining trust to funders and donors hence accomplish projects on time. Moreover according to their views financial accountability has established value for money through the services delivery to the community. The results shows that the strategies which helped Newala Town Council to implement financial accountability for better performance of the council include segregation of powers, proper utilization of financial documents, pre auditing, monthly bank reconciliation and physical control of hard cash by putting cash and cash equivalents into the strong room of the council
Although the Newala Town Council is implementing financial accountability there are still some challenges including: shortages of staff to enable segregation of duties, lack of guidelines and inadequate finance to enable the running of financial control properly. Therefore in order to implement these strategies effectively it’s advised to address these challenges through different ways. But the government support is very important in order to improve service delivery at the council. Other mechanisms may include adoption and proper supervision of point of sales system (POS), Epicor, establishment of management information system (MIS), adopt Homis and Lowson programs
The Expression Level of CCDC26 and FOXCUT Genes in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia
Get PDFBackground and Aim: Acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) is a malignant disease of lymphoid progenitor cells affecting both children and adults. Long non-coding RNAs (lncRNAs) are one kind of non-coding RNAs (ncRNAs), reported modulating the initiation or progression of diverse cancers. However, the role of CCDC26 and FOXCUT long non-coding RNAs in ALL has been unknown. In this study, we explored the expression of FOXCUT and CCDC26 lncRNAs in acute lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines.
Methods: Acute T lymphoblastic leukemia cell lines, RPMI 8402, Jurkat, B lymphoblastic leukemia, Daudi, and Ramos cell lines were used. After culturing the cells, RNA extraction and cDNA synthesis were performed. The real-time PCR technique was then used to study the expression of CCDC26, FOXCUT, C-kit, and FOXC1 genes.
Result: We found a significant increase of CCDC26 expression in RPMI 8402 (p <0.0001) and Ramos (p <0.05) cell lines compared to the control, while decreased expression of these genes was observed in Jurkat and Daudi cell lines. Furthermore, FOXCUT gene had a significant increase in expression in all cell lines compared to the control (p <0.01 in Daudi and RPMI 8402 cell lines) (p <0.001 in Jurkat and Ramos cell lines).
Conclusion: Our results demonstrated that CCDC26 and FOXCUT genes can play a regulatory role in acute lymphoblastic leukemia and may serve as a potential diagnostic biomarker and therapeutic target of acute lymphoblastic leukemia.
*Corresponding Author: Seyed Hadi Mousavi, Email: [email protected];
ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4686-5232
Please cite this article as: Barati S, Mousavi SH, Motallebzadeh-Khanmiri J, Khani-Eshratabdi M. The Expression Level of CCDC26 and FOXCUT Genes in Acute Lymphoblastic Leukemia. Arch Med Lab Sci. 2021;7:1-9 (e16). https://doi.org/10.22037/amls.v7.3329
Perceived discrimination, ethnic identity, and ethnic-racial socialization in Chinese immigrant families before and after the COVID-19 outbreak: An exploratory natural experiment
Get PDFEmerging research from the United States indicates that people with an East Asian background experience COVID-19-related racial discrimination. There is some (although not consistent) evidence that these discrimination experiences can in turn have psychological and behavioral consequences, such as strengthening one’s ethnic identity and influencing parents’ ethnic-racial socialization practices. The current study presents a unique natural experiment examining self-reported perceived discrimination experiences, ethnic identity, and ethnic-racial socialization among 80 Chinese immigrant mothers in the Netherlands before and after the COVID-19 outbreak (39 mothers recruited before the start of the COVID-19 pandemic and 41 during). The main findings from our exploratory analyses indicated an impact of the pandemic with higher (subtle) discrimination and stronger ethnic identity among Chinese immigrant mothers living in the Netherlands, highlighting how personal experiences related to intergroup processes have changed as a result of the COVID-19 crisis in the European context
Dynamic and Postdynamic Recrystallization Behavior of GWZ Magnesium Alloy Under Double‐Hit Hot Compression
Get PDFAbstract
Herein, dynamic and postdynamic recrystallization behaviors of GWZ magnesium are investigated. Toward this end, the single-hit and double-hit hot compression tests are conducted under strain rate of 0.001 s−1 at 400 °C. The prestrains of 0.1 and 0.5 are considered to investigate the effect of interpass time (5–300 s) on the compressive strength level. At the low strain level of 0.1, the contribution of Hall–Petch effect is considerable due to the occurrence of static recrystallization. In addition, the rare earth texture component is eliminated during interpass annealing. This causes increasing the strength of the material during second pass of hot compression. In contrast, at higher imposed strain, the strength level decreases with increasing the interpass time of annealing. The high amount of strain is completely consumed and the remaining stored energy is not high enough to trigger the occurrence of static recrystallization. The occurrence of metadynamic recrystallization and subsequent growth are characterized. In addition, the texture does not change in respect of the intensity or numbers/types of components. Accordingly, the observed decreasing trend of the strength is justified relying on the occurrence grain growth.Abstract
Herein, dynamic and postdynamic recrystallization behaviors of GWZ magnesium are investigated. Toward this end, the single-hit and double-hit hot compression tests are conducted under strain rate of 0.001 s−1 at 400 °C. The prestrains of 0.1 and 0.5 are considered to investigate the effect of interpass time (5–300 s) on the compressive strength level. At the low strain level of 0.1, the contribution of Hall–Petch effect is considerable due to the occurrence of static recrystallization. In addition, the rare earth texture component is eliminated during interpass annealing. This causes increasing the strength of the material during second pass of hot compression. In contrast, at higher imposed strain, the strength level decreases with increasing the interpass time of annealing. The high amount of strain is completely consumed and the remaining stored energy is not high enough to trigger the occurrence of static recrystallization. The occurrence of metadynamic recrystallization and subsequent growth are characterized. In addition, the texture does not change in respect of the intensity or numbers/types of components. Accordingly, the observed decreasing trend of the strength is justified relying on the occurrence grain growth
